Ephrem was born at Nisibis on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire and served its bishops as deacon and teacher. He composed hundreds of hymns in Syriac, many for choirs of women, to teach the faith in song against the errors of his day.
When Nisibis was ceded to Persia in 363 he moved with other Christians to Edessa. Tradition says he died there in 373 after organising relief for the starving during a famine.
Ephrem the Syrian in the library (1 work)
- Select Works of S. Ephrem the Syrian — 4th century; translation 1847
Ephrem's hymns and rhythms on the faith, the Nativity and the Church, from the Oxford Library of the Fathers: the great poet-theologian of Syriac Christianity.