Ephraem

The name is variously written Ephraem, Ephraemus, Ephraim, Ephraimius, Ephrem, Ephremus, and Euphraimius : it belongs to several ecclesiastical writers of the Greek and Oriental churches.

1. Ephremus. To a writer so called, and to whose name no distinctive epithet can be attached, is ascribed the account of Saints Abram and Mary (Acta SS. Abramii et Mariac) in the Acta Sanctorum Martii, vol. ii. p. 436, &c. Papebroche, in his introduction to the account, conjectures that the writer lived about the middle of the sixth century. The account, of which he is the author, is sometimes ascribed (as in the Catalogue of the King's Library at Paris A. D. 1740) but incorrectly to Ephraem the Syrian. It has also been ascribed, but incorrectly, to Ephrem of Caria and Ephrem of Mylasa. [Nos. 3 and 7 below.]

2. Ephraimius (Ἐφραίμιος), or, as Theophanes writes the name, Euphraimius (Εὐφραΐμιος), patriarch of Antioch, or, as it was then called, Theopolis. If the designation given him by Theophanes (ὁ Ἀμίδιος) indicates the place of his birth, he was a native of Amida in Armenia, near the source of the Tigris. His first employment were civil : and in the reign of the emperor Justin I. he attained to the high dignity of Count of the East. While in this office he received, according to a curious story, recorded in the Λειμωνάριος, or Pratum Spirituale, written by Joannes Moschus, but erroneously ascribed, by ancient as well as modern writers, to Sophronius patriarch of Jerusalem, an intimation of the ecclesiastical dignity to which he was destined to attain. In the years 525 and 526, Antioch was nearly destroyed by successive shocks of an earthquake, and by a fire which had been occasioned by the overthrow of the buildings. Among the suf ferers was Euphrasius the patriarch, who was buried in the ruins of the falling edifices; and the people, grateful for the compassionate care which Ephraimius manifested for them in their distress, chose him successor to the deceased prelate. His elevation to the patriarchate is generally placed in the year 526, but perhaps did not take place till the year following. His conduct as patriarch is highly eulogized by ecclesiastical writers, who speak especially of his charity to the poor, and of the zeal and firmness with which he opposed heresy. His zeal against heretics was manifested in a curious encounter with an heretical stylite, or pillar-saint, in which the heretic is said to have been converted by the miraculous passing of the patriarch's robes, unconsumed, through the ordeal of fire. He condemned, in a synod at Autioch, those who attempted to revive the obnoxious sentiments of Origen; and wrote various treatises against the Nestorians, Eutychians, Severians, and Acephali, and in defence of the Council of Chalcedon. But, toward the close of his life, he was obliged by the Emperor Justinian, under a threat of deposition, to subscribe the condemnation of three of the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon, which he had hitherto so earnestly supported. Facundus of Hermia, the strenuous advocate of the condemned decrees, reproaches Ephraimius on this occasion, and with justice, as more solicitous for the preservation of his office than for the interests of what e deemed divine and important truth. Ephraimius died soon after this transaction, A. D. 546, or perhaps 545, after a patriarchate, according to Theophanes, of eighteen years, or, according to other calculations, of twenty years.

The works of Ephraimius are known to us only by the account of them preserved in the Bibliotheca of Photius, who says that three volumes written in defence of the dogmas of the Church, and especially of the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon, had come down to his day : but he gives an account only of two. The first comprehended, 1. An epistle to Zenobius, a scholasticus or advocate of Emesa, and one of the sect of the Acephali ; 2. Some epistles to the emperor Justinian ; 3. Epistles to Anthimus, bishop of Trapezus, Dometianus Syncleticus, metropolitan of Tarsus, Brazes the Persian, and others ; 4. An act of a synod (συνοδικὴ πρᾶξις) held by Ephraimius respecting certain unorthodox books; and, 5, Panegyrical and other discourses. The second volume contained a treatise in four books, in which were defences of Cyril of Alexandria and the synod of Chalcedon against the Nestorians and Eutychians; and answers to some theological questions of his correspondent the advocate Anatolius. (Phot. Bibl. Codd. 228, 229; Facundus, 4.4; Evagrius, Eccles. Hist. 4.5, 6 ; Joannes Moschus (commonly cited as Sophronius) Pratum Spirituale, 100.36, 37 in Biblioth. Patrum, vol. xiii. ed. Paris, 1654; Theophanes, Chronograph. ad Ann. 519 (Alex. Era=526 Common Era) and table ad Ann. 537, 538; Baronius, Annales ; Cave, Hist. Liter. vol. i. p 507, ed. 1740-3; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. x. p 750.)

3. Ephrem, or rather Ephraem (Ἐφραὴμ), of Caria, a monk of unknown date, writer of a Greek hymn or prayer given by Raynaeus (Dissert. Prelim. de Acoluthiis Officii Graeci, p. lxviii. in the Acta Sanctorum Junii, vol. ii.) This Ephrem is not to be confounded with Nos. 1 and 7.

4. Ephraim (Ἐφραὶμ), bishop of Cherson. In the title of his only published work he is called archbishop, and some moderns style him " martyr." Works account of a miracle wrought by the relics of Clement of Rome

He is the author of an account of a miracle wrought by the relics or the interposition of Clement of Rome, on the body of a child, who had been overwhelmed by the sea in a pilgrimage to Clement's submarine tomb. Editions

The account is printed in the Patres Apostolici of Cotelerius (vol. i. p. 815. ed. Amsterdam, 1724,) and in the De Probatis Sanctorum Vitis, of Surius, 29 Nov. On the Miracles of St. Clement

Another piece of Ephraim on the Miracles of St. Clement, evidently different from the foregoing, is noticed by Leo Allatius, who calls the writer Ephraemius ; but Cotelerius was not able to obtain it, or he would have printed it with the foregoing. Further Information

Cotelerius, l.c.; Allatius, De Symeonum Scriptis, pp. 90,96; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vii. p. 21, 8.254; Catal. MSS. Biblioth. Regiae. Paris, 1740.

6. Ephraemus of Edessa, commonly called the Syrian. [See below.]

7. Ephrem, bishop of Mylasa in Caria [see Nos. 1 and 3]. The time when he lived is uncertain ; but religious honours were paid to his memory in the fifth century at Leuce (near Mylasa), where his body was buried. (Acta Sanctorum, S. Eusebae Vita, cap. 3, Januar. vol. ii. p. 600.) [J.C.M]

or Ephraim, a Syrian, born at Nisibis, flourished A. D. 370.

He spent his youth in diligent study, and devoted himself at first to a monastic life, but afterwards went to Edessa, where he was ordained deacon. He refused to proceed to the higher orders of the ministry, and is even said to have played the part of Brutus, by feigning madness in order to avoid elevation to the bishopric. He formed a close friendship with Basil, bishop of Caesareia, and shared his acrimony against the Arians and other heretics, whom he attacks with the violence characteristic of his age. He appeared in a truly Christian light at the time of a famine at Edessa, when he not only assisted the suffering poor with the greatest energy and most zealous kindness, but also actively exerted himself in urging the rich to deny themselves for their brethren's good. Sozomen (3.15) speaks with admiration of the manner in which Christianity had subdued in him a naturally irascible temper, and illustrates it by a pleasing anecdote, amusing from its quaint simplicity. At the conclusion of a long fast, Ephraem's servant let fall the dish in which he was bringing him some food. His alarm at having thus spoiled his master's dinner was removed by hearing him say, " Never mind, since the food has not come to us, we will go to it." Whereupon Ephraem sat down on the floor and ate the scraps left in the fragments of the broken dish. He died about A. D. 378, and in his last illness forbad the recitation of any funeral oration over his remains, and desired that his obsequies should be conducted in the simplest manner. Works

Ephraem knew no language but his native Syrian, though nearly all his works are translated into Greek, and were formerly held in such high esteem, that portions of them were sometimes read in churches after the gospel for the day. Treatises, epistles, homilies etc. Editions

Most of his writings were collected by Gerard Voss, who turned them into Latin, and published them (1) at Rome A. D. 1589-93-97, (2) at Cologne in 1603, (3) at Antwerp in 1619. Voss's edition is in three volumes.

The first consists of various treatises, partly on subjects solely theological, as the Priesthood, Prayer, Fasting, &c., with others partly theological and partly moral, as Truth, Anger, Obedience, Envy.

The second contains many epistles and addresses to monks, and a collection of apophthegms.

The third consists of several treatises or homilies on parts of Scripture and characters in the Old Testament, as Elijah, Daniel, the Three Children, Joseph, Noah. Photius gives a list of 49 homilies of Ephraem (Cod. 196), but which of these are included in Voss's edition it is impossible to ascertain, though it is certain that many are not.

Another edition of Ephraem's works in Syriac, Greek, and Latin, was published also at Rome with notes, prefaces, and various readings, " studio Sim. Assemanni, P. Benedicti et Steph. Evodii Assemanni," 6 vols. fol. 1732-46.

The Greek version of several of his writings, from eighteen MSS. in the Bodleian library, wass published by Edw. Thwaites at Oxford, 1709.

There have been several editions of separate works. Songs

Ephraem is also said to be the author of an immense number of songs. He began to write them in opposition to Harmonius, the son and disciple ot Bardesanes the heretic, who composed poetry involving many serious errors of doctrine, some of which were not only of an heretical but even of an heathen character, denying the resurrection of the body, and containing views about the nature of the soul extracted from the writings of pagan philosophers. These songs had become great favourites among the common people, and Ephraem, to oppose their evil tendency, wrote other songs in similar metres and adapted to the same music of a pious and Christian character. Further Information

Sozomen, l.c. ; Theodoret, 4.27; Cave, Script. Eccl. Hist. Liter. part 1. sec. 4; C. Lengerke, Commentalio Critica de Ephraemo Syrio SS interprete, qua simul Versionis Syriacae, quam Peschito vocant, Lectiones variae ex Ephraemo Commentariis collectae, exhibentur, Halle, 1828, and De Ephraemi Syri arle hermeneutica liber, 1831. [G.E.L.C]