Saint Ephraim the Syrian (Mar Aphrem Suraya)

As we commemorate the day of St Ephraim the Syrian or Saint Ephraim the Great (Mar Aphrem Raba) today, let us shed some light on the truly gifted theological writer and highly esteemed Church father, whose hymns, homilies and in-depth commentaries have been referred to by our Church fathers throughout the centuries, the present day and most certainly will be cited and read for spiritual encouragement and enlightenment of faithful in the future.

Ephraim pertains the high and unique distinction of having originated—or at least given its living impulse to—a new departure in sacred literature; and that, not for his own country merely, but for Christendom.

From him came, if not the first idea, at all events the first successful example, of

making song an essential constituent of public worship, and an exponent of theological teaching; and from him it spread and prevailed through the Eastern Churches, and affected even those of the West.

To the Hymns, on which chiefly his fame rests, the Syriac ritual in all its forms owes much of its strength and richness; and to them is largely due the place which Hymnody holds throughout the Church everywhere. And hence it has come to pass that, in the Church everywhere, he stands as the representative Syrian Father, as the fixed epithet appended to his name attests—“Ephraim the Syrian,”—the one Syrian known and reverenced in all Christendom. ¹

Ephraim was born within the Roman pale, in the ancient and famous city of Nisibis in Mesopotamia, in, or before, the earliest days of the reign (A.D. 306–337) of Constantine

the Great: he was a disciple of St. Jacob, Bishop of that city, who died A.D. 338: and he lived in it, under Jacob and the three Bishops who successively followed him, through three unsuccessful sieges laid to it by Sapor, King of Persia, down to its final surrender under the terms of the ignominious peace concluded with Sapor by the Emperor Jovian after the defeat and death of his predecessor Julian (A.D. 363). Nisibis was then abandoned by its Christian inhabitants; and Ephraim finally settled at Edessa, and took up his abode as a “Solitary” in a cell on the “Mount of Edessa”—a rocky hill close to the city (Mount Nimrud today in South Eastern Turkey), where many anchorites sought retreat. Here he rose into repute as a

teacher, and a champion against heresy; and no less as an ascetic and saint. The fame of St. Basil, metropolitan of Caesarea in Cappadocia (370–379), drew him from his solitude to visit that great prelate and doctor, and from him he received the diaconate; but (though some affirm that he was advanced to the priesthood) it is agreed that he never became a Bishop. He died at an advanced age, in his retreat, in the year 373 according to most authorities, but some suppose him to have lived to 378.

He was a most copious writer, and left an immense quantity of writings of which a

large part is extant,—Sermons, Commentaries, and Hymns. These constitute such a body of

instruction in the substance of Scripture and the faith of the church, that they have justly earned for him the title of malpona, or teacher. And not only have his Hymns done much to shape the ritual of the Syrian Churches, in which large portions of them are embodied, but to his Sermons this singular honour is paid, that lessons selected from them were appointed, and are still read, in the regular course of public worship. ²

Following is one of the many hymns written by St. Ephraim after the Christians of Edessa became victorious over the persecutions of the Arian Emperor Valens who sought to make the Church submit to him in approximately 371AD. When the emperor heard that the faithful Christians of Edessa would rather be killed as an oblation to the Lord than to submit to him, the Emperor was moved to relent; the people, their bishops and priests came forward and gave him their plea making him ashamed of his purpose and the emperor pardoned their disobedience and departed from Edessa. 

St. Ephraim writes:

“The doors of her homes Edessa

Left open when she went forth

With the pastor to the grave, to die,

And not depart from her faith.

Let the city and fort and building

And houses be yielded to the king;

Our goods and our gold let us leave;

So we part not from our faith!

Edessa is full of chastity,

Full of prudence and understanding.

She is clad in discernment of soul;

Faith is the girdle of her loins;

Truth her armour all-prevailing;

Love her crown, all-exalting.

Christ bless them that dwell in her,

Edessa, whose name is His glory,

And the name of her champion her beauty!

City that is lady over her fellows,

City that is the shadow

Of the Jerusalem in heaven!” ³

Let us be encouraged by the copious spiritual words of our great father, Saint Ephraim, and let us heed his poetic words in view of God’s work through his hymns, homilies and commentaries which shine light on the grace of God that is bestowed upon us through His Son. As we look into the various genres of this saint’s writings which capture historical events in Church history and glorify God’s name, let us also be encouraged in our faith and pursue a life of faith, love and hope in Christ’s name.

St Ephraim the Syrian

1.        Schaff, Philip, 2004. NPNF-213 Gregory the Great (II), Ephraim Syrus, Aphrahat, Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. P.196

2.       Schaff, Philip, 2004. NPNF-213 Gregory the Great (II), Ephraim Syrus, Aphrahat, Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. P.197

3.       Schaff, Philip, 2004. NPNF-213 Gregory the Great (II), Ephraim Syrus, Aphrahat, Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. P.211