Christian Cyclopedia

(Ephraim; Ephrem; Ephraem Syrus, i. e. the Syrian; ca. 306–ca. 373). B. Nisibis; possibly accompanied Jacob* of Nisibis to Nicaea 325 AD; after cession of Nisibis to Persia 363, went to Edessa.* Exegetic, dogmatic, controversial, and ascetic writings, mostly in verse, reveal efforts to be a Scriptural theol. Wrote hymns for feast days and funerals, against heretics, and on the Last Judgment. Enjoined devotion to saints, esp. Mary, whose sinlessness he taught. Called “Harp (or Lyre, or Zither) of the Holy Ghost; Prophet of the Syrians.” See also Manuscripts of the Bible, 3 a; Patristics, 6; Schools, Early Christian, 4–6.

J. Alsleben, Das Leben des heiligen Ephraem, des Syrers (Berlin, 1853); Des heiligen Ephräm des Syrers ausgewählte Schriften, vol. 1 ed. O. Bardenhewer, tr. S. Euringer and A. Rücker, vol. 2 ed. and tr. A. Rücker, Bibliothek der Kirchenväter, series vols. 37 and 61, ed. O. Bardenhewer, K. Yeyman, and J. Zellinger (Kempten and Munich, 1919, 28); A. Vööbus, Literary, Critical, and Historical Studies in Ephrem the Syrian (Stockholm, 1958).