Ephrem of Amida

Saint Ephraim was Patriarch of Antioch from 527 to 545, born in Amida in Mesopotamia, whence he is also called Ephraim of Amida. He was first a man of the state, then a shepherd of the Church, and a defender of the Council of Chalcedon against the Monophysites. The Church remembers him on 8 June.

He was born in the fifth century in Amida, of a noble Syrian family, son of one Appianus, and spoke both Greek and Syriac. He served in the state, as treasurer of the empire and as a general under the emperors Anastasius and Justin I. In 522 Justin named him comes Orientis, governor of the East, and he took stern measures against the Blues, a chariot-⁠racing faction that had caused riots, and the city quieted. In 524 or 525 he received the honorary title of comes sacrarum largitionum, which gave him a place in the senate. Known for his piety and mercy, he was greatly esteemed.

In 526 an earthquake struck Antioch, and Patriarch Euphrasius perished under the ruins. The emperor sent Ephraim to direct the rebuilding of the city. Tradition tells that among the stone-⁠cutters there was a man who had been a bishop and had left his see, and that Ephraim saw a pillar of fire rise from him as he slept, up to heaven. After much hesitation the man confessed who he was, and foretold that Ephraim would be Patriarch of Antioch. The people of Antioch loved him for his efforts, and the emperor and people called for him as patriarch. He became a monk at their request and was consecrated in April or May 527.

In 528 another earthquake struck the city, and the saint helped to rebuild it once more. When the earth kept shaking and many fled, Ephraim commanded the people to write "May Christ be with us" over the doors of their houses. The earthquake stopped, and the city was called Theopolis, "City of God". In 529 Al-⁠Mundhir, king of the Lakhmids, invaded Syria and enslaved many, and the next year Ephraim paid the ransom of the captives. In 531 Non-⁠Chalcedonians rioted in Antioch and attacked the patriarchal palace but were driven off. Ephraim wrote to Anthimus of Trebizond, before he became patriarch of Constantinople, urging him to hold the faith of Chalcedon. When Anthimus, patriarch from 535, turned to Monophysitism, Ephraim sent Sergius of Reshaina to Pope Agapetus, who intervened, and Anthimus was deposed in 536.

After Emperor Justinian banned the writings of Severus of Antioch in 536, Ephraim travelled through Syria and Mesopotamia with soldiers to enforce Chalcedon, expelled monks who rejected it from their monasteries and imprisoned some. According to his Life, he met a Monophysite stylite near Hierapolis and urged him with tears to abandon the error. The stylite proposed that both should enter a great fire to see whose faith was true. The patriarch ordered the fire lit, but the stylite refused to come down. Then Ephraim laid his omophorion in the fire and prayed, and after three hours the omophorion came out unharmed, and the stylite renounced the heresy. According to Michael the Syrian, he went as Justinian's envoy to King Al-⁠Harith of the Ghassanids, without success.

Most of his writings are lost. Photius mentions four works, among them sermons and letters, a treatise against Severus, and answers to questions on Genesis. He followed the Christology of Cyril of Alexandria. He did not oppose the condemnation of Origen in 543, but had reservations about the decree against the Three Chapters in 544. He fell asleep in 545.