ABSTRACT
Ephrem the Syrian, the foremost writer in the Syriac tradition of Christianity, was born in the early fourth century ce in Nisibis, an ancient city of enduring commercial, political, and military significance, which is now Nusaybin in Turkey. Ephrem was, then, a man deeply engaged in the conflicts of his time and clear in his allegiances, yet, especially in his hymnody, he shows openness to the beauty of other religious expressions. In the complex and uncertain world of fourth-century Mesopotamia, Ephrem's emphatic belligerence is comprehensible. Ephrem's world is permeated by the divine presence. His poetry is based upon a vision of the created order as a vast system of symbols or mysteries. A central theme of Ephrem's Hymns on the Nativity is the wonder of the Incarnation, conceived as a paradoxical entry of the ineffable, infinite, and omnipotent God into the limitations of human life. Finally, Ephrem's symbolic imagination provides several examples of the ironic outcome of Julian's efforts.
