Holy Hierarch Ephraim of Amida, Patriarch of Antioch

Saint ’Afrâm al-Âmidî
القديس أفرام الآمدي

The eighth of June is the feast-day of another holy Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, Saint Ephraim of Amida. Renowned for his military and public service before becoming a monk and a hierarch of the Church, Saint Ephraim was a rigorous and often militant defender of the Council of Chalcedon. He was also involved in the (re)building of a number of public works in Antioch, both before and after his election to the Patriarchal throne. He was noted for his kindness, for his firmness in adherence to Orthodox doctrines, and for his love and compassion for the poor.

Saint Ephraim [Gk. Εφραίμ, Ar. ’Afrâm أفرام] was a Greco-Syrian born to Greek-speaking parents in the city of Amida, sometime in the late fifth century. His father’s name was Appianos. His parents were apparently wealthy enough to afford for him an education in both Greek and classical Syriac, to the point that he was fluent in both languages. He found a post in the civil government and was later active in the military administration of the eastern borders of the Roman Empire, being appointed to the position of comes Orientalis by Emperor Anastasios I ‘o Dikoros’. In 518, the first of a series of terrible earthquakes struck Antioch; Ephraim was already involved in the rebuilding projects in Antioch as early as 524 and 525. In one of the later earthquakes, on 29 May 526, Patriarch Euphrasios of Antioch was killed, being crushed beneath a toppled column. In Orthodox historiography, these earthquakes were punishment upon Antioch for its descent into sectarianism, and particularly for the rise of the hæresies of Nestorius and Eutyches. Emperor Justin I sent the comes Ephraim to Antioch to help the citizens put their city back together.

As he was beginning to help the Antiochians rebuild their city, Ephraim saw a pillar of fire rising to heaven, which seemed to be emanating from an exhausted stone-cutter who lay sleeping. He went to the stone-cutter and awakened him. The lowly worker revealed to Ephraim that he had once been the bishop of a see, and that he had been expelled. But he prophesied to Ephraim that he would be consecrated Patriarch of Antioch, and furthermore implored him to hold fast to the doctrines of the Orthodox faith and never to abandon works of mercy and acts of love for the poor. It was indeed true that Ephraim had earned the warm respect of the Antiochian people for his efforts in helping them rebuild their city and restore the roads and waterways. As was their custom at the time, the citizens of Antioch held a vote to elect a new Patriarch, and they chose Ephraim to succeed Euphrasios. Saint Ephraim was tonsured as a monk and then bestowed with the Patriarchal omophor in April or May of 527 – the same year as Emperor Justinian’s elevation to the throne.

The earthquakes continued, however. In 528, an earthquake struck that killed nearly 5000 people. Many of the Antiochians fled the city, fearing divine wrath. However, Patriarch Ephraim calmed the people and instructed them to write the words: ‘May Christ be with us’ across the doorways of their homes. When the people had done this the earthquakes ceased. For their trust in God at the behest of Saint Ephraim, from this time forward Antioch began to be called the City of God – Theoúpolis.

The Byzantine historians John Malalas and Saint Theophanēs treat of the following story about Saint Ephraim. When the Banu Lakhm invaded Syria Prima under their chieftain al-Mundhir, probably in the year 530, they captured a number of prisoners from the countryside around the city of Antioch and held them for ransom. The prisoners sent a petition, not to the magister militum at Antioch, but instead to Saint Ephraim, asking to be ransomed back. Saint Ephraim paid the money for their release.

Saint Ephraim of Antioch was indefatigable in his efforts against both the Christological hæresies of his time, and in particular against the followers of Eutyches. He was extremely knowledgeable of the Greek Fathers, and, following Saint Cyril of Alexandria, defended the Church teaching of the union of two natures, divine and human, in the single hypóstasis, or person, of Jesus Christ. He was instrumental in calling for Saint Agapetus the Pope of Rome to depose the monophysite Patriarch of Constantinople, Anthimos, in 536. He also toured the Syrian countryside in order to convince the people of Syria to accept the canons of the Council of Chalcedon. In one famous story from Saint Sophronios of Jerusalem about these excursions, Saint Ephraim visited a certain pillar-dwelling hermit, or stylite, who lived at Manbij (then Hierapolis). He attempted to convince the stylite of his errors, without success. The stylite then challenged Saint Ephraim to an ordeal, something which was then a bit frowned-upon in the Eastern Empire. The stylite had a bonfire lit and proposed that the two of them enter it. The one who emerged from the bonfire unhurt would be justified by God. However, the stylite wavered, and did not enter the fire himself. Saint Ephraim prayed to God, took off his omophor and thrust it into the heart of the roaring fire. He left it there for three hours, until the logs of the bonfire burned down. When it was removed, not only was Saint Ephraim’s hand unharmed, but of the omophor itself not even one thread was singed. Seeing this, the stylite repented of his hæresy and returned to the Church.

Saint Ephraim’s struggles against various hæresies within Byzantium – most notably monophysitism but also some of Origen’s excesses – continued throughout the rest of his life; he convoked two local councils at Antioch, both of which reaffirmed the Church’s commitment to the canons of Chalcedon. He was somewhat unwillingly reined in by Emperor Justinian during the ‘Three-Chapter Controversy’. However, he continued to serve his city with acts of corporal solidarity, even when the city came under attack by the Sâsânian emperor Khosrow I. In a manner very unlike his former sæcular militancy, Saint Ephraim tried to preserve his city from destruction first by buying off the besiegers, and then sparing the main buildings of the city by giving them precious objects from the Church. In this way the saintly Patriarch of Antioch showed that his priority was saving human lives and saving his city’s foundations, rather than holding onto things of material worth.

Saint Ephraim was Patriarch of Antioch for eighteen years: a caring and vigorously active shepherd of his flock, well pleasing to God. He departed to the Lord, probably on the eighth of June in the year 545. Holy father Ephraim of Amida, ransomer of captives, friend of working men and intercessor for your city, pray unto Christ the only Lover of man for our salvation!