PREFACE OF PETER BENEDICT

OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS

To the Most Eminent and Reverend Lord

LORD ANGELO MARIA

QUIRINI

Cardinal Librarian of the Holy Roman Church

Regarding the New Edition of the Works of Saint EPHREM the Syrian

PREFACE

A decorative square woodcut initial 'B'. Inside the letter, a figure, likely a saint or monk, stands in a landscape holding a book and a staff.

I have translated the commentaries of Blessed Ephrem the Syrian on the Heptateuch The first seven books of the Bible (Genesis through Judges). at your urging and command, Most Distinguished Cardinal, with the greatest pleasure of mind. This was both because I was wonderfully delighted by your authority, and because the subject matter was of such a kind that I determined within myself that nothing could have been commanded by you that more befitted the supreme Librarian of the Holy Roman Church original: "S. R. E. Bibliothecarium", or that more adorned and more firmly fortified the universal Church. For indeed, since among the marks of the true Church of Christ, the chief has always been held to be its agreement in doctrine with the ancient Church, whom could we call a more suitable witness of this matter than that Divine Ephrem? He is a Doctor A title for an authoritative teacher of the Church. most highly regarded by Greeks, Latins, and foreigners original: "Barbaris." In this 18th-century context, this refers to those outside the Greco-Roman cultural sphere. for his holiness of life and the fame of his wisdom. Furthermore, he wrote in Mesopotamia, in that province indeed which—besides the name of Christ and the doctrine of the Apostles—

—had nothing in common anywhere or ever with the Greeks or Latins: not customs, not rites, not language. Thus, no one can suspect that a testimony of this kind was granted due to the habit of commerce, the flattery of Princes, or the necessity of family ties. Moreover, when we present the doctrine of Saint Ephrem, we are not bringing forward the judgment of a single Syrian writer, but are reciting the consensus original: "suffragia," literally "votes" or "support." of all the nations of the Syrian name. Just as when we hear Augustine or Cyprian explaining Christian doctrine, we do not attend to them as if they were speaking only from their own private sense, but rather revere them as the interpreters of the churches of all Africa; so indeed, if we wish to be consistent with ourselves when rereading the writings of the most celebrated Doctor—whom the Syrians themselves profess as their Prophet and the interpreter of divine oracles—we ought to admit him as a witness of the doctrine received among all the churches of the Syriac rite. Furthermore, the Syriac rite, besides both Syrias A reference to the Roman provincial divisions of Syria Prima and Syria Secunda.,