Ephrem the Syrian was a Christian who lived during the Fourth Century (306-373 CE), and who composed a number of Nativity Hymns (some of which are excerpted below).
From Hymn 1:
This is the day that gladdened them, the Prophets, Kings, and Priests, for in it were their words fulfilled, and thus were the whole of them indeed performed! For the Virgin this day brought forth Immanuel in Bethlehem. The voice that of old Isaiah spoke, today became reality. He was born there who in writing should tell the Gentiles' number! The Psalm that David once sang, by its fulfilment came today! The word that Micah once spoke, today had come indeed to pass! For there came from Ephrata a Shepherd, and His staff swayed over souls. Lo! From Jacob shone the Star, and from Israel rose the Head. The prophecy that Balaam spoke had its interpreting today! Down also came the hidden Light, and from the Body rose His beauty! The light that spoke in Zachary, today shined in Bethlehem!
Risen is the Light of the kingdom, in Ephrata the city of the King. The blessing wherewith Jacob blessed, to its fulfilment came today! That tree likewise, [the tree] of life, brings hope to mortal men! Solomon's hidden proverb had today its explanation! Today was born the Child, and His name was called Wonder! For a wonder it is that God as a Babe should show Himself. By the word Worm did the Spirit foreshow Him in parable, because His generation was without marriage. The type that the Holy Ghost figured today its meaning was [explained.] He came up as a root before Him, as a root of parched ground. Anything that covertly was said, openly today was done! The King that in Judah was hidden, Thamar stole Him from his thigh; today arose His conquering beauty, which in hidden estate she loved. Ruth at Boaz' side lay down, because the Medicine of Life hidden in him she perceived. Today was fulfilled her vow, since from her seed arose the Quickener of all. Travail Adam on the woman brought, that from him had come forth. She today her travail ransomed, who to her a Saviour bare! To Eve our mother a man gave birth, who himself had had no birth. How much more should Eve's daughter be believed to have borne a Child without a man! The virgin earth, she bare that Adam that was head over the earth! The Virgin bare today the Adam that was Head over the Heavens. The staff of Aaron, it budded, and the dry wood yielded fruit! Its mystery is cleared up today, for the virgin womb a Child has borne!
From Hymn 2:
Blessed be that Child, Who gladdened Bethlehem today! Blessed be the Babe Who made manhood young again today! Blessed be the Fruit, Who lowered Himself to our famished state! Blessed be the Good One, Who suddenly enriched our necessitousness and supplied our needs! Blessed He Whose tender mercies made Him condescend to visit our infirmities!
From Hymn 5:
At the birth of the Son, there was a great shouting in Bethlehem; for the Angels came down, and gave praise there. Their voices were a great thunder: at that voice of praise the silent ones came, and gave praise to the Son.
Blessed be that Babe in whom Eve and Adam were restored to youth! The shepherds also came laden with the best gifts of their flock: sweet milk, clean flesh, befitting praise! They put a difference, and gave Joseph the flesh, Mary the milk, and the Son the praise! They brought and presented a suckling lamb to the Paschal Lamb, a first-born to the First-born, a sacrifice to the Sacrifice, a lamb of time to the Lamb of Truth. Fair sight [to see] the lamb offered to The Lamb!
From Hymn 9:
Come rest, and be still in the bosom of Your Mother, Son of the Glorious. Forwardness fits not the sons of kings. O Son of David, You are glorious, and [yet] the Son of Mary, who hides Your beauty in the inner chamber.
To whom are You like, glad Babe, fair little One, Whose Mother is a Virgin, Whose Father is hidden, Whom even the Seraphim are not able to look upon? Tell us whom You are like, O Son of the Gracious!
From Hymn 12:
The Babe that I carry carries me, says Mary, and He has lowered His wings, and taken and placed me between His pinions, and mounted into the air; and a promise has been given me that height and depth shall be my Son's.
I have seen Gabriel that called him Lord, and the high priest the aged servant, that carried Him and bare Him. I have seen the Magi when they bowed down, and Herod when he was troubled because the King had come.
I would like to request prayers for my grandchildren, Lucy and Arlo, who were diagnosed with the flu today. Please ask God to heal them. I'm also asking for prayers of healing for my youngest granddaughter, MillieJane, who has been fighting chronic respiratory infection.
ReplyDeleteSt. Ephrem is an example theology through poetry. While this adds an aesthetic dimension to theology, it can also make precise meaning a sometimes elusive. There are those that believe St. Ephrem was a Universalist and those who aver that he was not. A similar controversy rages around Karl Barth. St. Ephrem did believe in the possibility of post-mortem repentance. Kees Den Biesen, a faculty member at Pontificio Istituto Orientale, wrote:
ReplyDelete"Thus Ephrem imagines Gehenna to be an experience of inner suffering, a temporary state in which the contrition of the heart takes full possession of a person in order to achieve a complete cleansing. Ephrem’s Gehenna resembles the classic Western purgatory: it is not a place of lasting damnation but of regret, conversion, repentance, and the mercy of God."
And it is this view that I believe fires his lyrics with the inexorable mercy of God. The Advent, after all, is about the coming of salvation through Jesus. It is a celebration of promised soteriology. The qualilty and nature of that soteriology is determinative of the joy that it brings.
In the Nativity scenario, an angel spoke to the shepherds,"Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Apparently, the angel was not an Augstinian because he said this joy was "for all the people." I like the memorials to the Advent because In Christmas we have the privilege of peering into the depths of this salvific meaning. And I think those who recognize the mercy of God sing carols with a full heart.
I have a theory that denominations that condemn Christmas also have odd ideas about soteriology. Christianity eschews the genetic fallacy (q.v.) and discovers in Christmas the exaltation of the Messiah who brings the gift of salvation. But for some denominations of the Restorationist bent, it is simply a time to recoil from carefully and sometimes dubiously excavated fossilized paganism that modern celebrants don’t even think about any longer. And further, they do not apply the genetic fallacy across the board but only selectively in the tendentious spirit of their exegetical tradition. And to them, St. Ephrem is a sly mediator of paganism through his orthodox Christian lyrics that celebrate the grace of salvation.
ReplyDeleteAmong these recoiling denominations, one tends to find a preoccupation with works as the causation, in full or in part, of salvation. This is consistent with their rejection of the meaning of Christmas. The upside for the recoilers is a sense of having a kind of special knowledge that sets them apart from what they regard as the vulgar masses with their tawdry Christmas liturgies. The downside is that they have a model of soteriology that does not work. If one is contingent on works for salvation, even if performance is characterized as a minor link in the chain, there will be no salvation. This is because Paul observes that all “come short of the glory of God.” Some of these dogged performers shore up their faith by creating their own form of grace – by believing that even though they will never measure up in the official denominational soteriology, somehow God will overlook their faults or maybe they will make a last minute, death bed prayer of repentance and die before they have a chance to sin again. They live in a bleak world of conditional, elusive salvation. If I were them, I wouldn’t be happy about a holiday that focuses salvation either.
Exactly! How profound that the salvation of humankind would arrive in the form of a very human babe lying in a manger. The Jews were looking for the arrival of a powerful king to cast off the Roman yoke and revive their nationhood. And, like their Pharisaical forefathers, the ACOGs are focused on the material instead of the spiritual. They talk about their special insight, but they can't see the forest for the trees! After all, what is more important than salvation?
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