The Laughable Stories Collected by Mar Gregory John

ON THE DEATH OF JOHN BAR-MA' DANI. 1 93
Even as thou wert splendid and glorious among the
stars of clay.
Thou didst dissipate all afflictions and sorrows, ^°5
Even as the rays of the sun scatter the darkness at
noonday.
Against sufferings we had a buckler and armour,
And by thy converse every disagreeable thing was
driven away.
ANOTHER.
The Lord, Who hath wrought great and mighty deeds no
on earth,
And hath made the dead to live and hath given strength
to the feeble,
Will give thee, O my brother, happiness w^ith the angelic
hosts.
And will sprinkle thee with the dew of mercy and of
glorious things.
And the spirits of the righteous will be friends and
brethren of thine.
ANOTHER. 115
ON THE DEATH OF THE PATRIARCH JOHN BAR-MA DANi',
BY GREGORY BAR-HEBR^US.
O Angel of Death, why hast thou smitten me with
s^ich sorrow as this,
And hast pitilessly rewarded me with such evil as this.'^
The sun of time, the luminary, the prop of the Church,
The head of the soul, the soul of the spirit, the right 120
spirit,
^ He was created Maphrian A.D. 1232, and Patriarch in 1252^
and he died in 1263.
BB