Η ανθρωπολογία του οσίου Εφραίμ του Σύρου και η προγενέστερη πατερική παράδοση

Abstract

Saint Ephrem the Syrian is undoubtedly the most outstanding representative of early Syriac Christianity; he combines in a unique way the roles of both poet and theologian. He was born about 306 (the exact date is not known) in or near Nisibis, a town on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire. The sixth-century life of Ephrem states that his father was a pagan priest, but this seems to be incorrect, for his own writings suggest that both his parents were christians. At Nisibis he was ordained deacon and he served as a catechetical teacher under a number of remarkable bishops (the earliest was Saint Jacob, or James, of Nisibis). In 363 Ephrem's home town of Nisibis was handed over from the Roman Empire to the Persian Empire as part of the peace agreement at that time; one of the conditions of the peace treaty was that the Christian population should leave Nisibis and settle further west, in the Roman Empire. Thus Ephrem was among the refugees who had to find a new home. He settled eventually in Edessa, some 100 miles to the west, and there he spent the last ten years of his life (he died on 9 June 373). One of the earliest records about his life mentions that right at the end of his life he helped in relieving the poor during a local famine. At Edessa it is likely that he came more into contact with contemporary trends in Greek theology (though his knowledge of the Greek language was probably only very slight). Because of Ephrem's fame as a writer, many writings have been attributed to him which were not by him. But even if these inauthentic works are laid aside, there still remains a very large number of genuine works which survive. These fall into three main categories: prose, artistic prose and poetry. St. Ephrem's reputation as a theologian of exceptional insight rests, however, more on his poetry than on his prose. The major output of his poetic activity consisted in hymns (madrashe), and of these about 500 survive (a few are available in English translation). The hymns have been transmitted in a series of hymn collections; or cycles; of these the most important are: On Faith (87 hymns), Nisibene Hymns (77 hymns; of these, only the first half concern Nisibis; most of the others are on Christ's descent into Sheol, the abode of the dead); Against Heresies (56 hymns), On the Church (52 hymns), On the Nativity (28 hymns), On Unleavened Bread, On the Crucifixion; and on Resurrection (35 hymns), On Paradise (15 hymns), On the Fast (10 hymns). Two main reasons for this state of affairs suggest themselves: firstly, Saint Ephrem wrote in Syriac and not in Greek or Latin, and so his writings are much less accessible than might otherwise have been the case; and secondly, his most important work is in poetry, and since we do not expect to find serious theology expressed in poetic form, we tend not to take seriously as a theological thinker someone who does happen to put forward his theological vision through the medium of poetry. Ironically, it is precisely these two reasons which have led to the comparative neglect of Saint Ephrem that make him a writer of particular significance today. This formative period is of particular interest for two main reasons: first, Syriac Christianity is still essentially Semitic in its mentality, and is as yet relatively little under the influence of Greek thought patterns and of the Greek cultural world; the significance of this today for the Christian tradition. Undoubtedly the greatest writer of this period is Ephrem (died 373). Although Ephrem deliberately avoided giving a systematic description of the Christian life, his extensive writings show that he had a distinctive spirituality which is both profound and coherent in its wide ranging vision. The sharp dividing line between Creator (God) and the creation (which includes both spiritual beings and the visible world) can only be crossed by God himself, and he does so out of love for his creation: it is only because of this that humanity can have any knowledge of God. This self-revelation of divine love takes place in a number of different ways, but never imposes itself on humanity, since God's own gift of freewill to humanity gives to humanity the choice of whether or not to respond to this self-emptying divine love. For Ephrem the term symbol (Syriac, raza, literally 'mystery, sacrament, secret') has a very strong sense, for the symbol actually participates in the reality it symbolizes. The person whose eye of faith is truly luminous is able to perceive symbols everywhere, both in Scripture and in the natural world, each pointing to and revealing some aspect of the action of divine Love. The created world thus takes on a sacramental character, and at the same time the inherent inter-connectedness of everything becomes apparent; and thanks to this 'descent' of God into the created world, humanity has the possibility of 'ascending' the ladder of symbols towards God-as Ephrem says, addressing Christ: «Lord, you bent down and put on humanity's types so that humanity might grow through your self-abasement.» (Hymns on Faith, 32.9) Ephrem's spiritual vision perceives the intimate links between the physical world and the spiritual world. Ephrem is at a far remove from those platonizing or dualistic tendencies, characteristic of certain trends of early Christianity, that sought to denigrate the value of the body. The starting point for his own positive attitude is the fact that the body is part of God's creation and so should not be despised, let alone thought of as in any way evil. By means of this clothing imagery Ephrem succeeds in providing his readers with a splendidly cohesive picture of the entire range of salvation history, from Creation to the Fall, through the Incarnation, to the Sacraments, or Mysteries, of Baptism and the Eucharist, and on to the Final Resurrection. The continuum is provided above all by the image of the 'robe of glory' (or 'robe of praise', as it could also be translated), a robe which Ephrem sometimes also calls the 'robe of light'. There is one feature in particular of Ephrem's spiritual world vision which excellently illustrates how close he is, when it comes to fundamentals, to some of the great theologians of the Greek-speaking Church. Although their manner and mode of expression is often far apart, yet the basic content of what they are saying is essentially the same. In Ephrem's hands the doctrine of theosis is by no means an outcome of the poison of the pagan Greeks'; rather, it turns out to be firmly rooted in his exegesis of the Paradise narrative and in his understanding of the whole aim and purpose of the Incarnation. There are, then, a number of good reasons why Saint Ephrem deserves, both as a poet and as a theologian, a much wider audience today than the diminutive circle of Syriac scholars. Coming from the time of the undivided Church, Ephrem belongs to the heritage of all Christian traditions.

Ο άνθρωπος είναι το πιο εκλεκτό κομμάτι της δημιουργίας, για δύο λόγους: α) επειδή είναι δημιουργημένος «κατ' εικόνα» Θεού, δηλαδή έχει λογικό, το οποίο είναι άρρηκτα συνυφασμένο με το αυτεξούσιο, και β) μετέχει και στον υλικό και στον πνευματικό καθώς σώμα και ψυχή βρίσκονται σε πλήρη λειτουργική ενότητα. Το «κατ' εικόνα» για τον όσιο Εφραίμ, αλλά και για όλη την προγενέστερη πατερική παράδοση του βρίσκεται στο λογικό. Ο άνθρωπος έχει πλήρως το «κατ' εικόνα» του Θεού, γιατί είναι λογικός. Το «κατ' εικόνα» αποτελεί το θεμέλιο της ανθρώπινης υπάρξεως που δίνει τη δυνατότητα στον άνθρωπο να μπορεί να κινείται προς το αγαθό, όταν κάνει καλή χρήση του αυτεξουσίου. Ή πατερική ανθρωπολογία δεν αποτελεί ένα σύστημα. Αλλά τα πλούσια και σε αρμονία μεταξύ τους πατερικά δεδομένα του θέματος θα μπορούσαν να παρασύρουν αυτή τη διατριβή στην εύκολη λύση να παρουσιάσει τα πατερικά βιώματα ως ιδέες και να στήσει μ' αυτές. Ο άνθρωπος είναι δημιουργημένος ως δυνάμει θεανθρώπινο ον, το οποίο έχει χρέος, οδηγούμενο από τη θεοειδή ψυχή του, να εξομοιώσει σε όλα τον εαυτό του με το Θεό και έτσι να γίνει έμπρακτα θεανθρώπινο ον, δηλαδή ένα ον στο οποίο ο άνθρωπος ενώνεται με τέλειο τρόπο με το Θεό και ζει μέσα στις θείες και άπειρες τελειότητές του. Παρόλο που ο άνθρωπος είναι μέρος από τη σύνολη δημιουργία του Θεού, ο όσιος Εφραίμ κάνει λόγο για την ιδιαίτερη θέση που κατέχει για να τονίσει τη θεϊκή κλήση του. Μόνο αυτός είναι θεόπλαστος, δηλαδή παρόλο που είναι «εκ της φύσεως του χοός», ο Θεός έφερε στην ύπαρξη μόνο τον άνθρωπο με το Λόγο Του, «έν χάριτι», «έκ θείου Πνεύματος». Τον έπλασε ξεχωριστά με τα ίδια Του τα «χέρια», και του έδωσε, κατά χάρη, το προνόμιο του «κατ’ εικόνα» και «καθ' όμοίωσιν». Το «κατ’ εικόνα» και «καθ' όμοίωσιν» αποτέλεσε τη βιβλική βάση για τους περισσότερους Πατέρες της Εκκλησίας στην ανάπτυξη της ανθρωπολογίαςτους. Η χρήση του συνοπτικού συνδέσμου, που συνδέει «το κατ' εικόνα» με «το καθ' ομοίωση», θεωρείται ως αιτία για τη μεταξύ τους διάκριση. Ο όσιος Εφραίμ ακολουθεί την ιστορικό-φιλολογική μέθοδο της Αντιοχειανής Σχολής, η οποία αναζητούσε το πνευματικό νόημα ακόμη και στον λεκτικό τύπο. Σύμφωνα με την ανθρωπολογία του Αποστόλου Παύλου, ο όσιος Εφραίμ εκφράζει σε όλα τα συγγράμματά του, την πορεία της ψυχής που σχετίζεται με την πορεία προς το «καθ' ομοίωσην», όπου κάθε ψυχή έχει τη δυνατότητα να γίνει πνευματική και να απαλλαχθεί από τον πνευματικό θάνατο. Έτσι μπορούμε να πούμε ότι εκφράζοντας την ανθρωπολογία και ολόκληρη την θεολογία του, ο όσιος Εφραίμ παραμένει έναν μεγάλο ποιητή και υπερασπιστή της Ορθοδοξίας.