THE SENTENCES OF THE SYRIAC MENANDER
Edited by SeRMoN 2012
Putative author of a collection of proverbs, in a Syriac manuscript in the British Museum, edited in 1862 by J, P. N. Land, and bearing the superscription, "The sage Menander said." Either this Menander was a real person, a Hellenistic Jew whose proverbs, probably written originally in Greek, are now extant only in this Syriac translation, or the name is a pseudonym.
The Syriac text which underlies the present translation of the large Florilegium is the 1862 edition by Land. His edition was based upon the famous British Museum manuscript or.Add.14.658 (987.18°), fols. 163v.-67v. It appears that Land's text is less exact than one could have hoped for, but the corrections afforded by W. Wright (1863), F. Schulthess (1912) and J.-p Audet (1952) give us sufficient tools for a reconstruction of the Syriac text. The date of the manuscript is most probably the seventh century.
The Syriac text of the short Epitome has been edited by E. Sachau in his publication of profane Greek writings in Syriac translation (1870). His text was based upon the British Museum manuscript Or.Add.14.614 (773.4b), more accurately that part of the manuscript which dates from the eighth or ninth century .
The younger text of the Epitome is not based upon the older text of the Florilegium but presupposes a slightly different recension of the latter, which at least in one instance seems to have preserved a better text (cf, Florilegium II. 470-73 and Epitome ll. 34-39).
I
The Epitome of the Sentences of the Syriac 'Menander'
1 Menander, the Sage,
(1) 2 Before everything, fear God,
3 and honor the one that is older than you,
4 for thus you shall be honored by God.
(2) 5 Flee from everything that is hateful.
(3) 6 There is no one who follows his stomach or his lust,
7 who immediately shall not be dishonored and despised.
(4) 8 Blessed is the man who has mastered his stomach and his lust.
(5) 9 The main source of all good things is the fear of God:
10 it delivers us from all evil things,
11 and in your distresses you will call upon him,
12 and he will listen to your voice.
(6) 13 The affairs of men, however, will not last,
14 since their life is until the house of death.
(7) 15 Comely is youth,
16 but it is with men only for a short time,
17 and old age makes it fade away.
(8) 18 Pleasant are life, goods, and children,
19 but more pleasant than them is a good name.
(9) 20 Excellent is joy
21 when quarrel and violence are far from it.
(10) 22 Good is friendship
23 which continues to the house of death.
(11) 24 Lovely is wisdom
25 when it is not puffed up.
(12) 26 Excellent is faithfulness
27 when it is coupled with sound judgment.
(13) 28 Insipidity leads the mind astray.
(14) 29 Agitation makes a person lose their senses.
(15) 30 An evil heart causes griefs and sighing.
(16) 31 Jealousy is the cause of evil and strife.
(17) 32 The belly is disgraceful.
33 The tongue brings a person to misery.
(18) 34 I have watched,
35 but the dwelling place of men is the grave,
36 and this is the place of rest,
37 which God determines for men,
38 that they may rest there from the evil things
39 which they saw in their life.
II
The Sentences of the Syriac Menander
1 Menander the Sage said:
2 Prior to the words of man are all his activities:
3 water and seed, plants and children.
4 It is good to plant plants
5 and it is comely to beget children,
6 praiseworthy and good is the seed,
7 but he through whom it comes to pass,
8 he is to be praised before everything.
9 Fear God,
10 And honor your father and mother.
11 Do not laugh at old age,
12 for that is where you shall arrive and remain.
13 Honor him who is older than you.
14 God will raise you to honor and dignity.
15 You shall do no murder,
16 and your hands shall not do what is hateful,
17 for the sword lies in the midst:
18 there is no one who cruelly kills
19 who will not himself be killed immediately.
20 Listen every day to the words of your father and mother,
21 and seek not to offend and dishonor them:
22 for the son who dishonors and offends his father and mother,
23 God ponders his death and his misfortune.
24 Honor your father in the proper way,
25 do not despise your friends,
26 and do not dishonor those who honor you.
27 If your son grows out of his boyhood
28 as one who is humble and wise
29 teach him the “book of wisdom,”
30 for the book is good to learn from.
31 Wisdom is bright eyes an excellent tongue.
32 eyes that are bright will not be blinded,
33 and a tongue that speaks wisely will not begin to stutter.
34 And if your son grows out of his boyhood
35 as one who is brutish, crude, insolent,
36 thievish, deceitful, and provocative,
37 teach him the profession of gladiator,
38 and put into his hand a sword and a dagger,
39 and pray for him,
40 that he shall die, shall be killed, immediately,
41 lest-by his living on-
42 you should grow old through his frauds and expenses,
43 while he does not produce anything good for you.
44 Every evil son should die and not live on.
45 And as for an adulterous woman, her feet are not firm,
46 for she deceives her good husband.
47 And a man who does not correctly deal with his wife,
48 even God hates him.
49 Keep your son from fornication,
50 and your servant from the cabaret,
51 since these make a person acquainted with the habit of stealing.
52 Drink wine moderately
53 and do not boast of it;
54 for wine is, indeed, mild and sweet,
55 but every man that quarrels and boasts of it
56 will immediately be dishonored and despised.
57 But when your thirst is quenched, depart,
58 but not what is left is what dogs eat, the vomit of the stomach.
59 There are two hateful things,
60 and in both of them the stomach is involved:
61 starvation, it is swollen,
62 satiety, it is at the bursting point.
63 And there is no one who follows his lust and his stomach
64 who will not immediately be dishonored and despised.
65 Blessed is the man who mastered his stomach and his lust,
66 he is one on whom one can rely at all times.
67 Hateful is the custom of lying down at an improper time:
68 sleep carries us into the grave,
69 dreams unite us with the dead.
70 Hateful is laziness;
71 it is hungry and thirsty, naked and lamenting.
72 How comely and praiseworthy is industry;
73 at all times it is a filled stomach and a bright face.
74 Even if one does not have success,
75 he will not be blamed.
76 Do not be quarrelsome;
77 do not stretch out your hand against one older than you.
78 For the companions of Homer asked him,
79 “Whosoever will smite an old man,
80 what will happen to him?”
81 He said to him, “His eyes will be blinded.”
82 “And whosoever will beat his mother,
83 what will happen to him?”
84 He said to them, “The earth shall not receive him,
85 for she is the mother of all men.”
86 And again they asked him,
87 “And whosoever will smite his father,
88 what will happen to him?”
89 Homer said to his companions,
90 “This has not happened,
91 and so it cannot be taken into account;
92 for a son who beats his father does not exist,
93 unless his mother bore him after committing adultery with a foreigner.”
94 More than everything love your father,
95 you shall fear him and honor him.
96 And do not despise, do not dishonor your mother,
97 for ten months long she bore you in her womb,
98 and when she gave birth to you she was at the point of death.
99 Do not laugh at the words of the aged,
100 do not curl your lips in ridicule at the aged;
101 and do not despise the poor.
102 For old age has its ailments,
103 and man has to accept them,
104 but when he descends into the grave, he will find rest.
105 For there was a man who fell very badly,
106 and no one believed with respect to him
107 that he would stand on his feet once more;
108 but at some moment God took him by the hand and raised him,
109 and brought him again to great honor.
110 For neither riches are everlasting,
111 nor at all times is there poverty,
112 for subject to change are all things.
113 For I have seen
114 Someone who stood up to kill, and he was killed;
115 And someone they seized that he should die, and he found life.
116 For as for God, He who was cast down by him will not be so forever.
117 Nor will he who was humiliated by him be so at all times.
118 An if you want to take a wife,
119 Make first inquiries about her tongue,
120 And take her then.
121 For a talkative woman is a hell;
122 And… a evil man is a deadly plague.
123 You shall fear God at all times,
124 So that you may call upon him in your distress,
125 And he will listen to your voice.
126 Do not rejoice over a dead man, over one who dies,
127 Because all men will go to the eternal house, they are mortal.
128 If you have an enemy,
129 Do not pray with respect to him that he may die
130 -for when he is dead he is delivered from his misfortunes-
131 but pray with respect to him that he may become poor,
132 he will live on and maybe cease from his evil practices.
133 Do not intervene between brothers,
134 And do not seek to pronounce a judgment between them,
135 If brothers fight,
136 What business is it of yours?
137 For they are brothers, and they will be reconciled;
138 But as for you, they despise you in their minds.
139 Do not pass through a market street in which there is a quarrel,
140 lest, if you pass through, you badly suffer,
141 and, if you part them, you be wounded and your garments be rent,
142 and if you stand there and watch, you be summoned to court to give evidence.
143 Hate being wounded;
144 Refuse to bring out false witness.
145 Be fond of possessions, but hate stealing:
146 For possessions are "life,"
147 But stealing is at all times "death."
148 If you happen to meet an evil man in the market street,
149 do not sit down immediately,
150 lest, if you give ear to that evil man,
151 everyone who sees you will call you the companion of the evil man;
152 and lest, if you do not heed him or adhere to his opinion,
153 he abuses you and molests you in his wickedness.
154 Do not dine with an evil servant,
155 lest his masters accuse you
156 of teaching his their servant to steal.
157 Hate an evil servant,
158 And beware of a free man who steals;
159 for just as you have not the competence to kill a servant,
160 neither have you the means to restrain a free man.
161 God hates the evil servant
162 who hates and dishonors his master.
163 If you see an evil servant in deplorable misfortune,
164 do not feel sorry for him,
165 but say "Alas for his master, what a piece of property."
166 Love the industrious servant
167 who is active and works with zeal in the house of his master.
168 As for every evil man, God gives him over into slavery,
169 but every industrious man is worthy to rise in honor and greatness.
170 Reject and hate a lascivious old man,
171 for as you are not able to restrain the wind
172 so you cannot restrain or educate this type of an old man.
173 Do not leave the way,
174 and do not go astray,
175 and do not walk wickedly.
176 Do not be quarrelsome,
177 lest a quarrel arise which reduces you to poverty.
178 And if you lie, immediately you shall be despised.
179 And if you speak wickedly, you face shall grow pale.
180 If you are boastful, you shall prove harmful to yourself.
181 If you recline at table among many people,
182 do not open your purse in their presence;
183 and do not show what you have with you,
184 lest they borrow from you but do not pay you back.
185 And when you ask them concerning it, they will strive with you
186 and call you a sour man.
187 That is, you will lose what was yours,
188 and, moreover, you will become their enemy.
189 Love your brothers,
190 and make your words pleasing to your friends.
191 For I went about and sought
192 sometimes that can be likened to good friends,
193 but I did not find it.
194 Rejoice at your sons, father,
195 For they are a genuine joy.
196 However, the position of brothers,
197 The sons do not take for me; see my sons and brothers.
198 For your son prays for your death,
199 Since through your death he will receive honor.
200 and will occupy your position,
201 and will live on your goods at will.
202 But your brothers pray to God for your life,
203 because as long as you live they are splendid,
204 but through your death they are handicapped;
205 your sons will call them, your brothers, worthless fellows.
206 But it is an evil and foolish son who thinks of these things;
207 an evil thought in his heart, fixed on his father's death.
208 The evil son does not understand
209 that if his father dies, it is not good for the sons:
210 the head of the family no longer lives for them.
211 Love and honor your father,
212 because he gave himself to you.
213 Do not despise your friends,
214 and do not dishonor those who honor you.
215 And he with whom you had a meal,
216 do not walk with him in a treacherous way.
217 And when you are going to your friends,
218 If your friend truly loves you
219 and if you are truly dear to him,
220 his children will show you that outwardly.
221 If they eagerly watch for your presence,
222 be convinced that your friend loves you,
223 and that you are dear to him.
224 But if his children do not eagerly watch for your coming,
225 Even he, your friend, is unwilling to see you…
226 Leave, go home!
227 Tardily does the freeborn appreciate his home,
228 And the maidservant the house of her wasters.
229 If you see a noble man who loses his rank of honor,
230 Do not seek to dishonor him anymore.
231 On the contrary, honor him in a correct way,
232 And give to him that which you can;
233 For great is the charity which you practice
234 when you give to a man who lost his possessions and rank of honor.
235 If you have, give to him,
236 And if you have not and cannot give to him,
237 Then visit him with good and gentle words,
238 And say to him, "Do not be afraid"
239 And "May God purpose something good for you!"
240 Keep your self away from adultery.
241 Why should you want to buy polluted and putrid water,
242 Whose beginning is dwindling, whose end is light and loose?
243 And walk in a straight line with the head raised,
244 And be chaste in your thoughts.
245 Remember and see:
246 Just as you do not wish your wife to commit adultery with another,
247 Likewise also do not wish to commit adultery with your neighbor's wife.
248 And if you are very keen on not losing anything,
249 You should not be keen on stealing.
250 Everything that is hateful to you,
251 you should not wish to do that to your neighbor.
252 Let not your way of life be arrogant,
253 lest it be harmful to you.
254 And if you are impudent,
255 this will not be pleasant for you.
256 You shall not learn hunting,
257 if the weariness of life is not to fall upon you.
258 If you should desire to learn it,
259 you would be searching for something that you have not lost,
260 and you would not find something that is beautiful,
261 because it is contemptible.
262 As for the king, he is honored by his princes,
263 but the gods are despised by their priests.
264 Never invite a priest who despises his gods.
265 If you invite a wicked priest to your house,
266 he gives you a blessing each time that he enters,
267 but makes complaints each time that he departs.
268 and if you place food before him,
269 his one hand, indeed, goes to his mouth;
270 but the other takes the food away
271 and puts it into his bag to take it along with him for his children.
272 Have more love for a dog than you have for that kind of priest;
273 if the dog has enough food,
274 he leaves the remainder behind in your house,
275 but if the priest has enough food,
276 he takes the remainder along with him for his children,
277 and makes complains in addition.
278 Be welcome,
279 if your garments are fair,
280 and if your purse is filled.
281 A meal makes company pleasant.
282 Riches multiply friends.
283 But if a man’s foot falters,
284 all his friends are gone.
285 A gift makes words pleasant.
286 With someone who is richer than you, do not dine every day,
287 for if you happen to visit him,
288 he would receive you within the bounds of his daily expenditures;
289 but if he happens to visit you,
290 you would spend because of him what you have collected in thirty days,
291 and thereby ruin yourself.
292 Divination gladdens the heart of fools,
293 astrology inspires the mind of the stupid.
294 One who remains in the market street is an idler.
295 Stealing is the constructor of a cross.
296 Evil amusement is the teacher of falsehood and theft.
297 Keep a boy away from evil things;
298 The school keeps a person far from death;
299 Handicraft delivers a person from misfortune.
300 The law is a divine appeal.
301 Hateful is loquacity;
302 and excessive laughter is a genuine disgrace.
303 Disorderly conduct, despise it at all times.
304 Reject, hate the talkative person
305 who interrupts others but himself speaks the mores.
306 Though he had ten thousand enemies,
307 they would not hurt him like his own tongue;
308 every day he is involved in a deadly fight,
309 he has not a bright face,
310 due to the words for which he is censured.
311 There exists nothing better than silence.
312 Being silent is at all times a virtue.
313 Even if a fool is silent, he is counted wise.
314 Never lose heart.
315 Do not fall back in battle;
316 for whoever does not fall back in battle
317 and gives himself unto death,
318 shall immediately find life and a good name
319 and he shall be praised.
320 He who speaks boldly in court
321 shall be declared innocent.
322 Riches without fuss are a genuine power;
323 but not everyone knows how to administer them.
324 For if someone has inflated his stomach he will die;
325 And if he does not remember the end, he will perish.
326 If, on the other hand, you calm down your stomach, you will grow rich;
327 and if you will remember the end, it will be well with you.
328 Acting as a judge is fine;
329 Take care that you do not pronounce judgment over a foolish man,
330 because if you should try to assist the fool in his case,
331 he will still revile you and he will say to many,
332 “He has condemned me.”
333 Do not dine with a wicked man;
334 for even what is your own he will consume,
335 and in his wickedness he will say about you evil and hateful things.
336 Do not listen to a talkative and verbose woman;
337 do not believe her, if she complains to you of her husband;
338 for he did not sin against her,
339 but she did irritate him every day with her wicked tongue.
340 Do not measure your strength with one who is stronger than you,
341 or one who forces you to strive with him;
342 do not say to yourself, “Maybe I will cast him down,”
343 lest he cast you down;
344 then you will be ashamed in the presence of many bystanders.
345 Be bold against one who contends you;
346 and do not forgive him the abuse against your father.
347 Do not cast a glance at your maidservant in your house,
348 and do not be fond of impurity and prodigality;
349 do never besmirch your honor.
350 For if you raise your eye in your house, you will become very sad,
351 but if you chaste, you shall be happy and fortunate,
352 because God hates impurity and prodigality,
353 even for men these are a disgrace.
354 If you have goods, if you have possessions,
355 be humble and kind, and give; do not flaunt.
356 And if you have no possessions, if you are poor,
357 bow yourself down and be gentle; be not stubborn.
358 Flaunting and stubbornness are hateful to men.
359 Do not turn away your eyes from your father and mother,
360 and do not curl up your lips in ridicule at “testicles” and “breasts,”
361 and do not dishonor the God who made you.
362 However, remember and see:
363 if your eyes become great, they can not surpass our eyebrows.
364 For if you have surpassed your father and mother,
365 and if-as it is now your time and your fate-
366 you are to be called “Master” and “Lord,”
367 it is due to the name of your father and mother that all people call you so.
368 If you have goods, if you have possessions,
369 live on your possessions as long as you are alive
370 and your eye can see and your foot can walk.
371 For remember and see:
372 a person can not use their goods in the grave,
373 and riches do not accompany one into the grave.
374 Therefore, you shall not deny yourself the good things,
375 for better is one day under the sun
376 than a hundred years in the grave.
377 Be energetic in your youth,
378 as long as your eye can see and your foot can walk,
379 and your strength is great.
380 But when you have become aged and wary,
381 sit down and live on your possessions.
382 And comely is youth,
383 when the young man is energetic,
384 and when he is successful through his strength.
385 Let anxieties never dominate your heart,
386 because it is a evil thing to nurse anxiety.
387 For many are the years which a man does not truly live;
388 Their anxieties kill him.
389 If you are anxious, you shall die;
390 and if you are sad, you shall never truly live.
391 For short and limited is the space of life
392 which God determines for men;
393 and he mingled them many evil things with a few good things.
394 The main source of all good things is the fear of God,
395 it delivers a person from all evil things;
396 a treasure it is.
397 Not always, however, will last the affairs of men,
398 since their life is until the house of death.
399 Comely and praiseworthy is youth,
400 but it is with men only for a short time,
401 and old age makes it fade away.
402 Pleasant are life, goods, and buildings,
403 but more pleasant than these is a good name.
404 Praiseworthy and radiant is joy
405 When quarrel and violence are far from it.
406 Good and excellent is friendship
407 which continues to the house of death.
408 Unpretentious is wisdom
409 when it is not puffed up.
410 Good is faithfulness
411 when it is coupled with sound judgment.
412 Praiseworthy is industry
413 when someone is energetic and successful.
414 Laziness is an evil thing
415 when a person’s body should be vigorous.
416 Intemperance provokes conflict.
417 Wisdom keeps one back from wickedness.
418 Hope comforts the heart.
419 Insipidity leads the mind astray.
420 Agitation makes a person lose their senses.
421 An evil heart causes grief and sighing.
422 Jealousy is the cause of evil and strife.
423 The belly is a disgraceful thing.
424 The tongue brings to misery.
425 Radiant and comely are riches,
426 but the good man hardly acquires them.
427 Hateful and dark is poverty
428 when accompanied by disease and loss.
429 Riches are just a step to honor.
430 Rest is a great blessing.
431 Riches that will not reduce to poverty are a strong power.
432 Wretched poverty means illness and disease.
433 Health means joy and rejoicing.
434 Old age is the frontier of death.
435 Poverty is the dregs of all evil
436 when it takes up its abode in old age.
437 And the last part of life is death;
438 the grave hides the dust.
439 Fever corrupts charming people;
440 health and good cheer make one's appearance charming.
441 death corrupts also the firm body;
442 but dissolution forms first ten parts,
443 and then death corrupts the one part that was well prepared.
444 These evil and good things are mingled in the life of men,
445 not to mention fever, tremors, diseases, and great calamities
446 which are called “the angels of death.”
447 And no one can choose and take for himself what is good
448 and avoid what is evil;
449 but men go their way according to what God measures out for them,
450 as long as he allows them to live.
451 Neither should men despair,
452 because they cannot live longer than is determined for them;
453 nor should we angrily complain against God.
454 because of the misfortunes that befall us.
455 For how often
456 someone, even when he suffers misfortunes,
457 rises to honor and dignity.
458 One should, however, in the sorrow that befalls him,
459 not be excessively sad,
460 and through his groaning badly vex himself,
461 because he will not be of any help to a deceased
462 even if he falls down and greatly suffers after his demise.
463 But he who is wise
464 –even when the deceased is very dear to him-
465 shall accompany him with tears to the tomb;
466 but when the deceased has been buried,
467 let him, even him, overcome his groaning;
468 and let him remember and consider in his mind
469 that he himself shall also die.
470 And this is the place of rest
471 which God determines for men,
472 that they may rest there from the evil things
473 which they saw in their life.
474 Menander has come to an end.
THE SYRIAC APOCALYPSE OF PSEUDO-METHODIUS
This work was originally attributed to Methodius of Patara, a martyr bishop who died in the early fourth century, C.E. It was actually composed around 660-680 C. E. The real author is unknown, but the original was written in Syriac in the wake of the Islamic conquests and represented a Byzantine apocalyptic tradition that continued to exercise an important influence on Western Christian thought. It also has obvious links to the Sybilline Tradition.
By the help of God the Lord of the Universe we wrote the discourse composed by my blessed Lord Methodius, bishop and martyr, concerning the succession of kings and the end of times.
This blessed man asked of God to know how generations and kingdoms were transmitted from Adam until today. And the Lord sent him one from among his hosts to the mountain of Senagar. And he showed him all the generations. He will then also set forth at the beginning of our discourse the kingdoms one by one to distinguished men of learning.
When Adam and Eve departed from Paradise, both of them were virgins. And thirty years after their expulsion from Paradise, Adam knew his wife Eve. She conceived and gave birth to Cain, the first-born of Adam, together with Kelima his sister. And after thirty years she conceived and gave birth to Abel and Abel's sister Lebuda.
And in the hundredth year of Adam's life Cain slew his brother Abel. And Adam made lament over his murder one hundred years. And in the year 230 of the first millennium there was born Seth, a handsome man in the image of Adam. And in the year 500 of that first millennium the women rebelled against their husbands in the camp of the house of Cain and were whores. And without shame the men came in to them and practiced fornication with them publicly. And in the year 800 of the life of Adam wantonness and fornication grew among the daughters of Cain.
And Adam died in the year 930 of the first millennium. Immediately the progeny of the house of
Seth and his kindred separated from the sons of the slayer. And Seth led away and took with him all his kind, his sons and his grandsons, to the summits of the mountains of Paradise; and Cain and his kin remained below in the plain where he killed his brother Abel.
And in the year 40 of Jared there ended the first millennium, there lived those artificers of sin who were sons of iniquity in the camp of the sons of Cain, Jubal and Tubal-cain, sons of the blind Lamech who killed Cain. And Satan entered and resided in them and they composed and produced all kinds of music, harps and flutes. And in the year 500 of the second millennium men and women ran riot inside the camps of the sons of Cain, and publicly women ran after men and behaved in the pride of mares in a wild herd. Thus the women ran riot in the wantonness of fornication, men as well as women. Satan did battle with the sons of Seth.
And at the end of the second millennium there occurred a deluge of waters and the handiwork of 2,000 years was destroyed in one hour. And in the year 312 of Noah's life, in the twelfth generation and the third millennium, when Noah left the ark, Noah's sons built buildings in this outer region and named the town Temanon, because of the name of those eight souls that survived in the world.
And in the year 700 of Noah's life and after 100 years of the third millennium, there was born to Noah a son, a man in stature like his image, and he called his name Ionton. And in the year 300 of the third millennium Noah gave gifts to his son Ionton and sent him to the East. And after Noah's death in the year 790 of the third millennium, Noah's sons went up from the East and built for themselves a tower in the plain of Babylonian Sin'dor. And there their tongues were, confused and they were scattered over the entire earth.
And Ionton the son of Noah returned to the East and came to the sea called Fire of the Sun, from which the sun rose from the East and where he resided. Ionton received revelations of wisdom from God and he began first to be familiar with those of the course of the stars.
And Nimrod went down to him and he instructed him in all the wisdom. And from him he received precepts that he would be king, for Nimrod was a man from the sons of Shem. He was the first king over the entire earth. And in the year 799 of the third millennium, in the year 30 of the kingship of Nimrod, he sent men of great power from among the sons of Japheth, wise men and craftsmen skilled in knowledge. And they went down to the East to Ionton son of Noah and built for him a beautiful city. And he lived in it and it was called Ionton.
And there was peace between the kingdom of Ionton and the kingdom of Nimrod until the present day. But between the kingdom of Nimrod son of Shem and the kingdom of Pupienus son of Ham there was not peace, because in the days of Nimrod the sons of Japheth and the sons of Shem waged war against each other. And Ionton son of Noah wrote to them saying: The kingdom of the sons of Japheth will conquer the kingdom of the sons of Ham. Those two kingships were in the world from the first, and then occurred the beginning of all the kingships of the nations, and afterward the kingship of Nimrod. When the third millennium was completed, in the year 70 of Aru, that is, the year 39 of the fourth millennium, the two kingdoms waged war against each other. And the kingdom of the house of Nimrod conquered the kingdom of Egypt. And the Babylonian kingship was handed down in succession from the seed of mighty Nimrod until the reign of mighty Hormizd. He took himself a wife from the kin of Ham. When Hormizd died, his son 'Azri married his mother and from her there was born to him Hormizd. He assembled many armies, went up to the kingdom of the son of Ham, and captured, destroyed, and burned by fire all the lands of the West.
And in the year 2 of the reign of Kodros son of Hormizd there assembled the kingdoms of the Babylonians. In number they were 320,000 foot-soldiers, all of whom were carrying sticks only. And when Kodros heard about them, he laughed and allowed them to come and proceed as far as the Tigris. And against them the powerful king of the Persians sent soldiers as well as mighty warriors riding on elephants. And he went up against them and killed them, and not even one of them survived. And when the fourth millennium was completed, which was the twenty-fifth year of Hormizd, in the first year in which the fifth millennium began, Sam'i'sar, king of the East from the kin of Ionton son of Noah, descended and ravaged, from the Euphrates and into Adroigan, ninety-seven cities and all their surroundings. And he invaded the three kingdoms of the Ethiopians and ravaged and captured and burned with fire, and departed for the desert. And he ravaged and captured the camps of the sons of Ismael son of Hagar the Egyptian handmaid of Sarah wife of Abraham. And Ismael fled from the desert of Jethrib. And they invaded the land of peace. And he fought with the kings of the nations and destroyed them. And they laid waste and captured and conquered all the kingdoms of the nations, and the entire land of promise was subject to them, and the earth was full of them and of their camps.
And like locusts they walked naked, and they ate meat in vessels of meat and drank the blood of animals. And when the sons of Ismael conquered and subjected the entire earth, they ravaged cities and towns and occupied all the kingdoms of the nations. And in vessels of wood they floated above the waves of the sea and they went to the lands of the West and came as far as the great Rome and as far as Illyricum and Egypt and Luza the great beyond Rome.
And when they had occupied the land for sixty years and had done to it what they wished, after eight weeks and a half, they prevailed over all the kingdoms of the nations and raged and raved in the pride of their haughtiness. And the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Hivites and the kings of the Amorites and the kings of the Jebusites and the kings of the Girgashites and the kings of the Canaanites and the kings of the Ammonites and the kings of the Philistines were their slaves. And at that time there were four tyrannical leaders, sons of Demunitehta, Oreb and Zeeb and Sbah and Zalmunna. And when God delivered the Israelites by the hands of Moses and
Aaron from the oppression of the Egyptians and when they invaded the land of repose and were harnessed under yet another yoke of slavery for the chastisement of the sons of Ismael, these Midianites boasted.
And when God saw the harsh distress distressing them, he delivered them and destroyed the Midianites and their leaders and expelled and drove them out of the cultivated land into the desert of Jethrib. And the survivors made a compact of peace with the sons of Israel. And seven tribes departed for this further desert, but they will come out and ravage the world and bear rule over it. And they will capture places and passes and entrances to the cultivated land from Egypt to Cush and from the Euphrates to India and from the Tigris to the sea called Fire of the Sun and
the kingdom of Ionton son of Noah and from the North to the great Rome and the great sea of Pontus, because their yoke weighs double over the servitude of all nations. And there is no people or kingdom under heaven with whom they will fight and not overpower. And after ten weeks of those years they also will be overpowered and subjected by the kingdom of Rome, because it overpowers all the kingdoms and will not be overpowered by any one of them because it possesses truly that unconquerable weapon that conquers all.
Henceforward consider closely the successions of the kingships and immediately the truth will be
known to you and will show itself to you without disguise and without deception. And until Hadarzaraq, king of the heroes, the house of the sons of Nimrod held the kingdom of Babylon. And from Hadarzaraq and until Sasan the Old the Persians ruled, and from Sasan and until Piroz, king of kings, and from Seleucia and until Ctesiphon and from Piroz and until Sennacherib. There was born to him from Ainqat, the Corduenian woman, Adramelech and Serasad and Sarchadom. And these two sons slew their father. And they fled to the land of the Corduenians. And his son Sarchadom came to rule in Babylonia in place of his father Sennacherib, and after him Nebuchadnezzar. He was born from a Lydian father and from the queen of Sheba.
And when Sennacherib began to make war on the king of the Ethiopians, he advanced until Iba and destroyed many places in it. And his son went out with him and he was Rab Mehaimane. And because of his wisdom and manliness there was given to him the kingdom of Babylonia. And he took for wife a woman from Media, Hormazdu the Median, and Darius took for wife Rud the Persian, from whom was born Cyrus the Persian.
Listen now how one by one the kingdoms of the East were overpowered. The kingdom of the Babylonians was overpowered by that of the Medes, and that of the Medes by that of the Persians, and that of the Babylonians overpowered that of the Cushites and of Sheba and of Saba and the kingdoms of the nations from the sea unto the Euphrates besides the kingdom of the house of David. And the kingdom of Babylonia overpowered the kingdom of the house of David through Nebuchadnezzar. He overpowered the Hebrews and the Egyptians, and Darius the Mede overpowered the Indians and the Luzie, and Cyrus the Persian overpowered the Thracians and restored the sons of Israel.
Listen now how these four kingdoms were overpowered one by the other, that of the Cushites by that of the Macedonians and that of the Macedonians by that of the Greeks, and that of the Greeks by that of the Romans. And these are the four winds of heaven which Daniel saw pouring forth the great sea. Philip, father of the king of kings Alexander, was a Macedonian, and whom did Philip take for wife? Cusheth, daughter of King Phol of the Cushites. And from her there was born King Alexander of the Macedonians. He built the great Alexandria and ruled in it twelve years. He went down to the East and killed Darius the Mede and conquered many places.
And he marched round the earth and descended to the East and went as far as the sea called Fire of the Sun. And he saw there nations filthy and ugly to look at, who were sons of Japheth. And when he saw the abominable deeds which they were doing—they ate the vermin of the earth, mice and dogs and kittens, and they did not enshroud and bury their dead, and the embryos which the women aborted they ate as if it were some delicacy—and when Alexander saw their abominable deeds, he called God to his aid. And he assembled and expelled them and their wives and their sons, and all of their camps he expelled from the East. And he placed them and enclosed them from the ends of the North inside the entrance which is the gate of the world from the North, and there is no other entrance nor outlet from the uttermost part of the world from East to West.
And King Alexander prayed before God and God hearkened unto him. And God commanded the mountains called Sons of the North, and they drew near each other to a distance of no more than twelve cubits. And he made a gate of brass and anointed it on the inner side with Taseqtis. If one
applies iron in order to open it, one does not affect it. And if one wants to melt it by fire, it quenches the fire brought near to it because the nature of Taseqtis is not affected by iron, nor by the operation of demons. Also not even fire can destroy it at all if it is applied to it, for these Unclean Nations who were imprisoned inside used all the wickedness of witchcraft. And through these two mighty things he brought to nought their entire activity so that neither through iron nor through the operation of evil spirits could it be opened before them and they depart and corrupt men and defile the earth. But at the end of the ages, as was the saying of the prophet Ezekiel which was prophesied concerning them, saying: In the end of times, at the end of the world, the followers of Gog and of Magog will come out upon the land of Israel.
These are the people whom Alexander imprisoned inside the gates of the North: Ogug and Magog and Joel and Agag and Ashkenazu and DIpar and Putoio and Lydians and Huns and Persians and Daqlaie and Tebelie and Darmetaie and Kaukebaie and Emrataie and Garmidmaie and Men-Eaters who are called Cynocephali and Thracians and Alani and Plsllie and Deshie and Saltraie. These twenty-two kingdoms were imprisoned inside the gates of the North. And when Alexander, the first king of the Greeks, died, because he did not take a wife and had no sons, there ruled after him those generals of his. And Cusheth, mother of Alexander, returned to Cush to the house of her father. And King Byzas, who built Byzantium, the capital surrounded by the sea, sent the general Germanicus to Phol, king of the Cushites. And he made peace with him and wrote to him concerning his daughter, the mother of Alexander, so that he might take her to wife and might make her queen.
And when the king of the Cushites received the letter that was in the hands of Germanicus, commander of Byzas king of the Greeks, and when he saw the gifts and honors which he sent to him, he rejoiced greatly. And at once Phol also took with him from the choice produce of the kingdom of the Cushites and also his daughter Cusheth and went up to Byzantium to King Byzas together with thirty thousand Cushites. And he was received hospitably by King Byzas beyond the sea of Chalcedon. And he gave gifts to the hosts that entered inside Byzantium with him, and
great honors and gifts according to the bounty of the king he gave to him. And the king of Greece took Cusheth, daughter of King Phol of the Cushites.
And there was born to him from her a daughter, and he named her Byzantia, because of the name of the city that he built. And Armalaos, king of the Romans, took to wife Byzantia. And because she was exceedingly beautiful he took her. And because he was a simple man and there was no cunning in him, not even a little, he wrote to Rome and gave her as a gift to Byzantia in Byzantia's marriage settlement.
And when this thing was consummated, there arose among the chiefs who were at Rome a great clamor against this thing. And Armalaos begot three times from Byzantia, daughter of Byzas king of Byzantium, and she was the daughter of Cusheth mother of King Alexander: Armalaos and Urbanos and Claudius. And Armalaos the Younger reigned in Rome in place of Armalaos the Elder and Urbanos reigned in Byzantium the city of his mother, and Claudius reigned in Alexandria, a city in the kingdom of his father. And the offspring of Queen Cusheth, daughter of Phol king of the Cushites possessed the kingdom of the Macedonians and Romans and Greeks from the offspring of Cusheth daughter of Phol until eternity because the kingship of Greece which descends from the offspring of the Cushites will hand over the hand to God at the end of times.
When the blessed David beheld with far-seeing eye the spirit of God, he saw that from Cusheth daughter of King Phol of the Cushites it would happen that the kingdom of Greece would be handed down. However, many brethren of the clergy supposed that the blessed David spoke his word concerning the kingdom of the Cushites. And those who thought so erred. For concerning this kingdom of Greece which descends from the offspring of Cusheth and will possess that thing which is placed in the center, which is the Holy Cross, concerning this kingdom, yea, concerning it, the blessed David said: Cush will hand over the hand to God. For there is no people or kingdom under heaven that can overpower the kingdom of the Christians as long as it possesses a place of refuge in the life-giving Cross, which is set up in the center of the earth and possesses its power over height and depth.
Also the bars of Hell which are the tyrants of impiety cannot prevail over this kingdom of the Christians. Thus runs the true saying of Our Savior who spoke to Simon: Which is the power or kingdom of people below heaven that is mighty and strong in its power and will be able to prevail over the great power of the Holy Cross in which the kingdom of the Greeks, that is of the Romans, possesses a place of refuge? The blessed Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in the second letter when he warned them: Do not be frightened by quick and vain rumors saying: Behold, the day of the Lord Jesus has come. As long as this kingdom which possesses an abiding place of refuge is the center, the Son of Perdition will not be revealed, for that something which is in the center is the priesthood and the kingship and the Holy Cross. And this kingship of the Christians overpowers all kingdoms of the earth, and by it all leaders and all authority will be paralyzed and come to nought and all its people will be left destitute, and by it they will be conquered and through it they will come to nought. And in the whole earth there will not be left one leader nor one authority when' the Son of Perdition will be revealed, except the kingdom of the Greeks which will hand over the hand to God, as was the saying of the apostle who said: And he will bring to nought every leader and all authority over all powers, thereupon the son will hand over the kingdom of the Christians to God the Father.
For the kings of many nations went to battle with the kingdom of the heroes and could not conquer it. Not even the kingdom that overpowered Egypt and slew thirty-one kings of the nations and two lords of the kingdoms of the Amorites, Siphon and Og, and all the tyrants of the Philistines could overpower the kingdom of Babylonia and the kingdom of Rome, which is that of the Greeks. It overpowered the kingdom of the Hebrews and destroyed and overthrew it from its foundations and in it has remained not a survivor, not even one trace.
And it will sprout again and bring forth fruit—because already it was surrendered into the hands of Vespasian and of his son Titus through whom the kingdom of the Hebrews was destroyed. And immediately their kingdom ravaged the one about which Daniel prophesied: After the Messiah will be killed, it will ravage the holy city. When the Babylonians overpowered the kingdom of the Hebrews in which were these exalted and most excellent things, priesthood and prophecy and kingship, and when Vespasian plundered and destroyed the holy city there was not found one of these gifts in one of their tribes. Nor could the kingdom of the Egyptians resist, which is that of the Macedonians, which was overpowered by that of the Romans.
The kingdom of Media and of Persia and of Armenia was brought to nought. This kingdom overthrew all the kingdoms of the earth. After thousands of years the kingdom of the Hebrews was destroyed and that of the Egyptians after three thousand years. And when the kingdom of the Macedonians was destroyed, the kingdom of the barbarians was left destitute by the kingdom of Rome, namely, that of the Turks and of the Avars. And when the kingdom of the Hebrews was brought to nought, the sons of Ismael, son of Hagar, contended with Rome in its stead, whom Daniel called seed of the South. And he contended with it ten weeks of years because he understands the end and there is no duration in the middle, for it is in this last millennium, which is the seventh, that is brought to nought the kingdom of the Persians and that the sons of Ismael will depart from the desert of Jethrib and come and assemble, all of them, there at Gaba'ot the Great.
And there will be fulfilled the word of Our Lord who said: We are like the animals of the field and the birds of heaven, and call them saying: Assemble and come because today I shall make a great sacrifice for you. Eat the flesh of the fattened animals and drink the blood of the mighty men. For at Gaba'ot the fattened animals of the kingdom of the Greeks, who destroyed the kingdom of the Hebrews and of Persia, will be exterminated. And thus they too will be exterminated in Gaba'ot by Ismael, the wild ass of the desert, who was sent in the wrath of ire against men and against animals and against cattle and against trees and against plants. And it is a punishment in which there is no love. And these four leaders will be sent before them against the entire earth, Ruin and Destroyer and Desolation and Despoiler for every existing city and desolation that destroys everything, for God said through Moses: Not because he loved you did the Lord your God bring you to the land of the nations that you may inherit it, but because of the sins of its inhabitants. Also it was not because God loves these sons of Ismael that he granted to them that they enter the kingdom of the Christians, but because of the iniquity and sin perpetrated by the Christians. The like of it was not perpetrated in any of the preceding generations that men arrayed themselves in licentious clothes of harlots who adorned themselves like virgins and stood publicly in the streets of cities and ran riot in drunkenness and wantonness without hesitation and had intercourse with one another. Also female harlots were standing publicly in the streets, and a man entered and went a-whoring, and he went out and his son came, and with the same woman he polluted himself. And brothers and fathers and sons all polluted themselves with the same woman.
And concerning this thing the apostle Paul said: Their males abandoned the use of the nature of women and indulged in lust with one another and males behaved unseemly with males. Again also women abandoned the use of the nature of men and partly held intercourse contrary to nature. Because of this God will deliver them to the defilement of the barbarians. And heroic men will be buffeted by the punishment of distress and their women will defile themselves with the sons of uncleanness.
But I when I looked and saw these four princes of punishment, Desolation and Despoiler and Ruin and Destroyer, they were casting lots for the land. The land of Persia was given to desolation that it might bring destruction upon it and its inhabitants to captivity and to murder and to desolation. And Syria was given to destruction of desolation and her inhabitants to captivity and to murder. Sicily was given to ruin and destruction and her inhabited places to captivity and to murder. Hellas was given to destruction and to desolation and her inhabitants to captivity and to murder.
The land of the Romans was given to desolation and destruction and her inhabited places to flight and to spoiling and to captivity. And the islands of the sea were given to flight and their inhabitants to captivity of ruin. Egypt and Syria and the places of the East will be harnessed under the yoke of tribute and tax, that is, tribute, in suffering seven times that of prisoners. And the land of promise will be filled with men from the four winds of heaven like locusts which are assembled by a storm.
And there will be in it famine and distress and mortality, and the Despoiler will grow strong. And his horn will be raised and he will adopt pride and he will assume ostentation until the time of wrath, and he will seize the entrances of the North and the roads of the East and the straits of the sea. And men and sheep and animals and birds will be harnessed under the yoke of their slavery. And the waters of the seas will be subjected to them, and the waste places, which are deprived of their cultivations, will belong to him, and the tyrants will record them as his. And the fish in the sea and the trees in the forests and the plantings of their fruit and the dust of the earth with its stones and its harvest and the merchandise of the merchants and the cultivation of the husbandmen and the inheritance of the rich and the gifts and holy objects of gold and of silver and of bronze and of iron and clothing and all their utensils of ostentation and the adornments and the foodstuffs and the dainties and all their pleasures and delicacies will be his. And he will be arrogant in his person and in his pride until he will demand one hundred tribute from the dead that lie in the dust. And he will take a poll tax from orphans and from widows and from holy men. And they will have no mercy upon the poor and they will not give justice to the oppressed. And they will treat with insolence people of old age and they will sadden the spirit of those that are troubled. And they will take no pity on the sick and will not have mercy on those weak in might, but they will laugh at wise men and will mock at lawgivers and will deride men of learning. And the veil of silence will spread over all men, and all inhabitants of the earth will sit in surprise and in consternation. And the route of the Arabs' advance will be from them and by them, and what is small will be reckoned like big and mean like noble. And their commands will cut to pieces like that which is in swords and nobody will change the assurance of their commands.
And their advance will be completed from sea to sea and from the North to the desert of Jethrib and it will be a way to distress. And on it will journey old men and old women and rich and poor while they are hungry and thirsty and suffer in harsh bondage until they pronounce blessed the dead because this is the visitation of which the apostle said: Unless this punishment cometh beforehand, and thereupon will be revealed that man of sin, the Son of Perdition. And this chastisement will not be sent upon men alone but also on everything that is upon the face of the entire earth, upon men and upon women and upon unmarried youths and upon animals and upon cattle and upon birds.
And men will suffer in that chastisement, they and their wives and their sons and their daughters and their possessions, and old men weak in power and the weak, together with the powerful and the poor with the rich because God called their father Ismael the wild ass of the desert. And the deer and all the wild and the tame animals inside the cultivated land will be afflicted by them. And men will be pursued and animals and cattle will die and trees of the forest will be cut down and the beauty of the plants in the mountains will be spoiled. And they will destroy prosperous cities and they will capture places without a traveler in them. And the earth will be polluted with blood and the harvests will be taken from it. For these cruel barbarians are not human beings but are sons of desolation and upon desolation their faces are set upon the sword. They are despoilers
and for destruction they will be sent. And perdition they are and for the perdition of everything they set out. And polluted they are and pollution they live. And in the time of their eruption from the desert they will tear the infants from the sides of their mothers and like unclean animals they will dash them against the rocks.
And they will slaughter those who minister in the sanctuary. And also they will sleep with their wives and with their captured mistresses inside the sanctuaries. And they will make liturgical vestments their clothing and that of their sons, and they will bind their beasts of burden inside the coffins of the martyrs and graves of the saints. And they will be cruel and murderers and bloodthirsty and destroyers and a testing furnace for all Christians. For the blessed apostle said: Not all of Israel are Israel. Also all who are called Christians are not Christians, for seven thousand only were left over from the Israelites in the days of the prophet Elijah. They worshiped the Lord God and all Israel was saved through them. Thus also in the time of the punishment of these tyrants, few from many will be left over who are Christians, as Our Savior showed us in the Holy Gospel and said: When the Son of Man cometh, will he find faith on earth? Behold also, the spirit of those perfected in portents will grieve in those days of punishment and the multitude of the clergy will deny the true faith of the Christians and the Holy Cross and the mysteries of power. And without compulsion and blows and wounds they will deny Christ and will associate with the unbelievers. And because of this the apostle also proclaimed concerning them: In the last times men will abandon the faith and will go after unclean spirits and after the teachings of demons and will be tyrants and slanderers and boastful and haters of virtue and traitors and wild.
And all those who are false and weak in the faith will be tried and known in that punishment. They will separate themselves from the congregations of the Christians of their own accord, because that time challenges them to go after its uncleanness. For the humble and the modest and the friendly and the tranquil and the truthful and the freeborn and the wise and the select will not be sought at that time because they will be looked down upon and despised, but instead of them there will be sought the proud and the overbearing and the boastful and the vain and the slanderers and the detractors and the seditious and the unchaste and those who are destitute of love and the robbers and the spoilers and the wild and unskilled and those void of understanding and of the religion of God and those who revile their parents and those who blaspheme concerning the sacred mysteries and deny the Messiah and ignorant men in whom is not the wisdom of God. They will be servants of that one and their false words will find credence.
And concerning anything that is said to them they will comply. And true men and clerics and wise men and good men will be held in contempt in their eyes and they will be like dung, for they will be subjected to the punishment of the Ismaelites. And they will be distressed until they abandon hope for their lives. And honor will be lifted from the priests, and the divine liturgy and living sacrifice will cease from the Church.
And at that time priests will be like the people, and their corpses will be thrown like mud upon the roads without burial. And throughout those days blows of wrath will be sent upon men, two and three in one day. And a man will go to sleep in the evening and will wake up in the morning and will find outside his door two and three oppressors and they will ask tribute and money. And all thought of things given and of gain will disappear from earth. And at that time men will sell their brasses and their weapons of war. And in that tenth week, when everything ends, they will give their sons and their daughters to the heathens for money. For what reason does God avert his countenance from the aid of the faithful who will endure this distress? So that they be tried and the believers be separated from the unbelievers and the tares and those rejected from the select grains of wheat, because that time is indeed a testing furnace. For God will be patient when the worshipers are persecuted who by the punishment will be known as sons, as the apostle proclaimed to us before: Yea, we are without punishment, we are strangers and not sons. Also Our Savior ordered and said to us: Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and say about you every wicked word because of me lyingly. Thereupon rejoice and jubilate that your reward is great in heaven, for thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you and: He who hopes until the end will rest.
And after these calamities and punishments of the sons of Israel, at the completion of that week when men lie prostrate in danger of punishment, are completed and there is no hope that they may be saved from that harsh servitude, when they are persecuted and oppressed and beaten and hungry and thirsty and tortured by the harsh punishment, those fierce tyrants too will delight themselves with food and drink and repose and will glory in their victories, they who slew and destroyed the Persians and Armenians and Cilicians and Isaurians and Cappadocians and Seleu-cians and Hellenes and the settlers of the land of the Romans and all their islands of the seas. And they will be dressed like bride-grooms and will be adorned like brides. And they will blaspheme and say: There is no deliverer for the Christians. Then suddenly there will be awakened perdition and calamity as those of a woman in travail, and a king of the Greeks will go forth against them in great wrath, and he will be aroused against them like a man who shakes off his wine, and who plots against them as if they were dead men. He will go forth against them from the sea of the Cushites and will lay desolation and ruin in the desert of Jethrib and in the habitation of their fathers. And the sons of the king of Greece will seize the places of the desert and will destroy with the sword the remnant that is left of them in the land of promise. And fear of all those around them will fall upon them. They and their wives and their sons and their leaders and all their camps and the entire land of the desert of their fathers will be given into the hands of the kings of the Greeks, and will be surrendered to desolation and destruction and to captivity and murder.
And their servitude will be one hundred times more severe than their yoke had been. And they will be in harsh distress from hunger and from torture. And they will be slaves, they and their wives and their sons, and will minister as slaves to those that had been ministering to them, and their servitude will be a hundred times more bitter than that of theirs. And the earth will be at peace, which was desolated of its inhabitants, and the remnant that is left will return, everyone to his land and to the inheritance of his fathers, Cappadocians and Armenians and Cilicians and Isaurians and Africans and Hellenes and Seleucians. And the entire remnant of the captives that remained and which was in servitude because of the captivity will return, every man to his country and to the house of his father.
And men will multiply like locusts on the earth which has been devastated. And Egypt will be laid waste and Arabia will be burned and the land of Hebron will be laid waste and the tongue of the sea will be at peace. And all the wrath of the king of the Greeks will be completed upon those who denied. And there will be peace on earth the like of which had never existed, because it is the last peace of the perfection of the world. And there will be joy upon the entire earth, and men will sit down in great peace and the churches will arise nearby, and cities will be built and priests will be freed from the tax, and priests and men will rest at that time from labor and tiredness and torture, because that is the peace of which He said in His gospel: There will be great peace the like of which never existed, and men will sit down in repose and will eat and drink and rejoice in the joy of their heart, and men will take wives and wives will be given to men.
And they will build edifices and will plant vineyards. And when they eat and drink and rejoice and are merry, there is no wickedness and no thought of wickedness and no fear and trembling in their hearts. During that period of peace the Gates of the North will be opened and those hosts of nations will come forth who were imprisoned there, and the earth will shake before them. And men will be frightened, and they will flee and will hide in mountains and in caves and in tombs, and they will die from fear and from hunger, and there is none to bury them. And they will be devoured before their fathers when they see them because these nations that will come forth from the North eat the flesh of men and drink the blood of animals and eat the creeping things of the earth and mice and snakes and scorpions and all the unclean reptiles that creep on earth and the bodies of unclean animals and the abortions of sheep. And they slaughter children and will give their flesh to their mothers and force them to eat the bodies of their sons. And they eat dead dogs and kittens and every kind of uncleanness and they ravage the earth and there is none who can stand before them. And after one week of calamities all of them will assemble in the plain of Joppe because in that place all these nations will assemble, both they and their wives and their sons. And to that place God will send against them one of the captains of the hosts of the angels, and he destroys them in one hour. And then the king of the Greeks descends and settles in Jerusalem for one week and a half week, in numbers ten years and a half. And then the Son of Perdition will be revealed, the false Christ: He will be conceived in Chorazin and will be born in Saidan and will rule in Capernaum. And Chorazin will glory in him that he was born there, and Bethsaida that he was raised there and Capernaum that he ruled there. And because of this Our Lord pronounced the Woes over the three of them in his gospel when he said: Woe to thee, Chorazin, and woe to thee, Beth-saida, and thou, Capernaum, that hast exalted thyself unto heaven, thou wilt descend to Hell. And immediately when the Son of Perdition is revealed, then the king of the Greeks will go up and will stand on Golgotha and the Holy Cross will be set in that place in which it was set up when it carried the Christ. And the king of the Greeks will place his diadem on top of the Holy Cross, and will stretch out his two hands to heaven and will hand over the kingship to God the Father.
And the Holy Cross on which Christ was crucified will be raised to heaven and the crown of kingship with it, because the Holy Cross on which Christ who was crucified for the salvation of all men who believe in him crucified is a sign which will be seen prior to the coming of Our Lord so that it will put to shame the Jews and there will be fulfilled the saying of the blessed David which he prophesied concerning the end of times and said: Cush will hand over the hand to God, because it is the son of Cusheth, daughter of King Phol of the Cushites, who will hand over the hand to God.
And immediately the Holy Cross will be raised to heaven, and the king of the Greeks will give up his soul to his creator. And immediately every leader and every authority and all powers will cease. And immediately the Son of Perdition will be revealed, who is from the tribe of Dan, as is prophesied and said in the prophecy of Jacob: "Dan will be a basilisk that lies on the path" that leads to the kingdom of heaven. Then "that which biteth the horse" are the words in the form of justice. Then "that which throws the rider backward of himself" are the saints who turn aside to his error. "The heel" is the completion of the ages and the end of years declared to us and those holy men who live at that time, and those who ride on the word of holiness who are humble and cast down by labors of justice. "He biteth" them through signs of fantasy of his acts of deception which he performed, and they run after the impostor when they see the lepers cleansed and the blind made to see and the paralytics made to walk and the demons go forth and the sun darken and the moon being changed to blood on his orders and the trees producing fruit from their branches and the earth bringing forth roots and the springs of water failing. And through these signs of fantasy he will lead astray the saints. Because of this he said: "It biteth the horse in its heel." Indeed for every wound inflicted upon a live body by an iron weapon or the bites of an animal, some scar will appear on it. So also for every sin inflicted upon a soul, eternal fire and torment are reserved for it, for "backward" signifies the sinners. And when the blessed Jacob gazed with the eye of the spirit and saw the calamity which was at that time, he spoke thus: Your salvation I wait for, O Lord. And again Our Lord said: If possible Satan will also lead astray the Elect, for this Son of Perdition will enter Jerusalem and will sit in the Temple of God and will pretend to be like God, for he is a man of sin clothed in a body from the seed of a man, and he will be born from a married woman from the tribe of Dan.
This child of perdition, through the bitterness of his disposition, will lead astray everyone if possible, because he was made a habitation of all the demons and all their activity will be completed in him. And at the coming of Our Lord from heaven he will be delivered to Hell-fire and to outer darkness. And there he will be in weeping and gnashing of teeth together with all those who believed in him. Us, however, Our Lord Jesus Christ will consider worthy of his heavenly kingdom together with all those servants of his will, and we shall offer up praise and honor and veneration and exaltation now and at all times for ever and ever. Amen.