Letter from Mar Papa to the citizens of Nisibis

Letter from Mar Papa to the citizens of Nisibis. The holy one with the shepherds, the teachers, the priests, and all the orders of faithful men and faithful women, with the children, the youths, and the virgins. Papa, the weak one, the head of the bishops of the East: in Jesus Christ, the guardian of his Church, very many greetings. My beloved, I have not labored for the sake of the wicked from my youth, that from the wicked I might receive a reward through praises in word and in writing; nor, as the greatness of the rank to which I was called, am I thus. But in all things I am more than any other insignificant person. And now it is time for me to say, like the prophet Elijah, "Take my soul from me." For I was not good compared to my fathers. Even Elijah, with all his mighty deeds, said that he was not good like his fathers. I, who was not sufficient to attain even the smallest measures of my fathers, how can I be compared with their greatness and their might? If I ran to the strength of their feet and did not reach it, to the mountain of their conduct, to what did I run? Especially at this time, when troubles are pressing, and waves are rising, and storms are strong, and the impending battles are harsh, soon to come upon the Church of God. And I, with that which is empty, am in my word, and I am clear in my knowledge, but apart from that, I have been rolled in sins through words and diseases, and I have been humbled by the multitude of the afflictions that have passed over me. But also old age has broken me and humbled me. Especially the pressure of the afflictions that have passed over me, like those hidden pressures that are concealed within the Church, which in vain are called pillars and foundations. And now they are hidden and uprooted, and they show themselves to the wicked, that they are enemies and persecutors.

And now, behold, the heads of the bands that are destined to come. For what reason do they seek my life? While my enemies, the disciples, and the accusers, and the judges in the houses, and because they are not true houses, no love for God was found in them. But when the persecution arose against me, that which was more than the measure of their cities were their gods, and many of the Christians who were hidden denied Christ. And they bound my weakness in your heart and bound me with harsh bonds, and they tortured me with stones and with thirst, and with garments and with blows, and with all the sufferings that passed over me, not as in the suffering of sinners and afflictions: they placed them under the nails of my hands and my feet. And even when they pierced my hands and my feet, and they inserted pegs into the perforations of my body, and they hung me in the middle of the smoke of the censers, and they stripped me and spread me out and rolled me in the street, and Christ helped my weakness. And he sustained me with the strength of my pains, and I was refreshed by the smoke of my illnesses, and I was comforted by the bitterness of my sufferings, and in all these things I did not feel as in this pain, that these hidden robbers and manifest enemies, wickedly and by night, they set themselves up as bishops, some of them by letters of command of that one who passed away, who was a bishop and who, without the laying on of hands, sat upon the throne, and he set himself up as a bishop, and some of them who were ordained by one bishop each, and others who are said to have been ordained, and when it was investigated, their ordination was found to be without laying on of hands. And others who were ordained canonically. And when the bishops of the renowned cities died, they set themselves up with their thrones, for they were in a full partnership in a spiritual union.

And in this they submerged the whole body of the holy Church, and others, with the help of lords like them, drove [all] the bishops from their thrones, and they themselves sat in their places. And they killed and inherited within the Church. And others were accused of the deeds of Iscariot, and others were disgraced by the matter of the dwellings of Bēṯ Bihram. The destruction of the wicked, and the ruin of the unjust, was wrought by them. And others, because they sold the vessels of the churches and monasteries, and enriched themselves thereby for their own persons. And others, who showed themselves to be monks and ascetics, were found to have drunk wine with garlands and song where it was not permitted. And they were found to be serving sin within sin. For the majority of them, in their laxity, [turned aside together] and were led astray. While they wished secretly, like blind men, to grope by means of the stubbornness of the mind. And their own humility, like a vine of the vineyard, and more than that, they added insolence. And because they were without head, without judgment, without inquiry, without fear and without discipline, they fulfilled the desire of their depraved passions, and all of them were broken together with one another. And they plied such a trade to the Church of God. And behold, they are made a mockery and a laughing-stock, and they are derided and mocked by pagans and Jews together. And now, do not blame me. For I, Papa, am not guilty of anything; rather, all my guilt is that I am guilty only to God. And He knows that I have nothing with which to repay Him; may He forgive me my sins through His mercy. For I have sinned only to Him alone. And it is fitting that I be judged by the one to whom I am guilty, rather than that I be judged by those to whom I am not guilty. And they are guilty against me.

And every day they persecute me. And you, my brother Mar Jacob, the shepherd and guide of Nisibis, because you sought from me the written agreements, I was commanded to inform you: that I might pass with you the times, and sweeten your face for sufferings, and set yourself for afflictions. And more than the Cubaraita upon the sail of a ship, be watchful and guard and be vigilant in prayer, over the afflictions of your city and over the breaking of your church and over the plunder of your church and over the dispersion of the daughters of your people. And do not be humbled before affliction, which like a flood in fullness comes upon you, because the spirit of the Lord humbles it. But gird your loins and stand manfully, and increase the threshold of your people. And inform your fathers in the West that this persecution of the house of Arius will shortly cease, and after a time there will again be a great persecution in your city. And together persecution came upon the flocks and their shepherds. And there was uprooting of the church and overturning of altars and plunder and outcry over books and over holy mysteries. However, the shedding of blood of martyrs was not employed. And when there was peace in the church of the West, there was a great war in the church of the East. And there was affliction and persecution such as was not written nor named like it. And the earth drank the blood of saints. And wild beasts and birds were sated with their corpses and their remains. And also to the saints in the houses of the beloved Aqebla and Miles, before your letters came, they received and associated them with you in the mysteries, and gave them authority to minister in their ranks, as before, because you are brothers of like blood to the holy church. However, not like my beloved son Mar Shimun, who is constrained in their afflictions, nor like Abdoma the elder and the elderess.

and there was a great persecution in the church of the East, four weeks of the year. And three patriarchs, one after another, like commanders of armies at the head of their camps, were delivered to the deaths of soldiers. And you, teacher Mar Ephrem, who like a prophet was named in the holy church, and you sought from me the permission of your entire being in the written records of the histories concerning them, that you might make it known that they are dead in their sins—neither you nor any other person is authorized to make written records about them. Nor again those same written records which they made in their labor and books and in their own canons and sent to the regions, [the rulers of the regions are not permitted] while they are able to find those same written records in their churches and monasteries which they wrote, the masters, because of the shame and disgrace of me, they did not burn nor destroy nor erase them. And they did not make any correction in them as if for my benefit. But rather, thus they will be preserved each one as it is, until the end of days. And may my lord in his mercy, as the knowledge of his divinity desires, judge the judgment of his holy church on that great day of judgment. And you, beloved son Mar Ephrem, say to my daughter Sobha. Especially to those who are the upbringing of the disciple, that they leave aside the mourning and the house of weeping over Papa. And the shepherds and the reckonings concerning that house of weeping of yours and of your city. And before the chariots, the sounds of the lyres. And the woman to her companion, she changes the garment of sorrow. And before the ships, and they teach one another. And beware of those who are your companions, that which is preserved for the treasure, do not raise it up with embrace and with ointments. And your bodies which are preserved for mourning and for the dance: and for the sitting on the ground and for the cries upon the roofs. Do not go out to meet them.

And also you, go out in the request of the found ones. And prepare for yourself various voices and labors of every diligent one, and rouse yourself. And stir up your thoughts, and prepare for yourself a place of rest. And many labors, books, and tables for the parchments, because the toil is hard for you: four weeks of the year and two of the five-week months. Write and set down a record of all the evils that have come upon the world: famines and plagues, and wars against the church, and wars of kingdoms, and plundering and looting of one by another, movements and earthquakes of great cities, scarcity of rain, and a locust that seized sixteen years. I, Papa, as I was commanded, have written in this letter. Concerning the other things that are not written in the letter, you will learn from the beloved and holy man Mar Shimʿun, to whom I have entrusted that he take up the governance of the patriarchate after me. For everything I have commanded him and warned him concerning those things that were given to him to know. Also, you, make known to Mar Shimʿun through the proximity of Mar Abdōmā the priest and elder. And I, I am going to the grave, while I bear pains upon my pains, and illnesses upon my illnesses, like a father who sees the uprooting and destruction of his house, and the loss of his sons and daughters and of his entire household. All these things I have written, and they are distant one week of the year. At the beginning of the second week, they will be awakened one after another, and not all together. Read the letter, and after it nothing more is to be written. And whoever is arrogant will be a stranger to that inheritance of Christ. Prepare for his worshippers in the kingdom of heaven. May the whole church of your city be adorned with the help of Christ, and with the prayers of those perfect in his will. The Lord is with me and with you, and with the whole holy church. Amen.