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Images of Ephraem: The Syrian Holy Man and His Church

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2016

Sidney H. Griffith
Sidney H. Griffith*
Affiliation:
The Catholic University of America
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Extract

Ephraem the Syrian is undoubtedly the best-known holy man of the Syriac-speaking world in the patristic period. Within fifty years of Ephraem's death, Palladius included a notice of him among the ascetic saints whose memory he celebrated in the Lausiac History. Sozomen the historian celebrated Ephraem's memory as a popular ecclesiastical writer, some of whose works had been translated into Greek even during his lifetime. Jerome claimed to recognize Ephraem's theological genius in a Greek translation he read of a book by Ephraem on the Holy Spirit. And toward the end of the fifth century, Gennadius of Marseilles called attention to Ephraem as a composer of metrical psalms. Well within the patristic era itself, therefore, Ephraem's reputation as holy man, theologian, and poet was secure.

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Traditio , Volume 45 , 1990 , pp. 7 - 33
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Copyright © Fordham University Press 

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References

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4 Gennadius was actually speaking of one Peter of Edessa, of whom he said that ‘he composed metrical Psalms in the manner of Ephraem the deacon.’ Richardson, E. C. (ed.), Gennadius, Liber de Viris Inlustribus (TU 14; Leipzig 1896) 87.Google Scholar

5 See now Joseph Amar, P., ‘The Syriac Vita Tradition of Ephrem the Syrian’ (Dissertation, The Catholic University of America 1988). A convenient summary in Latin of the traditional lives of St. Ephraem is readily available in ‘De S. Ephrem Syro Edessae in Mesopotamia,’ AS February 1 (Paris 1863) 49–78.Google Scholar

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19 On this incident in the Vita, see Polotsky, H. J., ‘Ephraems Reise nach Aegypten,’ Orientalia 2 (1933) 269–74. The late fourth-century Egyptian St. Bishoi came to play a special role in the spiritual life of the Syriac-speaking church, through his Vita and the liturgical celebration of the anchorite's accomplishments. In the present connection one should note that in all accounts, Egyptian and Syrian, Ephraem's visit is a dominant feature of the story. See the Vita in P. Bedjan (ed.), Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum Syriace 3 (Paris 1892) 572–620. See also Hambye, E. R., ‘Pishay, anachorète — une commémoraison peu connue du calendrier de l'église syrienne d'Antioche,’ L'Orient syrien 7 (1962) 255–58.Google Scholar

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31 In Sermon 42, Theodore proposed the ascetical example of St. John Chrysostom and of ‘Ephraem, famous in song’: S. Theodori Studitae Parva Catechesis, in Mai, A., Nova Patrum Bibliotheca 9 (Rome 1888) 102. In his Testament, Theodore confessed his acceptance of the example of the oriental monks, especially Barsanuphius, Anthony, Ephraem and others. See PG 99.1815. Another Studite monk, now anonymous, remarked that the portraits of these same ‘oriental monks’ were to be found in the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople: see ‘De S. Barsanuphio,’ AS April 2 (Paris and Rome 1866) 22.Google Scholar

32 See Sauget, J. M., ‘Le dossier Éphrémien du manuscrit arabe Strasbourg 4226 et de ses membra disiecta,’ Orientalia Christiana Periodica 42 (1976) 426–58; Khalil, Samir, ‘L'Éphrem arabe, état des travaux,’ Symposium Syriacum 1976 (Orientalia Christiana Analecta 205; Rome 1978) 229–40.Google Scholar

33 See Fedotov, G. P., The Russian Religious Mind: Kievan Christianity, the 10th to the 13th Centuries (New York 1960) 158–75; Podskalsky, G., Christentum und theologische Literatur in der kiever Rus’ (988–1237) (Munich 1982) 50, 101–104, 140.Google Scholar

34 Benedict XV, ‘Principi apostolorum Petro,’ Acta Apostolicae Sedis 12 (1920) 457–73.Google Scholar

35 See John Martin, R., ‘The Death of Ephraim in Byzantine and Early Italian Painting,’ The Art Bulletin 33 (1951) 217–25.Google Scholar

36 Guidi, I., Chronica Minora (CSCO 1; Paris 1903) 5.Google Scholar

37 Text in Bedjan, P., Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum Syriace 3 (Paris–Leipzig 1892) 665–79. A new edition of this important text is in preparation by Joseph Amar, P., of the Diocese of St. Maron and the University of Notre Dame.Google Scholar

38 Bedjan, , Acta Martyrum 3.667.Google Scholar

39 Ibid. 672.Google Scholar

40 Ibid. 676.Google Scholar

41 Scher, Addai, ‘Mar Barhadbšabba ‘Arbaya: Cause de la fondation des écoles,’ Patrologia Orientalis 4 (1908) 377. On the sense of mpaššqōnǒ as Barḥadbshabbā would have understood it, see Vööbus, A., The Statutes of the School of Nisibis (Stockholm 1961) 73.Google Scholar

42 Scher, , ‘Mar Barhadbšabba,’ 382.Google Scholar

43 Ephraem was probably never an official mpaššqōnǒ at Nisibis or Edessa, although he was an important teacher in the pre-history of these famous schools. See Vööbus, A., History of the School of Nisibis (CSCO 266; Louvain 1965) 7–9.Google Scholar

44 See Beck, E., ‘Philoxenos und Ephräm,’ Oriens Christianus 46 (1962) 61–76.Google Scholar

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47 Assemani, J. S., Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana 3.1 (Rome 1725) 61ff. See the English translation in Badger, G. P., The Nestorians and their Rituals II (London 1852) 328.Google Scholar

48 For the Syriac works attributed to Ephraem that are of questionable authenticity, and for a list of misattributed works, see Melki, J., ‘Saint Éphrem le Syrien, un bilan de l'édition critique,’ Parole de l'Orient 11 (1983) 44–88.Google Scholar

49 Ibid. 42–44.Google Scholar

50 Eventually the documents that present Ephraem in the icon of the holy monk were translated into Armenian. The Syriac Vita appeared in the early 12th century; Ephraem's Testament was translated from Greek in the 11th or 12th century, as was the encomium of Ephraem attributed to Gregory of Nyssa. See Ter-Pétrossian, L. and Outtier, B., Textes arméniens relatifs à s. Ephrem (CSCO 473–474; Louvain 1985).Google Scholar

51 Beck, E., Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Paschahymnen (CSCO 248; Louvain 1964) 82–83. See also p. 84, stanzas 8 & 9.Google Scholar

52 Beck, E., Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Hymnen contra Haereses (CSCO 169; Louvain 1957) 211–12.Google Scholar

53 See n. 10 above.Google Scholar

54 See Gribomont, J., ‘La tradition liturgique des hymnes pascales de S. Éphrem,’ Parole de l'Orient 4 (1973) 191–246.Google Scholar

55 Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Epistle 145 (PG 83.1345D).Google Scholar

56 Bedjan, , Acta Martyrum 3 (above n. 37) 667.Google Scholar

57 Lamy, T. J., Sancti Ephraem Syri Hymni et Sermones (Malines 1882–1902). See Melki, , ‘S. Éphrem, un bilan’ (above, n. 48) 18.Google Scholar

58 See, e.g., Bouvy, E., ‘Les sources historiques de la vie de saint Éphrem,’ Revue Augustinienne 2 (1903) 155–64; Schiwietz, S., Das morgenländische Mönchtum III (Mödling bei Wien 1938) 93–165.Google Scholar

59 For a summary account of Beck's editions between the years 1955 and 1975 see Melki, , ‘S. Éphrem, un bilan’ (above n. 48) 23–41.Google Scholar

60 So Schiwietz, S. could speak of St. Ephraem, the Syrian doctor of the church, ‘as an ascetic in Nisibis and later a monk outside Edessa’: Das morgenländische Mönchtum III 93.Google Scholar

61 See Aphrahat's exposition on the bnay qyōmǒ in Parisot, I., Aphraatis Sapientis Persae Demonstrations (Patrologia Syriaca 1; Paris 1894) 239–312.Google Scholar

62 See Vööbus, A., Literary, Critical and Historical Studies in Ephrem the Syrian (Stockholm 1958).Google Scholar

63 Vööbus, A., History of Asceticism in the Syrian Orient (CSCO 197; Louvain 1960) 89.Google Scholar

64 The titles of the five texts bespeak their themes: the ‘Letter to the Mountaineers,’ the homilies ‘On the Solitude of the Anchorites,’ ‘On Anchorites, Hermits and Mourners,’ ‘On Anchorites, Mourners and Hermits,’ and ‘On the Solitaries, Mourners.’ All of these texts, save the last one, have been edited, together with the Testament, in Beck, E., Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Sermones IV (CSCO 334; Louvain 1973). For Vööbus’ discussion of them, see Vööbus, A., ‘Beiträge zur kritischen Sichtung der asketischen Schriften, die unter dem Namen Ephraem des Syrers überliefert sind,’ Oriens Christianus 39 (1955) 48–55; id., Literary, Critical and Historical Studies 59–86; id., History of Asceticism (above n. 63) 2–10. See now the studies of G. Edward Mathews, Jr., ‘Isaac of Antioch, “On Solitaries, Mourners and Hermits”: A Translation and Commentary’ (MA Thesis, The Catholic University of America 1987).Google Scholar

65 Vööbus, History of Asceticism (above, n. 63) 93–94.Google Scholar

66 Ibid. 97.Google Scholar

67 See Beck, E., ‘Ein Beitrag zur Terminologie des ältesten syrischen “Monchtums,”’ Studia Anselmiana 38 (1956) 254–67; id., ‘Asketentum und Mönchtum bei Ephraem,’ in Il Monachesimo Orientale (Orientalia Christiana Analecta 153; Rome 1958) 341–62 (French translation in L'Orient syrien 3 [1958] 273–98). In these important articles, Beck was reacting principally not to Vööbus’ studies, but to the provocative article of Alfred Adam, ‘Grundbegriffe des Mönchtums in sprachlicher Sicht,’ Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 65 (1953/54) 209–39. Nevertheless, in these studies Beck developed the views that enabled him definitively to perceive the inauthenticity of the ascetical texts Vööbus took to be genuine works of St. Ephraem. See Beck, E., Sermones IV (above n. 11) v–xi. See also Melki, , ‘S. Éphrem, un bilan’ 72–76, 80–82, 87–88.Google Scholar

68 See nn. 10, 22, 23 above.Google Scholar

69 See Beck, E., Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Hymnen auf Abraham Kidunaya und Julianus Saba (CSCO 322–323; Louvain 1972); Melki, , ‘S. Éphrem, un bilan’ 38, 57–60.Google Scholar

70 See Beck, E., ‘Éphrem le Syrien (saint),’ Dictionnaire de spiritualité, 4.788–800; id., ‘Ephraem Syrus,’ Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum 5.520–31; Murray, R. P., ‘Ephrem Syrus, St.,’ A Catholic Dictionary of Theology 2.220–23; id., ‘Ephraem Syrus,’ Theologische Realenzyklopädie 9.755–62; De Halleux, A., ‘Saint Éphrem le Syrien,’ Revue théologique de Louvain 14 (1983) 328–55.Google Scholar

71 This observation and the following points in the biography of Ephraem follow the scheme set forth in De Halleux, A., ‘Saint Éphrem le Syrien,’ 330–33.Google Scholar

72 Beck, E., Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Hymnen de Virginitate 37.10 (CSCO 223 [Louvain 1962] 135).Google Scholar

73 See Beck, E., Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Hymnen contra Haereses 3.3 (CSCO 169 [Louvain 1957] 11).Google Scholar

74 See Ephraem's reflections in his Julian hymns in Beck, E., Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Hymnen de Paradiso und Contra Julianum (CSCO 174; Louvain 1957) 66–91. See also Griffith, Sidney H., ‘Ephraem the Syrian's Hymns “Against Julian”: Meditations on History and Imperial Power,’ Vigiliae Christianae 41 (1987) 238–66.Google Scholar

75 See Beck, E., Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Carmina Nisibena, erster Teil 33.7 (CSCO 218 [Louvain 1961] 79).Google Scholar

76 Guidi, , Chronica Minora (above, n. 36) 5.Google Scholar

77 Butler, , The Lausiac History (above, n. 1) 2.127.Google Scholar

78 See nn. 10 and 22 above. See also Joseph Amar, P., ‘Monastic Influence and (Greek) Cultural Bias in the Vita Tradition of Ephraem the Syrian,’ to appear.Google Scholar

79 On Ephraem's ecclesiology, see Molitor, J., ‘Die kirchlichen Ämter und Stände in der Paulusexegese des hl. Ephräm,’ in Die Kirche und ihre Ämter und Stände: Festgabe Kardinal Frings (Cologne 1960) 379ff.; Ortiz, I. de Urbina, ‘L'évěque et son rǒle d'après saint Ephrém,’ Parole de l'Orient 4 (1973) 137–46; Murray, R., Symbols of Church and Kingdom: A Study in Early Syriac Tradition (Cambridge 1975); Sidney Griffith, H., ‘Ephraem, the Deacon of Edessa, and the Church of the Empire,’ in Halton, T. and Williman, J. P. (edd.), Diakonia: Studies in Honor of Robert T. Meyer (Washington, D.C. 1986) 22–52.Google Scholar

80 Beck, , Carmina Nisibena 21.23 (CSCO 218.59).Google Scholar

81 Ibid. 17.3 (46).Google Scholar

82 Ibid. The use of the word dayrǒ here is instructive. Later it will become the standard Syriac word for ‘monastery.’ Here it applies to a ‘fold’ of ministers, or ‘herdsmen,’ within the shepherd's flock, who assist him in his pastoral ministry.Google Scholar

83 Ibid. 17.4 (46).Google Scholar

84 Beck, , Hymnen contra Haereses 56.10 (CSCO 169.211f.).Google Scholar

85 Ibid. 66.11 (212).Google Scholar

86 See Beck, , Carmina Nisibena 14.1 (CSCO 218.37).Google Scholar

87 Ibid. 21.5 (55f.).Google Scholar

88 Butler, , The Lausiac History (above, n. 1) 2.126.Google Scholar

89 On this subject see Beck, E., Ephräms Trinitätslehre in Bild von Sonne/Feuer, Licht und Wärme (CSCO 425; Louvain 1981), where there are references to Beck's and others’ earlier studies on the Trinity in the works of Ephraem. See also Sidney Griffith, H., ‘The Cappadocian Trinitarian Formula in Syriac,’ forthcoming.Google Scholar

90 See Murray, , Symbols of Church and Kingdom (n. 79, above), and ‘The Theory of Symbolism in St. Ephrem's Theology,’ Parole de l'Orient 6/7 (1975/76) 1–20.Google Scholar

91 See Brown, Peter, Society and the Holy in Late Antiquity (Berkeley 1982), esp. 103–65, and ‘The Saint as Exemplar in Late Antiquity,’ in J. Hawley (ed.), Saint and Virtue (Berkeley 1988) 3–14.Google Scholar

92 Beck, , Carmina Nisibena 15.9 (CSCO 219.41).Google Scholar

93 Ibid. 21.12 (57).Google Scholar

94 Ibid. 17.3 (46).Google Scholar

95 See Parisot, I., Aphraatis Sapientis Persae Demonstrationes (Patrologia Syriaca I; Paris 1894) 239–312. For bibliography see Blum, G. G., ‘Afrahaṭ,’ Theologische Realenzyklopädie 1 (1977) 625–35.Google Scholar

96 Parisot, , Demonstrationes 276. Here and on subsequent pages, e.g., cols. 292–97, Aphrahat exploits the multiple associations of words built on the root q-w-m, one of which, qyōmǒ, is usually translated ‘covenant’ in the present context. On this issue see Connolly, R. H., ‘Aphraates and Monasticism,’ Journal of Theological Studies 6 (1905) 522–39; Murray, R., ‘The Exhortation to Candidates for Ascetical Vows at Baptism in the Ancient Syriac Church,’ New Testament Studies 21 (1974–1975) 59–80; id., ‘The Features of the Earliest Christian Asceticism,’ in P. Brooks (ed.), Christian Spirituality: Essays in Honor of Gordon Rupp (London 1975), 65–77; Nedungatt, G., ‘The Covenanters of the Early Syriac-Speaking Churches,’ Orientalia Christiana Periodica 39 (1973) 191–215, 419–44.Google Scholar

97 See Parisot, , Demonstrationes (above, n. 95) 272–76.Google Scholar

98 Ibid. 276.Google Scholar

99 Ibid. 309; see also 268f.Google Scholar

100 Ibid. 312.Google Scholar

101 Ibid. 269. In the Peshitta, Syriac, īḥǐdōyǒ is the term used in place of the μηνογενοῦς of John 1.14.Google Scholar

102 Ibid. 260.Google Scholar

103 One recalls in this connection the problem of the virgines subintroductae, evident already in the Pseudo-Clementine epistles, ‘Ad virgines,’ which are preserved entire only in Syriac. See the bibliography in Quasten, J., Patrology (Westminster, Md. 1950) 58–59.Google Scholar

104 See Parisot, , Demonstrationes (above, n. 95) 341, 356, 357. For the controversy regarding ‘singleness’ as a requirement even for baptism see the studies cited in n. 96 above, esp. Murray, R., ‘The Exhortation to Candidates for Ascetical Vows’ (n. 96, above).Google Scholar

105 The most important studies of St. Ephraem's ascetic style of life, which a number of authors call ‘premonastic’ or ‘protomonastic,’ are the following: Beck, E., ‘Ein Beitrag zur Terminologie des ältestens syrischen Mönchtums,’ in B. Steidle (ed.), Antonius Magnus Eremita (356–1956) (Studia Anselmiana 38; Rome 1956) 254–67; id., ‘Asketentum und Mönchtum bei Ephraem,’ in Il Monachesimo Orientale (Orientalia Christiana Analecta 153; Rome 1958) 341–62. In these studies, Beck is reacting against ideas suggested by Adam, A., ‘Grundbegriffe des Mönchtums in sprachlicher Sicht,’ Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 65 (1953) 209–39. For Ephraem see also Leloir, L., ‘Saint Éphrem, moine et pasteur,’ in Théologie de la vie monastique (Théologie 49; Paris 1961) 85–97; id., ‘La pensée monastique d'Éphrem et Martyrius,’ in Symposium Syriacum 1972 (Orientalia Christiana Analecta 197; Rome 1974) 105–34. for the larger issues involved in these discussions see Kretschmar, G., ‘Ein Beitrag zur Frage nach dem Ursprung frühchristlicher Askese,’ Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche 61 (1964) 27–67; Guillaumont, A., Aux origines du monachisme chrétien (Spiritualité orientale 30; Bégrolles en Mauges 1979).Google Scholar

106 The best book in English on this subject is now Brock, Sebastian, The Luminous Eye: The Spiritual World Vision of St. Ephrem (Rome 1985).Google Scholar

107 Halleux, De, ‘Saint Ephrem le Syrien’ 353.Google Scholar

108 See, e.g., the significance of virginity in Paradise in Beck, E., Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Hymnen de Paradiso und Contra Julianum 7.6,15 (CSCO 174 [Louvain 1957] 26f., 28f.).Google Scholar

109 Beck, , Hymnen de Paradiso 7.18 (CSCO 174.29). This verse has been the subject of some controversy, because some scholars see in it a background for the vision of paradise one finds in the Qur'ān, an idea Dom Edmund Beck summarily rejected. See the comment and bibliography in Lavenant, R., Éphrem de Nisibe, Hymnes sur le Paradis (Sources chrétiennes 137; Paris 1968) 103f. The present writer thinks that such ideas as Ephraem expressed were in fact among those that were ‘in the air’ in the Christian milieu with which Muhammad was familiar.Google Scholar

110 Beck, E., Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Hymnen de Ecclesia 28.9 (CSCO 198 [Louvain 1960] 68).Google Scholar

111 Beck, E., Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Sermones I 1.356–59 (CSCO 305 [Louvain 1970] 7).Google Scholar

112 Ibid. 9.Google Scholar

113 S. Brock, P., ‘Ephrem's Letter to Publius,’ Le Muséon 89 (1976) 286f. There is an allusion here to Jesus’ parable of the wise and foolish virgins, Mt. 25.1–13.Google Scholar

114 Beck, , Sermones I 2.295–98, 348–52 (CSCO 305.18f.).Google Scholar

115 See Griffith, , ‘Ephraem, the Deacon of Edessa’ (above, n. 79).Google Scholar

116 Beck, E., Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Hymnen de Fide (CSCO 154 [Louvain 1955] 7).Google Scholar

117 Beck, , Hymnen de Virginitate 21.2 (CSCO 223.71).Google Scholar

118 On the significance of the term abǐlǒ for Ephraem and later writers, see the articles by Beck, E. cited in n. 105 above.Google Scholar

119 See n. 64 above.Google Scholar

120 Beck, E., Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Hymnen auf Abraham Kidunaya und Julianus Saba 2.13 (CSCO 322 [Louvain 1972] 41).Google Scholar

121 On the double significance of the title ‘single one’ to mean both ‘celibate’ and ‘only-begotten’ see above, and n. 101. The present writer will have more to say on this issue in the forthcoming paper, ‘ “Singles” in God's Service: Celibacy in Early Syrian Asceticism,’ Society for Biblical Literature Annual Meeting; Chicago 1988. Google Scholar

122 Beck, E., Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Sermones IV 2.509–32 (CSCO 334 [Louvain 1973] 27f.).Google Scholar