St. Ephraim – Poet, Theologian, Prophet

As with most ancient authors, much ink has been spilled about St. Ephraim, often referred to as the Harp of the Holy Spirit, and there is many questions surrounding what St. Ephraim wrote and what is attributed to him. The picture one has of St. Ephraim depends largely on what texts one focuses on and how one understands him in relation to the larger apostolic Christian world. What is clear is that he was a dynamic figure whose reputation was significantly larger than the influence of his local area.

To say he was revered in the East and the West is an understatement. The apostolic Churches can roughly be categorized by their liturgical and historical languages. Ephraim was of the Syriac Church, and what most people associate with apostolic Christianity is the Latin West and Greek East. In discussions about the Syriac tradition, there is often an emphasis on how the Syriac Fathers were distinct from their Latin and Greek brothers. Unfortunately what is sometimes lost is that they share more in common than that which is different. After all, they all hold faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior and roughly teach similar things about the Eucharist, the Priesthood, and what in the West is called the sacraments and in the East the divine mysteries.

Historically, there is a body of work attributed to Ephraim that was revered in all the apostolic Churches. Copies of his work exist in Latin, Greek, Syriac, and perhaps other languages. This body of work was considered the work of St. Ephraim until modern scholarship called into question certain works. I don’t wish to get into an academic debate about this, but I simply want to present a brief commentary on the totality of his work. The intriguing thing about Ephraim is that there are three categories of works, each of which offer a profoundly different look on the man himself.

I would break it down as follows:

Undisputed Ephraim – this includes his poetry and poetical homilies which are considered authentic.
Disputed Ephraim – these works are revered in the East and West with many calling into question their authenticity.
The Highly Disputed Ephraim – these works are largely considered inauthentic because they are dramatically different from everything else and also seem to discuss the Arab invasions which came much later.

But there is a twist. Each of these categories also aligns with a certain set of assumptions and relates to directly to theology and larger questions about prophecy. If we assume for a moment that all of these works are indeed Ephraim, then suddenly Ephraim is a much larger figure who starts to resemble St. Padre Pio or St. Athony of the Desert more than simply a gifted poet.

Undisputed Ephraim paints a picture of a pastoral poet who spoke to the heart of his people. This Ephraim is earthy and poetic in a way not seen in the Latin West or the Greek East. Less concerned with doctrinal matters, this Ephraim seems to be more in line with Bob Dylan than St. Thomas Aquinas. In contrast, disputed Ephraim seems like a theologian deeply rooted in theology in a way that makes him at home among the Latin West and the Greek East. He seems to have roughly the same theology as was later affirmed and perhaps he had more of an influence on later doctrinal developments than is ever attributed to him. Finally, the highly disputed Ephraim makes him into a prophet like Elijah or Samuel who dramatically was calling the people of his region to repentence and conversion. It would suggest that he had miraculously received foreknowledge of the future Arab conquests and he functioned in a role like the prophets of the Old Testament.

It goes without say that my characterization of these three Ephraim would be greatly contested by Syriac scholars. That being said, one of the key aspects of the historical critical method which was the driving methodology of Syriac studies as it was developed in Germany was a profound doubt of the supernatural. I want to challenge these assumptions. First, I believe in the supernatural. I believe miracles can and will happen. Likewise, I believe prophecy and other gratuitous graces (a phrase from Aquinas) are a normal part of all apostolic Churches. While the dangers of an over emphasis on these aspects of the faith is a common experience of every parish priest, yet we must not fall into the opposite extreme of over rationalizing the faith. This is the unfortunate legacy of the Enlightenment which pervades every part of Western civilization.

I humbly propose that we reevaluate our scholarly assumptions and not readily dismiss all supernatural claims. This article is a summary of a book I hope to write fleshing out the main ideas I have here presented. I say this with the intention of writing this book, but ultimately only God knows if it will come to pass (so forgive me now if this project never reaches fulfillment).