Ephraim: The Nisibene Hymns
Nisibene Hymn 18: The Likeness of His Master
O you who have been made priest after your master,
the illustrious after the excellent,
the chaste after the grave,
the watchful after the abstinent:
your master has not departed from you;
in the living we see the dead.
For see, his likeness is painted in you;
his footprints are pressed upon you,
and all of him shines from all of you.
Refrain: Blessed be he who in his place has given us you!
The fruit in which its tree is painted
bears witness about the root.
Until now the savor of his sweetness
has not failed us.
His words you show forth in bodily act,
for you have fulfilled them in deed.
In your way of life his teaching is painted,
in your conduct his exposition,
in your fulfilling his interpretation.
Refrain: Blessed be he who has made your brightness excel!
The last pastor, who was exalted
and became head to the members,
the younger who obtained the birthright:
not for a price, like Jacob,
not in jealousy, like Aaron,
whose brothers the Levites envied him,
but by love he obtained it, like Moses,
though Aaron was older than he.
In you your brothers rejoiced as in him.
Refrain: Blessed be he who chose you with one accord!
There is no envy or jealousy
among the members of the body;
for in love they listen to him,
and with tenderness they are visited by him.
The head is a watchtower to the members,
for he looks out on every side.
Exalted is he, yet meek in his graciousness;
he humbles himself even to the feet,
so that he may turn harm away from them.
Refrain: Blessed be he who put your love into us!
This would truly have been a small thing,
if apostasy had been overcome by an old man.
Old age in its prudence submitted;
youth in its season conquered;
for a young fighter endured
the hateful conflict waged
by a force that was full of apostasy,
which swelled like smoke and passed:
its end came with its beginning.
Refrain: Blessed be he who blew on it, and it vanished!
The sound of the trumpet suddenly startled you
and called you to battle.
You went up like a new David;
by you a second Goliath was brought down.
You were not untried in combat,
for day by day you wage
a secret warfare against the Evil One.
Training in secret is accustomed
to win the crown in the open.
Refrain: Blessed be he who chose you for our glory!
In the face of trial Job trained
his body and his mind,
and in temptation he was victorious.
And Joseph conquered in the bedroom,
Hananiah and his companions in the furnace,
and Daniel in the midst of the den.
Satan acted foolishly when, in tempting them,
he confirmed their victory in the open.
Refrain: Blessed be he who has heaped shame on him!
And the farmer who turned apostate and was eager
to sow thorns with his left hand:
the righteous farmer was zealous against him,
stopped him, and cut off his left hand.
He filled his own right hand
and sowed the words of life in the heart;
and see, our understanding is tilled
by his prophets and his apostles.
By you may our souls be tilled!
Refrain: Blessed be he who chose you for our farmer!
And if your words are too few,
work our land with deeds,
so that amid much tilling
stock and root may be strengthened.
A good deed is better
than hearing ten thousand words.
Your seed will yield a hundredfold,
and the second crop sixtyfold,
and what grows by itself thirtyfold.
Refrain: Blessed be he who multiplied your increase!
It is not fitting that light should be darkened,
it is not right that salt should lose its savor;
defilement is not seemly for the head,
nor dirt for the mirror.
And if medicines have lost their savor,
sicknesses are not cured either;
and if the torch is quenched,
those who stumble are many.
Your light will chase away our darkness.
Refrain: Blessed be he who has made you our lamp!
Appoint for yourself scribes and judges,
collectors also and stewards,
overseers also and officers;
assign each his work,
lest perhaps the mind and the tongue
with which you offer supplication
for the expiation of all the people
should be rusted by care
or distracted by worry.
Refrain: Blessed be he who makes your ministry illustrious!
That he should purge his mind
and cleanse his tongue as well,
that he should purify his hands
and make his whole body shine:
this is too little for the priest and his title,
who offers the Living Body.
Let him cleanse his whole self at all hours,
for he stands as mediator
between God and mankind.
Refrain: Blessed be he who has cleansed his ministers!