Ephrem the Syrian | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Mosaic inNea Moni of Chios (11th century) | |
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| Born | c. 306 Nisibis,Syria,Roman Empire |
| Died | 373 Edessa,Osroene,Roman Empire |
| Venerated in | |
| Feast | List
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| Attributes | Vine and scroll, deacon'svestments andthurible; withSaint Basil the Great; composing hymns with alyre |
| Patronage | Spiritual directors and spiritual leaders |
Ephrem the Syrian[a] (/ˈiːfrəm,ˈɛfrəm/;c. 306 – 373), also known asEphraem the Deacon,Ephrem of Edessa orAprem of Nisibis, (Syriac:ܡܪܝ ܐܦܪܝܡ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ —Mâr Aphrêm Sûryâyâ) was a prominentSyriac-ArameanChristian theologian andwriter who is revered as one of the most notablehymnographers ofEastern Christianity. He was born inNisibis, served as adeacon and later lived inEdessa.[1][2][3]
Ephrem is venerated as asaint by all traditional Churches. He is especially revered inSyriac Christianity, both inEast Syriac tradition andWest Syriac tradition, and also counted as a Holy and Venerable Father (i.e., a sainted monk) in theEastern Orthodox Church, especially in the Slovak tradition. He was declared aDoctor of the Church in theCatholic Church in 1920. Ephrem is also credited as the founder of theSchool of Nisibis, which in later centuries was the center of learning for theChurch of the East.
Ephrem wrote a wide variety of hymns, poems, and sermons in verse, as well as proseexegesis. These were works of practical theology for the edification of theChurch in troubled times. His performance practice of all-women choirs singing his madrāšê (teaching hymns) was particularly notable, and from it emerged the Syriac Christian tradition of "deaconess" choir members. Ephrem's works were so popular that, for centuries after his death, Christian authors wrote hundreds ofpseudepigraphal works in his name. He has been called the most significant of all the fathers of theSyriac-speaking church tradition, the next most famous after him beingJacob of Serugh andNarsai.[4][5]
Ephrem was born around the year 306 in the city ofNisibis (modernNusaybin,Turkey), in the Roman province ofMesopotamia, that wasrecently acquired by theRoman Empire.[6][7][8][9] Internal evidence from Ephrem's hymnody suggests that both his parents were part of the growing Christian community in the city, although laterhagiographers wrote that his father was a pagan priest.[10] In those days, religious culture in the region of Nisibis included localpolytheism,Judaism and several varieties of theEarly Christianity. Most of the population spoke theAramaic language, whileGreek andLatin were languages of administration. The city had a complex ethnic composition, consisting of "Arameans, Arabs, Greeks, Jews, Parthians, Romans, and Iranians."[11] Ephrem, being a speaker of Syriac, an Eastern Aramaic dialect, and the community to which he and the Christians of Nisibis belonged, were most likely part of the Aramean population.[12]
Jacob, the secondbishop of Nisibis,[13] was appointed in 308, and Ephrem grew up under his leadership of the community. Jacob of Nisibis is recorded as a signatory at theFirst Council of Nicea in 325. Ephrem was baptized as a youth and almost certainly became ason of the covenant, an unusual form of syriac proto-monasticism. Jacob appointed Ephrem as a teacher (Syriacmalp̄ānâ, a title that still carries great respect for Syriac Christians). He was ordained as adeacon either at his baptism or later.[14] He began to compose hymns and write biblical commentaries as part of his educational office. In his hymns, he sometimes refers to himself as a "herdsman" (ܥܠܢܐ, 'allānâ), to his bishop as the "shepherd" (ܪܥܝܐ,rā'yâ), and to his community as a 'fold' (ܕܝܪܐ,dayrâ). Ephrem is popularly credited as the founder of theSchool of Nisibis, which, in later centuries, was the centre of learning of theChurch of the East.[15]
In 337, EmperorConstantine I, who had legalised and promoted the practice of Christianity in the Roman Empire, died. Seizing on this opportunity,Shapur II of Persia began a series of attacks into Roman NorthMesopotamia. Nisibis was besieged in 338, 346 and 350. During the first siege, Ephrem credits Bishop Jacob as defending the city with his prayers. In the third siege, of 350, Shapur rerouted the River Mygdonius to undermine the walls of Nisibis. The Nisibenes quickly repaired the walls while the Persian elephant cavalry became bogged down in the wet ground. Ephrem celebrated what he saw as the miraculous salvation of the city in a hymn that portrayed Nisibis as being likeNoah's Ark, floating to safety on the flood.[citation needed]
One important physical link to Ephrem's lifetime is thebaptistery of Nisibis. The inscription tells that it was constructed under Bishop Vologeses in 359. In that year, Shapur attacked again. The cities around Nisibis were destroyed one by one, and their citizens killed or deported.Constantius II was unable to respond; the campaign ofJulian in 363 ended with his death in battle. His army electedJovian as the new emperor, and to rescue his army, he was forced to surrender Nisibis to Persia (also in 363) and to permit the expulsion of the entire Christian population.[16] Ephrem declined beingordained a bishop byfeigning madness, because he regarded himself unworthy for it.[17][18][19]
Ephrem, with the others, went first to Amida (Diyarbakır), eventually settling inEdessa (Urhay, in Aramaic) in 363.[20] Ephrem, in his late fifties, applied himself to ministry in his new church and seems to have continued his work as a teacher, perhaps in theSchool of Edessa.Edessa had been an important center of the Aramaic-speaking world, and the birthplace of a specificMiddle Aramaic dialect that came to be known as theSyriac language.[21] The city was rich with rivaling philosophies and religions. Ephrem comments that orthodox Nicene Christians were simply called "Palutians" in Edessa, after a former bishop.Arians,Marcionites,Manichees,Bardaisanites and variousgnostic sects proclaimed themselves as the true church. In this confusion, Ephrem wrote a great number of hymns defending Nicene orthodoxy. A later Syriac writer,Jacob of Serugh, wrote that Ephrem rehearsed all-female choirs to sing his hymns set to Syriac folk tunes in the forum of Edessa. In 370 he visited Basil the Great at Caesarea, and then journeyed to the monks of Egypt. As he preached apanegyric on St. Basil, who died in 379, his own death must be placed at a later date.[clarification needed] After a ten-year residency in Edessa, in his sixties, Ephrem succumbed to the plague as he ministered to its victims. He died in 373.[22][23]
Ephrem wrote exclusively in his nativeAramaic language, using the local Edessan (Urhoyo) dialect, which later came to be known asClassical Syriac.[10][24] In his works, Ephrem repeatedly refersendonymically to his language asAramaic, his homeland as "the land ofAram," and his people as the Arameans.[25][26][27][28][29][30] He is therefore known as "the authentic voice of Aramaic Christianity."[31]
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In the early stages of modern scholarly studies, it was believed that some examples of the long-standing Greek practice of labeling Aramaic as "Syriac," found in theCave of Treasures,[32][33] could be attributed to Ephrem, but later scholarly analyses have shown that the work in question was written much later (c. 600) by an unknown author, thus showing that Ephrem's original works still belonged to a tradition unaffected byexonymic (foreign) labeling.[34][35][36][37]
One of the early admirers of Ephrem's works, theologianJacob of Serugh (d. 521), who already belonged to the generation that accepted the custom of a double naming of their language, not only as Aramaic (Ōrōmōyō / ܐܳܪܳܡܳܝܳܐ) but also as "Syriac" (Suryōyō / ܣܽܘܪܝܳܝܳܐ),[38][39][40][41] wrote ahomily (memrō) dedicated to Ephrem, praising him as thecrown orwreathof theArameans (Classical Syriac:ܐܳܪܳܡܳܝܽܘܬ݂ܳܐ), and the same praise was repeated in early liturgical texts.[42][43]
Only later, under the Greek influence already prevalent in the works of the mid-fifth-century authorTheodoret of Cyrus,[44] did it become customary to associate Ephrem with a Syriac identity and to label him only as "the Syrian" (Koine Greek:Ἐφραίμ ὁ Σῦρος). Theodoret described him as a poet who "daily waters the ethnos of Syrians with streams of grace," andSozomen similarly claimed that Ephrem, "who wrote in the language of the Syrians, surpassed the Greeks in wisdom."[45] In turn, over a century later,Jacob of Serugh explicitly vaunted Ephrem as the poet of a Syrian people, and he seems to have framed this Syrian people as descended from Aram.[46] Such portrayals show how Ephrem, who in his own writings identified with Aram and the Arameans,[27] was gradually reframed in both Syriac and Greek traditions as not only an Aramean (Ōrōmōyō) but also as a representative of the Syrians (Suryōyē).[47][48]
Some of these problems persisted into recent times, even in scholarly literature, as a consequence of several methodological issues within the field ofsource editing. During the process of critical editing and translation of sources withinSyriac studies, some scholars have practiced various forms of arbitrary (and often unexplained) interventions, including the occasional disregard for the importance of original terms used as endonymic (native) designations for Arameans and their language. Such disregard was manifested primarily in translations and commentaries, by the replacement of authentic terms withpolysemic Syrian/Syriac labels. In the previously mentionedmemrā dedicated to Ephrem, one of the terms for theAramean people was published correctly in the original script of the source,[49] but at the same time it was translated into English as "Syriac nation,"[50] and then enlisted among quotations related to "Syrian/Syriac" identity,[51] without any mention of the Aramean-related terms in the source. Even when noticed and corrected by some scholars,[52][53][54] such replacements of terms continue to create problems for others.[55][56][57]
Several translations of his writings exist inClassical Armenian,Coptic,Old Georgian,Koine Greek, and other languages. Some of his works are extant only in translation (particularly in Armenian).[58]
According to the Catalogues of Syriac Manuscripts in theBritish Library published by Forshall & Rosen (1839) and Wright (1870–72), there are "ninety or so manuscripts which contain works by or attributed to Ephraem."[59]
| 5th century | 6th century | 7th century | 8th century | 9th century | 10th century | 11th century | 12th century | 13th century |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 mss. | 14 mss. | 4 mss. | 11 mss. | 19 mss. | 7 mss. | 12 mss. | 8 mss. | 11 mss. |
Over four hundredhymns attributed to Ephrem still exist.[according to whom?] Granted that some have been lost, Ephrem's productivity is not in doubt.[according to whom?] The church historianSozomen credits Ephrem with having written three million verses.[59] Ephrem combines in his writing a threefold heritage: he draws on the models and methods of earlyRabbinic Judaism, he engages skillfully with Greek science and philosophy, and he delights in the Mesopotamian/Persian tradition of mystery symbolism.[60]
The most important of his works are his lyric, teaching hymns (ܡܕܖ̈ܫܐ,madrāšê). These hymns are full of rich, poetic imagery drawn from biblical sources, folk tradition, and other religions and philosophies. Themadrāšê are written in stanzas ofsyllabic verse and employ over fifty different metrical schemes. The form is defined by anantiphon, or congregationalrefrain (ܥܘܢܝܬܐ, 'ûnîṯâ), between each independent strophe (or verse), and the refrain's melody mimics that of the opening half of the strophe.[61] Eachmadrāšâ had itsqālâ (ܩܠܐ), a traditional tune identified by its opening line. All of theseqālê are now lost. It seems thatBardaisan andMani composedmadrāšê, and Ephrem felt that the medium was a suitable tool to use against their claims.[61]
Themadrāšê are gathered into various hymn cycles. In the CSCO critical edition of Beck et al. (1955–1975), these have been given standardised names and abbreviations.[62] By the year 2000, English translations had been published for the following:[63]
Some of these titles do not do justice to the entirety of the collection (for instance, only the first half of theCarmina Nisibena is about Nisibis).[citation needed] Bates (2000) remarked: "[Various] collections of Ephrem's hymns [...] appear to be randomly assembled by later editors and named for the subject of the first hymn in the collection only".[63]
Particularly influential were hisHymns Against Heresies.[64] Ephrem used these to warn his flock of the heresies that threatened to divide the early church. He lamented that the faithful were "tossed to and fro and carried around with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness and deceitful wiles" (Eph 4:14).[65] He devised hymns laden with doctrinal details to inoculate right-thinking Christians against heresies such asdocetism. TheHymns Against Heresies employ colourful metaphors to describe the Incarnation of Christ as fully human and divine. Ephrem asserts that Christ's unity of humanity and divinity represents peace, perfection and salvation; in contrast, docetism and other heresies sought to divide or reduce Christ's nature and, in doing so, rend and devalue Christ's followers with their false teachings.[citation needed]
The most complete, critical text of writings attributed to Ephrem was compiled between 1955 and 1979 by Dom Edmund Beck, OSB, as part of theCorpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium (CSCO).[66] Beck's 1959 critical edition of themadrashe (hymns) and mêmrê (homilies) attributed to Ephrem led to much scholarly debate on the authenticity of the madrashe known asOn Epiphany, as Ephrem was certainly not familiar withEpiphany as a feast celebrating Jesus' baptism on 6 January.[66] Unlike in Europe, where theNativity of Jesus was celebrated on 25 December, but the baptism of Jesus would evolve into a separate feast called "Epiphany" on 6 January, there was only one Christian feast celebrated in winter in the time and place where Ephrem lived, namely the Nativity on 6 January, when baptism was also performed.[67] A 1956 paper written by Beck himself therefore warned researchers not to base their reconstructions of Ephrem's baptismal theology on the contents of these madrashe, given the fact that many of the hymns presuppose that Epiphany and Nativity were two separate feasts celebrated two weeks apart, thereby challenging Ephrem's authorship.[68] While the oldest surviving manuscripts of Ephrem's hymns date to the 6th century and contain hymns on the Nativity that Beck thought were certainly authentic, the contested hymnsOn Epiphany are missing from them.[67] They do not appear in manuscripts until much later, in the 9th century, suggesting that they wereinterpolated.[67] Scholars have largely accepted Beck's arguments that the collection as a whole was established after the 4th century, and that some hymns in them were not written by Ephrem, or at least not in the form that they have been preserved in, but that other hymns should nevertheless be considered authentic.[69]
The relationship between Ephrem's compositions and femininity is shown again in documentation suggesting that the madrāšê were sung by all-women choirs with an accompanying lyre. These women's choirs were composed of members of the Daughters of the Covenant, an important institution in historicalSyriac Christianity, but they weren't always labeled as such.[70] Ephrem, like many Syriac liturgical poets, believed that women's voices were important to hear in the church as they were modeled after Mary, mother of Jesus, whose acceptance of God's call led to salvation for all through the birth of Jesus.[71] One variety of the madrāšê, thesoghyatha, was sung in a conversational style between male and female choirs.[71] The women's choir would sing the role of biblical women, and the men's choir would sing the male role. Through the role of singing Ephrem's madrāšê, women's choirs were granted a role in worship.[70]
Ephrem also wrote verse homilies (ܡܐܡܖ̈ܐ,mêmrê). These sermons in poetry are far fewer in number than the madrāšê. The mêmrê were written in heptasyllabiccouplets (pairs of lines of seven syllables each).[citation needed]
The third category of Ephrem's writings is his prose work. He wrote a biblical commentary on theDiatessaron (the single gospel harmony of the early Syriac church), the Syriac original of which was found in 1957. HisCommentary on Genesis and Exodus is an exegesis ofGenesis andExodus. Some fragments exist in Armenian of his commentaries on theActs of the Apostles andPauline Epistles.[citation needed]
He also wrote refutations againstBardaisan,Mani,Marcion and others.[72][73]
Ephrem's writings contain a rich variety of symbols and metaphors. Christopher Buck gives a summary of analysis of a selection of six key scenarios (the way, robe of glory,sons and daughters of the Covenant, wedding feast,harrowing of hell,Noah's Ark/Mariner) and six root metaphors (physician, medicine of life, mirror, pearl,Tree of life,paradise).[74]
Boasting an extensive corpus, Ephrem's poems, hymns, prayers and prose has been incorporated deeply into every facet of the Syriac tradition, from the Liturgy of the Hours (Shehimo) toDivine Liturgy. The following is a bedtime prayer, found in theCompline of the Shehimo for some weekdays.
| Lord have mercy upon us, kindly accept our service Sending from Thy treasu-ry, kindness, mercy – and pardon. Grant me Oh Lord, while I stand, keeping vigil before Thee Should I fall to slumber’s hand, guard thou me from – sinful sleep. If I trespass while awake, by thy grace absolve me Lord If I transgress – in my sleep, pardon with Thy – compa-ssion By the Cross ( +) of Thy meekness, grant me, Lord, a restful sleep Deliver me from – evil dreams, and from sinful thoughts, Oh Lord! Through the night govern me, Lord Grant to me a – peaceful sleep; Let not Evil- and his thoughts, should have domain – over me. Grant to me Thy bright Angel, that he may guard – all my limbs; Save me from un-holy lust, by Thy Body – that I ate. While I lie and sleep in calm, may Thy blood be – my guardian; Granting freedom – to my soul, which is but Thy – own image. Thy hand shaped me, Oh my Lord, shadow me with – Thy right hand, Thy mercy be a for-tress, shielding me Lord – all around. While my body rests and sleeps, may Thy power – keep vigil; Let my sleep in – Thy presence, pleasing like a sweet incense. Let not evil touch my bed, by Thy mother’s prayer for me; By Thy pleasing sacrifice, keep Satan from – hurting me. Fulfill Thy word with me, Lord, and guard my life by Thy Cross ( + ); Waking I shall – praise Thy name, for Thou loved me – in weakness. Grant Oh Lord, by Thy mercy, that I hear and – do Thy will; Grant me an eve – full of peace, and a night of- righteous-ness. Oh our Savior, Jesus Christ, who is indeed the true light; Thy honor stays – in the light, worshipped by all – sons of light. Jesus, Savior of the world, who stays and lives – in the light; to Thee praise, on – us mercy, in this world and – that to come. Praise to Thee Lord, praise to Thee, praise a thousand thousand fold; Tens of thousands – we praise Thee, to Thee praise on – us mercy. Praise to whom Watchers adore; and heavenly Angels serve Lord of Watchers and Angels; accept our supplications Praise to the One who is three; and to the three who are One. Father, Son and Holy Ghost; who is the One and true God.[75] |
Ephrem's meditations on the symbols of Christian faith and his stand against heresy made him a popular source of inspiration throughout the church. There is a huge corpus of Ephrempseudepigraphy and legendaryhagiography in many languages. Some of these compositions are in verse, often mimicking Ephrem's heptasyllabic couplets.[citation needed] Syriac churches still use many of Ephrem's hymns as part of the annual cycle of worship. However, most of these liturgical hymns are edited and conflated versions of the originals.[citation needed] Another one of the works attributed to Ephrem was theCave of Treasures, written in Syriac, but by a much later, unknown author, who lived at the end of the 6th and the beginning of the 7th century.[76]
"It is a mark of Ephraem's enormous reputation that such an extensive corpus of works in Greek was gathered under his name. Where no Syriac original has survived, the question of authenticity arises. (...) The Greek works may not be so much translations as adaptations in the spirit of Ephraem using his favourite images. A widely held judgment is that the corpus is 'sporadically authentic'."
There is a very large number of works by "Ephrem" extant in Greek. In the literature this material is often referred to as "Greek Ephrem", orEphraem Graecus ("Ephrem the Greek", as opposed to the real Ephrem the Syrian), as if it was by a single author. This is not the case, but the term is used for convenience. Some texts are in fact Greek translations of genuine works by Ephrem, but most are not.[77] Ephrem is attributed with writinghagiographies such asThe Life of Saint Mary the Harlot (extant in Greek and Latin), though this credit is called into question.[78] The best known of these writings is thePrayer of Saint Ephrem, which is recited at every service duringGreat Lent and other fasting periods inEastern Christianity.[79][80]
There has been very little critical examination of any of these works. They were edited uncritically by Assemani, and there is also a modern Greek edition by Phrantzolas.[81] Amongst scholars, there is a broad consensus that the Greek corpus attributed to Ephrem is only 'sporadically authentic'.[77]
There are also works by "Ephrem" inLatin,Slavonic andArabic. "Ephrem Latinus" is the term given to Latin translations of "Ephrem Graecus". None is by Ephrem the Syrian. "Pseudo-Ephrem Latinus" is the name given to Latin works under the name of Ephrem which are imitations of the style of Ephrem Latinus. One example is theApocalypse of Pseudo-Ephraem, extant in one Latin and one Syriac version.[citation needed] Also attributed to Ephrem are theParenesis or "precepts", found in the 10th-centuryRila fragments and the early 13th-centuryKyiv Caves Patericon, translated intoOld Church Slavonic.[citation needed]
Soon after Ephrem's death, legendary accounts of his life began to circulate. One of the earlier "modifications" is the statement that Ephrem's father was a pagan priest of Abnil or Abizal. However, internal evidence from his authentic writings suggest that he was raised by Christian parents.[82]
Ephrem is venerated as an example of monastic discipline inEastern Christianity. In theEastern Orthodox scheme of hagiography, Ephrem is counted as a Venerable Father (i.e., a sainted monk). Hisfeast day is celebrated on 28 January and on the Saturday of the Venerable Fathers (Cheesefare Saturday), which is the Saturday before the beginning ofGreat Lent.[83]
On 5 October 1920, PopeBenedict XV proclaimed Ephrem aDoctor of the Church ("Doctor of the Syrians").[84]
The most popular title for Ephrem isHarp of the Spirit (Syriac:ܟܢܪܐ ܕܪܘܚܐ,Kenārâ d-Rûḥâ). He is also referred to as the Deacon of Edessa, the Sun of the Syrians and a Pillar of the Church.[85]
His Roman Catholic feast day of 9 June conforms to his date of death. For 48 years (1920–1969), it was on 18 June, and this date is still observed in the Extraordinary Form.[86]
Ephrem is honored with afeast day on theliturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on June 10.[87]
Ephrem isremembered in theChurch of England with acommemoration on9 June.[88]
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