An ornate engraving at the head of the page depicts a central figure of an elderly man with a long beard and robes, identified as Saint Ephrem, seated on a rocky outcrop. He looks upward toward a winged angel who descends from the clouds, holding out an unrolled scroll, symbolizing divine inspiration. Surrounding the main scene are other figures: on the left, two younger men or angels observe; on the right, several small children (cherubs) are gathered, and a woman is seated in the background. The landscape features trees and a distant building. Beneath the image are the credits: "Knight Sebastian Conca designed it" original: "Eques Sebastian: Conca inv." on the left and "Giovanni Battista Sintes engraved it" original: "Io: Baptista Sintes sculp." on the right.

COMMENTARY

MADE BY SAINT EPHREM, TEACHER OF THE SYRIANS

ON THE FIRST BOOK

OF THE TORAH original: "Orayta"; the Syriac term for the Pentateuch or the Law of Moses.

A

The explanation of the beginning of the first book of Creation. We did not wish to provide an explanation, nor to add to the renown of those who have already explained it. However, concerning those things which we have already produced in our discourses original: "memre"; formal metrical homilies. and hymns original: "madrashe"; teaching-songs or poetic instructions. which serve as our foundations: because of the necessity of the distress of our beloved friends, we have been persuaded. We have decided to change our use of time, so as not to waste our life repeating in books of sacrifice Perhaps referring to formal liturgical volumes. those things which were already explained in our discourses and hymns. Let us remain silent regarding the revelations that are opposed [to this].

B

Now, Moses had this scope and goal in writing this book: because God, the sole Ruler of all, in ancient times had adorned the mark of His knowledge clearly and simply among human beings, so that not even one part of creation could deny that it was created by God. But afterward, the Babylonian era of the building of the Tower arrived and uprooted this true understanding. It planted a new one among human beings, and this [error] clung closely to them until the time of Moses.

C

For if even among the sons of Shem there were not lacking those who preserved the teaching from of old and guarded the rest of their brothers, yet through the cause of the Egyptian slavery, a general error of the human race entered and fell even upon the inheritance of Abraham. Thus, they abandoned the fear of the God of truth—even while being convicted by nature—so that they might call things recently made by names of ancient things and gods.

D

And instead of this vain fear which at that time was greatly prevailing, God brought Moses near. He commanded that he should gather the minds of human beings, which were wandering in diverse paths, through the commandments of the fear of truth; and that he should heal the sin in the divided mind, and [cleanse] the desires from the various thoughts regarding creation.

OF OUR HOLY FATHER

EPHREM THE SYRIAN

EXPLANATION

ON GENESIM original: "In Genesim"; On Genesis.

A

An ornamental woodcut initial Q features a landscape with several buildings, a tower, and a tree, enclosed within the letterform.
Although I had decided to waive the explanation of Genesis, lest I should repeat without worth what I had treated in my discourses and questions, I have nevertheless yielded to the requests of my friends. Having changed my mind, I have finally determined that those things which were discussed in a scattered and diffuse manner in those writings should be collected and contracted under a single view, through a new method and arrangement.

In this work, this was the scope and end of Moses: that although God, the builder of the Universe, had impressed a clear and distinct notion of Himself upon the men of ancient times so that no one would deny the world was made by God, nevertheless, a later age—which followed immediately after the construction of the Tower of Babel—uprooted this opinion of the origin of the world and the making of things (which, as I said, was implanted in the minds of all mortals) and inserted a new one. This lasted until the times of Moses. Indeed, although among the descendants of Shem there were those who retained the ancient discipline concerning God and strove to persuade others, yet on the occasion of the Egyptian servitude, the common error of the human race also invaded the posterity of Abraham. So much so that, having repudiated the religion of the true God, and with the very instinct of nature resisting, they fashioned eternity and divinity for things that had been made not long before. Against this superstition, then, which was raging most greatly through that time, God set Moses; and He commanded him to imbue the minds of men, confused by various opinions, with the precepts of true religion, and [to heal] the vice through...