Page:Introduction to the Assyrian church.djvu/189

DISORDER AND REFORM 183 altogether gone out of the Roman armies for the time; and though the victor of Daras was to restore it, the tactics which he, most dashing of cavalry generals, adopted on that day show how little confidence he had in his own troops.

In the Church it seemed as though fate was determined to give no peace to the Assyrians; for Paul, the patriarch elected after the long "duality," lived only for two months. All were bitterly disappointed at his death; but for once the blow proved to be a blessing in disguise, for the man elected in his place was one of the greatest gifts of God to the Assyrian Church.

All men were weary of strife; and for once the election was unanimous, without a prompting from the King. The electors chose a man whose reputation for wisdom, learning and holiness already stood high; and which was so well founded that trials could but increase it — Aba, a professor in the college at Nisibis.

An oriental always reverences character and sanctity, however unequal a battle that reverence may sometimes fight with his self-interest; and for once those who chose the patriarch allowed this feeling free scope, and called a man to be their leader who for saintliness, for statesmanship, for loyalty both to his God and his king has no equal in the long series of "holders of the throne of Mar Adai." Oriental conditions do not favour the selection of great men for episcopal rank. As a rule, those who control the choice prefer a nonentity, and it is well if the nonentity is respectable. Sometimes, however, the power that lies in the character of a saint overcomes all obstacles; and as in our own time such an one as Megerdich