Robert Matheus: The language of St. EphremAbbreviationsCNis = Nisibean Hymns; HcH = Hymns Against Heresies; HdE = Hymns on the Church; HdF = Hymns onFaith; HdN = Hymns on Nativity; HdP = Hymns on Paradise; HdV = Hymns on Virginity; PrRef = ProseRefutations; SdDN = Homily on Our Lord; E. = EphremThe great question about Ephrem is: is he a theologian or a mystic? To speak about God, a theologian makesuse of words, speech, science to speak from within his culture. But the worldview of the fourth century is notthat of the 21st one. He lacks the scientific approach of the present-day theologian. We will inquire in thispaper if we can call Mar Ephrem a theologian from his language and methodology.1. For E., the inner Trinitarian life cannot be investigated by any created intellect. The ontological gap(atxp) is so great that any attempt to understand God through definitions is blasphemous in his eyes:Seal your mouth with silence! Let not your tongue dareKnow yourself, o created, made, son of an earth-formedFor the chasm is a great, limitless onebetween you and the Son as regards investigation (HdF 15:5)The proper attitude of man is total submission of oneself in wonder, faith and love to the unspeakablemystery of God who deigned to reveal Himself through nature and scripture. We may only look for gelyata(manifest / revealed things) to get a glimpse of God. We must be concerned first about vision, not aboutcommunication. E. is wary of the danger in any intellectual effort to explain, define or delimit God throughthe use of rational language. Even the created things, though visible to the naked eye, are in factincomprehensible. When we start scrutinizing the galyata, they become kasyata, hidden things. Self-knowledge is already difficult, how much more to know God!You do not arrive at the manifest thingsHow can you understand the hidden One (SdF 2:355-6).There are creatures, if we contrast them with material, visible creatures, they are more kasyan, hidden, thangalyata, as a...