Hymns on Paradise (Popular Patristics Series)

by Ephrem the Syrian

Publisher:

St Vladimir’s Seminary Press

, 1990

Overview

Explore St. Ephrem the Syrian’s cycle of fifteen Hymns on Paradise—a stunning example of Christian poetry which weaves profound theological musings around a biblical narrative. Beautifully translated by Syriac scholar Sebastian Brock, Ephrem’s hymns have an immediacy achieved by few other theological works from the early Christian period. Rather than being tied to a particular cultural or philosophical background, his theology operates by means of imagery and symbolism basic to all human experience. Centered on Genesis 2 and 3, the Hymns on Paradise expresses his awareness of the sacramental character of the created world, and of the potential of everything in it to act as a witness to the creator. He posits an inherent link between the material and spiritual worlds. St. Ephrem’s mode of theological discussion is biblical and Semitic in character, using types and symbols to express connections and reveal things otherwise hidden—expressing meanings between the Old Testament and the New, between this world and the heavenly, between the New Testament and the sacraments, and between the sacraments and the eschaton.

Contents

Top Highlights

“Baptism is regularly understood by the early Syriac Fathers (and of course many others) as a re-entry into Paradise,²⁵ an eschatological Paradise even more glorious than the primordial Paradise of the Genesis narrative.” (Page 31)

“He also gave him authority over Paradise and what is outside Paradise;” (Page 200)

“If one tree sufficed for someone’s sustenance, and many trees were withheld from him, there would still be relief for his distress, seeing that there still existed food for his hunger. But where it is a case of God’s giving him many trees when one would have been sufficient, this means that if transgression takes place, it is not as a result of any real need, but because of contempt. So God withheld from him a single tree,* hedging it around with death, so that even if Adam were to fail to keep the law out of love for the Lawgiver, at least the fear of death that surrounded the tree would make him afraid of overstepping the law.” (Pages 202–203)

“Now had they been willing to repent after transgressing the commandment, even though they would not have received what they had possessed prior to their transgression, nevertheless they would have escaped from the curses pronounced over the earth and over themselves. For the whole reason for God’s delay in coming down to them was in case they might rebuke one another and so, when the Judge did come to them, they might ask for mercy.” (Pages 214–215)

“For when God created Adam, He did not make him mortal, nor did He fashion him as immortal; this was so that Adam himself, either through keeping the commandment, or by transgressing it, might acquire from this one of the trees whichever outcome he wanted.” (Pages 208–209)

Product Details

• Title: Hymns on Paradise
• Author: Ephrem the Syrian
• Series: Popular Patristics Series
• Publisher: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press
• Print Publication Date: 1990
• Logos Release Date: 2016
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Paradise › Early works to 1800; Hymns, Syriac › Translations into English--Early works to 1800; Bible. O.T. Genesis 2-3 › Commentaries
• ISBNs: 9780881410761, 0881410764
• Resource ID: LLS:HYMNSPRDSPHSYRN
• Resource Type: text.monograph.hymnal
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:03:30Z

About Ephrem the Syrian

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.