Ephraim The Syrian Quotes

Let books be your dining table, / And you shall be full of delights. / Let them be your mattress,/And you shall sleep restful nights

O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, faintheartedness, lust of power, and idle talk. “But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to your servant. “Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own sin and not to judge my brother, for You are blessed from all ages to all ages. Amen

And if any one wishes to say, concerning something which to himself seems meet;--"It were meet for God to do this;" let him know that it is meet for himself not to speak thus concerning God.  For the chief of all things meet is this:  that a man should not teach God what is meet.  For it becomes not man to become God's instructor.

My God, without ceasing, I will tread the threshold of Thy house; I who have rejected all grace, I will ask with boldness, that I may receive with confidence

out of the stream the fish whereof Simon took, out of it the Fisher of men came up, and took him.  With the Cross which catches all robbers, He caught up unto life that robber!

And when Death came to feed after his custom, the Life in His turn swallowed up Death.  This is the food that hungered to eat its eater. So then, by one fruit which Death swallowed hungrily, he vomited up many lives which he had swallowed greedily.

Him Aaron looked for, for he saw that if his rod ate serpents up, [367] His cross would eat the Serpent up that had eaten Adam and Eve.  Moses saw the uplifted serpent that had cured the bites of asps, and he looked to see Him who would heal the ancient Serpent's wound.

the ungodly were terrified and said;--"His disciples have stolen His body;" that they might be held in contempt when it should be discovered.  But the disciples, who [they said] stole the dead body from the living guards, were found to be assailing Death in the name of Him Who was stolen; that [Death] might not steal the life of the living.

Let us avert by that which has been, the thing that is yet to be; let us be taught by that which has come, to escape that which is coming; let us remember that which is past, to avoid that which is future.  Because we had forgotten the first stroke, the second fell on us; because we forgot the second, the third bore heavy on us.  Who will yet again forget!

because it was through the tree that mankind had fallen into Sheol, so upon the tree they passed over into the dwelling of life.  Through the tree then wherein bitterness was tasted, through it also sweetness was tasted; that we might learn of Him that amongst the creatures nothing resists Him.  Glory be to Thee, Who didst lay Thy cross as a bridge over death, that souls might pass over upon it from the dwelling of the dead to the dwelling of life!

The Lord has sent a word against Jacob [the ten tribes], and it has lighted upon Israel [the ten tribes, the kingdom of Ephraim]. 9 And all the people shall know it—even Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria [its capital]—who said in pride and stoutness of heart, 10 The bricks have fallen, but we will build [all the better] with hewn stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put [costlier] cedars in their place. 11 Therefore the Lord has stirred up the adversaries [the Assyrians] of Rezin [king of Syria] against [Ephraim], and He will stir up their enemies and arm and join them together, 12 The Syrians [compelled to fight with their enemies, going] before [on the east] and the Philistines behind [on the west]; and they will devour Israel with open mouth. For all this, [God’s] anger is not [then] turned away, but His hand is still stretched out [in judgment]. 13 Yet the people turn not to Him Who smote them, neither do they seek [inquire for or require as their vital need] the Lord of hosts. 14 Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail [the highest and the lowest]—[high] palm branch and [low] rush in one day; 15 The elderly and honored man, he is the head; and the prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail. 16 For they who lead this people cause them to err, and they who are led [astray] by them are swallowed up (destroyed).

Bodily purity is primarily attained by fasting, and, through bodily purity, spiritual purity is also attained. Abstinence from food, according to the words of that son of grace, St. Ephraim the Syrian, means: “Not to desire or ask for various foods, either sweet or costly; not to eat anything outside the designated time; not to succumb to the spirit of gluttony; not to excite hunger in oneself by looking at good food; and not to desire at one moment one kind of food and at another moment another kind of food.” Great is the fallacy that fasting and Lenten food harm the health of the body.