§ 132. Догматическое учение преп. Ефрема.

St. Ephraim left behind quite a number of dogmatic writings. All of them were written against the misconceptions of that time. These are: a) 80 words against daring testers, i.e. against Aetians and Eunomians, 415 ; b) 56 teachings against heresies with denunciations and admonitions to the Bardesanites, Marcionites and Messalians 416; c) about the pearl, or about the fact that two natures are united in one person of Jesus, against Marcion and Manes 417. d) Three words about faith and against the Jews 418; e) about freedom against the defenders of blind fate 419; about repentance, where against the Novatians 420 speaks of the power of the Church to forgive sins and refutes the millennial kingdom; on priesthood 421 ; about heaven and judgment 422. All these works are written in the form of reverent reflections. St. Ephraim does not deliberately examine the foundations on which the truth is affirmed, but only points to these foundations in an outpouring of feelings and reverent thoughts. He almost never examines the grounds on which the heretics affirmed their opinions. This type of teaching depended on the fact that he intended them for popular use, and partly for singing in the church, and they were written in verse. Nevertheless, there is almost not a single dogmatic subject that St. does not touch upon. Ephraim. Let us present here sketches of his teaching on the most important dogmas. a) Depicts St. with lively and vivid features. Ephraim the incomprehensibility of the Divine in his denunciations to the “bold testers.” Who can, he says, measure the depths of the Divinity and understand His mysteries? Do you please, O dust! plunge into the abyss of this formidable sea, since its waves are beautiful! They will swallow you completely in the depths. If you want to experience this sea and get closer to one small and invisible wave, then it will throw you into another, stronger one, and all the waves will swallow you up one after another, since this sea is all concentrated in itself, it is one and the same in essence” 423. b) About the sources of knowledge of God he says this: “you have visible nature before your eyes, the Holy Scripture is at your fingertips. Nature is not clear to us; but Scripture is accessible to our understanding. since from nature we cannot learn about Christ; It remains from there to know His Divinity, from where we know about His humanity. Scripture alone can teach us about the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" 424. Why is Scripture understood differently? “Just as many doctors do not understand their business, so many do not understand the Scriptures. That is why his sayings in the mouths of unreasonable interpreters are contradictory. Scripture itself is completely true to itself, but among scholars there is confusion of thoughts” 425. “Boys who were in school just yesterday suddenly grow up like Jonah's pumpkin. Now they are already creating new models of faith, different from the rule of the saints 426. Pride makes you invent news and cannot stand the old. It is low for the presumptuous to teach the truth according to Scripture. Plunging into the depths of research, he loses the truth of clear teaching” 427. c) “Do you hear about the Father and the Son and the Spirit? Confess faces in names. It is not Their names that are united, but in reality the Three are united” 428. “The ray of the sun is not later than the sun; there was no time when it was not with the sun. Its light is the second, its warmth is the third; they are not later than him, but they are not the same with him.... You see that one is three and three are one.... The sun is the image of the Father, light is the Son, warmth is the Holy Spirit 429. The Father without beginning from his essence produced the Son and the Holy Spirit, not out of any necessity. He begot the Son naturally from his essence; He also revealed the Holy Spirit from his essence. The Holy Spirit came out of the essence of the Father... The Father brought the Holy Spirit out of his essence... without giving birth to Him 430. And the Spirit of God was carried on top of the water, the Spirit of God, i.e. The Holy Spirit of God the Father, proceeding from all eternity from Him and equal in essence and actions to the Father and His only begotten Son” 431. “In the beginning were works created through the Only Begotten. God said: let there be light and speed. Whom did He command when there was no one yet?.. At the creation of Adam, God revealed the Only Begotten when He said: Let us make ourselves a man in our image, like us. It would be blinding to think that God said this to Adam.... To think and assert that God gave the command to the angels is a clear inconsistency 432. d) “If the Word received only an image: what was nature needed for? If it happened only in appearance: what was the wife needed for? If he passed through a pipe: what was the time for and conception?.. I have another proof of His incarnation - growth to perfect age. If the Word had only an image (σχημα), then it was clothed as with clothing: but indicate the clothing that would come 433. “He did not say: born by power or the Holy Spirit, born by you as proof that the nature of the Virgin serves the Divine and that what is received in Her and from Her is associated with the Word and God” 434. “Blessed is the Wise One, Who related and united Divinity and humanity, one nature from the higher, the other from the lower - and the person became the God-Man 435. f) In his essay against the Jews, St. Ephraim proved that Jesus Christ is the Savior of fallen people, Whom the prophets foretold. g) “Be merciful, O Good One, to our evil will, this guilt of all troubles. The thoughts of his illness are secret, but his deeds are obvious illnesses. From him came the first transgression of the commandment, which resulted in all sins to this day and throughout the rest of time. You, Pure One, cleanse our freedom; in itself it is a muddy source. I marvel at our free will. She has the opportunity to win and loves to concede victory over herself” 436. “Be my helper, Lord of all, Christ, protect my spiritual weakness, so that I can get rid of this vile and sinful corruption, become free from the bonds of sin, so that the kingdom of your divine and lovable Spirit may descend upon me” 437. In his essay on the free will of our St. Ephraim, denouncing the defenders of blind fate, in proof of our freedom says: “if we do not have free will, then why does our will bear responsibility?” 438. We have a natural disposition to good and an aversion to evil 439 ; various laws and customs of peoples are the fruit of freedom 440; conversion from paganism and the life of true Christians is also her business 441. h) Christ “gave to His people, redeemed by Him, i.e. his Church, wheat, wine and mysterious oil. Wheat is His holy mystical body; wine is His sanctifying blood; oil is the good anointing with which the baptized are sealed and put on with the whole armor of the Holy Spirit" 442 . Fire and Spirit are in our Baptism; fire and the Holy Spirit - in the bread and cup 443. “The Lord commanded his disciples to cleanse the sins of human nature only once with the waters of Baptism. He who gave them the power to bind and loose commanded that the sinner should appear before the face of Him who forgives all sins, and pray to Him for forgiveness, because it is not without our sorrow that He cleanses us; he who has sinned must be sick and grieve" 444. “The highest and most terrible muscle, descending from heaven, through the laying on of hands, gave us the Holy Spirit. O ineffable power, which deigned to dwell in us through the laying on of the hands of the holy priests!” 445. i) The dogma of the resurrection of the dead by St. Ephraim defended against the followers of Bardesan 446, and often repeated it, both in songs about the dead 447 and in other writings 448. A favorite subject of thought for St. Ephraim was thinking about paradise 449 and the last Judgment 450. “Besides two states,” he says, there is no middle one, I mean one higher, the other lower. If this is true, as it really is true, then what could be more reckless than the words: for me it’s enough to avoid Gehenna, but I don’t care about entering the kingdom of heaven? – Avoiding Gehenna does not mean entering the kingdom. Scripture does not tell us about three countries. But what does he say? When the Son of man comes in his glory, he will set the sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left side 451.” This is what St. Peter taught. Ephraim about the dogmas of faith! Op. gr. T. 2, 258–276. Creation St. Efr. 3, 54–83. In addition to the 7 Syriac words, there are also some in Greek. a word about a pearl, with exactly the same content (T. 11. graec. p. 347–63). The latter was known to Ephraim of Antioch (Photii Bibl. cod. 229). Leontius (Ar. Galland. 12, 672. 699). Op. Syr. T. 3, 164. 208. 209. 224. Works of St. Efr. 6, 187–210. Op. Syr. 3, 359–366. Creation 6, 210–221. Op. gr. T. 3, p. 160–205. Another work on repentance is known only in the Latin translation of Or. gr. T. 3, p. 589–99. St. says that Ephraim wrote against Novatian. Grigory. See note. 39. Op. Syr. 3, 575–98. Ser. 5–12. Also a word about the abodes of bliss. Or, graec. 3, 25–26. The word “about places of bliss ib. r. 26–28, Paradise is the resting land of the saints, says St. Ephraim, ibid r. 189. See note. 45. Against heresies Pen. 31. Also, a song against the testers. 4. 7. 9. 10. 11. A song against the testers. 65. Against the testers, r. 99. Creativity. Efr. 6, 392. Self-reproach is creative. St. Ephraim I, 222. Ibid. 69, Also prot. test song 17. Op. Syr. 2, 454–459. Creation 6, 215. Op. Syr. T. 2, 252. About Confirmation. also p. 332. at 2 pesos. about the pearl. Against test r. 10. Op. Syr. 3, 23. About the Eucharist also in 12 pes. about the dead, in 7 pes. against heresies; at 10 and 19 pesos. against testers; more Op. Syr. 2, 61, 252. 3, 246. Op. gr. 3, 2. Adv. haeres. 2. Op. Syr. 2, 440. On confession, see above note. 90. About the same Op. gr. T. 3. r. 2, 367. Op. Syr. 3, 225–359. Creation 6, 1–184. Op. Syr 2, 389. Op. graec. 3, 119–127, 127–34, 148, 361. Op. Syr. 3, 225–359. Creation St. Ephraim 6, 1–184. 3, 296–301. Creations of St. Efr. 2, 396–406. 3, 5–37. You might be interested in: