Ephrem of Edessa (also known as "the Syrian") lived from around 306 to 373 and was one of the great theologians and hymn writers of the early church. He wrote in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic (the language Jesus spoke), and thus is not nearly as well-known in the western church as he should be. His Hymns on Paradise is a cycle of 15 hymns ranging in length from 11 to 31 verses (think of that next time you are tempted to complain about singing all the verses of a hymn in church).
Here is a selection:
1.
In the world there is struggle,
in
Eden, a crown of glory.
At
our resurrection
both
earth and heaven will God renew,
liberating
all creatures,
granting
them paschal joy, along with us.
Upon
our mother Earth, along with us,
did
he lay disgrace
when
he laid on her, with the sinner, the curse;
so,
together with the just, will he bless her too;
this
nursing mother, along with her children,
shall
He who is Good renew.
Response:
Blessed is He who, in his Paradise,
gives
joy to our gloom
2.
The evil one mixed his cup,
proffering
its bitterness to all;
in
everyone’s path, he set his snares,
for
everyone has he spread out his net;
he
has caused tares to spring up
in
order to choke the good seed.
But
in His glorious Paradise
He
who is Good
Will
sweeten their bitter trials,
Their
crowns he will make great;
because
they have borne their crosses
He
will escort them into Eden.
3.
Should you wish
to
climb a tree,
with
its lower branches
it
will provide steps before your feet,
eager
to make you recline
in
its bosom above,
on
the couch of its upper branches.
So
arranged is the surface of these branches,
bent
low and cupped
–while
yet dense with flowers–
that
they serve as a protective womb
for
whoever rests there.
4.
Who has ever beheld such a banquet
in
the very bosom of a tree,
with
fruit of every savor
ranged
for the hand to pluck?
Each
type of fruit in due sequence approaches,
Each
awaiting its turn:
fruit
to eat,
and
fruit to quench the thirst;
to
rinse the hands there is dew,
and
leaves to dry them after
–a
treasure store that lacks nothing,
Whose
Lord is rich in all things.
5.
Around the trees the air is limpid
as
the saints recline;
below
them are blossoms,
above
them fruit;
fruits
serve as their sky,
flowers
as their earth.
Who
has ever heard
or
seen
a
cloud of fruits providing shade
for
the head,
or
a garment of flowers
spread
out beneath the feet?
6.
Such is the flowing brook of delights
that,
as one tree takes leave of you,
the
next one beckons you;
all
of them rejoice
that
you should partake of the fruit of one
and
suck the juice of another,
wash
and cleanse yourself
in
the dew of yet a third;
anoint
yourself with the resin of one
and
breath another’s fragrance,
listen
to the song of still another.
Blessed
is He who gave joy to Adam.
[from
hymn IX of Hymns on Paradise, p. 136-138]
More
numerous and glorious
than
the stars
in
the sky that we behold
are
the blossoms of that land,
and
the fragrance which exhales from it
through
divine Grace
is
like a physician
sent
to heal the ills
of
a land that is under a curse;
by
its healing breath it cures
the
sickness that entered in
through
the serpent.
[hymn
XI, v. 9]
I
enjoy the imagery in the verses above and there are more like them in the cycle
of hymns. They remind us that our delight in creation here and now is a foreshadowing of the delight we will know in the New Creation of Paradise. For Ephrem, Paradise is not an escape from this world
and physical reality. Rather, it is heaven and earth – along with us – renewed in Easter
delight.
For
the colors of Paradise are full of joy,
its
scents most wonderful,
its
beauties most desirable,
and
its delicacies glorious.
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