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THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY of AMERICA St THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA St. Ephrem the Syrian’s Spiritual Guidance: A Study of the Verse Homilies on Reproof A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures School of Arts and Sciences Of the Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy © Copyright All Rights Reserved By Colby A. Scott Washington, D.C. 2020 St. Ephrem the Syrian’s Spiritual Guidance: A Study of the Verse Homilies on Reproof Colby A. Scott, Ph.D. Director: Sidney H. Griffith, Ph.D. Statement of the Problem and Background Ephrem the Syrian (c. 306-373) is one of the most well-known of Syriac writers. He is celebrated in the Eastern Churches not only for his theology and biblical commentary, but also for his achieved popularity as a proto-monastic figure. After Ephrem’s lifetime, his reputation as an esteemed theological teacher (mallpānā) continued to spread among the Syriac-speaking churches. As his reputation spread westward, he became known primarily as an anchorite living in the desert in the environs of Edessa, who would on occasion enter the city to give spiritual guidance. A large Greek corpus of texts began to be transmitted under Ephrem’s name. Two different images of Ephrem emerged, classed under the titles of Ephrem Syrus and Ephrem Byzantinus. The image of Ephrem Syrus depicts Ephrem as primarily a teacher in the Syriac tradition and a deacon in the service of the bishops in Nisibis and Edessa during his lifetime. The image of Ephrem Byzantinus shows him as a monastic writer. Ephrem’s works preserved in Greek are primarily ascetic in character with only a little relationship to works preserved in Syriac, which serve as evidence of his role as a teacher. Little attention has been paid to Ephrem’s role as spiritual guide in the Syriac tradition. It is striking that few of his ascetical texts have been studied other than those transmitted in Greek under his name. His Syriac ascetical works, namely the Verse Homilies on Reproof (mēmrē d-makksānūtā), have gone largely unstudied. In the eighteenth century Joseph Assemani published in six volumes both the Syriac and Greek texts attributed to Ephrem along with Latin translations. This monumental publication became the foundation for nearly all Ephrem scholarship until the middle of the twentieth century when Dom Edmund Beck began publishing editions and German translations of the Syriac corpus. Kees den Biesen’s Annotated Bibliography of Ephrem the Syrian indicates that only a handful of these Greek works published by Assemani correspond to an extant Syriac text and only two of these texts are considered to be authentic works of Ephrem the Syrian, namely the Sermo Asceticus and De Morbo Linguae et Pravis Affectibus. These two Greek texts discuss topics similar to the first two Verse Homilies on Reproof published by Beck in Des Heiligen Ephraem Des Syrers Sermones I. In addition to these two Verse Homilies on Reproof, Beck published two other memre bearing the same title, which are considered to be genuine works of Ephrem (Sermones I mēmrē 3 and Sermones II mēmrē 2). The relationship between content and form in Ephrem’s memre remains understudied. More work needs to be done to address the connection between the image of Ephrem Graecus and the historical Ephrem. In particular, a thorough study is required of the two authentic Syriac texts which became a part of the Greek corpus. Thus, a close reading with English translation of the four Verse Homilies on Reproof judged authentic by Beck remains a scholarly desideratum. Purpose The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the image of Ephrem as an ascetical spiritual guide within the context of the four reliably authentic Verse Homilies on Reproof. Special emphasis will be given to the formal structure of the mēmrā since this ubiquitous Syriac genre has so far only elicited cursory scholarly attention. This dissertation will provide the first annotated English translation and close study of the four mēmrē. Methodology This dissertation will situate the central themes within an analysis of the overall structure of each text. Special attention will be given to how Ephrem utilizes poetic techniques to persuade and guide his audience. The translation and analysis will be informed by previous non- English translations and relevant passages in Ephrem’s Syriac corpus. This structural analysis will, in turn, become the foundation for a study of Ephrem the Syrian’s spiritual guidance. This will be situated into a discussion of the reception of that guidance in the Ephrem Graecus corpus and later Syriac tradition. Contribution and Originality This dissertation will provide the first summary and analysis of the content and form of these homilies. It will provide an analysis of Ephrem as spiritual guide using a set of evidence, which has yet to be considered by modern scholars. This dissertation by Colby A. Scott fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in Near Eastern Christian Languages and Literatures approved by Sidney H. Griffith, Ph.D., as Director and by Monica J. Blanchard, Ph.D., and Aaron M. Butts, Ph.D., as Readers. _____________________________________ Sidney H. Griffith, Ph.D., Director _____________________________________ Monica J. Blanchard, Ph.D., Reader _____________________________________ Aaron M. Butts, Ph.D., Reader ii Dedication For Father Sidney, who “Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is— Christ. For Christ plays in ten thousand places, Lovely in limbs, lovely in eyes not his to the Father through the features of men’s faces.” --Gerard Manley Hopkins, As Kingfishers Catch Fire iii Contents Abbreviations......................................................................................................................v Acknowledgements...........................................................................................................vii Part I: Historical and Literary Background Chapter 1 Ephrem of Nisibis: Profile of a Borderland Pastor-Poet.............................2 Chapter 2 The Harp of the Spirit: The Teaching Songs of St. Ephrem…….……….36 Chapter 3 Swaying an Audience with the Rhythms of Reproof……………………58 Part II: A Commentary on the Verse Homilies of Reproof Attributed to St. Ephrem Chapter 4 Manuscripts and Authenticity....................................................................84 Chapter 5 Commentary on Reproof 1.........................................................................95 Chapter 6 Commentary on Reproof 2 and 3..............................................................113 Chapter 7 Coda Closure: A Commentary on Reproof α............................................131 Appendices: Appendix A: The First Verse Homily of Reproof ..........................................................139 The Second Verse Homily of Reproof .....................................................167 The Third Verse Homily of Reproof ........................................................264 Another Homily of Reproof.......................................................................290 Appendix B: A Parallel Edition of Another Homily of Reproof Attributed to St. Ephrem the Syrian.......................................................329 iv Abbreviations I. Works attributed to Ephrem: Azym Hymnen de Azymis CH Hymnen de Contra Haereses CJ Hymnen Contra Julianum Cruc Hymnen de Crucifixione Eccl Hymnen de Ecclesia HdF Hymnen de Fide Nat Hymnen de Nativitate Nico Mēmrē sur Nicomedie Nis Carmina Nisibena Par Hymnen de Paradiso Pros Ref Prose Refutations of Mani, Marcion and Bardaisan Pub Letter to Publius Qid Hymnen auf Abraham Kidunaya Res Hymnen de Resurrectione SdF Sermones de Fide SJon Sermon on the Ninevites and Jonah (Sermones II, text 1) Virg Hymnen de Virginitate II. Biblical Books: Gn Genesis Ex Exodus Nm Numbers Jo Joshua Jgs Judges 1 Sm 1 Samuel 2 Sm 2 Samuel 1 Kgs 1 Kings 2 Kgs 2 Kings Ez Ezra Est Esther Ps Psalms Is Isaiah Dn Daniel Mt Matthew Mk Mark Lk Luke Jn John 1 Cor 1 Corinthians Rom Romans Eph Ephesians v III. Other Primary Sources: Amm. Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae Aph Demonstrations of Aphrahat (cited from Parisot vol:pg:ln) Addai Doctrine of Addai IV. Lexica and Grammars CAL The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon JPS J. Payne Smith, A Compendious Syriac Dictionary Kiraz George Anton Kiraz, Syriac Orthography Sok Michael Sokoloff, A Syriac Lexicon Nöldeke Theodor Nöldeke, Compendious Syriac Grammar V. Other CSCO Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium LM Le Muséon PO Patrologia Orientalis REF Dodgeon and Lieu, The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars vi Acknowledgements First and foremost, I want to acknowledge and thank my family for their constant support and encouragement throughout this endeavor. And this certainly includes my supportive in-laws and the Hope Church family (especially Christian, the Bellums, and the Baumans). Life became complicated these last few years and my supportive family helped me through. Furthermore, my wife (Kim) needs special thanks—for no spouse should have to hear the name “Ephrem” spoken with such zeal and frequency. Next, I want to acknowledge my undergraduate professors John Busanich, Brian Lanter, Nancy McLoughlin, and especially Thomas Sizgorich. These kindled my bibliophilia. And I could not have asked for better teachers. I want to thank Monica Blanchard—who is always busy, but always eager to help—for her gentle speech and her vast bibliographic knowledge. When I began studying at CUA, the
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