Hymns on Paradise

Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns on Paradise. SVS Press. Sebastian Brock gives an outstanding introduction to the thought-world of Ephrem the Syrian. At the risk of people crying “Harnack Thesis,” Brock teaches you how to view reality as a Semite. Brock’s introduction is doubly good, for St Ephrem’s mindset is not always easy to crack. This is the best way to explain the problem. For the Hellenized Greek, priority was given to the Form or the Real. Whether Ephrem would have agreed or not, we don’t know. But instead of Forms, in Ephrem we see symbols. Further, Ephrem often moves from individual to corporate to individual without telling the reader. Brock alerts us to these moves: “The Semitic mentality of the biblical writers and of the Syriac poets, such as St Ephrem, finds it very easy to move from the collective to the individual, and from the individual to the collective” (Brock 27). Key Concepts and Symbols While St Ephrem held to virginity as the ideal, he didn’t take it in the nigh-Galatianist heretical ways that guys like Methodius of Olympus would. For the word “singleness” Ephrem uses a broader term, ihidaya (wholeness). “Let one such man who is divided/collect himself and become ihidaya before You.” The meter of the poems doesn’t perfectly translate to English. It was originally some variant of 5 + 5. 5 + 5. 7. 5 + 5. 5 + 5. While St Ephrem has a strong theology of transcendence, he didn’t do away with the material world. There is a symbolic link between the material and spiritual realms. Hayla kasya: hidden power, meaning. The Greek philosopher defined a term by its opposite, which implied a limit to both. Not so with a Semitic thinker like Ephrem. Imagine a circle whose center is inaccessible (think of God’s essence). Ephrem will then juxtapose paradoxical statement on the circumference. Brock explains: “The central point is left undefined, but something of its nature can be inferred by joining up the various opposite points around the circumference” (40). Raza: symbol. Actually participates in some sense with the spiritual reality. It expresses “relationships and connections” (42). Kasyutha: hiddenness. That which is to be revealed in Christ. Galyutha: an objective reality but can only be experienced in a hidden way. The garment of words. God, who is inacessible, puts on names. This is what Eastern fathers would say by the energies’ revealing who God is. Paradise Brock argues that for the Syriac tradition there was an opinion that Paradise was an abode of sacred time, as the Peshitta translated miqqedem (to the East) as “from the beginning.” Brock then ties all of Ephrem’s topological details about the paradisical mountain: it is circular (I.8), encircles the Great Sea (II.6), the Flood only reached the foothills (I.4), on which is seated a barrier (syaga) guarded by the Cherub. The Tree of Knowledge is halfway up (III.3). This is the point at which Adam and Even, presumably after death, could not cross (51-52). The threefold concentric structure of the mountain is an analogue to the threefold structure of the human person: intellectual spirit (tar’itha), soul (naphsha), and body (gushma). Hymns Hymn 5 is particularly poignant. Mar Ephrem is telling us of a vision he had of paradise. There is the famous passage of nature and scripture (5.2). He has some wonderful suggestions on metaphysics concerning the Unseen Realm. Mind isn’t the same as matter and isn’t subject to the same limitations. Ephrem notes, “A hundred times finer and more subtle/Are the bodies of the righteous when they are risen, at the Resurrection They resemble the mind, which is able, if it so wills, to stretch out and expand, or, should it wish, to contract and shrink; if it shrinks, it is in some place, if it expands, it is in every place” (5.8). He continues this theme in Hymn 8. The soul on earth sees through the body. The body needs the soul to live and the soul too requires the body to see and here (8.4). Presumably for St Ephrem the soul and spirit aren’t the same thing. “Far more glorious than the body is the soul, and more glorious still than the soul is the spirit, but more hidden than the spirit is the Godhead” (9.20). We even get rare humor (though Ephrem probably intended it in all seriousness). He is describing the climate of paradise in contrast to earth. “The air of this earth is wanton as a prostitute with whom the twelve months consort; each one in turn makes her comply with its own whims while she produces fruits from all; whereas the chaste and pure air of Paradise is unpolluted in its purity by the dalliance of months” (10.5).

The late St. Ephrem is a wonderful helper, even today.

Excellent classic

The introduction alone is worth the price of the entire book. Without I would be lost. The translation is admirable as well; it does not seek to reproduce the meter, the rhyme, or the wordplay of the original (which would be quite a task) but just give a meaning to each hymn, what the hym actually says. St. Ephrem should be more widely known. It should also be noted that the this volume also contains n extract of St. Ephrem's commentary on Genesis, which is prose and not poetic.This was a very good decision because the reader can see many of the same ideas expressed in the hymns in a more traditional format. It is interesting that St. Ephrem does not cite any Church fathers and I do not know if that is because he is so far back in history there are not many to cite or because he was in Syria and somewhat cut off from the Greeks and Romans who were writing at the time or because it just not the style of Syrian Christians.

In "Hymns on Paradise" Sebastian Brock has skillfully introduced and translated a selection of writings by Saint Ephrem, the greatest of the early Syrian fathers of the church - including fifteen of Ephrem's Hymns on paradise and Ephrem's commentary on the opening chapters of the book of Genesis. Since Saint Ephrem came from the Syriac Christian tradition, his style and way of expressing himself are very different from the Greek and Latin Fathers of the Church. In spite of the differences, his poetic and less philosophical approach beautifully compliments other patristic writers. Above all, Saint Ephrem's holistic method of interpreting the Bible is very refreshing, deeply insightful and thoroughly enjoyable. In this book, Sebastian Brock has also provided a very detailed introduction and excellent explanatory notes, making it enjoyable both for those new to Saint Ephrem and those already familiar with him. I would highly recommend this book. Learn why this Deacon of Edessa became known as the Harp of the Spirit and was proclaimed by Pope Benedixt XV as a Doctor of the Church.