Nisibene Hymn 35: Our Lord, Death and Satan

The Voice made its proclamation, and they gathered and came: the hosts of the Evil One, together with his servants. The whole army of the weeds was gathered, for they saw that Jesus had triumphed, to the grief of all those on the left hand; for there was not one of them who had not been tormented. They began one by one to tell all that they had endured. Sin and Hell were terrified; Death trembled, and the dead rebelled; and Satan was terrified, because sinners rebelled against him. [a]

Sin cried aloud. She gave counsel to her sons, to the demons and the devils, and said to them: “Legion, the head of your ranks, is no more; the sea has swallowed him and his company. And you too, my sons, if you make light of this, this Jesus will destroy you. You who caught Solomon in a snare, it is therefore a disgrace to you to be overcome by his disciples, fishermen and ignorant men. For see, they have taken the catch of men that we had taken.” [b]

“This is great, above all evils,” said the Evil One about our Savior, “for it is not enough for him that he has plundered us; he has also begun to take vengeance on us for Jonah son of Amittai. So it was Jonah he was avenging on Legion when he seized him and threw him into the sea. Jonah came up again after three days; but Legion has not come up, no, not after a long time, for the depth of the sea closed over him at the command.

“I tempted him after his fast with pleasant bread, but he did not want it. To my grief I worked hard to learn a psalm, so that by his own psalm I might catch him as my prey. I stopped and learned it a second time, but he made my second attempt useless. I brought him up a mountain and showed him all possessions; I gave them to him, and he was not moved. It was better for me in the days of Adam, who gave me no great trouble to teach.” [c]

The Evil One stopped his activity and said: “This Jesus is a cause of idleness to me, for see, the tax collectors and prostitutes take refuge in him. What work shall I look for? I who was master to all men, whose disciple shall I become?” Sin said again: “I must give up, then, and change from what I am; for this Son of Mary who has come has created mankind as a new creation.”

Gluttonous Death lamented and said: “I have learned fasting, which I never used to know. See, Jesus gathers multitudes, but for me a fast is proclaimed at his feast. One man has shut my mouth, mine, who have shut the mouths of many.” Hell said: “I will restrain my greed; hunger, then, is my lot. This man triumphs as he did at the wedding: as he changed the water into wine, so he changes the garment of the dead into life. [d]

“And besides this, God once made a flood and washed the earth and purged her crimes; again he sent fire and brimstone on her, to make her stains white. By fire he gave me the people of Sodom, and by flood the Giants. He shut the mouths of the hosts of Sennacherib, and opened the mouth of Hell. These things, and things like them, I loved. But now, in place of deadly visitations of justice, he has worked in his Son the bringing of the dead to life by grace.” [e]

The Evil One said to his companions: “I have seen prophets and righteous men, and though their strength was exceedingly great, there was in them a taste of what is mine. For the stuff the sons of men are made of is close kin to our leaven. This man has clothed himself with the body of Adam, and he is troubling us, for our leaven has no power over him. He is man, then, and God, for his manhood is intermingled with his Godhead. [f]

“I have seen Adam, that fountain from which all the races of men flowed. I have searched out his children and tested them one by one. Yet from the beginning I have not seen a man of whom one part was of God and the other half man. Moses, who shone in his splendor, I tempted too, and I made him go wrong with his tongue; but this man, no, not even in his mind, for the fountain of his thoughts is exceedingly pure. [g]

“The lust of the body is in all bodies; even while they sleep, it wakes in them. The man who keeps himself pure in his waking hours, I disturb by means of a dream. The dregs of the body are stirred in him by a shaking movement, secretly, within. Sleeping and waking alike, I trouble them. This is the one who alone keeps himself pure, whom I cannot disturb even in a dream, who even in his sleep is pure and holy.

“Even his childhood was set apart from that of the children I have seen, for I have not seen in him any part of what is mine. I was afraid of his childhood; so I stirred up Herod, so that he might be killed among the infants. And because he escaped this, I was greatly afraid: how did he find out our secret? He received the offerings of the wise men; he scorned us, and went away, and escaped from our sword. [h]

“I have seen children, sons of righteous men, and young men too, sons of chaste women. I have stirred them from the womb, one by one, and I have seen our leaven in them. For they were angry and abusive men, furious too, and gluttonous: fruits that were to be ripened and sweetened by instruction. But this man, from his first planting, was a good fruit that had sweetness, and by it sinners were made sweet.

“Even while he was an infant, he was a teacher of the sons of men by the splendor that was on him. Even the priest who carried him was amazed at him. He was clothed in the prudence of old men. Joseph stood back from him; his mother gloried in his presence. In his childhood he was a help to everyone who saw him. He was a profit to those who knew him from the day he entered the world; he was a helper of mankind by his excellent qualities. [i]

“Where has it sprung up from, before my eyes, this fruit of Mary, the grape whose wine is not according to nature? For see, I stand between two doubts. I am afraid to turn away and leave him alone, in case by his teaching they should be sweetened, those who have gained by bitterness. But again, to tread on him and crush him terrifies me, in case he should turn and become new wine for sinners, and when they are drunk with it, see, they forget their idols.

“See, I am afraid of both things, of his death as well as of his life.” Then his servants answered the Evil One and gave him counsel: “Though both these things are grievous, the trouble is somewhat lighter for us if we choose his death rather than his life. Let Death tell us whether anyone from among the righteous has ever, from the first, been raised up again. The sons of the Giants and the famous men, not one of them has come out of her, Hell the Devourer.”

“A man may feel for the blowing of the wind; but the Son of Mary, who can search him out? For when he wept, he robbed me by his tears. And again, when I told him to throw himself down from the holy temple, I thought it was out of fear that he did not throw himself down; yet when they threw him from the hilltop, he flew through the air. Again, when he was tired, he sat by the well. I do not understand his changeableness, for he walks alike on dry land and on the water. [j]

“I saw that he was hungry, like a son of man; yet this was done away by the bread he multiplied. From the beginning I tested him and came to him; he questioned me as though he did not know me. But this too was done away when he showed that he knew our secrets. Again, he chose Iscariot as though he did not know him; then he turned and showed that he knew him, even though he was binding and loosing. I was mistaken about him, for he was baptized and came up and overwhelmed me. [k]

“But there is one sign I have seen in him that heartens me exceedingly, above all. For while he was praying I saw him and was glad, because he changed color and was afraid. His sweat was like drops of blood, because he sensed that his day had come. This pleases me exceedingly, above everything, unless he has truly deceived me in this. But if he has truly beguiled me, this concerns me and you alike, my servants.” [l]

Then the host of devils shouted and said: “The sign we see in you is hateful, for never from the beginning has this happened to you. You used to be excellent in quick counsel; the Son of Mary is capturing our cities while you drag out your speech. Get up, go out, let us fight with him; for it would be a disgrace to us that we, who are many, should be overcome by one. And if you are in pain or afraid, give us counsel for the battle, and stay behind yourself.”

“It is out of his own words that I will teach this Jesus and make war on him. For he said that Satan is divided against himself, and that he cannot stand. Though he wants to fight with us, he has given us weapons that are against himself. Challenge his disciples and divide them for me; for if you divide them, you will conquer them with these, with Eve and the serpent, the weak powers by which I conquered the first Adam.” [m]

Death answered the Evil One and said to him: “Why do you not hold back, as is your custom? For see, it is the despised and the least that you usually ensnare. Jesus, who is great above all, with what did you try to ensnare him? Your experience of his weapons, which he hurled against you when you tempted him, makes you afraid. You and I, with your followers: our host is too small for the battle with him, the Son of Mary.

“So I advise this, if our struggle lets us do anything: go into that disciple, let yourself loose, so that head may speak with heads; and let loose all your host, let it go and stir up the Pharisees. And be careful not to speak quarrelsomely, as you usually do. If you are a god, come down from there, kiss them fondly, and betray him; and see, we will bring on him the envy and the sword of the Levites.” [n]