St Ephrem

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Ephrem. During his lifetime St. Ephrem was a poet, teacher, orator, and defender of the faith. St. Ephrem is also the only Syriac Christian who was recognized as a doctor of the Church.

St. Ephrem took upon himself many different special tasks of opposing the many false doctrines that were very rampant and large during that time. Also, St. Ephrem always remained a true and forceful defender of the Catholic Church.

St. Ephrem was born during the year 306 in Nisibis, Mesopotamia, he was later baptized when he was a young man and he was able to become well known as a teacher in his native city.

During that time the Christian emperor had to cede Nisibis to the Persians, and this led to St. Ephrem deciding to flee as a refugee to Edessa, and many other Christians decided to join him. St. Ephrem was credited during his life with a very attracting great glory to the biblical school there. St. Ephrem was eventually ordained a deacon however he decided not to become a priest.

During his lifetime St. Ephrem is said to have had a prolific pen, and all of his writings best illumine his holiness. Although St. Ephrem was not known to be a man of great scholarship, he was able to create deep insight on the Scriptures in his works. In one of St. Ephrem’s work that focused mainly on the mysteries of humanity’s redemption, St. Ephrem was able to reveal a very realistic and humanly sympathetic spirit and he did so with a great devotion to the humanity of Jesus.

St. Ephrem’s writings are truly inspiring and it is surprising to learn that he wrote many hymns against the heretics of his day. St. Ephrem would actually take the popular songs that the heretical groups were using and he would use their melodies, to compose a very wide variety of beautiful hymns that truly embodied the orthodox doctrine.

St. Ephrem was able to become one of the first people to introduce song into the Church’s public worship as a means of true instruction for the faithful. St. Ephrem’s many hymns have earned him the title as the “Harp of the Holy Spirit.”

St. Ephrem was a man who preferred a simple, austere life, and he lived in a small cave that overlooked the city of Edessa. It was here that he died on June 9, 373.

St. Ephrem’s feast day is celebrated on June 9.

Prayer to St. Ephrem: St. Ephrem intercede that we may be able to stand up for the faith against all the heresy that we may encounter. Help us to strengthen our devotion to The Sacred Heart of Jesus and help us to guide others to him through our service and love towards others. Amen St. Ephrem pray for us St. Joseph pray for us

May we continue to strengthen our journey to sainthood and keep others in our prayers.

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Works Cited

Information (read from, not taken):

Franciscan Media. "Saint Ephrem. ”Saint Ephrem | Franciscan Media. Accessed 9, June 2021.

Images:

Saint Ephrem. June 9, 2021. Saint Ephrem - Google Search.