Sermon of our Venerable Father Ephrem
On Abraham and Isaac

Introduction

Among the many metrical texts in Greek attributed to Saint Ephrem the Syrian are a number of long poems devoted to Old Testament figures. The one presented here is particularly interesting since it is clearly related to a text of Saint Gregory of Nyssa On the Nature of the Son, which may be found in PG 46:565-576. In the translation below the parts that are identical with St Gregory’s are underlined. It is very difficult to decide which text is the earlier and the few few scholars who have given any attention to the subject are divided. I am inclined to think that St Gregory’s text is the earlier, since it includes none of the passages in St Ephrem’s text which are explicitly Christological; for example the long typological series of stanzas (9 to 27) on the Incarnation, or that on Isaac and Christ (94 to 106). Whether the poem has links to the Syrian Ephrem is another very difficult question. The description of the tree on which the ram is found hanging as ’a Sabek plant’ must be based on the Septuagint, on the other hand the idea that the tree and the ram were a special miraculous creation is also found in St Ephrem’s own Syriac Commentary on Genesis, ’The ram had not been there, since Isaac asked about the lamb. The tree was not there, since the wood on  Isaac’s shoulders shows it. The mountain threw up the tree, and the tree the ram; so that by the ram which was hanging from the tree and became a sacrifice for Abraham’s son, might be prefigured the one who hung like a ram from the wood, and who would taste death for the whole world’. [On Genesis, 20.1]

The description of the moment of the sacrifice, stanzas 133 to 139, is,as the writer says, based on actual depictions of the scene and is reminicscent of extant examples from early Christian art, among them a number of sarcophagi.

The poem is written in the Syrian metre, known as the ’Metre of Mar Eprem’, which consists of lines of fourteen syllables, with a caesura after the seventh. These are sometimes printed as couplets of seven syllable lines. This is unknown in Greek prosody and is based neither on length of syllabes, as in Classical Greek, nor on patterns of stress accents, as in Byzantine poetry, but simply on the number of syllables. Greek Ephrem also uses on occasion octosyllabic lines, made up of two tetrasyllables. In this poem they are used for Sara’s Lament in stanzas 76  to 92.

The text is translated from the critical edition by Mercati. I have, for the moment, accepted his division into four line stanzas, though involves accepting that there some lacunae in the original.

The whole of the Greek text is also found among the (inauthentic) sermons of St John Chrysostom.

1. God banished
   the righteous Abraham
   from his kinsfolk
   and from all his own.
   
   
2. And he was in a foreign land
   persevering under hardships
   waiting for the hope
   of the promise.
   
   
3. Much testing was brought
   upon the patriarch,
   through which his steadfastness
   to God was shown.
   
   
4. A long time passed;
   his youth like a flower
   finally withered;
   old age was at the door.
   
   
5. Nature suffering what
   was its own
   <..............>
   was bowed with old age.
   
   
6. By old age was quenched
   for his wife also
   the strength and capacity
   for bearing a child.
   
   
7. Both their bodies
   bowed under nature’s law
   now that their youth
   had been wasted away.
   
   
8. But the hope in God,
   which flourished in them,
   was not only unageing,
   but also invincible.
   
   
9. Therefore beyond hope
   she gave birth to Isaac,
   who bore in every way
   the type of the Master.
   
   
10. It was not nature’s work
    that a dead womb conceived
    and breasts that were dry
    gave Isaac milk.
    
    
11. It was not nature’s work
    that the Virgin Mary
    conceived without a man
    and without corruption gave birth
    [to the Saviour of all things].
    
    
12. He made Sara
    a mother in old age;
    revealed Mary
    a virgin after child-birth.
    
    
13. An Angel in the tent
    said to the patriarch,
    ‘At this time
    Sara will have a son.’
    
    
14. An Angel in Nazareth
    said to Mary,
    ‘Behold, you will bear a son,
    O highly favoured.’
    
    
15. Sara laughed
    seeing her barrenness,
    beholding her deadness
    disbelieving the word.
    
    
16. ‘How, she said, will this be,
    Abraham and I
    are both incapable
    of having children?’
    
    
17. Mary too was at loss,
    seeing her virginity
    and keeping its seals
    unbroken.
    
    
18. ‘How will happen to me,
    who do not know man?
    For this promise
    is foreign to nature.’
    
    
19. But it was he, who beyond hope
    gave Isaac to Sara,
    who was born from the Virgin
    according to the flesh.
    
    
20. Filled with joy were
    Sara and Abraham
    when Isaac was born,
    as God had said.
    
    
21. Filled with joy were
    Mary and Joseph
    when Jesus was born,
    as Gabriel had said.
    
    
22. Abundantly there flowed
    streams of milk
    from the mother in old age
    into the mouth of Isaac.
    
    
23. Abundantly the breasts
    of the Virgin streamed with milk
    for the One who nourishes
    all the ends of the earth.
    
    
24. ‘Who will tell Abraham
    that Sara gives suck
    to a son in her old age?’
    cried the barren woman.
    
    
25. ‘Who will tell mankind
    that I am a virgin,
    and having given birth I suckle?’
    said Mary.
    
    
26. Sara did not laugh
    because of Isaac,
    but because of the One
    who is born from Mary.
    
    
27. And just like John
    through his leaping,
    so Sara by laughing
    revealed the joy.
    
    
28. The child grew to manhood
    and was radiant and fair
    with the bloom of youth
    of young men.
    
    
29. Adding each day
    virtues of soul
    to the beauty of his body,
    he was a delight to his parents.
    
    
30. You that have children,
    imitate him.
    How the father takes pleasure
    when he sees his child playing.
    
    
31. How he rejoices when he sees
    his child making progress,
    or being serious
    about his lessons.
    
    
32. But when Abraham, seeing
    these things, rejoiced,
    trial and heavy torment
    were brought to him,
    
    
33. That he might show clearly
    to what he gave greater weight,
    to the influence of nature
    or the love of God.
    
    
34. As I recount,
    beloved brethren,
    the severity of the test,
    I tremble and am amazed.
    
    
35. For once again God
    gives Abraham an order
    and summons him,
    calling him by name.
    
    
36. ‘Take your only son,
    Isaac,
    your beloved,
    whom you love,
    
    
37. And offer him
    yourself as a sacrifice
    on one of the mountains
    that I shall tell you.’
    
    
38. But when he said to him,
    ‘Abraham, Abraham,’
    gladly he obeyed,
    expecting better things,
    
    
39. Ever awaiting
    an additional grace,
    either to arrange a marriage,
    or to erect the marriage chamber,
    
    
40. So that to its fulfilment
    might come the blessing
    and the multitude of descendants,
    as he had been promised.
    
    
41. But let us learn
    the additional word to
    ‘Take your only,
    your beloved son.’
    
    
42. You see how the sharp points
    of the word pierce the father,
    and how they rekindle
    the flame of nature?
    
    
43. How they rouse the great love
    of the father for his child,
    calling him ‘Your only’
    and also ‘Your beloved’?
    
    
44. So that through such
    names his burning
    love for him might test
    his intention.
    
    
45. ‘And offer him
    to me as a whole burnt offering
    on one of the mountains
    that I shall show you.’
    
    
46. What have you suffered
    as you heard these things?
    Did you not stagger
    at the telling,
    
    
47. You that are fathers
    and have clearly learnt
    the love for your sons
    which comes from nature?
    
    
48. For you know, you know
    how a father has received
    the report of the slaughter
    of any only son.
    
    
49. Who would not be amazed
    at such a word?
    Who would not at once
    turn away his face?
    
    
50. <Or> who would not at once
    at this command not choose
    rather to die
    than to accept the order?
    
    
51. Or who would not have
    remonstrated with him,
    putting nature forward
    as his advocate like this?
    
    
52. ‘Why, Master, have you ordered
    these things to be?
    Why have you uttered
    these unwelcome words?
    
    
53. Was it for this you wished
    to make me a father,
    that you might all at once
    make me a child murderer?
    
    
54. Was it for this you gave me
    a taste of the sweet gift,
    that you might show me to be
    a byword to the whole world?
    
    
55. That with my own hands
    I might slay my child
    defiling my right hand
    with the blood of my own kin?
    
    
56. Am I to become a child murderer?
    Is this what you order,
    and is it in such sacrifices
    that you take you delight?
    
    
57. Do you command me to slay
    my most dear son,
    by whom I had hoped
    with Sara to be buried?
    
    
58. Is this the sort of bridal chamber
    I am to erect for him, tell me?
    Is this the sort of joy
    I am to prepare for his marriage?
    
    
59. Am I to light for him
    not a bridegroom’s torch,
    not lights of gladness,
    but a funeral fire?
    
    
60. Shall I put a garland on him?
    Shall I erect a bridal chamber?
    Shall I besides
    set up dances?
    
    
61. Shall I be, as you said,
    father of the nations,
    who am not worthy
    even of my one child?’
    
    
62. But the just man did not give
    any such answers
    <............…
    ................
    
    
63. ..................>
    having become obedient,
    he set love alight
    more fiercely than the fire.
    
    
64. Sharper than the sword
    he made his fond love;
    for with it he cut
    the bonds of nature.
    
    
65. Having left behind and discarded
    like something earthly
    the burden of his
    compassionate nature,
    
    
66. He gave up his whole self
    with fervour and busied
    himself with the command
    to slaughter his son.
    
    
67. But to his wife
    he said nothing of this;
    nor did he share it with her,
    acting to the best advantage;
    
    
68. For he considered
    that for him woman was
    unworthy of credit and
    prejudicial to counsel.
    
    
69. For he did not agree,
    but disapproved
    of Adam’s accepting
    Eve’s counsel.
    
    
70. So, lest Sara suffer
    some womanly emotion,
    lest she grieve
    like a mother,
    
    
71. And shake the intensity
    and inviolability
    of his love for God,
    he strove to keep her unaware.
    
    
72. For what loud lamentations
    would Sara not have used,
    either to her child,
    or to his father?
    
    
73. What would she have not done
    as she saw her own son
    being forcibly dragged
    away to be slaughtered?
    
    
74. How would she not,
    wrapping him in her arms,
    clasping him tightly,
    have pulled him close to her?
    
    
75. What words would have not
    used to Abraham,
    and with loud laments
    cried out her distress?
    
    
    The following stanzas, which form Sara’s Lament, are in Octosyllabics.
    
    
    
76. ‘Spare, spare your own kind;
    spare your child, Abraham,
    spare him, do not become
    an evil tale for the world.
    
    
77. This offspring is my only one;
    this is my first;
    first and last
    in my labour pangs was Isaac.
    
    
78. Do not cut off the one grape cluster
    that we bore as our fruit,
    when through old age we were
    no longer part of the vine.
    
    
79. Do not harvest the one ear of corn
    [that we bore as our fruit]
    with the trenchant sickle,
    the one who blossomed from us,
    from the deadness that was ours.
    
    
80. Do not smash the staff
    on which we were supported.
    Do not break the rod
    on which we take our rest.
    
    
81. Do not blind the eye
    which we two have gained.
    Do not remove our memorial
    from the earth beneath the sky.
    
    
82. Do not slaughter like a sheep
    the lamb that we possess.
    Do not take away our joy
    and fill us with lament.
    
    
83. Whom, after him, shall we
    see at out table?
    Who will call me ‘Mother’?
    Who will minister to our old age?
    
    
84. Who will shroud us when dead?
    Who cover our bodies with a tomb?
    Who preserve the memorial
    of us for ever childless?
    
    
85. You see the young man’s beauty,
    the flower of his youth,
    on which, if you saw it in a foe,
    you would surely have compassion.
    
    
86. He has been given as the fruit
    of my yearlong prayers;
    he has been left as the branch
    of my succession.
    
    
87. He is all that is left of our line;
    he the staff of old age;
    he alone is the hope
    of our lack of hope.
    
    
88. If you mean to thrust the sword
    into the neck of my most dear son,
    then kill me first,
    so granting me the greatest grace.
    
    
89. Let the funeral mound be common,
    and common our memorial.
    Let a common dust
    cover both our bodies.
    
    
90. Common be the death
    of the barren and her offspring.
    Let a common gravestone
    tell the suffering of both.
    
    
91. Let not Sara’s eye see
    Abraham a child murderer,
    nor Isaac, slain as a child
    by the hands of his father.’
    
    
    Here the poet reverts to Heptasyllabics
    
    
92. These and things like them
    Sara would have done
    had she known that her dear son
    was about to be slaughtered.
    
    
93. Therefore Abraham said
    nothing of this to her,
    that nothing might hinder
    the work of his hands.
    
    
94. He laid on the boy
    the faggots of the wood,
    since the Saviour also
    bore the Cross.
    
    
95. When Isaac was about
    to go to the slaughter,
    the ass followed
    and Abraham’s servants.
    
    
96. And when Christ was about
    to go to his Passion,
    he mounted on a colt
    showing the call of the nations.
    
    
97. While his disciples also
    followed him,
    bearing tokens of victory
    and crying, ‘Hosanna!’
    
    
98. Isaac bearing
    the wood went up
    the mountain to be sacrificed
    like an innocent lamb.
    
    
99. The Saviour too bearing
    the Cross went out
    to be sacrificed on Calvary
    like a lamb for us.
    
    
100. As you look on the sword
     think of the lance.
     As you consider the altar,
     imagine Calvary.
     
     
101. As you contemplate the faggots
     reflect on the cross.
     As you look on the fire,
     meditate on the love.
     
     
102. Look too on the sheep
     hanged by its two horns
     on the plant
     that is called ‘Sabek’.
     
     
103. Look too on Christ,
     the Lamb of God,
     hanged by his two hands
     upon a Cross.
     
     
104. The plant called Sabek
     means ‘forgiveness’,
     for it saved from slaughter
     the old man’s child,
     
     
105. It foreshadows the cross
     that forgives the world
     its sins
     and grants it life.
     
     
106. The ram hanging
     on the Sabek plant
     mystically redeemed
     Isaac alone,
     
     
107. While the Lamb of God
     hanged on the cross
     delivered the world
     from Death and Hell.
     
     
108. Isaac was torn
     from his servants
     when about to go
     up the mountain to death.
     
     
109. Christ was torn
     from his disciples,
     when about to go
     to the slaughter for our sake.
     
     
110. The righteous Abraham
     left the servants
     lest there might be from them
     some slave-like action
     against the sacrifice.
     
     
111. And taking Isaac,
     alone he led him up alone,
     while they carried together
     fire, sword and wood.
     
     
112. But what did Isaac
     with his sweet voice
     call out and say?
     He addressed him, saying,
     
     
113. ‘Tell me, father,’ he says,
     ‘See, here are the fire and the wood;
     Where is the sheep
     for the holocaust?’
     
     
114. Again the boy’s voice
     pierces his father to the heart;
     again another dread
     trial held him.
     
     
115. Again another testing
     seized the just man,
     no feebler than the first
     no more compassionate.
     
     
116. How could Abraham
     not be smitten with tears,
     who no longer expected
     to hear the greeting, ‘Father’
     
     
117. No longer to hear
     the voice of his dearest child?
     He says nothing mournful,
     utters nothing sorrowful,
     
     
118. But with unruffled soul
     and unflinching thought
     he accepted the sweet
     words of the boy.
     
     
119. And he answered
     and spoke with him,
     ‘God, my child, will provide
     a sheep for the sacrifice.’
     
     
120. Abraham said this either
     to encourage the boy,
     or to prophecy
     the future.
     
     
121. When he had reached with haste
     the appointed place,
     he builds the altar,
     the place of sacrifice.
     
     
122. He prepares the knife
     and gets ready the fire,
     and the father places
     the wood beside the boy.
     
     
123. After this the father
     binds his son,
     and nature does nothing
     contrary to prevent him.
     
     
124. Isaac gave himself
     to his father,
     to use him
     in whatever way he wished.
     
     
125. At whom should I marvel first,
     at which be amazed?
     What garland of praise
     should I weave first?
     
     
126. That for the one who laid hands
     on his most beloved son,
     through his love
     and goodwill towards God,
     
     
127. Or for the one who obeyed
     his father unto death
     and accepted from him
     a heavenly slaughter?
     
     
128. For the former raised
     himself above nature,
     honouring God’s command
     rather than nature’s;
     
     
129. While the latter obeyed
     his father unto death,
     knowing that to grieve his father
     was worse than death.
     
     
130. Then Abraham took
     the bound youth;
     his hand did not grow numb,
     he did not change his mind.
     
     
131. Whenever I have seen
     the icons of this youth,
     I have never been able
     to pass them by without tears,
     
     
132. The powerful skill
     bringing to my sight
     a clear understanding
     with this story.
     
     
133. Isaac was placed
     near the altar,
     crouched on his knees
     before his father,
     
     
134. With his hands tied
     behind him;
     to his rear Abraham,
     treading on his bent knee.
     
     
135. Then, with one hand
     bending back towards himself
     the young man’s hair,
     he leans towards him.
     
     
136. And Isaac’s face
     looks towards him,
     gazing pitifully
     and awaiting the blow.
     
     
137. With his right hand
     armed with the sword,
     he aims for the slaughter,
     touches the body.
     
     
138. Already the knife’s point
     was at his throat;
     he pushed the sword
     against his stomach.
     
     
139. And then there came
     a voice from God,
     restraining the assault,
     preventing the deed,
     
     
140. ‘Abraham, Abraham’,
     it says, ‘do not lay
     your hand on Isaac,
     nor do any evil to your son.
     
     
141. For now I know truly
     that you fear God,
     and for my sake did not spare
     your beloved son.
     
     
142. See, a ram is bound
     on the Sabek plant.
     Take it and offer it
     instead of Isaac,
     
     
143. That you may be fully assured
     that I have accepted
     your sacrifice,
     your fervent choice.’
     
     
144. Angels marvelled with
     Principalities and Powers,
     Thrones Dominions
     and all the angelic hosts.
     
     
145. The heavens were amazed
     with sun and moon
     and choirs of stars
     at the wonder.
     
     
146. While God was pleased
     by the single choice
     of holy Abraham,
     who had proved most faithful.
     
     
147. And he said to him, Blessing I will bless
     and multiplying I will multiply
     your descendants upon earth
     like the stars of heaven,
     
     
     
148. Since you have eagerly
     obeyed my voice
     and hastened to fulfil
     my commandment.’
     
     
149. And God gave
     a sheep from the rock
     instead of the child
     to complete the sacrifice.
     
     
150. For God is not pleased
     by a dead sacrifice
     offered to him
     through ash and smoke,
     
     
151. But a living sacrifice,
     holy, well-pleasing,
     the reasonable worship
     he seeks from us,
     
     
152. As the Apostle
     clearly exhorts us all,
     knowing that this
     is well-pleasing to God.
     
     
153. For God did not wish
     to make Abraham
     a child murderer
     when he told him to offer his son,
     
     
154. But so that he might show all
     the inhabitants of the world
     that Abraham loved
     God very greatly,
     
     
155. Because for his sake
     he did not spare Isaac
     although he was
     his only child.
     
     
156. And so too God
     revealed a mystery,
     great and marvellous,
     to his friend Abraham.
     
     
157. For through the sacrifice
     he became a priest;
     while by the type
     he made him a prophet.
     
     
158. And God Most High
     made known to him
     that he too would
     give his only Son
     
     
159. For the world’s sake,
     so that God become man
     might save the human
     race from error.
     
     
160. For this he signified
     in giving in place of Isaac
     a sheep from the Sabek
     to become the sacrifice.
     
     
161. For since disbelieving men
     would not believe
     in the child-bearing
     of the Holy Virgin
     
     
162. – How could she have
     without marriage to a man
     given birth a son;
     something truly impossible —
     
     
163. Therefore he brought
     the ram from a rock
     that by this means
     the marvel might be assured,
     
     
164. Because everything
     that is ordained
     by the will of his divinity
     is instantly realised.
     
     
165. So, as there the word
     brought a sheep into being,
     so in the Virgin
     the Word became flesh.
     
     
166. And as the sheep
     was bound to the plant,
     so the Only-Begotten
     was nailed to a Cross.
     
     
167. Therefore Isaias
     cried out and said,
     ‘He was led like a sheep
     silent to the slaughter.’
     
     
168. While again the Lord
     said to the Jews,
     ‘Abraham desired
     to see my day,
     
     
169. He both saw it and rejoiced,’
     the day that is of the Passion
     typified by Isaac
     on the holy mountain.
     
     
170. Blessed is God
     who foreshadowed for us
     all our salvation
     in the holy scriptures.
     
     
171. And he came and fulfilled
     the words of the Prophets,
     and ascended in glory
     to his Father,
     
     
172. That in every place
     we may worship the Father
     with Son and Spirit
     to the ages. Amen.

     ---

     Archbishop Gregory
     P.O. Box 3177
     Buena Vista, CO 81211-3177
     USA
     Email: ArchbishopGregory@starband.net

     Copyright 2005.