St. Ephraem (Ephraim) of Edessa

Feastday 9th June

Born not known

Died 373

May have been the son of a pagan priest. Brought to the faith by Saint James of Nisibis, and baptized at age 18. Helped to evangelize Nisibis, Mesopotamia. May have attended the Council of Nicaea in 325. Deacon. Preacher. Had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 363 Nisibis was ceded to Persia; a great persecution of Christians began, and Eprem led an exodus of the faithful to Edessa. Founded a theological school in Edessa. Writer of homilies and hymns; poet. Helped introduce the use of hymns in public worship. Fought Gnosticism and Arianism by his writings, including poems and hymns. Proclaimed Doctor of the Church in 1920.¹

1. Taken from Patron saints Index at http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sainte02.htm

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“In the last days Agog and Magog shall burst forth and come from the land, and Agog and Magog shall ascend to the mountain of Jerusalem, to place their camp there. And their flying horsemen shall descend into Egypt, and against the Indians. They shall seize an infinite body of men, of riches, of cattle and sheep, for food for themselves….” ¹

“Then Divine Justice shall call upon Michael, the leader of the Hosts, and send him to destroy their camps; as the camps of Sennacherib. At the command, and with his mighty and terrible sword, the Angel shall go forth and destroy their armies in the twinkling of an eye, and in the same moment the Divine Justice, thundering from on high, shall destroy their camps with rocks of fire. Their slain shall lie upon the ground, innumerable as the sands. Beasts and men shall die, and the whole camp shall perish, and flame shall be set loose against the sea and against the islands. The bow of Agog, the evil king, shall fall from his left hand, and the arrows from his right (Ez. xxxix:3; and his camp shall be wholly destroyed….” ²

“Then the Lord from His Glorius heaven shall set up his peace. And the kingdom of the Romans shall rise in place of this latter people and establish its dominion upon the earth, even unto its ends, and there shall be no-one who will resist it. After iniquity shall have subsequently multiplied and all creatures have become defiled then divine justice shall appear and shall wholly destroy the people and coming fourth from perdition the man of iniquity shall be revealed upon the earth, the seducer of men and disturber of the whole earth…” ³

“In that day in which 'the son of perdition' shall come upon the earth, there shall be great confusion throughout the whole world, and bewilderment shall come upon the earth. The sun shall be darkened, and the stars shall fall from heaven. All the heavenly bodies shall be extinguished, and darkness envelop the world. The earth shall tremble to its foundations; "the mountains shall be moved and the hills shall tremble" Is. liv:10. Springs and fountains shall dry up; the waves shall be swallowed in the depths of the sea, and fish shall disappear. Rulers shall cease from judgment, and priests tremble in the sanctuary. The power of the strong shall collapse. There shall be stupor upon the earth; the hands of all shall be undone. The man of evil prepare, and coming he will enter Jerusalem; he will build up and establish Sion, and will make himself God, and entering he will sit in the temple, as the Apostle has written (2 Thess. ii:4): “as if he were God”….” ⁴

“The Jews will glory in him, and will assemble to join him. He will blaspheme, declaring: 'I am the Father and the Son, the first and the last, and there is no God but me.' In that moment ten thousand Jews shall deny him, and shall answer him: 'Thou art "the Seducer" of the world' 2 John:7. For He Whom our fathers fastened to a cross on Golgotha, He has saved creatures, and has ascended to Him Who sent Him.' And raging in fury, the Evil One will command that those who deny him shall be instantly slain by the sword. And because of this all shall fear to deny him….” ⁵

“Then he will begin to show false signs in the heavens and upon the earth, upon the sea and upon the dry land. He will summon the rain, and it will descend. He will command the seed, and the seed will germinate. This he will do, not in reality, but by enchantments. He will rebuke the waves, and they will become quiet; the winds, and they will obey him. He will cause fruit to hang from the trees, and bring forth water from the earth. He will speak with lepers, and they will be purified; the blind, and they will see; he will call the deaf, and they will hear; the dumb, and they will speak. He will do all the signs our Lord wrought in the world. But he shall not raise the dead; for he has no power over spirits.” ⁶

“The lightnings will be his servants, and will give a sign of his coming. Demons will be his forces; the princes of the demons his disciples. He will send the leaders of his forces into far distant regions, and will give them power and healing, and they will seduce the whole world. And the Apostle has written and warned us in his Epistle to the Thessalonians: "Be not terrified, neither by spirit,nor by word, because this is not from us; for there shall first come a revolt, and the man of sin will be revealed, and he will be lifted up, and he will show himself as if he were God, and make himself God" (2 Thess. ii:2-4.)…” ⁷

“But when the Accursed has come and has worked signs and wonders, the people will be assembled together and they will come to see the god, and multitudes will adhere to him, and all will deny their God, and all will call upon those who are close to them to praise "the son of perdition"; and they will fall upon one another and destroy one another with swords. But the elect shall fly from his face to the mountain tops and the hills, and there shall be tribulation on earth, "such as bath not been from the beginning of the world" Matt. xxiv:21. And terror shall invade the hearts of all men, thrown into confusion by this commotion. Sons will deny their fathers, and follow the Evil One. Priests will leave their altars, and going forth become his heralds. Some will take refuge in tombs and hide among the dead, saying that the dead are blessed in being snatched away from such afflictions: 'Blessed are ye that lie in your graves, taken away from affliction. But woe to us! For lo! we now die, and the birds will bury us.' And unless the days of this time are shortened, neither shall the elect survive these trials and tribulations, as God made known to us in the Gospel, saying: "For the sake of the elect these days shall be shortened" (Matt. xxiv:22.)…” ⁸

“And when the son of perdition has drawn to his purpose the whole world, Enoch and Elias shall be sent that they may confute the Evil One; by a question filled with mildness. Coming to him, these holy men, that they may expose "the son of perdition" before the multitudes round him, they will say: 'if you are God, show us what we now ask of you. In what place do the men of old, Enoch and Elias, lie hidden?' Then the Evil One will at once answer the holy men: 'if I wish to seek for them in heaven, in the depths of the sea, every abode lies open to me. There is no other God but me; and I can do all things in heaven and earth.'…” ⁹

“They shall answer the son of perdition: ' if you are God, call the dead, and they will rise up. For it is written in the books of the Prophets, and also by the Apostles, that Christ, when He shall appear, will raise the dead from their tombs. If you do not show us this, we shall conclude that He Who was crucified is greater than you; for He raised the dead, and was Himself raised to heaven in great glory.' In that moment the Evil One, angered against the Saints, seizing the sword, the most Abominable will sever the necks of the just men….” ¹⁰

“Then leaping up, Gabriel and Michael, the leaders of the heavenly hosts shall descend and restore the Saints to life. The Evil One, together with all his followers shall be humiliated. The angels approaching shall seize the Accursed, and in the same moment the Lord shall command from His heavens, and He shall overthrow the Accursed and all his forces and on the instant the Angels shall thrust them down to Ghenna. And all who believed in him shall be thrust down amid the flames. Then the Lord shall descend from on high, amid the fearful glory of the Angels, and His chariot shall halt between heaven and earth. He shall speak to the sea and it shall dry up, and the fish shall die in the midst of it. The heavens and the earth shall be dissolved, and become darkness and gloom. The Lord shall send fire upon the earth, continuing for forty days, and shall purify it from iniquity, and from the pollution of sin….” ¹¹

“A throne shall be prepared, and the Son shall sit upon the right hand, and twelve seats shall be placed for the Twelve Apostles; dwellings adorned for the Martyrs, and a palace for the Saints. The Angels shall sound their trumpets, and the dead shall rise from their graves. And in a moment the Angels shall gather together all the children of Adam, and they shall bring the wheat into the barn, but the chaff they shall cast into fire; the good shall enter into the Kingdom, and the evil shall dwell in Gehenna. The just shall fly to heaven, and sinners shall be burned with fire. the martyrs shall fly to the Bridal chambers, and the evil shall go out into darkness. But Christ shall reign forever, and He shall be King unto generation of generations. To Him be glory; and upon us be His mercy, for all time. Amen….” ¹²

“Let us learn, my friends, in what form shall come on earth the shameless serpent, since the Redeemer, wishing to save all mankind, was born of a Virgin and in human form crushed the enemy with the holy power of his godhead. This then the enemy, having learnt that again shall the Lord come from heaven in the glory of His divinity, thus bethought him to assume the form of His coming and beguile all men. So in very truth shall he be born of a defiled woman, his instrument. In the form of Him shall come the all-polluted, as a wily thief to beguile all beings. Humble and gentle, hating the speech of the unjust, overturning all idols, honouring piety, a good lover of the poor, exceedingly fair, altogether well disposed, pleasant towards all. To conciliate all, he plots craftily, that he may be loved soon by the peoples; neither gifts shall he accept, nor speak in anger. He shows himself not sullen, but ever cheerful. And in all these well-planned schemes he beguileth the world so long as he shall rule. For when the many peoples and nations shall behold such great virtues, fair deeds and powers, all of one mind shall become and with great joy shall crown him, saying one to another, surely there is not found such another man so good and just... For the shameless one, grasping authority, sends his demons unto all the ends of the earth to announce unto all that a great king hath appeared in glory; come thither and behold... The peoples shall be gathered, and they shall come that they may see God, and the crowds of the peoples shall cleave to him, and all shall deny their own God and invite their fellows to praise the son of perdition, and one on another they shall fall and with swords each other destroy... Magnifying his miracles, performing his portents, Deceiver and not in truth manifesting these things, in such fashion the tyrant removeth the mountains, and simulates falsely and not truly while the multitude stands by, many nations and peoples applauding him for his illusions... Again this same dragon stretches out his hands and gathers the multitudes of reptiles and birds; and likewise he moves over the surface of the deep, and as on dry ground he walks thereon. But he simulates these things... The lightnings shall be his ministers and signify his advent; the demons shall constitute his forces, and the princes of the demons shall be his disciples; to far-distant lands he shall send captains of his bands, who shall impart virtue and healing... A great conflict, Brethren, in those times amongst all men, but especially amongst the faithful, when there shall be signs and wonders wrought by the Dragon in great abundance, when he shall again manifest himself as God in fearful phantasms flying in the air, and show all the demons in the forms of angels flying in terror before the tyrant, for he crieth out loudly, changing his forms also to strike infinite dread into all men... “ ¹³

“Then the skies no longer rain, the earth no longer beareth fruit, the springs run out, the rivers dry up, herbs no longer sprout, grass no longer grows, trees wither from their roots and no longer put forth fruits, the fishes of the sea and the monsters therein die out, and thus they say a fetid stench emits with a fearful roar, that men shall fail and perish through terror. And then in dread shall moan and groan all life alike when all shall see the pitiless distress that compasseth them by night and eke by day, and nowhere find the food wherewith to fill themselves... For stern governors of the people shall be appointed each in his place, and whoso bears with him the seal of the tyrant may buy a little food…“ ¹⁴

“But before these things be, the Lord sendeth Elias the Thesbite and Enoch the compassionate, that they may proclaim reverence to the race of men, and openly announce unto all the knowledge of God, that they believe not nor obey the false one through fear, crying out and saying, "A deceiver, O men, is he; let no one believe in him." But few are those who shall then obey and believe in the words of these two prophets….“ ¹⁵

“Many therefore of the saints as many are then found, as soon as they shall hear of the coming of the man of corruption, shall most speedily flee to the deserts and lie hid in the deserts and mountains and caves through fear, and strew earth and ashes on their heads, destitute and weeping both day and night with great humility. And this shall to them be granted by God the Holy One: And grace shall lead them unto the appointed places….” ¹⁶

“But all those dwelling in the east of the earth shall fly to the west, through their great fear, and again those dwelling under the setting sun unto its rising shall fly in trembling... “ ¹⁷

“In the end like lightning flashing from heaven shall come God, our King and the deathless Bridegroom, in the clouds with glory unimaginable. And behold his Glory shall run the serried hosts of angels and archangels, all breathing flames, and a river full of fire, with a frightful crash….“ ¹⁸

“How may we then endure, my beloved brethren, when we shall see the fiery river coming out in fury like the wild seething ocean, and the hills and the valleys consuming, and all the world and the works therein; then, beloved, with that fire the rivers shall fail, the springs shall vanish, the sea dry up, the air be agitated, the stars shall fall out from the sky; the sun shall be consumed, the moon pass away, the heavens rolled up like a scroll…” ¹⁹

References

1. The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers Vol 4, Translated and edited by M.F. Toal, Henry Regenery Co. 1964 p 335, 352

2. ibid

3. ibid

4. ibid

5. ibid

6. ibid

7. ibid

8. ibid

9. ibid

10. ibid

12. ibid

13. St Ephrem Codex Barberinus XIV (The utterances of St Ephrem About the End of the World, and the Consummation of the Universe and the Tribulation of the Nations)

14. ibid

15. ibid

16. ibid

17. ibid

18. ibid

19. ibid