St Ephraim the Syrian
Categories: uncategorized
Date: 28 January 2006 04:17:37
Troparion:
By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile,
And your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance.
By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe.
O our holy father Ephraim, pray to Christ our God to save our souls!
Konatakion:
O holy father Ephraim,
As you meditated constantly on the final judgment,
You shed abundant tears of sorrow,
Making your struggles examples that we could follow and imitate,
And awakening the slothful to repentance:
You are indeed a father of high renown.
St Ephraim the Syrian, whose feast day it is today, was a fourth-century Syriac hymn writer and theologian.
Last year I read his Hymns on Paradise, which were wonderful. Douglas Ian at Prochoros quoted and blogged about St Ephraim's beautiful Nativity Hymns throughout November and December.
He is also the author of the wonderful Great Lent repentance hymn:
O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk. Instead, give to me, Your servant, the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love. Yes, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own faults and not to judge my brother, for You are blessed from all ages to all ages. Amen.
As well as the Orthodox Churches, St Ephraim and his works are also widely known in the Syriac Orthodox, Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East and Chaldean Catholic churches, all of which have common language histories.