Songs for the Fast and Pascha (Fathers of the Church: A New Translation)
Overview
Among the writers of the Syriac Christian tradition, none is as renowned as St. Ephrem of Nisibis (ca. 307–373), known to much of the later Christian world simply as “the Syrian.” The great majority of Ephrem’s works are poetry, with the madrāšē ("teaching songs") especially prominent.
This volume presents English translations of four complete madrāšē cycles of Ephrem: On the Fast, On the Unleavened Bread, On the Crucifixion, and On the Resurrection. These collections include some of the most liturgically oriented songs in Ephrem’s corpus, and, as such, provide a window into the celebration of Lent and Easter in the Syriac-speaking churches of northern Mesopotamia in the fourth century. Even more significantly, they represent some of the oldest surviving poetry composed for these liturgical seasons in the entire Christian tradition. Not only are the liturgical occasions of the springtime months a source of colorful imagery in these texts, but Ephrem also employs traditional motifs of warm weather, spring rainstorms, and revived vegetation, which likely reflect Hellenistic literary influences.
Like all of Ephrem’s poetry, these songs express early Christian theology in language that is symbolic, terse, and vibrant. They are rich with biblical allusions and references, especially to the Exodus and Passion narratives. They also reveal a contested religious environment in which Ephrem strove to promote the Christian Pascha and Christian interpretations of Scripture over and against those of Jewish communities in the region, thus maintaining firm boundaries around the identity and practices of the churches.
- Title: St. Ephrem the Syrian: Songs for the Fast and Pascha
- Author: Ephrem the Syrian
- Series: The Fathers of the Church
- Volume: 145
- Publisher: Catholic University of America
- Print Publication Date: 2022
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Pages: 323
- Era: era:nicene
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Christian poetry, Syriac › Translations into English; Hymns, Syriac › Translations into English
- ISBNs: 9780813235738, 0813235731
- Resource ID: LLS:SONGSFASTPASCHA
- Resource Type: text.monograph.ancient-manuscript.translation
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:54:35Z
Ephraim the Syrian (c. AD 306–373) was a fourth-century theologian and hymnographer, and is a doctor in the Catholic Church. Born in Nisibis, near Edessa, he was converted to Christianity by Bishop Jacob of Nisibis and appointed a teacher. He lived in Nisibis until AD 363, and then went to Edessa for eight years to teach at the School of Edessa. Over 400 hymns composed by Ephraim still exist, hymns which he used to teach doctrine and to warn of heresy. His poetry garnered him the titles of “Lyre of the Holy Ghost” and “Prophet of the Syrians.” Ephraim also wrote homilies and prose, of which far fewer manuscripts have survived.