Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/42

Rh 28 EPHRAEM. decrees, reproaches Ephrainiiuson this occasion, and with justice, as more solicitous for the preservation of his office than for the interests of what lie deemed divine and important truth. Ephraimius died soon after this transaction, A. D, 546, or per- haps 545, after a patriarchate, according to Theo- phanes, 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 Bihlio- theca 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 compre- hended, 1. An epistle to Zenohius, a scholasticus or advocate of Emesa, and one of the sect of the Ace- pliali ; 2. Some epistles to tJie emperor iTustinian ; 3. Epistles to Anthimus, bishop of Trapezus^ Do- metiamis Syndeticus^ metropolitan of Tarsus^ Brazes the Persian^ and others; 4. An act of a synod {awo- Si/CTj irpa^is) held by Ephraimius respecting certain unorthodox books ; and, 5, Panegyrical and other discourses. The second volume contained a trea- tise 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. Bihl. Codd. 228, 229 ; Facundus, iv. 4 ; Evagrius, Eccles. Hist. iv. 5, 6 ; Joannes Moschus (commonly cited as Sophronius) Pratum Spirituale, c. 36, 37 in Biblioth. Patrum, vol. xiii. ed. Paris, 1654 ; Theophanes, Chrono- graph, ad Ann. 519 (Alex. Erai=526 Common Era) and table ad Ann. 537, 538 ; Baronius, A71- nales; Cave, Hist. Liter, vol.i. p. 507, ed. 1740-3 ; Fabric. Biltl. Graec. vol. x. p. 750.) 3. Ephrem, or rather Ephraem ('E^pai]//), of Caria, a monk of unknown date, writer of a Greek hymn or prayer given by Raynaeus (Dissert. Prelim, de Acoluihiis Officii Graeci, p. Ixviii. in the Acta Sanctorum Junii, vol. ii.) This Ephrem is not to be confounded with Nos. 1 and 7. 4. Ephraim {""Ecppalix), bishop of Cherson. In the title of his only published work he is called archbishop, and some moderns style him " martyr." He is the author of an account of a miracle wrought by the relics or the interposition of Cle- ment of Rome, on the body of a child, who had been overwhelmed by the sea in a pilgrimage to Clement's submarine tomb. The account is print- ed in the Patres Apostolici of Cotelerius (vol. i. p. 815. ed. Amsterdam, 1724,) and in the De Probatis Sanctorum Vitis, of Surius, 29 Nov. An- other piece of Ephraim on the Miracles of St. Clement, evidently different from the foregoing, is noticed by Leo Allatius, who calls the writer Eph- raemius; but Cotelerius was not able to obtain it, or he would have printed it with the foregoing. (Cotelerius, I.e.; Allatius, De Symeonum Scriptis, pp. 90,96 ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vii. p. 21, viii. 254 ; Caial. MSS. Biblioth. Reffiae. Paris, 1740.) 6. Ephraem of Constantinople, a chrono- grapher wlio flourished apparently about the be- ginning of the fourteenth century. His chronicle, written in Iambic verse, is repeatedly cited by Allatius (De Psellis^ p. 22, Diatriha de Georgiis, pp. 327, 341, 354, &c., ed. Paris. 1651), and is probably extant in the Vatican Library in MS. but has never been published. (Fabric. Bibl, Graec. vol. viL p. 472, viii. 79, 254.) EPHRAEM. 6. Ephraem us 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 uncer- tain ; but religious honours were paid to his me- mory in the fifth century at Leuce (near Mylasa), where his body was buried. (Acta Sanc- torum, S. Eusebiae Vita, cap. 3, Januar. vol. ii. p. 600.) [J. C. M.] EPHRAEM 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 (iii. 15) speaks with admiration of the manner in which Chris- tianity had subdued in him a naturally irascible temper, and illustrates it by a pleasing anecdote, amusing from its quaint simplicity. At the con- clusion 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. He 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. Most of his Avritings 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 Priest- hood, 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 im- possible 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, was pub-