Nisibene Hymns

¹ You who answers to the name of Abraham, in that You are made father of many; but because to You none is spouse, as Sarah was to Abraham—lo! Your flock is Your spouse; bring up her sons in Your truth; spiritual children may they be to You, and the sons be sons of promise, that they may become heirs in Eden. R., Blessed be He Who foreshowed You in Abraham!

2. Fair fruit of chastity, in whom the priesthood was well pleased, youngest among Your brethren as was the son of Jesse; the horn overflowed and anointed You, the hand alighted and chose You, the Church desired and loved You; the pure altar is for Your ministry, the great throne for Your honour, and all as one for Your crown. R., Blessed be He Who multiplied Your crowning!

3. Lo! Your flock, O blessed one, arise and visit it, O diligent one! Jacob ranged the flocks in order; range the sheep that have speech, and enlighten the virgin-youths in purity, and the virgin-maids in chastity; raise up priests in honour, rulers in meekness, and a people in righteousness. R. Blessed be He Who filled You with understanding!

4. Guard the sheep that are whole, and visit them that are sick, and bind up them that are broken, and seek out them that are lost; feed them in the pastures of the Scriptures, and give them drink or the spring of doctrine: let the truth be a wall unto you, let the cross be a staff unto you, and truthfulness be peace unto you. R., Blessed be He Who multiplied Your virtues!

5. Let there be with You in Your flock, the power that was with David; for if he plucked a straying lamb, from the mouth of the lion, how meet is it for You, O exalted one, to be zealous to snatch from the Evil One the souls that are precious above all, for by nothing can they be bought, save by the blood of Christ! R., Blessed be He Who was sold and bought all!

6. Unto Moses Joshua ministered, and for the reward of his ministry, from him received the right hand. Because to an illustrious old man you have ministered, he too gave you the right hand. Moses committed unto Joshua, a flock of which half were wolves; but to you is delivered a flock, whereof a fourth yea a third is sanctified. R., Blessed be He who adorned your flock!

7. Let the love of Moses abide in you, for his love was a discerning love, his zeal a discreet zeal. When Korah and Dathan sundered themselves, he sundered the earth from beneath them; by sundering he made the sundering to cease. In Eldad and Medad he made known, that his good will was altogether this that all the people should prophesy. R., Blessed be He who in His good will was reconciled!

8. The poor estate of Elijah, Elisha loved above wealth; a poor man gave to a poor man, a gift that was great above all. Because you have loved the poverty, of your master who in secret was rich, the fountain of his words shall flow from you, that you may become a harp for the Spirit, and may sing to yourself inwardly His good will. R., Blessed be He who made you His treasure!

9. There is none that envies your election, for meek is your headship; there is none angered by the rebuke, for your word sows peace; there is none terrified by your voice, for pleasant in your visitation; there is none that groans against your yoke, for it labors instead of our neck, and lightens the burden of our souls. R., Blessed be He who chose you for our rest

10. Contend not with the mighty, despair not of the outcast; soften and teach the rich, exhort and win the poor; with the harsh join the forbearing, and the long suffering with the wrathful; catch them that are evil by them that are good, and them that spoil by them that give, and the defiled by means of the sanctified. R., Blessed be He who made you our hunter!

11. Take to you ten thousand medicaments, and arise and go forth among the sick; to the diseased offer medicine, and to him that is sound a preservative; not one medicine only shall you offer, for the sickness lest haply it be not meet: offer many remedies, that the sickness may find healing; likewise you shall learn experience. R., Blessed be He who laboured to heal our wounds!

12. May the land be according to your desire; may the vineyard be according to your husbandry; may the flock be in the midst of your dwelling, and the sheep sound under your staff! May you be a great Head, and we the jewels of your crown! May we be beautiful in you and you be beautiful in us! For they are goodly each in the other, people and priest when they are at one. R., Blessed be He who has sowed among us unity!

13. Hearken to the Apostle when he says, to that virgin whom he had espoused; I am jealous over you with jealousy, with a jealousy verily of God, not of the flesh but of the spirit. Be jealous therewith you also in pureness, that He may know what she is and whose she is. In you may she cherish, and in you may she love, Jesus the Bridegroom in truth. R., Blessed is he whose zeal is holy!

14. As are her masters, so are her manners: for with the teacher that lags a laggard is she, and with him that is noble, excellent is she. The Church is like a mirror, for according to the face that gazes into it, thus does it put on the likeness thereof. For as is the king so also his host, and as is the priest so also his flock; according as these are it is stamped on them. R., Blessed be He Who stamped her in His likeness!

15. Without a testament they departed, those three illustrious priests; who in Testaments used to meditate, those two Testaments of God. Great gain have they bequeathed to us, even this example of poverty. They who possessed nothing the blessed ones, made us their possessions; the Church was their treasure. R., Blessed is he who possessed in them his possessions!

16. The priest Jacob the noble, with him she was ennobled as he was: because he joined his love to his jealousy, with fear and love he was clothed. With Babes a lover of bounty, for money she redeemed the captives. With Valgesh a scribe of the law, her heart she opened to the Scriptures. With you then may her profit be manifold! R., Blessed be He Who has magnified her merchantmen!