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1 " Let books be your dining table, / And you shall be full of delights. / Let them be your mattress,/And you shall sleep restful nights "
― Ephrem the Syrian
2 " O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, faintheartedness, lust of power, and idle talk.“But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to your servant.“Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own sin and not to judge my brother, for You are blessed from all ages to all ages. Amen "
3 " This Lord of natures today was transformed contrary to His nature; it is not too difficult for us to also overthrow our evil will." Hymns of the Nativity, Hymn 1:97, pg. 74 in Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns (New York: Paulist Press, 1989). "
4 " Blessed be the Merciful One, who saw the weapon by Paradise, that closed the way to the Tree of Life; and came and took a Body which could suffer, that with the Door, that was in His side, He might open the way into Paradise. "
― Ephrem the Syrian , Hymns on the Nativity
5 " Scripture brought me to the Gate of Paradise, and the mind stood in wonder as it entered. "
6 " Have mercy, O Lord, on my children,In my children,Call to mind your childhood,You who were a child.Let them that are like your childhoodBe saved by your grace. "
7 " At the beginning of the conversation he [Jesus] did not make himself known to her, but first she caught sight of a thirsty man, then a Jew, then a Rabbi, afterwards a prophet, last of all the Messiah. She tried to get the better of the thirsty man, she showed dislike of the Jew, she heckled the Rabbi, she was swept off her feet by the prophet, and she adored the Christ. "
8 " And if any one wishes to say, concerning something which to himself seems meet;--"It were meet for God to do this;" let him know that it is meet for himself not to speak thus concerning God. For the chief of all things meet is this: that a man should not teach God what is meet. For it becomes not man to become God's instructor. "
― Ephrem the Syrian , Hymns and Homilies of St. Ephraim the Syrian
9 " If there were only one meaning for the words, the first interpreter would find it, and all other listeners would have neither the toil of seeking nor the pleasure of finding. "
10 " Let us avert by that which has been, the thing that is yet to be; let us be taught by that which has come, to escape that which is coming; let us remember that which is past, to avoid that which is future. Because we had forgotten the first stroke, the second fell on us; because we forgot the second, the third bore heavy on us. Who will yet again forget! "
11 " My God, without ceasing, I will tread the threshold of Thy house; I who have rejected all grace, I will ask with boldness, that I may receive with confidence "
12 " Him Aaron looked for, for he saw that if his rod ate serpents up, [367] His cross would eat the Serpent up that had eaten Adam and Eve. Moses saw the uplifted serpent that had cured the bites of asps, and he looked to see Him who would heal the ancient Serpent's wound. "
13 " out of the stream the fish whereof Simon took, out of it the Fisher of men came up, and took him. With the Cross which catches all robbers, He caught up unto life that robber! "
14 " And when Death came to feed after his custom, the Life in His turn swallowed up Death. This is the food that hungered to eat its eater. So then, by one fruit which Death swallowed hungrily, he vomited up many lives which he had swallowed greedily. "
15 " because it was through the tree that mankind had fallen into Sheol, so upon the tree they passed over into the dwelling of life. Through the tree then wherein bitterness was tasted, through it also sweetness was tasted; that we might learn of Him that amongst the creatures nothing resists Him. Glory be to Thee, Who didst lay Thy cross as a bridge over death, that souls might pass over upon it from the dwelling of the dead to the dwelling of life! "
16 " the ungodly were terrified and said;--"His disciples have stolen His body;" that they might be held in contempt when it should be discovered. But the disciples, who [they said] stole the dead body from the living guards, were found to be assailing Death in the name of Him Who was stolen; that [Death] might not steal the life of the living. "
