Letter from the Mar Ephrem the doctor to Mar Papa the catholicos patriarch

Again, from Mar Ephrem the Teacher, to Mar Papa the Catholicos Patriarch. To the great one of God, the chosen one, and the elect in the order of the fathers; triumphant in all that is of the Lord, my lord Mar Papa the Catholicos. Ephrem, the sinful, the weak, and the insignificant among your disciples, with longing I offer you veneration from afar, as if in proximity before your holy feet. I, my lord, am not ignorant of myself: that I know what I am, and why I write this letter. Even the apostolic writings say to me: "Do not seek great things with you." My insignificance, my lord, and your greatness in God, I have acknowledged and do acknowledge. But because you are like compassionate fathers, you have preceded in time and have considered me in your writings, that I might be worthy and be purified with your disciples. I also, in this small time, these words of consolation and losses in this war that has arisen against the Church of God, and in the losses that have come upon your fatherhood, with the bands of the perfect ones, I have been stirred to be a partner with you in the hearing of my word. See, my lord, the adversary that your fatherhood has triumphed over in all the difficulties of virtue, and in all the afflictions of patience, and you have ascended to the arena and triumphed in your contest before the holders of authority of this transitory world. You have delivered over severe pains, and you have borne bitter afflictions. The impious were astounded, and the wicked were amazed. And by the victory of your triumphs, you have magnified and given to the holy Church a great crown of your triumphs, and the adversary was unable to diminish your valor in the battle he arrayed against you, by the hands of the worshippers of the elements and the servants of creation. He chose for himself workers with the disciples of the envious one who were nurtured within the Church.

And because your tribe of fathers was stretched out, they rose up against the discipline of love, as if they were not shoots among the thorns in the field of the Church. And they were not found to be money that causes forgetfulness upon the table of the commerce of the kingdom. In return for the good things that were with them, and they were obligated that you repay them with good benefits. Like sons to fathers, they repaid you with evil in return for good. And hatred in return for love. And they made their mouth like a millstone, and their lips like a bow, and their tongue like a two-mouthed saw. They conceived iniquity by night, and gave birth to sin by day. They whispered in secret, and they tied a knot in the dark. And they became like them, and they made themselves bands of reproach. And they led astray others who are called virtuous. And they seized by force those who followed after them, in the name of virtue. While these are mingled with them, their band is strengthened and their tyranny is confirmed. And their oppression is accepted. By these and those like them, the faction of the adversary labors, which defiles the victories of your fatherhood. And when they were prepared for battle, they showed themselves like deceivers, and they were astonished and cast falsehood like liars, and deceit like a saw. And clamor and shouts like a Syrian cymbal. And tyrannies and oppressions that are well-loved, more than the pavement of a harlot. And the adversary silences those who are considered virtuous, who are not guardians of the truth. He casts his covering and conceals in the darkness of his cloud. Confusion, mind, and thought of everyone, so that you alone may be troubled. And there is no one with you in the battle, that from among the houses one might be arrayed against you. He fills his hands with wrath and anger, and he sends his hands with empty hatred against you. They are gathered together, and they are like wolves, and they raise their voices like men possessed by a demon.

They sharpen their teeth and gnash their lips. They hunger for your holy flesh and thirst for your victorious blood. Your beauties, which are and are seen by all, they err, and the things that are not in you, all of them say together. For all of them hear from hearsay, and there is no vision [of what they say] in their house. Then, when he saw that his will was not accomplished in all these things, he stirred you up like a deceiver, and sent you like a faithful one. That your persecutions and oppressions from them, with the holy Gospel, he sought. You were brought near not in due order, and you were ordained not in due order, and you received the imposition of the hand, that whole crown of glory for you, from the one who, in this contest, even that you not be shorn from the sufferings that are in them, [for you] is stored up reward and recompense. My lord, if in the time of your youth, with the help of Christ, you subjugated the sufferings and quelled the desires, and performed wondrous powers, and did signs and marvels: such that no man was seen in these generations who did [such things], and to the election of your patriarchate, east and west, you submitted, and the sixty years that you bore the greatness of your fatherhood in a good name: and now that you have come to the depth of old age, in the sixty years of the greatness of the priesthood of the patriarchate that you bore in the east and in the west, there is no one in the order of priests who reaches you, nor in one of these gifts that you received from your Lord. These things that are said concerning your fatherhood at this time, if concerning the dead who are in the graves it is easy to say, also concerning you. For not only did you descend to the depth of old age more than a hundred years, but also you were a youth: in these names and surnames you err, you are over all the members of your body, and with the causes, nerves, tendons, sufferings, afflictions, and pains.

and the tumors with which you were afflicted in all the times of your changing bodies. And especially now, that every man knows that your body has grown cold, and all your members have become numb, and the desire for food and drink has passed from you, and all your movements and sensations have ceased along with all their need. From him who cut off his hope from both worlds—of these and of those like them—a door is opened for speech. And if those who are with those who hired themselves out for the work of Satan their father are found useful in these and those like them, because they are their own, from the daughters of the church which your fatherhood permits, and hear their boastful and destructive words, and is added that he might be burned and receive from them, unless perhaps he also is that same servant of Satan like them. These, my lord, I have written to your holiness, though I am not worthy to comprehend, that this war is prepared against you by Satan. For I see that your fatherhood, in your governance and your throne and the repose of your body, could not deliver your great labors and your glorious conduct. And the writings which those wicked ones made in the sons of perdition, that they darkened themselves with thoughts of sin, could not abolish you from the service of the greatness of the priesthood. But they are disturbed and cast down from the height of their ranks by the decree of judgment from you, which was determined against them. Especially those of the house of Jacob and Miles and their companions, who at the time when you issued the decree of judgment against them, were to them like mockers and jesters and disciples of the boiling that was in their hands. Now it has ceased. And Satan has found what he sought, that through the wicked they might be cut off from the life of the world, and again with the former persecutors of the nails of the cross upon the church—but the righteous and the confused.

of distress, confusion, and division that you brought upon the Christians; and the whole Church was disturbed. And this war has already become more intense than that of the barbarians, because the messengers of those wicked and arrogant ones are bold, while their envoys are few. As they wander, these letters that were composed against your fatherhood are carried to the regions. And since they are unable to diminish anything from your fatherhood, they are now striking the members of the Church through their stumbling, their words, and their writings. And as many have heard, they have reached their limit of expectation. And through gifts, spells, and corrupt writings, they carry and read before them as if for their own joy and relief, that of the arrogant. And as if for the stumbling and heartbreak of many. And this war has become like a balance: whether with your fatherhood a man is free, or with those of the house of Jacob and Miles, or with those arrogant ones, or with the whole Church—whichever side a man remains, he can find there the entire burden of the war. And for the healing of these, your knowledge is sufficient. Jacob and Miles and their companions weep and lament over themselves, and they repent and are troubled, and they offer writings to everyone who is a true lover of yours, that he may pray on their behalf. And also to my insignificance they wrote: that if possible, they might be considered like my lords John and John, those who, with chains and fetters, were dragged before your fatherhood at the sea of Daisan. Those, in their bitterness, cast stones at your fatherhood, and they boasted that even your garments were torn in the streets, and the hair of your head and your beard was plucked, and they spat in your face, insults before pagans and Jews. And after that, there was a little quiet.

and I was released from your bonds. I approached you, and I was filled with your heart and your sign, and I was strengthened by you. And by the abundance of your consolation, you loved them. And by the abundance of your love for them, you yourself. Not only before Christians did you appear, but also before pagans and Jews. If it seems good to your good will: as until now you have repaid good for evil to many, also to these you have granted forgiveness according to your custom. And also to me, not a small portion was given from the table of your tongue. And by the order of your writings, there was a reminder of my insignificance. And by your blessings upon me, my poverty will be enriched from your great treasure that does not diminish. And I will be reconciled with you. Hear my peace, and let all your accusations against me be annulled, for it is a letter that I began to write on your account. I will commend to you that there may be for me a memorial in the church of God, and for the generations that come after me, that they may know the great wealth of your glorious conduct, and the stumbling blocks, obstacles, and tumults that passed over you at various times, and that you were found steadfast and vigilant in them, and that your wisdom and knowledge surpassed all the spiritual heretics of these generations. And also the city and region of Abelios, on account of your fatherhood, will be illuminated by your writings. And also to the fathers of the true faith of the Western observance, who are persecuted by the bones of the house of Arius, a letter of politeness will be written by your fatherhood to them, because they also are about to send their writings to your fatherhood shortly, by the hands of your servants and disciples, the clergy of the church of the city.

holy father Mar Jacob the bishop, and all his flock, together with my lowliness and weakness, bow before you and ask for your prayers in the Lord, that He may preserve you at the head of His holy church.