Ephrem the Syrian — Commentary on Scripture

John 6:14

Thus, when they were satisfied, they saw that he had fed them in the wilderness, as Moses [had done] with prayer, and they cried out, saying, “This is the prophet about whom it was said that he is coming into the world.” They were repeating the [prophecy] of Moses that “The Lord will raise up a prophet for you,” not someone ordinary, but rather “like me,” who will fill you with bread in the desert; “like me,” he walked on the sea, and appeared in the cloud. He set his church free from circumcision, and he appointed John, the virgin, in place of Joshua son of Nun. He entrusted Mary, his church, to him, as Moses his flock to Joshua, so that this [prophecy] “like me” would be fulfilled.

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 12.5

John 6:31-32

From a little bread, our Lord made an abundance of bread in the midst of the desert, and in Cana he turned water into wine. At first he set out to give instruction to their mouths about his bread and wine, until the time came for him to give them his blood and his body also. He gave them the taste of a superabundance of transitory bread and wine in order to give them an eager desire for the superabundance of his living body and blood. He gave them these lesser things without price, so that they might know that this gift of his, of highest value, was free. He gave to them freely those things that they were able to purchase from him at a price. He therefore did not sell to them anything that they were able to buy, so that they might know that there was no fee he required from them for that which they did not have; for they were able to pay the price of his bread and wine, but they could not pay the price of his body and blood. It was in this way that he not only gave to us freely, but he was even enticing us as well; for he gave these lesser things freely to captivate us to come and re…

From a little bread, our Lord made an abundance of bread in the midst of the desert, and in Cana he turned water into wine. At first he set out to give instruction to their mouths about his bread and wine, until the time came for him to give them his blood and his body also. He gave them the taste of a superabundance of transitory bread and wine in order to give them an eager desire for the superabundance of his living body and blood. He gave them these lesser things without price, so that they might know that this gift of his, of highest value, was free. He gave to them freely those things that they were able to purchase from him at a price. He therefore did not sell to them anything that they were able to buy, so that they might know that there was no fee he required from them for that which they did not have; for they were able to pay the price of his bread and wine, but they could not pay the price of his body and blood. It was in this way that he not only gave to us freely, but he was even enticing us as well; for he gave these lesser things freely to captivate us to come and receive this of highest value, which is without price. These lesser things that he gave of bread and wine delighted the mouth; that [highest gift] of body and blood brings aid to the mind. He captivated us with these things, which bring pleasure to the palate, in order to draw us to that which brings life to [our] souls. For this reason, he hid the sweetness in the wine he made, so that they might know what treasure is hidden in his life-giving blood.

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 12.1

John 6:50

There remained yet another act that would abolish that Passover and would become the Passover of the Gentiles, a source of life until the end. Our Lord Jesus took bread in his hands, plain bread at the beginning, and blessed it, made the sign of the cross over it and sanctified it in the name of the Father and in the name of the Spirit, and he broke and distributed it in morsels to his disciples in his kindness. He called the bread his living body, and he filled it with himself and with his Spirit. He stretched forth his hand and gave them the bread that his right hand had sanctified: “Take, eat, all of you of this bread that my word has sanctified. Do not regard as bread what I have given you now … eat it, and do not disdain its crumbs. For this bread that I have sanctified is my body. Its least crumb sanctifies thousands of thousands, and it is capable of giving life to all who eat it. Take, eat in faith, doubting not at all that this is my body. And he who eats it in faith eats in it fire and the Spirit. If anyone doubts and eats it, it is plain bread to him. He who believes and e…

There remained yet another act that would abolish that Passover and would become the Passover of the Gentiles, a source of life until the end. Our Lord Jesus took bread in his hands, plain bread at the beginning, and blessed it, made the sign of the cross over it and sanctified it in the name of the Father and in the name of the Spirit, and he broke and distributed it in morsels to his disciples in his kindness. He called the bread his living body, and he filled it with himself and with his Spirit. He stretched forth his hand and gave them the bread that his right hand had sanctified: “Take, eat, all of you of this bread that my word has sanctified. Do not regard as bread what I have given you now … eat it, and do not disdain its crumbs. For this bread that I have sanctified is my body. Its least crumb sanctifies thousands of thousands, and it is capable of giving life to all who eat it. Take, eat in faith, doubting not at all that this is my body. And he who eats it in faith eats in it fire and the Spirit. If anyone doubts and eats it, it is plain bread to him. He who believes and eats the bread sanctified in my name, if he is pure, it will keep him pure; if he is a sinner, he will be forgiven. He, however, who despises it or spurns it, he may be sure that he is insulting the Son, who has called the bread his body and truly made it so. Receive of it, eat of it, all of you, and eat in it the Holy Spirit, for it is truly my body, and he who eats it will live forever. This is the heavenly bread that has come down from on high onto the earth. This is the bread that the Israelites ate in the wilderness and did not esteem. The manna that they gathered, which came down to them, was a figure of this spiritual bread that you have now received. Take and eat of it, all of you. In this bread you are eating my body. It is the true source of forgiveness.

MEMRA FOR THE FIFTH DAY OF GREAT WEEK (HOLY THURSDAY), SERMON 4

John 8:56

“Abraham was hoping to see my day.” He is the one about whom it was said, “The nations will be blessed by your seed.” “He indeed saw and rejoiced,” because he saw in the symbol of the lamb the salvation of all the nations. “You are not fifty years old, but Abraham saw you?” He said to them, “Before Abraham was, I am,” because he existed but he was concealed when Isaac was redeemed; his sign was seen in the lamb. When, moreover, there descended into Egypt the seed of the one who was saved by a lamb, and they were there for quite some time—this was shown beforehand in a type by Isaac—they were also delivered by a type, by a lamb. And from that time onwards they would sacrifice a lamb until the time that the true lamb came. When he drew near to John, he [John] announced him by saying, “See, the Lamb of God!” And when the true lamb had come, these others, which were types, ceased.

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 16.27

John 9:5

And he brought forth the light from the dust, just as he had done in the beginning, when there was a shadow of the heavens. “Darkness was spread out over everything.” He gave a command to the light, and it was born from the darkness. Thus also here, he formed clay from his saliva, and he supplied was what lacking in creation, which was from the beginning, to show that what was lacking in nature was being supplied by his hand.

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 16.28

John 9:7

For Siloam did not open [the eyes of] the blind man, just as the waters of the Jordan did not purify Naaman, but rather it was the command [by our Lord] that brought the healing. Also, it is not the waters of our atonement that bring purification; rather, it is the names invoked over it that produce atonement for us.

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 16.29

John 9:10

Those who could see were clearly being drawn to the blind man, who saw inwardly. The blind man was being drawn secretly to those who could see but who were blind inwardly. He [the blind man] washed away the clay from his eyes and appeared to himself. They washed the blindness from their hearts and gained approval for themselves. When our Lord opened up the eyes of one blind man clearly in that moment, he opened up [the eyes of] many blind people secretly. For that blind man was [surely] blind. He was like a source of profit for our Lord, for by him our Lord acquired many blind people [by healing them] from the blindness of their heart.

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 16.30

John 9:12

His saliva was thus the key for closed eyes, for with water he healed the eye. From the water [he formed] clay and brought to wholeness what had been lost. When [later] they were spitting at his face, the blind eyes that had been opened by his saliva would accuse them.

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 16.32

John 11:14

All physicians wear themselves out for their patient lest he die. But Lazarus’s physician was waiting for his death in order to show his victory over death.

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 17.3

John 11:35

His tears were like the rain, and Lazarus like a grain of wheat, and the tomb like the earth. He gave forth a cry like that of thunder, and death trembled at his voice. Lazarus burst forth like a grain of wheat. He came forth and adored his Lord who had raised him.

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 17.7

John 12:3

An abundance is oil with which sinners do business: the forgiveness of sins.
By oil the Anointed forgave the sins of the sinner who anointed [his] feet.
With [oil] Mary poured out her sin upon the head of the Lord of her sins.
It wafted its scent; it tested the reclining as in a furnace:
It exposed the theft clothed in the care of the poor.
It became the bridge to the remembrance of Mary to pass on her glory from generation to generation.
In its flowings is hidden joy, for oil does indeed gladden the face.
It brings its shoulder to all burdens in rejoicing and grieving with everyone:
For it serves joy yet is obeyed by gloom,
For faces joyful of life by it are resplendent,
And with it, the gloomy face of death is prepared for burial and dies.

HYMNS ON VIRGINITY 4.11-12

John 12:6

Our Lord, because he saw that Judas was greedy for money, had placed him in charge of the money to satisfy him and to prevent him becoming a traitor for the sake of money. It would have been better for him, however, to have stolen the money rather than to have betrayed the Creator of money.… Should not the thief of money fear the Creator of money? Perhaps that is what he remembered when he hanged himself.

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 17.13

John 12:7

He restored Lazarus to life and died in his stead. For after he had drawn [Lazarus] from the tomb and had seated himself at table with him, he was himself buried by the symbol of the ointment that Mary “poured over his head.” … Thus, [the Lord] came to Bethany, raised his friend and buried himself through the symbol of the ointment. He made Mary and Martha joyful and exposed both Sheol and greed, Sheol because it would not always be holding onto him and greed because it would not always be selling him.

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 17.7-8

John 13:11

In his gentleness our Lord humbled his wise hands by washing the feet of his betrayer, who expressed his gratitude for the cleansing with the nails of the cross.

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 18.22

John 13:26

All approached and drank from the cup, that is, only eleven of them. For when Jesus had given his bread indiscriminately to the eleven, Judas also approached to receive, just as his comrades who had approached and received. But Jesus dipped the bread in water and thus gave it to Judas. He washed the blessing from it and thereby marked off the offender. This is how the apostles recognized that it was he who would betray him. Jesus had dipped the bread and thus gave it to him so that its blessing might be removed from the bread. Thus Judas did not eat the blessed bread, nor did he drink from the cup of life. He grew angry that his bread had been dipped, for he knew that he was, then, not worthy of life. And the rage about this removed him from drinking from the cup of the blood of Jesus. He went out to the crucifiers and no longer saw the hallowed cup. Satan rushed to drive the Iscariot away from his comrades, so that he would not be a sharer with them of the living and life-giving sacrament.

MEMRA FOR THE FIFTH DAY OF GREAT WEEK (HOLY THURSDAY), SERMON 4

John 15:2

The sons of truth grow large on this Branch of Truth; they have been perfected and have become fruits fit for the kingdom. But, although the Branch is living, on it are also dead fruits that only seem to blossom. The wind tested them and shook down the wild grapes. Blessed is he who crowned by [the Spirit] those who held fast in him!… Jesus, bend down to us your love that we may grasp this Branch that bent down her fruits for the ungrateful; they ate and were satisfied, yet they demeaned her who had bent down as far as Adam in Sheol. She ascended and lifted him up and with him returned to Eden. Blessed is he who bent her down toward us that we might seize her and ascend on her. Who indeed will not weep that although the Branch is great, the weakness of one unwill ing to seize her greatness maintains that she is a feeble branch— she who has conquered all kings and cast a shadow upon the entire world! By suffering her power has increased. Blessed is he who made her greater than that vine from Egypt! Who will not hold fast to this Branch of Truth. She bore t…

The sons of truth grow large on this Branch of
Truth; they have been perfected and have become fruits fit for the kingdom.
But, although the Branch is living, on it are also dead fruits that only seem to blossom.
The wind tested them and shook down the
wild grapes. Blessed is he who crowned by [the Spirit] those who held fast in him!…

Jesus, bend down to us your love that we may grasp
this Branch that bent down her fruits for the ungrateful;
they ate and were satisfied, yet they demeaned
her who had bent down as far as Adam in Sheol.
She ascended and lifted him up and with him returned to Eden.
Blessed is he who bent her down toward us that we might seize her and ascend on her.
Who indeed will not weep that although the
Branch is great, the weakness of one unwill ing to seize her greatness maintains that
she is a feeble branch—
she who has conquered all kings and cast a shadow upon the entire world! By suffering her power has increased.
Blessed is he who made her greater than that vine from Egypt!
Who will not hold fast to this Branch of Truth.
She bore the true ones; she shed the false.
Not because they were too heavy for her did she shed them.
For our sake she tested them in the breeze;
it shook down the shriveled; it ripened the firm.

HYMN AGAINST JULIAN: ON THE CHURCH 5, 8-10

John 15:12

“This is my commandment.” Have you then only one precept? This is sufficient, even if it is unique and so great. Nevertheless he also said, “Do not kill,” because the one who loves does not kill. He said, “Do not steal,” because the one who loves does even more—he gives. He said, “Do not lie,” for the one who loves speaks the truth, against falsehood. “I give you a new commandment.” If you have not understood what “This is my commandment” means, let the apostle be summoned as interpreter and say, “The goal of his commandment is love.” What is its binding force? It is that of which [the Lord] spoke, “Whatever you want others to do to you, you should do also.” “Love one another” in accordance with this measure, “as I have loved you.” That is not possible, for you are our Lord who loves your servants. But we who are equals, how can we love one another as you have loved us? Nevertheless, he has said it.… His love is that he has called us his friends. If we were to give our life for you, would our love be equal to yours?… How then can what he said be explained, “As I have loved you”? “Let…

“This is my commandment.” Have you then only one precept? This is sufficient, even if it is unique and so great. Nevertheless he also said, “Do not kill,” because the one who loves does not kill. He said, “Do not steal,” because the one who loves does even more—he gives. He said, “Do not lie,” for the one who loves speaks the truth, against falsehood. “I give you a new commandment.” If you have not understood what “This is my commandment” means, let the apostle be summoned as interpreter and say, “The goal of his commandment is love.” What is its binding force? It is that of which [the Lord] spoke, “Whatever you want others to do to you, you should do also.” “Love one another” in accordance with this measure, “as I have loved you.” That is not possible, for you are our Lord who loves your servants. But we who are equals, how can we love one another as you have loved us? Nevertheless, he has said it.… His love is that he has called us his friends. If we were to give our life for you, would our love be equal to yours?… How then can what he said be explained, “As I have loved you”? “Let us die for each other,” he said. As for us, we do not even want to live for one another! “If I, who am your Lord and God, die for you, how much more should you die for one another.”

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 19.13

John 17:5

The Lord also said, “Give me glory in your presence from that which you gave me before the world was made.” [This was] when the Father was fashioning creatures through his Son, according to the psalmist’s account, “He is clothed with glory and magnificence,” after which he drew them out of nothingness and established them as spotless creatures. “Lord God,” he said, “you are exceedingly great. You are clothed with glory and magnificence, and you have covered yourself with light as with a cloak.” … Following Adam’s fall, [however], creatures were clothed in [Adam’s] humiliation … and the Son of the Creator came to heal them so as to remove, at the moment of his coming, all uncleannesses through the baptism of his death, as he himself has said, “The hour has come and is at hand; glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you.” He asked this not as a beggar wishing to receive something, but wishing to restore and accomplish the first order of creation. [He asked] for the glory with which he was clothed at the time when creatures were clothed [with glory].For just as he formed the first e…

The Lord also said, “Give me glory in your presence from that which you gave me before the world was made.” [This was] when the Father was fashioning creatures through his Son, according to the psalmist’s account, “He is clothed with glory and magnificence,” after which he drew them out of nothingness and established them as spotless creatures. “Lord God,” he said, “you are exceedingly great. You are clothed with glory and magnificence, and you have covered yourself with light as with a cloak.” … Following Adam’s fall, [however], creatures were clothed in [Adam’s] humiliation … and the Son of the Creator came to heal them so as to remove, at the moment of his coming, all uncleannesses through the baptism of his death, as he himself has said, “The hour has come and is at hand; glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you.” He asked this not as a beggar wishing to receive something, but wishing to restore and accomplish the first order of creation. [He asked] for the glory with which he was clothed at the time when creatures were clothed [with glory].For just as he formed the first essence [of creatures] through grace so that [they would be] without stain, in the glory and magnificence with which he himself was clothed, [so] too, by the mercy of God, there will be a new creation of all things, without any stain, in the glory with which he is clothed. What he said, “Give me,” is to be understood of the glory that he possessed before creatures, with the Father and in the Father’s presence. For the Greek text says clearly, “Glorify me with that glory that I possessed in your presence, before the world was made.” Even more, in saying, “Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you,” he did not reveal a need but a desire. The Father does not receive glory from the Son as though he had need of it, and the Son is not glorified by his Father as if he were lacking this [glory].

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 19.17

John 19:23

“His tunic was not torn” since it represented his divinity, which was undivided because it was not composite. “His clothing, divided into four parts,” symbolized his gospel, which was to go forth into the four parts of the world. Share then, for love of him, the body of him who, for love of you, shared his garment between those who were crucifying him. Take it, all of you, absorb it in its entirety, just as he, on his own, took and absorbed your death for everyone. Open the doors of your hearts to him who opened the doors of his kingdom to you.

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 20.27

John 19:34

“There came forth blood and water,” which is his church, and it is built on him, just as [in the case of] Adam, whose wife was taken from his side. Adam’s rib is his wife, and the blood of our Lord is his church. From Adam’s rib there was death, but from our Lord’s rib, life. The olive tree [symbolizes] the mystery of Christ, from which spring forth milk, water and oil; milk for the children, water for the youths and oil for the sick. The olive tree gave water and blood through its death, [just as] the Messiah gave these through his death.

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 20.11