The Life and Select Writings and Hymns of Ephraim the Syrian (Desert Fathers)

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For the First time in well 100 years, this effort has been pains takingly re-edited for the modern English reader.
Saint Ephrem the Syrian was born sometime around the year 306 in Nibisis, a Syrian town located in modern-day Turkey. Fleeing westward from the Persians, who were ravaging Turkey, Ephrem settled in Edessa, in southern Turkey, in 363. There, he continued to write hymns, especially defending the teaching of the Council of Nicea against the Arian heretics, who were influential in Edessa. He died tending plague victims in 373.
St. Ephrem wrote many poems--over 1,000 works in all, with a total of over 3,000,000 lines. Many of his works are difficult to translate because of their complex structures, images, wordplays, and parallels. Scholars question the authenticity of all texts attributed to the "Harp of the Faith," a name frequently given to Ephrem, since many exist in Latin or Greek translation only. Ephrem wrote polemical verse defending the faith against gnostics and Arians, as well as poems against specific people, like Bar-Daisan. Ephrem was devoted to the Theotokos and wrote much in her praise. His Sermons on Faith are metrical homilies, and he wrote prose commentaries on the Old Testament and on the Epistles of St. Paul. He annotated the Greek-Syriac New Testament Diatessaron. His descriptions of heaven and hell are said to have inspired Dante.
St. Ephrem wrote many poems--over 1,000 works in all, with a total of over 3,000,000 lines. Many of his works are difficult to translate because of their complex structures, images, wordplays, and parallels. Ephrem wrote polemical verse defending the faith against gnostics and Arians, as well as poems against specific people, like Bar-Daisan. Ephrem was devoted to the Theotokos and wrote much in her praise. His Sermons on Faith are metrical homilies, and he wrote prose commentaries on the Old Testament and on the Epistles of St. Paul. He annotated the Greek-Syriac New Testament Diatessaron. His descriptions of heaven and hell are said to have inspired Dante.