For Holy Thursday, we have added an excerpt from the discourse On Those Who Inquire Into the Nature of the Son. This treatise is remarkable for its meditation on the way the human soul can penetrate the events of Scripture and be present at the miracles of Christ, including the Mystical Supper.

Click here to read it.

For the beginning of Passion Week, we have added a short excerpt from the Discourse of Compunction attributed to St. Ephrem, on the coming of the immortal Bridegroom.

Click here to read it

 

Greetings, once again, with the feast of St. Ephrem (28 Jan)!

In honor of the annual commemoration of our holy Father among the saints, we have added an all-new translation: On the Second Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ, a popular text translated into Latin by Ambrosius Traversari (Florence, 1481).

С праздником!

Since today (13 August on the Church calendar) is the commemoration of St. Maximos the Confessor, we leave you with this icon that includes St. Maximos (far left) together with St. Ephrem (far right) (between them are St. Niphon and St. John of Damaskos).

Click here to see the source, and some information about the icon

In the past few weeks, we have added several items:

the sermon On Psalmody,

the final section of the prayer For Saturday Evening (Pain of Heart),

and two prayers translated by Metropolitan Nikolaos Hatzinikolaou (from Voices in the Wildnerness: An Anthology of Patristic Prayers).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please have a look around to see what else you might have missed.

 

The List of Translations (from both Greek and Syriac) has been updated (click here to open it). This update includes new links to the translations of the late Fr. Ephrem (Lash), whose page is again available via webarchive (click here to access it).

 

 

Image: Manuscript of the writings of St. Ephrem the Syrian (Graecus) in the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra (Russia)

The site Syri.ac contains bibliography and links relating to Ephrem’s Syriac corpus, both original texts, Armenian versions, and English translations.

Click here to access the site

For the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, we offer the short sermon To the Indolent Soul, which encourages the sinner to refrain from giving up and despairing. Like the prodigal, we are to return to our Father, who has no desire to send anyone to eternal punishment.

Click here to read the sermon To the Indolent Soul

Image from the digital repository of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana (Plut.6.23 f. 141v)

In lieu of a new translation, we share some lovely images of a manuscript in the Vatican Library containing the Ephremic homily On the Passion of the Savior.

This manuscript, which dates to the 10th or 11th century, is a festal homilary, containing sermons by St. Athanasios, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Gregory the Theologian, St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Alexandria, and others.

This text has been translated by Fr. Ephrem (Lash) and can be found by clicking here.

Click here to view the manuscript on the website of the Vatican Library

Images Copyright Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana

Click here to read portions of the Akolouthia for the feast of St. Ephrem

Click here to read the Acrostic Paraenesis

Most of the charm of this Greek acrostic is lost in translation, but the spiritual counsel retains its force in any language.

Image: British Library Harley MS 5624, f.12r, Acrostic of Theodore Prodromos