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Hymns on Faith

St Ephrem the Syrian, tr. Morris, 1847; selections

17. Rhythm the Seventeenth

He that seeketh after the Truth in a grudging spirit, not even if he meeteth it will he be able to know it. Since envy troubleth his mind, he doth not know it, not even if he graspeth hold of it. His anger is mad, and dareth without considering. He disturbeth the earth, he graspeth also at the heaven. He knoweth not his fellow-servant, neither distinguisheth he the servant from his Lord. Who would not weep to see that his neighbours¹ have forsaken and left the contest with them without, and themselves among themselves as strangers are daring at disputation? Who would not blame him who, though insufficient for the things which in his own self are concealed from himself², yet proudly lifteth himself up above his Creator, though not attaining even unto the creatures?

God seeing that He was never at any time searched out, clothed Himself with a body³ that may be searched out, that we might cease from searching into His Divine Nature, and rest ourselves in the Generation of His Human Nature⁴. He persuadeth us to ask how the Divine Nature came down, and in the Belly was for nine months silent⁵. Thirty years also He was in the earth, that by His long stay we might gain Him by use. He left those above, and became a companion unto those below: He left those that were found, and sought for those that were lost⁶: He left those that were wise⁷, He chose those that were simple, and by them He spread His simple preaching unto every man: He left the chariot of the four living creatures, and came down: and the Cross He made Him a chariot unto the four quarters [of the world]⁸: He left the Seraphim and also the Cherubim, and came down and endured the contempt⁹ of His crucifiers.

Thou art the Son of the Living One, and Thou art the Son of a mortal. Thou art the Son of our Creator, O Lord, who in Thee stablished all things, and also the Son of Joseph,¹⁰ that workman who learnt by Thee. By Thee it was, that the Maker without teaching stablished [all things]! with Thy¹¹ Finger the Creator fashioned all the creatures! by Thee it was that Joseph fashioned his carpenter’s work, since he saw that Thou wert his Teacher! Hail! Son of the Creator. Hail! to the Son of Carpenter, who, when creating, created every thing in the mystery of the Cross¹². And haply even in the house of Joseph, that carpenter, with the Cross¹³ He was¹⁴ busied all the day.

Notes

S. sons of his side
See R. i. n. e.
R. xxx. §. 5.
p. 115, n. c.
p. 23.
St. E. alludes, perhaps, to the common interpretation which takes the ninety and nine sheep of the Angels, and the lost sheep of man’s nature. See Method. c. Virg. iii. 6. St. Hil. in Matt. xviii. §. 6. St. Austin in Ps. viii. §. 12. St. Greg. Nys. ii. p. 711, b. Naz. p. 621, a. See also Cyril in Lucam. ap. Ang. Mai, Auct. Class. x. p. 273, 4. Petav. de Angelis, i. 14. §. 9.
or cunning
As the first chapter of Ezekiel is evidently in St. E.’s mind in the text, it may be allowable to give here a portion of his commentary on the place: p. 166. “The faces of the lion, who is the king of beasts, represent to us the kings and princes of the world, who have come under and been subdued to the yoke of the Church, which is represented by the chariot; or to the Gospel, which self-same Gospel the chariot represents. The faces of the eagle again are, that we may know that it is from above that He, which shall come, is to be. But by the faces of the birds and the beasts, he represents the nations differing in their habits, who have received the Gospel and wrought at its spiritual toils....The hand that was beneath the wings of the Cherubs represents to us, that it was the might of Him Who is the Son of Man, which supporteth the chariot that carrieth Him. By this hand also he pointeth out that Christ our Redeemer put on a man’s body. ‘The hand of a man beneath the wings,’ i.e. the foundations of the Church it is His Right Hand which supporteth......The faces were in the four corners, though they were upon two sides. One face was that which looked to the West, from one corner, another again, opposite to it to the North, and another to the East, and that opposite to it to the South: and so it was opposite each one of the faces that the quarter to which it looked was, and each observed it whenever they moved. They formed therefore the shape of a plinth, whose breadth does not amount to its length. For the ox was yoked with animals that destroy it, unclean with the clean. Here is a marvel to see three unclean species and one clean: and by this he taught us, that it was out of those that were circumcised that choice was made of those to be Apostles to the Gentiles: by the four corners he hinteth at the four quarters of the world.”
p. 202, n. e.
See Mat. 13, 55.
Luke 2, 18.
i. e. as having four quarters. See §. 2. and xviii. §. 1. In a similar way Eph. 3, 18. is taken of the Cross by St. Greg. Nys. Or. Cat. 32. c. Eun. p. 582. Jerom. in Es. v. 10. Austin. de Doctr. Christ. ii. §. 62.
p. 24, n. x.
Mark 6, 3.