Adapted from various sources, including Butler's Lives
and The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Guéranger OSB.
St. Ephrem, Deacon and Doctor of the Church († 373; Feast – June 18)
St. Ephrem (also spelled Ephraim or Ephraem), monk and deacon, the contemporary of St. Athanasius, St. Basil,
St. Gregory of Nazianzen and St. Gregory of Nyssa, was with them one of the glories of the Christian East so rich in testimonies to faith
and sanctity during the first centuries. He takes his place in the liturgical cycle among the Doctors of the Universal Church.
t is only fitting that the ancient piety of Edessa and Nisibis should be represented in the Roman calendar by him who was always
held to be the most illustrious of Her sons. St. Ephrem was honored by the whole Church for the depth and vastness of his doctrine,
and the whole Catholic world rejoiced when, on October 5, 1920, Pope Benedict XV pronounced him worthy to be placed among the great
Doctors of the Church, both Greek and Latin. No one was more worthy than the celebrated Deacon of Edessa of such an honor.
Even during his lifetime men delighted to honor him with such titles as illustrious doctor of the universe,
prophet and sun of
the Syrians,
pillar of the Church,
and harp of the Holy Ghost
(S. Greg. Nyss., Vita S. Ephraem; Lamy,
S. Ephraem Syri Hymni et Serm, 1 Prolog.) All the Orthodox Fathers and Doctors from St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom and St. Jerome,
down to St. Francis de Sales and St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori are unanimous in his praise (Bened. XV Litt. Encycl. Principi Apostolorum).
Seldom has reputation been more brilliant, authority more universally acknowledged than that of the humble Syrian monk – less than twenty
years after his death, his writings were read publicly in church after the Scriptures (S. Hier. De script. eccl., c. 115).
As theologian, poet and orator his literary work was immense. His writings comprise commentaries on the Scriptures,
theological discourses and poems, moral and ascetic treatises, hymns in praise of Almighty God, Our Lady and the Saints.
These form an inestimable treasure where successive generations have found, not only weapons wherewith to combat error,
but also food to strengthen their souls. The works of St. Ephrem, written in Syriac, were at an early date translated not
only into Greek, but also into all the languages of the East – Coptic, Ethiopian, Arabic and Armenian – so that his hymns
and canticles are to be found in all the liturgical books of the Syriac Church, both Orthodox and Uniate, which thus
remains indebted to his fruitful genius.
St. Ephrem was born in Mesopotamia, very probably at Nisibis, on the frontier of the Roman Empire and Persia,
at the beginning of the fourth century. Tradition says that his father fulfilled the duties of a priest to an idol in that town,
but that his mother may have been a Christian (Assemani, Bibl. Orient. 1, 26; Lamy, op. cit., 4, p. 27; etc.)
In any case he does not appear ever to have taken part in idolatrous worship, for we know that in his youth, he was a member of the
household of James, the Bishop of Nisibis, one of the 318 fathers of the Council of Nicaea. He received Baptism, and under the guidance
of this bishop gave himself to prayer, to all the practices of Christian asceticism, to reading and profound study of the Scriptures.
It was during this time that he acquired his remarkable knowledge and love of the Holy Scriptures, so noticeable in all his writings
and which is one of his chief characteristics. Later on he said: He who applies himself with simplicity and purity of heart to the
study of the Sacred Books will receive the knowledge of God. Some people glory in conversing familiarly with the great ones of the earth,
with princes and kings, but let it be your glory to converse with the Holy Ghost in the presence of the Angels of God, by reading the
divine Scriptures, for it is the Holy Ghost who there speaks to you. Spare no pains to become familiar with this study
(Serm. de patientia et consummatione hujus saeculi).
The first verses of Hymns of Nisibis
show us what St. Ephrem was to Bishop James and his successors.
These poems, the earliest of his that have come down to us, give us a picture of the times in which he lived. Bishops James,
Babou and Vologesus found him a zealous auxiliary, intent upon upholding their authority, drawing men to them and ardently
desirous of reform. His great influence on the people was shown especially when Nisibis was besieged by Sapor, King of the Persians.
During those perilous days he incessantly encouraged the citizens to resist the enemy, strengthening the besieged by his word and example,
until his courage and his prayer forced the enemy to acknow-ledge their powerlessness and retire. Later on, when as a result of the
disastrous campaign of the Emperor Julian against the Persians, his successor Jovian was forced to cede Eastern Mesopotamia with Nisibis
to Sapor, St. Ephrem joined the emigrants who left forever a town where Christians could no longer dwell in security.
From Nisibis St. Ephrem went to Edessa, which name is forever associated with his. On the west of the town there rises a
hill on whose rocky slopes are numerous caves and tombs in which lived many anchorites. St. Ephrem in his turn came to seek,
among the rocks of the holy mountain, a retreat which would enable him to devote himself to prayer, study, and penitential exercises.
His knowledge of sacred sciences, however, could not long remain hidden, and disciples soon began to gather around him.
This was the period of his literary activity, which was so great as to be almost miraculous. It was during the ten years that he
passed in the capital of Osrhoene that he wrote most of his works. It was also the period of his greatest activity in religious affairs,
and it seems certain that the School of Edessa, famous under the name of the Persian School, owes to him, if not its existence,
at least a great part of its renown.
However, Edessa could not escape the ravages to which the spread of the heresies of Arius, Manes, Marcion and other sowers
of discord subjected the whole world, and we owe a great number of St. Ephrem's theological discourses and poems to his solicitude in
combatting heresy under all its forms, and to his care in safeguarding the purity of faith among the Christians of the city.
In obedience to the inspiration of divine grace (St. Greg. Nyss., op. cit.), he left his solitude for a time to pour forth to the
faithful exhortations so rich in imagery, so full of unction and of doctrine, that to this day the heart of the reader is moved.
The holy Doctor inveighs with much vigor against the Arians, who deny the Divinity of Christ.
The following passage occurs in one of his sermons on the Passion: The King of kings, Who is above all kings, is the
only Savior Jesus, Who sits at the right hand of His Father. He is His Word, His strength, His mighty arm; He descended from the height
of Heaven to the depths of the earth and ascended into Heaven. He came down in secret, He ascended openly; He came down as the Word,
He ascended with a human body; he descended and ascended according to His own will. Blessed be He Who has acted according to His power.
Men should be astonished and should admire the providence of the Author of all grace Who has abased Himself even to us. Blessed be He Who
in His goodness has drawn from the ocean of His mercy the life that He has bestowed upon us. The Son of God is God, and God of God,
He descended from Heaven and conversed upon earth...
With equal energy and with remarkable doctrinal precision, St. Ephrem asserted the prerogatives of St. Peter.
In the person of Our Lord speaking to Simon Peter, he says: I have established you, Simon my disciple, as the foundation of holy Church.
Formerly I called you Peter because you upheld by building; you are the overseer of those who construct the Church upon earth.
If they wish to build that which is evil, you, who are the foundation, will prevent them. Your are at the source of My doctrine,
you are the chief of My disciples, it is through you that I will quench the thirst of all nations, the quickening sweetness that I give
belongs to you, I have chosen you as the first fruits of My disciples to be the inheritor of My treasures. I have given you the keys of
My kingdom; I have given all My treasures into your power
(Lamy, St. Ephrem, Discours sur la Passion, L’Université Catholique, 1890).
It is interesting to receive such testimony from the mouth of him whom all the Eastern Christians reverence as their greatest
Doctor and consider their special glory. But few of the Fathers of the first centuries of Christianity have spoken so explicitly on the
subject of the Holy Eucharist as the Deacon of Edessa. He discredits in advance all the sophistry put forth at the time of the
reformation,
and thus comments on the words of the Institution of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Our Lord:
Do not believe that what I have just given to you is bread; receive it, eat it, do not crumble it away. That which I have called My Body,
truly is so. The smallest morsel is sufficient to sanctify millions of souls and suffices to give life to those who receive It.
Receive and eat with faith; do not waver, for it is My Body, and he who partakes of It with faith partakes of the fire of the Holy Spirit.
It seems to him who partakes without faith to be but ordinary bread, but to him who with faith partakes of the Bread consecrated in My Name,
if he be pure It preserves his purity; if a sinner It obtains his pardon. Let those who reject, despise or outrage this Bread know that
of a certainty they do outrage to the Son, Who has called and has made bread to be His Body. Take and eat, and by It partake of the Holy Spirit;
for It is truly My Body, and he who eats thereof has eternal life. It is the Bread of Heaven come down from on high unto us.
The manna which the Israelites ate in the desert, the manna which they gathered and which they despised although it fell from Heaven,
was a figure of the spiritual food you have just received. Take ye all of It and eat; in eating this Bread you eat My Body,
the true source of the Redemption
(Lamy, op. cit.)
In St. Ephrem's time the people of Edessa still took pleasure in the poetical compositions of Bardesanes and his son Harmonius.
A hundred and fifty years previously these impious men had spread abroad the errors of Gnosticism by means of these writings,
and therefore St. Ephrem, in his indefatigable zeal for the purity of the Faith, resolved to defeat the heresy with its own arms.
When he saw how the inhabitants of Edessa delighted in songs,
says his biographer, he instituted plays and dances of his own for
the young folk. He established choirs of nuns, whom he taught to sing hymns having a refrain between the verses. These hymns embody beautiful
thoughts and spiritual instruction on the Nativity, the Baptism, the Fast and deeds of Our Lord, the Passion, Resurrection and Ascension,
as well as on the Confessors, on Penance and the faithful departed. The religious came together on Sunday, on great feasts and on the
festivals of the Martyrs, and he in the midst of them like a father, accompanied them on his harp. He divided them into two choirs,
so that they might sing alternately, and taught them the various musical airs with such success that the whole town came to listen.
Thus his adversaries were put to shame and disappeared
(Duval, Litt. syriaque. p. 21).
Readers of the Liturgical Year will have often noticed and admired the spirit of faith and tender piety which fills the poems
of St. Ephrem, whether he celebrates the mystery of the birth of Our Savior and borrows the voices of the Shepherds and Magi to render homage to
the Infant God, or whether he extols the humility of St. John the Baptist, or, again, in order to console mourners, he sings of the happiness
of young children caught up to Heaven in their innocence. But never does this harp of the Holy Ghost sound forth in more harmonious tones than
when it sings of Mary and extols Her incomparable Virginity, Her Divine Maternity, or Her merciful protection of mankind (Bened. XV op. cit.)
It is well known that the eloquent Deacon of Edessa was one of the earliest of the Fathers whose testimony to the privilege of the Immaculate
Conception of the Blessed Virgin was brought forward. He addresses Our Lord and His Mother in these words: Thou, O Lord, and Thy Mother
are the only ones who are perfectly beautiful in every respect, for in Thee, O Lord, there is no blemish, and in Thy Mother there is no stain
(Carm. Nisib. n. 27. It is worthy of note that St. Louis Marie de Montfort, in his treatise on the True Devotion to Mary, mentions
St. Ephrem first, when listing a few of the Saints who have practiced this devotion).
The last years of St. Ephrem's life were marked by a heroic act which seems to have made a great impression upon his contemporaries.
There was a terrible famine in Edessa, which brought many other evils in its train. Moved by so much suffering, the holy anchorite left his cell
for a time and took up his abode in the town. By his fervent exhortations he implored the rich to come to the help of their less fortunate
fellow-citizens, and he knew how to call forth abundant alms, which he himself distributed. At the same time, by his arrangement, all who were
sick were brought together, and night and day he labored to procure for them such assistance and relief as the nature of their case demanded.
He did not abandon his charitable ministrations until the city again enjoyed food in plenty.
St. Ephrem returned once more to his solitude, and, feeling that his end was near, he composed for his disciples his last testament,
a touching discourse of considerable length in which the dominant features of his character shine forth – his faith, hope, charity, humility,
and zeal for orthodoxy. We quote a few passages which reveal the characteristics of the soul of this great monk:
“I, Ephrem, am dying, and I am writing a last testament so that I may leave to each one a souvenir in order that my friends may
remember me, even if only on account of my words...
“When I think of my past life, my knees tremble and my teeth chatter, and when I call to mind my deeds I, I am overcome with horror.
For I have never done anything good, nothing worthy of praise since the day of my birth… Do not place sweet perfumes upon my body,
I am not worthy of such distinction. Burn the incense in the sanctuary, but encompass me with your prayers. Offer sweet perfumes to God
and chant psalms for my soul...
“The one thing that gives me courage and hope before God is that I have never insulted my Savior and no blasphemy has ever been
uttered by my lips. ‘Those who hated Thee, Lord, I have hated and have abhorred Thy enemies’ (Ps. 138: 21).
Write my words upon your hearts and be mindful of what I say, for after I am dead evil persons will come among you in the clothing of sheep,
but inwardly they are ravening wolves (Matt. 7: 15)... Fly from them and from their doctrines... It would be better to teach demons
than to try to convince heretics. Demons bore witness, saying, ‘Thou art the Son of God’ (Matt. 8: 29), but infidels and (Arian)
heretics daily contend pertinaciously that He is not the Son of God. Satan himself, who dwells in them, confesses the truth,
but they assiduously deny it...
“O my disciples, hear my precepts and be mindful of my words. Do not depart from the Faith nor be untrue to my lessons.
When you hear of seditions and tumults in the world, be constant and hold fast to the truth and your Faith...
Farewell, my friends, and pray for me, my beloved… May peace abide in the Church and may persecution by the malicious cease.
May the wicked become just and be converted from their sins...
Let us now read the account given of the illustrious Deacon of Edessa by the Church in Her Office of Matins:
St. Ephrem was of Syrian descent and son of a citizen of Nisibis. While yet a young man he betook himself to the holy Bishop James,
by whom he was baptized, and he soon made such progress in holiness and learning as to be appointed master in the school of Nisibis in Mesopotamia.
After the death of Bishop James, Nisibis was captured by the Persians, and St. Ephrem went to Edessa, where he settled first among the monks in the
mountains. Later, to avoid the company of those who flocked to him, he adopted the eremitical life. He was made Deacon of the church of Edessa,
but refused the priesthood out of humility. He was rich in all virtues and strove to acquire piety and religion by the following of true wisdom.
He placed all his hope in God, despised all human and transitory things, and was ever filled with the earnest desire of those which are divine and eternal.
He was led by the Spirit of God to Caesarea in Cappadocia, where he saw St. Basil, the mouthpiece of the Church, and they obtained
benefit from their mutual conversation. In order to refute the many errors which troubled the Church at that time, and to expound the mysteries
of Jesus Christ, he wrote many books in the Syrian tongue, almost all of which have been translated into Greek. St. Jerome bears witness that
he attained such fame that his writings were read publicly in the churches after the reading of the Holy Scriptures.
On account of his works, so full of the light of heavenly doctrine, he was greatly honored even during his lifetime as a
Doctor of the Church. He composed a poem in praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saints, for which he was called by the Syrians the
Harp of the Holy Ghost. He was noted for his great and tender devotion towards the Immaculate Virgin. He died, rich in merits, at Edessa
in Mesopotamia, on the fourteenth of the Kalends of July (June 18), in the reign of Valens. Pope Benedict XV, at the instance of many
Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, as well as Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, and Religious Communities, declared him by a
decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites to be a Doctor of the Universal Church.
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