The Nicene Age · AD 313–400

Ephrem the Syrian

c. 306 – 373 · Deacon of Nisibis & Edessa · “Harp of the Spirit” · Nisibis → Edessa

The Nicene Age

Ephrem the SyrianAnonymous Unknown author · Public domain · Commons

Ephrem the Syrian — historical depiction 2 — Ephrem the SyrianAnonymous Unknown author · Public domain · Commons

Ephrem the Syrian — historical depiction 3 — Ephrem the Syrianunknown · Public domain · Commons

Ephrem the Syrian — historical depiction 4 — Ephrem the Syrianhttp://www.ebyzantinemuseum.gr/?i=bxm.en.exhibit&id=56 · Public domain · Commons

Ephrem the Syrian — historical depiction 5 — Ephrem the SyrianEphrem the Syrian · Public domain · Commons

Who Ephrem the Syrian was

The greatest poet of the patristic age wrote no Latin and no Greek. A deacon and catechist of Nisibis on the Persian frontier, Ephrem taught theology in madrāšê — stanzaic hymns sung by women’s choirs he trained himself — through three Persian sieges, until Rome ceded the city in 363 and he trudged with the refugees to Edessa. Over four hundred hymns survive: on faith, on Paradise, against heresies, cycles for the feasts, laments for Nisibis, all working in paradox and image where the Greeks worked in definition — “the Lord entered her, and became a servant… the Rich went in, and came out poor.” He organized famine relief in Edessa’s winter of 372–3 and died, probably of plague caught at the work, that June.

Common questions

When did Ephrem live?

Ephrem the Syrian is dated c. 306 – 373 in the archive, which places Ephrem in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.

What did Ephrem write?

Ephrem the Syrian has 2 catalogued writings in the archive: Hymns on the Nativity and The Prayer of St. Ephrem (attributed).

Which early sources mention Ephrem?

Ephrem the Syrian is named in 4 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Ephrem the Syrian, Jerome of Stridon, Sozomen and Theodoret of Cyrrhus. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Ephrem from?

The archive associates Ephrem the Syrian with Nisibis, Edessa. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.

Writings (2)

Hymns on the Nativity

c. 350–370

The Lord entered her, and became a servant; the Word entered her, and became silent within her; thunder entered her, and His voice was still; the Shepherd of all entered her — He became a Lamb in her, and came forth bleating.

Earliest witness · British Library Syriac codices (Add. 14571 etc.) (5th–6th c.)

Read the interlinear source text →

The Prayer of St. Ephrem (attributed)

Lenten, and traditionally his; the date is unrecoverable

O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk; but give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.

Earliest witness · British Library Syriac codices (Add. 14571 etc.) (5th–6th c.)

Read the interlinear source text →

Primary-source mentions (4)

Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

The Hymns of Ephrem · The Prayer of St Ephrem

c. AD 370

Blessed be that Child, who gladdened Bethlehem today! Blessed be the Babe who made manhood young again today!… O Lord and Master of my life, give me not a spirit of sloth, of despond, of lust of power, and of vain speaking. (The Lenten prayer, attributed.)

Ephrem the Syrian · source text

On Illustrious Men 115 ('his writings are publicly read in some churches after the scriptures')

c. AD 392

Ephrem, deacon of the church at Edessa, attained such distinction that his writings are repeated publicly in some churches, after the reading of the Scriptures.

Jerome of Stridon · On Illustrious Men 115 · source text

Church History III.16 (the long Greek notice of the Syrian deacon)

c. AD 445

Sozomen · Church History III.16 · source text

Ecclesiastical History IV.29 (the harp of the Spirit remembered)

c. AD 449

Theodoret of Cyrrhus · Ecclesiastical History IV.29 · source text

Connected in the archive

Commented on Tatian’s Diatessaron, the Syriac gospel of his churches; admired in Basil’s circle within his lifetime

People

Events in this lifetime

Place

Others of Nisibis → Edessa in the The Nicene Age

Places served

The 2 places the sources put Ephrem, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.

See these places on the atlas →