A Paper on Paschal Theology

8/13/2019 A Paper on Paschal Theology

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ST. ELIAS SEMINARY AND GRADUATE SCHOOL

A PAPER ON PASCHAL THEOLOGY BASED ON EPHREMS HYMNS

SUBMITED TO DR. JAMES J. DEFRANCISCO

IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF

THE COURSE- PATRISTICS: THE SYRIAC FATHERS

BY

BASIL KURIAKOSE

HOUSTON, TEXAS

MARCH, 2013


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CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION 32. SYMBOLISM 33. THE SYMBOLS OF THE LAMB 74. PASCHAL THEOLOGY 95. PASCHAL MYSTERY - REALIZATION AT THE LAST SUPPER 106. PASCHAL MYSTERY - REALIZATION AT THE CALVARY 147. PASCHAL MYSTERY - REALIZATION IN THE CHURCH 208. CONCLUSION 259. ANTI-JEWISH THOUGHTS IN EPHREM HYMNS 2610.BIBLIOGRAPHY AND RESOURCES 35


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INTRODUCTION

St Ephrem is undoubtedly the most outstanding representative of early Syriac

Christianity; he combines in a unique way the roles of both poet and theologian. His works fall

into three main categories: prose, artistic prose and poetry. Ephrem builds up his profound

redemptive theology around the paschal lamb, the type par excellence of the Redeemer. He

develops a whole soteriology in terms of Exodus-event, making use of typology.

Typology as a method of exegesis may be defined as the establishment of historical connections

between certain events persons and things in the Old Testament and similar events, persons and

things in the New Testament. It is grounded on a particular view of salvation history. It is

essentially a historical interpretation based upon the continuity of Gods purpose throughout the

salvation history. He never treats the biblical text as a world on its own: rather, the Bible, as a

work of God in human imagery and language, is a part, as well as a special interpreter, of the

whole world and its history. The Bible contains revelatory symbols of Christ, because the whole

world does. Ephrem makes use of typology in order to explain the link between the Old

Testament and New Testament and also between this world and the heavenly world. In this paper

I intend to detail symbolism of lamb in the Old Testament and the realization of paschal lamb in

Christ envisioned by Ephrem in his works, and the anti-Jewish elements found in some of the

hymns.

SYMBOLISM

Ephrems symbolic thinking might be plotted schematically by means of a figure with

horizontal and vertical axes intersecting at their centre.1 The horizontal is the axis of time.

1Robert Murray S.J., Symbols of Church and Kingdom, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1975), 166


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Including all history from creation to the eschatological kingdom; the vertical axis is ontological,

from God above to creatures below. The point of intersection is Christs incarnation, passion

and resurrection. He is the centre to which all things point: as Gods perfect image he is the focus

of revelation, by typological prefiguring he is the term of biblical prehistory; to him the Church

points back by memory and proclamation, while all creation likewise points to him by symbolic

hints and vestiges. Christ is the Lord of symbols (H Fid 9, 11), the term of all symbols,

towards whom they home in from every side, while he is himself the perfect image of God.

In the horizontal axis, the mode of symbolization is typological. Typical are Ephrems

hymns on the Unleavened Bread and the Paschal Lamb, in which he meditates at length on the

types from the time of the Exodus which are fulfilled in Christ this sacrifice and the Churchs

Eucharist. One stanza summarizes the whole plan:


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The type was in Egypt, the reality in the Church:

the sealing of the reward in the kingdom. (HAzym5, 23)

The symbolic force of the typology is progressive: the time of the Church us fulfillment

of reality in relation to the Old Testament types, but the Church itself is the only type of the

eschatological kingdom2(17). This progressive typology naturally suggests journey and Ephrem

in face pictures history as a road on which mankind had journeyed, in a series of hymns in the

collection Contra Haereses. The way lay down by God, stretches from the Tree, to the Cross:

from the wood to the wood and from Eden to Zion, from Zion to Holy Church and from the

Church to the Kingdom. The working of symbolism on the vertical or ontological axis could be

illustrated endlessly.

In Ephrems vision God reveals Himself in a twofold manner: in Nature and in the

Scripture. He finds perfect harmony between the two. For Ephrem everything in Scripture and in

creation is Gods symbols which speak of God. As S. Brock observes symbols and types work

for Ephrem on two separate planes; horizontally, between the O.T and the N.T and vertically,

between this world and the heavenly world; in both cases they serve to uncover something of the

hiddenness of mystery not yet fully revealed. All the symbols of the O.T focus on Christ, the

Lord of symbols, who reveals their true meaning in the N.T. He is not worried about the order or

logic of his symbols. For him all of them focus on Christ. A symbol makes an abstract thing

understandable in the concrete. By means of the typological exegesis Ephrem tries to fathom the

mysteries of revelation, which are beyond human understanding.

2Ibid , p 53-4, 234-4


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Ephrem finds in the details of the Passover in Egypt and the subsequent Exodus the

symbols of the First- born-bukra. We have to recognize them in faith, as the Israelites took them

as true without incredulity, says he:

HF ide IX, 12:

And also the blood that was sprinkled

On the linter and door-posts

Also the manna and the quail

Also the stone and the rock

And the pillar of cloud and the rod

These are the symbols of the First-born.

Although that was an unfaithful people

They did not test the praise worthy symbols.

You will not test, O Peoples,

The First-born, the treasury of symbols gaza draze

Lest the blind should be happy (about it)3

Christ is the only one who completes and fulfils everything. Both types and Scriptures are

fulfilled in Him on the Cross. Ephrem finds consummation of everything on the cross. The

3HFide IX, 12. CSCO 154/Syr. 73 pp 46-47


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symbols and types waited for the true Lamb who fulfilled all of them on the cross. This

fulfillment is attested by Jesus Himself by this word: It is finished (John 19: 30), says Ephrem:

Az VI, 11-14:

All types had dwelt in the all Holy One

And waited for the all fulfilling One

The True Lamb saw the symbols

He tore the veil and came out toward them

The Symbols and types were fulfilled in Him,

As he Himself has attested: Everything is consummated.4

THE SYMBOLS OF THE LAMB

Ephrem contemplates the two lambs, namely the Passover lamb ear pasha and the true

lamb emar qusta and compares them with each other evaluating the achievements of both.

For him the symbol rasa- is as shade and the truth - qusta is as fulfillment sumlana.5

a) In the Old TestamentThe sacrifice of Abel is a favorite theme of Ephrem. Abel offered a lamb in a sacrifice to

Yahweh (Gen 4: 4). Ephrem sees in this scene of Gen 4:4 a lamb offering another lamb. This

lamb of Abel is the forerunner of the lamb of Abraham (Gen 22:13), of the Passover lamb of

exodus night in Egypt and of the Lamb of God (Jn 1:29). Later Abel himself became a victim

(Gen 4:8). Ephrem sees both an offerer and an offering in Abel. One can see in him the image of

the Shepherd and lamb in its archaic form.6

Ephrem shows symbolism of the Passover lamb and true Lamb in the following verses:

4AZ. Vi, 11-14, ACR p.14

5The Harp, Vol. V, No. 1,2,3,( July 1992), p 546S. Brock, A Syriac Life of Abel, Le Museum 87 (1974) p 479, The Harp, Vol. V, No. 1,2,3, (July 1992), p 57


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Az IX 18-23

Through that passover lamb came out the children,

And as lambs, shut in, they leaped in freedom.

That passover lamb, kept in by Moses

Freed the caught lambs, which were shut in,

For also Moses, a child shut in

Became the liberator of the enslaved children

Through the lambs and Moses- both shut in.

The flock with its young ones were brought to their goal

They both, cooped in, formed the symbol

Of that imprisoned Lamb, which saved the people.

They drew out the passover lamb from the fold

And the true Lamb from imprisonment.7

Moses was shut in as a child for three months by his mother (Ex 2:2) and later Israelites were

delivered through Moses. The Paschal lamb was kept apart from the 10th

day of the first month

on (Ex 12:3-6) was killed and the children of Israel freed with their flock. Bothe the passover

Lamb and Moses were cooped in, but both gave deliverance. They are the symbols of Jesus, the

True Paschal Lamb and the new liberator. Ephrem compares Jesus, the true Lamb with the

7AZ. IX, 18-23. ACR pp. 17-18


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Passover lamb of Egypt. Jesus was also imprisoned and shut in and He too granted deliverance

and freedom to the Peoples.

Ephrem distinguished the two lambs clearly, the symbolic lamb was without blemish (Ex

12:5) while the true Lamb is immaculate. The sprinkling of the formers blood cleansed the

Israelites and the sprinkling of the latters blood made the people pure. Ephrem notes that on the

feast of the New Pascha the True Lamb removed its type, namely the passover lamb which

finished its role. It is the marvelous of the True Lamb that we celebrate in Nisan.8

PASCHAL THEOLOGY

Ephrem sees the Paschal Mystery of Christ in the Old Testament Passover context. In his

vision the realization of the paschal lamb in Christ has been fulfilled in three stages namely at the

Last supper, at Calvary and in the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Church.9In Ephrems conception

there are two Passovers, two Lambs and two Redemptions. The first Pesah and the first paschal

lamb played their role in Egypt for the exodus of the Israelites. It was a type and the symbol of

the second and the true Pesah which has been realized in Christ at the last supper and at Calvary

and is being realized in the Eucharist of the Church. This is the reality and fulfillment. The

redemptive fruit of the former paschal lamb was transitory and symbolic, whereas the salvific

effects of the latter are permanent and real. There is still a third phase, in which the sealing of

the reward will be realized- namely in heaven. The type razawas in Egypt; the realitysrarain

the Church. The sealing of the rewardhutam purcanawill be in the kingdom. This verse reflects

Ephrems conception of the continuous progress of mans salvific process and of Gods working

8The Harp, Vol. V, No. 1,2,3, (July 1992), p 589Ibid 53


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for it. The life of the Christian is oriented to the kingdom, just as Jesus was destined to return to

the Father. So, too, is the Church to end up in its full realization in the kingdom of heaven.

a) PASCHAL MYSTERY REALIZATION AT THE LAST SUPPER.The Upper Room is in Ephrems vision the first Church where the first sacrifice was

offered by Christ (Cruc. II,12, v-viii). It is there that the two lambs met each other and the two

passover were celebrated; the old for the last time and the new for the first time. In the new

passover Christ is the true paschal lamb and also the true unleavened bread. For Ephrem last

supper was not only the paschal meal, but also the sacrifice of Calvary in anticipation. Thus he

sees the sacrificial and meal aspects of the Eucharist already in the last supper which Jesus

celebrated with his disciples in the Cenacle. For Ephrem, the Last Supper and its table

symbolizes the first church and the first altar, and by extension, representative of all churches

and all altars. Therefore, in his madroshe, Ephrem often calls attention to the pre-figurations of

the Eucharist in the New Testament and the numerous types and symbols of it in the narratives of

the Old Testament. In his estimation, they all find their ultimate focus in the Last Supper and in

its consummation on the cross, when blood and water flowed from the pierced side of Christ

(John 19:34). It is a sacrifice that constitutes sanctuary. The Church becomes the sanctuary

through the sacrifice of Christ in it. The Cenacle was the proto-Church, where the Eucharist

sacrifice was offered by Christ for the first time. Ephrem cannot envisage the Church without the

Eucharistic sacrifice.

In the Cenacle Ephrem sees the paschal Lamb and the True Lamb and The Apostles stood

between these two Lambs i.e., between the Symbol and the Truth. They witnessed the cessation

of the symbol and the beginning of the Truth (Az. VI, 1-2). Here Ephrem contrasts Old and the

New paschal lambs and describes the redemptive working of both. It is not, however, a mere


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play of words, but a presentation of the redemptive work in its progress, the culmination of

which he sees at the last supper.

In another hymn Ephrem reflects that it is in the Cenacle that the two lambs, namely the paschal

and the true lamb meet each other. There the symbol reached its goal and gave way to the Reality

(Cruc.III, 11). The paschal lamb is transitory, whereas the True Lamb, the Lamb of God, lives

forever. In the Cenacle the former finishes its course and the latter takes up its role. The one

stops, where and when the other begins.

Qurbonois the Syriac word Ephrem used for the liturgical action we call the Eucharist. It

has the sense of sacrificial offering, and, as it occurs in the madroshe, refers both to the

sacrificial offering associated with the Jewish Passover and to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

In Ephrems world, Christians offered the holy qurbononot only at Easter, Sundays and major

feast days, but every day. This is clearly implicated in one of Ephrems madroshe, On Paradise:

The assembly of the saints is on the type of Paradise. In it the fruit of the Enlivener

of all is plucked each day. In it, my brothers, are squeezed the grapes of the

Enlivener of All.

Ephrem refers to the daily qurbono as the breaking of the bread and the cup of

salvation, often speaking of our Lords breaking his own body, at the Passover supper, an

obvious evocation of the close connection in his mind between Calvary and the Last Supper.

Ephrem says of this particular event:


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He broke the bread with his own hands in token of the sacrifice of his body. He

mixed the cup with his own hands, in token of the sacrifice of his blood. He offered

up himself in sacrifice, the priest of our atonement.

In his theological reflection Ephrem finds the Cenacle blessed because the first Church in

which Jesus became true Altar, Priest and victim. In Cruc. III, 10 the unique position and value

of the sacrificial Christ are very well illustrated. Ephrem takes Eucharist as perfect sacrifice. He

finds in Christ all the elements needed for a perfect sacrifice. (cf. Heb 7, 27). All the terms of

sacrifice are realized in his sacrifice. He is the priest- Kahna, the bread- lahma, the cup of

salvation-Kas purqana. He is the altar- Alta and lamb-Emra; the victim- debhaand the offer-

Dabuha; the priest- Kumra and the offered food- Matek lana. Ephrem puts no sacrificial

element even the Altar, outside Christ. He points to the richness and uniqueness of Christs

sacrifice, in which all other sacrifices found their fulfillment. Ephrem looks back and

contemplates the scene of the last supper in the light of his own Eucharistic experience in the

Church.

In Cruc. III, 5 it is instructed that the last supper in the Cenacle at which the Great

covenant of the New Economy was sealed by the Blood of Christ (cf. Matt. 26-28; Mk 14, 24;

1Cor 11, 25). St. Ephrem finds a parallelism between the Mount Sinai and the Cenacle. He

compares the Cenacle to a mirror through which the whole world can be seen. He sees the O.T

symbols of blood, sacrifice and covenant as if by reflection when he contemplates Christ in the

Church.

He presents in Az. V, 15-18 the superiority and the uniqueness of the redemption of

Christ, the true Paschal Lamb, comparing it with the saving act of the paschal lamb in Egypt.


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Ephrem contrasts the two passovers and he affirms their distinction and disparity and shows the

superiority and uniqueness of the Second Passover (cf. Cruc. II, 3). Paschal Lamb is the key for

him to discover the nature of redemption brought by Christ.

Christ, the True Lamb becomes the True Unleavened Bread. Ephrem takes up the second

important element of the Passover, namely the unleavened Bread (Ex.12:9). Identifying the

unleavened bread with Christs body, he explains the sacrificial aspect and the meal aspect of the

Eucharist, the New Passover. The Unleavened Bread of New Paschal Sacrifice Christ, the True

Lamb breaks His Body which becomes the unleavened bread for his disciples. In Az. XIX 1-3 he

explains the sacrificial mystery of the Eucharist and the mystery of the cross. Here he mentions

about breaking of body the verb break- klao-qsawhich signifies sacrifice oneself, offer ones

whole person, divide oneself for others. Jesus ate the paschal and the unleavened bread; then his

body i.e., He Himself became the true Lamb and the true unleavened bread and thus he took

away the shade and gave the Truth.

According to St. Ephrem the Lamb and Eucharistic bread are identified in Christ. The

breaking of bread and the mixing of the cup is the symbol of the sacrifice of His body and Blood,

says St. Ephrem (Az. II, 7). For him the intimate connection between the Eucharistic sacrifice

and the Cenacle and the sacrifice of Christ on the cross is important. The Eucharistic sacrifice

was at once a symbol of the sacrifice of the cross and a reality. The former was an anticipation of

the latter and is to be seen in the light of the latters force. For St. Ephrem the breaking of bread

by Jesus in the Eucharistic sacrifice was real as his passion and death that followed it because of

its certainty, immediacy and preview of the later (CN. 49, 2).

The Last Supper was the prototype of the Eucharist. Christs words at the last supper

were not an announcement but a decision. It was proleptic and anticipatory of the sacrifice that


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was as to follow. For the Christian also it is proleptic and anticipatory of the full experience of

the risen Lord in heaven. Here Ephrem tried to illustrate the meal aspect of the Eucharist. The

unleavened bread of the Old Testament passover became obsolete through the bread which Jesus

broke during the last supper. St. Ephrem has here Jn 6: 35, 48, and 50 in mind. This bread

(Eucharist) is given us today by the Church. Through this new bread we are not only given life

but are united with Christ in a profound manner. In Virg. 37, 2 St. Ephrem gives a vivid picture

of what happens in the Eucharistic meal at the Cenacle and in the Church. Jesus becomes for us

the bread of life. He adopts on unsurpassed means of communication which is intimate in human

nature, namely the assimilation of food. St. Ephrem is very realistic about the profound union

between Christ and Christian achieved through the Eucharist. His basis is John 6:56; body into

body, blood into blood communion of body and blood of person and life.

B) PASCHAL MYSTERY- REALIZATION AT CALVARYOn the cross at Calvary Ephrem sees the culmination of the realization of Christ, the true

Paschal Lamb. At Calvary He is the true Lamb and the priest; He is the Lamb and the shepherd.

In Him victimhood and priesthood, victim and priest are identified. Ephrem contemplates the

scene of the visit of the shepherds to the new born Savior in Bethlehem, who is Himself the True

Paschal Lamb. It is his vision a rapturous moment when the sucking lamb brought by the

shepherds as a sign of their homage, was offered to the true Paschal Lamb, an offering to the

Victim

Nat VII, 3:

They carried and brought Him a sucking lamb,

To Him, the Paschal Lamb,


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A first-born to the First-born.

An offering to the Victim.

A transitory lamb- to the true lamb

What a beautiful scene indeed.

A lamb was offered to the Lamb.10

Bethlehem is blessed because it is there that the Lamb of God bleated for the first time, says

Ephrem:

Nat 25, 13

Blessed are you Bethlehem, for in you began

The Son who is eternal in the Father

Impossible to understand: He who is over all sides

Has thrown himself to your side.

Blessed are your ears, for in you bleated first

The Lamb of God that leaped in you;

It was small in your manger and it extended itself over all creatures

And was adored in all directions.11

St Ephrem sees from the beginning of Jesus life the mystery of His Paschal Sacrifice and he

again explains this further when Mary presented Jesus in the Temple in the hands of Simeon the

priest as an offering qurbono. Ephrem could see the Cross even at that point.

Res 1, 9:

Mary carried Him as child

The Priest took him as an offering- quorbana

10Nat VIII, 3. CSCO 186/Syr 82, p. 5611Nat 25, 13. CSCO 186/Syr 82, p. 131


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The Cross carried Him as the killed one,

Heaven took Him as God

Glory be to the Father.12

John the Baptist recognized in Jesus the Lamb of God. This lamb grew and became a sacrifice,

says Ephrem,

Nat 24, i-ii:

John looked at him and called out: it is the Lamb of God.

Te Lamb thrived and grew and came to become sacrifice.13

The priests and the Levites of the OT were not holy and so were insufficient to offer the true

Lamb. Jesus Himself, therefore, became priest and high priest for sacrifice which put an end to

all other sacrifices.

Az II, 2-3

The true Lamb knew that the priests were impure,

And the Levites unworthy and they were not sufficient for him

He himself became for His Body Priest and High Priest- kahna urabkumra

The priests of that people killed the High Priest.

For, out Priest became a sacrifice debha,

through His offering He put an end to the sacrifices.

To all sides He extended His help.14

In the OT priests were more valuable than their animal victims. They were, however purified by

the animals without holiness. In the NT the victim is the Lamb descended from heaven, the

victim par excellence, whom the priests of this world could not sacrifice. Jesus, therefore,

12Res I,9 ACR pp. 79-80

13Nat 24,24. CSCO 186/Syr 82 p. 12614AZ II, 2-3. ACR p. 4


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became both victim and offerer of his sacrifice. (Az II, 4 - 5). In this new Paschal Sacrifice there

is identity between the priest and the victim which is possible only in the most perfect sacrifice.

Ephrem is convinced of the uniqueness and perfection of the Sacrifice of Jesus, the True Lamb

on the cross. He has probably experienced this profound religious truth from the scene of the

sacrifice of the Paschal lamb and from the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Church.

The prophecies of the OT have been fulfilled in this Lamb who became also Priest and

Pontiff for us, says Ephrem:

The Lamb came from the house of David

Priest and Pontiff, the son of Abraham.

For us he became Lamb, he became Pontiff

His body for sacrifice, his blood for sprinkling

Blessed be his fulfillment.15

Jesus sacrifice, the most pleasing and most sanctifying, made the animal sacrifice pass away. In

it the Lamb was its known offering priest:

Virg 31, 5:

Christ all pleasing offering qurbana- which was offered for us.

Sanctifying sacrifice debha maqudsa- which offered itself.

Drink offering which made the blood of calves and sheep pass away,

Lamp which was for itself the offering priest

Blessed is he, to whom his prayer became incense

And who brought it though you to your Father.16

15The Harp, Vol. V, No. 1,2,3, (July 1992), p 6216Virg 31,5 CSCO 223/Syr 94, p. 133


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According to St. Ephrem, Christ is not only the Lamb, but also the Shepherd who became

lamb for our atonement. In Ephrems thought the image of the lamb is closely connected with

that of the shepherd. He attributes to Jesus the true Lamb, a double messianic function of lamb

and of shepherd. He was probably inspired by Jn 10, 1 - 18.

Nat III, 15 i-ii

Blessed is the Shepherd, who became

The Lamb for our atonement.17

The saint wants to bring out the voluntary vicarious death of the savior who gives his life of his

own accord. (Nativity II, 1 - 5) The Lamb - Shepherd image is seen also in Isa 40, 11; 49, 10;

Rev 7, 17. Ephrem recognizes the details of the slaughter of the paschal lamb in the crucifixion

of Jesus. Having in mind the passion of Jesus, Ephrem says that in Nisan the wolves ragged

against the shepherd who became a sheep. The shepherd changed himself into a sheep and then

killed itself for the wolves who having eaten it, were transformed into sheep.

Virg XX, 3 i-iv:

The wolves had always heard it from John

As he called Christ the Lamb

And since then they wished to kill Him before the feast

So that He might not become the Paschal Lamb.18

Ephrem calls attention to the similarity between slaughtered paschal lamb and the crucified

Savior, both brought to death in order that others might live. Here Ephrem seems to stress the

continuity between Israels sacrificial system and Christs expiating death.

17Nat III, 15. i-ii. CSCO 186/Syr 82 p. 2318Virg XX, 3 i-iv; CSCO 223/Syr 94 p. 668


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Hymn on Unleavened Bread 1.7

For He gave Himself to them that they might live by His death

And like the Lamb in Egypt that gave life in a symbol of its Lord,

He was killed and redeemed them by His love for His people

Jesus was destined from the very beginning to be the lamb of the Paschal. John the Baptist

testified to this truth. (Jn 1:29). The Jews did not, however, wish that he become the paschal

lamb. Ephrem recognizes in the crucifixion of Jesus the details of the slaughter of the paschal

lamb and establishes the fulfillment of the type in him. The piercing of Jesus hands and legs,

lifting him on the cross, all these details are seen by Ephrem in the light of the paschal

prescription of Ex 12 which was followed by the Jews in their Passover sacrifice of later years as

well. Thus the type was fulfilled in the Reality.

The blood of the Passover lamb saved the Israelites. The blood of the spotless lamb

appeased the height and depth, says Ephrem. (Az. II, 6). Likewise the blood of Christ saved the

new Israel from death. Certainly the blood of Christ is far superior to that of the paschal lamb. It

has the hidden perfume of life. The blood of this spotless lamb reconciles heaven and earth.

Az II, 6:

For the priests with their blemish were not worthy

To offer the spotless lamb- emra dia muma

He became a peace-offering and pacified

The height and depth with his appeasing blood badmeh msayan.19

The sacrifice of the true Paschal Lamb and the consequence shedding of its blood,

inaugurates the new economy of salvation. It brought salvation to all nations. (cf. Az XXI).

19Az II,6. ACR p. 4


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Ephrem brings out the differences between salvific work of the blood of the symbolic lamb and

of the True Lamb. The former saved only the Israelites whereas the latter brought salvations to

all nations. Brilliant examples of Ephrems use of paschal imagery to explore the unity of

salvation history are preserved in his Hymns on Unleavened Bread. The salvific similarity

between the sacrifice of the paschal lamb which coincided with Israels exodus from Egypt and

the death of Christ affected the resurrection of the righteous dead. Christ is the Priest and Victim

whose Body became our sacrifice and the Blood our sprinkling, sings Ephrem in the First hymn

of Resurrection.

C) PASCHAL MYSTERY REALIZATION IN THE CHURCH.

Paschal mystery of Christ has three dimensions namely, the past, the present and the

future. In the paschal mystery of Christ we remember his passion, death, burial, victorious

resurrection, ascension and exaltation at the right hand to his Father. It belongs to the past. In the

dimension of the present the paschal mystery is lived in the church in union with Christ and in

the course of history until the end of times when the great paschal will take place. The paschal of

Christ will find its perfection in the third stage i.e., in the parousia.

The paschal mystery in its actual eschatological present state in which the past and the future

meet is fully realized only in Christ. Today Christians are partly in the eschatological era by their

contact with Christ through faith and sacraments of which the Eucharist is the centre. The

Eucharist, therefore, is rightly called the paschal in which the fulfilled paschal mystery is

celebrated. For Ephrem, Eucharist is the continuation of the last supper and of the sacrifice of

Calvary. In it Christ, the true Paschal Lamb becomes the true Unleavened Bread. The Eucharistic

sacrifice abolished all the OT Sacrifices.


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Ephrem is fully aware that the type is in the OT and the reality is in the Church. If the

type sanctified the people, the truth will do so much more to the nations. The paschal lamb, the

unleavened bread, the manna and the quail were all signs of the truth that was to come in the

future, viz., the Eucharist. In Ephrems thought the bread and wine are identical with that of the

last supper. Making use of typology Ephrem establishes the connection between the paschal

symbols of the OT and their truth fulfilled in the last supper, on the cross and in the Holy

Eucharist of the Church.

Fulfilling the OT types, in the Eucharist Christ abolished the OT priesthood and

sacrifices. In the Eucharist he superseded the priesthood Melchizedech, who offered bread and

wine. Hence neither blood-sacrifices nor the offerings have any place in the new Economy.

Ephrem sees the cessation of the OT priesthood symbolized in the tearing of rob of Caiaphas, the

high priest (Mk 14, 63) and in the tearing of the temple veil (Mt 27, 51) (Cruc. IV, 12).

The Eucharistic sacrifice abolished not only the sacrifice of the OT, but also those of the

gentiles, who had offered animals and even their children to their gods in order to nourish them

and to sprinkled their idols with animal blood. The son of God, however, became food for us and

gave us his Blood to drink and became a perfect victim to reconcile us with the Father.

Ephrem specifies the difference between the sacrifice offered by the gentiles and the Christian

Eucharistic sacrifice. The former were offered to placate gods, whereas the latter is offered by

the son of God himself, who became the perfect victim for mankind to reconcile the human race

with God and to nourish it spiritually. For convincing us the superiority and sacredness of the


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Eucharist, our holy Doctor compares the unleavened the bread of the Jewish Pesah to the drug to

death, whereas the Eucharist is the medicine of life. The true unleavened bread is given to us in

the Eucharistic sacrifice, mainly the Eucharistic sacrifice of the church. It belongs to an entirely

new sphere and its effects are far reaching.

St. Ephrem describes the entire human life into three stages, viz., from Eden to Zion,

from Zion to Holy church and from church to the kingdom. We are now at the third stage, i.e.,

from the church to the kingdom in which he is given life through the Eucharist. He is destined to

enter paradise. It is the Eucharistic spiritual bread that enables him to re-enter paradise.

Az XVII, 8 9

The earthly ones ate heavenly manna

They became dust on the earth through their sins

Spiritual bread flew lightly away

The Gentiles soared up and settled in the midst of Paradise.20

In order to enter heaven one has to be heavenly. Elsewhere Ephrem says that the bread is

spiritual as its giver and it gives life to the spiritual ones.

Nat. IV, 97:

The bread is spiritual like its Giver;

It revives spiritual ones in a spiritual manner21

By the blessing of our Lord at the last supper the bread became the medicine of life, says St.

Ephrem. According to him the Christian is baptized with the Holy Spirit and is nourished by the

20Az XVII, 8-9. ACR21Nat IV, 97i. CSCO 186/Syr 82 p. 23


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medicine of life. (CN 46, 8). Besides, the Eucharistic bread grants us real freedom, remitting our

sins and cancelling the bond of our debts.

Nat. IV 99:

Let the mind take the bread of the Compassionate One

in a discerning manner as the medicine of life.22

St. Ephrem often meditates on the presence of the divine in the bread and wine. In his Hymn on

the Faith. No. 6, he declares:

"For in the Bread is eaten a strength not to be eaten and in the

Wine is drunk a might not to be drunk..."

Ephrem draws a parallel between the divine action at the Incarnation and at the Eucharist. In the

Hymn on the Faith. No. 10:

In the womb that bore you are Fire and the Spirit,

Fire and Spirit are in the river where you were baptized,

Fire and Spirit are in our Baptism too,

And in the Bread and the Cup are Fire and Spirit.

The Syriac writer views the Eucharist as divine nourishment for our spiritual journey. In his

Homily on Our Lord, Ephrem explains that our deficiency is filled by the "leaven" from the

Body of Christ. Christ who possesses fullness and life in His body supplies for our deficiency

22Nat IV, 99. CSCO 186/Syr 82


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Carried them off from me

That lamb filled the graves for me

But this has emptied the graves that were full.24

Ephrem clearly sees the work of the Holy Spirit in the Eucharist just as in the incarnation and in

the baptism of Jesus. It is a continuation of the incarnation. The same Holy Spirit is at work in

both mysteries. The spirit is at work in the living bread. Through the Eucharist we achieve a

profound union with the risen Christ. The Eucharist thus assures a permanent and active presence

of Christ in the church. It prepares the people for the glorious coming of the Lord.

CONCLUSION

St. Ephrems paschal theology is centered on the Holy Eucharist. His vision of the

Eucharist is very realistic. For him, Eucharist is the synthesis of the economy of salvation. It is

not only a memorial, but also a representation to the last supper and Calvary. In it Christ

becomes the true lamb and the true unleavened bread and gives himself to us as paschal food and

drink, giving us life, strength and hope. Eucharist is therefore, not so much a symbol, as a reality

active and present, which announces, prefigures and anticipates our future glory in the risen

Christ. It makes everyone to participate in the true passover, the ultimate goal of which is the

perfect liberation leading into paradise and enable everyone to enjoy the Eternal Passover.

24CNis, 36.12. CSCO 218-19/Syr 9293


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ANTI-JEWISH THOUGHTS IN EPHREM HYMNS

Saint Ephrem is perhaps the most famous writer in Syriac Christianity, which in its earliest

form is often regarded as a more Semitic Christianity, in Antiquity, than that of the

Mediterranean Greek- and Latin-speaking area. Ephrem promoted an orthodox understanding

of Christian faith through the many hymns, or madrashe, that he wrote for liturgical use. The

relationship between Scripture and history is complex in any Christian account, which must, by

its very nature, concurrently account for the world that Christians inhibit as well as for Christian

salvation history. Ephrems use of Scripture to recount history produces grand narrative that

supports, and in fact culminates in, his own conclusions that the Jewish people forfeited the

Gods divine favor through their creation of the golden calf at Mt. Sinai, and that Judaism after

the crucifixion of Jesus is entirely defunct. Ephrem constructs for his audience a world with

distinct and divinely sanctioned social boundaries between Jews and Christians, and at same time

leaves no doubt that it is Christians rather than Jews who are Gods own chosen people.25

Scholars have already devoted considerable attention to Ephrems poetic use of symbolic,

typological, and metaphorical language, as well as to his rich use of biblical language in his

writings. His poems and metrical prose are rich with colorful and imaginative descriptions that

led Robert Murray to refer him as the greatest poet of the patristic age and, perhaps, the only

theologian-poet to rank beside Dante. It is with the metaphorical language of symbols, signs,

mirrors, and types that Ephrem explains the continuity between the two Testaments. Ephrem

refers several times to the two Testaments, the first of which he calls the Testament of

Moses and he frequently descries the characters and events of this first testament as symbols,

25Shepardson Christine Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy(The Catholic Uty. Of America Press, Washington

DC, 2008), p. 70


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signs, and types of Christian parallels. Ephrem adopts and emphasizes a foretelling of

Christian truths out of the testament of Moses in numerous other places, such as the sacrifice

of the Passover lamb as symbol of Jesus crucifixion.26

In this paper I would like to look into symbols, type and language Ephrem used in some of his

hymns related to the paschal lamb, which were more like anti-Jewish language and is open for

discussion.The first three examples of Ephrems anti-Jewish works are taken from a series of

hymns on the Unleavened Bread, for use in the days before the festival of Easter. It is clear from

Ephrem, and from other writers of the period such as St John Chrysostom in Antioch in Syria,

that Christians found participation in Jewish festivals attractive, with Pesach being a great

favorite. Ephrem uses the strongest possible language to deter his congregants from eating matza

with their Jewish neighbors. He also uses Old Testament Scripture very selectively and out of

context, to support his argument that God has rejected the Jewish Chosen People, in favor of the

People from the Peoples (i.e., Gentile Christians). Ephrems goal is to get local Christians to

accept the superior spiritual significance of Easter over Passover, and of Eucharistic bread (as

symbol of the Body of Christ) over Jewish unleavened bread.

Hymn on Unleavened Bread XVII

1. Nisan that renews every plant

could not revive the aged People.

Refrain: Blessed is he who rejected the People and their matza

since their hands were defiled with precious blood!

26Ibid p. 74


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2. For when the People went forth they bore

leaven of idolatry along with matza.

3. In Egypt Moses forbade them to knead yeasted dough

together with his matza.

4. By this means he taught them not to hide

Egyptian leaven within their mind.

5. Matza is a symbol of the bread of life;

those of old ate the new mystery.

6. Moses disclosed the symbol of the One who renews all

and gave it to gluttons who craved flesh.

7. Meat from the earth weighed them down

their mind stooped to greed.

8. The earthly ones ate heavenly manna

They became dust on the earth through their sins

9. Spiritual bread flew lightly away

The Gentiles soared up and settled in the midst of Paradise.

14. Matzas nature is heavy

Symbolizing the People that cannot fly.


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15. Elijah ate from the pitcher and jugs

the light symbol that flew through the air

16. It was not a Daughter of Jacob who provided the symbol:

Elijah ate it through that Daughter of the Gentiles

17. If the [mere] symbol of [Christs] bread made [Elijah] fly like that

how much more may it transport Gentiles to Eden?

Hymns on Unleavened Bread XIX

1. The True Lamb rose and broke his body

for the perfect ones who ate the Passover Lamb.

Refrain: Glory to Christ who by his body

brought an end to the Peoples matza along with the People.

5. The wicked People who desire our death

enticingly offer us death through food.

6. The tree that Eve saw was desirable

and matza is just as desirable.

7. But from that lovely tree was revealed death:

death is concealed in fine matza.

8. Although the dead lion was very unclean

its bitterness offered sweetness

9. In a bitter lion there was fine honey

in sweet matza, a deadly poison!


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10. Angels longed for that unleavened bread

that Sarah baked, because it symbolized [Christ]

11. Loathe matza, brethren!

It signifies Iscariot.

12. Again, flee from matza, brethren!

Its purity harbors a stench.

13. For the putrid name that Moses wrote

lies in matzas wholesomeness

14. The People craved garlic and onions

their matza reeks along with their food.

15. Elijah took bread from unclean ravens

because he knew that it was pure.

16. Don't take that matza, brethren,

from the People with blood-spattered hands

17. Lest some of that filth in which their hands are steeped

should cling to that unleavened bread.

18. Even if meat is clean, no one eats

from whats been sacrificed, since it's defiled.

19. How much more unclean is matza,

kneaded by hands that killed the Son!

20. its an abomination to take food

from a hand defiled with animal blood.

21. Who would take anything from the hand

utterly defiled with the prophets blood?


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22. My brethren, dont eat the matza of the People

deadly poison together with the elixir of life

23 . For the blood of the Messiah is present, mixed into

the People's matza and our Eucharist

24. Anyone who takes it in the Eucharist takes the elixir of life:

Anyone who eats it with the People takes a lethal drug

25. For that blood of which they cried, Let it be upon us!

Is mixed into their feasts and their Sabbaths.

26. Whoever joins in their feasts

he too becomes spattered with the blood.

27. The People that did not eat pork

is a blood-stained pig.

28. Flee from it, keep your distance as it shakes itself

lest it stain you with a spattering of the blood.

Stanza 27 invokes two of the greatest sources of religious pollution, from a Jewish point of view:

pigs and blood. (However, archaeologists note evidence that pork was not eaten in Syria other

than by Roman soldiers stationed there, so the abhorrence of pigs may have been a common

cultural feature shared by local Christians.) The crude imagery ends the hymn with an

exhortation to keep ones distance from Jews in order not to share that pollution.27

27 Alison Salvesen, St. Ephrem (Ephrem the Syrian, c. 306-373 CE): Anti-Jewish Hymns,

http://www.jnjr.div.ed.ac.uk/Primary%20Sources/rabbinic/salvesen_ephrem.html (accessed March 15, 2013)


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Hymn on Unleavened Bread XVIII

Refrain: Give thanks to the Son who gave us his body

In place of that matza that he gave the People.

3. For see, there is fresh pasture in Nisan

the ox prone to goring eats it

4. And when the People ate that matza

They gored the Son with a spear in Nisan

5. In new pasture the ass grows fat

Like it the People waxed fat and kicked

6. If fresh food really brings benefit

a beast is better than that People!

7. A beast is superior to them too, because they are reproached through it:

Unlike it, they do not know their master

8. A serpent sheds its skin and is made new;

however often the People sheds its exterior, inside they grow old.

9. See how the People refresh their outward appearance

While in their heart dwells deadly poison.

10. For [the People] resembles the first serpent

Who deceived us by giving us deadly fruit.


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11. For see, they offer us some of their matza

To become a deadly drug within us.

12. O aged People who by matza

and leaven alike make the fresh stale!

13. O matza that little by little

draws those who eat it towards the infidels!

14. In fresh matza they secretly offer

the old leaven of unbelief.

15. Moses hid a sign of the Son

Within that matza, like an elixir of life.

16. [Christ] rinsed the elixir from the matza

and gave it to Judas [Iscariot] as a deadly drug

17. So whoever takes some of that matza

takes the lethal drug of [Judas] Iscariot!

The People, Ephrems contemporaries the Jews, are compared to animals in Scripture: to

a goring ox, a complacent and recalcitrant ass, to a domestic animal that does not know its

Master, and finally to the serpent in Eden (Genesis 3), origin of evil and death in the world.

Ephrem does not deny that Jesus himself ate matza at the Last Supper before his crucifixion

(stanza 16), but he argues that by giving it to his betrayer, Judas Iscariot, Jesus marked the end of


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Passover as a salvific feast. It has no more utility, and in fact is now deadly, whereas the

Eucharistic bread is the medicine of life.

Given Ephrems status as the Syriac writer par excellence for the Syriac churches, and for

other Christians and scholars, the existence of a number of such virulently anti-Jewish works

among his hymns causes considerable embarrassment for his modern proponents. Taken within

the general context of his anti-heretical stance, their existence makes some sense: orthodox

Christianity in Nisibis and Edessa was represented by a small and not very powerful group on the

very edge of the Empire, to which Judaism was as much a threat if not a greater one than more

Christian heresies28

.But that does not excuse the vulgarity and unpleasantness of the language

Ephrem uses in the anti-Jewish hymns. Moreover, although even the finest of Ephrems hymns

are rarely sung in full now, the legacy of the sentiments can linger in the modern churches.

Isolated stanzas of Syriac hymns, including a few expressing anti-Jewish sentiments, sometimes

appear in the printed liturgical texts of Syriac churches. This is a challenge for those translating

the liturgies into Western languages for the use of the growing Diaspora communities of Syriac

Christians.

28Shepardson, 2008


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BIBLOGRAPHY AND RESOURCES

BOOKS

Brock, Sebastian. "An Introduction to Syriac Studies,"Horizons in Semitic Studies - Articles for

the Student(ed. J. H. Eaton; Birmingham, 1980)

Brock, SebastianThe Syriac Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life. Kalamazoo, MI:

Cistercian Publications, 1987

Brock, Sebastian. The Harp of the Spirit. Studies Supplementary to Sobornost, No. 4 (1983)

J.B. Morris, S. Ephrem the Syrian, Oxford, John Henry Parker; F and J Rivington, London

Robert Murray S.J., Symbols of Church and Kingdom, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

1975),

Shepardson, Christine, Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy, ((The Catholic Uty. Of America

Press, Washington DC,2008)

Sidney H. Griffith, Spirit in the Bread; Fire in the Wine: The Eucharist as Living Medicine in

the Thought of Ephrem the Syrian, Modern Theology (1999)

ARTICLES

Naduvilezham, Joseph, Paschal Lamb in Ephrem of Nisibis, (The Harp, Vol. V, No. 1, 2, 3,

SEERI, 1992)

WEBSITES

Jewish-non-Jewish Relations,http://www.jnjr.div.ed.ac.uk/Primary%20Sources/rabbinic/salvesen_ephrem.html, (accessed March 15,

2013)

Documents

A Paper on Paschal Theology