Stewards of the Poor: The Man of God, Rabbula, and Hiba in Fifth-Century Edessa Volume 208

The Man of God lacks the prodigious miracles and extravagant feats of asceticism typical of Syrian saints. What is most powerful in the Syriac version is its description of the effect his story has on Rabbula, who, from the moment he hears it, devotes himself exclusively to the poor and strangers. The story's focus then becomes, not so much the Man of God, but how one reacts to the presence of the holy in one's midst.