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 EPHRAEM

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EPHRAEM

Ethiopian (translations as yet unedited). In medie- val times some of his minor works were translated from the Greek into Slavonic and Latin. From these versions were eventually made French, German, Ital- ian, and English adaptations of the ascetic writings of St. Ephraem. The first printed (Latin) edition was based on a translation from the Greek done by Am- brogio Traversari (St. Ambro.se of Camaldoli), and issued from the press of Bartholomew Guldenbeek of Sultz, in 1475. A far better edition was executed by Gerhard Vossius (1589-1619), the learned provost of Tongres, at the request of Gregory XIII. In 1709 Edward Thwaites edited, from manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, the Greek text, hitherto known only in fragments. The Syriac original was unknown in Europe until the fruitful Oriental voyage (1700-07) of the Maronites Gabriel Eva, Elias, and especially Joseph Simeon Assemani (1716-17), which resulted in the discovery of a precious collection of manuscripts in the Nitrian (Egypt) monastery of Our Lady. These manuscripts foimd their way at once to the Vatican Library. In the first half of the nineteenth century the British Museum was notably enriched by similar fortunate discoveries of Lord Prudhol (1828), Curzon (1832), and Tattam (1839, 1841). All recent editions of the Syriac original of Ephraem's writings are based on these manuscripts. In the Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris) and the Bodleian (O.xford) are a few Syriac fragments of minor importance. Joseph Simeon Assemani hastened to make the best use of his newly found manuscripts and proposed at once to Clement XII a complete edition of the writings of Ephraem in the Syriac original and the Greek versions, with a new Latin version of the entire material. He took for his own share the edition of the Greek text. The Syriac text was entrusted to the Jesuit Peter Mobarak (Benedictus), a native Maroniie. After the death of Mobarak, liis labours were continued by Strphanus Evodius A.ssemani. Finally this monumental edition of the works of Ephraem appeared at Rome ( 17:52-46) in six folio volumes. It was completed l)y the labours of Overbeck (Oxford, 1865) and Bickell (t'armina Nisibena, 1866), while other savants edited newly found fragments (Zingerle, P. Martin, Rubens Duval). A splendid edition (Mechlin, 1882-1902) of the hymns and sermons of St. Ephraem is owing to the late Monsignor T. J. Lamy. However, a complete edition of the vast works of the great Syriac doctor is yet to be executed.

(2) Exegetical Writings. — Ephraem wrote com- mentaries on the entire Scriptures, both the Old and the New Testament, but much of his work has been lost. There is extant in Syriac his commentary on Genesis and on a large portion of Exodus; for the other books of the Old Testament we have a Syriac abridg- ment, handed down in a catena of the ninth century by the Syriac monk Severus (851-61). The com- mentaries on Ruth, Esdras, Nehemias, Esther, the Psalms, Proverbs, the Canticle of Canticles, and Eccle- siasticus are lost. Of his commentaries on the New Testament there has survived only an Armenian version. The Scriptural canon of Ephraom resembles our own very clo.sely. It seems doubtful that he accepted the douterocanonical writings; at least no commentary of his on the.se books ha.s reached us. On tlu^ other hand he accepted as canonical the apoc- ryphal Third Epistle to the Corinthians, and wrote a commentary on it. Tlie Scriptural text used by Ephraem is the Syriac Pcshito, slisjlilly ilitfering, how- ever, from the printed text of that very ancient version. The New Testament was known to him, as to all Syrians, both Ivistern and Western, before the time of Rabulas, in I lie harmonized "Diatcssaron" of Tatian; it is also this text which serves as the basis of his com- mentary. His text of the Acts of the Apostles ap- pears to have been one closely related to that called the "Occidental". (J. R. Harris," Fragments of the

Commentary of Ephrem Syrus upon the Diatessaron", London, 1905; J. H. Hill, "A Dissertation on the Gospel Commentary of St. Ephraem the Syrian", Edinburgh, 1896; F. C. Burkitt, "St. Ephraun's Quotations from the Gospel, Corrected and Arranged", in"TextsandStudies",Caml)ri.lgc, 1901, VII, 2.) The exegesis of Ephraem isthat of tin Syriac writers gener- ally, whether hellenized or not, and is closely related to that of Aphraates, being, like the latter, quite re- spectful of Jewish traditions and often based on them. As an exegete, Ephraem is sober, exhibits a preference for the literal sense, is discreet in his use of allegory; in a word, he inclines strongly to the Antiochene School, and reminds us in particular of Theodoret. He admits in Scripture but few Messianic passages in the literal sense, many more, however, prophetic of Christ in the typological sense, which here is to be carefully distinguished from the allegorical sense. It is not improbable that most of his commentaries were wTitten for the Christian Persian school (Schola Pcrsarum) at Nisibis; as seen above, he was one of its founders, also one of its most distinguished teachers. (3) Poetical Writings. — Most of Ephraem's sermons and exhortations are in verse, though a few sermons in prose have been preserved. If we put aside his exegetical writings, the rest of his works may be di- vided into homilies and hymns. The homilies (Syriac memre, i. e. discourses) are written in seven-syllable verse, often divided into two parts of three and four syllables respectively. He celebrates in them the feasts of Our Lord and of the saints; sometimes he ex- pounds a Scriptural narrative or takes up a spiritual or edifying theme. In the East the Lessons for the ecclesiastical services (see Office, Divine; Breviary) were often taken from the homilies of Ephraem. The hymns (Syriac madrashe, i. e. instructions) offer a greater variety both of style and rhythm. They were written for the choir service of nuns, and were destined to he chanted by them; hence the division into stro- phes, the last verses of each strophe being repeated in a kind of refrain. This refrain is indicated at the beginning of each hymn, after the manner of an anti- phon ; there is also an indication of the musical key in which the hymn should be sung. The following may serve as an illustration. It is taken from an Epiphany hymn (ed. Lamy, I, p. 4). — Air: Behold the month. Refrain: Glory to Thee from Thy flock on the day of Thy manifestation. Strophe: He has renewed the heavens, because the foolish ones had adored all the stars | He has renewed the earth which had lost its vigour through Adam = A new creation was made by His spittle I And He Who is all-powerful made straight both bodies and minds= Refrain: Glory to Thee etc. — Mgr. Lamy, the learned editor of the hymns, noted seventy-five different rhythms and airs. Some hymns are acrostic, i. e., sometimes each strophe begins with a letter of the alphabet, as is the case with several (Hebrew) metrical pieces in the Bible, or again the first letters of a number of verses or strophes form a given word. In the latter way Ephraem signed sev- eral of his hymns. In Syriac poetry St. Ephraem is a pioneer of genius, the master often imitated but never equalled. He is not, however, the inventor of Syriac poetry; this honour seems due to the aforesaid heretic Bardesanes of Edessa. Ephraem himself tells us that in the neighbourhood of Nisibis and lidcs.sa the poems of this (inostic and his son Ilarmonius contributed efficaciously to the success of their false teachings. Indeed, if Ephraem entered the same field, it was with the hope of vamiuishing heresy with its own weapons perfecte<l by himself. The Western reailer of the hymns of Ephraem is inclined to wonder at the enthu- siasm of his admirers in the ancient Syriac Church. His " lyricism " is by no means what we understand by that term. His poetry seems to us prolix, tiresome, colourless, lacking in the personal note, and in general devoid of charm. To be just, however, it must be