1/8/2021

The Golden Age of Doctrine

Introduction
• We call the Nicene Era, the fourth century, a “golden age” because it is the
age of great teachers of the Church.
• The early fourth century was dominated by three Developments:
1) The conversion of Constantine, the Christianizing of the empire and the
unity of the church and state;
2) The flowering of the monastic movement, the expansion and inspiration
a hagiographical literature; and
3) The Arian controversy which occasioned the first Ecumenical Council at
Nicaea.
The following fathers and scholars are figured out as the Greatest Figures of
this Century: -
1. Church historian Eusebius of Caesarea who wrote “Church History”
2. St. Athanasius of Alexandria: Most of his writings are anti-Arian
treatises, but he also produced The Incarnation in which he gave our
Trinitarian faith. He also wrote another classic, The Life of Antony.
3. St. Ephrem the Syrian who was a profound theologian and a amazing
poet

The Golden Age of Doctrine

• The other prominent figures of golden age are the Cappadocians who were
responsible for the triumph of Nicene orthodoxy.
4. St. Basil of Caesarea (330–379), the author of the anaphora of Ethiopic
Liturgy, directed rich development in monasticism, liturgy, theology, and
charitable work.
5. St. Gregory Nazianzus (329–389) who is also called “the Theologian”,
rhetorical stylist, a trained orator and philosopher
6. St. Gregory of Nyssa (335 – 395) produced a vast literature of letters,
sermons, treatises, poems, and commentaries.
• This period includes St. John Chrysostom (349 – 407) and St. Cyril of Alexandria
(376 – 444)
7. St. John Chrysostom is the greatest preacher of the Greek church, not
necessarily important in the formation of doctrine, but his homilies have
remained one of the principal influences in the thinking and practice of Eastern
Orthodoxy.
8. St. Cyril of Alexandria is associated with the fifth century Christological
controversies, his interests were not solely confined to dogmatic issues. An
important element of his work is, as in the case of most of the Fathers,
scriptural exegesis.
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The Golden Age of Doctrine

• The Golden Age of the West includes the great figures of St. Jerome (347 –
420), St. Ambrose of Milan (340–397), and Augustine of Hypo (354 – 430)
who brought Latin theology to its peak and called the Doctors of the Latin
Church.
9. St. Jerome was responsible for the Vulgate, the authoritative Latin
translation of the Bible.
10. St. Ambrose, amongst many other things, introduced Greek exegetical
methods to the West.
11. Augustine’s writings were extremely intellectual, deeply influencing the
future of Western theology.
• He wrote extensively on the Trinity, the doctrine of the Church, the doctrine
of Grace and Free Will, etc. but is most well-known for his essay in the
philosophy of history, The City of God, and his autobiographical work, The
Confessions.
• All these Fathers were not merely great men and of interest in themselves,
but they played a great role in the history of a century that is worth
thoughtful consideration on the part of us people of the twentieth century.

The Golden Age of Doctrine

Two events occasioned in this century, a good news and a bad news.
1. Attaining of the Long-waited Peace with Roman Empire.
• The third century ended with the persecution launched by the emperor
Diocletian, who retired in 306, perhaps the cruelest and bloodiest of all.
• Until the end of the persecutions, the Christian Church had been what we
would call an “underground movement”.
• The reason for the enmity of the state toward Christianity was that it
compromised the loyalty of citizens.
• Christianity had become a factor to turn the heart of the people away
from pagan ceremonies, worshiping gods and adorning emperors.
• Christianity continued to grow, persisted, in spite of prison, fire, and sward.
• In fact, the Church seemed to grow most quickly when it was persecuted
most ruthlessly.
• Tertullian was right to say that “the blood of Christians is seed”.
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The Golden Age of Doctrine

• In A.D. 313, the emperor Constantine gave official approval called Edict of
Milan, which decreed universal toleration of Christianity.
• This edict altered for all time the relationship between the Christian
Church and the state.
• From this time on until the end of the empire in the East, the Church was
never free of the patronage and the intervention of the emperor, and the
history of the Church and of the empire are one.
• Peace had come to the Church but it would not last.
2. The Raise of the Heretical Teaching of Arius.
• Arius was a priest of the Church of Alexandria.
• He had been trained in the rival school of Antioch, which emphasized a
literal reading of Scripture. Arius’s literalism tended toward rationalism.
• He saw no way that the Divine Word could proceed from the Father yet
still be co-eternal. So he proposed that Jesus was merely a creature, as
was the Holy Spirit, though both were created to be semi-divine, the
greatest of God’s creatures.
• Arianism was the "common-sense" approach by means of logic to the
mystery of the Holy Trinity and the Divinity of Christ.

The Golden Age of Doctrine

• Arianism was a compromise between paganism and Christianity a
position that was sweeping the Church.
• With an alarming suddenness, Arius won a great number of bishops,
theologians, imperial officials.
• As St. Jerome wrote, “the world awoke with a groan to find itself Arian”.
• Those who upheld the orthodox position were almost relegated to a group in
the Church.
• The situation threatened not only the newfound peace of the Church, but
even the peace of the empire, a majority of whose population was, by this
time, Christian.
• The controversy involved the core Christian doctrines of the Trinity and
Incarnation, that forced the fourth century to be a golden age.
• The only way the Church could counter the eloquence and apparent
reasonableness of Arius was with more eloquence, more reasonable, most
important and more holy men.
• In fact, the Arian heresy would fuel further heresies, both spin-offs and
overcorrections, for another three centuries or more. But from the Council
of Nicaea in 325 onward, the Church spoke clearly and consistently
against Christological errors.
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St. Athanasius the Apostolic

• Born in Alexandria around AD 300
• Attended the famous School of Alexandria
• Sought the wisdom and discipleship of St. Anthony at the age of twenty
1. Stayed with him for three years
2. They prayed and worked diligently together.
3. Wove baskets together
4. While St. Anthony would meditate, St. Athanasius would write.
5. Wrote two books that are considered masterpieces:
“On the Vanity of Idols”
“On the Existence of the One God”
• St. Athanasius would write the entire day and read his writings at the feet of
his teacher, at the end of the day. St. Anthony would listen, enraptured by
his writings.

St. Athanasius the Apostolic

• It was during this time that St. Athanasius gathered his first-hand
information for his famous book, “The Life of St. Anthony,” which
touched the hearts of so many and transformed their lives; among them
was Augustine, who returned to Alexandria at the age of 23.
• Athanasius was the key spokesperson in refuting Arius (theory known as
Arianism)
• Arius was a priest
• He denied the Divinity of Christ
• St. Athanasius attended the first Ecumenical Council of Nicene in AD 325
• Was a deacon
• Was only 25 years old
• Heroically defended the Apostolic faith
• Was hated by the Arians from that time forward
• Upon departure of Pope Alexandros, who prophesied that his successor
would be St. Athanasius, all the bishops and the congregation chose St.
Athanasius as the 20th Pope of the See of St. Mark.
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St. Athanasius the Apostolic

• Arians pursued St. Athanasius incessantly (ceaselessly), causing him all
kinds of trouble and difficulty throughout his life.
• He was exiled once and spent his entire papacy fleeing from the Arians
and 4 emperors.
• When told that the whole world was against him, he responded, “And I am
against the world.”
• After his departure, the Universal Church bestowed upon him the title of
“Apostolic.”
• It was said that the entire world would have fallen to Arianism, if it was
not for St. Athanasius.
His famous works:
1. Discourse against the Pagans and Discourse on the Incarnation of the
Word, written c. 317-319.
• Apologetic works date from the early years of his life
• Jerome united them with the common title Two Books against the Pagans.

St. Athanasius of Alexandria

• The first discourse or oration demonstrates the falseness of paganism
and outlines the path of ascent to the true knowledge of God and
the Word through introspection and through the contemplation of the
external world in its harmony and beauty.
• The second discourse or oration deals with the truth and significance
of the Incarnation. Athanasius speaks of Scripture that
“without a pure mind and without imitating the lives of the saints, no
one can comprehend these holy words.”
2. Exegetical works:
• Most exegetical works are lost only fragments of his interpretations
of the Psalms and the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, have survived
to our time.
• His commentary has an Alexandrian character and deals primarily
with moral problems.
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St. Athanasius of Alexandria

3. Letter to Marcellinus on the Interpretation of the Psalms
• He expresses his general view of the Old Testament. It was written
by one Spirit with NT and was written about our Savior.
• The Psalms have a particular and primary grace because the law
and the prophets are combined in them.
• At the same time, they were written about each of us, as examples for
our edification or elevation.
4. Three Discourses against the Arians
• Written during his third exile (356-362).
• He set forth his theology as a polemic in the struggle against
Arianism,
• The first discourse refutes the rational and exegetical arguments of
the Arians.

St. Athanasius of Alexandria

• He defends the definition of faith of the Council of Nicaea (325)
that the Son is eternal, uncreated, unchangeable, and of one Divine
Essence with the Father.
• The second discourse deals mostly with the interpretation of
Proverbs 8:22, the text which the Arians used as one of their main
proofs for the created nature of the Son-Wisdom (“He created me at
the beginning of His works”).
• In both the second and third discourse he analyzes other Scriptural
texts used by the Arians to refute Arian exegesis -- Hebrews 3:2;
Acts 2:36; Matthew 26:39; 28:18; John 3:35; 12:27; Mark 13:32; and
Luke 2:52.
• The third oration explains Divine consubstantiality, and also the
significance of the passages in Scripture which seem to detract from
the divinity of Christ.
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St. Athanasius of Alexandria

5. Four Letters to Serapion, Bishop of Thmuis
• It focuses on the divinity and consubstantiality of the Holy Spirit.
• These four letters comprise an integrated work. Not only are they
addressed to the same person but they deal with the same subject
— the Holy Spirit.
• In these letters Athanasius stresses that our knowledge of the Spirit is
derived from the Son. His theology of the Holy Spirit is expressed
very clearly in these important letters.
6. Various Letters:
• Athanasius was more than once forced to defend himself against libel
or defamation.

St. Athanasius of Alexandria

• He wrote three apologetic works to justify himself: Apology against the
Arians, which includes all the documents relating to his case from his first
two exiles (probably written c. 357); Apology to Emperor Constantius
(probably written c. 357); and Apology for His Flight (probably written c.
357) which Athanasius addressed to the entire Church and has, as such,
remained one of his most famous works.
7. The historical and polemical works
• Intended as apologies. History of the Arians for Monks was written probably
in 358 at the invitation of the monks with whom he had found refuge.
• In this work he attacks Emperor Constantius as a precursor of the
Antichrist, as a patron of heresy, and as an enemy of Christ.
8. His Letter concerning the Decrees of the Council of Nicaea was probably
written about 350/351 and is a defense of the Nicene definition.
9. The Letter Concerning the Synods of Ariminum in Italy and Seleucia in
Isauria was written in the autumn of 359 and constitutes an extensive report
and analysis.
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St. Athanasius of Alexandria

10. His Letter on the Opinions of Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria is
authentic;
• To these can be added encyclical epistles from the Alexandrian councils:
Tome to the People of Antioch; Letter to the African Bishops, and others.
11. Contemporaries are unanimous in ascribing The Life of St. Antony, the
father of monasticism, to Athanasius, written soon after the death of Antony
(356), during the “Arian invasion” which forced Athanasius to leave
Alexandria and take refuge in the remote desert.
• It was written for “our brothers in another land,” in a country where
monasticism only recently begun to appear. Athanasius saw in St. Antony “a
worthy model of asceticism.”
• The Life of St. Antony had great influence on the development of
hagiographic literature, and especially on Jerome’s Life of Paul of Thebes.
12. Athanasius’ Letter to the Amun (written before 356) and his Letter to
Dracontius (written about 354 or 355) were intended to instruct them in the
practice of ascetic discipline.
13. There is another treatise The Virginity that may be prized as genuine

St. Athanasius of Alexandria

• 14. He also wrote paschal letters which are important for the chronology
and history of the epoch.
• There are also a fragment of the thirty-ninth letter (367) that contains a list
of the canonical books of Holy Scripture, supplemented by a list of books
which were not included in the canon but which the fathers did not
condemn for reading by the faithful.
• These are the Wisdom of Solomon; the Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach;
Esther; Judith; Tobit (Athanasius omitted the books of the Maccabees); the
so-called “Doctrine of the Apostles” or The Didache; and The Shepherd.
Thought
The Doctrine of Redemption
• The reality of salvation is Athanasius’ proof of the divinity and
consubstantiality of the Incarnate Word, for only the Incarnation of the
Only-Begotten brings salvation.
• He sees the significance of salvation in the fact that a created human
nature is united (or, more exactly, reunited) with God.
• This is possible only if it is truly God who takes on flesh and becomes a
man. Salvation is “deification”.
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St. Athanasius of Alexandria

Creation and Created Existence
• In the theology of Athanasius there is an absolute opposition between God
and creation.
• “Everything which is created is not at all like in essence to its Creator,” for
created things originate from that which does not exist and can have no
similarity with that which has independent being.
• Created from nothing, creation exists above the abyss of nothingness and
is ready to fall back into it.
• The created world is generated and has an origin, and therefore its nature is
“fluctuating and subject to dissolution,” since it has no support or
foundation for existence within itself.
• True being belongs only to God, and God is first of all Being and
Existence because He was not generated but is eternal.
• The God of revelation is the Word.
“For the Word has spread everywhere, both above and below, into the depths
and in all directions: above in creation, below in Incarnation, into the depths
of hell and everywhere in the world. Everything is filled with the knowledge
of God.”

St. Athanasius of Alexandria

• “The stamp and likeness” of the Divine Word and Wisdom have been placed
on all creation and on every individual creature in the world, and this
preserves them from decay and disintegration.
The Fall of Man
• But the grace and gifts of the Spirit were given to the first man from
outside. Therefore it was possible for them to be lost, and indeed man did
lose them at the Fall.
• Man turned away from the contemplation of God, ceased his
intellectual striving toward Him, mind became shut up in himself,
giving himself over to “self-consideration.”
• People fell into “self-love” and the soul turned from the intellectual to
the corporeal, forgetting that it had been made in the image of God, Who is
good.
• The soul “turned its thoughts to that which does not exist,” gave it form,
and thus became the inventor of evil.
• For evil is nothingness. It has no example for itself in God and is derived
by human reasoning.
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St. Athanasius of Alexandria

• The soul no longer saw or contemplated the God of the Word, in Whose
image it was created, but gave its thoughts to a variety of things and saw
only what was subject to the senses. This was the intoxication and
bewilderment of the mind.
• By breaking God's commandments the first man was deprived of the light
of intellect and was returned to his “natural condition.”
• He became the slave of the “natural” law of decay. Man's mind turned to
vanities and was poisoned by sensual desires, and humanity was lost in
the darkness of paganism.
Grace and the Renewal of Creation
• At the Fall man was impoverished and nature was deprived of grace. In this
way it became necessary for a “reunion,” a “renewal of creation,
“which was created in the image of God,” to take place. The lost grace
of God's image had to be restored.
• The Creator had to “take on Himself the renewal of creation.” And this
was accomplished. “The Word became flesh.”
• The Word assumed human nature which, while being similar to our
nature, was enlightened and freed from weaknesses that are natural to it.

St. Athanasius of Alexandria

• Indirect participation in the Word, which had existed from the beginning,
was insufficient to preserve creation from decay.
• Repentance and forgiveness would be adequate only if transgression
were not followed by decay, for “repentance does not lead man out of
his natural condition, but only stops sin.” Death, however, had become
established in the body and had taken power over it.
• God, of course, is omnipotent and could have driven death from the
world with a single command, but this would not have healed man, who
had become accustomed to disobedience. It would not have been in accord
with divine justice.
• Such a complete forgiveness would show the power of the one who
ordered it but man would remain the same as Adam, and once again
grace would be given to him from outside. In that case the possibility of a
new Fall would not be excluded.
• But through the Incarnation of the Word grace was given to humanity
immutably. It became inalienable and remains with man constantly.
• The Word was clothed in a body in order to dress the body anew in life, in
order to preserve it from decay not only externally but also to truly join
the body to life.
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St. Athanasius of Alexandria

• In this way “the body is clothed in the incorporeal Word of God and thus no
longer fears death or decay, for it has life as a robe and decay is
destroyed in it.”
The Word Became Man
• The Word became man, similar to us in all respects. Athanasius employs
the term “incarnation” and by this he means that in assuming flesh the
Word became a full man, taking on an animate body with all the senses
and sufferings that are proper to it.
• By virtue of its union with the Word, “because of the Word, which was in
a body,” the body was freed from its weakness and subjection to decay.
• The life-giving strength of the Word freed the body of the Savior from
natural weaknesses:
“Christ thirsted, since that is an attribute of a body, but He did not perish from
hunger.”
Destroying Death and Renewing Nature
• Redemption and salvation were achieved not only at the Moment of the
Incarnation but were accomplished throughout the earthly life of the
Lord.

St. Athanasius of Alexandria

• The Lord revealed His love for humanity in two ways, by destroying death
and renewing nature, and by “revealing Himself in His works” to show
that He is the tend of the Father, the Leader and Emperor of the
universe.
• By visible appearance the Lord showed His invisible Father to human
kind, which had abandoned intellectual contemplation. By fulfilling the
law He removed from us its curse and condemnation.
• But decay could not be halted in men other than by death, and More the
“ultimate goal” of the saving Incarnation must be seen as death itself.
“He had a body in order to accept death, and it was not fitting to prevent
death, lest the resurrection also be prevented.”
• The death on the cross was an “offering,” the fulfillment of a common
obligation.
• But the body of the Lord “could not be held by death and rose from the
dead.”
“Two things were marvelously accomplished in this one action: the death of
all was carried out in the Lord's body, and death and decay were
destroyed in it because of the Word which was inherent in it.”
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St. Athanasius of Alexandria

Christ's Unity of Divinity and Humanity
• The Word did not simply “desire to become incarnate” or “manifest Himself in a
body.” He did not descend to man, but He became man, He made Himself the
Son of Man.
• God was born in the flesh from Virgin, and Mary is the Bearer of God,
Theothokos.
• Mary was chosen so the Lord could receive “from her” a body that would be
“similar to ours” and not consubstantial with the Godhead.
“From Mary the Word received flesh, and a man was engendered whose nature and
substance were the Word of God and whose flesh has from the seed of David, a man
from the flesh of Mary.”
• The Word became man so that we could “become divine,” “in her to deify us in
Himself.” Deification is adoption by God, and “human sons have become the sons
of God.” We are “received by the Word and are deified through His flesh” by
virtue of the Incarnation.
• Born from the Virgin, the Word was not united with only one man, but with
the whole of human nature.
• Therefore everything that was achieved in the human nature of Christ is
immediately extended to all men because they have a body in common with
Him. There is no coercion involved here.

St. Ephrem of the Syria

Life
• born in Nisibis
• his parents were probably Christians, not pagans.
• lived approximately between 306 and 373.
• practiced ascetic discipline from his earliest youth, and was very close to
Jacob, bishop of Nisibis.
• entered the clergy but never rose above the diaconate.
• played an active role in the life of his native city.
• In 363, Nisibis was ceded to Persia and Ephraem withdrew to Edessa,
where he devoted himself to literary activity and teaching in what was
known as the “Persian School.”
• taught Biblical studies there and founded the Biblical school in Edessa.
• was present at the Council of Nicaea, traveled through Egypt and Pontus,
and visited with Basil the Great.
• The exact year of Ephraem's death has not been established.
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St. Ephrem of the Syria

Two Gifts of St. Ephrem
1. Gift for lyricism:
• was primarily an ascetic, he had also an outstanding gift for lyricism.
• Was among Christian thinker.
• His theological writings, are euphonic (pleasing to the ear) and melodious,
are sincere and intimate.
• His orations are also lyric, he often seems singing rather than speaking.
• His abundant images are vivid and often extremely complex, and they
frequently evolve into independent dramatic scenes.
2. Gift of tears:
• Ephraem had the gift of tears.
“Weeping for Ephraem was the same as breathing the air for other men. His
tears poured forth both day and night.”
• These were not tears of fear or guilt, but of sensitivity and compassion.

St. Ephrem of the Syria

Works
1. Biblical Commentary:
• commentaries on the Bible written during the later years of his life in
Edessa.
• most of his commentary works are lost, only his writings on Genesis and
Exodus have been preserved entirely and in their original forms.
• Commentaries on the Diatessaron (the four Gospel in a single
harmonized narrative by Tatian) and the epistles of Paul (with the
exception of the epistle to Philemon) have been preserved in Armenian
translations.
• Exegetical Homilies: composed exegetical homilies on individual subjects
drawn primarily from the Old Testament, including the state of man before
the fall, Joseph and his betrayal by his brothers, and the prophet Jonah
and his mission to Nineveh.
• These are more like hymns than sermons.
2. Dogmatic and Polemical books: Ephraem's prose works include several
dogmatic and polemical books.
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St. Ephrem of the Syria

• He wrote orations against Marcion and Manes (or Mani), against
Bardesanes, against Julian the Apostate, and against the “sceptics” or
Arians.
• The majority of Ephraem's writings are poetic and have a metrical
(musical) form.
• He utilized verse forms in the fight against heresy and to glorify God.
• The first Syrian poet was Bardesanes (“Bar-Daisan”), a heretic of
Gnosticism and used metrical forms in his sermons.
• Ephraem decided to fight him with his own weapons.
“Some time ago, Harmonius, the son of Bardesanes, composed several songs,
and by uniting his impious teaching to these pleasant melodies he afforded
his listeners great enjoyment as he led them to perdition. Ephraem therefore
borrowed their melody but joined it to his own orthodox doctrine and in
this way he provided his listeners with instruction that was as enjoyable as it
was useful.”
• Some of Ephraem's poetry, his memre, or orations, were intended for oral
declaration or to be read aloud.

St. Ephrem of the Syria

3. Instructions: In distinction to these, some other works, his
instructions, were written for choral singing with the accompaniment
of harps.
• Ephraem's “Nisibeian verses” were written early in his life.
4. Hymns: His funeral hymns and penitential hymns are particularly
remarkable for their lyricism.
5. Testament: Mention should also be made of his “Testament,” which
has been preserved only in a later revision.
Thought
1. His Attitude toward Scripture
• His attitude to Scripture is reverent, for the Divine books have been
given to us from God through the Holy Spirit. They are the means of
our salvation.
• The mysteries of the holy books and their wonderful harmony are
accessible only to those who approach them with faith.
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St. Ephrem of the Syria

• Ephrem begins by examining the literal meaning of the Biblical text
before exploring the significance of the events and characters of the Old
Testament, including Adam and Eve, the patriarchs, the flood, and so forth,
as prototypes and prefigurations.
• He interprets the narrative of the six days of creation literally, and in the
tradition of Hebrew exegesis he understands the “Spirit of God” in Genesis
1:2 as a powerful wind which moved and warmed the waters.
• God created man not by a simple command, in the way that He created the
rest of the world, but with circumspection, through a kind of exchange of
ideas among all the members of the Trinity.
• Man, like other incorporeal spirits, is created by God with a free will and a
free choice between good and evil.
• In order for man to recognize God as his Creator and Master, God gave
him His first commandment and prohibition.
• In Ephraem's conception the forbidden tree is a simple tree, but there is
no other command that God could have given.
• God could not have told the first man not to kill, or steal, or commit
adultery, or that he should love his neighbor because as yet there were
no other people.

St. Ephrem of the Syria

2. Freedom, the Image of God, and the Fall
• Man's likeness to God is revealed in his freedom.
• Because man contains the image of God within himself, man's thought
possesses a kind of omnipresence and is capable of embracing all places.
• The first man was adorned with a “robe of glory” and with “heavenly
garments” and the bliss and grandeur of man's state before the fall surpass
description.
• We lost these through the lust and arrogant disobedience of the first Eve,
but they are returned to us through the second Eve, the Virgin Mary.
• Our first paradise is restored to us in the Church, and the tree of life is
here replaced by the Eucharist.
• Ephraem interprets all Messianic references as prefigurations.
3. The Exegetical Mixture of Poetic Symbolism and Literal
Interpretation
• Ephrem's writings are characterized by an unsystematic combination of
literal interpretation and poetic symbolism,
• And the Bible is transformed from a book of history to a book of parables.
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St. Ephrem of the Syria

• However, he succeeds in demonstrating the organic integrity of both
Testaments, which together form “a single body of truth.”
“This is a single word which was spoken by a single pair of lips for various
generations.”
• It contains both the weaker rays and the full light, both the image and the
fulfillment. It is two harps which are played by one Artist.
• The single path has three parts: from paradise to Zion, from Zion to the
Church, and from the Church to the Kingdom of Heaven.
• Poetic form does not always foster clarity.
• In addition to this, the Syriac language of Ephraem's time did not yet
possess a theological terminology.
• Finally, Ephraem had a tendency to be satisfied with definition through
negation and to avoid more detailed examination.
“I openly admit the insignificance of my being and I do not want to try to
know my Creator because the Inaccessible One is awesome by His very
nature.”
• He limits his inquiry to that which has been revealed and does not try to
discover that which is hidden or which is not clearly expressed in Scripture
and in the canons of faith.

St. Ephrem of the Syria

3. Dogmatic Thought
a) Trinity: he emphasizes the importance of an orthodox confession of the
Trinity, for “without this it is impossible to live a true life.”
• The Trinity is a mystery but we have been enlightened by the testimony
of God so that we can distinguish the names and recognize the indivisible
unity and equality of the Divinity.
• There is neither separation nor merging in the Trinity, but “there is a
great order.”
• The Divine names are not merely names, but they designate actual persons.
“If there is no person, then the name is only an empty sound.”
• The persons can be contemplated in the Divine names.
• The Son of God is the proper Son of the Father and everything that
belongs to the Father belongs also to the Son.
• The incomprehensible generation of the Son is natural and eternal, and in
this same way the Father manifests the Spirit, Who proceeds eternally
from His own essence.
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St. Ephrem of the Syria

• This Trinitarian dogma is brief and simple, but nevertheless it is
completely clear.
• Possibly its lucidity is explained by the presence of Jacob, the bishop of
Nisibis, at the Council of Nicaea.
“The truth is written in few words,” Ephraem remarks. “Do not try to make
long explanations.”
b) Christology: Ephraem's Christological beliefs are also clearly presented.
Primarily, in opposition to the Docetists, he defends the completeness of the
Incarnation.
• In connection with this he develops his teaching on the Mother of God as
the Virgin Mother.
“Mary would be superfluous if Christ came to us as an apparition and God
would be jesting in showing people the birth in the manger.”
• Christ is both God and man at the same time.
“He is entirely of the lower order and entirely of the higher order, entirely
in everything and entirely one.”
• Ephrem refers to “mingling” and stresses the indivisibility of this union
and the unity of the Person of Christ.

St. Ephrem of the Syria

• He says little about redemption but his basic idea is clear:
“Christ becomes similar to us in order to make us similar to Himself. The
Immortal One comes down to mortals, makes them immortal, and
ascends again to the Father.”
• He places particular emphasis on the sufferings of the Savior and on His
descent to hell, from which He leads forth Adam as the dead rise from
the dust and glorify their Savior.
c) Eschatology: Ephraem's depiction of the last days is both poetic and
lively.
Ephrem’s description of the Last Judgment is similar to the dogma of
Aphraates: the righteous are superior to judgment; average men will be
judged, but sinners are beyond judgment.
• His description of the institution of a new Easter through the Eucharist,
and the true transformation of the Eucharistic gifts into the food of
incorruptibility, is particularly vivid.
• His realistic attention to detail is especially striking, and he remarks that the
bread which the Savior offered to Judas had first been moistened in water,
which removed His blessing from it. All of this is closer to mystical
poetry than actual theology.
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St. Ephrem of the Syria

d) Anthropology: Ephrem in his anthropology primarily stresses man's
freedom, which he sees as the source of responsibility and the desire to
strive for God.
• This striving is a victory over necessity and nature, and it is also a
liberation from the “power of the stars” and the elements.
• The very question as to whether man is free proves that he is because
“questions and scepticism arise from freedom.”
“A nature which is deprived of freedom cannot ask questions. Questions are
the work of freedom. Only a free nature can inquire.”
• Man's own internal experience testifies to his freedom.
• The world is created by God and “there is nothing on earth that has not been
authorized because the source of everything is God.”
• Therefore evil is not from nature or from material substance, and
“There would be no evil if it were not for the will.”
• At the fall, freedom was distorted but not destroyed.
• Man must make a choice, and “the nature of freedom is identical in all
people,”

St. Ephrem of the Syria

• So that if one man can be victorious, then this is possible for every one.
• Man is created in the image of God, and this is revealed in his freedom
and in his capacity to accept God's gifts.
• At his creation, man was endowed with immortality, wisdom, and
knowledge, and he was clothed in light.
• At the fall he became mortal, and the first sin is still reverberating in us
like an echo. Only Christ liberates men from this condemnation to death.
e) Ecclesiology: Ephraem's writings on the Church are vivid and emotional.
• The Church is the Bride of Christ, the Courtyard of the Shepherd, and
the House of God.
• This house stands on two columns, which are the visible world and the
invisible world.
• Ephraem describes the continuity in the order of things from Adam to
Christ, and also the continuity of the apostolic tradition, which has been
transmitted through consecration and the laying on of hands.
• For Ephrem, the Church is a place of sanctification which is realized
through the sacraments.
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St. Ephrem of the Syria

• The first of these is baptism, the sacrament of forgiveness and adoption.
• The baptismal font is another Jordan, a boundary between life and death,
and only the man who crosses to the other shore becomes a “citizen of the
spiritual world.”
• At baptism, man “is led to freedom in the name of the Trinity.”
• This sacrament is accomplished through anointing with oil, and Ephraem
compares this to the Eucharist.
• Sinners can again wash away their pollution by repentance, and especially
by sincere sorrow and tears.
“I dress myself in tears and thus I am adorned.”
• Tears magnify the beauty of the outer garments.
• At the same time Ephraem speaks about the power of the keys
(priesthood), a power which has been given to the Church.
• The basic principle of his doctrine is that “the entire Church is a Church of
those who are perishing and of those who repent.”

St. Ephrem of the Syria

f) Resurrection of all: The doctrine of the resurrection of all is essential for
Ephrem, and he considers that without faith in the resurrection it is
impossible to be a Christian and useless to participate in the sacraments, since
it is the sacraments, and especially the Eucharist, which testify to the
resurrection.
• At the resurrection everyone will be made incorruptible but the bodies of
sinners will be dark and they will show a terrible stench.
• Righteous men will be unharmed, but sinners will remain in the flames.
• Just souls will enter the realm of bliss only after the resurrection because
outside of their bodies they are insensible and cannot go beyond the
boundary of earthly paradise.
• It is at this boundary that the souls of pardoned sinners will remain after
judgment, but the souls of the righteous will then achieve the heights of
blessedness. This will be their ultimate and eternal fate.
• Ephrem's writings contain many outstanding images but few original
ideas.
• However, his exposition of general Church doctrine is vivid and artistic,
and this is the main significance of his dogmatic writing.