Glory to the Triune God
Dear friends in Christ,
Wishing you all a blessed Lenten season!
Today, the first Saturday of the Great Lent, we commemorate two important figures of the early Church- one is the most prolific father of the Orthodox Church and the other a martyr. We are talking about St Ephraim and St Theodore.
We will begin our study with the life of St Ephraim- The Harp of the Holy Spirit and (you all might be aware of his most wonderful prayer “O Lord and Master of my life” that is normally known as the Lenten prayer of St Ephraim).
The Life of St Ephraim:
You all must have seen this icon of St Ephraim. He is often portrayed in iconography as a desert monk with a paper and stylus in hand writing hymns.Not much is known about the early life of St Ephraim. He was born in AD 306 in the city of Nisbis in modern day Syria. Some say Ephraim was born to Christian parents and some mention that he was born to pagan parents who later accepted Christian faith. It is important to note that the city in which Ephraim was born had diverse cultural and ethnic population and was located near Euphrates river.
That life changing incident!
Ephraim as a youth had a “wild” nature, very unruly! There is a legend that one incident had a life changing effect on the young Ephraim.
One day Ephraim’s parents sent him out of the town for some work and he found a pregnant cow feeding along the road. He took up stones and began pelting the cow, driving it into the woods till evening when it fell down dead. During the night wild beasts ate it. On his way back, he met the poor owner of the cow. 'My son,' he asked, 'did you drive away my cow?' Ephraim not only denied it, but heaped abuse and insult upon the poor man.
A few days later he was idling with some shepherds. When it grew too late to return home, he spent the night with them. That night some sheep were stolen and the young Ephraim was accused of being in league with the robbers. He was taken before the magistrate and cast into prison. In a dream an angel appeared to Ephraim and asked him why he was there. The boy began at once to declare that he was, innocent. "Yes," said the angel, "you are innocent of the crime charged upon you, but have you forgotten the poor man's cow?"
When Ephraim saw the tortures to which criminals were subjected, he became terrified. He turned to God and vowed that he would become a monk if God would spare him such a cruel ordeal. The magistrate, after examining Ephraim’s case, ordered that he be stretched on the rack.
But just then a servant came to announce that dinner was ready. "Very well," said the magistrate, "I will examine the boy another day." And he ordered him back to prison. Fortunately, the next time the magistrate saw Ephraim, he thought that the young boy had been punished enough and dismissed him. Although he was spared the rack, Ephraim had learned his lesson.
True to his word, Ephraim left straightway to the hermits in the mountain and accepted St Jacob (who later became the Bishop of Nisbis and who had attended the Council of Nicea) as his guru (teacher). From here on, it started a new life for Ephraim.
A New Life And a Mission
St. Ephraim once had a revelation regarding St. Basil the Great. He saw in a vision a pillar of fire reaching to heaven, and he heard a voice: "Ephraim, Ephraim! Such as you see this pillar of fire, so, too, is Basil!"
The vision inspired Ephraim with the desire to see this great Teacher of the Church, and, taking with him an interpreter (for he spoke no Greek), he journeyed to Caesarea in Cappadocia. There the holy hierarch greeted the desert-dweller with a corresponding enthusiasm and admiration: "I now see that what I heard about you is true. . . It is written in the Prophet David: Ephraim is the strength of my head (Ps. 59:9). These prophetic words refer truly to you, for you have led many to [he way of virtue and strengthened them in it. And your meekness and dispassion of heart shine for all, like the light."
Then Basil the Great asked:
"Why, venerable father, do you not receive consecration to the order of priesthood, as befits you?"
"Because I am a sinner, my lord!" answered Ephraim through the interpreter.
"O, if only I had your sins!" said Basil, and added: "Let us make a prostration to the ground."
But when they were bowed to the ground, St. Basil laid his hand on St. Ephraim's head and recited the prayer of consecration to the diaconate. That is how St. Ephraim was made a deacon. He was at that time about sixty years old.
After having made a decision to devote his life for the Lord, he was elevated to the office of diaconate. Because of the incident (of he killing the pregnant cow), it is said that Ephraim never wanted the holy Priesthood as he considered himself unworthy to touch the Holy Body and Holy Blood of Christ (as his own hands were stained with killing of an innocent animal).
It was the Saint's desire to continue in the heremitic life, hut such was his talent as a preacher that the Lord would not have his light hidden under a bushel. Obedient to the Lord's will as revealed to him by an angel, Ephraim returned to Edessa where he began again to instruct people in the Faith. There he also established a college which later produced many faro ou s teachers of the Syrian Church.
Ephraim as “bnai qyama” (Sons of the Covenant) ?
Ephraim probably belonged to the proto-monastic movements (a period before the full fledged monastic movements) and lived within a community of single celibate Christians who were fully committed for the Gospel. The Syrian historian Aphrahat mentions that there existed an ascetic group within the Syrian Church that were known as “covenanters” or “bnai qyama” (literally sons of covenant). During those times beginning of life with God is making a covenant (“qyama”) to separate oneself from the world. These groups of people were “set apart’ owing to their vows of virginity, poverty and service to parish community.
[Now , a trivia, what would be the feminine of the syriac term “bnai qyama”??...It would be “bas qyama” or (“bas qyomo” in west Syrian tradition). So if “bnai qyama” is the “sons of the covenant”; bas qyama would mean the “daughters of the covenant”.!!! Though generically this term is used to denote a “Kochamma” (a priest’s wife), one can imagine the huge responsibility and expectations and honour that the Church endows on Kochammas!]
Works of St Ephraim
One of the earliest heresies to rock the Church was the heresy of Arius regarding the divinity of Christ. Arius being an intellectual would write his views in forms of hymns (as hymnology was considered to be the language of the intellectuals). For eg; if you see the ancient Indian scriptures, they were written in forms of “shlokas”/”hymns.While St Athanasius resorted to commentaries to oppose heresies, St Ephraim resorted to hymnology to do the same! (your talents, no matter what it is, it is important for Him and The Church).
There is a wonderful hymn/commentary of St Ephraim which focuses on the Humanity and the Divinity of the Christ. (This can be a wonderful response to those who question either the Humanity or Divinity of Christ).
If He was not flesh, why was Mary introduced at all? And if He was not God, whom was Gabriel calling Lord?
“If He was not flesh, who was lying in the manger? And if He was not God, whom did the Angels come down and glorify?
“If He was not flesh, whom did Mary suckle? And if He was not God, to whom did the Magi offer gifts?
“If He was not flesh, whom did John baptize? And if He was not God, to whom did the Father from heaven say, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased”?
….“If He was not flesh, whose hands and feet were transfixed by nails? And if He was not God, how was the veil of the temple rent, the rocks broken and the graves opened"?
Despite the gifts which God so lavishly bestowed upon him, St. Ephraim remained deeply humble. St Ephraim left for heavenly abode in AD 373 after a brief period of illness. Centuries later his hymns still inspire us to be the sons and daughters of the covenant.
St Theodore
This holy, glorious martyr of Christ – St Theodore came from Amasia in Pontus and was a Roman legionary at the time of Maximian’s great persecution (c. 303). He had been a Christian since childhood but kept his faith secret, not out of cowardice but because he had not yet received a sign from God to present himself for martyrdom. While his cohort was stationed near the town of Euchaïta (Helenopontus), he learned that the people of the district lived in terror of a dreadful dragon, which lurked in the surrounding forest. He realized that here was the quest in which God would show him whether the time had come to offer himself for martyrdom. Going deep into the woods, he came upon an abandoned village whose only remaining occupant, a Christian princess named Eusebia, told him where the monster had its lair. He set off to find it, arming himself with the sign of the Cross, and when he confronted the roaring, fire-spitting beast, he thrust his spear through its head and killed it.
Convinced that now, by God’s grace, he would be able to vanquish the spiritual dragon, the Devil, just as he had felled the visible fiend, Saint Theodore returned to the camp, ready to confess his faith. When the commander of his cohort ordered a sacrifice to the gods of the Empire, Theodore remained in his tent. “I am a Christian,” he told the squad who came to look for him. “I adore only Christ. He is the King whom I serve, and to Him only am I willing to offer sacrifice!” After plying him with crafty questions, they left him in order to interrogate other Christian soldiers. Inflamed with divine zeal, Theodore encouraged his fellow Christians to show themselves worthy of Christ, who had chosen them to be soldiers in His army on high.
That night he went to the pagan temple and reduced the altar of Rhea, the mother of the gods, to ashes. He was caught in the act by a verger, and brought unresisting to the governor Publius. There was an uproar in Euchaïta when the deed was known; but Theodore replied calmly to the governor’s questions, showing the absurdity of regarding as a deity a lifeless piece of wood which had been reduced to ashes in a few moments. Threatened with dire torments, the Saint responded, “Your threats do not frighten me because, amid torments, the power of Christ will be joy and gladness to me.” Grinding his teeth in rage, the governor had him thrown into a gloomy dungeon.
That night, Christ appeared to His valiant servant and promised that His grace would be at once his food and drink, his joy and shield. Thus comforted, Theodore spent his time chanting hymns with the Angels, so that even though his cell was bolted and barred, the jailers thought that other Christians must have joined him there.
When offered bread and water, Theodore refused it, saying that Christ had promised him food from heaven. On coming before Publius for the second time, he was offered the post of high priest of the idols, at which he laughed, and assured the governor that he was ready to be cut in pieces for the love of Christ. He was then hung by his heels while his body was lacerated with iron claws. But faced with the Saint’s indomitable resolution, the tormentors labored in vain, and the governor, fearing lest this example encourage other Christians, decided to be done with him; and he condemned him to be burned to death.
When they reached the stake, the Martyr took of his clothing and sent up a fervent prayer that God would strengthen the other confessors. He walked freely into the flames, which surrounded him but left him untouched as though wanting to do him obeisance. In the midst of this triumphal circlet, Saint Theodore gave back his soul to God with thanksgiving. The pious Eusebia ransomed his body, which she took to Euchaïta. A church was built there in honor of the Martyr, who obtained healing of soul and body for the many pilgrims who came to seek his intercession.
In 361, Julian the Apostate was doing his utmost to restore pagan customs. Knowing that the Christians were accustomed to sanctify the first week of Lent by fasting and prayer, the wily tyrant told the Prefect of Constantinople to have all of the food set out for sale in the markets sprinkled with the blood of animals sacrificed to the gods, so that no one in the city would escape the contagion of idolatry. However, the Lord did not abandon His chosen people, but sent His servant Theodore to outwit the tyrant. Appearing in a vision to Patriarch Eudoxius (360-364), the holy Martyr informed him of what was happening and told him to instruct the Christians not to buy food from the markets but instead to eat kolyva made from grains of boiled wheat. Thus, thanks to the intervention of the holy Martyr Theodore, the Christian people were preserved from the stain of idolatry. The Church has commemorated this miracle ever since on the first Saturday of Great Lent, in order to remind the faithful that fasting and temperance have the power to cleanse all the stains of sin.
Saint Theodore the Tryon wrought many other miracles for those who had recourse to him with faith, and who persevered in prayer in his church.
In the Divine Liturgy (of the Indian Orthodox Church) we remember them thus:
"Mar Aprem, O Saint, you who are the treasure of the Church
May the blessings of our Lord be with you!...
O martyr Theodore, enable us to commemorate your day of remembrance as desired by you.!.."
May the prayers of the holy Theotokos, holy Angels, saints and martyrs, our father St Ephraim and martyr St Theodore be a refuge and fortress for us.i
In Christ,
Rincy
Sources:
1) William C Mills, The Prayer of St Ephraim the Syrian- A Biblical Commentary, Orthodox Research Institute, Introduction, Page –III to VIII).
2) Hilarion Alfeyev, The Spiritual World of St Isaac The Syrian, Cistercian Publications, Chapter-2, The Way of a Solitary, Page 82-83).
3) http://www.antiochian.org/saint_ephraim
4) St Ephraim the Syrian: http://www.roca.org/OA/66-68/66r.htm
5) St Theodore, http://www.goarch.org/special/theodoretyre/index_html
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