Some stanzas from St Ephrem of Syria's Hymns on Paradise… Hymn VI
1
The keys of doctrine
which unlock all of Scripture's books,
have opened up before my eyes
the book of creation,
the treasure house of the Ark,
the crown of the Law.
This is a book which, above its companions,
has in its narrative
made the Creator perceptible
and transmitted His actions;
it has envisioned all His craftsmanship,
made manifest His works of art.
Response
Blessed is He who through His Cross
has flung open Paradise.
2
Scripture brought me
to the gate of Paradise,
and the mind, which is spiritual,
stood in amazement and wonder as it entered,
the intellect grew dizzy and weak
as the senses were no longer able
to contain its treasures—
so magnificent they were—
or to discern its savors
and find any comparison for its colors,
or take in its beauties
so as to describe them in words.
4
Paradise raised me up as I perceived it,
it enriched me as I meditated upon it;
I forgot my poor estate,
for it had made me drunk with its fragrance.
I became as though no longer my old self,
for it renewed me with all its varied nature.
I swam around in its magnificent waves;
and in the place that, burning like a furnace,
had made Adam naked,
I became so inebriated
that I forgot all my sins there.
5
Although I was not sufficient
for all the waves of its beauty,
Paradise took me up and cast me
into a sea still greater;
in its fair beauty I beheld
those who are far more beautiful than it,
and I reflected:
if Paradise be so glorious,
how much more glorious should Adam be,
who is in the image of its Planter,
and how much fairer the Cross
upon which the Son of its Lord rode.
7
God planted the fair Garden,
He built the pure Church;
upon the Tree of Knowledge
He established the injunction.
He gave joy, but they took no delight,
He gave admonition, but they were unafraid.
In the Church He implanted
the Word
which causes rejoicing with its promises,
which causes fear with its warnings:
he who despises the Word, perishes,
he who takes warning, lives.
8
The assembly of saints
bears resemblance to Paradise:
in each day is plucked
the fruit of Him who gives life to all;
in it, my brethren, is trodden
the cluster of grapes, to be the Medicine of Life.
The serpent is crippled and bound
by the curse,
while Eve's mouth is sealed
with a silence that is beneficial
—but it also serves once again
as a harp to sing the praises of her Creator.
9
Among the saints none is naked,
for they have put on glory,
nor is any clad in those leaves
or standing in shame,
for they have found, through our Lord,
the robe that belongs to Adam and Eve.
As the Church
purges her ears
of the serpent's poison,
those who had lost their garments,
having listened to it and become diseased,
have now been renewed and whitened.
22
The East has grown luminous with the saints,
with them the West has become brilliant,
the North is raised up by them,
from them the South has learned.
They have ascended to the firmament and opened it,
they have gone down to the sea and explored it;
the mystery that the apostle revealed
in a parable
have they extended to all humankind,
reaching every corner;
all creation has embraced it
to draw strength from it.
23
One of them cleft
the air with his chariot;
the Watchers rejoiced as they met him,
seeing that a body
had lately taken up its abode among them;
and just as an earthly being
ascended in a chariot
and put on splendor,
so did the Lord, in His grace,
descend and put on a body;
He then mounted a cloud and ascended
to reign over high and low.
25
With love and instruction,
commingled with truth,
the intellect can grow
and become rich with new things,
as it meditates with discernment
on the treasure store of hidden mysteries.
For my part, I have loved, and so learned,
and become assured
that Paradise possesses
the haven of the victorious.
As I have been held worthy to perceive it,
so make me worthy to enter it!
Response
Blessed is He who through His Cross
has flung open Paradise.
1 comment:
Beautiful illustrations!!! It is always a visual delight to visit your blog.
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