Saint Ephrem The Syrian.
The
same melody
1 - Oil in the likeness of the Heavenly One became the giver of
kingship.
From
the horn [of oil] a pure cloud descended upon the head of a body,
as
God descended upon the top of the mountain and gave brightness to Moses,
and
Solomon received brightness symbolically.
From the horn of messiahship. From the People to the
peoples it went out.
Instead of the few, many will be anointed and cleansed.
2 - Again, Zechariah saw two olive branches as sources;
[from] the one would flow priesthood, and [from] the other
its companion, kingship. In the Captivity the treasure of the two poured forth
[and] gave two branches:
atonement and redemption after the Captivity
to the polluted and constrained People. He gave, again,
two covenants:
purification and redemption to the polluted and oppressed
peoples.
3 - The olive tree, again, became the first-born of the trees that were buried
in the Flood, in the likeness of its Lord Who became the
First-born from the house of the dead.
Therefore the olive tree passed through the Deluge, and
before all [else] it was revived.
It rose up [and] gave its leaf as a pledge for the revival
of all. The dove found and eagerly desired it-the bird that seeks our inhabited
land.
[The dove] announced that there was a survivor, and [the
olive tree] sent a greeting in her mouth.
4 - [The olive tree] passed through the waves [and] rose up as king and sent its envoy of peace,
and it gave good tidings to the confined and brought forth
praise in the mouth of the silent.
Plucked from it was consolation, a leaf that enlightened
the eyes of all.
It announced to Noah that anger was defeated, and mercy
was
victorious.
The sight of the leaf, although mute, sowed
exultation with the sorrowful.
For them it became a mirror of peace in which
they saw the peace of the earth.
5 - In the descent of the Mount of Olives palm trees and olive trees partook:
Two whose leaves were not worthy for our Lord
... who shed His garments.
a sweet
voice .
That a sweet voice ... was ... for the Lord...
And the olive tree that ... openings of lamps
with its flash of light. With its branches [the palm tree] enriches the babes praising
with their hosannas.
6 - For the olive tree is like John. He foretold a symbol of his Lord.
The king, the Anointed, shone forth and came;
the olive tree went out to meet its Lord;
with children who bore his tree branches, he
was stripped [and] divided his branches.
It was prophesied that his Lord would shed [and]
divide his garments.
The olive tree that bore symbols witnessed to
the One Who came to complete his symbols.
He sent a crown from his branches to the Slain
One Who would conquer death.
7 - The dove gave rest to Noah in the Flood, and the dove's kinswoman, Mary,
with good oil instead of a leaf portrayed the
symbol of the Son's death.
The oil jar she poured on Him emptied out a
treasure of types on Him.
In that moment the symbols of oil took shelter
in the Anointed,
and the treasurer of the symbols of oil completed the
symbols for the Lord of symbols:
the creation conceived His symbols; Mary conceived His limbs.
8 - Therefore many wombs brought forth the Only-begotten.
The belly brought Him forth by travail, and the creation
also brought Him forth by symbols.
He put on one body of limbs and another of glories.
Eternal power -does not become weary; He worked but gave us rest since
it wearied the creatures to bear the symbols of His majesty.
They were weighed down by His symbols like the belly that
carried Him.
9 - Oil is next of kin of priesthood like John, a
son of priesthood.
He opened out a path in the hearing where formerly the
voice had been stopped up,
and the word flows into the ear so that it portrays the
will of the speaker in it.
But in this path opened out by John
the Word of the hidden Father flowed. Since the image of
Him Who sent Him is portrayed by Him,
by Him is beautified the ugliness of the peoples, who
acquired His comeliness.
10 - The confident olive tree does not fear the lion that frightens all.
In the pains of cold winter its leaves resist as the
steadfast [do]. They are a type of the steadfast who held fast to the Anointed,
the Olive Tree.
In persecution the doubters fell like leaves
that do not stay on their trees, but the anointed ones
depend on the Anointed
like the leaves of the olive tree in winter, entirely
rooted in it.
11 - Again, a symbol of God is the olive that is upright and good in the contest,
for it grasps the beginning [and] also girds the ends.
12 - ...
For the oil in a contest gives the crown to the victor.
The Anointed, Who is Truth, gives us true freedom, my
brothers.
Athletes with a temporal crown acquire time;
from the burden ... the Anointed sets free with a crown of
praise.
From the slavery of sin He freed His church by His
victory.
13 - With oil athletes smear ... . . . disciple ... learns.
He, if he fails, feels ashamed...
The athlete ... his companion is praised,
The disciple who neglects to take from his companion
learns.
If ... is worshipped if ... is glorified.
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| The Sisters Olive Trees of Noah, 6000 years old. The oldest living olive trees. Bechealeh-Lebanon. |
14 - Oil teaches acceptableness to disobedient harshness,
that it might appear to comply sweetly with harsh force
that grasps
it.
But the Anointed made us oppressed so that instead of one
blow we
might be struck two,
that we might mix double harshness with sweetness,
and instead of a mile we might go two, ...
Reference:
Saint Efrem the Syrian.(1989)
"Efrem the Syrian Hymns".
Paulist Press.