St. Ephrem (Mar Aprem) – ‘Harp of the Holy Spirit I First Saturday of Great Lent

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St. Ephrem (Mar Aprem) – ‘Harp of the Holy Spirit’

St. Ephrem (Mar Aprem) – the Syrian, both a Father and a Doctor of the Church was born in the ancient city of Nisibis, in Mesopotamia, (said to be, not far from the place where Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden) at the beginning of the fourth century. Nisibis was in the Roman Empire (on the border of Persian Kingdom), under the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great. At one time Mesopotamia belonged to Syria and for this reason St. Ephraim is known as “the Syrian.”Our Church remembers St. Ephraim on the first Saturday of the Great Lent, along with St. Theodorus and also commemorated in the 5th Thubden (Dypthics), along with other poets of the Holy Church

He was born of Christian parents before the Edict of Milan was issued (AD 313), establishing official toleration of religion, and, as he later wrote, his ancestors “confessed Christ before the judge; I am related to martyrs“. He was educated at Edessa. He became a disciple of Bishop James of Nisibis, James (Yakob) of Nisibis. Through humility, he refused to become a priest, and stayed a deacon all his life. He became a monk when he was only a young boy. After the fall of Nisibis, Ephrem departed from the city and began to teach in Edessa, where he lived in solitude in his later years. He was one of the great defenders of the Divinity of Jesus Christ at the Council of Nicaea, in AD 325

Mar Aphrem remains one of the most influential fathers of the Syrian Churches and he is revered as the “Sun of the Syrians,” the “Column of the Church“. Ephrem was a prolific writer and gave the Church an abundance of sermons, commentaries and hymns. According to St. Jerome: “Ephraim, deacon of the Church of Edessa, wrote many works [opuscula] in Syriac, and became so famous that his writings are publicly read in some churches after the Sacred Scriptures. If you read a volume, of his on the Holy Spirit; though it was only a translation, I recognized therein the sublime genius of the man”. Because of this enormous amount of material, he was given the titles ‘Pillar of the Church’. Saint Ephrem was a great hymn maker and is called ‘Harp of the Holy Spirit’ the ‘Lyre of the Holy Spirit’, ‘Spiritual Teacher of the Church’, ‘Doctor of the Church’. Almost all the Churches of the world consider him as a saint. The body of his writing comprises a central part of the liturgical prayer life of many Churches. He was a great poet and teacher of priests. He wrote a sizeable part of our canonical prayers. He wrote countless hymns and prayers in love and praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Ephrem greeted her: “Hail, Reconciler of the whole world!”

When he was still a baby, his parents had a prophetic dream: from the boy’s tongue sprang a lush vine, which produced abundant clusters of grapes. The more the birds ate the fruit, the more it multiplied. Later it was revealed that these clusters were his sermons, the leaves of the vine–his hymns.

Remember not O Lord the sins of my youth. (Ps. 25: 7). Judging from his youth, however, one could never have guessed his future greatness. Despite his parents’ having educated him in Christian precepts, he was impetuous and even rather wild, like an unruly colt which resists the bridle: “I would quarrel over trifles, acted foolishly, gave in to bad impulses and lustful thoughts …. My youth nearly convinced me that life is ruled by chance. But God’s Providence brought my impassioned youth to the light of wisdom.” He relates the story of his conversion: “One day my parents sent me outer town and I found a pregnant cow feeding along the road. I took up stones and began pelting the cow, driving it into the woods. In the evening, it fell down dead and was eaten by wild beasts. On my way back, I met the poor owner of the cow. ‘My son,’ he asked, ‘did you drive away my cow?’ I not only denied it grass and drove into the woods, but heaped abuse and insult upon the poor man.”

A few days later he was idling with some shepherds. When it grew too late to return home, he spent the night with them. That night some sheep were stolen, and the boy was accused of being in league with the robbers. He was taken before the judge, who cast him into prison. In a dream an angel appeared to Ephraim and asked him why he was there. The boy began at once to declare that he was, innocent. “Yes,” said the angel, “you are innocent of the crime imputed to you, but have you forgotten the poor man’s cow?”

While in prison, when Ephraim saw the tortures to which criminals were subjected, he became terrified. He turned to God and vowed that he would become a monk if God would spare him such a cruel ordeal. The judge however, just laughed at the youth’s tears and ordered that he be stretched on the rack. But just then a servant came to announce that dinner was ready. “Very well,” said the magistrate, “I will examine the boy another day.” And he ordered him back to prison. Although he was spared from the rack, Ephraim had learned his lesson and, like the Prophet David, he entreated the Lord to overlook his youthful folly. True to his vow, upon his release he went straightway to the hermits living in the mountains where he became a disciple of St. James (Jan. 12), who later became a great bishop of Nisibis.

Born again in repentance, Ephraim began to train as an athlete of virtues, exercising himself in the study of the Holy Scriptures and in prayer and fasting. The passionate and wayward youth was transformed into a humble and contrite monk, weeping day and night for his sins and entirely surrendered to God. Ephraim’s earnest resolve pleased the Lord, Who rewarded him with the gifts of wisdom; grace flowed from his mouth like a sweet stream, in fulfillment of his parents’ dream.

St. James of Nisibis recognized his disciple’s God given talents, and as a bishop he entrusted Ephraim with preaching the Word of God and instructing children in school. In 325 he took Ephraim with him to the First Ecumenical Council in Nicea. Returning to Nisibis, Ephraim continued with his missionary work until 363 when the Persians conquered the city and most of its Christian inhabitants departed.

Ephraim decided to go to the city of Edessa around which monastic life was flourishing. He prayed that there the Lord would send to meet him a man who could converse with him on the Holy Scriptures for his spiritual profit. Upon entering the city gates, he was met by a woman. Disappointed, he turned mentally to God: “Lord, Thou hast disregarded Thy servant’s prayer. For how she can converse with me on Biblical wisdom?” The woman only stared at him. “Why, O woman, are you standing there staring at me?” asked the Saint. “I am looking at you,” she replied, “because woman is taken from man, but you should look not at me but at the earth from which you were taken.” Ephraim was astonished at the woman’ s reply and gave thanks to God, Who had answered his prayer in granting him this soul-profiting lesson.

In Edessa, Ephraim earned a humble living in the service of a bath keeper. He used his free time in preaching the Word of God to the unbelievers. Angered’ by Ephraim’s successes, the devil set his traps to catch the servant of God. Once, for example, as the Saint was preparing his dinner, a woman gazing from the window of an adjacent dwelling conceived a desire to seduce him. “Bless me, sir,” she shouted at him. “The Lord bless you,” replied the Saint. “What do you need for your food?” she continued. Discerning the true purpose of her conversation, Ephraim answered, “Three stones and some sand to block up your window.” The shameless woman was a harlot. The Saint said, “we ought to be ashamed of, and also fear God, Who, knows all the secrets of men! For He will judge the whole world and will reward everyone according to his deeds.” By God’s grace his words moved the harlot to repentance, and she begged him to guide her to the path of salvation. Having received from him basic instruction in the Christian Faith, she entered a convent.

After living for some time in Edessa, the Saint was advised by a holy elder to go into the wilderness. He settled in a cave of the nearby “Mount of Edessa,” where he gave himself up to prayer, fasting and the study of Holy Scripture. There occurred an incident, which illustrates the Saint’s dispassion. Once, after a long fast, his disciple was bringing him a meal, when the dish of food fell and broke. Seeing the brother’s shame and consternation, the Saint said simply: “Never mind, if the food will not come to us, we shall go to the food.” He sat down on the ground by the broken dish and proceeded to eat the meal as well as he could. It was said of him that although he was naturally prone to passion, he never exhibited angry feelings towards anyone from the time of his embracing the ‘monastic life.

St. Ephraim once had a revelation regarding St. Basil the Great. He saw in a vision a pillar of fire reaching to heaven, and he heard a voice: “Ephraim, Ephraim! Such as you see this pillar of fire, so, too, is Basil!” The vision inspired Ephraim with the desire to see this great Teacher of the Church, and, taking with him an interpreter (for he spoke no Greek), he journeyed to Caesarea in Cappadocia. There the holy hierarch greeted the desert-dweller with a corresponding enthusiasm and admiration: “I now see that what I heard about you is true. It is written in the Prophet David: Ephraim is the strength of my head (Ps. 59: 9). These prophetic words refer truly to you, for you have led many to [he way of virtue and strengthened them in it. And your meekness and dispassion of heart shin e for all, like the light.”

Then Basil the Great asked: “Why, venerable father, do you not receive consecration to the order of priesthood, as befits you?” “Because I am a sinner, my lord!” answered Ephraim through the interpreter. “O, if only I had your sins!” said Basil and added: “Let us make a prostration to the ground.” But when they were bowed to the ground, St. Basil laid his hand on St. Ephraim’s head and recited the prayer of consecration to the diaconate. That is how St. Ephraim was made a deacon and ordained to the diaconate and was a lecturer in the newly established school at Nisibis He was at that time about sixty years old. It was the Saint’s desire to continue in the hermetic life, but such was his talent as a preacher that the Lord would not have his light hidden under a bushel. Obedient to the Lord’s will as revealed to him by an angel, Ephraim returned to Edessa where he began again to instruct people in the Faith. There he also established a college, which later produced many famous teachers of the Syrian Church.

When the heretic Apollinaris was creating havoc in the Church with his erroneous teaching concerning the nature of Christ at His Incarnation, St. Ephraim tricked Apollinaris’ servant into lending him the two books in which these teachings were set forth. After gluing all the pages together, he returned the books to the unsuspecting servant and then challenged Apollinaris to a public debate. When Apollinaris found himself unable to open his books to quote from them, he became thoroughly confused and retired in shame. His heresy soon died out.

He served the Nisibian community during several Roman and Persian sieges. A story is often related that on one such siege he cursed the Persian attackers from the city walls and a cloud of flies and mosquitoes settled on the army of Shapur II and compelled it to withdraw. To escape the cruel Persian persecution of the Christians, Assyrian populations of the Bet-Nahrain communities abandoned their homes. Mar Aphrem, too, accompanied his flock from Nisibin and finally settled at Edessa (Urhai), the capital of Osrhoene (Atouriya or Little Assyria). Living as a monk and a prolific writer, he spent the remaining years of his life defending his theology against the heresies of his time.

Not only was St. Ephraim in eloquent and powerful teacher, he was also a prolific writer. Although he lacked a formal education, he comprehended with ease the most abstruse problems of philosophy, and his commentaries on the Old Testament books of Moses impressed even the most scholarly men of Ms time. But if his writings spoke to the mind, they were more greatly to be praised for the effect they had on the soul. As St. Gregory of Nyssa writes: “Who that is proud would not become the humblest of men, reading his discourse on humility? Who would not be influenced with a divine fire, reading his discourse on charity? Who would not wish to be chaste in heart and soul by reading the praise he has lavished on virginity? Who would not be frightened by hearing his discourse on the Last Judgment, which he has depicted so vividly that nothing can be added to it?”

In spite of the gifts, which God so lavishly bestowed upon him, St. Ephraim remained deeply humble. He even feigned madness so as to avoid being consecrated bishop and the glory that attends that position. Doubtless, his humility was guarded by the remembrance of the sins of his youth and by his contrite spirit, which followed upon this remembrance. But while tears of repentance constantly flowed from his eyes, Ephraim’s face was bright and shone with joy. As St. Gregory writes: “Where Ephraim speaks of contrition, he lifts our thought to the Divine goodness and pours cut thanksgiving and praise to the Most High.”

On January 28, 373, after a brief illness, St. Ephraim reposed from his labors and was received into the heavenly habitations. He died as a “solitary” in a cell on a Rock Hill. After a life of good works, preaching, religious writings and ascetical exercises, he died when he was 67 in 373. His death occurred in the same year as that of St. Athanasius, another glorious Doctor of the Church. St. Gregory of Nyssa wrote his life history. Our Church remembers him on the first Saturday of the Great Lent. He is more particularly remembered during this time in connection with the well-known prayer he composed: “O Lord and Master of my life.” which is recited repeatedly in the daily Lenten cycle of services. As it should also be by Orthodox faithful in their private morning and evening prayers throughout this Lenten period. The prayer may be said to capsulize the teaching of this eloquent Holy Father of the Church, who left several volumes of spiritually instructive writings which merited high praise from his illustrious contemporaries, St. Basil the Great and his brother St. Gregory of Nyssa. The life of St. Ephraim is perhaps no less instructive. Now, centuries later, his works still sing to the soul, inspiring it with the sweet fruit of repentance.

The prayer written by St. Ephraim is said frequently. It is truly a prayer on which every one of us should carefully mediate, as in many ways it reflects the pattern of our own everyday lives. Allow the prayer into your heart and mind, meditate upon it, and it will inevitably speak to you in some way or another. In fact, it is a like a warning to us; we need to spiritually be on our guard, avoiding the temptations that each day brings, and making amends for our failings, first by recognizing them, and then bringing them before our Lord God with humility and contrition. All of us should now take part in this richly rewarding prayer, reflecting upon it spiritually, and asking ourselves how we can overcome our weaknesses and faults. Ephrem is best known for the short prayer, The Prayer of St. Ephrem, the most succinct summation of the spirit of Great Lent, which is used throughout the season of Great Lent. The prayer outlines both the sins and virtues of community life: sloth, despair, lusting of power, idle talk; as well as chastity humility, patience, and love for the neighbor. Hence the Lenten prayer par excellence.

St Ephrem’s Bovootho (petitions or requests) are commonly used in our canonical prayers as well as every sacraments. Mar Ephrem’s Boovooso (Nangalkulla Karthave) Lord, Thy mercy on us cast, Use our service, ev’ry piece, Grant us from Thy treasure vast Mercy, blessing and release. St. Ephrem was the first among the Syrian writers who composed Madrosho, which is very common in the west Syrian liturgy. St. Ephrem’s Memro, was the main weapon to defend the true faith, that includes the discourses or homilies in verse. St. Ephrem in a hymn addressed to St. Thomas says, “Blessed art thou, whom the Great King sent that India to His Begotten thou shouldst espouse.” The Fast before the Shunoyo (Assumption) of Blessed Virgin Mary – Theotokos, the Mother of God. St. Ephrem, the Syrian, left us in Syriac hundreds of hymns and poems on the faith that inflamed and inspired the whole Church, and became so famous that his writings are publicly read in some churches after the Sacred Scriptures. St. Ephrem wrote 3,000,000 verses, and gives the names of some of his disciples, some of whom remained orthodox, while others fell into heresy.

St. Ephrem passed away on June 9, 373 AD, as accepted by many.  Ephrem relates in his dying testament a childhood vision of his life that he gloriously fulfilled: “There grew a vine-shoot on my tongue: and increased and reached unto heaven, And it yielded fruit without measure: leaves likewise without number. It spread, it stretched wide, it bore fruit: all creation drew near, And the more they were that gathered: the more its clusters abounded. These clusters were the Homilies; and these leaves the Hymns. God was the giver of them: glory to Him for His grace! For He gave to me of His good pleasure: from the storehouse of His treasures.”

St. Ephraim, the Syrian’s, Great, Great Lenten Prayer

Streams of Living Water

  • God descends into the soul inhabited by the fear of God; He remains there and becomes, as it were, the soul’s watchman.
  • He who possesses patience delivers himself from many sorrows.
  • Hope guides the sinner along the way of repentance to the mercy of God.
  • It pleases the Lord to show mercy and to save a man; in His love He does not tire of forgiving man his debts.
  • Just as smoke chases away bees, so too, the remembrance of wrongs chases wisdom out of the heart.
  • He who hides in his heart the remembrance of wrongs is like a man who feeds a snake on his chest.
  • He who bears his cross of sorrows with meekness will inherit in the life to come the glory of God.
Categories: Saints

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