"The hutzpah of our love is pleasing to you, O Lord, just as it pleased you that we should steal from your bounty.��? "The hater of mankind, in his shameless impudence, attacks The Holy Church in the person of her servers. O Lord, do not leave Thy holy Church without Thy care, that the promise that Thou didst utter concerning her invincibility may not be shown false." "Blessed is the person who has consented to become the close friend of faith and of prayer: he lives in singlemindedness and makes prayer and faith stop by with him. Prayer that rises up in someone's heart serves to open up for us the door of heaven: that person stands in converse with the Divinity and gives pleasure to the Son of God. Prayer makes peace with the Lord's anger and with the vehemence of His wrath. In this way too, tears that well up in the eyes can open the door of compassion." The Seraph could not touch the fire's coal with his fingers, but just brought it close to Isaiah's mouth: the Seraph did not hold it, Isaiah did not consume it, but us our Lord has allowed to do both. * (Ephrem is) "The greatest poet of the patristic age and, perhaps, the only theologian-poet to rank beside Dante." &mdash; Robert Murray. == Sources ==* Brock, Sebastian P (1985). ''The luminous eye: the spiritual world vision of Saint Ephrem'', Cistercian Publications (ISBN 0-87907-624-0)* Brock, Sebastian (trans.) (1990). ''Hymns on paradise: St. Ephrem the Syrian''. St Vladimir's Seminary Press, Crestwood, New York (ISBN 0-88141-076-4)* Griffith, Sidney H (1997). ''Faith adoring the mystery: reading the Bible with St. Ephraem the Syrian''. Marquette University Press, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (ISBN 0-87462-577-7)* Matthews, Edward G and Joseph P Amar (trans.), Kathleen McVey (ed.) (1994). ''Saint Ephrem the Syrian: selected prose works''. Catholic University of America Press (ISBN 0-8132-0091-1)* McVey, Kathleen E (trans.) (1989). ''Ephrem the Syrian: hymns''. Paulist Press. (ISBN 0-8091-3093-9)*[[Wikipedia:Ephrem the Syrian]] == External links ==* [http://sor.cua.edu/Personage/MEphrem/ ''Margonitho'': Mor Ephrem the Syrian]* [http://tserkovnost.org/stephrem/ ''Saint Ephrem the Syrian Library'']* [http://www.anastasis.org.uk/ephrem.htm ''Anastasis'' article]* [http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/Vol1No2/index.html ''Hugoye'': Influence of Saint Ephraim the Syrian, part 1]* [http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/Vol2No1/index.html ''Hugoye'': Influence of Saint Ephraim the Syrian, part 2]* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05498a.htm ''Catholic Encyclopedia'': Saint Ephraem]* [http://87.1911encyclopedia.org/E/EP/EPHRAEM_SYRUS.htm ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' 1911: "Ephraem Syrus"]* [http://goarch.org/en/chapel/saints.asp?contentid=406 Ephraim the Syrian] from the website of the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]]* [http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=100328 Venerable Ephraim the Syrian] from the website of the [[OCA]]<!-- broken link * [http://saintgeorge.org/news_and_events/church_calendar/saint_of_the_day/01jan/jan_28_saint_ephraim_of_syria.php Saint Ephraim the Syrian] from the website of the parish of the Saint George [[Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America|Antiochian]] Orthodox Christian Church of Washington, D.C. --->* [http://www.saintandrew.net/fr_josiah/works/Nativity/Nativity%20Sermon%20from%20Hymns%20of%20St.%20Eprhem%20the%20Syrian.pdf Selections from the Hymns of St. Ephrem the Syrian on the Nativity of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ in the Flesh] (PDF) - Arranged responsorially by Fr. Josiah Trenham* [http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/prayers/ephraim.html Prayer of Saint Ephraim] [[Category:Church Fathers]][[Category:Featured Articles]][[Category:Hymnographers]][[Category:Monastics]][[Category:Saints]][[Category:Syrian Saints]] [[ar:أفرام السرياني]]