Syriac Patrology, Volume 1: The Demonstrations of Aphrahat

DEMONSTRATIO XXIII. — DE ACINO.

A woodcut depicts the light of healing. To ask for the house of peace is the closed entrance of the gate, and the perplexity of the mind; the comforter of the many who have drawn away, and the sunrise which illuminates our faces. He made shining oils, the outlets of the oils of life, by which Christians, priests, kings, and prophets are perfected. He illuminates the dark and gives light; those who are sick in his mystery, he brings back to those who repent, and those who hasten and draw near to him, he instills their understanding into their inner ears, and they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and the image of those who are full in mind is opened, and they are comforted without idleness toward the front like their predecessors, and their actions toward the front, and toward those who are in their secret, and they find and arrive at the vision of the hidden, which they received when they tasted him who makes the song of the soul complete; when one calls, they are given the leaven of the righteous in this world, in which he gives place to repentance. Also sinners are forgiven on earth on account of those who have received, the chosen ones, and those who are illuminated by grace alone. And to those for whom the love of God is hidden, he has extended his spirit, cast among the wheat, so that if the lord of the harvest does not wish to reap, he is not able.

of the medicine. And to ask for peace, the gate is closed, and darkness has fled from the mind of many; the light of the intellect has shone, and the fruits of the splendid olive have sprouted, in which is the sign of the sacrament of life, by which Christians and priests and kings and prophets are perfected; he illuminates the darkness, he anoints the sick, and through his secret sacrament, he brings back the penitent. To those who hasten to approach him, he instills his sense into their inner ears; they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears; they contemplate its figures in the senses of their meditation, and without rest they strive to proceed forward, advancing their step, and forgetting those things which are behind Philippians 3:13; and at last, they arrive at the hidden vision, which they perceived when they tasted him who composes melodies for them, by which they might decline from the evil one. Then they are made the leaven of the righteous of this world, through whom a place is given for repentance, on account of whom even sinners are left on the earth, that they might receive the promises and be illuminated by the sun of grace. For by the long-suffering of the good [God], the tares are reserved with the wheat, lest perhaps, if the lord of the harvest...