Home
 Saint Ephrem the Syrian Scott 1745 (2020) June 9 marks the feast day for Saint Ephrem the Syrian, one of the Doctors of the Church. The stamp above was issued in 2020 to commemorate the centennial of his being named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. Saint Ephrem was born around the year 306 AD, in Nisibis, Syria, then part of the Roman Empire (modern day Nusaybin, Turkey). Although extensive biographical information does not exist, and some historical details are in question, he was baptized into the Christian faith, ordained as a deacon, and became known as a teacher and writer of poetry. He is considered the greatest writer of Syriac poetry in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, and is revered as a Venerable Father. He has been called the "Harp of the Holy Spirit", with a harp represented on the stamp above. His name is variously spelled as Ephraem, Ephrem of Edessa, or Aeprem of Nisibis.  Saint Ephrem, 11th Century Mosaic Monastery of Hosios Loukas, Greece From Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain Ephrem was an important figure in the religious School of Nisibis, and a defender of Nicene Christianity (325). His bishop, St. Jacob of Nisibis, attended the Council of Nicaea and signed the Nicene Creed. From the 330s to the 350s, Nisibis was under periodic attack from the Sasanian kings of Persia (Iran) under Shapur II (d. 379). Emperors Constantius II (337-361) and Julian the Apostate (361-363) were unable to keep the territory under Roman control. By 363, the Nisibis Christian community was expelled. Ephrem eventually settled near Edessa (now Eurfa, Turkey), an important Christian city in Syria about 135 miles west of Nisibis, where he lived an ascetic life as part of a close-knit community. He continued to be a teacher, perhaps at the School of Edessa. His writings often focused on defending the faith against heresy. The poetry took the form of strophes (stanzas) which were to be chanted, with the first lines repeated at the beginning and end of each strophe, meant to be sung by alternating choirs. At least 400 of his hymns have survived, although many of his commentaries on Old and New Testament scriptures and homilies have been lost over time (but have been referred to by other commentators). Saint Ephrem is cited by St. Jerome (ca. 352-420) who observed that his writings were read after the scriptures in Syriac Churches of the 4th century. It is reasonable to assume that St. Ephrem is not widely known to Western Christians. Yet Syriac Christianity, with its two main branches in the Near East and India, represents a tradition that reaches to the earliest years of Christianity and, in the case of St. Ephrem, the 4th century when Christianity became first a tolerated and then an official religion of the Roman Empire. Saint Ephrem the Syrian may have died in 373 AD in Edessa in Upper Mesopotamia (today's Şanlıurfa, Turkey). It is believed he died from the plague while ministering to its victims. The Saint Ephrem stamp at the top of the page was designed by the Italian artist Daniela Fusco. The development of the stamp was featured in a Vatican Notes article in 2021 and can be viewed by clicking on the link below. REFERENCES: |
