5 The Word of the Father made His
descent down to the ear by
which misfortune had entered in:
He had watched the serpent’s tracks, and following up its traces,
washed away its bitter poison from the ear of the chaste Virgin
by His hovering descent. (Jacob of Serugh, “ḥawa ba-‘den,” in The
Stanzaic Poems of Jacob of Serugh: A Collection of His Madroshe and Sughyotho
[trans. Sebastian P. Brock; Texts from Christian Late Antiquity 72; Piscataway,
N.J. Gorgias Press, 2022], 202)
18 ‘The Holy Spirit who perfects all
will hover over your womb and
sanctify it;
then the Power of the Most High will descent and tabernacle in
you
--and a Child shall come forth from you who will trample down
the heads of the snake’. (Ibid., 206)
15 ‘O angels, zealous and mighty, why
did you not act in zeal
when you saw Him stripped bare?
Two of you were abused in Sodom
and with your fire it was swallowed up and delivered (to its)
Fate);
now your Lord is being abused, do not keep silent, O angels!
16 ‘O Michael, commander of the
supernal beings,
why are you silent, not using your might and your zeal?
Look how they have pierced the Beauteous One with a spear.
Cast your fire on the wicked men so that they are burnt up,
for your Lord is on the Cross, while you, O fiery one, are
(sitting) tranquil! (“sleq la-ṣilbo,” ibid., 258)
