السيرة
Lives of the Saints and Martyrs in the Coptic Orthodox Church
Saint Mar Ephrem the Syrian, the Teacher (the Harp of the Holy Spirit)
A singular vessel among the holy men of God, whom the Syrians call "the Harp of the Holy Spirit." He offered the Church countless spiritual hymns, which carried, together with the purity of the upright faith, the spirit of devout piety and the passion of a burning love, joined to the sweetness and grace of his style. Indeed, his life in its entirety came to be a magnificent symphony, playing for us a rigorous asceticism alongside a deep care for serving the poor, and a firmness in doctrine and in the teachings of the Church alongside a profound humility.
His Early Years:
He was born around the year 306 A.D. in the city of Nisibis, one of the lands of Mesopotamia (the land between the rivers), in Roman Mesopotamia. His parents were Christians, for he said: "I was born in the way of truth, though in my youth I did not grasp the greatness of the truth; rather, I came to know it through trial." He also said: "My parents were confessors before the judge; yes, I am kin to the martyrs."
He attached himself to Saint Mar Jacob, bishop of Nisibis (Jacob, the second bishop of Nisibis), and it is said that he accompanied him to the Council of Nicaea in the year 325 A.D. After the death of Mar Jacob, Mar Ephrem remained attached to the three bishops who succeeded him upon the throne, perhaps as head of the school belonging to that see.
The First Trial:
The signs of pregnancy appeared upon a virgin, the daughter of one of the city's chief men. When she was asked who had committed the evil with her, she pointed to Saint Ephrem, who did not contradict her, but in humility said before the bishop: "I have sinned, my father..." The people were greatly scandalized, and a fierce uproar arose. When Ephrem received the child to raise it, many were troubled on its account, so he was obliged to ask the bishop's permission, after the Sunday liturgy, to ascend the ambon and carry the infant in his right hand toward the altar. He cried out before everyone: "O child, I adjure you before the altar of God, tell me the truth: who is your father?" And the child spoke: "Ephrem the candle-lighter" (the one charged with lighting the lamps of the church). Then all the people wept and asked his forgiveness... and the child gave up its spirit in that very hour!
His Departure from Nisibis:
He lived through the Persian siege of the city three times during the period 338-350 A.D., when it was finally handed over to them under a peace treaty between Shapur II, king of Persia, and Jovian. So all the Christians were compelled to leave it, among them Saint Mar Ephrem, who set out for Edessa.
As he drew near the city, he met a harlot, and he looked at her, finding her staring intently at him. He said to her: "O woman, are you not ashamed to fix your gaze upon me like this?" She answered him: "The woman was taken from the man, so it is fitting for her to gaze upon her origin; but the man was taken from the dust, so he ought to gaze upon the dust from which he was taken." Then he said to himself: "If the women of this city are so wise, how great must be the wisdom of its men?"
His Life in Edessa:
It is said that he worked at humble labors, and would spend the rest of his time preaching to the pagans and teaching them the Holy Scriptures, for the majority of the inhabitants were pagans.
Satan stirred up a woman who dwelt near him with an evil thought, and she asked him whether he was in need of anything. He answered her: "I am in need of two bricks and some clay, to wall up the opening that is between me and you." The woman was vexed at the dryness of his words, and threatened that she would accuse him of committing the evil with her if he did not fall with her. So he pretended to agree to her demand, but on the condition that they commit the evil in the market of the city. When she asked him: "How shall we do this thing, with the people all around us?" he answered: "If you are ashamed before men, are you not ashamed before God, whose eyes pierce through the veils of darkness?" The woman was deeply moved, and it is said that she repented at his hands and joined one of the monasteries.
A little while later, Saint Ephrem dwelt in one of the caves of the mountain of Edessa, upon a rocky hill now known as Nimrud Dagh, where he devoted himself to worship together with the study of the Holy Bible.
It is said that a solitary named Ephrem was standing outside his cave in the mountain when he saw an angel descending from heaven, bearing a great scroll written upon both sides, surrounded by other angels, and he heard him say: "To whom shall this which is in my hand be given?" The angels answered: "To Eugenius the solitary, who is of the desert of Egypt." Then he asked again: "Who is worthy of it?" They answered: "Julian the solitary." Then he said to them: "There is none among the men of this age worthy of it save Ephrem the Syrian, who is in the mountain of Edessa." When the solitary saw this, he at first doubted;
but when he visited Mar Ephrem in his cave, he found him writing a commentary on the Book of Genesis, and when he read what he was writing, he was astonished at the gift that had been given to him. So he took the commentary from him and hastened with it to the school of Edessa, and presented it to its scholars, who admired it and seized him to honor him; but he told them about its author... So they hastened to Mar Ephrem to bring him; but he, when he perceived this, fled into one of the valleys.
His Coming Down to Labor:
The Angel of the Lord appeared to him and bound him not to flee from labor. In submission he went down to the city and spent the night in one of the towers of the wall of Edessa. In the morning, when some of the believers saw him, they were vexed, because he had fled when they went to him, and now had come of his own accord; they reckoned him a hypocrite, and some even accused him of madness. But he paid heed neither to a word of praise nor of blame; rather, he would pass through the market teaching and exhorting many.
Since he was earnest in his preaching and upright in his faith, some of the city's chief men, the heretics, the Jews, and the pagans rose up against him, and began to strike him, until he was compelled to flee to his cave and devote his time to writing against the heresies. The cave was turned into a school upon the mountain, gathering many disciples.
In the Wilderness of Egypt:
Mar Ephrem saw Saint Basil the Great, as it were a pillar of fire descending from heaven, and he longed to meet him. So, taking an interpreter with him, he traveled to Egypt, and there the Wilderness (Scetis) drew him; he remained in it for about eight years. His tree still stands at the Monastery of the Syrians, for it is said that on account of his excessive asceticism he would lean upon a staff, and some reckoned that he was imitating the elders out of vanity; so he planted his staff in the ground, and at once it blossomed and grew.
His Meeting with Saint Basil:
He went to Caesarea around the year 371 A.D., and attended the liturgy of the feast of the Divine Epiphany in his tattered garments. When he saw Saint Basil from afar, his heart sank because of the magnificence of his vestments, and he doubted concerning him. But no sooner had the saint stood up to preach than he saw, as it were, tongues of fire issuing from his mouth toward the hearts of his hearers, and as it were a dove speaking from his mouth; so his thought changed at once.
Saint Basil saw, as it were, two angels surrounding the monk Ephrem, so he sent to summon him immediately after the sermon; but Ephrem entreated that the meeting be after Communion, and indeed the two met with a brotherly kiss. Then Saint Basil said to him privately: "Why did you doubt?" showing him that he wore sackcloth underneath, saying to him: "As for these splendid outer garments, they are only for the honor of the ministry."
The visit lasted two weeks, and Saint Basil sought to ordain him a priest, but he scarcely consented to be ordained a deacon. Saint Basil was greatly affected by his character and his teachings, as he mentioned in his writings.
His Return to Edessa:
He returned to Edessa and began to resist the heresies. When he saw that one of them had composed 150 hymns carrying erroneous doctrines, which the people chanted, he himself also composed 150 hymns in the same melody, with the uprightness of the faith and the sweetness and strength of his style, and they took the place of the former hymns.
When the climate of the heresies had calmed, he returned to his cave, until a great famine swept the city in the winter of 372/373 A.D. So he went down to the city, urging the rich to give; and they entrusted him to act on their behalf, whereupon he set up a house with 300 beds for the sick on account of the famine, and he himself, with his helpers, served the needy. He did not return to his cave until the famine had ended.
And on the ninth of the month of June (Haziran), in the year 373 A.D., he gave up his spirit, after he had offered this testament, which he composed in verse:
"Do not lay me beneath the altar of God, for it is not fitting that a foul carcass be placed in the holy place. Do not lay my body with the martyrs, for I am a sinner and unworthy, and I dread to draw near to their bones. Do not shroud me with perfumes, for I am not worthy of the incense and the sweet spices, since they do not befit me; rather, offer the incense in the holy places, but as for me, support me with your prayers. Instead of the perfumes and the spices, remember me in your supplications...
I have made a covenant with the Lord to be buried with the strangers, for I am a stranger as they were. Lay me, O brethren, with them, for every bird loves its own kind, and a man loves his like. Lay me in the burial place where the broken-hearted are, so that when the Son of God comes, He may gather me to Himself and raise me up with Him..."
Our Church celebrates his commemoration on the fifteenth of Abib.
His Literary Revolution:
He enriched the Christian library with his writings, both in verse and in prose, which amount to no less than three million lines. They comprised a commentary on all the Holy Scriptures, the subjects of religious controversy, and certain treatises and letters, together with homilies (mimar) and hymns of praise, some of which have been lost.
His Captivating Character:
Though he feigned madness at certain times in order to escape the episcopate, when Saint Basil sought to consecrate him a bishop over one of the provinces of his diocese; and though his tears never dried, so that Saint Gregory, bishop of Nyssa, reckoned them a natural phenomenon, as breathing does not cease in the life of man; yet his surpassing love for the poor, his tenderness, and his spiritual fullness gave his character a wondrous charm, so much so that Saint Gregory of Nyssa said that he resembled the angels, who are without a material body and without care in their lives!
His commemoration is also kept on the 18th of June