Isho'yahb to Isho'yahb

[ed. bishop Isho'yahb future Isho'yahb III, letter 25]

To the dregs, as it seems, comes the chalice of our sorrows, O Father that loves God; and the way of our salvation has been closed to the oppressed. Refuge is gone, as it is written {Ps. 142:4 MT}, and there is none to care for the distressed.

For the great worm, which the evil interloper has begotten from the body of the community for a long time and with malicious intent, has conquered many members long ago, as is to be seen; and now creeps collectively to the head of the community - which by our mind would be the church of God established by God's command - to consume the rest of its bulk by corrupting its mores. Perhaps, after it has caused everything to perish, so shall it perish and the world rest from its misery.

If you still feel so confident o our Father, and you are such as we pray you be; if your Fatherhood remain, by the grace of God, the repose of consolation in spirit and in body, and if anyone be about to arrive: would you write to me, that perhaps from the burden of sadness, though, alleviating the groans, let it be granted me to be refreshed, though I lie here stabilized for a short time; with God's help, according to the times, but I am still more forewarned against time, and above the miseries of time, my weakness leads to the anxiety of divine grace. A wonderful thing if by an end befitting my sins, I evade this. I have no doubt about that which is beyond. So let your Paternity pray that I may become worthy of compassion and find by the grace of repentance the power to heal my pain before I have come to the impossibility which hinders many.

May the God of peace impart to your Fatherhood, the abode of peace at all times, along with all the things that please his will, throughout the days of your life.