Ephrem the Syrian
Ephrem the Syrian (Syriac: ܐܦܪܝܡ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ, Afrêm Sûryayâ; Greek: ?f?a?µ ? S????; Latin: Ephraem Syrus; ca. 306 – 373) was a deacon, prolific Syriac-language hymnographer (writer of hymns) and theologian of the 4th century. He is venerated by Christians throughout the world, and especially among Syriac Christians, as a saint.
Ephrem wrote a wide variety of hymns, poems and homilies in verse, as well as prose biblical commentaries. These were works of practical theology for the edification of the Church in troubled times. So popular were his works, that, for centuries after his death, Christian authors wrote hundreds of pseudepigraphous works in his name. Ephrem's works witness to an early, vibrant expression of Christian faith, little touched by the European modes of thought, and more engaged with eastern methods of discourse. He has been called the most significant of all of the fathers of the Syriac-speaking church tradition.
