On the Wheat and the Tares

On the Wheat and the Tares The homily of the holy Mar Narsai, which he composed on the parable of the wheat and the tares. The good seed our Lord Christ called the teaching of his instruction. The tares that grow with it he called the teaching of the Evil One. To the world he spoke his parable in a riddle, and called himself the master of the house. And the good seed of his teaching the earth of the soul received. Now he who sows the tares is Satan the Adversary, who sows the word of his teaching and stirs up heresies and divisions. He said, moreover, that men slept, because they were negligent of the truth. Like a farmer who is idle, the weed increases in the midst of the field. The evil servants, then, who saw the tares among the wheat, to their lord they raised a question, that the good seed had not been sown. The lord answered the servants, he who is known of mysteries: "The Enemy has done this, to destroy the seed of my teaching." The servants, being foolish, answered their good lord: "Let him go and pluck out the tares, that the wheat may not be harmed." The lord said to the servants, he who is gracious to the foolish: "Let them both grow equally until the end comes, lest the wheat be uprooted with the bitter tares." For he knew the change that the Evil One had long since wrought. "Is it not known to your knowledge that the tare cannot be changed? Its bitterness is of its nature, and it cannot become [...]." The wheat is rational, and has power over its will; and it is not fitting that it should be changed according to the will of its freedom.

The interpretation of this parable is from these things that preceded it. The tares were bitter and changed and became sins. Tares was Abraham, and his will changed. And he became a fruit of sweetness, and bitter things were mixed in him. The tares overcame the covering that grows old in the garment of others. And sin was in his will, and he turned and sowed righteousness. Tares were the army, and it was nourished on the blood of men. And when it saw the wonder on the cross, it mingled itself with the house of sins. Paul the great, a tare that cut sins with his teaching. A burden against the truth that turned and became instead of truth. The farmer who multiplied and sowed his teaching in the land of the peoples. And he worked the land of souls and filled the world with his fruits. Behold, the tares that changed and became chosen sins. Woe to the land of those who erred and did not wish to enter into knowledge. The first tare was rejected, which knew the face of sins. And it drank the rain of teaching and remained in the measure of its will. It was a dog that barked and raved and slaughtered against its master. And it preached in three heads: priest, good, and also evil. Another tare, Mani, who wraps himself in the guise of sins. The father who hides in the island and shows himself like a lamb. The thirsty one who drank vinegar and gave drink from it to his neighbors. The root killed the man who is nourished from among sins. The mountain of the measure of what, which changes all kinds of things. In sorcery he was a partner, and in magic he was near. He cut the order of the righteous and stripped the body of life.

and it is known from his intention that the resurrection of the soul is alone. For by two principles stands the whole purpose of his teaching. And he called good and evil according to the deeds of the two. Sin was the son of the righteous one who turned and became a weed. And when the church saw his change, she uprooted him from the house of sins. From the lambs of the pasture he was, and he turned and became a wolf of the pasture. And the doorkeepers cast him out, and his soul mingled with that of the fathers. The hard ones whom he sought to conquer turned and cast him down before his own face. The head that was against his companions, his teaching turned into a snare. He sinned against the perfection of everything and brought in many essences. And when he thought to destroy the truth, he became a stumbling block to it. Sin, whose mind turned, became a weed. And through a woman he was humbled like a servant who grinds a millstone. He also called him to the feast, and he went out and became a stumbling block. And he cut off his hope from life. And he spoke iniquity against the exalted one, that he had no beginning, that he was not begotten before with his father. Like a worn-out sound of a word that has no beginning in existence. When the beginning arose from the child of the exalted and the eternal, to him who was equal with his begetter and did not differ from him in essence. And what can the one who is sick do when the physician has covered him? That in the beginning he was not, the one who is united with his begetter. In the world he was there, and worlds were kindled by his hands. And he who is his own came to his own, and his own did not receive his word. Those who heard his teaching became heirs of his glory.

and he shared in the honor of the name of immortality. Behold, the proof of the heresy is like the sun before the knowers. And the visions are as if in a dream, balanced by the words of the spirit. And Zizianus denied the resurrection of the body. And the words of the spirit he considered as fables. His wickedness, then, is great, of which he openly boasts. For he did not change the word, nor did he take the body from Mary. In the field of sin grew Arius, who perverted the truth. And he concealed himself in a guise, without the bitterness of his nature. He was a father who wore a likeness, and he concealed himself in a shorn form. And when the minds perceived, they expelled him from within the flock. And they brought his thoughts to light, and revealed the filth of his intention. And he sought falsehood from his heart, and his lips spoke iniquity. He called the Son a creature of the Father, and the Spirit a product of the Father. For he is not alone, but the Son and the Spirit are his subjects. The Father is without beginning, and the Son and the Spirit are from him. And concerning this, that the Son is not, he contended with himself and with the Father. And if the Son is a creature of his making, according to the word of the blasphemer, what then? Everything is a creature of God, but Gabriel and Michael were established by the will of the Father. And when the Spirit was good, they were in his presence from the name of existence. And if the product of the Son and of them is equal, it is the name of a question that stands alone, and is distant from him in actions. Zizianus, another companion, hid his name from the beginning.

It is known that he separated the fruit by his hands. He also removed the confession from the truth of faith. And he sought to hide the matter, because its foundations are not pure. The soul was not separated with the body from the Redeemer. But the mortal body took the Word and dwelt in it. And when he knew that his existence was being revealed, he brought his deceit to light. He devised another means by which to hide until the time. And he turned and confessed also in this, that the body and soul took the Lord. And he did not let the mind alone rest, that he also is the third hypostasis. And concerning the number, they did not examine all the scriptures together. And more than all, Moses, who wrote about the resurrection. And already the cunning one became wiser than the son of Amram. And he found something greater than the third hypostasis of the mind. Behold, his seed, which kills man, whose seed is in the soul of his disciples. And he disturbed the earth with his tremors, and threw scandals into the heavens. In the beginning, the evil heretic sowed his tares of sins. And he set up scandals and divisions like ranks against the truth. And when he saw that his camp was defeated and truth conquered by the name of its suns, he devised another means and went and hid among the thickets of sins. He saw that openly he did not prevail, and he began to fight with deceits. And he became like a householder. And like a teacher of true things, he saw that the gospel was scattered among all peoples and tongues. And it took hold of branches in all regions and bound the cords of falsehood. And he put on the guise of a disciple, so as not to show his venom openly, because he knew that his teaching was hated.

And openly it is not accepted. He saw the labor that was pure. And he darkened the eyes of the simple and removed the clouds from the face. He blocked the way to the kingdom and concealed the secret of his thoughts. With a garment of the name of light, and he hid himself in veils. And the simple did not perceive him. He spread a covering over the soul and blinded the light of knowledge. The mind was silent from the senses, so that it would not discern the lamentation. He darkened the light of the houses from the reading of the scriptures. And he closed the ears of the story so that the words of the spirit would not be heard. He changed the meaning of the words, which he drove away, never ceasing. He made it crooked and twisted, so that the spiritual things would not be spoken. He confused the king of the members, the steward of all the wisdoms. He pressed out from it his treasures and cast into it from his ruins. Or his interpretations, how many are cut off, and the depths, how deep. Or he placed death, the slayer, whose sweetness is sweet in it. He did not learn the beautiful intention of the divine scriptures. And he did not increase the sign of the reader, but rather he taught pride. He read much and found it, and he began to diminish and deepen. And he meditated much on the scriptures, he erred and went out from the lamentation. Or the iniquity that cannot be spoken, which proclaimed evil through the mouth of the clouds. The teaching of the light of the soul: [...] his works are darkness. The way of the beginning of the scriptures filled with foolish thorns. Do not hear the interpretation, and do not listen to the word of the disputant. Be like a blind man to the scripture, and like a deaf woman to the example. Flee from the hundred of the severed, so that their branches do not lead you astray.

It is not enough that this alone should be believed without examination. From where did you know this, or the signs of the fullness of the spirit? That your teaching is a new way and you have erred in the path of deception. He darkened your face with the errors of the seeds in your hands. That you are mixed with broken things and you interpret scattered dreams. And it was not enough that he led you astray with stumbling blocks while you were awake. But he showed visions that are believed as if they were true. Or the opponent of the truth, how many times he swore on the thresholds. And Paul testified concerning this, while making known about his tricks, that the contest is not against something non-existent with a nature like ours. But against the heads of the air, a spirit that fights with the flesh. For at the beginning of the battle, all opportunities were being used, and every day a new weapon was being made, with which he fought against the known ones. Now it is not that the tricks of his deception are hidden. For he only hints if he hints at his intentions to the foolish. If, then, he wishes to hunt with the weakness of the love of money, his intention is base, and it is written that he placed a heart upon the heart. If the love of glory enters, he blinds the one who sees it; his desires are better than it, and soon he learns it. If he fights with you through desires, the measures of her are fixed in the truth, and only the king takes counsel. And the secret action comes to light, the three heads of all darkness. They are the ones of your error, and what he accomplished through them for us, he himself arose as a victor. In these darknesses he fought with the beginning of the truth.

He was confident that he would conquer, as in the former times. For the rebel knew, and took him in deceit, that in his hands the pains were bound, the whole nature of the dead. And he put on a form like a garment, in a disguise against our Lord. While the deceiver thought that in the likeness of Adam he would lead him astray. Here, the cries did not arise, nor the arts of his skill, which he had arrayed against him in the hidden armor of the spirit. After that victory which our nature won with our Lord, height and depth perceived it, and in all regions it was proclaimed. Behold, he gave him your teaching, and he entered and dwelt in it as he wished. And it became for him as if it were his own, and he does not change it for his own dwellings. He plowed the earth of his self, and he also sowed your teaching. And he cast the seed of his doctrine, and its fruits come forth one by one. Uproot the seed of his doctrine, which is from the thought of the Messiah, and gather the seed of the evil one, and bring us his provisions. They are in name inward, and in their deeds outward. You are called workers of the Messiah, and you serve the master of the house. The filthy lust of sin brings you much of its drink. And money, the root of evils, its root is planted within your heart. The love of vainglory sets death, a snare that kills in secret. You are caught in his traps, and you do not perceive the harm in his bonds. A destructive sword, a murderer, that kills the soul along with the body.

He dwelt among them like a general, and shattered their bonds. The arrow destroys the joints, the friend kills his beloved. He put on a form like a garment, and in it he arranged his thoughts. The deceit that he would bring forth, the slanderer, in the casting, he made his tongue a messenger, and he served her for her deeds. He led them astray from the order of discipline, and they departed from the truth. And every great one of his stature, when he led as he wished, they sought out perverse books, which teach in perverse books. And they distanced themselves from the truth, which the books taught us. The way that the ancients trod, and it was clear from the faith, that all of them together confirmed. And the adversary, by his weapons, poured into it divided opinions. From one spring of teaching, they drank all the teachings. And like tables on four sides, he set up the earth with their words. They were like a light in creation, and they illuminated the world with their flames. And like a word by their words, they filled the plains with hills. They put on armor against the evil one, so that the ranks of truth would not be disturbed. And in the vigils of their stature, they increased the gates of the truth. But when the end came of their lives of battles, and they lay down the sixth of the living, upon the labor of their work, against the adversary in the churches. And he cast the seed of his teaching, and disturbed the entire flock.

In the bitterness of his bonds, he saw that the watchmen were asleep. And he began to uproot openly, by means of scandals and divisions, of the many. One pure body of the Church, which stands with the many, he divided into factions by means of the changes of his teachings. The field which the diligent cultivated through the pains of their affliction, he measured and filled his bonds, and in it he placed a grievous thorn. The errant assembly of Chaldeans, that great one of thoughts, entered like lambs in the likeness of sheep, and they consumed the bodies of the flock. The gentle voice of the law, which used to water the land of the soul, he changed the tones of his voice so that the heretics would not receive it. And when this was not enough for him, that the vessels which the Holy Spirit had filled were a dwelling for the foul spirit, which gave hearings to the pure, the captives who were saved by the cross from the captivity of the slanderer, turned and became enslaved to the pure, by will and not by force. The invited ones whom grace called to the wedding feast of the bride of Rome, behold, they went out and became guests who did not rejoice in the feast. When this was not enough for him, and the hope of the life of his revelation, and the resurrection of the future, he exchanged for earthly things. And who can arrange the thorns in our days, which were established in them by evils, by the great custom of habit? He hid the pain from the medicine, and the remedies fled from it.

and cannot bring the known ones near. The pain of the simple ones is a wound. Teachers put on harsh discourses, and learners a harsh voice. And a sweet and gentle yoke they made harsh for their straying ones. He sought new things in our day from teachers of the laity. When the law was laid down for us to keep the hours and the day, they left the path of the priests and the known ones also trod it. And they went forth, treading in the ways of the error which the evil ones taught. They abolished the entire law by the festivals of the days, and renewed for us Judaism with new laws which they handed down. And they forgot the spiritual books and the staff of their words. And from the midst of the thoughts of their minds they set up laws of denial. They left off speaking of love and of hope and of faith. And every hour they disturb and are disturbed, empty and foolish dreams. And if a known one is pure and complete in the midst of their words, they draw the sword of their tongues and kill him entirely with silence. Thus he is not able to be tested, and he divided against God. And he teaches a new teaching and does not believe that the dream is true. He who teaches novelties or who is silent from knowledge—he who is disturbed by the Scripture or he who establishes it in the midst. They darkened the light of knowledge and did not wish that it come to agreement. And he is in the midst of the chosen one, that he might humble himself and come to truth. And from every side the adversary, his desires are now being fulfilled.

among the outsiders he poured out the just ones, and among the insiders the corrupt ones. The known one was not able to be hidden on account of the laughter of our days. The good seed of Christ, his field, the evil one scattered with his storms. But then he stirred up [...] waters and stood and lamented for us in his wailings. For he knew that the tares would come upon the evils of sins. The good gold, behold, he rejects and receives refuse openly. The heavy ones he made light and swift, and the honor of the fool he made to laugh. Come, see the anger of the son of Amos, the iniquity of the peoples as of a people. For he called the evil one good, and the good one he named evil. He mixed the sweet with the bitter, and the refuse with the true. For the confusion of the order disturbs the ordinances, the unexamined duty. Arise, O farmer of souls, Paul the great and glorious, and see the field of your teaching, which is filled with evil from its forest. The architect of the good and perfect one built churches in four directions. Come, see the height of your building, when the laymen have hidden it. The sailor who sailed on the sea and saved his ship from the waves. Arise and see the ship of the church, which the young winds have shattered. Simon the great of the apostles, the hunter of birds and fish, come, see the hunting of your teaching, which the evil one has snared with his corruptions. A thousand a day I used to hunt with that power of apostleship, and besides that, many backbiters on account of his envy. The twelve apostles, the enlightened ones who illuminated the world with their flames.

Arise and drive out from the cultivation the cloud of mist that the evil one spread. The messengers whom the king sent to the ruin of the whole inhabited world. Come, expel the righteous ones whom the slanderer cast into the church. The laborers of the land of the peoples who uprooted the forest of falsehood. Arise, cleanse the field of the church from the tares of the evil one. The salt that seasoned the simple ones, and they placed in it a sweet taste. By their words you are cleansed, the thoughts that the evil one corrupted. Come, my brothers, turn to the path that truth taught in the sermons. And do not err in the way of falsehood in which many have stumbled. Come, approach the exposition of the words of the scriptures. And heal the blemishes of your standing with the words that the Holy Spirit wrote. And take medicine for your pains from the root of their words. So that you may know the sufferings of your people and be able to heal its defects. The pain of your people has cried out for harsh remedies, and it is not ashamed when it confesses the hidden blemishes of its sins. Come, approach, ask for mercy from the great sea of mercies. That he may bestow the treasure of his gift upon the evil and the oppressors. The tears of our fathers have humbled themselves over the ruins of your sins. And may he bend your trembling away from the snare in which you err. Pursue from yourselves pride, and uproot from yourselves envy. And plant love in your thoughts with hope and faith. And uproot from yourselves the tares that the evil one sows in his envy. And receive the good seed that the word of life sowed in you.

Cultivate the land of your thoughts, and uproot the forest of your sins. Prepare your hearing for the living teaching of the Spirit. Behold, the medicines of the books— come, approach them. And with the tears of repentance, heal the pains of your afflictions. Behold, the apostles, the physicians who healed the pain of your sickness. Show them the pains of your soul, that they may help your distress. Behold, the sea of mercies, our Lord— approach and ask for help. The feast of his coming is here, that sinners may approach him. With what shall I begin the lamentation that will not accuse you in the house of judgment? For there is no place there for tears, nor for repentance, nor for appeasement. The feast of his coming has arrived, the feast of the sinner who longed for his portion. Prepare dishes for the banquet, that there may be no laughter there. Behold, the feast that was bartered for the talent that our Redeemer gave you. Do not squander the coin of his word, lest you be counted among evil servants. Pour oil into your lamps, that you may not lack what is to come. With the five senses, enter with him into the bridal chamber. Or, if you have been immersed in sin, arise from the stupor of your illness. For the great morning has arrived and has darkened the lanterns. The workers of the letter of wickedness, at the completion of the day's work, receive the wage of his gift, that you may rejoice with those of old. Behold, he has opened the door of his mercy and called the merciful to his feast. That they may help us in the struggle against his accusers who are without slander.

The Parable of the Seed of Tares He who spoke the truth said: I saw that the teaching of the seed of his word was sweet. And when I desired to cut off the bitterness of his tares, the pain of the good ones turned out to be greater than the iniquity of the wild ones. The wild ones rejected the pasture and went out and became strangers. And the inward ones strayed after them and thought that they were within. They abandoned the path of the Scriptures, in which are placed the eloquent words of the Spirit. And they went out and shone in the streets, which are filled with the dust of the soldiers. They devoured and were crushed, their bodies were broken, and they did not perceive when they were struck. The sweet one led them astray with the cunning snares of his disturbances. The error of these I lament, that the pain of their sorrows may come to an end. For the watchful one has buried the sleeping ones who sank in sin. With weeping I desired to be comforted by the might of the fire. For the pain that has grown old by habit is healed by a strong medicine. Christ, who renews your nature, do not weary of your suppliants. With mercy you have called your heirs, do not be angry with the strangers.