Editing Ephrem the Syrian (section)

=== Hymns ===
Over four hundred [[hymn]]s attributed to Ephrem still exist.{{according to whom?|date=December 2024}} Granted that some have been lost, Ephrem's productivity is not in doubt.{{according to whom?|date=December 2024|reason=If hundreds of hymns are attributed to one single person, but the authorship of dozens if not hundreds of them has been widely questioned and even rejected, then that person's productivity is in doubt indeed.}} The church historian [[Sozomen]] credits Ephrem with having written three million verses.{{sfn|Pattie|1990|p=174}} Ephrem combines in his writing a threefold heritage: he draws on the models and methods of early [[Rabbinic Judaism]], he engages skillfully with Greek science and philosophy, and he delights in the Mesopotamian/Persian tradition of mystery symbolism.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Ephrem – The Deacon |url=https://www.the-deacon.com/2024/12/18/st-ephrem/ |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=www.the-deacon.com}}</ref>

The most important of his works are his lyric, teaching hymns (ܡܕܖ̈ܫܐ, ''madrāšê''). These hymns are full of rich, poetic imagery drawn from biblical sources, folk tradition, and other religions and philosophies. The ''madrāšê'' are written in stanzas of [[syllabic verse]] and employ over fifty different metrical schemes. The form is defined by an [[antiphon]], or congregational [[refrain]] (ܥܘܢܝܬܐ, '''ûnîṯâ''), between each independent strophe (or verse), and the refrain's melody mimics that of the opening half of the strophe.{{sfn|Bates|2000|p=184}} Each ''madrāšâ'' had its ''qālâ'' (ܩܠܐ), a traditional tune identified by its opening line. All of these ''qālê'' are now lost. It seems that [[Bardaisan]] and [[Mani (prophet)|Mani]] composed ''madrāšê'', and Ephrem felt that the medium was a suitable tool to use against their claims.{{sfn|Bates|2000|p=184}}
[[File:George John Ephraim Triptychon fragment Sinai 14th century.jpg|thumb|Saints Ephrem (right) [[St. George|George]] (top) and [[St. John Damascene|John Damascene]] on a 14th-century triptych]]
The ''madrāšê'' are gathered into various hymn cycles. In the CSCO critical edition of Beck et al. (1955–1975), these have been given standardised names and abbreviations.{{sfn|McVey|1989|p=49}} By the year 2000, English translations had been published for the following:{{sfn|Bates|2000|p=189}}
* 52 hymns ''On Virginity''{{sfn|Bates|2000|p=189}}
* 28 hymns ''On the Nativity''{{sfn|Bates|2000|p=189}}
* 15 hymns ''On Paradise''{{sfn|Bates|2000|p=189}}
* 4 hymns ''Against [Emperor Caesar] Julian''{{sfn|Bates|2000|p=189}}
* ''Carmina Nisibena'' or ''On Nisibis''{{sfn|Bates|2000|p=189}}
* ''On the Church''{{sfn|Bates|2000|p=189}}
* ''On Lent''{{sfn|Bates|2000|p=189}}
* ''On the Paschal Season''{{sfn|Bates|2000|p=189}}
* ''Against Heresies''{{sfn|Bates|2000|p=189}}
Some of these titles do not do justice to the entirety of the collection (for instance, only the first half of the ''Carmina Nisibena'' is about Nisibis).{{cn|date=December 2024}} Bates (2000) remarked: "[Various] collections of Ephrem's hymns [...] appear to be randomly assembled by later editors and named for the subject of the first hymn in the collection only".{{sfn|Bates|2000|p=189}}

Particularly influential were his ''Hymns Against Heresies''.{{sfn|Griffith|1999|p=97-114}} Ephrem used these to warn his flock of the heresies that threatened to divide the early church. He lamented that the faithful were "tossed to and fro and carried around with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness and deceitful wiles" (Eph 4:14).{{sfn|Mourachian|2007|p=30-31}} He devised hymns laden with doctrinal details to inoculate right-thinking Christians against heresies such as [[docetism]]. The ''Hymns Against Heresies'' employ colourful metaphors to describe the Incarnation of Christ as fully human and divine. Ephrem asserts that Christ's unity of humanity and divinity represents peace, perfection and salvation; in contrast, docetism and other heresies sought to divide or reduce Christ's nature and, in doing so, rend and devalue Christ's followers with their false teachings.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

==== Authenticity of hymns ''On Epiphany'' ====
The most complete, critical text of writings attributed to Ephrem was compiled between 1955 and 1979 by Dom Edmund Beck, OSB, as part of the ''Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium'' (CSCO).{{sfn|Rouwhorst|2012|pp=139–140}} Beck's 1959 critical edition of the madrashe (hymns) and mêmrê (homilies) memre attributed to Ephrem led to much scholarly debate on the authenticity of the madrashe known as ''On Epiphany'', as Ephrem was certainly not familiar with [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany as a feast celebrating Jesus' bapitism on 6 January]].{{sfn|Rouwhorst|2012|pp=139–140}} Unlike in Europe, where the [[Nativity of Jesus]] was celebrated on 25 December, but the baptism of Jesus would evolve into a separate feast called "Epiphany" on 6 January, there was only one Christian feast celebrated in winter in the time and place where Ephrem lived, namely the Nativity on 6 January, when baptism was also performed.{{sfn|Rouwhorst|2012|p=141}} A 1956 paper written by Beck himself therefore warned researchers not to base their reconstructions of Ephrem's baptismal theology on the contents of these madrashe, given the fact that many of the hymns presuppose that Epiphany and Nativity were two separate feasts celebrated two weeks apart, thereby challenging Ephrem's authorship.{{sfn|Rouwhorst|2012|pp=140–141}} While the oldest surviving manuscripts of Ephrem's hymns date to the 6th century and contain hymns on the Nativity that Beck thought were certainly authentic, the contested hymns ''On Epiphany'' are missing from them.{{sfn|Rouwhorst|2012|p=141}} They do not appear in manuscripts until much later, in the 9th century, suggesting that they were [[Interpolation (manuscripts)|interpolated]].{{sfn|Rouwhorst|2012|p=141}} Scholars have largely accepted Beck's arguments that the collection as a whole was established after the 4th century, and that some hymns in them were not written by Ephrem, or at least not in the form that they have been preserved in, but that other hymns should nevertheless be considered authentic.{{sfn|Rouwhorst|2012|pp=141–142}}