Ephrem the Syrian

Ephrem the Syrian was a prolific Syriac language hymn writer and theologian of the 4th century. He is venerated by Christians throughout the world, but especially among Syriac Christians, as a saint.

'Greek Ephrem'

Ephrem's artful meditations on the symbols of Christian faith and his stand against heresy made him a popular source of inspiration throughout the church. This occurred to the extent that there is a huge corpus of Ephrem pseudepigraphy and legendary hagiography. Some of these compositions are in verse, often a version of Ephrem's heptosyllabic couplets. Most of these works are considerably later compositions in Greek. Students of Ephrem often refer to this corpus as having a single, imaginary author called Greek Ephrem or Ephraem Graecus (as opposed to the real Ephrem the Syrian). This is not to say that all texts ascribed to Ephrem in Greek are false, but many are. Although Greek compositions are the main source of pseudepigraphal material, there are also works in Latin, Slavonic and Arabic. There has been very little critical examination of these works, and many are still treasured by churches as authentic.

Related Topics:
Pseudepigraphy - Hagiography - Latin - Slavonic - Arabic

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The most well known of these writings is the Prayer of Saint Ephrem that is a part of most days of fasting in eastern Christianity:

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O Lord and Master of my life,give me not a spirit of sloth,vain curiosity, lust for power and idle talk,but give to me, your servant,a spirit of soberness, humility, patience and love.O Lord and King,grant me to see my own faultsand not to condemn my brother:for you are blessedfor ever and ever.Amen.O God, cleanse me, a sinner.

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