September 29, 2007

PASCHAL THEOLOGY OF ST EPHREM

1. ST. EPHREM - AN INTROUDCTION
1.1. Some Biographical Notes
St Ephrem was born in 306 AD at Nisibis (now in Turkey). He was born probably of Christian parents. However according to Syriac version of his life, his father was a pagan priest. If it is true, he could have been converted later. It seems that he had a mystical bent and had an aversion to the world. And he seems to have retired to a mountain nearby where he received early education from an old Anchorite.
His intellectual career was influenced by three successive bishops, namely Mar Jacob, the first Bishop of Nisibis, Babu and Walgash. Ephrem was baptised probably only after catechumenate (CH.3,13) and probably he simultaneously joined Qyama- the covenant (Bar Qyama- one in minor orders, one vowed to religious life). He was later ordained Deacon (CH. 56,10).
St Ephrem knew probably little Greek and showed very little debt to Greek Philosophy. But the fundamental tenets of Platonic and Aristotelian Philosophy were not unknown to him.
According to tradition St. Ephrem accompanied Bishop Mar Jacob to take part in the council of Nicea (325). After the council Mar Jacob founded the school of Nisibis where Ephrem taught for about 30 (38 ?) years. After 30 years of teaching in Nisibis , he had to take refuge in Edessa in 363 with the entire population because his own city fell into the hands of the Persians after Julian’s death. There he lived 10 years and became one of the founders of the Edessians school. He died in 373 at Edessa. He was declared Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict xv on 5th Oct. 1920 by the bull “Princepes Apostolorum” after 1547 years of his death.
As the theologian of the Syriac Church and the defender of orthodoxy , he is no way less important than Basil the Great. In Ephrem we have a good poet, a musician, an apologist a theologian and a preacher.
1.2. The Syriac Church At the time of St. Ephrem
The first Christians of Edessa were Jewish descendants. The Christianity that had spread in the entire Mediterranean basin remained here Jewish in structure until the second century. The Jewish community at Edessa had considerable influence on the thought and practices of this city. In the beginning Christians and Jews lived in easy terms. Both shared pagan cemeteries. They had the same local language (Aramaic) and used Targum as common scripture. The influence of the Jews paved the way to Christianity. Even in the same family there could have been Jews and Christians for a long time as the probation for the new faith took time.
The separation between the Christians and the Jews developed slowly. The Jews rejected the gospel and drove the Church out of the synagogue. Under the Roman hegemony Nisibis was free to communication with Palestine and Antioch. After 216 Edessa became under the responsibility of the Bishop of Antioch. Since then Greek influence was strong in the Syriac Church.
Both the Christians and Jews claimed to be the inheritors of the past. The Jewish antagonism made Christianity conscious of her own identity. The Church was in a dilemma to renounce the Jewish practices and to affirm his continuity with God’s alliance in O.T. She was poised between this Jewish past and non-Jewish present.
Jewish orthodoxy was a matter of practice rather than belief. The charges brought against the Christians in the early stages of evangelism were not concerned with the messianic claim as such, but with their challenge to the traditional nerve centers of the Jewish religion, namely the law and the temple. The Church however had to renounce the Jewish heritage and at the same time wished to affirm her continuity with God’s alliance in the O.T. Thus she remained poised between her Jewish past and non- Jewish present.
Already in the writings of Aphrahat we see the Jewish Christian antagonism. Probably his fellow Christians maintained Jewish practices like Sabbath, circumcision, eating the unleavened bread at the Passover etc. Possibly the Syriac Church observed the paschal celebration on the Jewish date. Ephrem’s writings reflects bitter hostility towards Judaism. Though he was aware the continuity of the Church with the Hebrews, he had little sympathy for them. The Syriac Church was separated from Judaism by the 4th century. One can observe in the Syriac Christianity of the time of Ephrem, a Semitic mentality linked with biblical and Jewish tradition.
1.3. Heresies
Ephrem lived in a pagan and Jewish environment. He had to fight the heterodox adversaries as manichaens, marceonites, the followers of Bardaisan and above all the Arians. Therefore he had to defend orthodoxy. His was a time of crises, with opposing dogmatic trends, for the Syriac Church. Ephrem was an ardent soul, straight, prudent, well balanced and profoundly zealous for God and his Church.
Arianism, with its much developed Greek categories made the Syriac authors defenceless, for this language not as well developed, and they were in the habit of thinking in pictorial symbols. In this situation Ephrem came into front with his hymns and sermons. He combated heresies mainly not by reasoning , but by symbolic imageries. He makes use of his rhetorical and poetical talents in order to defend the true faith against the heresies.
1.4. Literary activity of Ephrem
Ephrem’s writings can be classified into Commentaries on scriptures, Homilies, Hymns and Sermons. He was a prolific writer, who wrote prose and poetry. According to Sozomon, he wrote three million lines Most of his works were translated into Armenians, Coptic, Arabic, Ethiopic and Latin. He was a master of Syriac style. At the same time he was close to the life and thought of the ordinary man, to whom his writings were understandable. Moreover he lived at the golden age of Syriac poetry.
For Ephrem God and his redemptive plan and salvific work is a mystery. He tried to express the mysteries in symbols and parables rather than in philosophical categories. In him we have a poet theologian in the true sense of the word. He wrote Madrase (Doctrinal Hymns) and Memre (Poetical Homilies). His writings reflects his own faith. At the same time he was a true spokesman of the Syriac Church of the 4th cent.
1.5. Exegesis
The exegesis of the Syriac fathers and especially of Ephrem was oriented to the life of the people. Primary concern was not speculation, but life i.e., ecclesial and practical life of the Christians.
There are similarities between the Rabbinic exegesis and Ephremian exegesis. A closer study of Ephrem will reveal that his method is the Pauline and Christian typology.
Ephrem takes the Scriptural texts as literal and real. He is aware of the unity of the Bible. The O.T converges on the N.T. Both form one integral whole. One is explained in the light of the other. The same Spirit, the same Saviour, and the same Divine will are at work in both Testaments.


1.5.1. Typology
Typology as a method of exegesis may be defined as the establishment of historical connections between certain events persons and things in the O.T and similar events, persons and things in the N.T. It is grounded on a particular view of salvation history. It is essentially a historical interpretation based upon the continuity of God’s purpose throughout the salvation history. Ephrem makes use of typology in order to explain the link between the O.T and N.T and also between this world and the heavenly world.
1.5.2. Symbolism
In Ephrem’s vision God reveals Himself in a twofold manner: in Nature and in the Scripture. He finds perfect harmony between the two. For him everything in Scripture and in creation are God’s symbols, which speak of God.
As S. Brock observes symbols and types work for Ephrem on two separate planes; Horizontally, between the O.T and the N.T and vertically, between this world and the heavenly world; in both cases they serve to uncover something of the hidenness of mystery not yet fully revealed. All the symbols of the O.T focus on Christ, the Lord of symbols, who reveals their true meaning in the N.T. He is not worried about the order or logic of his symbols. For him all of them focus on Christ.
A symbol makes an abstract thing understandable in the concrete. By means of the typological exegesis Ephrem tries to fathom the mysteries of revelation, which are beyond human understanding.
2. PASCHAL THEOLOGY OF ST. EPHREM
2.1. Introduction
In Ephrem’s conception there are two Passovers, two Lambs and two Redemptions. The first Pesah and the first paschal lamb played their role in Egypt for the exodus of the Israelites. It was a type and the symbol of the second and the true Pesah which has been realised in Christ at the last supper and at Calvary and is being realised in the Eucharist of the Church. This is the reality and fulfilment. The redemptive fruit of the former paschal lamb was transitory and symbolic, whereas the salvific effects of the latter are permanent and real. There is still a third phase, in which the ‘sealing of the reward’ will be realised- namely in heaven. The type ‘raza’ was in Egypt; the reality Srara in the Church. the sealing of the reward hutam purcana will be in the kingdom. This verse reflects Ephrem’s conception of the continuous progress of man’s salvific process and of God’s working for it. The life of the Christian is oriented to the kingdom, just as Jesus was destined to return to the Father. So, too, is the Church to end up in its full realisation in the kingdom of heaven. Here we shall expose briefly the realization of the paschal mystery in three stages.
2.2. Paschal mystery-The Realisation at the Last Supper
2.2.1. The Church of the New Covenant
Under this title we shall see how the realization of the true paschal lamb took place at the last supper. The Upper Room is in Ephrem’s vision the first Church where the first sacrifice was offered by Christ. It is there that the two lambs met each other and the two paschs were celebrated; the old for the last time and the new for the first time. In the new pasch Christ is the true paschal lamb and also the true unleavened bread. For Ephrem last supper was not only the paschal meal, but also the sacrifice of Calvary in anticipation. Thus he sees the sacrificial and meal aspects of the Eucharist already in the last supper which Jesus celebrated with his disciples in the Cenacle.
2.2.1.1. The Cenacle; The first Church of Christ
In his theological reflection Ephrem finds the Cenacle blessed because the first Church in which Jesus became true Altar , Priest and victim. In Cruc. III,10 the unique position and value of the sacrificial Christ are very well illustrated. Ephrem takes Eucharist as perfect sacrifice. He finds in Christ all the elements needed for a perfect sacrifice. (cf. Heb 7,27). All the terms of sacrifice are realised in his sacrifice. He is the priest- Kahna, the bread-lahma, the cup of salvation-Kas purqana. He is the altar- Alta and lamb-Emra; the victim- debha and the offer-Dabuha; the priest- Kumra and the offered food- Matek lana. Ephrem puts no sacrificial element even the Altar, outside Christ. He points to the richness and uniqueness of Christ’ sacrifice in which all other sacrifice found their fulfilment. Ephrem looks back and contemplates the scene of the last supper in the light of his own Eucharistic experience in the Church.
In another place (Cruc. II,12, v-viii) Ephrem sees the Cenacle as the first sanctuary in which first sacrifice, Christ Himself was offered. It is a sacrifice that constitutes sanctuary. The Church becomes the sanctuary through the sacrifice of Christ in it. The Cenacle was the proto-Chuch, where the Eucharist sacrifice was offered by Christ for the first time. Ephrem cannot envisage the Church without the Eucharistic sacrifice.
In Cruc. III, 5 it is instructed that the last supper in the Cenacle at which the ‘Great’ covenant of the New Economy was sealed by the Blood of Christ (cf. Matt. 26,28; Mk 14,24; 1Cor 11,25). St. Ephrem finds a parallelism between the mount Sinai and the Cenacle. He compares the Cenacle to a mirror through which the whole world can be seen. He sees the O.T symbols of blood, sacrifice and covenant as if by reflection when he contemplates Christ in the Church.
2.2.1.2. The Two Lambs
In the Cenacle Ephrem sees two Lambs present; the paschal Lamb and the True Lamb. The Apostles stood between these two Lambs i.e., between the Symbol and the Truth. They witnessed the cessation of the symbol and the beginning of the Truth (Az. VI, 1-2). Here Ephrem contrasts Old and the New paschal lambs and describes the redemptive working of both. It is not, however, a mere play of words, but a presentation of the redemptive work in its progress, the culmination of which he sees at the last supper.
In another hymn Ephrem reflects that it is in the Cenacle that the two lambs, namely the paschal and the true lamb meet each other. There the symbol reached its goal and gave way to the Reality (Cruc. III,11).
The paschal lamb is transitory, whereas the True Lamb, the Lamb of God, lives for ever. In the Cenacle the former finishes its course and the latter takes up its role. The one stops where and when the other begins.
2.2.1.3. Two Paschs
The two Lambs correspond to the two Passovers namely that of the O.T and that of the N.T. According to Ephrem Passovers were intermingled in the Cenacle. In Cruc. III,2 our holy Doctor contrast the two Passovers; first is small and the second ins great, which is our Lord Himself (cf. I Cor 5,7). He observes the close connection of the two Passovers, but he is categorical about their distinction and disparity. The one is transitory because it is the symbol and the other is everlasting because it is the fulfilment.
Paschal lamb is a key for Ephrem to discover and to understand the true nature of redemption. He presents in Az. V, 15-18 the superiority and the uniqueness of the redemption of Christ, the true Paschal Lamb, comparing it with the saving act of the paschal lamb in Egypt.
Ephrem contrasts the two paschs and he affirms their distinction and disparity and shows the superiority and uniqueness of the Second Pascha (cf. Cruc. II,3). Paschal Lamb is the key for him to discover the nature of redemption brought by Christ.


2.2.2. Christ, the True Lamb becomes the True Unleavened Bread
Ephrem takes up the second important element of the Passover, namely the unleavened Bread (Patira) (Ex. 12,9). Identifying the unleavened bread with Christ’s body, he explains the sacrificial aspect and the meal aspect of the Eucharist, the New Passover.
2.2.2.1. The Unleavened Bread of New Paschal Sacrifice
Christ, the True Lamb breaks His Body which becomes the unleavened bread for his disciples. In Az. XIX 1-3 he explains the sacrificial mystery of the Eucharist and the mystery of the cross. Here he mentions about ‘breaking of body’ the verb break- klao-qsa which signifies sacrifice oneself, offer one’s whole person, divide oneself for others. Jesus ate the paschal and the unleavened bread; then his body i.e., He Himself became the true Lamb and the true unleavened bread and thus he took away the shade and gave the Truth.
According to St. Ephrem the Lamb and Eucharistic bread are identified in Christ. The breaking of bread and the mixing of the cup is the symbol of the sacrifice of His body and Blood, says St. Ephrem (Az. II, 7). For him the intimate connection between the Eucharistic sacrifice and the Cenacle and the sacrifice of Christ on the cross is important. The Eucharistic sacrifice was at once a symbol of the sacrifice of the cross and a reality. The former was an anticipation of the latter and is to be seen in the light of the latter’s force. For St. Ephrem the breaking of bread by Jesus in the Eucharistic sacrifice was real as his passion and death that followed it because of its certainty, immediacy and preview of the later (CN. 49,2).
The Last Supper was the prototype of the Eucharist. Christ’s words at the last supper were not an announcement but a decision. It was proleptic and anticipatory of the sacrifice that was as to follow. For the Christian also it is proleptic and anticipatory of the full experience of the risen Lord in heaven.
2.2.2.2. Christ the Unleavened Bread of the New Paschal Meal
Here Holy Doctor tries to illustrate the meal aspect of the Eucharist. The unleavened bread of the O.T. Pesah became obsolete through the bread which Jesus broke during the last supper. St. Ephrem has here Jn 6,35. 48. 50 in mind. This bread (Eucharist) is given us today by the Church. Through this new bread we are not only given life but are united with Christ in a profound manner. In Virg. 37, 2 St. Ephrem gives a vivid picture of what happens in the Eucharistic meal at the Cenacle and in the Church. Jesus becomes for us the bread of life. He adopts on unsurpassed means of communication which is intimate in human nature, namely the assimilation of food. St. Ephrem is very realistic about the profound union between Christ and Christian achieved through the Eucharist. His basis is Jn 6, 56; body into body, blood into blood communion of body and blood of person and life.
The Cenacle is the place where the reality took over the symbol. Here in the Cenacle, the first sanctuary ,where the great covenant was sealed. The Eucharistic sacrifice at the last supper made a future reality already presented, whereas the Eucharistic sacrifice in the Church makes a past reality present. According to St. Ephrem the Church and the Eucharist are inseparable. He finds the birth of the Church in the Cenacle where Jesus celebrated with his disciples the first The Eucharistic sacrifice and ate the First The Eucharistic meal.
2.3. PASCHAL MYSTERY - REALIZATION AT CALVARY
On the cross at Calvary Ephrem sees the culmination of the realization of Christ, the true Paschal Lamb. At Calvary He is the true Lamb and the priest; He is the Lamb and the shepherd. In Him victimhood and priesthood, victim and priest are identified.


2.3.1. Jesus the Lamb
Ephrem finds the types of the Lamb in the O.T. For him Abel is the first type of the true Lamb (Nat. 1,42). In Gen. 4,4, Ephrem sees a Lamb offered a Lamb. This lamb is the forerunner the lamb of Abraham (Gen 22,13) and of the Paschal Lamb of the exodus night (Ex 12) and of the Lamb of the God of Jn 1, 29. Abel who offered a Lamb becomes later himself a victim (Gen 4,4).
Jesus the true Lamb was symbolised in the Lamb cooped up from the exodus night (Ex 12, 33-36) and also by Moses who was shut in as a child for a three months. Both of them gave liberation to the Israelites. Jesus the true Lamb is the New liberator. Ephrem contemplates the seen of the visit of the shepherds to the new born saviour in Bethlehem a Lamb was offered to the true Lamb. According to the Saint, Bethlehem is blessed because in her the Lamb of God bleated for the first time. (Nat 25, 13).
2.3.2. Jesus: Priest and lamb
The priests and the Levites of the OT were not holy and so were insufficient to offer the true Lamb. Jesus Himself, therefore, became priest and high priest for sacrifice which put an end to all other sacrifice. In the OT priests were more valuable than their animal victims. They were, however purified by the animals without holiness. In the NT the victim is the Lamb descended from heaven, the victim par excellence, whom the priests of this world could not sacrifice. Jesus, therefore, became both victim and offerer of his sacrifice. (Az II, 4 - 5).
2.3.3. Lamb and Shepherd
According to St. Ephrem, Christ is not only the Lamb, but also the Shepherd who became lamb for our atonement. He attributes to Jesus the true Lamb, a double messianic function of lamb and of shepherd. He was probably inspired by Jn 10, 1 - 18. The saint wants to bring out the voluntary vicarious death of the saviour who gives his life of his own accord. (Nativity II, 1 - 5)
The Lamb - Shepherd image is seen also in Isa 40, 11; 49, 10; Rev 7, 17. Ephrem recognises the details of the slaughter of the paschal lamb in the crucifixion of Jesus. Having in mind the passion of Jesus, Ephrem says that in Nisan the wolves ragged against the shepherd who became a sheep. The shepherd changed himself into a sheep and then killed itself for the wolves who, having eaten it, were transformed into sheep.
2.3.4. The Lamb of the Pascha
Jesus was destined from the very beginning to be the lamb of the pascha. John the Baptist testified to this truth. (Jn 1, 29). The Jews did not, however, wish that he become the paschal lamb. Ephrem recognises in the crucifixion of Jesus the details of the slaughter of the paschal lamb and establishes the fulfilment of the type in him. The piercing of Jesus’ hands and legs, lifting him on the cross, all these details are seen by Ephrem in the light of the paschal prescription of Ex 12 which was followed by the Jews in their Pesah sacrifice of later years as well. Thus the type was fulfilled in the reality.
2.3.5. The Lamb’s saving Blood
The blood of the Passover lamb saved the Israelites. The blood of the spotless lamb appeased the height and depth, says Ephrem. (Az. II, 6). Likewise the blood of Christ saved the new Israel from death. certainly the blood of Christ is far superior to that of the Paschal lamb. It has the hidden perfume of life. The blood of this spotless lamb reconciles heaven and earth. The sacrifice of the true Paschal Lamb and the consequence shedding of its blood, inaugurates the new economy of salvation. It brought salvation to all nations. (cf. Az XXI).


2.4. PASCHAL MYSTERY: REALISATION IN THE CHURCH
Paschal mystery of Christ has three dimensions namely, the past, the present and the future. In the paschal mystery of Christ we remember his passion, death, burial, victorious resurrection, ascension and exaltation at the right hand to his Father. It belongs to the past. In the dimension of the present the paschal mystery is lived in the church in union with Christ and in the course of history until the end of times when the great pasch will take place. The pasch of Christ will find its perfection in the third stage i.e., in the parousia.
The paschal mystery in its actual eschatological present state in which the past and the future meet is fully realised only in Christ. Today Christians are partly in the eschatological era by their contact with Christ through faith and sacraments of which the Eucharist is the centre. The Eucharist, therefore, is rightly called the pasch in which the fulfilled paschal mystery is sacramentally celebrated. For Ephrem, Eucharist is the continuation of the last supper and of the sacrifice of Calvary. In it Christ, the true Paschal Lamb becomes the true Unleavened Bread. The Eucharistic sacrifice abolished all the OT Sacrifices.
2.4.1. The Symbol and the Truth
Ephrem is fully aware that the type is in the OT and the reality is in the Church. if the type sanctified the people, the truth will do so much more to the nations. The paschal lamb, the unleavened bread, the manna and the quail were all signs of the truth that was to come in the future, viz., the Eucharist.
In Ephrem’s thought the bread and wine are identical with that of the last supper. Making use of typology Ephrem establishes the connection between the paschal symbols of the OT the their truth fulfilled in the last supper, on the cross and in the Holy Eucharist of the Church.
2.4.2. Abolition through Fulfilment
Fulfilling the OT types, in the Eucharist Christ abolished the OT priesthood and sacrifices. In the Eucharist he superseded the priesthood Melchizedech, who offered bread and wine. Hence neither blood-sacrifices nor the offerings have any more place in the new Economy.
Ephrem sees the cessation of the OT priesthood symbolised in the tearing of the rob of Caiphas, the high priest (Mk 14, 63) and in the tearing of the temple veil (Mt 27, 51) (Cruc. IV, 12).
The Eucharistic sacrifice abolished not only the sacrifice of the OT, but also those of the gentiles, who had offered animals and even their children to their gods in order to nourish them and to sprinkled their idols with animal blood. The son of God, however, became food for us and gave us his Blood to drink and became a perfect victim to reconcile us with the Father.
Ephrem specifies the difference between the sacrifice offered by the gentiles and the Christian Eucharistic sacrifice. The former were offered to placate gods, whereas the latter is offered by the son of God himself, who became the perfect victim for mankind to reconcile the human race with God and to nourish it spiritually. For convincing us the superiority and sacredness of the Eucharist, our holy Doctor compares the unleavened the bread of the Jewish Pesah to the drug to death, whereas the Eucharist is the medicine of life.
2.4.3. The True Paschal Bread
The true unleavened bread is given to us in the Eucharistic sacrifice, mainly the Eucharistic sacrifice of the church. It belongs to an entirely new sphere and its effects are far reaching.
2.4.3.1. The Spiritual Bread
St. Ephrem describes the entire human life into three stages, viz., from Eden to Zion, from Zion to Holy church and from church to the kingdom. We are now at the third stage, i.e., from the church to the kingdom in which he is given life through the Eucharist. He is destined to enter paradise. It is the Eucharistic spiritual bread that enables him to re enter paradise. (Az XVII, 8 - 9). In order to enter heaven one has to be heavenly. Elsewhere Ephrem says that the bread is spiritual as its giver and it gives life to the spiritual ones. (Nativity IV, 97).
2.4.3.2. The Medicine of Life
By the blessing of our Lord at the last supper the bread became the medicine of life, says St. Ephrem. According to him the Christian is baptised with the Holy Spirit and is nourished by the medicine of life. (CN 46, 8). Besides, the Eucharistic bread grants us real freedom, remitting our sins and cancelling the bond of our debts.
2.4.3.3. The Spirit Hidden in the Bread
the saint clearly sees the work of the Holy Spirit in the Eucharist just as in the incarnation and in the baptism of Jesus. It is a continuation of the incarnation. The same Holy spirit is at work in both mysteries. The spirit is at work in the living bread. Through the Eucharist we achieve a profound union with the risen Christ. The Eucharist thus assures us of a permanent and active presence of Christ in the church. It prepares us for the glorious coming of the Lord.
CONCLUSION
St. Ephrem’s paschal theology is centred on the Holy Eucharist. His vision of the Eucharist is very realistic. For him, Eucharist is the synthesis of the economy of salvation. It is not only a memorial, but also a representation to the last supper and Calvary. In it Christ becomes the true lamb and the true unleavened bread and gives himself to us as paschal food and drink, giving us life, strength and hope. Eucharist is therefore, not so much a symbol, as a reality active and present, which announces, prefigures and anticipates our future glory in the risen Christ. It makes us participate in the true pascha, the ultimate goal of which is our perfect liberation leading us into paradise and enabling us to enjoy the Eternal Pascha with Christ.

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