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Hymns on Paradise

St Ephrem the Syrian, tr. Burgess, 1853; selections

I

The air of Paradise
Is a fountain of sweetness,
From which, in early life,
Adam inhaled nutriment;¹
And the inspiration was to his youth
Like the ministering breast of a mother.
He was young, fair, and joyful:—
But having spurned the commandment,
He became unhappy, old, and fading,
Bearing the weight of years
And a load of miseries!

No blighting frosts,
No withering heats,²
Are in that region
Of blessedness and joy.
It is a haven of gladness,
A home³ of delights,—
Light and merriment reside within it:—
There is a congregation of harpers,
A society of players on the lute,⁴
The sound of Hosannahs,
A Church of Hallelujahs!⁵

The fence which surrounds it,
Is the safety which makes all tranquil;
Its wall and its precincts,⁶
Is the peace which unites all together;
The cherub which walks around it
Is gentle to those within,
But threatening to those without, who are reprobate.
Concerning this Paradise,
Which is pure and holy,
The report which thou hearest
Is true and spiritual.⁷

Let not its nature⁸ be judged
From what is heard of it,
For its descriptions⁸ do not altogether
Come within our judgment;
For although, by the names given to it,
It may seem to be earthly,
In reality⁹ that pure place is spiritual:—
For even the names of spirits¹⁰
Are common to both kinds;
Yet that which is impure
Is far different from the holy.

For in no other manner
Is it possible for a speaker,
But by the names of things
Which are well known,
To form descriptions¹¹
Like things which are obscure;
For if He who is the Creator of the Garden
Had not shrouded its magnificence,
In words which are vernacular to us,¹²
How could He have represented
His garden, in our dark speeches?¹³

For if among the names
Which are borrowed by the Divine Majesty,
A man should wander and be ensnared,—
He profanes and injures It,
By means of those borrowed terms
Which It put on for his benefit;
And spurns the grace which bowed down
Its lofty height to his childish stature.¹⁴
For he having no natural affinity with It,
It clothed Itself with things like to him,
To cause him to attain to Its likeness.¹⁵

Let not then thy intellect
Be disturbed by these accidental names;¹⁶
For Paradise is represented¹⁷
In terms which are vernacular to thee;
It is not indigent,
Because it is clothed with things like to thee:—
Thy nature rather is very imbecile,
Which is not able to attain to its greatness.
Insipid would be its beauties,
Were it depicted in the colours,¹⁸
Which are natural to thee!

For eyes which are feeble,
Have not sufficient power
To contemplate the bright rays
Of its celestial beauties.
He hath clothed its trees
With the names of our trees,
And its figs are called by the names of our figs;
And its leaves which are spiritual
Are realized¹⁹ and embodied;
They are transformed, that their vesture
May resemble the vesture of earthly things.

The flowers of that country
Are more numerous and brilliant,
Than the starry lights
Of this visible heaven;
And a fragrance proceeds from it,
Borne along in its gracious influence,
Like a physician sent to the maladies
Of a land which is cursed:—
By its healing odour²⁰
Curing the distemper,
Which entered by the serpent.

By the gale which blows
From the blessed region of Paradise,
Sweetness is communicated
To the bitterness of this region;
This renders ineffective²¹
The curse of our earth.
The Garden is thus the vital breath
Of this diseased world;
And dwelling among the sickly,
It proclaims that a living balsam
Is sent to our mortality.

Thus when the blessed Apostles
Were assembled together,
The place was moved,
And there was a sweet savour of Paradise;
Which stirred up its repositories,
And caused its perfumes to flow forth:—
It diffused its odours on the messengers,
By whom men were to be made disciples,
And come as guests to the feast.
Thus it seemed good to the high Majesty²²
Of Him who loved the children of men.

Notes

“Inhaled nutriment.”—Sy., [Syriac], sucked, as a child at the breast.
“No blighting frosts, no withering heats.”—Literally, cold of injuries, and heat of blastings or burnings.
“A home of delights.”—The Syriac word rendered “home” is [Syriac], a returning, place of returning; used of the goal, mark, &c., which ends a race. See Hymn XXV., strophe 12.
“Players on the lute.”—Literally, a congregation of harps, of lutes, by a bold metonymy.
“A Church of Hallelujahs.”—Perhaps these two verses should have been translated, those who sing Hosannahs, &c. But the figure has been retained, to convey an idea of the abrupt and startling style of the original.
“Its wall and its precincts.”—Sy., [Syriac], its wall and the son of its wall, the antemurale; “muros et pomœria,” as the Latin translator renders it.
“Is true and spiritual.”—The four last verses of this strophe must be considered as introducing the principal topic of the hymn; the use, namely, to be made of figurative representations of divine things; and in a prose composition would be joined with the next sentence. The Latin translator does so, but this course is prohibited by the very artificial character of the strophes of this homily.
“Its nature.”—[Syriac], its history, description, its true condition, as it would be described by an adequate historian. “Its descriptions;” i. e., its true representations, are beyond mortal power. The Latin translator has, “quæ mortalis judicis cognitioni non subsunt.”
“In reality.”—[Syriac], in its power; potentia, facultas.
“For even the names of spirits.”—The argument is, that two things essentially different in many respects may have the same terminology on account of some points of resemblance, as the Paradise described in human language, and the Paradise of heaven. Evil and good spirits are designated alike [Syriac] as to their generic idea, but are vastly unlike in their properties. The Latin translator loses sight of the illustration, and merely gives the fact it teaches:—“Vocabula quidem utrique paradiso communia sunt; at tu sacrum a profano excernito.”
“To form descriptions.”—[Syriac], hearings, in the passive sense; descriptions conveyed to others by the ear.
“Words vernacular to us.”—Words [Syriac], the children of our place.
“Our dark speeches.”—[Syriac], our enigmas, parables; i. e., in our language so ill adapted for a clear representation of what Paradise really is.
“His childish stature.”—Sy., [Syriac], to his state of boyhood.
“To its likeness.”—The Syriac is very concise:—It put on things like to him (man), that it might lead him to things like to it (the divine Majesty).
“Accidental names.”—[Syriac], cognomina, surnames.
“Paradise is represented.”—Literally, Paradise is clothed in names, the children of thy race.
“Were it depicted in the colours.”—The word translated “colours” is [Syriac], from a root not often found in Syriac, at least in the existing Lexicons. In Aphel, [Syriac], it signifies, pharmacum, venenum præbuit; and [Syriac] is generally rendered pharmaca. But Hahn, in his Lexicon to his Chrestomathy has given the meaning, “colores, et sæpe rationales colores quibus efficitur descriptio;” which is the exact meaning of the word in the text. It will be interesting to quote two passages from Ephraem, by which this view is confirmed. They are both from Hymn XXXIII., Adversus Scrutatores (tom. vi., p. 59). The first is in strophe 4:—
[Syriac] If then for painters
It is difficult to represent
Spirit in colours.
The second illustration is near the close:—
[Syriac] For behold the colours
Of the intellect of every mind
Do not come near to the Son.
“Are realized.”—Sy., [Syriac], are seized, laid hold of. That which is in itself spiritual is grasped and confined in a bodily form.
“By its healing odour.”—Sy., by the odour of its healings.
“This renders ineffectual.”—[Syriac], from [Syriac], infatuatus, insipidus factus est; to deprive anything of its inherent qualities, render ineffective. See Matt. v. 13, where the word is used of salt having lost its savour.
“The high Majesty.”—[Syriac], a plural emphatic from [Syriac], elevatus est. So at least the translator is disposed to consider the word, for it is not found in the Lexicons. In the small space of this homily, the lexicographer may glean large materials for his operations.