Ephraim: The Nisibene Hymns
Nisibene Hymn 19: Your Flock Is Your Bride
You who answer to the name of Abraham, because you have been made the father of many: you have no spouse, as Sarah was to Abraham, but see, your flock is your spouse. Bring up her sons in your truth. May they be spiritual children to you, and may the sons be sons of the promise, so that they may become heirs in Eden. Refrain: Blessed be he who foreshadowed you in Abraham!
Fair fruit of chastity, in whom the priesthood was well pleased, youngest among your brothers, as the son of Jesse was: the horn overflowed and anointed you, the hand came down and chose you, the church longed for you and loved you. The pure altar is for your ministry, the great throne for your honor, and all of it together for your crown. Refrain: Blessed be he who multiplied your crowning!
See, here is your flock, blessed one! Rise and visit it, diligent one! Jacob arranged the flocks in order; you must arrange the sheep that have speech. Enlighten the young men who are virgins in purity, and the young women who are virgins in chastity. Raise up priests in honor, rulers in meekness, and a people in righteousness. Refrain: Blessed be he who filled you with understanding!
Guard the sheep that are whole, visit those that are sick, bind up those that are broken, and seek out those that are lost. Feed them in the pastures of the Scriptures, and give them drink from the spring of doctrine. Let the truth be a wall to you, let the cross be a staff to you, and let truthfulness be peace to you. Refrain: Blessed be he who multiplied your virtues!
May the power that was with David be with you in your flock. For if he snatched a straying lamb from the mouth of the lion, how fitting it is for you, exalted one, to be zealous to snatch from the Evil One the souls that are precious above everything! For nothing can buy them except the blood of Christ. Refrain: Blessed be he who was sold and bought all!
Joshua served Moses, and as the reward of his service he received the right hand from him. Because you have served an illustrious old man, he too gave you the right hand. Moses handed over to Joshua a flock of which half were wolves; but to you a flock has been delivered of which a fourth, indeed a third, is sanctified. Refrain: Blessed be he who adorned your flock!
Let the love of Moses remain in you, for his love was a discerning love and his zeal a discreet zeal. When Korah and Dathan split themselves off, he split the earth open beneath them; by a splitting he put an end to the split. In Eldad and Medad he made it known that his good will was wholly this: that all the people should prophesy. Refrain: Blessed be he who in his good will was reconciled!
Elisha loved the poverty of Elijah more than wealth. A poor man gave to a poor man a gift greater than all. Because you have loved the poverty of your master, who in secret was rich, the fountain of his words will flow from you, so that you may become a harp for the Spirit and may sing his good will inwardly to yourself. Refrain: Blessed be he who made you his treasure!
No one envies your election, for your leadership is meek. No one is angered by your rebuke, for your word sows peace. No one is frightened by your voice, for your visits are pleasant. No one groans against your yoke, for it labors in place of our neck and lightens the burden of our souls. Refrain: Blessed be he who chose you for our rest!
Do not quarrel with the mighty, and do not despair of the outcast. Soften the rich and teach them; urge the poor and win them. Join the forbearing to the harsh, and the patient to the angry. Catch the evil by means of the good, those who plunder by means of those who give, and the defiled by means of the sanctified. Refrain: Blessed be he who made you our hunter!
Take ten thousand medicines with you, and rise and go out among the sick. Offer medicine to the diseased, and to the healthy something to keep them well. Do not offer only one medicine, in case it does not suit the sickness. Offer many remedies, so that the sickness may find healing; in this way you will also learn by experience. Refrain: Blessed be he who labored to heal our wounds!
May the land be as you desire, and the vineyard as your tending would have it! 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 beautiful in us! For people and priest are lovely each in the other when they are at one. Refrain: Blessed be he who has sown unity among us!
Listen to the apostle when he says to that virgin whom he had betrothed, “I am jealous over you with jealousy,” a jealousy truly of God, not of the flesh but of the spirit. You too must be jealous with that jealousy, in purity, so that she 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. Refrain: Blessed is he whose zeal is holy!
As her masters are, so are her manners. With a teacher who lags behind, she lags behind; with one who is noble, she is excellent. The church is like a mirror: whatever the face that gazes into it, that is the likeness it takes on. For as the king is, so is his army; and as the priest is, so is his flock. Whatever these are, that is stamped on them. Refrain: Blessed be he who stamped her in his likeness!
They departed without a testament, those three illustrious priests who used to meditate on Testaments, the two Testaments of God. They have left us a great gain, this very example of poverty. The blessed ones, who owned nothing, made us their possessions; the church was their treasure. Refrain: Blessed is he who possessed his possessions in them!
With Jacob, the noble priest, she was ennobled as he was, because he joined his love to his jealousy and was clothed with fear and love. With Babu, a lover of generosity, she redeemed the captives with money. With Valgesh, a scribe of the law, she opened her heart to the Scriptures. With you, then, may her profit be many times over! Refrain: Blessed be he who has made her merchants great!