{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/008/0081483.htm","path":"chr/ecf/008/0081483.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/008/0081483.htm","text":"p. 708 Ancient Syriac Documents.\nHomily on Habib the Martyr, Composed by Mar Jacob. 3303\nHabib the martyr, clad in flame, hath called to me out of the fire,\nThat for him likewise I should fashion an image of beauty among the glorious.\nComrade of conquerors, lo! he beckoneth to me out of the burning,\nThat, as for the glory of his Lord, I should sing concerning him.\nIn the midst of live coals stands the heroic man, and lo! he calleth to me,\nThat I should fashion his image: but the blazing fire permits me not.\nHis love is fervid, glowing is his faith;\nHis fire also burneth, and who is adequate to recount his love?\nNay, by reason of that love which led the martyr into the fire,\nNo man is able to recount his beauties divine.\nFor who shall dare enter and see in the blazing fire\nTo whom he is like, and after what pattern he is to be fashioned among the glorious?\nShall I fashion his image by the side of the youths, the children of the furnace?\nWith Hananiah shall I reckon Habib? I know not.\nLo! these were not burned there: how, then, is he like?\nHe, I say, like them, when he was burned and the youths not?\nWhich, I ask, the more beautiful\u2014Habib the martyr, or Azariah?\nDifficult for me is the image: how I am to look upon it, I know not.\nLo! Michael was not burned by the flame;\nBut Habib was burned: which, then, the more beautiful to him that looketh upon him?\nWho shall dare say that this is repulsive, or that;\nOr not so comely this as that, to him that beholdeth him?\nThree there are in the fire, and the flame cometh not near them;\nBut one was burned: and how shall I suffice to tell\nThat the Fourth form is that of Him who went down into the midst of the furnace,\nThat He might fashion an image for Habib there along with those of the three?\nHe giveth a place in the fire to him who was burned,\nThat he may be, instead of Him the Fourth, by the side of the conquerors.\nAnd, if of the three the beauties be glorious, though they were not burned,\nHow shall not this one, who was burned, be mingled with the glorious?\nIf a man have the power either to be burned or not to be burned,\nOf this man, who was burned, more exalted was the beauty than that of the three.\nBut, inasmuch as the Lord is the control of all things,\nHe is to be praised, both where He rescues and where He delivers up.\nMoreover, too, the will of the three who were not burned,\nAnd of him who was burned, is one and the same, in this case and in that; 3304\nAnd, had its Lord commanded the fire to burn them,\nEven those three on their part, burned they would have been;\np. 709 And, if He had signified to it that it should not burn that one man also,\nHe would not have been burned; nor had it been of himself that he was rescued.\nTo go into the fire was of their own will, when they went in;\nBut that they were not burned\u2014because the Lord of the fire willed and commanded it.\nTherefore one equal beauty is that of him who was burned,\nAnd that of him who was not burned, because the will also was equal.\nBeloved martyr! exalted is thy beauty; exalted is thy rank:\nGraceful too thy crown, and mingled thy story with that of the glorious.\nChoice gold art thou, and the fire hath tried thee, and resplendent is thy beauty.\nAnd lo! into the King\u2019s crown art thou wrought, along with the victorious.\nGood workman! who, in the doctrine of the Son of God,\nPursueth his course like a valiant 3305 man, because of the beauty of his faith.\nHabib the martyr was a teacher of that which is true;\nA preacher also, whose mouth was full of faith.\nWatchful was he, and prompt for service; and he encouraged with his teaching\nThe household of the house of God, through his faith.\nOf light was he full, and he wrestled with the darkness\nWhich overspread the country from the paganism which had darkened it.\nWith the Gospel of the Son was his mouth filled in the congregations;\nAnd as it were a leader of the way did he become to the villages when he arrived in them.\nZealous he was, because he was concerned for the doctrine\nDivine, that he might establish the adherents 3306 of the faith.\nAt the time when the winds of the pagans blew, a lamp was he,\nAnd flamed forth whilst they blew upon him, and went not out.\nAll on fire was he, and filled with the love of his Lord, and was concerned\nFor this\u2014that he might speak of Him without hindrance. 3307\nThe thorns of errour sprang up in the land from paganism;\nAnd, as much as in him lay, he rooted them out by his diligence.\nHe taught, admonished, and confirmed in the faith,\nThe friends of Christ, 3308 who were harassed by persecutors.\nAgainst sword and against fire did he wrestle,\nWith love hot as the flame, and was not afraid.\nLike a two-edged brand, 3309 keen was\nHis faith, and against error did he contend.\nLeaven did he prove to be in this land which had become exhausted 3310\nThrough fondness for the idols of vanity which error had brought in.\nHe was like salt by reason of his savoury doctrine\nTo this region, which had become insipid through unbelief.\nA deacon was he, and filled the place of a high-priest\nBy the preaching and teaching of that which is true.\nHe was to the flock a good shepherd whilst he was its overseer;\nAnd his life laid he down for the flock while he tended it.\nHe chased away the wolf, and drove off from it the beast of prey.\nAnd he repaired the breaches, and gathered the lambs into their folds.\nHe went out secretly and encouraged the congregations:\nHe strengthened them, and exhorted them, and held them up.\nAnd he forged armour of faith, and put it on them,\nThat they might not be ignominiously overthrown 3311 by the paganism which abounded.\nThe flocks of the fold of the Son of God were being laid waste\nBy persecutors: and he encouraged the lambs and the ewes.\np. 710 And he was an advocate to the household of faith;\nAnd he taught them not to be daunted by persecutors.\nHe taught them to run to meet death,\nWithout being afraid either of sword or of fire.\nIn the teaching of the Son of God he prospered,\nSo that his faith pursued its course without dread.\nThen errour grew envious, became furious, and was maddened, because of him;\nAnd she pursued after him, that she might shed upon the earth innocent blood.\nThe Defamer, who hates the race of men,\nLaid snares for him, that he might rid the place of his presence. 3312\nHe who hateth the truth pursued after him to put him to death,\nThat he might make his voice to cease 3313 from the teaching of the house of God.\nAnd errour raised an outcry demanding that Habib should die, because she hated him;\nVexation goaded her on, and she sought to take away his life.\nHis story was talked about 3314 before the pagan judge of the country,\nAnd the dear fame of him reached the king: who in great rage,\nAnd because the diadem was interwoven with paganism, decreed 3315 death\nAgainst Habib, because he was full of faith.\nAnd, when the command reached the judge, he armed himself\nWith rage and fury; and, with a mind thirsting for blood,\nAnd like hunters who lay nets for the young stag,\nAfter Habib did they go out to catch him.\nBut this man was a preacher of the faith,\nWho in the highway of the crucifixion was prospering;\nAnd, that he might benefit by his teaching the children of his people,\nHis work embraced the countries round about him.\nSo, when error went out after him, she found him not:\nNot that he was fled, but that he had gone out to preach the Gospel.\nThen, because of the fury of the pagans, which was great beyond all that was meet,\nHis kindred and his mother did they seize for his sake.\nBlessed art thou, O woman! mother since thou art of the martyr.\nFor wherefore was it that they seized thee and bound thee, iniquitously?\nWhat do they require of thee, O thou full of beauty? What, I ask, have they required of thee?\nLo! they require of thee that thou bring the martyr, that he may be a sacrifice.\nBring, oh bring thy sweet fruit to the place of the oblation\u2014\nThe fruit whose smell is fragrant, that it may be incense to the Godhead.\nFair shoot, thy cluster bring from where it is,\nThat its wine may be for a libation whose taste is sweet.\nThe lamb heard that they were seeking him, that he might be a sacrifice;\nAnd he set out and came to the sacrificers rejoicing.\nHe heard that others also were being afflicted for his sake,\nAnd he came that he might bear the suffering which was his, in the stead of many.\nThe lot fell on him, to be himself alone a sacrifice;\nAnd the fire that was to offer him up was looking out for him until he came.\nOf the many who were bound for his sake\nNot one single person was seized to die, but only he.\nHe it was that was worthy, and for him was martyrdom reserved;\nAnd to snatch the martyr\u2019s place no man was able.\nAnd therefore of his own will did he present himself\nTo the judge, that he might be seized, and die for Jesus\u2019 sake.\nHe heard that they sought him, and he came that he might be seized, even as they sought him:\nAnd he went in of himself before the judge, and dauntless was his look.\nHe hid not himself, nor did he wish to flee from the judge:\nFor with light was he imbued, and from the darkness he would not flee.\nNo robber was he, no murderer, no thief,\nNo child of night: but all his course was run in open day.\nWherefore from his flock should the good shepherd flee,\nAnd leave his fold to be devoured by robbers?\nWherefore should the physician flee, who goeth forth to heal diseases,\nAnd to cure souls by the blood of the Son of God?\np. 711 A fearless countenance 3316 did the brave man carry with him, and a great heart;\nAnd to meet death he ran, rejoicing, for Jesus\u2019 sake.\nHe went in, he stood before the judge, saying to him:\nI am Habib, whom ye sought: lo! here I stand.\nAnd the pagan trembled, and amazement seized him, and he marvelled at him\u2014\nAt the man who was not afraid, either of sword or of fire.\nWhile he thought that he was fleeing apace, he entered in and mocked him;\nAnd the judge shook, for he saw him courageous in the very face of death.\nA disciple he of that Son of God who said:\n\u201cRise, come, let us go: for he that betrayeth me lo! is here.\u201d\nAnd to the crucifiers, again, He said: \u201cWhom seek ye?\u201d\nThey say: \u201cJesus.\u201d And He said to them: \u201cI am He.\u201d\nThe Son of God of His own will came to the cross;\nAnd on Him the martyr looked, and presented himself uncompelled before the judge.\nAnd the pagan beheld him, and was smitten with fear, and was exasperated against him.\nHis rage was excited, and he began in his fury to put to him questions. 3317\nAnd, as if he had been one who had shed on the ground the blood of the slain,\nHe proceeded to question the saintly man, but he was not ashamed:\nMenacing him, and trying to terrify him, and to frighten him,\nAnd recounting the sufferings which were being prepared by him on his account.\nBut Habib, when questioned, was not afraid,\nWas not ashamed, and was not frightened by the menaces he heard.\nLifting up his voice, he confessed Jesus, the Son of God\u2014\nThat he was His servant, and was His priest, and His minister. 3318\nAt the fury of the pagans, roaring at him like lions,\nHe trembled not, nor ceased 3319 from the confession of the Son of God.\nHe was scourged, and the scourgings were very dear to him,\nSeeing that he bore a little of the stripes of the Son of God.\nHe was put into bonds, 3320 and he looked on his Lord, whom also they had bound;\nAnd his heart rejoiced that in the path of His sufferings he had begun to walk.\nHe ascended the block, 3321 and they tore him with combs, but his soul was radiant with light,\nBecause he was deemed worthy that on him should come the agony of the sufferings of crucifixion.\nIn the pathway of death had he set his face to walk,\nAnd what could he desire to find in it but sufferings?\nThe fire of sacrifice 3322 was betrothed to him, and for her did he look;\nAnd she on her part sent him combs, and stripes, and pains, to taste.\nAll the while that she was coming, she sent him sufferings, that by means of them\nHe might be prepared, so that when she met him she might not dismay him.\nSufferings purged him, so that, when the blazing fire should put him to the proof,\nThere might not be any dross found in his choice gold.\nAnd he endured the whole of the pains that came upon him,\nThat he might have experience of suffering, and in the burning stand like a brave man.\nAnd he accepted rejoicing the sufferings which he had to bear:\nFor he knew that at their termination he should find death.\nAnd he was not afraid, either of death or of sufferings:\nFor with that wine of the crucifixion his heart was drunk.\nHe despised his body, while it was being dragged along by the persecutors;\nAnd his limbs, while they were being torn asunder in bitter agony. 3323\nScourges on his back, combs on his sides, stocks on his feet,\nAnd fire in front of him: still was he brave and full of faith.\nThey taunted him: Lo! thou worshippest a man;\nBut he said: A man I worship not,\nBut God, who took a body and became man:\np. 712 Him do I worship, because He is God with Him that begat Him.\nThe faith of Habib, the martyr, was full of light\nAnd by it was enlightened Edessa, the faithful city.\nThe daughter of Abgar, whom Add\u00e6us betrothed to the crucifixion\u2014\nThrough it is her light, through it her truth and her faith.\nHer king is from it, her martyrs from it, her truth from it;\nThe teachers also of her faith are from it.\nAbgar believed that Thou art God, the Son of God;\nAnd he received a blessing because of the beauty of his faith.\nSharbil the martyr, son of the Edess\u00e6ans, more-ever said:\nMy heart is led captive by God, who became man.\nAnd Habib the martyr, who also was crowned at Edessa,\nConfessed these things: that He took a body and became man;\nThat He is the Son of God, and also is God, and became man.\nEdessa learned from teachers the things that are true:\nHer king taught her, her martyrs taught her, the faith;\nBut to others, who were fraudulent teachers, she would not hearken.\nHabib the martyr, in the ear of Edessa, thus cried aloud\nOut of the midst of the fire: A man I worship not,\nBut God, who took a body and became man\nHim do I worship. Thus confessed the martyr with uplifted voice.\nFrom confessors torn with combs, burnt, raised up on the block, slain\nAnd from a righteous king, did Edessa learn the faith,\nAnd she knows our Lord\u2014that He is even God, the Son of God;\nShe also learned and firmly believed that He took a body and became man.\nNot from common scribes did she learn the faith:\nHer king taught her, her martyrs taught her; and she firmly believed them:\nAnd, if she be calumniated as having ever worshipped a man,\nShe points to her martyrs, who died for Him as being God.\nA man I worship not, said Habib,\nBecause it is written: \u201cCursed is he that putteth his trust in a man.\u201d 3324\nForasmuch as He is God, I worship Him, yea submit to be burned\nFor His sake, nor will I renounce His faith.\nThis truth has Edessa held fast from her youth,\nAnd in her old age she will not barter it away as a daughter of the poor.\nHer righteous king became to her a scribe, and from him she learned\nConcerning our Lord\u2014that He is the Son of God, yea God.\nAdd\u00e6us, who brought the bridegroom\u2019s ring and put it on her hand,\nBetrothed her thus to the Son of God, who is the Only-begotten.\nSharbil the priest, who made trial and proof of all gods,\nDied, even as he said, \u201cfor God who became man.\u201d\nShamuna and Guria, for the sake of the Only-begotten,\nStretched out their necks to receive the stroke, and for Him died, forasmuch as He is God.\nAnd Habib the martyr, who was teacher of congregations,\nPreached of Him, that He took a body and became man.\nFor a man the martyr would not have submitted to be burned in the fire;\nBut he was burned \u201cfor the sake of God who became man.\u201d\nAnd Edessa is witness that thus he confessed while he was being burned:\nAnd from the confession of a martyr that has been burned who is he that can escape?\nAll minds does faith reduce to silence and despise\u2014\nShe that is full of light and stoopeth not to shadows.\nShe despiseth him that maligns the Son by denying that He is God;\nHim too that saith \u201cHe took not a body and became man.\u201d\nIn faith which was full of truth he stood upon the fire;\nAnd he became incense, and propitiated with his fragrance the Son of God.\nIn all his afflictions, and in all his tortures, and in all his sufferings,\nThus did he confess, and thus did he teach the blessed city.\nAnd this truth did Edessa hold fast touching our Lord\u2014\nEven that He is God, and of Mary became a man.\nAnd the bride hates him that denies His God-head,\nAnd despises and contemns him that maligns His corporeal nature.\nAnd she recognises Him as One in Godhead and in manhood\u2014\np. 713 The Only-begotten, whose body is inseparable from Him.\nAnd thus did the daughter of the Parthians learn to believe,\nAnd thus did she firmly hold, and thus does she teach him that listens to her.\nThe judge, therefore, full of zeal for paganism, commanded\nThat the martyr should be led forth and burned in the fire which was reserved for him.\nAnd forthwith a strap was thrust into his mouth, as though he had been a murderer,\nHis confession being kept within his heart towards God.\nAnd they hurried him away, and he went out from the judgment-hall, rejoicing\nThat the hour was come when the crown should be given to his faith.\nAnd there went out with him crowds of people, that they might bear him company,\nLooking upon him, not as a dead man accompanied to his burial,\nBut as a man who was going away that by means of fire he might become a bridegroom,\nAnd that there might be bestowed the crown which was by righteousness reserved for him.\nThey looked upon him as upon a man entering into battle,\nAnd around him were spears, and lances, and swords, but he vanquished them.\nThey beheld him going up like a champion from the contest,\nAnd in his triumph chaplets were brought to him by those who beheld.\nThey looked upon him as he vanquished principalities and powers,\nWhich all made war with him, and he put them to shame.\nThe whole congregation of the followers of Christ exulted over him,\nBecause he raised up the friends 3325 of the faith by the sufferings which he bore.\nThere went forth with him the Church, a bride full of light;\nAnd her face was beaming on the beloved martyr who was united to her.\nThen did his mother, because it was the marriage-feast for her son,\nDeck herself in garments nobler than her wont.\nSince sordid raiment suited not the banquet-hall,\nIn magnificent attire all white she clad herself right tastefully.\nHither to the battle came down love to fight\nIn the mother\u2019s soul\u2014the love of nature, and the love of God.\nShe looked upon her son as he went forth to be put into the flame;\nAnd, forasmuch as there was in her the love of the Lord, she suffered not.\nThe yearnings of her mother\u2019s womb cried out on behalf of its fruit;\nBut faith silenced them, so that their tumult ceased.\nNature shrieked over the limb which was severed from her;\nBut the love of the Lord intoxicated the soul, that she should not perceive it.\nNature loved, but the love of the Lord did conquer in the strife\nWithin the soul of the mother, that she should not grieve for her beloved.\nAnd instead of suffering, her heart was filled with all emotions of joy;\nAnd, instead of mourning, she went forth in splendid apparel.\nAnd she accompanied him as he went out to be burned, and was elate,\nBecause the love of the Lord vanquished that of nature.\nAnd clad in white, as for a bridegroom, she made a marriage-feast\u2014\nShe the mother of the martyr, and was blithe because of him.\n\u201cShamuna the Second\u201d may we call this blessed one:\nSince, had seven been burned instead of one, she had been well content.\nOne she had, and she gave him to be food for the fire;\nAnd, even as that one, if she had had seven, she had given them all.\nHe was cast into the fire, and the blaze kindled around him;\nAnd his mother looked on, and grieved not at his burning.\nAnother eye, which gazeth upon the things unseen,\nWas in her soul, and by reason of this she exulted when he was being burned.\nOn the gems of light which are in martyrs\u2019 crowns she looked,\nAnd on the glory which is laid up for them after their sufferings;\nAnd on the promised blessings which they inherit yonder through their afflictions,\nAnd on the Son of God who clothes their limbs with light;\nAnd on the manifold beauties of that kingdom which shall not be dissolved,\nAnd on the ample door which is opened for them to enter in to God.\nOn these did the martyr\u2019s mother look when he was being burned,\nAnd she rejoiced, she exalted, and in white did she go forth with him.\np. 714 She looked upon him while the fire consumed his frame,\nAnd, forasmuch as his crown was very noble, she grieved not.\nThe sweet root was thrown into the fire, upon the coals;\nAnd it turned to incense, and cleansed the air from pollution.\nWith the fumes of sacrifice had the air been polluted,\nAnd by the burning of this martyr was it cleansed.\nThe firmament was fetid with the exhalations from 3326 the altars;\nAnd there rose up the sweet perfume of the martyr, and it grew sweet thereby.\nAnd the sacrifices ceased, and there was peace in the assemblies;\nAnd the sword was blunted, that it should no more lay waste the friends of Christ.\nWith Sharbil it began, with Habib it ended, in our land;\nAnd from that time 3327 even until now not one has it slain, since he was burned.\nConstantine, chief of conquerors, took the empire,\nAnd the cross has trampled on the diadem of the emperor, and is set upon his head.\nBroken is the lofty horn of idolatry,\nAnd from the burning of the martyr even until now not one has it pierced.\nHis smoke arose, and it became incense to the Godhead;\nAnd by it was the air purged which was tainted by paganism,\nAnd by his burning was the whole land cleansed:\nBlessed be he that gave him a crown, and glory, and a good name!\nHere endeth the Homily on Habib the martyr, composed by Mar Jacob.\nThe ms. from which this is taken is Cod. Add. 17,158, fol. 30 vers. Mar Jacob, bishop of Sarug, or Batn\u00e6, was one of the most learned and celebrated among all the Syriac writers. He was born a.d. 452, made bishop of Sarug a.d. 519, and died a.d. 521. He was the author of several liturgical works, epistles, and sermons, and, amongst these, of numerous metrical homilies, of which two are given here. Assemani enumerates no less than 231. Ephraem Syrus also wrote a similar homily on Habib, Shamuna, and Guria.\nThe metre of the original in this and the following homily consists of twelve syllables, and six dissyllabic feet; but whether they were read as iambs ortroches, or as both, appears to depend on the nature of the Syriac accentuation, which is still an unsettled question. Hoffmann, in his slight notice of the subject (Gram. Syr., \u00a7 13), merely says: \u201cScimus, po\u00ebsin Syriacam non quantitatis sed accentus tantum rationem habere, versusque suos syllabarum numero metiri. Qu\u00e2 tamen po\u00ebseos Syriac\u00e6 conditione varietas morarum in pronuntiandis vocalibus observandarum non tollitur.\u201d\u2014Tr.\n708:3304 709:3305\nCureton has \u201cprosperous,\u201d which Dr. Payne Smith condemns, remarking: \u201c*** I find generally used for the Gk. \u1f04\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2, and once or twice for \u03ba\u03c1\u03ac\u03c4\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 . It answers more frequently to strenuus = courageous, heroic.\u201d\u2014Tr.\n709:3306\nLit. \u201cthe party\u201d or \u201cside.\u201d\u2014Tr.\n709:3307\nAs in Gal. v. 7, answering to the Gk. \u1f10\u03b3\u03ba\u03cc\u03c0\u03c4\u03c9. The verb *** (Pa.) properly means to disquiet (as in John xiv. 1), then to hinder.\u2014Tr.\n709:3308\nThe ordinary word for \u201cChristians\u201d in these documents is the borrowed \u03a7\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9\u03b1\u03bd\u03bf\u03af : here a native word is used, formed from the one which we read as \u201cMessiah.\u201d\u2014Tr.\n709:3309\nA corruption of the word \u03c3\u03b1\u03bc\u03c8\u03b7\u03c1\u03ac is used here. It is said by Josephus, Antiq., xx. 2, 3, to have been the name given by the Assyrians to some kind of sword. Suidas mentions it as a barbarian word for \u03c3\u03c0\u03ac\u03b8\u03b7, a broadsword. Cureton\u2019s \u201cscimetar\u201d would be preferable, as being somewhat more distinctive, if it appeared that a scimetar could have two edges.\u2014Tr.\n709:3310\nThe temptation was strong to render ***, \u201cbecame unleavened\u201d (or, \u201ctasteless\u201d), a sense apparently required by the decided figure employed and by the language of the next couplet, where \u201cinsipid \u201d corresponds to \u201csalt.\u201d The word *** (= \u1f04\u03b6\u03c5\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd), moreover, if not the Arabic *** (to which Schaaf, though it does not appear on what authority, assigns the meaning \u201csine fermento massam subegit\u201d), seems to point in the same direction. Dr. Payne Smith, however, is not aware of any instance of the proposed meaning: he says, \u201cMy examples make *** = \u1f10\u03ba\u03bb\u03b5\u03af\u03c0\u03c9, to fail.\u201d\u2014Tr.\n709:3311 710:3312 710:3313\nOr \u201cthat his voice might cease.\u201d\u2014Tr.\n710:3314 710:3315\nLit. \u201creached the king in great rage (i.e., so as to cause great rage, *** being often = \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 denoting result), and, because\u2026, he decreed.\u201d\u2014Dr. Payne Smith.\n711:3316\nLit. \u201copenness of countenance.\u201d\u2014Tr.\n711:3317\nProp. \u201cagitate questions.\u201d\u2014Tr.\n711:3318 711:3319 711:3320\nLit. \u201che entered into bondage.\u201d\u2014Tr.\n711:3321 711:3322 711:3323 712:3324\nJer. xvii. 5.\u2014Tr.\n713:3325 714:3326 714:3327","title":"Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol VIII: Memoirs of Edessa And Other Ancient Syriac Documents.: Homily on Habib the Martyr.","type":"page"}