St. Ephraem

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(EPHREM, EPHRAIM).

Born atNisibis, then under Roman rule, early in the fourth century; died June, 373. The name of hisfather is unknown, but he was apagan and apriest of the goddess Abnil or Abizal. His mother was a native of Amid. Ephraem was instructed in theChristian mysteries by St. James, the famousBishop ofNisibis, and wasbaptized at the age of eighteen (or twenty-eight). Thenceforth he became more intimate with theholybishop, who availed himself of the services of Ephraem to renew the moral life of the citizens ofNisibis, especially during the sieges of 338, 346, and 350. One of his biographers relates that on a certain occasion he cursed from the city walls the Persian hosts, whereupon a cloud of flies and mosquitoes settled on the army of Sapor II and compelled it to withdraw. The adventurous campaign ofJulian the Apostate, which for a time menacedPersia, ended, as is well known, in disaster, and his successor, Jovianus, was only toohappy to rescue from annihilation some remnant of the great army which his predecessor had led across the Euphrates. To accomplish even so much the emperor had to sign a disadvantageous treaty, by the terms of whichRome lost the Eastern provinces conquered at the end of the third century; among the cities retroceded toPersia was Nisibis (363). To escape the cruelpersecution that was then raging inPersia, most of theChristian population abandoned Nisibisen masse. Ephraem went with his people, and settled first at Beit-Garbaya, then at Amid, finally atEdessa, the capital of Osrhoene, where he spent the remaining ten years of his life, ahermit remarkable for his severe asceticism. Nevertheless he took an interest in all matters that closely concerned the population ofEdessa. Several ancient writers say that he was adeacon; as such he could well have been authorized to preach in public. At this time some tenhereticalsects were active inEdessa; Ephraem contended vigorously with all of them, notably with the disciples of the illustriousphilosopherBardesanes. To this period belongs nearly all his literary work; apart from some poems composed atNisibis, the rest of his writings-sermons,hymns,exegetical treatises-date from his sojourn atEdessa. It is not improbable that he is one of the chief founders of thetheological "School of the Persians", so called because its first students and original masters were PersianChristian refugees of 363. At his death St. Ephraem was borne without pomp to the cemetery "of the foreigners". TheArmenianmonks of themonastery of St. Sergius atEdessa claim to possess his body.

The aforesaid facts represent all that is historically certain concerning the career of Ephraem (see BOUVY, "Les sources historiques de la vie de S. Ephrem" in "Revue Augustinienne", 1903, 155-61). All details added later by Syrian biographers are at best ofdoubtful value. To this class belong not only the legendary and occasionally puerile traits so dear to Oriental writers, but also others seemingly reliable, e.g. an alleged journey toEgypt with a sojourn of eight years, during which he is said to have confuted publicly certain spokesmen of theArianheretics. The relations of St. Ephraem andSt. Basil are narrated by very reliable authors, e.g.St. Gregory of Nyssa (the Pseudo?) andSozomen, according to whom thehermit ofEdessa, attracted by the great reputation of St. Basil, resolved to visit him at Caesarea. He was warmly received and wasordaineddeacon by St. Basil; four years later he refused both thepriesthood and the episcopate that St. Basil offered him through delegates sent for that purpose toEdessa. Though Ephraem seems to have been quiteignorant of Greek, this meeting with St. Basil is not improbable; some good critics, however, hold the evidence insufficient, and therefore reject it, or at least withhold their adhesion. The life of St. Ephraem, therefore, offers not a few obscure problems; only the general outline of his career is known to us. It iscertain, however, that while he lived he was very influential among the SyrianChristians ofEdessa, and that his memory was revered by all, Orthodox,Monophysites, andNestorians. They call him the "sun of the Syrians," the "column of the Church", the "harp of the Holy Spirit". More extraordinary still is the homage paid by the Greeks who rarely mention Syrian writers. Among the works ofSt. Gregory of Nyssa (P.G., XLVI, 819) is a sermon (though not acknowledged by some) which is a real panegyric of St. Ephraem. Twenty years after the latter's deathSt. Jerome mentions him as follows in his catalogue of illustriousChristians: "Ephraem,deacon of theChurch of Edessa, wrote many works [opuscula] in Syriac, and became so famous that his writings are publicly read in some churches after theSacred Scriptures. I have read in Greek a volume of his on the Holy Spirit; though it was only a translation, I recognized therein the sublime genius of the man" (Illustrious Men 115).Theodoret of Cyrus also praised his poetic genius andtheologicalknowledge (Hist. Eccl., IV, xxvi).Sozomen pretends that Ephraem wrote 3,000,000 verses, and gives the names of some of his disciples, some of whom remainedorthodox, while others fell intoheresy (Church History III.16). From the Syrian and Byzantine Churches the fame of Ephraem spread among allChristians. The Roman Martyrology mentions him on 1 February. In theirmenologies and synaxaria Greeks and Russians,Jacobites, Chaldeans,Copts, andArmenianshonour theholydeacon ofEdessa.

Works of St. Ephraem

The works of this saint are so numerous and important that it is impossible to treat them here in detail. Let it suffice to consider briefly: (1) the text and the principal versions and editions of his writings; (2) hisexegetical writings; (3) his poetical writings.

Texts and principal versions and editions

The Syriac original of Ephraem's writings is preserved in manymanuscripts, one of which dates from the fifth century. Through much transcription, however, his writings, particularly those used in the variousliturgies, have suffered no little interpolation. Moreover, many of hisexegetical works have perished, or at least have not yet been found in thelibraries of the Orient. Numerous versions, however, console us for the loss of the originals. He was still living, or at least not long dead, when the translation of his writing into Greek was begun.Armenian writers seem to have undertaken the translation of his Biblical commentaries. TheMechitarists have edited in part those commentaries and hold theArmenian versions as very ancient (fifth century). TheMonophysites, it is well known, were wont from an earlydate to translate or adapt many Syriac works. The writings of Ephraem were eventually translated into Arabic and Ethiopian (translations as yet unedited). Inmedieval times some of his minor works were translated from the Greek into Slavonic and Latin. From these versions were eventually made French, German, Italian, and English adaptations of the ascetic writings of St. Ephraem. The first printed (Latin) edition was based on a translation from the Greek done by Ambrogio Traversari (St. Ambrose of Camaldoli), and issued from the press of Bartholomew Guldenbeek of Sultz, in 1475. A far better edition was executed by Gerhard Vossius (1589-1619), the learnedprovost of Tongres, at the request ofGregory XIII. In 1709 Edward Thwaites edited, from themanuscripts in the Bodleian Library, the Greek text, hitherto known only in fragments. The Syriac original was unknown inEurope until the fruitful Oriental voyage (1706-07) of theMaronites Gabriel Eva, Elias, and especially Joseph Simeon Assemani (1716-17), which resulted in the discovery of a precious collection ofmanuscripts in the Nitrian (Egypt)monastery ofOur Lady. Thesemanuscripts found their way at once to the Vatican Library. In the first half of the nineteenth century the British Museum was notably enriched by similar fortunate discoveries of Lord Prudhol (1828), Curzon (1832), and Tattam (1839, 1841). All recent editions of the Syriac original of Ephraem's writings are based on thesemanuscripts. In the Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris) and the Bodleian (Oxford) are a few Syriac fragments of minor importance. Joseph Simeon Assemani hastened to make the best use of his newly foundmanuscripts and proposed at once toClement XII a complete edition of the writings of Ephraem in the Syriac original and the Greek versions, with a new Latin version of the entire material. He took for his own share the edition of the Greek text. The Syriac text was entrusted to theJesuit Peter Mobarak (Benedictus), a nativeMaronite. After the death of Mobarak, his labours were continued by Stephanus Evodius Assemani. Finally this monumental edition of the works of Ephraem appeared atRome (1732-46) in six folio volumes. It was completed by the labours of Overbeck (Oxford, 1865) andBickell (Carmina Nisibena, 1866), while other savants edited newly found fragments (Zingerle, P. Martin,Rubens Duval). A splendid edition (Mechlin, 1882-1902) of thehymns and sermons of St. Ephraem is owing to the late Monsignor T. J. Lamy. However, a complete edition of the vast works of the great Syriac doctor is yet to be executed.

Exegetical writings

Ephraem wrote commentaries on the entire Scriptures, both the Old and theNew Testament, but much of his work has been lost. There is extant in Syriac his commentary on Genesis and on a large portion of Exodus; for the other books of theOld Testament we have A Syriac abridgment, handed down in a catena of the ninth century by the Syriacmonk Severus (851-61). The commentaries on Ruth, Esdras, Nehemias, Esther, the Psalms, Proverbs, the Canticle of Canticles, and Ecclesiasticus are lost. Of his commentaries on theNew Testament there has survived only anArmenian version. The Scriptural canon of Ephraem resembles our own very closely. It seemsdoubtful that he accepted the deuterocanonical writings; at least no commentary of his on these books has reached us. On the other hand he accepted as canonical theapocryphal Third Epistle to the Corinthians, and wrote a commentary on it. The Scriptural text used by Ephraem is the Syriac Peshito, slightly differing, however, from the printed text of that very ancient version. TheNew Testament was known to him, as to all Syrians, both Eastern and Western, before the time of Rabulas, in the harmonized "Diatessaron" ofTatian; it is also this text which serves as the basis of his commentary. His text of theActs of the Apostles appears to have been one closely related to that call the "Occidental". (J. R. Harris, "Fragments of the Commentary of Ephrem Syrus upon the Diatessaron", London, 1905; J. H. Hill, "A Dissertation on the Gospel Commentary of St. Ephraem the Syrian",Edinburgh, 1896; F. C. Burkitt, "St Ephraim's Quotations from the Gospel, Corrected and Arranged", in "Texts and Studies", Cambridge, 1901, VII, 2.) Theexegesis of Ephraem is that of the Syriac writers generally, whether hellenized or not, and is closely related to that ofAphraates, being, like the latter, quite respectful of Jewish traditions and often based on them. As anexegete, Ephraem is sober, exhibits a preference for the literal sense, is discreet in his use of allegory; in a word, he inclines strongly to the Antiochene School, and reminds us in particular of Theodoret. He admits in Scripture but fewMessianic passages in the literal sense, many more, however, prophetic of Christ in the typological sense, which here is to be carefully distinguished from the allegorical sense. It is not improbable that most of his commentaries were written for theChristian Persianschool (Schola Persarum) atNisibis; as seen above, he was one of its founders, also one of its most distinguished teachers.

Poetical writings

Most of Ephraem's sermons and exhortations are in verse, though a few sermons in prose have been preserved. If we put aside hisexegetical writings, the rest of his works may be divided intohomilies andhymns. Thehomilies (Syriacmemrê, i.e. discourses) are written in seven-syllable verse, often divided into two parts of three and four syllables respectively. He celebrates in them the feast ofOur Lord and of thesaints; sometimes he expounds a Scriptural narrative or takes up a spiritual or edifying theme. In the East the Lessons for theecclesiastical services (seeDIVINE OFFICE;BREVIARY) were often taken from thehomilies of Ephraem. Thehymns (Syriacmadrashê, i.e. instructions) offer a greater variety both of style and rhythm. They were written for the choir service ofnuns, and were destined to be chanted by them; hence the division into strophes, the last verses of each strophe being repeated in a kind of refrain. This refrain is indicated at the beginning of eachhymn, after the manner of an antiphon; there is also an indication of the musical key in which thehymn should be sung. The following may serve as an illustration. It is taken from an Epiphanyhymn (ed. Lamy, I, p. 4).

Air: Behold the month.
Refrain: Glory to Thee from Thy flock on the day of Thy manifestation.
Strophe: He has renewed the heavens, because the foolish ones had adored all the stars / He has renewed the earth which had lost its vigour through Adam / A new creation was made by His spittle / And He Who is all-powerful made straight both bodies and minds
Refrain: Glory to Thee etc.

Mgr. Lamyu, the learned editor of thehymns; noted seventy-five different rhythms and airs. Somehymns are acrostic, i.e., sometimes each strophe begins with a letter of the alphabet, as in the case with several (Hebrew) metrical pieces in theBible, or again the fist letters of a number of verses or strophes form a given word. In the latter way Ephraem signed several of hishymns. In Syriac poetry St. Ephraem is a pioneer of genius, the master often imitated but never equalled. He is not, however, the inventor of Syriac poetry; thishonour seems due to the aforesaidhereticBardesanes of Edessa. Ephraem himself tells us that in the neighbourhood ofNisibis andEdessa the poems of thisGnostic and his son Harmonius contributed efficaciously to the success of theirfalse teachings. Indeed, if Ephraem entered the same field, it was with the hope of vanquishingheresy with its own weapons perfected by himself. The Western reader of thehymns of Ephraem is inclined to wonder at the enthusiasm of his admirers in the ancient Syriac Church. His "lyricism" is by no means what we understand by that term. His poetry seems to us prolix, tiresome, colourless, lacking in theperson note, and in general devoid of charm. To be just, however, it must be remembered that his poems are known to most readers only in versions, from which of course the original rhythm has disappeared---precisely the charm and most striking feature of this poetry. Thesehymns, moreover, were not written for private reading, but were meant to be sung by alternating choirs. We have only to compare the Latin psalms as sung in the choir of aBenedictinemonastery with the private reading of them by thepriest in the recitation of hisBreviary. Nor must we forget that literary taste is not everywhere and at all times the same. We are influenced by Greek thought more deeply than we are aware or like to admit: In literature we admire most the qualities of lucidity, sobriety, and varied action. Orientals, on the other hand, never weary of endless repetition of the same thought in slightly altered form; they delight in pretty verbal niceties, in the manifold play of rhythm and accent, rhyme and assonance, and acrostic. In this respect it is scarcelynecessary to remind the reader of the well-known peculiarities and qualities of Arabic poetry.

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