Section 09: Legacy and Reception

Ephrem’s afterlife and the modern recovery of his work. The two files cover, first, his veneration and standing — the feast on January 28 in the Byzantine calendar (and the various dates of the Syriac, Roman, Coptic, and Assyrian traditions), his proclamation as a Doctor of the Roman Church in 1920, the “Harp of the Spirit,” and the breadth of his veneration across both the Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian churches; and, second, the scholarship that turned a half-legendary name into one of the best-understood Fathers — Edmund Beck’s critical editions, Sebastian Brock, Robert Murray’s Symbols of Church and Kingdom, Kathleen McVey, and Sidney Griffith.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Church Father) / Syriac

Contents

File Topic
Veneration and Doctor Feast Jan 28 (Byzantine) and the other traditions’ dates; proclaimed Doctor of the Universal Church 1920 (Benedict XV, Principi Apostolorum Petro); the “Harp of the Spirit”; the breadth of veneration across Syriac, Byzantine, Roman, Coptic, and Assyrian Christianity
Modern Scholarship The critical recovery: Edmund Beck’s CSCO editions; Sebastian Brock (The Luminous Eye, Hymns on Paradise); Robert Murray (Symbols of Church and Kingdom); Kathleen McVey; Sidney Griffith; Wickes and Harvey

How to Use

  • Read Veneration and Doctor for Ephrem’s place in the calendars and the honors of the churches that revere him.
  • Read Modern Scholarship for the scholars who established the authentic corpus and made Ephrem intelligible — the discipline this whole collection follows.
  • The source-criticism these scholars accomplished is the subject of Section 08.

Cross-References