The Life of Rabban Bar-ʿIdtā
The Life of Rabban Bar-ʿIdtā
East Syriac monastic histories
7th–13th century
A long poem on Rabban Bar-ʿIdtā, a monk and poet of the mountain monasteries of northern Mesopotamia, composed by the priest Abraham. It is translated here line for line, and the numbers of the lines in the Syriac text are left out.
The Author’s Declaration of his Belief
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE SPIRIT; THREE PERSONS AND ONE NATURE; ONE EVERLASTING ESSENCE; ONE SELF-EXISTENT BEING; ONE CREATOR, ONE SELF-EXISTENT BEING, ONE GOD, THE LORD OF ALL THINGS; Who in His love and compassion created all things out of nothing; God, the hidden self-existent One, Who possesseth Three co-equal Persons; Essence, and Word, and Life, One Divine Nature; Essence is called the Father, the Word Who [proceeded] from Him is a perfect Son. His Life is called the Holy Spirit, a Nature simple and uncompounded; Of the Essence of the Father His Word and His Life are not accidental qualities, But they are Persons of His self-existent Being, One Nature, One God; And as the Sun possesseth being, together with radiance and heat, And is one nature and not three, even so is the self-existent One; Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, co-equal in Nature and in self-existence;
And in power, and in dominion, and in lordship, and in knowledge; The Father of all is from all eternity, and the Son is born the Child from all eternity, And the Holy Spirit proceedeth [from the Father] from all eternity, [and they are] of the Nature of the Father, and are co-equal with Him; The Father, and His Word, and His Life, are co-equal in Natures and Persons, And they are co-equal in honour, and in strength, and in divinity, and in will.
History of the origin of the metrical version of the Life of Bar-'Īdtā.
BY THE MIGHT OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, HIS WORD, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, HIS LIFE, ONE NATURE, THREE IN PERSON, THE LORD AND CREATOR OF THE WORLDS, BY THE MERCY OF HIS LOVE, I DRAW NEAR, I THE FEEBLE ONE, WHO WORSHIP HIM, ABRAHAM, THE MOST SINFUL OF MEN, FROM THE COUNTRY OF THE ZĀBHĀ RIVER, BY NAME A PRIEST, And I have gathered together diligently, and have composed most carefully, A discourse made of feeble words in the fourth tone, On the praiseworthy history of our glorious and holy father, Rabban Bar-'Idtâ, the chosen one, who is called the "sun of the east". It hath been composed from a trustworthy discourse at the command of our honourable father, Mâr 'Abhd-Îshô', the holy man, the Metropolitan of the country, According to a request made to my simpleness by the sons of the blessed [village of] Bêth Ghûrbâk, The glorious and upright priests Rabban Shem'ôn, and John, And the priest 'Abhd-Îshô', and the distinguished deacons, And the rest of the community of the faithful of the well-protected church of Bêth Ghûrbâk, [Who] made this request of me because the [full] history was [too] long, And they were unable to read the whole of it to the faithful on the day of his commemoration. And on my part, I, the least among the followers of Christ, and the most contemptible of the sons of Adam, Assented to the demand of my lords, and accepted their beloved entreaty.
Not because I am a scribe, or because I am a writer of books, But in the love of Christ, I took upon myself the burden of their sweet love, That perchance, by His love and mercy, and by the prayer of Rabban Bar-'Idtâ, And by the prayers of the above-mentioned brethren, our Lord might strengthen and give me wisdom, And that the Power which created everything, both that which [came into being] from something, and that which [came into being] from nothing, Might, by the prayers of the Apostles who loved His Name, dwell with me and bring [the work] to a conclusion. Thy might, O Jesus Christ, my Lord, which gave life unto Lazarus and raised him up I beseech to support and help the might of Thy servant that it may not lack [understanding]. O ye brethren who believe truly, ye freeborn sons of Bêth Ghûrbâk, Open unto me [your] ears with help, and the tried eyes of [your] heart[s], That I may relate unto you openly the history of our father, the "sun of Âthôr", Rabban Bar-'Idtâ, the trumpet and the poet of the Holy Spirit. This history of our pious and holy father, Rabban Bar-Idtâ, The chosen one, was composed by Mâr John, his disciple.
May the memory of Rabban Bar-'Idtâ be for blessing before the Lord, And may his prayers be upon us, for ever and ever! Yea and Amen.