Liberty, TN: St. John of Kronstadt Press, 1997. 256 pages. List price: ?. ISBN: 0-912927-40-2

Review by: M.C. Steenberg , July 2003

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This small volume, beautifully produced and printed with a faux-leather cover and red initial lettering, should be considered an essential ingredient of every patristic library. Translated by Antonina Janda, the hymns of Ephraim gathered here are of unparalleled importance in encountering and appreciating and 'song-style' of theology that was the forte of the Syriac Fathers.

The present collection of 150 such 'songs' or 'psalms' was organised into its present form by Bishop Theophan the Recluse in the late 19th-century. He had grown especially fond of St Ephrem's writings, originally composed some 15 centuries before, and gathered together 150 selections from Ephrem's substantial corpus to form the present 'psalter'. It is such in a deliberate manner: not only does the number of selections mirror that of the 150 Hebrew Psalms (as with the LXX, if one does not include in the numbering Psalm 151 which is always considered 'extra-numerical' in the numbering of the book), but these are also organised into 20 kathisma, or sections, precisely as with the canonical Psalter. Further details on the historical development of the collection as brought together by Theophan is offered in the introductory materials (pp. 6-10), which include letters by the Recluse on the publication of the volume.

Janda's translation of the text from Theophan's work in Russian is beautiful and direct, entirely in character with Ephrem's originals. The translation is intentionally ecclesiastical in style: capitalisations thus may seem strange in some instances (e.g. 'the Holy Trinity Which is One in essence', p. 100), and certain vocabulary is imposed upon the text (e.g. 'toll-houses' in Psalm 99, p. 160, where the original reads 'fearful places'), but this is reflective of the pious style of the text as collated by Bishop Theophan, and does not but occasionally interfere with the accuracy or readability of the content. The three-page table of contents, which offers first-lines or central themes of each text in the volume, is an especially helpful addition to the work.

The St John of Kronstadt Press edition also includes a brief Life of St Ephrem at the end of the text, translated by Isaac E. Lambertson from the Russian Lives of the Saints. A kontakion to Ephrem is also included, as is a map of early Christian sites (those of relevance to Ephrem are highlighted in red), which attentive readers will recognise from WHC Frend's The Rise of Christianity.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to understand the nature of Eastern patristic spirituality and ascetical practice, without an appreciation for the song-like manner in which many of the Fathers, especially those of the Syriac tradition, expressed their doctrine and devotion. St Ephrem is regarded by many as 'chief poet' among the Christian Fathers, and as such the texts collected in this volume are of inestimable value.

An excerpt from the Spiritual Psalter can be read on this web site:

Psalm 120: "How many times have I promised, yet every time I failed to keep my word; but disregard this according to Thy grace..."

The present text is available online through the following e-retailers:

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The reviewer of the present text recommends the following works as those which may be of interest to readers of this title:

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