By Monk Theoklitos Dionysiatis
The decision to publish [in Greek] the extant writings of our Venerable Father Ephraim the Syrian through "Perivoli tis Panagias" is certainly an inspiration from God, because his divinely inspired teaching has until now remained inaccessible to the Orthodox, not only because his works were rare in some monastery libraries, but also because the plain language of the old editions, under today's linguistic conditions, was "an enclosed garden and a sealed fountain" [Song of Songs 4:12].
Already with the "prudent and clothed" translation into the vernacular by the good and modest philologist Mr. Konstantinos Frantzolas, the divinely-illumined radiance of the sanctified heart and the enlightened mind by the Holy Spirit of the great Ephraim, become the inalienable property of the Greek-speaking Orthodox people.
As for the philological part of the writings and generally as for the publications in the Greek language and the various translation problems, the translator, knowledgeable in the bibliography of Ephraim's works, gives us abundant information and describes their influence over the centuries in the East and the West in his detailed Introduction.
The following will be limited only to highlighting the peculiar experiences of the Saint and his special gifts from the Holy Spirit.
First of all, we must note that Saint Ephraim was of rare natural intelligence and good disposition, so much so that the lack of significant education did not prevent his cultivation in theological letters and thus the Holy Spirit found a suitable vessel to rest in his heart, granting him a rich gift of teaching.
That he received from God the gift of theology and teaching and was therefore a divinely-inspired and divinely-illumined teacher is confirmed by the vision he saw at a young age, as he himself confided to his virtuous spiritual father: "I saw a vine that had innumerable grapes and that sprouted on my tongue. The vine branches came out of my mouth, spread out and covered the entire earth. And as much as the birds of the sky ate from the grapes, so much did they multiply."
Both this revelatory vision, and others related to it, but also the expressions of Basil the Great, Saint Gregory of Nyssa, and Photios the Great along with other Syrian, Greek and Latin saints, reveal his holiness and the authenticity of his teaching, and even the esteem and love for his writings by universal Orthodoxy, from the fourth century to the present day, demonstrating that Saint Ephraim was not simply a radiant spiritual star in the firmament of the Syrian Church and monasticism, but also a great Father of the entire Church, in all aspects of his life, as his divinely inspired books proclaim.
So beyond the highlights of his rich and varied gift of teaching, he was a Saint, a monk of sacred tears and blessed compunction, a sensitive soul, who lived in a fiery relationship with Christ, a man of God with constant contemplations towards the eschaton, the Judgment and the reckoning, the contemplator of eternal good things, of the infinite mercy of God, but also one "trembling on the terrible day of judgment."
Saint Ephraim, therefore, was the monk of lamentation, from his profound humility, his incessant self-reproach and the overwhelming fear, which had been stirred up in his soul by what? From the invisible vision of hell, where as a wise man he placed himself. The conscience of the Church has recognized the divine Father primarily as the archetypal image of tears, of the fear of God and of unceasing compunction, all sacred experiences expressed in the Kontakion of his feast day, which condenses the essential elements of his personality:
"At all times you foresaw the hour of reckoning, and pricked in your heart, you ever lamented with tears; and, O Venerable Ephraim, you were a mighty teacher in works and deeds. Hence, O Father for all the world, you roused the slothful unto repentance."
It must be clarified here that this intense tearful, mournful, lamenting and exceedingly fearful state of the soul of our Saint has nothing of a morbid or unbalanced element, as occurs in impure and burdened souls from various mental illnesses. Pure souls, undefiled lips, hearts in which the grace of God has permanently dwelt, have been imbued with all the energies of the Holy Spirit (love, humility, joy, mourning, thanksgiving, praise, tears, fear of the Almighty), so that a harmonious symphony is rendered from them, where however one of these elements is particularly cultivated, as a unique characteristic, and stands out more intensely. And in Saint Ephraim this element is mourning and the healthy fearful attitude towards the undoubtable final judgment of God.
Since I was young in my monastery I heard the Elders say: "Do you want to acquire perfect obedience? Read John of the Ladder. Do you want to acquire compunction? Read Ephraim the Syrian."
And indeed, the universal experience of the Church has fully verified this observation, along with the empirical certainty that the divine Father Ephraim has decisively shaped its conscience with the complex experience of joyful mourning, which constitutes the character of the Orthodox life in Christ.
Source: From the Prologue to the book Οσίου Εφραίμ του Σύρου Έργα. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
