Ephrem of Nisibis was a teacher, poet, orator, and defender of the faith, and the foremost Christian theologian who wrote in the Syriac language. The Syrians called him “The Harp of the Holy Spirit,” and his hymns still enrich the liturgies of the Syriac churches. Ephrem was one whose writings were influential in the development of Christian doctrine. Jerome writes: “I have read in Greek a volume of his on the Holy Spirit, and though it was only a translation, I recognized therein the sublime genius of the man.”

Ephrem was born at Nisibis in Mesopotamia. At eighteen, he was baptized by James, Bishop of Nisibis. It is believed that Ephrem accompanied James to the famous Council of Nicaea in 325 and served as his secretary, deacon, and theological assistant. He lived at Nisibis until 363, when the Persians captured the city and drove out the Christians.

Ephrem retired to a cave in the hills above the city of Edessa. There he wrote most of his spiritual works. Discovering that hymns could be of great value in support of the Christian faith, he opposed Gnostic hymns with his own, sung by choirs of women. An example is “From God Christ’s deity came forth” (The Hymnal 1982, #443). This establishment of female choirs gave an important liturgical role to women within the early Syriac church, and the strong theological content of the hymns meant that women were also being educated in theology. Catechizing women was considered to be the most effective way of teaching the faith because of the influence that they would likely have on their children. Therefore, women’s education was a high priority.

Ephrem’s homilies and poems often employ vivid and memorable imagery. In describing the death and resurrection of Christ in his Homily on Our Lord, he wrote: “When Death came confidently as usual, to feed on mortal fruit, Life, the killer of Death, was lying in wait...Because of one thing which it could not eat, Death had to give back everything inside that it had eaten, for when a person's stomach is upset, he vomits out what had agreed with him as well as what disagrees with him. Thus Death's stomach became upset, and when it vomited out the Medicine of Life which had soured it, it vomited out with Him all those whom it had been pleased to swallow.”

During a famine in 372–373, Ephrem distributed food and money to the poor and organized a sort of ambulance service for the sick. He died of exhaustion, brought on by his long hours of relief work.

Of his writings, there remain dozens of poems and hymns, commentaries on the Old and New Testaments, and numerous homilies. In his commentary on the Passion, he wrote: “No one has seen or shall see the things which you have seen. The Lord himself has become the altar, priest, and bread, and the chalice of salvation. He alone suffices for all, yet none suffices for him. He is Altar and Lamb, victim and sacrifice, priest as well as food.”