St. Ephrem
Of all the spiritual writers down through the ages none has quite captured my imagination as thoroughly as St. Ephrem the Syrian. A quick glance through his beautiful “hymns” is enough to convince that his nickname “the harp of the Spirit” is well-deserved. Ephrem’s rich and earthy imagery speaks to me far more powerfully than the intellectual treatises of the Latin and Greek theological traditions; they tend to aim for the head, while Ephrem goes straight for the heart.
Ephrem was born around the year 306 in the Mesopotamian trading mecca of Nisibis (northwest of modern day Mosul, Iraq). He is believed to have been ordained a deacon by the great bishop of Nisibis, Mar Ya’qub (St. Jacob). (Other sources claim that he was not ordained until late in life, by St. Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia.) He is said to have accompanied Mar Ya’qub to the Council of Nicaea in 325.
Nisibis was a constant source of strife between the Roman and Persian empires. In 363 Rome ceded the city to Persia as part of a peace settlement. At that time, the Christians abandoned the city. Ephrem moved to the Syrian city of Edessa, where he lived as a hermit until his death in 373.
Of all Ephrem’s writings, none has moved me as much as his ninth “Hymn on Paradise.” The whole cycle of fifteen hymns is an extended meditation on the creation narratives of the first two chapters of Genesis, which in turn are seen as symbolic of the ultimate heavenly paradise. In my estimation, Ephrem’s vibrant description of paradise in the ninth hymn is matchless. I recommend it to anyone desirous of having their spirits lifted with the anticipation of heavenly glory!
For more information on St Ephrem: Click here
External links to other works by St Ephrem
Hymn on Paradise
1:http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/parad.1.html
2:http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/parad.2.html
3:http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/parad.3.html
4:http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/parad.4.html
5:http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/parad.5.html
6:http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/parad.6.html
7:http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/parad.7.html
8:http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/parad.8.html
10: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/parad.10.html
11: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/parad.11.html
12: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/parad.12.html
13:http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/parad.13.html
14:http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/parad.14.html
15: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/parad.15.html
Hymn on Fasting:
1:http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/fast.1.html
2: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/fast.2.html
3: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/fast.3.html
4: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/fast.4.html
5: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/fast.5.html
6: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/fast.6.html
7: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/fast.7.html
8: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/fast.8.html
9: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/fast.9.html
10: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/fast.10.html
11: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/fast.11.html
12: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/fast.12.html
13: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/fast.13.html
14: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/ephrem.hymns/fast.14.html
The Pearl: Seven Hymns on the Faith:
http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/St.Pachomius/Syrian/pearl.html
Hymn Against bar-Daisan:
http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/St.Pachomius/Syrian/ephraim.html
The Nisibene Hymns:
http://ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-13/Npnf2-13-14.htm#P1772_735179
Hymns on the Nativity:
http://ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-13/Npnf2-13-16.htm#TopOfPage
Hymns for the Feast of the Epiphany:
http://ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-13/Npnf2-13-30.htm#P3137_1066538
Finally. A link to The St. Ephrem the Syrian Library, a wonderful source of information on St. Ephrem: http://tserkovnost.org/stephrem/
And another pic for the page:
http://tserkovnost.org/stephrem/images/EphremSyr-lg.jpg