{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/213/2130190.htm","path":"chr/ecf/213/2130190.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/213/2130190.htm","text":"Concerning Mar Jacob and his Companions.\n1. Three illustrious priests, after the manner of the two great lights,\u2014have carried on and handed down one to another, the See and the Hand and the Flock.\u2014To us whose mounting was great for the two, this last is wholly a consolation. R., Glory to Thee Who didst choose them!\n2. He Who created two great lights, chose for Himself these three Lights,\u2014and set them in the three dark seasons of siege that have been.\u2014When that pair of Lights was quenched, the other shone wholly forth.\n3. These three priests were treasures, who held in their faithfulness,\u2014the key of the Trinity; three doors they opened for us;\u2014each one of them with his key, unlocked and opened his door.\n4. In the first was opened the door, for the chastisement that befel us;\u2014in the next was opened the door, for the King\u2019s power that came down on us,\u2014in the last was opened the door, for the good tidings that came up for us.\n5. In the first was opened the door, for battle between two hosts;\u2014in the next were opened doors, for the kings from either wind;\u2014in the last was opened the door, for ambassadors from either side.\n6. In the first was opened the door, for battle because of misdeeds;\u2014in the next was opened the door,\u2014for the kings because of strife;\u2014in the last was opened the door, for ambassadors because of mercies.\n7. Lo! in these three successions, as in a mystery and a figure,\u2014wrath is likened to the sun; it began under the first;\u2014it waxed strong under the next; it sank and was quenched under the last.\np. 181 8. Three figures the Sun also, shows forth in the three quarters:\u2014its rising is keen and bright; its meridian strong and overpowering;\u2014and like a torch that is burnt out, its setting is mild and pleasant.\n9. Small yet bright is its rising, when it comes to waken sleepers;\u2014hot and overpowering its meridian, when it comes to ripen the fruits;\u2014tender and pleasant its setting, when it reaches its consummation.\n10. Who is this daughter born of vows, enviable above all women,\u2014whose successions thus proceed, and her ranks are thus manifold,\u2014and her degrees thus ascend, and her teachers thus excel.\n11. Do these similitudes belong, only to the daughter of Abraham,\u2014or to thee too, O daughter, born of vows, whose adorning is according as thy beauty?\u2014for as thine occasion, so was thy help, and as thy help so was its minister.\n12. According to the measure of her need, there came to her the supply of her need.\u2014Her fathers were as was her birth; her teachers were as was her understanding;\u2014her training as was her growth; her raiment as was her stature.\n13. Grace weighed out to her and gave all these things as in the scales;\u2014she laid them in her balance, that therefrom there might be profit;\u2014she drew them into succession, that therefrom might be perfection.\n14. In the days of him that was first, peace abounded and peace vanished;\u2014in the days of him that was next, kings came down and kings went back;\u2014but in the days of the last, hosts assailed and hosts retreated.\u2014\n15. By the first order came in, it came in with him and went out with him;\u2014by the next the diadem that gladdened our churches, came nigh and withdrew far away;\u2014but by the last there dawned on us, grace that was not thankfully received.\n16. Against the wrath that was first, the labour of the first contended;\u2014against the heat that was at noon, the shade of the second stood up;\u2014against peace that was thankless, the last multiplied warnings.\n17. For the first invader of the land was the first and illustrious priest;\u2014for the second invader of the land, was the second and merciful priest:\u2014but the prayers of him that was last, repaired our breaches secretly.\n18. Nisibis is set 352 upon waters, waters secret and open:\u2014living streams are within her; a noble river without her. The river without deceived her; the fountain within has saved her.\n19. The first priest was her vinedresser; he made her branches to grow even unto heaven.\u2014Lo! being dead and buried within her, he has become fruit in the midst of her bosom:\u2014when therefore the pruners came, the fruit that was in her midst preserved her.\n20. The time of her pruning came; it entered and took from her her vinedresser,\u2014that there should not be one to pray for her. She made haste in her subtlety;\u2014He laid in her bosom her vinedresser, that she should be delivered through her vinedresser.\n21. Be ye wise like Nisibis, O ye daughters of Nisibis,\u2014for that she laid the body within her, and it became a wall without her.\u2014Place ye within you the living body, that it be a wall for your lives!\nThe verb is n\u2019sab,\u2014a play on the name of the city.","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. XIII: Selections from the Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and from the Demonstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage.: Hymn XIII. Concerning Mar Jacob and his Companions.","type":"page"}