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| St. Ephraim the Syrian (Feast Day - January 28) |
Verses
Ephraim, the Syrian by tongue, once heard in psalms
A tongue he knew not calling him on high.
On the twenty-eighth Ephraim’s soul was taken.
Ephraim was from the East and a Syrian by race, who was taught piety by his forefathers, and lived during the reign of Theodosius the Great (379-395). From a young age the blessed one loved the monastic life. It is said of this Saint, that such an amount of grace was poured out on him by God, that through this grace he composed numerous letters, full of compunction and benefit, and through these he led many to virtue. To these venerable ones he became a model and example of ascetic conduct. His Synaxis is celebrated in the martyric Temple of Saint Akylina, in Philoxeno near Pheron.
Apolytikion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
With the rivers of your tears, you have made the barren desert fertile. Through sighs of sorrow from deep within you, your labors have borne fruit a hundred-fold. By your miracles you have become a light, shining upon the world. O Ephraim, our Holy Father, pray to Christ our God, to save our souls.
Kontakion in the Second Tone
At all times didst thou foresee the hour of reckoning, and pricked in thy heart, thou ever didst lament with tears; and, O righteous Ephraim, thou wast a mighty teacher in works and deeds. Hence, O Father for all the world, thou didst rouse the slothful unto change of heart.
