On Isaiah's Vision

On the Vision of the Seraphs that Isaiah Saw A Memra of Three Hundred and Seventy On the Vision of the Seraphs that Isaiah Saw And He Stood before the Holy Church A Homily Blessed is he who examines the worship in the hand of his true ones, my brethren. Glorious is the Creator who, in his revelation, magnifies his servants, and through visions distributes his wealth to the sons of his house. He is equal to glory, for he is not diminished by praise; he gives his glory to those who praise him, that they might praise him. His glory is in himself, and glory is not added to glory; yet if he is praised by those who praise him, he magnifies his glory. Glory is all his, and from his praise his ranks are filled; and he is not diminished, and from his gift he dispenses all. He is without body, yet in forms he appears; he is without voice, yet through the senses of hearing he makes his voice heard. In every form he shows himself to the work of his hands, and in every image he paints his mysteries before the beholders. The greatness of his love he shows in the vision of forms of forms, that through the senses he might entice the mind to approach his truth. He shows to Adam a vision that is like the senses of his body, and as to a child he calls him, that he might incline the clarity of his body. He speaks with the spirit through the daughter of voice, the corporeal sound, and teaches him to make a house of salvation for himself and for all.

He called Abraham and interpreted with him according to his language, and sealed him with the name of the Lord; his children call by his name. He took hold of his power in the hands of Jacob, the man of the image, and showed him how to hold the hidden generation in manifest senses. He went with Joseph to the language that resembles that of the Egyptians, and gave him power to perceive in the mysteries. He revealed his greatness on Mount Sinai to Ithamar son of Aaron, and filled him with spirit to speak about his ordinances. He formed a demonstration of his goodness before Elijah, that he might know how to compare the evil of his beloved ones. He also now put on a fitting form and stood in the sanctuary, to reveal to the people the greatness of his glory that is incomprehensible. With great glory he desired to show and spread out to the people, and a certain man drew near to him to be examined by him. To Ithamar Isaiah he revealed his greatness in the holy temple, and established orders of angels that sanctify him. He withdrew from the height and descended into the depth, not in a lamenting manner, and stood on the earth, not in truth but in name. He summoned the watchers, called the angels, beckoned to the cherubim, and showed the vision of the one who fills the overflowing river. Birds flew and doves soared, the swift ones ran, and they thought that he had arrived and that his sign had preceded him to the earth. The trumpets cried out, the orders arranged themselves, the ranks set themselves in order, and the armor changed; they put on the power of the spirit to be empowered.

The chariots drove on the faces of the heights without paths, and the power of essence between their ranks without confusion. The power of the king held firm with the authority that rules over kings, and the way was not trodden in the air beneath their feet. The hidden command of the host and the forces descended, and no man perceived the sound of its descent except one. One man from humanity saw its division, and stood and wept at the greatness of his power and his ministers. One man saw his vision not with sight, but with a cloud that he was able to make for seeing. With a hidden cloud he saw the vision that is not seen, and in thought he ascended with the watchers to the temple of holiness. To the temple of holiness he ascended by the command of the one who rules over all, and his ministers stood to minister to him in holiness. A throne of glory they prepared for him, they placed it as for a king, and they set a crown of radiance between him and them. A veil of glory the ministers spread before their eyes, so that they might not be confounded by the person of the king who dwelt in glory. Wings that were with them were a covering for their faces, and they concealed the senses that stood from shame, not by custom. The senses revealed not bodies to the eye of the body, and they hid themselves from the praise of the greatness of the vision. Like curtains they wrapped their wings over their faces, so that they might not be singed by the ember of the fire of the vision.

The vision of the circle was visible before their eyes, and terrible were the splendors in it with the fullness of the eyes. It was wondrously terrible, and there was nothing else more terrible than it, and it was lovely, and the voice of their sanctities bore witness. Wings they had like mediators between him and them; in them the thresholds of the sanctity of their thoughts approached him. Six wings they spread from the shoulders without riding, and they divided the ways of their forms between them. Two of them covered their faces without shapes, and two of them hid their feet in them when there was no foot. Two of them raised wings to fly swiftly, and they began to cry out holily the voices of sanctity. "Holy, holy, holy, Lord," their ranks cried out, and the foundations of the temple of sanctity trembled at their sanctities. Three sanctities they cried out equally, one authority, and in their threefoldness they revealed one lordship over all. "Lord of Hosts" they called to the one who holds all, and they proclaimed the essence as triune in a hidden manner. They proclaimed the Trinity on earth through their sanctities, and according to the order they rendered the thanksgiving that they were obligated. Three times they repeated the praise with a wondrous voice, and they prepared a way for the fire to call the three names.

The three heavens were hidden in the name of that holiness, and the watchers advanced and examined the letters in their sanctities. And what is it that the three powers sanctified alone, and did not again add nor again diminish from the measure? If their service is holiness continuously, why did they not sanctify without satiety as is their custom? Without measure they were obligated to sanctify, and what is the cause that they ceased and were silent from that which is without end? Thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads, if they had praised, the praise would be small for that glorification which was being glorified. Heaven and earth, if they had cried out with their limbs, they would not have sufficed to praise him as is fitting. The whole creation, if it had hung before him with its bodies, it would be too small for the recompense of the splendors of glory. Without measures, the creator is great from the creatures, and without limit, the small ones are small from his greatness. And if it is so, as their changes testify, why did the watchers seal the holiness with three powers? It was not that the spirits were silent from glorification, nor that they concealed the recompense of those who were obligated or that they were oppressing. They showed a great order on earth in their sanctities, a pure mystery of three hidden in the letters, concealed in his essence.

One being they learned when creation was established at the beginning, and after the sacrifice they stood in the wailing of the truth of the upright orders. The hidden mystery was revealed to them, hidden not in the open, but because they sought each one in his time of the mystery. Mystically they placed the praise three times, and they did not perceive the power that was hidden within their words. They spoke words, and their understanding was not clarified; they sanctified holiness, and what its cause was they did not suffice to comprehend. O the spirit of the watcher who guided creation toward the Creator, that the beautiful one might pursue the promise of the Father and the Son and the Spirit. The holy ones arranged the foundation, placing in it the likeness of the perfect ones, so that no one who walks in their sanctities might be disturbed. "Holy, holy, holy" they cried out over the earth, and the earth trembled, and they taught it the order of the power of the being that is not limited. The power of the being they taught, and they went to the sanctuary, and they taught through Isaiah the great wonder. The great wonder the son of Amos saw in the heavens, how glorious and how awesome it was to the sanctuary. In the wonder that was there, the thoughts of the son of the Hebrews wondered, and he directed his gaze from every place toward the promise of the vision. In the wonder of the vision and its ministers, the seer wondered how much he delighted from the revelations that spoke with him. In the measure that was there, he wondered much more than himself, because when the spirit went, he delighted from the spiritual vision.

How then did he move the foundations of the force that was wondrous? And how did they hide their faces, the fearful ones, from the rays? How then did he strike and set up walls, walls, and cast upon them a curtain and a covering, and behold it is consumed? For what do the voices of holiness cry out, when they are terrible? And upon what are they unable to bear their gaze toward the limit of the vision? Why do they conceal their faces within their wings? And for what do they cry out three voices and do not return again? In the midst of the divisions stood the prophet, upon what he saw, that the wonder of the vision made him to be divided. Is it something that I have seen, or is it not? Is it shown to me, or perhaps also to others? Is it a body, and does he see corporeally in it? Or perhaps it is a shadowy thing that is not true? Is it in the flesh that I entered and stood within the sanctuary? Or perhaps I saw it in the air, when I did not see it? It is and it is not; the Israelite was perplexed in the likeness of his father, who was equal to the vision that resembles his own. Also Israel was equal to the sight that is high above him, and the name Israel was interpreted for him: "He who sees God." The vision of the son of Israel resembles the vision of his father, and one is the force that shows its power there, and it is established.

That command which took hold of his self by the hands of Jacob again showed also to Isaiah the vision of the wonder. A great wonder the seer, son of seers, saw, and he stood and was amazed in a trembling of senses, as if by tremblings. Without satiety he was amazed at the beauty of the vision, and the more he gazed, again he gazed, gently. Gentle was the sight of the vision upon his mind, and he did not expect his eye to tire of gazing at the fairness of its beauty. As much as he was amazed at the seraphs, so much awe and love were added within his mind. As their wings were covering their faces, he within himself was spreading out to be hidden. As the voice of "Holy, Holy" of the Holy One was heard, that which is not equal nor considered to be heard, he was. As the vision of the Holy of Holies was seen, the power of the Creator was considered to be loosed in his deeds. In the Holy of Holies he saw the vision that was shown to him, and the holiness of the sanctifiers was not sufficient to take its measure. Great and abundant was the vision that he saw beyond all visions, and a witness to the vision of the spiritual ones that was not sufficient for him. Their wings were folded to their faces, their mind was amazed, and they were not strong enough to be amazed at the radiance of the vision.

They were not and were revealed from the covering of their faces. And when it was good that they be covered, they were not covered as was fitting. A fragment and love filled the vision for the beholder in it. And he would arrange and terrify wisely. By both of them the seer stood to be examined. And he was cut off and wearied to approach and to remain. Hard pangs struck at his discernment. And it would destroy so that the vision shown to him might not be born. In the likeness of a yoke, the vision was grievous for his nature. By his senses he went out to proclaim the greatness of its power. The good seed of the spirit of revelation received his thought. And it was purified greatly, though it was not worthy of such a thing. The folly of his body and the greatness of his iniquity were revealed. And distinctly he was amazed at the signs he saw. The pain of his sins pierced him beyond mortals. And he was ashamed to lift his gaze to the face of the vision. When he desired to look well at the beauty of its splendor, he saw in his standing pain and was troubled over his faults. When he wearied at the voice of the wakeful ones who cry out holy, he remembered the impurity among the people of his nation and covered his face.

When the pure spirit was revealed, the vision was its own. It hastened and ceased, so that it perished from the living. In a furnace of pains the prophet was cast before the revelation, and he was afflicted that he might hear the voice of the forgiveness of iniquity. The pain of his iniquity and of the sins of his people tormented him, and bitterly he was consumed within his thought. "Woe is me," said the sorrowful one to his standing, "that I have defiled myself with the briberies of the iniquity of the people. Woe is me that I have seen the sight of the faces and their thoughts, and I have stood to behold in the clarity of the vision of the power of the essence. Woe is me that I have again become a wanderer who is confused in sins, and I have desired to see the sign of one who rides upon the wandering of the firmament." In judgment the sorrowful one accuses himself, the sorrowful prophet, and before the judgment he condemns himself who is not condemned. Like a guilty one the righteous one stood before the revelation, and until he swallowed the censer, he confessed that he was guilty. Like a wrestler he stretched out his standing in the repentance of the soul, and he confessed to himself until the sinews of his hunters were cut. Harsh sinews he cut upon himself, though they did not follow him, and distinctly he separated the penalty of the guilty man. In place of the guilty he condemns himself, though not guilty, and in his confessions he shows signs from the guilty. A good intercessor he became for his people against sorrow, and by his supplication wrath was calmed and anger ceased.

He made his great mystery known to the prophet, and in the orders of his rank he knew how to mount the chariot of the hidden portals. The command that was hidden in the vision heard the answer of his words, and he sent it by the hand of the spiritual messenger. The man of spirit sent the vision toward the son of Amoz, so that he might tremble in his members at the good news of the remission of iniquity. The good news brought a watcher to the son of the Hebrews, which was full of peace and in which there was a sign of the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins the spirit carried in the hand of its movements, and gave to the prophet to conceal himself with it from the tumults. The consummation of the mystery gave a sign to the spiritual one, that he should approach and take the mystery by its hilt and offer it to him. Mystery to mystery he commanded him to take the mystical one, and to destroy with it the forest of iniquity that was burning in fire. The forest of iniquity was burning in the tinder of the sins of Adam, and he sent the hidden one to its end by the hand of the heavenly one. The sickle of the mystery showed him that he should stretch out between the ears of grain and reap the forest, and the seed that was not to be harvested would remain. Like a reaper, the spiritual one approached the son of Amoz, and reaped his iniquity with the sickle that held the sign in his hand. The consummation of the mystery he saw when it was placed on the holy altar, and he approached and took it in the hand of the mystery as he was commanded. With the hilt of the mystery he brought the mystical mysteries to the mystery, and placed it upon the lips of the spiritual ones.

O the wonder that happened to the son of Amos, which was being accomplished, that while he was burning, he was not consumed by the fire. A flame to a flame did not touch one another except for something, and a burning coal took hold in his mouth and did not move. He felt no pain from the brightness of its intensity, and his body felt no pains when it approached him. O the flame that did not touch the vision of the flame, O the body that the tongues of fire did not consume. It was not a flame that took hold of the seer in the tongs of flame, nor was the burning a complete thing that approached him. It was not in a body that he saw the vision that was shown to him, nor was the vision shown in a bodily manner. The Creator did not place his sign in the temple of holiness, nor did the Seraphs move their wings perceptibly. It was not with a perceptible voice that the spirits cried out, nor did Isaiah hear the voice with the senses of his body. Spiritually the revelation was upon the burning, and in the creation he saw that which he saw, and it was not with eyes. With the eyes of the air he saw the vision that cannot be seen, and with his thought he heard the voice that cannot be perceived. With hidden movements he interpreted the hidden sign with him, and precisely he understood the revelation with his thoughts. With movements the complete spirit also approached his movements, when the whole was not a complete thing but a vision.

It was a vision, then, that was being shown truly, not in a body but in a vision without substance. Without hands, it took a perfect spirit that has no existence, and without a tongs, it brought it to the mouth of one who is clothed in a body. With a tongs that has no existence, it took the perfect one that is not seen, and brought it to the mouth of the visible one that is without sight. With a voice that has no body, it spoke to the ear that is not corporeal, together with the corporeal one, and revealed and showed him the forgiveness of the iniquity that takes away the stain. Behold, this one has approached your mouth, said the watcher, that it might pass over your iniquity and loose the bonds of the sins of your soul. Behold, it has left your iniquity and cancelled the bond of your guilt. Arise, go out, proclaim the message of forgiveness to the sons of your race. Behold, it has shown me a secret sign that alighted in the vision, that I might bring to you the medicine of mercies without hands. Behold, it has shown me by what it heals the pain of your soul, and how it cancels the bond of the sins that are upon your members. By the fire, show me how to expel from you the stain of sins, and by it test for me that the truth of faith may be revealed. Why then, by the sign of the fire that purifies, does it purify the soul itself? For this fire is a purifying one, that of the purified. Why then, by the tongs, did the watcher take it, and it was not in his hand? For the power of the spirit is hidden from the silent one.

Why did the fire take from the altar of the sacrifices, when those sacrifices were being purified and not the fire? With the sacrifices of sheep the Israelites were being purified, and why did it not take from the sacrifices and offer to him? With the blood of calves the pure in soul were being atoned, and why did it not place blood on his mouth and conceal his sins? It was not heard that the fire of Isaiah touched the limbs, and the spirit did not stand still, the fire seized the senses. The fire of the coals is very much a covering for the law, and there is nothing in it like the ordinance that Moses delivered. Moses and Aaron used to sprinkle on sinners, not on the mouth but with hyssop and with censers. It is a new thing that the seraph of the spirit performed for Isaiah, and there is no likeness for it in the whole Mosaic ordinance. Come, explain to us, priest who stains with blood, what is this that the watcher performed for Bar Gessat? Come, show us, Israelite who saw God, what is the power that is hidden in the vision that you saw with your eyes? Come, examine for us, the concealer of iniquity with the blood of animals, why did the spirit not cover the iniquity of your brother with blood? Why did it not sprinkle blood on his hand or on his side, as Moses and Aaron taught those who are to be saved? Why was the great ordinance that used to govern you changed, and the watcher taught you to walk on a path that you do not see?

Nothing was lacking in him in the vision that he saw. And your interpretation is not a mystery, but the truth that passes through mysteries. The manifest truth proclaims the mystery through its actions, and a clear path precedes the beginning before the deeds. The cessation of the sacrifices of the Law was formed in the completion, and the abandonment of the iniquity of the one who is true from that which is full of its purity. A great wealth that cannot be grasped was hidden in its sight, and the gift of life that is high from the earth is discovered in it. The pure holiness proclaims the voice of the heavens, and it was not heard that they sanctified thus except now. The Trinity, full, cries out the cry of their holiness, and in a trinitarian manner it teaches the fire to sanctify. Three voices were joined and cried out three times; they taught the order that exists in the being of three in one. As with a finger, they showed the sign to the earthly ones, that the dead saw and sanctified beautifully, like the daughter of our voice. Three equal persons proclaimed in their holiness, and they interpreted the sign in the mouth of Isaiah, as true ones. The truth that was in them they revealed to the prophet mysteriously, and they placed it as a deposit in the writings, as in a treasure. In the treasure of the books he placed the mystery that was revealed to him, and he sealed it in silence until it is interpreted by the deeds. Silence cast a seal upon the holiness in the form of a seal, so that the eyes of flesh and their wanderings would not see into it.

His sacrifice was pure, holy, and clean, to be examined upon that hidden mystery, silent before the seers. By a mystery he first revealed his revelation, a revelation through spiritual mouths, and he showed to man how to keep the order of the completion of the sacrifices. For the completion of the sacrifices he was destined to reveal the mystery of the sanctity, and he placed it first like a guide in the scriptures. Even the spirits in this manner sanctified and kept silent, so that every man might know what is the cause of the three sacrifices. Even the interpretation that he gave to the mystery, he gave through the word, so that when they are disturbed from the interpretation, they might know upon what it is. Even the completion of the evil error, in a full season, how it approached the mouth of the flesh and was not consumed. How then did it give to it the power of interpretation without distinction, and how did death revive the dead who died in his sins? Death is a fire, how if it is a burning heat, and it is not a distinction, how if there is in it the spark of fire? The mystery of the gift of bread and wine within it, that when the dead are, they give life to those who receive them. By bread and wine he was destined to make man live, and he first revived the body of man in the vision of fire. The gate held the face of the divided creation, that if they make life difficult for him, the life of bread, and look upon the completion.

The earth, a completed sacrifice, a silent mystery, the sins of the body and blood of man cannot conceal sins. The earth, a true word for you, that the forgiveness of iniquity has been abandoned; why did it become incarnate for the forgiveness of the mysteries? The earth, a vision of the Trinity, you wished to take; why did you not take the substance, the truth of the Trinity? The Trinity is a mystery of revelation that was for the son of Amos, that this truth conceals everything in bread and wine. The pattern of truth was formed in the vision of that revelation, and it was drawing man to approach its interpretation. And his forms, like a visible image, and they brought him in and placed him in the holy of holies, the lawgiver. Lawfully they delineated spiritual forms, and when it was good, thus he was disturbing the good from the law. The colors were bright, the pigments that were formed in it, and it was not mixed with the blood of silent animals. The sacrifice was not like the sacrifice of the pagans to the silent sacrifices, nor the praise of those who praise him to the praise of Moses. It was very glorious, and there was no praise that resembled his praise, for even his praise of the holy temple blossomed in his vision. In the holy temple, his forms, the watchers, depicted the truth, and as to a king they cried out praise to him in the house of his kingdom.

In the splendor of his glorious praise, the son of Amoz was astounded, and he was in his eyes as the world, and his glory as nothing. Nor did he consider the world to be in the measure of his glory, and as it is, so it seemed to him, and better than this. And as if in another world, the prophet hoped for what is, and he stood to accuse the iniquity of the people in his own person. A righteous man grieved over the people for himself, on behalf of all mankind, and he saw that all nature was imprisoned under sins. Woe! He rode upon the voice of his words like a lamentation, and he wept over the sufferings of mankind compassionately. "Woe is me!" he said, "Woe indeed, and woe to the nature of mankind, whom iniquity has imprisoned in the prison of death." He lamented greatly over the nature of mortals, more than all that were, and he was weak in strength from the fleshly nature that was contending with him. He saw the Judge, who is good, standing for his rising, and he had pity on the lowliness of all nature through the mercy that was upon him. He saw him accusing the denials of his body in himself, and he sent him to be a schoolmaster for the rejection of iniquity. He saw that he did not take upon his own face to announce its iniquity, and he sent him with a spirit to cleanse in him the iniquity of the people. He saw that he knew righteously that he would judge without corruption, and he gave him the rod of righteousness to chastise the wicked.

As a firstborn in his calling to the truth of his faith, he made his mouth a key to the mysteries of the hidden things. With a voice he made heard, he did not cease to aim at the son of his house, who was considered to be the one who would proclaim his words. To what end did he send, and to what end did he go? He cried out, "Revelation!" and he opened the door of the way: "I will go, I will go in love." To what end then did he ask, knowing all, as if he did not know, since he knew what he would do for his fulfillment? He asked that he might hear; the messenger hastened his thought, and he chose for himself to serve the command of his Lord. In love he received that he might proclaim the truth among the nations of the erring, and by his will he chose for himself toil on behalf of the sinners. "I will go, I will go," he said to the revelation that would speak with him, and "I will interpret the truth of your name without concealment. I will proclaim, I will proclaim the power of your being among the earth-dwellers, and I will abolish the name of the gods of the work of the erring. Give me the seal of your great name, which cannot be falsified, that I may be armed with your name against the false names that are not true. Write for me the decree that casts down the hand of your divinity, that I may read it before all, and let every man know that all is yours. Place in my hands the simple scepter of the spirit of your will, that I may shatter with it the magical images that the demons have mounted. O blessed one, glorious among the blessed, how much did he labor, that he bore the weight of the proclamation that was entrusted to him.

O the swiftness of the course, how slight was his running, that he might reach the goal of his desire at the place where he was sent. O the seer of beautiful things, how fair he gazed, and his thought soared upon the revelation that is high above his power. O the upright one, how he knew to distinguish rightly, that he might gaze upon his standing and condemn the iniquity of the whole world. Come, establish for us the sign that resembles the manner of Amos, and behold his countenance through the censer of our incense. Come, be instructed concerning our mysteries in his likeness, and know our iniquity until the coming of our future day. Confess the sin as he confessed before the revelation, that he might be worthy to hear the voice of forgiveness as he heard.