Primary source · Syriac
Hymns on Abraham Kidunaya and Julian Saba
(ascribed to) Ephrem the Syrian · 4th century (ascription debated)
What this text is
The hymn-cycles on the two hermit-saints of the Edessene desert — arguably contemporary praise, transmitted under Ephrem's name though the ascription of much of the collection is debated.
Profile of Ephrem the Syrian →
Public-domain translations
Summarized (from the Syriac)
[The hymns praise the recluse whose cell stayed shut for fifty years, and the old man of the cave whose psalmody outlasted his companions on the road to Sinai — the desert's answer to the schools of Edessa.]
Manuscript witnesses
Vatican and British Library Syriac collections
6th c. onwardEarly Syriac hymn manuscripts, the base of Beck's edition.
Editio Romana of Ephrem (Assemani)
1732–1746The old Rome edition of the Ephremic corpus.
Provenance
Edessa; madrashe for the great local ascetics
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Hymnen auf Abraham Kidunaya und Julianos Saba (CSCO 322–323)Edmund Beck, 1972The critical edition with German translation, and the classic discussion of authenticity.
- The Luminous Eye: The Spiritual World Vision of Saint EphremSebastian Brock, 1992The standard orientation to Ephrem and his tradition.