The Ancient Witnesses

Chapter 1: A Journey to Nicaea • 47

stained by jealousy and misunderstanding, and his many contributions to the Church are hardly recognized.

Meeting Ephrem the Syrian The more I read, the more vivid the images of my reading became. Was I reading or dreaming all of this? It was difficult to say. Now, the library held many texts in Greek and Latin, reflecting the ancient divisions of the Church into east and west. Scattered here and there, however, were volumes authored by a third major family of Christian witnesses. These were written primarily in Aramaic and Syriac, both of which are written from right to left like Hebrew. These texts were composed by the fathers from ancient Mesopotamia (Iraq), Aramea (Syria), and Persia (Iran), Phoenicia (Lebanon), and Asia Minor (Turkey). I pulled one of the Syriac books from the shelf and flipped through page after page of the exotic, backwards writing, or so it looked to me. When I heard a noise behind me, I turned to find its author—Ephrem of Syria—standing behind me. He was a short man with a large head and a face as peaceful as a still pond. His robe was beautifully embroidered and he wore a white turban or head scarf. He had a broad forehead, a large flat nose and laughing eyes—just imagine Santa Claus with a closely-cropped beard. 9 “So many profound works,” I said, pointing at the shelves. Ephrem just waved his hand as if to say, “It’s nothing.”

9 These imaginative details and those of Ephrem as a singing child prodigy are my impression of the Church Father but not based on reported facts.