Sword in the Fire

St. Ephrem's The Pearl 7:1 As in a race saw I the disputers, The children of strife, [Trying] To taste fire, To see the air, To handle the light: They were troubled at the gleaming, And struggled to make divisions. The Son, Who is too subtle for the mind, Did they seek to feel: And the Holy Ghost Who cannot be explored, They sought to explore with their questionings. The Father, Who never at any time was searched out, Have they explained and disputed of. The sound form of our faith is from Abraham, And our repentance is from Nineveh and the house of Rahab, And ours are the expectations of the Prophets, Ours of the Apostles. *********** Comment:  It sounds like those who try to delve into the intricacies of theology through an attitude of questioning run the risk of becoming heretics.   The model of true faith is not these "disputers", but Abraham.  What does St. Ephrem mean by that?

St. Ephrem's The Pearl 6:6 Since they have extolled thee too much, Or have lowered thee too much, Bring them to an even level. Come down, Descend a little that height of infidelity and heathendom; And come up from the depth of Judaism, though thou art in Heaven. Let our Lord be set between God and men! Let the Prophets be as it were His heralds! Let the Just One, as being His Father, rejoice! That Word it is which conquered both Jews and Heathen! 6:7 Come, Thou Gift of Holy Church, stay, rest in the midst of Her! The circumsized have troubled Thee, In that they are vain babblers, And so have the [false] doctrines in that they are contentious. Blessed be He that gave Thee a good company which bears Thee about! In the covenant of Moses is Thy brightness shadowed forth: In the new covenant Thou dartest forth: From those first Thy light shineth forth unto those last. Blessed be He that gave us Thy gleam As well as Thy bright rays.

St Ephrem's The Pearl 6:3 How strangely perplexed are all the heretics by simple things! For when He plainly foreshadowed this New Testament        By that of the Prophets, Those pitiable men rose, as though from sleep, And shouted out and made a disturbance. And the Way, wherein the righteous held straight on, And by their truths had gone forth therein, That [Way] have these broken up, because they were besotted: This they left and went out of; Because they pried into it, it fell, and was lost. Of the pearl they made a stone, that they might stumble upon it. 6:4 O Gift, which fools have made a poison! The People were for separating Thy beauteous root from Thy fountain, Though they separated it not: Teachings estranged Thy beauty also from the stock thereof. By Thee did they get themselves estranged, Who wished to estrange Thee. By Thee the tribes were cut off, And scattered abroad from out of Sion, And also the teachings of the seceders. ...

St. Ephrem's The Pearl 6:1-2 1. Would that the memory of the fathers would exhale from the tombs; Who were very simple as being wise; And reverend as believing. They without cavilling searched for, and came to the right path. He gave the law; The mountains melted away; Fools broke through it. By unclean ravens He fed Elijah at the desert stream; And moreover gave from the skelton honey unto Samson. They judged not, nor inquired why it was unclean, Why clean. 2. And when He made void the sabbaths, The feeble Gentiles were clothed with health. Samson took the daughter of the aliens, And there was no disputing among the righteous; The prophet also took a harlot, And the just held their peace. He blamed the righteous, And He held up and lifted up their delinquencies: He pitied sinners, And restored them without cost: And made low the mountains of their sins: He proved God is not to be arraigned by men, And as Lord of Truth. That His servants were His s...

Tomorrow we officially begin Lent, although we have been easing into the spirit and fast of the season the past couple weeks, and it is the Prayer of St. Ephrem that will be our constant companion in this journey, haunting us as pride trips our steps, encouraging us to rise and walk again. O Lord and Master of my life, give me not the spirit of sloth, idle curiosity, lust for power and idle  talk.   But grant unto me, Thy servant, a spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love.   Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see mine own faults and not to judge my brother.  For blessed art Thou unto the ages of ages. Amen.

St. Ephrem's The Pearl 5:2 It is thou which art great in thy littleness, O pearl! Small is thy measure and little thy compass with thy weight; But great is thy glory: To that crown alone in which thou art placed, there is none like. And Who hath not percieved of thy littleness, how great it is; If one despises thee and throws thee away, He would blame himself for his clownishness, For when he saw thee in a king's crown he would be attracted to thee. 5:3 Men stripped their clothes off and dived and drew thee out, O pearl! It was not kings that put thee before men, But those naked ones who were a type of the poor And the fishers and the Galileans. For clothed bodies were not able to come to thee; They came that were stript as children; They plunged their bodies and came down to thee; And thou didst much desire them, And thou didst aid them who thus loved thee. Glad tidings did they give for thee: Their tongues before their bosoms did the poor [fishers] op...

St. Ephrem's The Pearl 5:1 O gift that camest up without price for the diver! Thou laidest hold upon this visible light, That without price rises for the children of men: A parable of the hidden One That without price gives the hidden Dayspring! And the painter too paints a likeness of thee with colours. Yet by thee is faith painted in types and emblems for colours, And in the place of the image By thee and thy colours is thy Creator painted. O thou frankincense without smell, Who breathest types from out of thee! Though art not to be eaten, Yet thou givest a sweet smell unto them that hear thee! Though art not to be drunk, Yet by thy story, a fountain of types art thou made unto the ears!

St. Ephrem's The Pearl 4:4 And if a man thinks that thou art framed [by art] He errs greatly; Thy nature proclaims that thou, as all stones, Art not the framing of art; and so thou art a type of the Generation Which no making framed. Thy stone flees From a comparison with the Stone [which is] the Son. For thy own generation is from the midst of the deep, That of the Son of thy Creator is from the highest height; He is not like thee, In that He is like His Father. And as they tell, Two wombs bare thee also. Thou camest down from on high a fluid nature; Thou camest up from the sea a solid body. By means of thy second birth Thou didst show thy loveliness to the children of men. Hands fixed thee, when thou wast embodied, Into thy receptacles ; For thou art in the crown as upon the cross, And in a coronet as in a victory ; Thou art upon the ears, as if to fill up what was lacking ; Thou extendest over all.

St. Ephrem's The Pearl 4:3 Not as the moon does, thy light fill or wane ; The Sun whose light is greater than all, Lo! of Him it is that a type is shadowed out in thy little compass. O type of the Son, One spark of Whom is greater than the sun! The pearl itself is full,       for its light is full ; Neither is there any cunning worker who can steal from it ; For its wall is its own beauty, Yea, its guard also! It lacks not, since it is entirely perfect. And if a man would break thee To take a part from thee, Thou art like the faith which with the heretics perishes, Seeing they have broken it in pieces and spoiled it : For is it any better than this To have the faith scrutinized? The faith is an entire nature That may not be corrupted. The spoiler gets himself mischief by it: The heretic brings ruin on himself thereby. He that chases the light from his pupils Blinds himself. Fire and air are divided when sundered. Light alone, of all creatu...

St. Ephrem's The Pearl 4:2 Because Balaam was foolish, A foolish beast, an ass spoke with him, Because he despised God Who spoke with him. Thee too let the pearl reprove      In the ass's stead. The people that had a heart of stone, By a Stone He set at nought, For lo, a stone hears words. Witness its work that has reproved them ; And you, ye deaf ones, Let the pearl reprove to-day. With the swallow and the crow did He put men to shame ; With the ox, yea with the ass, did He put them to shame ; Let the pearl reprove now, O ye birds and things on earth and things below.

St. Ephrem's The Pearl 4:1 The thief gained the faith which gained him, And brought him up and placed him in paradise. He saw in the Cross a tree of life; That was the fruit, He was the eater in Adam's stead. The fool, who goes astray, Grazes the faith, as it were an eye, By all manner of questions. The probing of the finger blinds the eye, And much more doth that prying blind the faith. For even the diver pries not into his pearl. In it do all merchants rejoice Without prying into whence it came ; Even the king who is crowned therewith Does not explore it.

St. Ephrem's The Pearl 3:5 Who would give a pearl to the daughter of the poor? For when it hangs on her, it becomes her not. Gain without price that faith, all of which becomes all the limbs of men. But for no gold would a lady exchange her pearl. It were a great disgrace  If thou shouldst throw thy pearl away into the mire for nought! In the pearl of time Let us behold that of eternity; For it is in the purse, or in the seal, or in the treasury. Within the gate there are other gates with their locks and keys. Thy pearl hath the High One sealed up as taking account of all.

St. Ephrem's The Pearl 3:4 There are in the sea diverse fish of many cubits, And with all their greatness they are very small; But by thy littleness the crown is made great, Like as the Son, by whose littleness Adam was made great. For the head is thy crown intended: For the eye thy beauty, For the ear thy goodliness. Come up from the sea, thou neighbour to the dry land, And come and sojourn by the [seat of] hearing. Let the ear love the word of life as it loveth thee! In the ear is the word, And without it is the pearl. Let it as being warned by thee, By thee get wisdom, and be warned by the word of truth. Be thou its mirror: The beauty of the Word in thine own beauty shall it see: In thee it shall learn how precious is the Word on High! The ear is the leaf: The flesh is the tree, And thou in the midst of it are a fruit of light, And to the womb that brings forth Light, Thou art a type that points. Thee He used as a parable of that kingdom, O pearl! ...

Hymns on the Nativity of Christ: Hymn 11 St. Ephraim the Syrian (The Virgin Mother to Her Child.) I shall not be jealous, my Son, that You are with me, and also with all men. Be God to him that confesses You, and be Lord to him that serves You, and be Brother to him that loves You, that You may gain all! When You dwelled in me, You also dwelled out of me, and when I brought You forth openly, Your hidden might was not removed from me. You are within me, and You are without me, O You that makes Your Mother amazed. For [when] I see that outward form of Yours before my eyes, the hidden Form is shadowed forth "in my mind," O holy One. In Your visible form I see Adam, and in Your hidden form I see Your Father, who is joined with You. Have You then shown me alone Your Beauty in two Forms? Let Bread shadow forth You, and also the mind; dwell also in Bread and in the eaters thereof. In secret, and openly too, may Your Church see You, as well as Your Mother. He tha...

St. Ephrem's The Pearl 3:3 The Queen of Sheba Was a sheep that had come into the place of wolves; The lamp of truth did Solomon give her, Who also married her when he fell away. She was enlightened and went away, But they were dark, as their manner was. The bright spark which went down home with that blessed [Queen], Held on its shining amid the darkness, Till the new Day-spring came. The bright spark met with this shining, And illumined the place.

St Ephrem's The Pearl 3:2 Very glistening are the pearls of Ethiopia, as it is written, Who gave thee to Ethiopia of black men. He that gave light to the Gentiles, Both to the Ethiopians and unto the Indians did His bright beams       reach. The eunuch of Ethiopia upon his chariot saw Philip: The Lamb of Light met the dark man from out of the water. While he was reading, the Ethiopian was baptised And shone with joy, and journeyed on! He made disciples and taught, And out of black men he made men white. And the dark Ethiopic women became pearls           for the Son; He offered them up to the Father, as a glistening           crown from the  Ethiopians.

Hymn 2:2 of St. Ephrem's The Pearl Shadowed forth in thy beauty is the beauty of the Son, Who clothed Himself with suffering when the nails passed through Him. The awl passed in thee since they handled thee roughly, As they did His hands; And because He suffered He reigned, As by the sufferings thy beauty increased. And if they showed no pity upon thee, Neither did they love thee: Still suffer as thou mightest, Thou has come to reign! Simon Peter showed pity on the Rock; Whoso hath smitten it, is himself thereby overcome; It is by reason of Its suffering That Its beauty hath adorned the height and the depth.

The Pearl 2:1 - The Faith: A Reflection of the Only-Begotten Hymn 2:1 of St. Ephrem's The Pearl   Whereunto art thou like? Let thy stillness speak to one that hears; With silent mouth speak with us: For whoso hears the stammerings of thy silence,      to him thy type utters its silent cry concerning our Redeemer. Thy mother is a virgin of the sea, though he took her not: She fell into his bosom, though he knew her not; She conceived thee near him, though he did not know her. Do thou, that art a type, reproach the Jewish women That have thee hung upon them. Thou art the only progeny of all forms. Which art like to the Word on High, Whom singly the Most High begot. The engraven forms seem to be the type of created things above. This visible offspring of the invisible womb Is a type of great things. Thy goodly conception was without seed, And without wedlock was thy pure generation, And without brethren was ...

Hymn 1:4 of St. Ephrem's The Pearl "Searching is mingled with thanksgiving, And whether of the two will prevail? From the tongue The incense of praise riseth Along with the fume of disputation And unto which shall we hearken? Prayer and prying from one mouth, And which shall we listen to? "For three days was Jonah a neighbour in the sea: The living things that were in the sea were affrighted, Saying, 'Who shall flee from God? Jonah fled, And ye are obstinate at your scrutiny of Him!'"

Hymn 1, Section 2 of St. Ephrem's The Pearl  It answered me and said, "The daughter of the sea am I, the illimitable sea! And from that sea whence I came up it is That there is a mighty treasury of mysteries in my bosom! Search thou out the sea, but search not out the Lord of the sea! "I have seen the divers who came down after me, when astonished, So that from the midst of the sea they returned to the dry ground; For a few moments they sustained it not. Who would linger and be searching on into the depths of the Godhead? "The waves of the Son are full of blessing, And with mischiefs too. Have ye not seen, then, the waves of the sea, Which if a ship should struggle with them would break her to pieces, And if she yield herself to them, and rebel not against them, Then she is preserved? In the sea all the Egyptians were choked, though they scrutinised it not, And, without prying, the Hebrews too were overcome upon the dry land, And how shall ye...