قل منبع الأراتقه — Nicolaos al Sayegh

قُل مَنبَعُ الأَراتِقَه

والبِيعةُ المُنافِقَه

Say: the fountainhead of heretics

and the hypocritical church

بِيعةُ قُسطنطينةٍ

أُمّ الكراسي الفاسقه

is the Church of Constantinople,

mother of the corrupt sees.

من طاعةِ الرحمانِ ما

زالت عَقُوقاً مارقه

From obedience to the All-Merciful she has never

ceased to stray, ungrateful and rebellious.

عقَّت وصايا ربَها

فَهيَ الغَرُورُ العاققه

She defied her Lord's commandments,

so she is the deceitful, undutiful one.

وأَعرَضَت عن حِفظِها

أعراض بنتٍ مائقه

And she turned away from keeping them,

as a foolish girl turns away.

قد مزَّقَت بُردَ الهُدى

بالكُفر فهيَ المازقه

She has torn the mantle of guidance

with unbelief; she is its tearer.

تعظَّمت واستَرَقَت

بالنجهِ والمُصالَقه

She grew haughty and appropriated,

with harsh rebuffs and noisy contention,

عُنوانَ ما لغيرها

وكذَّبَت حقائقَه

the title of what belonged to others,

and denied its truths.

تضمَّنت بالالتزا

مِ الغَيَّ والمطابقه

She encompassed, by implica-

tion and direct signification, error.

فكذَّبت تعمُّداً

بِيعةَ رُوما الصادِقه

Thus she deliberately branded as false

the truthful Church of Rome.

وقد غَدَت أَنمُلُها

لكلِّ رَتقٍ فاتقه

And her fingers have become

rippers of every mended seam.

عامت ببحرِ جهلها

وفيهِ أَمسَت غارقه

She swam in the sea of her ignorance,

and in it she ended up submerged.

وانقَطَعت من رأسِها

قَطعَ اليمينِ السارقه

And she was severed from her head,

as a thieving right hand is cut off.

كم أنزلَ اللَهُ بها

زَلزَلةً وصاعقه

How often God sent down upon her

an earthquake and a thunderbolt,

ونَكبةً مُصمِيَةً

مثلَ السِهام الراشقه

and a deadly calamity,

like piercing arrows!

ما فَتِئَت مُكديةً

بابَ المعاصي طارقه

She has never ceased, as a beggar,

to knock at the door of sins.

قد عُرِّيَت من كل

أنواع المباهي الرائقه

She has been stripped of every

kind of pleasing glory.

وقد خَلَت أَوجُهُها

من الخِلالِ الفائقه

And her faces have been left bare

of outstanding virtues.

قضى عليها اللَه أن

تكونَ شرعاً طالقه

God decreed against her that

she be lawfully divorced.

عابت لديهِ فجُوزِيَت

بالهجر والمفارقه

She stood flawed before Him, and was requited

with abandonment and separation.

ذاتُ بُعولٍ جَمَّةٍ

اضحت لهم مُعانِقه

Possessed of many husbands,

she came to embrace them;

من كلِّ شخصٍ منهمُ

بنوعِ كُفرٍ عالقه

from every one of them

she was pregnant with a kind of unbelief.

جَرَوا الى اقتِضاضِها

بالخَطف والمسابقه

They raced to deflower her

by snatching and competing.

رَقُوا اليها بالرُقى

مُذ راقَهُم منها رَقَه

They ascended to her through incantations,

since her softness delighted them.

قومٌ نِفاقاتُهُمُ

دارجةٌ ونافقه

A people whose hypocrisies

are widespread and sell well.

قد أَوهَمُوا اهل التُقَى

فاصبحوا بلا ثِقه

They misled the devout,

and so became unworthy of trust.

وقد اغرُّوا بِهِمِ

بالخَتر والمنافقه

And they stirred others against them

through treachery and hypocrisy.

أَفواهُهم ما بَرِحَت

بكلّ خِزيٍ ناطقه

Their mouths have never ceased

uttering every shameful thing.

والعينُ منهم في الأَذى

ناظرةٌ ورامقه

And their eye, intent on harm,

looks and watches closely.

وبالدَها افكارُهم

ثاقبةٌ وحاذقه

And in cunning their thoughts

are penetrating and skillful.

رُؤُوسها كُلُّهُمُ

بطاركٌ بطارقه

All of her leaders

are patriarchs, patricians.

كل امرئٍ منهم غدا

شَمَّاسُهُ غُرانِقَه

Each man among them came to have

his deacon as his handsome youth.

أَضحَوا وكلٌّ منهمُ

والسيفُ يَحمِي عاتِقَه

They became, each one of them—

with the sword guarding his shoulder—

متسلطاً برئَاسةٍ

يَبغي بها ما وافَقَه

a despot vested with authority,

seeking through it whatever suited him.

ايديهمِ على عَصا

ظُلم الرعايا طابقه

Their hands, upon the staff

of oppression of their subjects, are joined.

لا دَرَّ دَرُّ عُصبةٍ

لا رحمةٌ ولا مِقَه

May no milk flow from a band

with neither mercy nor love.

كأَنَّهم لم يُوقِنوا

بالبعثِ كالزنادقه

As though they had no certainty

of resurrection, like unbelievers.

فلا يَغُرَّك غيمُهم

ولو رأَيت بارقَه

So do not let their cloud deceive you,

even if you see its lightning flash.

تعرَّضوا في سُبلِ شعبِ

اللَهِ كالعمالقه

They blocked the paths of the people

of God, like the Amalekites.

يا لأُصولٍ أَفرَعَت

أَغصانَ لُؤمٍ باسقه

Oh, what roots have sent forth

lofty branches of baseness!

فكَم لَهُم مَعصِيةً

حاليَّةً وسابقه

And how many sins are theirs,

present and past!

نَضَوا نِقابَ كُفرِهم

وفتَّحوا مغالَقَه

They stripped away the veil of their unbelief,

and opened its locks;

وعرَّضوا طائلهُ

ورحَّبوا مَضايِقَه

and widened its reach,

and broadened its narrow passages.

وأَطفأُوا نُورَ الهُدى

وغرَّبوا مَشارِقَه

They extinguished the light of guidance,

and turned its sunrises into sunsets.

قصائدُ الهجوِ بهم

لائقةٌ ولابقه

Poems of invective against them

are fitting and apt.

اللَهُ صُنّا من أَذى

ذي المِلَّةِ المشاقِقه

God, protect us from the harm

of this schismatic creed.

واحفَظ بيُمنِكَ أُمَّةً

ليست بغيرِك واثقه

And preserve, through Your blessing, a community

that trusts in none but You,

بمريمِ الطُهرِ التي

هي خيرُ بِكرٍ عاتقه

through Mary the pure, who

is the finest virgin maiden.

فَهيَ لنا من رِقّ سُل

طانِ المعاصي عاتقه

For she is, for us, from bondage to the domin-

ion of sins, a liberator.

من قد غدت أضواؤُها

في كل قُطرٍ شارقه

She whose lights have become

radiant in every land,

ذاتُ العطايا والسجا

يا والمزايا الفائقه

endowed with gifts and vir-

tues and outstanding merits.

نُجُبَ المدائح نحوَها

منا القرائحُ سائقه

Toward her, the thoroughbred camels of praise

are driven by our poetic gifts.

كم ذا لها من أَنعُمٍ

سابقةٍ ولاحقه

How many are her favors,

earlier and later!

هذي التي لفَتفنا

عند الالهِ راتقه

This is she who, for our breach,

is a mender before God.

لها سلامُ اللَهِ من

كل البرايا الناطقه

To her be God's peace from

all speaking creatures,

ما فاحَ من زهر الرُبى

نشرٌ يُلِذُّ ناشقَه

as long as, from the flowers of the hills,

a fragrance wafts that delights its inhaler.