Old and new in the poetic cycle “On Unleavened Bread” by St. Ephraim the Syrian

Alexey Anatolyevich Melnikov – Bachelor of Theology, senior lecturer at the Department of Ancient Languages ​​of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy (alexei.melnikov@yandex.ru). The article discusses the problem of little knownness of the original works of St. Ephraim the Syrian on Russian soil. Some aspects of the teachings of St. Ephraim about the relationship between the Old Testament Passover and the Passover of Christ, expressed in a unique poetic language in the cycle of hymns “On Unleavened Bread”. The topic of anti-Jewish polemics present in these works is touched upon. Reverend Ephraim the Syrian, being one of the most famous Fathers of the Church and, perhaps, the most famous of the Syrian authors, is rather poorly known to the Russian-speaking reader. This is due to the fact that the works of St. Ephraim, which enjoyed great veneration among Syrian Christians, was very soon translated into Greek. And, since their fame and influence were very great both among the Syrians and the Greek-speaking people, soon after the death of St. Ephraim, among those and others, numerous imitators and “successors” of his work appeared. This led to the fact that over the centuries, on the one hand, many works written in the style of St. Ephraim in Syriac by other authors were attributed to him. On the other hand, many pseudepigraphs appeared, composed immediately in Greek, but later accepted by descendants as translations of the original works of St. Ephraim. The corpus of such works is so extensive that even a special term “Greek Ephraim” 1 appeared to name them. In the era of the absence of criticism of the text and the embryonic state of patrolology, most of these works were included in editions of the works of St. Ephraim, published until the beginning of the 20th century. Also in the eight-volume Russian edition of the works of St. Ephraim, which was published at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries 2 , a significant part of his original works is missing, and many of those included in the publication either do not belong to him or are works of dubious authorship 3 . At the same time, the genres, themes, and emotional coloring of these works most often differ greatly from those inherent in the original texts of the Syrian father. As a result, on domestic soil a historically not entirely correct image of St. Ephraim: he appears in the Greek corpus of his works (and, accordingly, in Russian translations) primarily as a teacher of repentance and lamentation. Of course, Rev. Ephraim’s way of life was close to the “proto-monasticism” that existed in Syria in the 4th century, the so-called “Ichidaya” or “followers of the Only Begotten” 4. Also, the theme of repentance is undoubtedly present in his writings, for example, in memra 5 about Jonah and the repentance of the Ninevites 6 and a number of other texts. But, in general, the work of St. Ephraim undoubtedly has a different character: collections of hymns (madrashas) have come down to us, devoted to different topics, but equally close to biblical poetry and, it seems, in their poetics, feeding primarily from this source. And, I must say, this poetry has a mostly joyful and laudatory structure. It is no coincidence that Rev. Ephraim owes his fame most of all to madrashes 7 - strophic hymns with a refrain that most often praises God 8. Works of St. Ephraim show us a special - and quite rare - kind of patristic literature, which can be called poetic theology. But, of course, such theology, which consists in praising God and His providential, saving action in the world, has a number of features that greatly distinguish it from the speculation of the Greek fathers. As the prominent Western patrolologist Ortiz de Urbina wrote in his “Syrian Patrolology”: “To study the dogmatic theology of St. Ephraim, at the same time a teacher of the Church and a poet, does not have it very easy: he teaches in verse and, instead of using philosophical terminology, builds images and poetic allusions, under which dogmatic teaching is often hidden. In particular, he weaves together the symbols and types of the Old Testament with their fulfillment in the New Testament so firmly that the transition from symbolic subtlety to the fullness of Christian reality is almost imperceptible. But this feature, although it requires careful study and perfect knowledge of Ephraim’s style and terminology, does not in the least prevent his dogmatic doctrine from being exceptional and at the same time meeting the criteria of Orthodoxy” 9. Of particular interest to me personally are the hymns of St. Ephraim, dedicated to the Passion of the Lord and the Resurrection - the central events of biblical history and human history in general, those events on which the Christian faith is based. Events of Easter of Christ Rev. Ephraim touches upon and poetically interprets it mainly in three cycles of hymns (madrashas): “On the Passion,” “On the Resurrection,” and “On Unleavened Bread” 10. The last of the named cycles included mainly madrashas, ​​in which St. Ephraim compares the Old Testament Passover with the Passover of Christ, and also speaks critically about Judaism. In the hymns “On Unleavened Bread,” along with many other themes and images, there are two leitmotifs: 1) a comparison of the Old Testament Passover lamb and the New Testament Lamb of Christ and 2) a contrast between the People in the singular (the Old Testament people of Israel) and the nations (always in the plural) - the pagans who accepted the saving gospel of Christ. These comparisons of St. Ephraim spends time looking at them through the prism of “old” and “new.” The contrast between the two in these madrashas, ​​among other things, largely serves the purposes of anti-Jewish polemics. In some madrashas of the cycle (especially 17 and 18), the opposition of “old” and “new” is sharpened to the maximum, while both in some sense change places. During the exodus from Egypt, God, through Moses, gave the People something new - unleavened bread (unleavened bread). This unleavened bread contained a new symbol (secret, prototype - sire) - a hidden representative indication of the new bread that will appear in the future: the Bread of Life, the Body of Christ. An ancient people, as St. Ephraim, in unleavened bread, received the opportunity to feed on a new mystery, a prototype of the sacrament of the Eucharist. Moses once put in unleavened bread The Son is a prototype as a drug of life. Unleavened bread was an image of the Living Bread, And the ancients tasted a new secret. Moses revealed the secret that renews everyone - It went to the insatiable and thirsty for flesh. About Unleavened Bread XVIII, 15:5–6 11 This was the secret of spiritual food that was to be revealed in the future. While the People ate earthly food - the Passover lamb and unleavened bread - they were the bearer of the promise of future spiritual food, called upon to recreate and save man - the Blood and Body of Christ. However, the people of Israel were too concerned about the flesh, striving to achieve only earthly goals and the organization of only earthly life, to an abundance of visible benefits: “It went to the insatiable and thirsty for the flesh,” says St. Ephraim. Therefore, according to St. father, the people were unable to accept and assimilate the mystery that was foreshadowed by the food of the Old Testament Passover. Madrasha 17th of the cycle “On Unleavened Bread” opens with an extremely expressive couplet: Nissan, renewing roots and herbs, Could not renew the dilapidated people. In the new Passover of Christ, the disciples, and through them the whole world, were given New Food, the Lamb of Truth and the Bread of Life - the same sacrament that was predicted in the unleavened bread and lamb of the ancient Passover. The central moment of the meeting of the Old Testament prototypes of Truth with the coming Truth itself was the Last Supper, at which the ancient Easter food is eaten for the last time, and from then on is forever replaced by the New Table of the Eucharist. St. Ephraim writes about the Last Supper like this: Between the lamb and the Lamb stood the apostles, They ate the Passover lamb and the Truth of the Lamb. Between the symbol and the Truth they were And they saw: the symbol ended, but the Truth began. Blessed are they, for in them and through them The symbol was fulfilled and the Truth was revealed. Christ appeared, to whom previously only symbols (raze) pointed. He came as the fulfillment of all symbols, and the symbols henceforth lost their meaning. They only pointed to reality, but from now on Reality has come in its entirety. On this holiday the Lord put an end to our The symbols that foreshadowed Him before. On this holiday He, the True Lamb, forever abolished The Passover lamb that has finished its journey. Presentation by Rev. Ephraim about unleavened bread from the moment of the New Testament Passover meal is twofold. In any case, it is obvious to him that unleavened bread has ceased to be a mysterious symbol of the coming new Reality - Christ and has lost its renewing, leading power to true Life. On the one hand, he speaks of unleavened bread after the Last Supper as an ordinary food that can nourish the body, but has no effect on the soul. In Madrash 18, he compares the Jews to a snake that changes its skin and seems to be renewed, but at the same time, as much as it is renewed on the outside, it ages on the inside. Like her, the People, who continue to eat unleavened bread, change outwardly, but the bitterness of death remains in their hearts. The snake is renewed, changing its skin, While he looks younger, he is decrepit inside. This is how the People are: renewed externally, And in the heart it rots - death reigns there. A little lower in the same 18th madrash, St. Ephraim already speaks about Christians, whom the devil insidiously persuades to eat the unleavened bread of the Jews: The people offer us their unleavened bread, So that it becomes a deadly poison in us. After all, they are hidden in new unleavened bread Ancient yeast of apostasy. About unleavened bread XVIII, 11, 14 It seems that for St. Ephraim's unleavened bread, being, in general, spiritually useless for the Jews after the Lord replaced them with His Body on Maundy Thursday, but not bringing them death (this death is present in the very heart of the Jewish people, who rejected the Messiah), is already destructive for Christians, for their consumption means unfaithfulness to Christ. Here it should be noted again that some madrashim of the cycle “On Unleavened Bread” (at least 3 of the surviving 18) have a pronounced anti-Jewish overtones, which was associated with the need to prevent members of the Christian community from participating in Jewish rites and visiting the synagogue. As researcher Shepardson notes in the article “Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy,” before St. Ephraim was tasked with drawing a clear demarcation line between the Christian and Jewish communities in accordance with the spirit of the decisions of the Council of Nicaea 12. It is in this context, first of all, that one must perceive his anti-Jewish polemics. Continuing to accept unleavened bread, which at one time renewed it and led it to life, the Jewish people grew old (decrepit), and the previously old pagan peoples are now renewed to life through leavened bread, which becomes the Body of Christ in the sacrament. In Old Testament times, while the People were the recipient and custodian of divine truth, they were also the bearer of “new” things for the world. But as soon as he rejected the Son who came into the world and thereby rejected God, whom other nations accepted, the “old” and the “new” changed places. In conclusion, I would like to note that the poetry of St. Ephraim is extremely rich in interesting images and unexpected comparisons. He skillfully plays with words, combining them differently in different contexts. And this leads to the fact that, say, leaven in one place is interpreted by him as the atheism or paganism of Egypt, which the Jews had to avoid after the Exodus (which is quite traditional for patristic thought), in another, leaven is a prototype of the Son of God, which Moses put into unleavened bread, giving it to the People, etc. As a result, it is difficult to talk about any stable terminology in St. Ephraim. For the minds of Greek and, more broadly, European culture, accustomed to discipline and consistency of thought, an attempt to read St. Ephraim, as one of the teachers of the Church of the 4th century, represents a certain test. That is why, it seems to me, Rev. Georgy Florovsky wrote with some irritation or disdain: “At St. Ephraim has a lot of bold images, but few original and bold thoughts” 13. It is very difficult to agree with such a categorical statement by a respected patrolologist. About knowledge of St. Ephrem of the Greek language is difficult to judge with certainty. Sebastian Brock in his article about St. Ephraim in the Orthodox Encyclopedia speaks, on the one hand, about his good knowledge of Greek mythology, and on the other, he claims that it is unlikely that St. Ephraim knew Greek well 14. Therefore, although he was a contemporary of the Cappadocian fathers, it is unlikely that his doctrinal views were formed under the influence of Greek theology of the 4th century. Thus, his thoughts must be considered completely original, that is, belonging to himself as their source (origo). Just St. Ephraim convinces not with the help of reasoning, but with inspired poetic words, causing surprise and admiration in the reader for the beauty of the Savior’s personality and the greatness of his feat of the Cross and Resurrection. Therefore, the original writings of St. Ephraim deserves both careful study by specialist pathologists and reading by a wide range of Christians. We only need good translations into Russian. 1. Ephraim the Syrian, St. Creations: in 8 volumes. Sergiev Posad, 1895–1914. [M., 1993–1995, repr.]. 2. Ephraim the Syrian // Orthodox Encyclopedia. T. 19. pp. 79–105. 3. Kessel G. M. Bibliographic index of the works of St. Ephraim the Syrian, translated from Syriac in the TSO series // Theological Bulletin. 2010. No. 11–12. 4. Ortiz de Urbina I. Syrian patrolology. M.: Publishing house. PSTGU, 2013. 283 p. 5. Ephraim the Syrian // Orthodox Encyclopedia. T. 19. pp. 79–105. 6. Beck E. Des Heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Paschahymnen: De Azymis, De Crucifictione, de Resurrectione. Louvain, 1964. 2 vols. (CSCO: 248–249. Syr.: 108–109). 7. Ephrem the Syrian’s Hymns on the Unleavened Bread / Transl. and Introd. by J. Edward Walters. Gorgias Press, 2012. 8. Shepardson C. Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy: Ephrem’s Hymns in Fourth-Century Syria. Washington, D.C. CUA Press. 2008 Orthodox Encyclopedia. T. 19. pp. 94–98. Ephraim the Syrian, St. Creations: in 8 volumes. Sergiev Posad, 1895–1914. [M., 1993–1995, repr.]. See: Kessel G.M. Bibliographic index of works by St. Ephraim the Syrian, translated from Syriac in the TSO series // Theological Bulletin. 2010. No. 11–12. Orthodox Encyclopedia. T. 19. P. 83. A nonstrophic poetic work that has the character of a homily. Ephraim the Syrian, St. Creations... T. 5. P. 149. Of the large number written by St. Ephraim madrashes have survived to this day about 400. Some examples of refrains: “Our praises to You, O Light!”, “Praise your Son and give thanks for the fact that He gave us His Body in exchange for the unleavened bread that He gave to the People,” “Praise be to You, Lord, King and Messiah, for by Your blood Your Holy Church was created!” etc. Considering that the refrain during the performance of the madrashi was sung after each stanza, one can understand that its joyfully laudatory tone had the main impression on the listeners. Ortiz de Urbina I. Syrian patrolology. M.: Publishing house. PSTGU, 2013. P. 81. The best edition is considered to be published in the Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium series, edited by E. Beck: Vol. 248. Syr. T. 108 Here and below are quotes from the works of St. Ephraim are given in the translation of the author of the article Shepardson C. Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy... P.31. Georgy Florovsky, prot. Eastern fathers of the 4th century 9th. 2. Rev. Ephraim the Syrian.