TESTIMONIES

OF THE ORIENTAL CHURCHES

CONCERNING SAINT EPHREM.

A large decorative initial letter 'S' featuring a figure, likely a saint, in a prayerful or scholarly pose, set within a landscape.
1. The Syrian Maronites and Melchites The Maronites are an Eastern Catholic Church from Lebanon; the Melchites refers to Middle Eastern Christians who followed the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon. in their Menologium A service book containing the lives of the saints arranged by their feast days. under the eighteenth day of January: The memory of Saint Ephrem the Syrian. The parent of Blessed Ephrem was a citizen of the city of Nisibis and a priest of idols. When his father consulted an idol regarding his son's fate, the Devil replied that the boy must be driven from the home as soon as possible, because he would one day be an enemy of the gods. For this reason, Ephrem was excluded from his father's house and fled to Saint Jacob original: "S. Jacobum"; refers to James, the Bishop of Nisibis, a prominent figure at the Council of Nicaea., the Bishop of that same city, and served him for some time; he even followed him when he set out for the Council of Nicaea. After his master’s death, Ephrem was baptized in the eighteenth year of his life. Withdrawing to a mountain near Edessa, he exercised himself in the study of Divine Scripture and in reading its interpretations. From there, he descended into the city and began to deliver sermons to the people. Because he intrepidly defended the cause of the orthodox faith and constantly exhorted his listeners to embrace and retain it, he naturally incurred the hatred and animosity of many, especially the sectarians. By these men, he was once beaten with whips and almost buried under stones before being released, as they believed him to be dead. Compelled to leave the city for this reason, he sought out solitude again. He so cherished abstinence and poverty that he never allowed himself any food or drink other than barley bread and water, nor any clothing except rags gathered from dunghills. He was of modest stature and grave appearance; he was never seen to laugh. He had a smooth, wide forehead and a very sparse beard.

2. The Syrian Jacobites The Jacobite Church, now known as the Syriac Orthodox Church.. In the Daily Office, for Tuesday, page 98 of the Rome edition: Two glorious lights entered the Holy Church, the Bride of Christ, and dwelt within her: Saint Ephrem, the venerable elder, and Saint Jacob, the Teacher of Batnan in Sarug referring to Jacob of Sarug (c. 451–521), a prolific Syriac poet-theologian, an ocean of knowledge. By their doctrine the earth is filled, and the faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—the triple Mystery—is confirmed.

On the same Tuesday, page 108: In that choir of Blessed Peter we shall see you, our holy Father Ephrem. They celebrate his memory on the 28th of January,

the 19th of February, the 8th of March, the 14th of May, and the 15th of June.

3. The Syrian Maronites in the Ecclesiastical Office for Sunday Vespers and all solemn feasts: Let the memory of Saint Jacob and Saint Ephrem be honored, who was the "Lyre of the Holy Spirit" original: "sancti Spiritus Cythara". And at the first service of the Sabbath: In the Catholic Apostolic Church, that faith is preached which the holy Fathers taught us, the Orthodox Doctors John Chrysostom and Saint Ephrem. In the Diaconal Office in the Commemoration of the Doctors: Saint Ephrem, the pillar of our Church.

4. The Syrian Nestorians The Church of the East, historically associated with the theological traditions of Upper Mesopotamia.: You have their testimony in the Ecclesiastical Office on the Friday after the fifth Sunday from Epiphany, on which the memory of all the Syrian Doctors is celebrated.

5. The Armenians in their Menologium under the 28th day of January: The memory of Saint Ephrem the Syrian. Saint Ephrem the Syrian, taught from boyhood to fear God in the city of Edessa, was once seen to have a grapevine in his mouth; as clusters of grapes hung from it, birds were seen to fly toward him and pluck the fruit This vision is a common hagiographic trope symbolizing that Ephrem's words would provide spiritual nourishment to many.. After he embraced the discipline of a more severe life as a youth in a monastery, a certain monk saw an Angel displaying a scroll, and heard him saying: "Only Ephrem shall take this book." Immediately, Ephrem devoured the book he received from the Angel, and from then on began to pour forth the words of the Spirit. When he had once learned of the excellence of Saint Basil through a vision of a sublime pillar, he set out for Caesarea and met Basil. While Basil was praying, Ephrem was divinely taught to speak Greek words. Returning then to his own lands, he gave himself to writing and composed treatises on repentance and many other books, as well as instructions for the monastic life, and sermons on the Antichrist, the Universal Judgment, and the Catholic faith. Once, when he had come to Edessa and was praying to God to grant him some useful lesson, a woman met him and stared at him with fixed eyes as he approached. When Ephrem rebuked her, the woman replied: "I am looking at you because I was made from you A reference to the biblical creation of Eve from Adam's rib.; but you, having been made from the earth, should look at the earth." Ephrem praised her saying and gave thanks to God that He had given him such an admonisher according to his prayer. Entering Edessa, he had rented a house, and when a woman living nearby looked out the window at Ephrem and asked for a blessing from him,