The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

II. Ephraim-Awaits Antichrist’s Emergence After Rome’s End

Ephraim the Syrian, Ephrem Syrus (c. 306-373), later deacon of Edessa, was born at Nisibis in Mesopotamia. His alleged heathen parentage and consequently the whole narrative of his conversion to Christianity may be discredited without hesitation. They cannot be brought into harmony with his own words. “I was born in the way of truth: though my boyhood understood not the greatness of the benefit, I knew it when trial came.” ¹³ His patron and protector during his earlier years was Saint Jacob, bishop of Nisibis, whom he accompanied to the Council of Nicaea in 325, as some sources state. During the wars between the empire and the Persians the city of Nisibis was beleaguered three times, and had to surrender to the Persians in 363. Thereupon Ephraim left with other Christians, and finally settled at Edessa. Ephraim spent the greater part of his life in writing and preaching. He was a voluminous, writer of sermons, commentaries, and hymns, many of which have been lost. The commentaries mostly belong to the later life of Ephraim, after his emigration to Edessa. Many of his hymns were composed during the sieges of Nisibis, and were sung by the Syrian church for many centuries. They left a deep impression upon Eastern Christianity. PFF1 405.2

The prospect of Antichrist’s coming weighed deeply upon him, as indicated in his noted sermon on “Antichrist.” ¹⁴ The dragon was to tread upon and persecute the woman, the church. Ephraim made little distinction between the dragon and the beast, contending that the second wields the power, and fills the throne, of the first. He believed that the end of the world approached, and reckoned the precursory signs fulfilled, except the fall of the Roman Empire. Like many others of the time, Ephraim stressed asceticism, relics, and the like. PFF1 405.3

1. ANTICHRIST’S APPEARANCE TO FOLLOW ROME’S BREAKUP

Ephraim understood that Antichrist would not appear until after Rome’s breakup. PFF1 406.1

“For the things which have been written have now been fulfilled, and the signs which had been predicted, received their end; nothing remains then, except that the coming of our enemy, antichrist, appear (or, be revealed). For when the empire of the Romans meets its end (literally, receives an end), all things will necessarily be consummated.” ¹⁵ PFF1 406.2

This conclusion was obviously drawn from Paul’s prediction in Second Thessalonians, and not from Daniel 7, as Ephraim is not clear on the latter. (Reproduced on page 400.) PFF1 406.3

2. FOLLOWS PORPHYRY’S FALLACY ON LITTLE HORN

Ephraim was one of four Syrian writers who, unlike all other expositors of the time, followed the sophist Porphyry in making the Little Horn of Daniel 7, as well as that of Daniel 8, to be the historical Antiochus Epiphanes. ¹⁶ This theory, however, lay dormant for many centuries, and was not perpetuated in Syria. PFF1 406.4