Ishoʿyahb to Mar Abba

[Ishoʿyahb of Nineveh to bishop Abba, letter #38]

I received with astonishment the letter of your Charity, O lover of God, and I thanked our Lord for your providence. When I was sadly carried away by the burden of pain to the lowest pusillanimity, being mindful of the whole danger which has passed over your Sanctity by a part of the wicked ones {l. 12 men eda d-rashi’e}, I trusted chiefly in the hope of your patience, and this turned me to the praise of God. For I found in the intensity of your afflictions the sense of your afflictions, which in you as in faith affected the body of the Lord of glory with passion. I have seen also the struggle of your patience, when in a weak body you have sustained the violence of tortures with fortitude of resolute mind. Nor has your body fallen away from its nature, fleeing from the violence of pain; nor has your soul been troubled from its nature by the long daily terrors, to remove itself from the society of sorrows in its wrath withdrawing by another egress. Nay, at the same time the constancy of your whole self endured the whole attack of the wicked ones with the humility of the perseverance until the quelling of what was expected to be: until the end of the dismissal of what helps; until the end of your patience and of the boldness of the attacks by the wicked ones; until it pleased God in His grace to smite the might of His power in the sickness of your debility.

For this reason, therefore, O our brother, you have driven from my mind many suspicions of cowardice, and have turned the sadness of your thoughts into thanksgiving for God. I will gladly congratulate you, O lover of God, because you were worthy to share in the truth of his sufferings at the beginning of this struggle, which I think to be prepared for many. “For the mystery of iniquity {64 l. 6 – arza ger d-‘ula}” and the appearance of the iniquitous one {w-gleneh d-‘ola cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:8, netgla ‘ola} are “already at work {2 Thessalonians 2:7 – Lamsa, men kdo eshri l-mtahapto}”, as it seems, so that “many should be chosen, tested, and made white”, as it is written {Daniel 12:10}. But be blessed, if you have fought and made proven and escaped; blessed also, if rather you are still standing in the contest itself; especially blessed, if you are worthy of even more important things. For he who was faithful in the least, and in the greater, will be faithful, as it is written {Luke 16:10}. Rejoice, therefore, in your hope, O blessed one, and to renew the spirit of your faith, as it should be for you. For you have already gained confidence in your pains, that you may seek mercy and aid for the church of God in prayer. Pray therefore also for our wretched church, and for all who have fled hither, that it may please them to join you in voluntary sorrows at the same time. I am indebted to all the baptized believers and to the unbaptized believers supplicating you that in the place of the blessing which they desire you turn to the recompense of prayer and spiritual love. Pray also for my weakness, I beg you, that I may be worthy of the grace of repentance, and find mercy in the sight of our Lord, and that I spend the rest of my days in such a life as to please the will of God.