Ephrem: the Syrian

We bring the sound portrait of another of the great Fathers of the Church, Saint Ephrem , Doctor of the Church and Eastern poet and mystic known as "the lyre or harp of the Holy Spirit. A programme written by Jill Bevilacqua and produced by Sean Patrick Lovett.

"...Ephrem was born about the year 306 in Nisibis in South East Turkey. The name of Mesopotamia as his country was then known has an archeological ring about it , situated as it was between those two celebrated rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates..."

"...together with most of his fellow-Christians , Ephrem went to live in Edessa , in the Roman province of Syria. Here he founded the Persian School , so called because many of its Christians students were of Persian origin.."

"..Ephrem chose poetry as his medium because it was easier to present the truths of faith to the Eastern mind in poetic form than any other ...as theologian and poet of the Mother of God he has never been surpassed..."

Listen: