Nisibis II
Because of his life experience, there is no interpreter of the spiritual life who equals St. Ephrem the Syrian. Last week, when we considered Nisibis I, we saw how Ephrem reacted to and reflected on the siege of his hometown, Nisibis during the Romano-Persian War. Ephrem compared the city's situation to that of Noah in the ark and translated the circumstances of the war into an allegory to the spiritual life of each human being. In Nisibis II, Ephrem continues that allegory. He continues to tell us the story of the siege of his hometown, but he shows us that that experience is the experience of each one of us.
The hymn begins where the preceding one left off. The city of Nisibis is ringed about by the armies of the foreign invaders. Behind their high walls, the Nisibenes have a certain sense of security. Despite the fact that the primary goal of the siege is the wear them down and kill the inhabitants of the city by starvation, the Nisibenes are confident that they have sufficient supplies to survive, even to live in a state of relative normalcy, until the Roman armies arrive to relieve the city and repel the invaders. In the meantime, the invading army tries repeatedly to shorten the siege by testing the city's defenses, seeking a place or places of weakness, where the defenses can be undermined, and the city taken by force.
This is the description of the situation when, in Ephrem's estimation, God intervenes to do the most merciful thing possible for the embattled people of the city. God allows the city's walls to be breached not just in one but in three places. Our first reaction to this news is to deeply question how this contingency could be a manifestation of the mercy of God. Nevertheless, Ephrem is explicit, and with the subtlety that we expect from the "Harp of the Holy Spirit," he explains the depth of God's merciful love shown in and through the city's trouble and trial. Ephrem's summation can be found early in the hymn, in the second stanza: "He has saved us without wall, and taught us that He is our wall; He has saved us without king and made us know that He is our king; He has saved us, in each and all, and showed us that He is All; He has saved us in His grace and again reveals, that freely He has mercy and quickens. From every boaster, He takes away his boasting, and gives it to His own grace."
As it turned out, the city's engineers were able to repair the walls relatively quickly and Ephrem gives thanks to God on this account: "Out of these breaches, Thou hast multiplied triumphs. Praise unto the Triune God goes up from the three breaches; for that He descended and repaired them, in His mercy which restrains wrath. He smote the enemy who understood not that He was teaching us. He taught those within, for in His justice He made the breaches; He taught those without, for in His goodness He repaired them." In the following stanza, Ephrem puts his thanksgiving in high, sharp relief, as he spells out the fate from which the city has been saved: "The old men have been rescued from captivity, the youths from torture, the sucklings from being dashed in pieces, the women from dishonor, and the Church from mockery."
But what was God's purpose in allowing the breaches? Why did this have to happen? Ephrem answers: "He punished us and we feared not; He rescued us, and we were not ashamed. He straitened us and our vows were multiplied; He enlarged us and our crimes were multiplied. When He constrained, there was a covenant, when He gave breathing space, there was straying. Though He knew us, He lowered Himself to establish us. In the evening, we exalted Him; in the morning, we rejected Him. When necessity left us, faithfulness left us." Ephrem goes on to recall the primary reason for the siege in the eyes of God: "He shut us in that we might gather together in His Temple. He shut us in, and we were quenched; He set us free, and we went astray. We are like wool, which takes on every color." Ephrem contrasts his city with the city of Nineveh in the time of the Prophet Jonah. Nineveh repented at the sound of a feeble voice. Nisibis required the dire threat of breaches in its very wall.
As a result of the breaches, the city has turned back to God. Ephrem extols God's great generosity in that He made very small acts of repentance equal enormous crimes. God made the accounts balance by putting His own infinite finger on the scale. Further, Ephrem goes on to contrast the great efforts of the city's enemies with the city's own paltry repentance: "Against us, they have raised mounds, but we have not even raised our voices... God has rejected the diligent, in order to reward the slothful; He has rejected the labor done outside, even though He was rejected by those within." The breaches in the city's walls became "like mirrors" into which each side could look and see the sort of men they really were. The city's enemies looked into the breach and saw the might of God. Obediently, they withdrew. The city's inhabitants, on the other hand, looked into the same breaches and saw God's help, but, in response, they yielded lukewarm thanks.
The lessons for us are manifold. God allows trouble, trial and temptation for us, in order to correct us and bring us closer to Him. Nevertheless, we should constantly recognize the weakness of our human nature. It is our constant tendency to take refuge in God in hard times, but then grow distant from Him again in good times, as comfort and resulting self-reliance take over. Immediately after 9/11, for example, the churches were full. Three weeks later, they were again deserted. In the Prayer for Faith, the final one in the Tessara, we pray for a faith "as firm and immovable as a rock, through which we shall rest tranquil and steadfast amid the crosses, toils and disappointments of life." Ephrem is reminding us that often the crosses, toils and disappointments of life are blessings from God. It is good times that pose the greater threat.
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