“Moses made a crown
For that resplendent alter;
With a wreath entirely of gold
Did he crown
The alter in its beauty.
Thus gloriously entwined
Is the wreath of Paradise
That encircles the whole of creation.”
(Hymn I, 9)
Ephrem describes Paradise as the glow of creation, earth’s halo.
Moses had been instructed, “Make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense. It is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high—its horns of one piece with it. Overlay the top and all the sides and the horns with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it.” (Exodus 30: 1-3) This golden molding encircled the alter of incense pouring forth prayers to God, so also Paradise crowns creation. The physical Christ is transfigured, shown in glory on Mount Tabor, eyes are opened. So also is creation revealed.
Ephrem the Syrian (c. 306-373) was born in the city of Nisibis, modern Nusaybin, Turkey. The city had been newly acquired by the Romans, but this was not to last. The Persian king, Saphur II would besiege the city several times, even rerouting the flow of the Mygdonius (Jaghjagh River) in an attempt to erode the city’s walls and harassing the city with his war elephants, the ancient version of tanks. Eventually the city fell and the citizens were allowed to vacate their homes and relocate. Ephrem eventually settled in Edessa (modern Urfa, Turkey).
He served as a deacon and teacher. Some would say he was a monk, but history has not clarified this. He wrote hymns, commentaries, and taught the women to sing. He wrote hundreds of hymns in the Aramaic language, the language of Jesus. Among these are the Hymns of Paradise, a poetic commentary on Genesis chapters 2 and 3. Within these pages Ephrem reveals, not only his vision of Paradise, but also his theology of nature, of creation, the world and its creatures around us. In turning my eyes from this halo, I turn towards the creation that in turn points to this halo.
“In his book Moses
Described the creation of the natural world,
So that both Nature and Scripture
Might bear witness to the Creator:
Nature, through man’s use of it,
Scripture, through his reading of it.
These are the witnesses
Which reach everywhere,
They are to be found at all times,
Present at every hour,
Confuting the unbeliever
Who defames the Creator.”
(Hymn, V, 2)
God’s creation is God’s natural revelation, his revealing of himself. Through the reading of the Scriptures we come to know, as through our use of nature we come to see God. The psalmist proclaims,
“The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalm 19:1-4)
“Taste and see,” the psalmist will later state, “the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8) We have five God-given senses, why would God limit his revelation to words alone? Ephrem lived in an age of proto-science; the investigations into the world through natural philosophies long before the physical sciences became an established method. The world was marvelous, plant a seed, water it and it grows, the earth gives life as the skies bring rain. The abundance of life, creatures above and below the waters, the stars encircling the heavens moving in concord, the sun’s path and the phases of the moon. The modern mind rolls its eyes at the simplicities of the past, their fantastic fantasies, stories and images. The modern mind has done nothing more than expand the conversation, enlarging the measurement of the cosmos to unattainable degrees. Mapping the universe, measuring its duration, mapping DNA, decoding its language, we stand between micro and macro worlds, unable to comprehend, only accept in astonishment. We lie to ourselves saying that knowledge is information, rather than recognize that knowledge is participation and presence.
“For since the creation of the world,” the Apostle writes, “God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20) “Confuting the unbeliever,” our poet writes, for Nature is the first revelation of God. Scripture is our reading guide.
“The keys of doctrine
Which unlock all of Scripture’s books,
Have opened up before my eyes
The book of creation,
The treasure house of the Ark,
The crown of the Law.
This is a book which, above its companions,
Has in its narrative
Made the Creator perceptible
And transmitted all His craftmanship,
Made manifest His works of art.”
(Hymn VI, 1)
The “keys of doctrine,” are recognized as the foundational teachings of the Christian faith. What the Apostle Paul would call of first importance, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.” (1 Corinthians 15) You might refer to these as the Cliff Notes to the Kingdom of God. The Apostle John writes of the incarnation, “Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.” (1 John 4: 2) Following this he includes the all-important clarification, “God is love.” (1 John 4: 8) Add to this, if you will, the ancient Church’s testimonial, the Apostle’s Creed, the outline of faith.
These foundational teachings opened Ephrem’s eyes, not only to Scripture, but also opened his eyes to the book of creation as well. “The beauty that exists in nature,” Ephrem declares, “extolled the human mind.” (Hymn VI, 13) They have made the Creator perceptible, or as Paul would state it, “his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen.”
“In the world there is struggle,
In Eden, a crown of glory.
At our resurrection
Both earth and heaven will God renew,
Liberating all creatures,
Granting them pascal joy, along with us.
Upon our mother Earth, along with us,
Did He lay disgrace
When He placed on her, with the sinner, the curse;
So, together with the just, will He bless her too;
This nursing mother, along with her children,
Shall He who is Good renew.”
(Hymn IX, 1)
In this world there is struggle, pain, and death. For the children of Gaza and Israel, for Sudan and Burma, for billions across the centuries; not only human suffering, but all of creation. As Wendell Berry phrases it, “one lives at the expense of life.” Not one of us has clean hands. The bear kills the caribou calf out of hunger, out of instinct, out of habit. The falcon is formed for the kill. Maybe someday the “The wolf will live with the lamb,” and the “cow will feed with the bear,” and even “the lion will eat straw like the ox.” (Isaiah 11: 6,7) But that isn’t today. Today, as Charles G. D. Roberts mentions, “Death stalks joy forever among the kindred of the wild.” In this world there is struggle, and Paul writes, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” (Romans 8)
The entire earth suffers under a curse because of the human species, and some might be tempted that this species is the curse. But the Apostle likens creation’s groanings to birth pains, for with the curse comes the promise of renewal, life. He continues, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” The hope of creation is the renewal of the human creature, for then all creation, “both earth and heaven will God renew.” The cosmos will indescribably bloom. In the healing of the human is the healing of the earth, and this is why, “the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.”
“Who has ever beheld
A mother give suck
With her whole being to everything?
Upon her hangs the whole universe,
While she depends on the One
Who is that Power which nourishes all.”
(Hymn IX, 14)
Ephrem does not hesitate to call the earth his mother. It is that mother who has nourished him, fed him, clothed him. The earth itself is from God, nourished, clothed, enlivened. The Madonna figure, the Theotokos is an image of the universe. A nursing mother, giving herself to her child whom she has given life. She continues to feed her child, sustaining the young one’s life. Giving this infant her all as Mary gave her all to her Savior, her Creator. There is an Orthodox icon entitled, “The Dormition of the Theotokos.” It refers to the falling asleep (death) of Mary of Nazareth, the mother of our Lord. This painting appears to be the reversal of the Madonna figure nurturing her Creator, for here, now, it is the Creator who gathers up the creature in his arms nurturing her. It is a circle, but it is a circle as it is to be, incarnational. We are sustained by earth, sustained by God, and God himself, “that power which nourishes all,” has been nourished.
“What mouth
Has ever described paradise…?
I can only marvel at what is visible,
At those things which lie outside of Paradise
And so I realize how far I remain
From its hidden secrets.”
(Hymn X, 1)
Paradise for Ephrem is the Garden of Eden. It is more than a simple garden; its beauty cannot be imagined. God is incomprehensible, far beyond our concepts, images, and systematic theologies. “His greatness no one can fathom.” (Psalm 145:3) All are distortions in comparison. The garden is also incomprehensible, for it is the goal, the telos, the purpose of creation. It is what the earth longs for, the new creation.
Ephrem laments, “I can only marvel at what is visible.” The earth, what lies outside of paradise, the world around us; these things point us towards the greater beauty of paradise. Basil of Caesarea, a contemporary of Ephrem’s, in his sermons on the Six Days of Creation stated in like manner, “If such is the beauty of visible things, what shall we think of invisible things?”
“In the beginning God created the creation,
The fountainhead of delights;
The house which He constructed
Provisions those who live therein,
For upon His gift
Innumerable created things depend;
From a single table
Does He provide
Every day for each creature
All things in due measure.
Grant that we may acknowledge
Your grace, O Good One.”
(Hymn XIII, 2)
Ephrem refers to the earth as God’s house and as Lord of this mansion he provides for those within. Providence, God’s providing for and protective care of his creation; for the earth is “the fountain of his delights.” From this single table of the earth he provides for all creatures what is required. Sunshine to warm the earth, rain to moisten the ground, nutrients to fill the soil, plants to feed the herbivores…
“He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.
They give water to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.” (Psalm 104: 10,11)
Just as the nutrients of the soil provide for plants, and the plants in turn are fodder for the beasts of the field and wild donkeys, so also do they provide for the lions and other predators.
“The lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.” (v. 21)
For Ephrem we live on the borderlands, the boundary between earth and Paradise. “I realize how far I remain from its hidden secrets,” he writes. He can only look in from a distance, as Moses set his gaze towards the Promised Land. In anticipation we live. Waiting. Acknowledging God’s grace, singing.
“I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.” (v. 33)
The Early Church for Today 