The Days of Creation
Ephrem of Syria
January 1, 2002
Many consider the poetry of Ephrem the Syrian (born c. 306 A.D.) to be some of the most successful literature in the Christian tradition. Ephrem employed sophisticated meters and biblical typologies within an unusual (and now lost) genre, the verse homily. Ephrem is praised for the profundity of his thought and the elegant simplicity of his language. He wrote in Syriac, but according to the fifth-century ecclesiastical historian Sozomen, his poems were translated into Greek during his lifetime. Within a few centuries, Ephrem's poetry was translated into all the languages of the ancient Church.
The following verses are taken from Ephrem's Hymns on the Nativity. In them Ephrem links the seven days of creation to the incarnation of Christ, showing how Christ's birth is celebrated in each element of our created world. Modern readers may find it challenging, even shocking, as writing from a different age naturally is. -Scott Johnson
REFRAIN Blessed is Your birth that makes all Creation glad!
4 The first day, the source and beginning,
is a type of the root that germinated everything.
Much greater than it is our Redeemer's day
planted in the universe.
For His death is like a root inside the earth,
His resurrection like the summit in heaven,
His words [extend] in every direction like branches,
and like His fruit [is] His body for those who eat it.
5 Let the second day sing praise on the birth
of the Son, the Second, and the Voice of the First.
He commanded the firmament
and it came into existence;
He divided the waters above,
and He gathered the seas below.
He Who separated the waters from the waters
separated from the Watchers [i.e. angels]
and came down to humankind.
Instead of the waters he commanded
and they ...
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