February 20, 2021
The poetry of Ephrem the Syrian (ca. 306–373 C. E.) shows a marked predilection for composing beatitudes, usually in the form, “Blessed is the one who . . .” Careful study of these formulas, particularly when they predominate in certain madrāšē, shows that Ephrem uses the device deliberately and creatively to signal the creator-creature polarity, and in that context, the balancing of its tension via the transference of the creature to a medial or liminal state between God and humanity. They also signal creatures’ consequent ability to mediate between God and other creatures. Ephrem carefully limits the formula to created entities and distinguishes between the epithets and concepts brīḵā and ṭūḇānā, a subtlety that has not typically, but should be, respected in English translation, because it is integral to the dynamic they express. Ephrem’s beatitudes are often associated with personification and balance. Thus, when applied to biblical entities, they form a way in which he rhetorically brings the polarity between God and man to life in his own teaching, and seeks to dramatize the experience of closeness to God in his community’s present time. A complete reference list of Ephrem’s beatitudes in his extant madrāšē is included.