Ephrem the Syrian (died c. 373)
Ephrem the Syrian; his innovations transformed religious services.
Ephrem the Syrian was not really a Syrian. A famous hymnwriter and
Bible teacher, he was born in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and the
Euphrates rivers, and lived most of his life in Edessa which is in
modern Turkey.
Good parents gave him a jump start on faith. They trained him to fear
the Lord and both suffered for their faith. He later wrote, “I was born
in the way of truth; and though my boyhood did not understood the
greatness of the benefit, I knew it when trial came.”
In 337 after Constantine the Great died, Sapor, king of Persia,
seized the opportunity to invade Mesopotamia. He besieged the city of
Nisibis where Ephrem was staying, and in 70 days brought it to the verge
of surrender. But Ephrem talked the city’s old Bishop James into
mounting the walls to pray for the Divine help. Soon afterward, swarms
of mosquitoes and horse-flies made Sapor’s horses and elephants
unmanageable, and the king withdrew his forces. After that, Ephrem moved
to Edessa.
Untrained in any skill and without any other means of making a
living, Ephrem became a bath-keeper. In his spare time he was a
missionary, teaching and reasoning with the natives. An old monk
overheard him witnessing, told him that it was wrong for him to mix with
the world, and convinced him to live in a cave, starve himself and
study Scripture. Ephrem began writing books, disciples gathered to learn
from him and went home to teach others.
After some time, Ephrem visited Basil, the famous Bishop of Caesarea
in Cappadocia.It was January, but Ephrem spent the night in the cold
street. The next morning he took his place in a corner of Basil’s
church, and Ephrem groaned in spirit as he saw Basil seated in a
magnificent pulpit, arrayed in shining garments, with a mitre sparkling
with jewels on his head. “Alas!” he said to his interpreter, “I fear our
labor is in vain. For if we, who have given up the world, have advanced
so little in holiness, what spiritual gifts can we expect to find in
one surrounded by so great pomp and glory?” But when Basil began to
preach, Ephrem was impressed by the power of the holy Spirit in his
words. The two became fast friends.
Ephrem learned that Edessa was assailed by numerous heresies and
hurried home. On reaching Edessa, he found that gnostics had created 150
popular songs to teach their false doctrines. Even children knew them
by heart. To combat their influence, he composed numerous hymns himself,
and trained young women to sing them in chorus. The subjects of these
hymns were the Life of our Lord, including His Nativity, Baptism,
Fasting, and the chief incidents of his ministry, His Passion,
Resurrection, and Ascension. He wrote also on Repentance, on the Dead,
and on Martyrs. The whole city flocked to hear these songs, and the
gnostics lost their influence.
Basil tried to persuade Ephrem to visit Caesarea again, intending to
make him a bishop, but Ephrem was so sure he was not meant to be a
bishop that he even pretended to be insane in order to escape Basil’s
plan.
After this Julian the Apostate became emperor. He hated Christianity
and ordered the people of Edessa to send chosen citizens to pay him
homage, and to join him in his restoration of the old pagan cults. The
people of Edessa would have nothing to do with this plan and the emperor
was not able to do anything about it at the time. By one means or
another, Ephrem continued to defeat other false teachers. He even glued
together the pages of one teacher’s book so he couldn’t read aloud in
public debate.
Ephrem went back to his cave. He did not remain there, however.
Edessa suffered a severe famine and Ephrem left his cave, came to the
city, and convinced the richer citizens to bring out their secret stores
of food. Ephrem himself took charge and distributed the food with such
skill, prudence, and honesty that it fed the Edessenes and numerous
strangers until the following year’s bumper crop.
His died soon after this, around AD 373. Before his death, he
commanded his disciples not to bury him beneath the altar, nor in a
church, nor amongst the martyrs, but in the common burying-ground of
strangers, in his gown and cowl, with no spices or waxlights, but with
their prayers.
In addition to his hymns, Ephremm wrote many books, and a commentary
on the Old Testament. He knew how to make his writings touch people’s
lives. Prayers that he composed are found in most Oriental liturgies. He
spent his whole life in poverty, raggedness, humility, and gentleness.
“Throughout my whole life, neither by night nor day, have I reviled any
one, nor striven with any one; but in their assemblies I have disputed
with those who deny the faith. For if a wolf is entering the fold, and
the dog goes not out and bark, the master beats the dog. But a wise man
hates no one, or if he hates at all, he hates only a fool.”
Because he taught the things of Christ with “spirit and taste, and
his poetical gifts were exactly those calculated to give weight and
influence to his authority as a teacher among his countrymen,” they
honored him, giving him the title of Malphono, “the teacher.” But his
greatest service to the church was the marvellous variety and richness
which he gave to public worship.
by Dan Graves, after the Very Rev. R. P. Smith, D.D.
