The Book of the Dove

to regulate the ethical and mystical life of every Muslim and every Christian, as they should be. They treat of the whole domain of human life; it is not only prayer and love which are described in their forms and religious depth, but also commerce and marriage, the daily meals and the education of children. They are destined to be read by lay people and by monks.

Aim of the Book of the Dove

Not so the Book of the Dove. It says it is expressly destined for monks who are devoid of a spiritual leader; it is a real directorium spirituale spiritual guidebook. This appears also in the disposition. The first chapter describes the office in the monastery; the second that in the cell. The third deals with the consolations the Dove imparts to the soul; and the fourth contains specimens of the revelations imparted to those who are becoming initiated. This division may be compared with the progressive chapters of the Imitatio Christi: I Admonitiones ad spiritalem vitam utiles Admonitions useful for the spiritual life. II Admonitiones ad interna trahentes Admonitions leading to the inner life. III Liber internae consolationis Book of inner consolation. IV Exhortatio ad sacram communionem Exhortation to holy communion. The parallelism between the Book of the Dove and the Imitatio in their outlines is striking enough; it is easily to be seen that the place which by Bar Hebraeus is given to revelation, is imparted to the sacrament by Thomas a Kempis.

In the introduction to the sentences Bar Hebraeus tells us, that his acquaintance with mysticism is due to the books of Aba Euagrius and others, Western and Eastern. This means that he has gone through his mystical career without the aid of a guide; so the Book of the Dove has been written for persons who are in the same condition as the author himself has been. That this condition is not the one preferred by the mystics, appears from nearly all mystic authors, also from the works of Bar Hebraeus; as the Muslims say: He who has no guide, his guide is Satan.

Authorities quoted

From the many quotations in the Ethikon we are able to see who were Bar Hebraeus' predilected authors in this domain.