Ephrem the Syrian

Ephrem the Syrian (Classical Syriac: ܡܪܝ ܐܦܪܝܡ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ‎ Mor Afrem Suryoyo, Classical Syriac pronunciation: [mɒr aɸˈrem surˈjɒˌjɒ]; Koinē Greek: Ἐφραίμ ὁ Σῦρος Efrém o Sýros; Latin: Ephraem Syrus, also known as Saint Ephraem, Ephrem of Edessa, Ephrem, or Ephraim; c. 306 – 373) was a Syriac Christian deacon and a prolific Syriac-language hymnographer and theologian of the fourth century. Ephrem is especially beloved in the Assyrian Syriac Orthodox Church, and counted as a Venerable Father (i.e., a sainted Monk) in the Eastern Orthodox Church. His feast day is celebrated on 28 January and on the Saturday of the Venerable Fathers. He was declared a Doctor of the Church in the Catholic Church in 1920. Ephrem wrote a wide variety of hymns, poems, and sermons in verse, as well as prose exegesis. These were works of practical theology for the edification of the Church in troubled times. So popular were his works, that, for centuries after his death, Christian authors wrote hundreds of pseudepigraphal works in his name. He has been called the most significant of all of the fathers of the Syriac-speaking church tradition.