The Secret Book of James

James writes to you. Peace be with you from Peace, love from Love, grace from Grace, faith from Faith, life from Holy Life!

Since you asked me to send you a secret book which was revealed to me and Peter by the Lord, I could neither refuse you nor speak directly to you, but I have written it in Hebrew letters and have sent it to you - and to you alone. But inasmuch as you are a minister of the salvation of the saints, endeavor earnestly and take care not to recount this book to many - this which the Savior did not desire to recount to all of us, his twelve disciples. But blessed are those who will be saved through faith in this discourse.

Now I sent you ten months ago another secret book with the Savior revealed to me. But that one you are to regard in this manner, as revealed to me, James.

Now the twelve disciples were sitting all together at the same time, and, remembering what the Savior had said to each one of them, whether secretly or openly, they were setting it down in books. And I was writing what was in my book - lo, the Savior appeared, after he had departed from us while we gazed at him. And five hundred and fifty days after he arose from the dead, we said to him: "Have you gone and departed from us?"

And Jesus said: "No, but I shall go to the place from which I have come. If you desire to come with me, come."

They all answered and said: "If you bid us, we'll come."
He said: "Truly I say to you, no one ever will enter the Kingdom of Heaven if I bid him, but rather because you yourselves are full. Let me have James and Peter, in order that I may fill them." And when he called these two, he took them aside, and commanded the rest to busy themselves with that with which they had been busy.

The Savior said; "You have received mercy....
(7 lines missing) Do you not desire, then, to be filled? And is your heart drunk? Do you not desire, then, to be sober? Therefore, be ashamed! And now, waking or sleeping, remember that you have seen the Son of Man, and with him you have spoken, and to him you have listened. Woe to those who have seen the Son of Man! Blessed are those who have not seen the Man, and who have not consorted with him, and who have not spoken with him, and who have not listened to anything from him. Yours is life! Know, therefore, that he healed you when you were ill, in order that you might reign. Woe to those who have rested from their illness, because they will relapse again into illness! Blessed are those who have not been ill, and have known rest before they became ill. Yours is the Kingdom of God! Therefore I say to you, become full and leave no place within you empty, since the Coming One is able to mock you."

Then Peter answered: "Lord, three times you have said to us 'Become full', but we are full."
The Lord answered and said: "Therefore I say unto you, become full, in order that you may not be diminished. Those who are diminished, however, will not be saved. For fullness is good and diminution is bad. Therefore, just as it is good for you to be diminished and, on the other hand, bad for you to be filled, so also the one who is full is diminished; and the one who is diminished is not filled as the one who is diminished is filled, and the one who is full, for his part, brings his sufficiency to completion. Therefore, it is fitting to be diminished while you can still be filled, and to be filled while it is still possible to be diminished, in order that you can fill yourselves the more. Therefore become full of the spirit but be diminished of reason. For reason is of the soul; and it is soul."

And I answered, and said to him: "Lord, we can obey you if you wish. For we have forsaken our forefathers and our mothers and our villages and have followed you. Grant us, therefore, not to be tempted by the wicked Devil."
The Lord answered and said: "What is your merit when you do the will of the Father if it is not given to you by him as a gift, while you are tempted by Satan? But if you are oppressed by Satan and are persecuted and you do the Father's will, I say that he will love you and will make you equal with me and will consider that you have become beloved through his providence according to your free choice. Will you not cease, then, being lovers of the flesh and being afraid of sufferings? Or do you not know that you have not yet been mistreated and have not yet been accused unjustly, nor have you yet been shut up in prison, nor have you yet been condemned lawlessly, nor have you yet been crucified without reason, nor have you yet been buried shamefully, as was I myself, by the evil one? Do you dare to spare the flesh, you for whom the spirit is an encircling wall? If you contemplate the world, how long it is before you and also how long it is after you, you will find that your life is one single day and your sufferings, one single hour. For the good will not enter the world. Scorn death, therefore, and take concern for life. Remember my cross and my death and you will live."

And I answered and said to him: "Lord, do not mention to us the cross and the death, for they are far from you."
The Lord answered and said: "Truly I say to you, none will be saved unless they believe in my cross. But those who have believed in my cross, theirs is the Kingdom of God. Therefore, become seekers for death, just as the dead who seek for life, for that which they seek is revealed to them. And what is there to concern them? When you turn yourselves towards death, it will make known to you election. In truth I say to you, none of those who are afraid of death will be saved. For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who have put themselves to death. Become better than I; make yourselves like the son of the Holy Spirit."

Then I questioned him: "Lord how may we prophesy to those who ask us to prophesy to them? For there are many who ask us and who look to us to hear an oracle from us."
The Lord answered and said: "Do you not know that the head of prophecy was cut off with John?"
And I said: "Lord, it is not possible to remove the head of prophecy, is it?"
The Lord said to me: "When you come to know what 'head' is, and that prophecy issues from the head, then understand what is the meaning of 'Its head was removed'. I first spoke with you in parables, and you did not understand. Now, in turn, I speak with you openly, and you do not perceive. But it is you who were to me a parable in parables and what is apparent in what are open.

"Be zealous to be saved without being urged. Rather, be ready on your own and, if possible, go before me. For thus the Father will love you.

"Become haters of hypocrisy and evil thought. For it is thought which gives birth to hypocrisy, but hypocrisy is far from the truth.

"Let not the Kingdom of Heaven wither away. For it is like a date palm shoot whose fruits poured down around it. It put forth leaves and, when they budded, they caused the productivity of the date palm to dry up. Thus it is also with the fruit which came from this single root; when the fruit was picked, fruits were collected by many harvesters. It would indeed be good if it were possible to produce these new plants now; for then you would find the Kingdom.

"Since I have been glorified in this manner before this time, why do you all restrain me when I am eager to go? You have constrained me to remain with you eighteen more days for the sake of the parables. It sufficed for some persons to pay attention to the teaching and understand 'The Shepherds' and 'The Seed' and 'The Building' and 'The Lamps of the Virgins' and 'The Wage of the Workers' and 'The Double Drachma' and 'The Woman'.

"Become zealous about the Word. For the Word's first condition is faith; the second is love; the third is works. Now from these comes life. For the Word is like a grain of wheat. When someone sowed it, he believed in it; and when it sprouted, he loved it, because he looked forward to many grains in the place of one; and when he worked it, he was saved, because he prepared it for food. Again he left some grains to sow. Thus it is also possible for you all to receive the Kingdom of Heaven: unless you receive it through knowledge, you will not be able to find it.

"Therefore I say to you, be sober. Do not go astray. And many times I have said to you all together - and also to you alone, James, I have said - 'Be saved!' And I have commanded you to follow me, and I have taught you the response in the presence of the rulers. Observe that I have descended, and I have spoken, and I have troubled myself, and I have received my crown, when I saved you. For I have descended to dwell with you in order that you also may dwell with me. And when I found that your houses had no ceilings over them, I dwelt in houses which would be able to receive me when I descended.

"Therefore, obey me, my brothers. Understand what the great light is. The Father does not need me. For a father does not need a son, but it is the son who needs the father. To him I am going, for the Father of the Son is not in need of you.

"Pay attention to the Word. Understand Knowledge. Love Life. And no one will persecute you, nor will any one oppress you, other than you yourselves.

"O you wretched! O you unfortunates! O you dissemblers of the truth! O you falsifiers of knowledge! O you sinners against the spirit! Do you even now dare to listen, when it behooved you to speak from the beginning? Do you even now dare to sleep, when it behooved you to be awake from the beginning, in order that the Kingdom of Heaven might receive you? In truth I say to you, it is easier for a holy one to sink into defilement, and for a man of light to sink into darkness, than for you to reign - or even not to reign!

"I have remembered your tears and your grief and your sorrow. They are far from us. Now, then, you who are outside the inheritance of the Father, weep where it behooves you and grieve and proclaim that which is good, since the Son is ascending appropriately. In truth I say to you, had it been to those who would listen to me that I was sent, and had it been with them that I was to speak, I would have never descended upon the earth. And now, then, be ashamed on account of them.

"Behold, I shall depart from you. I am going and I do not desire to remain with you any longer - just as you yourselves have not desired. Now, then, follow me quickly. Therefore I say to you, for your sake I have descended. You are the beloved; you are those who will become a cause of life for many. Beseech the Father. Implore God often, and he will give to you. Blessed is the one who has seen you with him when he is proclaimed among the angels and glorified among the saints. Yours is life! Rejoice and be glad as children of God. Keep his will in order that you may be saved. Take reproof from me and save yourselves. I intercede on your behalf with the Father, and he will forgive you much."

And when we heard these things, we became elated, for we had been depressed on account of what we had said earlier. Now when he saw our rejoicing, he said: "Woe to you who are in want of an advocate! Woe to you who are in need of grace! Blessed are those who have spoken freely and have produced grace for themselves. Make yourselves like strangers; of what sort are they in the estimation of your city? Why are you troubled when you oust yourselves of your own accord and depart from your city? Why do you abandon your dwelling place of your own accord, readying it for those who desire to dwell in it? O you exiles and fugitives! Woe to you, because you will be caught! Or perhaps you imagine that the Father is a lover of humanity? Or that he is persuaded by prayers? Or that he is gracious to one on behalf of another? Or that he bears with one who seeks? For he knows the desire and also that which the flesh needs. Because it is not the flesh which yearns for the soul. For without the soul the body does not sin, just as the soul is not saved without the Spirit. But if the soul is saved when it is without evil, and if the spirit also is saved, then the body becomes sinless. For it is the spirit which animates the soul, but it is the body which kills it - that is, it is the soul which kills itself. Truly I say to you, the Father will not forgive the sin of the soul at all, nor the guilt of the flesh. For none of those who have worn the flesh will be saved. For do you imagine that many have found the Kingdom of Heaven? Blessed is the one who has seen himself as a fourth one in Heaven."

When we heard these things, we became distressed. Now when he saw that we were distressed, he said: "This is why I say this to you, that you may know yourselves. For the Kingdom of Heaven is like an ear of grain which sprouted in a field. And when it ripened, it scattered its fruit and, in turn, filled the field with ears of grain for another year. You also: be zealous to reap for yourselves an ear of life, in order that you may be filled with the Kingdom.

"As long as I am with you, give heed to me and obey me. But when I am to depart from you, remember me. And remember me because I was with you without your knowing me. Blessed are those who have known me. Woe to those who have heard and have not believed! Blessed are those who have not seen but have had faith!

"And once again I persuade you. For I am revealed to you building a house which is very valuable to you, since you take shelter under it; in the same way it will be able to support the house of your neighbors when theirs is in danger of falling. In truth I say to you, woe to those on behalf of whom I was sent down to this place! Blessed are those who are to ascend to the Father. Again I reprove you. You who are, make yourselves like those who are not, in order that you may come to be with those who are not.

"Let not the Kingdom of Heaven become desolate among you. Do not become arrogant on account of the light which illumines. Rather, become to yourselves in this manner, as I am to you. For I have placed myself under the curse, in order that you may be saved"

And Peter answered to this and said: "Sometimes you urge us on to the Kingdom of Heaven, and other times you turn us away, Lord. Sometimes you persuade us and impel us to faith and promise us life, and other times you expel us from the Kingdom of Heaven."

And the Lord answered and said to us: "I have given you faith many times. Moreover, I have revealed myself to you, James, and you have not known me. Again, now I see you rejoicing many times. And when you are elated over the promise of life, are you nevertheless glum? And are you distressed when you are taught about the Kingdom? But you through faith and knowledge have received life. Therefore, scorn rejection when you hear it, but, when you hear the promise, be the more glad. In truth I say to you, the one who will receive life and believe in the Kingdom will never leave it - not even if the Father desires to banish him!

"These things I shall say to you for the present. But now I shall ascend to the place from which I have come. But you, when I was eager to go, have driven me out, and, instead of your accompanying me, you have pursued me. But give heed to the glory which awaits me, and, having opened your hearts, listen to the hymns which await me up in heaven. For today I am obliged to take (my place) at the right hand of my Father. Now I have said my last word to you. I shall part from you. For a chariot of wind has taken me up, and from now on I shall strip myself in order that I may clothe myself. But give heed: blessed are those who have preached the Son before he descended, in order that, when I have come, I may ascend. Thrice-blessed are thos who were proclaimed by the Son before they came into being, in order that you may have a portion with them."

When he said these things, he went away. And we knelt down, I and Peter, and gave thanks, and sent our hearts up to heaven. We heard with our ears and saw with our eyes the sound of wars and a trumpet call and a great commotion.

And when we passed beyond that place, we sent out minds up further. And we saw with our eyes and heard with our ears hymns and angelic praises and angelic jubilation. And heavenly majesties were hymning, and we ourselves were jubilant.

After this, we also desired to send our spirits above to the Majesty. And when we ascended, we were permitted neither to see nor to hear anything. For the rest of the disciples called to us and questioned us: "What is it that you have heard from the Master?" And, "What has he said to you?" And, "Where has he gone?"

And we answered them: "He has ascended." And, "He has given us a pledge and has promised us all life and disclosed to us children who are to come after us, since he has bid us to love them, inasmuch as we will be saved for their sake."

And when they heard, they believed the revelation, but were angry about those who would be born. Then I, not desiring to entice them to scandal, sent each one to another place. But I myself went up to Jerusalem, praying that I may obtain a portion with the beloved who are to be revealed.

And I pray that the beginning may come from you, for thus I can be saved. Because they will be enlightened through me, through my faith and through another's which is better than mine, for I desire that mine become the lesser. Endeavor earnestly, therefore, to make yourself like them, and pray that you may obtain a portion with them. For apart from what I have recounted, the Savior did not disclose revelation to us. For their sake we proclaim, indeed, a portion with those for whom it was proclaimed, those whom the Lord has made his children.

Religious People

1. Religious people love recognition and the praise and attention of people
2. Religious people substitute religious ritual for the love of God
3. Religious people elevate secondary issues over the love for God
4. Religious people elevate religious ritual over the love for others
5. Religious people are more aware of the sins of others than their own
6. Religious people always think others are talking about other people’s sins and not their own

Ephraim of Syria's the Pearl: Seven Hymns

HYMN I.
** 1. **

On a certain day a pearl did I take up, my brethren;
I saw in it mysteries pertaining to the Kingdom;
Semblances and types of the Majesty;
It became a fountain, and I drank out of it mysteries of the Son.

I put it, my brethren, upon the palm of my hand,
That I might examine it:
I went to look at it on one side,
And it proved faces on all sides.
I found out that the Son was incomprehensible,
Since He is wholly Light.

In its brightness I beheld the Bright One Who cannot be clouded,
And in its pureness a great mystery,
Even the Body of Our Lord which is well-refined:
In its undividedness I saw the Truth
Which is undivided.

It was so that I saw there its pure conception,
The Church, and the Son within her.
The cloud was the likeness of her that bare Him,
And her type the heaven,
Since there shone forth from her His gracious Shining.

I saw therein his Trophies, and His victories, and His crowns.
I saw His helpful and overflowing graces,
And His hidden things with His revealed things.

** 2. **

It was greater to me than the ark,
For I was astonished thereat:
I saw therein folds without shadow to them
Because it was a daughter of light,
Types vocal without tongues,
Utterances of mystery without lips,
A silent harp that without voice gave out melodies.

The trumpet falters and the thunder mutters;
Be not thou daring then;
Leave things hidden, take things revealed.
Thou hast seen in the clear sky a second shower;
The clefts of thine ears,
As from the clouds,
They are filled with interpretations.

And as that manna which alone filled the people,
In the place of pleasant meats,
With its pleasantnesses,
So does this pearl fill me in the place of books,
And the reading thereof,
And the explanations thereof.

And when I asked if there were yet other mysteries,
It had no mouth for me that I might hear from,
Neither any ears wherewith it might hear me.
O Thou thing without senses, whence I have gained new senses!

** 3. **

It answered me and said,
"The daughter of the sea am I, the illimitable sea!
And from that sea whence I came up it is
That there is a mighty treasury of mysteries in my bosom!
Search thou out the sea, but search not out the Lord of the sea!

"I have seen the divers who came down after me, when astonied,
So that from the midst of the sea they returned to the dry ground;
For a few moments they sustained it not.
Who would linger and be searching on into the depths of the Godhead?

"The waves of the Son are full of blessing,
And with mischiefs too.
Have ye not seen, then, the waves of the sea,
Which if a ship should struggle with them would break her to pieces,
And if she yield herself to them, and rebel not against them,
Then she is preserved?
In the sea all the Egyptians were choked, though they scrutinised it not,
And, without prying, the Hebrews too were overcome upon the dry land,
And how shall ye be kept alive?
And the men of Sodom were licked up by the fire,
And how shall ye prevail?

"At these uproars the fish in the sea were moved,
And Leviathan also.
Have ye then a heart of stone
That ye read these things and run into these errors?
O great fear that justice also should be so long silent!"

** 4. **

"Searching is mingled with thanksgiving,
And whether of the two will prevail?
From the tongue
The incense of praise riseth
Along with the fume of disputation
And unto which shall we hearken?
Prayer and prying from one mouth,
And which shall we listen to?

"For three days was Jonah a neighbor in the sea:
The living things that were in the sea were affrighted,
Saying, 'Who shall flee from God?
Jonah fled,
And ye are obstinate at your scrutiny of Him!'"

HYMN II.
** 1. **

Whereunto art thou like?
Let thy stillness speak to one that hears;
With silent mouth speak with us:
For whoso hears the stammerings of thy silence,
to him thy type utters its silent cry concerning our Redeemer.

Thy mother is a virgin of the sea, though he took her not:
She fell into his bosom, though he knew her not;
She conceived thee near him, though he did not know her.
Do thou, that art a type, reproach the Jewish women
That have thee hung upon them.
Thou art the only progeny of all forms
Which art like to the Word on High,
Whom singly the Most High begot.
The engraven forms seem to be the type of created things above.
This visible offspring of the invisible womb
Is a type of great things.
Thy goodly conception was without seed,
And without wedlock was thy pure generation,
And without brethren was thy single birth.

Our Lord had brethren and yet not brethren,
Since He was an Only-Begotten.
O solitary one, thou type exact of the Only-Begotten!
There is a type of thine in the crown of kings,
Wherein thou hast brothers and sisters.
Goodly gems are thy brethren,
With beryls and unions as thy companions:
May gold be as it were thy kinsman,
May there be unto the King of kings
A crown from thy well-beloved ones!
When thou camest up from the sea, that living tomb,
Thou didst cry out,
Let me have a goodly assemblage of brethren, relatives and kinsmen.
As the wheat is in the stalk,
So thou art in the crown with princes:
And it is a just restoration to thee, as if of a pledge,
That from the depth thou shouldest be exalted to a goodly eminence.
Wheat the stalk bears in the field;
Thee the head of the king upon his chariot carries about.

O daughter of the water,
Who hast left the sea, wherein thou wert born,
And art gone up to the dry land, wherein thou art beloved:
For men have loved and seized and adorned themselves with thee,
Like as they did that Offspring Whom the Gentiles loved
And crowned themselves withal.

It is by the mystery of truth that Leviathan is trodden down of mortals:
The divers put him off, and put on Christ.
In the sacrament of oil did the Apostles steal Thee away, and came up.
They snatched their souls from his mouth, bitter as it was.
Thy Nature is like a silent lamb in its sweetness,
Of which if a man is to lay hold,
He lifts it in a crucial form by its ears, as it was on Golgotha.
He cast out abundantly all His gleams upon them that looked upon Him.

** 2. **

Shadowed forth in thy beauty is the beauty of the Son,
Who clothed Himself with suffering when the nails passed through Him.
The awl passed in thee since they handled thee roughly,
As they did His hands;
And because He suffered He reigned,
As by they sufferings thy beauty increased.

And if they showed no pity upon thee,
Neither did they love thee:
Still suffer as thou mightest,
Thou has come to reign! Simon Peter showed pity on the Rock;
Whoso hath smitten it, is himself thereby overcome;
It is by reason of Its suffering
That Its beauty hath adorned the height and the depth.

HYMN III.
** 1. **

Thou dost not hide thyself in thy bareness, O pearl!
With the love of thee is the merchant ravished also,
For he strips off his garments;
Not to cover thee --
(thy clothing is thy light, thy garment is thy brightness,
O thou that art bared!)

Thou art like Eve who was clothed with nakedness.
Cursed be he that deceived her and stripped her and left her.
The serpent cannot strip off thy glory.
In the mysteries whose type thou art,
Women are clothed with Light in Eden.

** 2. **

Very glistening are the pearls of Ethiopia, as it is written,
Who gave thee to Ethiopia of black men.
He that gave light to the Gentiles,
Both to the Ethiopians and unto the Indians did His bright beams reach.

The eunuch of Ethiopia upon his chariot saw Philip:
The Lamb of Light met the dark man from out of the water.
While he was reading, the Ethiopian was baptized
And shone with joy, and journeyed on!

He made disciples and taught,
And out of black men he made men white.
And the dark Ethiopic women became pearls for the Son;
He offered them up to the Father, as a glistening crown from the
Ethiopians.

** 3. **

The Queen of Sheba
Was a sheep that had come into the place of wolves;
The lamp of truth did Solomon give her,
Who also married her when he fell away.
She was enlightened and went away,
But they were dark, as their manner was.

The bright spark which went down home with that blessed [Queen],
Held on its shining amid the darkness,
Till the new Day-spring came.
The bright spark met with this shining,
And illumined the place.

** 4. **
There are in the sea divers fishes of many cubits,
And with all their greatness they are very small;
But by thy littleness the crown is made great,
Like as the Son, by whose littleness Adam was made great.

For the head is thy crown intended:
For the eye thy beauty,
For the ear thy goodliness.
Come up from the sea, thou godliness to the dry land,
And come and sojourn by the [seat of] hearing.
Let the ear love the word of life as it loveth thee!

In the ear is the word,
And without it is the pearl.
Let it as being warned by thee,
By thee get wisdom, and be warned by the word of truth.
Be thou its mirror:
The beauty of the Word in thine own beauty shall it see:
In thee it shall learn how precious is the Word on High!
The ear is the leaf:
The flesh is the tree,
And thou in the midst of it are a fruit of light,
And to the womb that brings forth Light,
Thou art a type that points.

Thee He used as a parable of that kingdom, O pearl!
As He did the virgins that entered into it, five in number,
Clothed with the light of their lamps!
To thee are those bright ones like, thou that art clad in light!

** 5. **
Who would give a pearl to the daughter of the poor?
For when it hangs on her, it becomes her not.
Gain without price that faith, all of which becomes all the limbs of men.
But for no gold would a lady exchange her pearl.

It were a great disgrace
If thou shouldst throw thy pearl away into the mire for nought!

In the pearl of time
Let us behold that of eternity;
For it is in the purse, or in the seal, or in the treasury.
Within the gate there are other gates with their locks and keys.
Thy pearl hath the High One sealed up as taking account of all.
HYMN IV.
** 1. **

The thief gained the faith which gained him,
And brought him up and placed him in paradise.
He saw in the Cross a tree of life;
That was the fruit,
He was the eater in Adam's stead.

The fool, who goes astray,
Grazes the faith, as it were an eye,
By all manner of questions.
The probing of the finger blinds the eye,
And much more doth that prying blind the faith.

For even the diver pries not into his pearl.
In it do all merchants rejoice
Without prying into whence it came ;
Even the king who is crowned therewith
Does not explore it.

** 2. **

Because Balaam was foolish,
A foolish beast in the ass spoke with him,
Because he despised God Who spoke with him.
Thee too let the pearl reprove
In the ass's stead.

The people that had a heart of stone,
By a Stone He set at nought,
For lo, a stone hears words.
Witness its work that has reproved them ;
And you, ye deaf ones,
Let the pearl reprove to-day.

With the swallow and the crow did He put men to shame ;
With the ox, yea with the ass, did He put them to shame ;
Let the pearl reprove now,
O ye birds and things on earth and things below.

** 3. **

Not as the moon does thy light fill or wane ;
The Sun whose light is greater than all,
Lo! of Him it is that a type is shadowed out in thy little compass.
O type of the Son,
One spark of Whom is greater than the sun!

The pearl itself is full,
for its light is full ;
Neither is there any cunning worker who can steal from it ;
For its wall is its own beauty,
Yea, its guard also!
It lacks not,
since it is entirely perfect.

And if a man would break thee
To take a part from thee,
Thou art like the faith which with the heretics perishes,
Seeing they have broken it in pieces and spoiled it :
For is it any better than this
To have the faith scrutinized?

The faith is an entire nature
That may not be corrupted.
The spoiler gets himself mischief by it:
The heretic brings ruin on himself thereby.
He that chases the light from his pupils
Blinds himself.

Fire and air are divided when sundered.
Light alone, of all creatures,
As its Creator, is not divided;
It is not barren, for that it also begets
Without losing thereby.

** 4. **

And if a man thinks that thou art framed [by art]
He errs greatly;
Thy nature proclaims that thou, as all stones,
Art not the framing of art;
and so thou art a type of the Generation
Which no making framed.

Thy stone flees
From a comparison with the Stone [which is] the Son.
For thy own generation is from the midst of the deep,
That of the Son of thy Creator is from the highest height;
He is not like thee,
In that He is like His Father.

And as they tell,
Two wombs bare thee also.
Thou camest down from on high a fluid nature;
Thou camest up from the sea a solid body.
By means of thy second birth
Thou didst show thy loveliness to the children of men.

Hands fixed thee, when thou wast embodied,
Into thy receptacles ;
For thou art in the crown as upon the cross,
And in a coronet as in a victory ;
Thou art upon the ears, as if to fill up what was lacking ;
Thou extendest over all.

HYMN V.
** 1. **

O gift that camest up without price for the diver!
Thou laidest hold upon this visible light,
That without price rises for the children of men:
A parable of the hidden One
That without price gives the hidden Dayspring!

And the painter too paints a likeness of thee with colors.
Yet by thee is faith painted in types and emblems for colors,
And in the place of the image
By thee and thy colors is thy Creator painted.

O thou frankincense without smell,
Who breathest types from out of thee!
Though art not to be eaten,
Yet thou givest a sweet smell unto them that hear thee!
Though art not to be drunk,
Yet by thy story, a fountain of types art thou made unto the ears!

** 2. **
It is thou which art great in thy littleness, O pearl!
Small is thy measure and little thy compass with thy weight;
But great is thy glory:
To that crown alone in which thou art placed, there is none like.

And Who hath not perceived of thy littleness, how great it is;
If one despises thee and throws thee away,
He would blame himself for his clownishness,
For when he saw thee in a king's crown he would be attracted to thee.

** 3. **
Men stripped their clothes off and dived and drew thee out, O pearl!
It was not kings that put thee before men,
But those naked ones who were a type of the poor
And the fishers and the Galileans.

For clothed bodies were not able to come to thee;
They came that were stript as children;
They plunged their bodies and came down to thee;
And thou didst much desire them,
And thou didst aid them who thus loved thee.

Glad tidings did they give for thee:
Their tongues before their bosoms did the poor [fishers] open,
And produced and showed the new riches among the merchants:
Upon the wrists of men they put thee as a medicine for life.

** 4. **

The naked ones in a type saw thy rising again by the sea-shore;
And by the side of the lake they,
The Apostles of a truth,
Saw the rising again of the Son of thy Creator.
By thee and by thy Lord the sea and the lake were beautified.

The diver came up from the sea and put on his clothing;
And from the lake too Simon Peter came up swimming on his coat;
Clad as with coats, with the love of both of you, were these two.

** 5. **

And since I have wandered in thee, pearl,
I will gather up my mind
And by having contemplated thee,
Would become like thee,
In that thou art all gathered up into thyself;
And as thou in all times art one,
One let me become by thee!

Pearls have I gathered together that I might make a crown for the Son
In the place of stains which are in my members.
Receive my offering, not that Thou art shortcoming;
It is because of mine own shortcoming that I have offered it to Thee.
Whiten my stains!

This crown is all spiritual pearls,
Which instead of gold are set in love,
And instead of ouches in faith;
And instead of hands, let praise offer it up to the highest!

HYMN VI.
** 1. **

Would that the memory of the fathers would exhale from the tombs;
Who were very simple as being wise;
And reverend as believing.
They without cavilling searched for, and came to the right path.

He gave the law;
The mountains melted away;
Fools broke through it.
By unclean ravens He fed Elijah at the desert stream;
And moreover gave from the skeleton honey unto Samson.
They judged not, nor inquired why it was unclean,
Why clean.

** 2. **

And when He made void the Sabbaths,
The feeble Gentiles were clothed with health.
Samson took the daughter of the aliens,
And there was no disputing among the righteous;
The prophet also took a harlot,
And the just held their peace.

He blamed the righteous,
And He held up and lifted up their delinquencies:
He pitied sinners,
And restored them without cost:
And made low the mountains of their sins:
He proved God is not to be arraigned by men,
And as Lord of Truth.
That His servants were His shadow;
And whatsoever way His will looked,
They directed also their own wills;
And because Light was in Him,
Their shadows were enlightened.

** 3. **

How strangely perplexed are all the heretics by simple things!
For when He plainly foreshadowed this New Testament
By that of the Prophets,
Those pitiable men rose, as though from sleep,
And shouted out and made a disturbance.
And the Way, wherein the righteous held straight on,
And by their truths had gone forth therein,
That [Way] have these broken up, because they were besotted:
This they left and went out of;
Because they pried into it, it fell, and was lost.
Of the pearl they made a stone, that they might stumble upon it.

** 4. **
O Gift, which fools have made a poison!
The People were for separating Thy beauteous root from Thy fountain,
Though they separated it not:
Teachings estranged Thy beauty also from the stock thereof.

By Thee did they get themselves estranged,
Who wished to estrange Thee.
By Thee the tribes were cut off,
And scattered abroad from out of Zion,
And also the teachings of the seceders.

Bring Thyself within the compass of our littleness,
O Thou Gift of ours.
For if love cannot find Thee out on all sides,
It cannot be still and at rest.
Make Thyself small,
Thou Who art too great for all,
Who comest unto all!

** 5. **
By this would those who wrangle against our Pearl be reproved;
Because instead of love,
Strife has come in and dared to essay to unveil thy beauty.
It was not graven,
Since it is a progeny which cannot be interpreted.

Thou didst show thy beauty among the objects
To show whereto thou are like,
Thou Pearl that art all faces.
The beholders were astonied and perplexed at thee.
The separatists separated thee in two,
And were separated in two by thee,
Thou are of one substance throughout.

They saw not thy beauty,
Because there was not in them the eye of truth.
For the veil of prophecy,
Full as it was of the mysteries,
To them was a covering of thy glistering faces:
They thought that thou wast other [than thou art],
O thou mirror of ours!
And therefore these blind schismatics defiled thy fair beauty.

** 6. **
Since they have extolled thee too much,
Or have lowered thee too much,
Bring them to an even level.
Come down,
Descend a little that height of infidelity and heathendom;
And come up from the depth of Judaism, though thou art in Heaven.

Let our Lord be set between God and men!
Let the Prophets be as it were His heralds!
Let the Just One, as being His Father, rejoice!
That Word it is which conquered both Jews and Heathen!

** 7. **
Come, Thou Gift of Holy Church, stay, rest in the midst of Her!
The circumcised have troubled Thee,
In that they are vain babblers,
And so have the [false] doctrines in that they are contentious.
Blessed be He that gave Thee a good company which bears Thee about!

In the covenant of Moses is Thy brightness shadowed forth:
In the new covenant Thou dartest forth:
From those first Thy light shineth forth unto those last.
Blessed be He that gave us Thy gleam
As well as Thy bright rays.

HYMN VII.
** 1. **
As in a race saw I the disputers,
The children of strife,
[Trying]
To taste fire,
To see the air,
To handle the light:
They were troubled at the gleaming,
And struggled to make divisions.

The Son,
Who is too subtle for the mind,
Did they seek to feel:
And the Holy Ghost
Who cannot be explored,
They sought to explore with their questionings.
The Father,
Who never at any time was searched out,
Have they explained and disputed of.

The sound form of our faith is from Abraham,
And our repentance is from Nineveh and the house of Rahab,
And ours are the expectations of the Prophets,
Ours of the Apostles.

** 2. **
And envy is from Satan:
The evil usage of the evil calf is from the Egyptians.
The hateful sight of the hateful image of four faces is from the Hittites.
Accursed disputation, that hidden moth, is from the Greeks.

The bitter one read and saw orthodox teachings,
And subverted them;
He saw hateful things,
And sowed them;
He saw hope,
And he turned it upside down and cut it off.
The disputation that he planted,
Lo! it has yielded a fruit bitter to the tooth.

** 3. **
Satan saw that the Truth strangled him,
And united himself to the tares,
And secreted his frauds,
And spread his snares for the faith,
And cast upon the priests the darts of the love of pre-eminence.

They made contests for the throne,
To see which should first obtain it.
There was that meditated in secret and kept it close:
There was that openly combated for it:
And there was that with a bribe crept up to it:
And there was that with fraud dealt wisely to obtain it.

The paths differed,
The scope was one,
And they were alike.
Him that was young, and could not even think of it,
Because it was not time for him;
And him that was hoary and shaped out dreams
For time beyond;
All of them by his craftiness did the wicked one persuade and subdue.
Old men, youths, and even striplings, aim at rank!

** 4. **
His former books did Satan put aside,
And put on others:
The People who was grown old
Had the moth and the worm devoured and eaten and left and deserted:
The moth came into the new garment
Of the new peoples:

He saw the crucifiers who were rejected and cast forth as strangers:
He made of those of the household, pryers;
And of worshippers, they became disputants.
From that garment
The moth gendered
And wound it up and deposited it.

The worm gendered in the storehouse of wheat,
And sat and looked on:
And lo! the pure wheat was mildewed,
And devoured were the garments of glory!
He made a mockery of us,
And we of ourselves, since we were besotted!

He sowed tares,
And the bramble shot up in the pure vineyard!
He infected the flock,
And the leprosy broke out,
And the sheep became hired servants of his!
He began in the People,
And came unto the Gentiles, that he might finish.

** 5. **
Instead of the reed which the former people made the Son hold,
Others have dared with their reed to write in their tracts
That He is only a Son of man.
Reed for reed does the wicked one exchange against our Redeemer,
And instead of the coat of many vineyard, wherewith they clothed Him,
Titles has he dyed craftily.
With diversity of names he clothed Him;
Either that of creature or of a thing made, when He was the Maker.

And as he plaited for Him by silent men speechless thorns that cry out,
Thorns from the mind has he plaited [now] by the voice, as hymns;
And concealed the spikes amid melodies
That they might not be perceived.

** 6. **
When Satan saw that he was detected in his former [frauds];
That the spitting was discovered, and vinegar,
And thorns, nails and wood,
Garments and reed and spear,
Which smote him, and were hated and openly known;
He changed his frauds.

Instead of the blow with the hand, by which our Lord was overcome,
He brought in distractions;
And instead of the spitting,
Cavilling entered in;
And instead of garments,
Secret divisions;
And instead of the reed,
Came in strife to smite us on the face.

Haughtiness called for rage its sister,
And there answered and came envy,
And wrath, and pride, and fraud.
They have taken counsel against our Redeemer
As on that day when they took counsels at His Passion.

And instead of the cross,
A hidden wood hath strife become;
And instead of the nails,
Questionings have come in;
And instead of hell, apostasy:
The pattern of both Satan would renew again.

Instead of the sponge which was cankered with vinegar and wormwood,
He gave prying, the whole of which is cankered with death.
The gall which they gave Him did our Lord put away from Him;
The subtle questionings, which the rebellious one hath given,
To fools is sweet.

** 7. **
And at that time there were judges against them,
Lo, the judges are, as it were, against us,
And instead of a handwriting are their commands.
Priests that consecrate crowns,
Set snares for kings.

Instead of the priesthood praying for royalty
That wars may cease from among men,
They teach wars of overthrow,
Which set kings to combat with those round about.

O Lord, make the priests and kings peaceful;
That in one Church priests may pray for their kings,
And kings spare those round about them;
And may the peace which is within Thee become ours, Lord,
Thou that art within and without all things!

The hymn

1[Day and night will I offer my praise] and at all the appointed times which God has prescribed. When daylight begins its rule, when it reaches its turning-point,¹ and when it again withdraws to its appointed abode; When the watches of darkness begin, when God opens the storehouse thereof,² when He sets that darkness against the light,⁸ when it reaches its turning-point,⁴ and when it again withdraws in face of the light; When sun and moon shine forth from the holy Height, and when they again withdraw to the glorious Abode;⁵ When the formal seasons come on the days of new moon,⁶ when they reach their turning points,⁷ and when they yield place to one another, as each comes round anew;*

5 When the natural seasons come, at whatever time may be;

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*The text here incorporates a series of esoteric glosses which have been omitted from the translation.

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when, too, the months begin; on their feasts and on holy days, as they come in order due, each as a memorial in its season⁸-I shall hold it as one of the laws engraven of old on the tablets⁹ to render to God as my tribute the blessings of my lips.^1O When the [natural] years begin; at the turning-points of their seasons, and when each completes its term on its natural day, yielding each to each-reaping-time to summer, sowing4ime to verdure;

In the [formal] years of weeks, in the several seasons thereof, and when, at the jubilee, the series of weeks begins¹¹-yea, throughout my life, I shall hold it as one of the laws engraven of old on the tablets to offer to God as my fruits-the praises of my tongue, and to cull for him as my tithe the skilled melody of my lips. ¹² All my music shall be for the glory of God; my lyre and my harp shall be devoted to tell of His holy dispensation; I shall put the flute to my lips to rehearse the due poise of His judgments.

10 With the coming of day and night I shall come ever anew into God’s covenant; and when evening and morning depart, shall obve how He sets their bounds.¹³ Only where God sets bounds. the unchangeable bounds of His Law-will I too set my domain.¹⁴ I shall hold it as one of the laws engraven of old on the tablets to face my sin and transgression and avouch the justice of God. I shall say unto God: ‘You, for me, art the Right!’ and unto the Most High: ‘For me You art cause of all good!’ Fountain of all knowledge, Spring of holiness, Zenith of all glory, Might omnipotent, Beauty that never fades, I will choose the path He shows me, and be content with His judgments.

Whenever I first put forth my hand or foot, I will bless His name;¹⁵ when first I go or come, when I sit and when I rise,¹⁶ when I lie down on my couch, I will sing unto Him. At the common board, or ever I raise my hand to enjoy the rich yield of the earth, with the fruit of my own lips I will bless Him as with an oblation.¹⁷

At the onset of fear and alarm, or when trouble and stress are at hand, I will bless him with special thanksgiving and muse upon His power, and rely on His mercies always, and come thereby to know that in His hand lies the judgment of all living, and that all His works are truth.¹⁸ Whenever distress breaks out, I still will praise Him; and when His salvation comes, join the chorus of praise.¹⁹ I will heap no evil on any, but pursue all men with good,²⁰ knowing that only with God lies the judgment of all living, and He it is will award each man his deserts. I will not be envious of the profit of wickedness; for wealth unrighteously gotten my soul shall not 1ust²¹ I will not engage in strife with reprobate men,²² forestalling the Day of Requital.²³ I will not turn back my wrath from froward men, nor rest content until justice be affirmed.

I will harbor no angry grudge against those that indeed repent,²⁴ but neither will I show compassion to any that turn from the way. I will not console the smitten until they amend their course. I will cherish no baseness in my heart, nor shall there be heard in my mouth coarseness²⁵ or wanton deceit; neither shall there be found upon my lips deception and lies.²⁸

The fruit of holiness shall be on my tongue, and no heathen filth be found thereon. I will open my mouth with thanksgiving, and my tongue shall ever relate the righteousness of God and the perfidy of men until men’s transgressions be ended. Empty words will I banish from my lips; filth and perverseness from my mind. I will hedge in knowledge with sound counsel,

25 and protect [it] with shrewdness of mind. I will [set] a sober limit to all defending of faith and exacting of justice by force. I will bound God’s righteousness by the measuring-line of occasion. [I will temper] justice [with mercy], will show kindness to men downtrodden,

xi,1 bring firmness to fearful hearts, discernment to spirits that stray, enlighten the bowed with sound doctrine, reply to the proud with meekness, with humility answer the base -men rich in worldly goods, who point the finger of scorn and utter iniquitous thoughts.

To God I commit my cause. It is His to perfect my way, His to make straight my heart. He, in His charity, will wipe away my transgression. For He from the Wellspring of Knowledge has made His light to burst forth, and mine eye has gazed on His wonders; and the light that is in my heart has pierced the deep things of existence. He is ever the stay of my right hand.²⁷ The path beneath my feet is set on a mighty rock²⁸ unshaken before all things. For that rock beneath my feet 5 is the truth of God, and His power is the stay of my right hand; from the fount of His charity my vindication goes forth. Through His mysterious wonder light is come into my heart; mine eye has set its gaze on everlasting things. A virtue hidden from man, a knowledge and subtle lore concealed from human kind; a fount of righteousness, a reservoir of strength, a wellspring of all glory wherewith no flesh has converse-these has God bestowed on them that He has chosen, to possess them for ever. He has given them an inheritance in the lot of the Holy Beings, and joined them in communion with the Sons of Heaven,²⁹ to form one congregation, one single communion, a fabric of holiness, a plant evergreen,³⁰ for all time to come. But I—I belong to wicked mankind, to the communion of sinful flesh. My transgressions, my iniquities and sins, and the waywardness of my heart

10 condemn me to communion with the worm and with all that walk in darkness. For a mortal’s way is [not] of himself, neither can a man direct his own steps. The judgment lies with God, and ‘it is His to perfect man’s way. Only through His knowledge have all things come to be, and all that is, is ordained by His thought; and apart from Him is nothing wrought.³¹ Behold, if I should totter, God’s mercies will be my salvation. If I stumble in the waywardness of flesh, I shall be set aright through God’s righteousness ever-enduring. If distress break out, He will snatch my soul from perdition, and set my foot on the path. For He, in His compassion, has drawn me near unto Him,³² and His judgment upon me shall be rendered in His mercy. In his righteous truth He has judged me, and in His abundant goodness will shrive my iniquities, and in His righteousness cleanse me from all the pollution of man

15 and the sin of human kind, that I may acknowledge unto God His righteousness, and unto the Most High His majestic splendor. Blessed art You, 0 my God, Who have opened the heart of Thy servant unto knowledge. Direct all his works in righteousness, and vouchsafe unto the son of Your handmaid the favor which You have assured to all the mortal elect, to stand in Thy presence for ever. For apart from Thee no man’s way can be perfect, and without Thy will is nothing wrought. You it is that have taught all knowledge, and all things exist by Thy will; and there is none beside Thee to controvert Thy plan; none to understand all Thy holy thought, none to gaze into the depths of Thy secrets, none to perceive all Thy wonders and the might of Thy power.

20 Who can compass the sum of Thy glory? And what is mere mortal man amid Thy wondrous works? And what the child of woman to sit in Thy presence? For, behold, he is kneaded of dust, and his [ ] is the food of worms. He is but a molded heap,⁸³ a thing nipped out of clay,³⁴ whose attachment is but to the dust. What can such clay reply, or that which is molded by hand? What thought can it comprehend?