Distressed
by many misfortunes and by bitter and cruel illnesses, I approach your reliquary
with faith: heal me, saint, by your
intervention.
Power
has been given to you by God to heal the torments of complicated diseases: raise me—for I lie abed because of harsh
sickness—so that I may glorify you, St. Ephraim, my savior.
Having
fallen into the abyss of sin because of enemies visible and invisible, grant
healing to me, your suppliant; your servant cries with tears to you.
Queen,
Virgin, Mother of God: As the glorious
Mother of the Most High, do not cease to intercede for me a sinner, so that he
may have mercy on me and save me from long-lasting diseases, all-pure one.
Irmos. You covered the vault of the sky with a roof, O
Lord, and built the church; confirm me in your love, O summit of desires, support
of the faithful and only clement Lord.
Having
finally reached the end of my wits, painfully
I cry to you: Come quickly, Ephraim, to those
who cry to you. Stretch out your holy
hand, raise me from my bed and grant good health to me, your slave, O saint.
I
am distressed by the weight of my sins now and by the abyss of all my afflictions.
Avenge me, act quickly with your fervent
mediation and utterly drive away the enemy at last, O saint, our most holy Father
Ephraim, and grant calmness to my heart.
I
have fallen now into harsh sicknesses, most holy Virgin. Help me, for I have humbly put my hope in
you. Do not disregard me, O gracious Queen. Save me, O pure one, by your Son, so that I may
be rescued from damnation.
Prayers
after Ode III
Preserve your servants from dangers, O Mother of God, for after God we all take refuge in you, our unbreakable wall and protection.
Look
with goodwill upon the difficult distress of my body, O Mother of God who is hymned by all, and
heal the pain of my soul.
Kathisma
You are an inexhaustible fountain of healings, O Father Ephraim, and a priest
equal to the angels; wherefore we celebrate your agonies and divine martyrdom,
which you endured for the sake of Christ the Bridegroom. Unceasingly entreat
him, O saint, to have mercy on our souls.
Our
fervent mediation and invincible fortress, our
fountain of mercy and refuge for the world!
We cry to you ardently: O Mother of God and Queen, come quickly and deliver
us from dangers, for you alone protect us speedily.
O
defender of my soul, be my guide, O saint renowned; lay to rest my turmoil and
grant peace to my heart.
I
call upon you St. Ephraim, most worshipful priest. Become the salvation of my suffering soul. I call on you day and night. Come speedily, St. Ephraim, and save your
servant from his present suffering.
O
Virgin Mother of God, do not disregard us wretched
sinners who are in danger, but deliver us from every sin and bitter disease.
Have
mercy, Ephraim the wonderworker and saint of God, most worshipful priest, and guide
us into the harbor of the will of the Most High, so that we may chant,
Alleluia.
Fix us firmly on the rock of the
faith on account of which you contended, O blessed one. By your holy blood you strengthened the
church of Christ and have made fast our wavering hearts, St. Efraim.
Do
not despise our prayers, O saint of God, Ephraim, for you are a doctor, a most
worshipful priest and a true friend of Christ.
We pray to you and call on you not to cease to intercede for our souls.
Hail,
Mother of God, Queen, joy of all and our
confident hope! Hail, pure Mary, the
strength of those who call on you! Hail,
divine consolation of our souls!
Receive
my wretched petition and do not despise my tears, O saint, for the frailty of
my soul and body has brought my life down even to Hades; but, as a sympathetic and merciful physician, grant
healing to your suppliant.
Since
you abound in the greatest boldness towards the Master, most worshipful priest,
ask for peace for the world and grant health to your servants, O saint; raise
me from this bed of sickness so that I may hymn my Savior.
Preserve from all kinds of diseases your
servants, most holy and worshipful Ephraim, for you abound in boldness, wherefore
do not despise us our petitions but deliver us from dangers.
Prayers
after Ode VI
Look
in kindness upon the painful suffering of my body, Mother of God who is
worthy to be praised by all, and heal the pain of my soul.
Kontakion
in Tone 2
O Ephraim, you are the fervent protector of those who call on you and adornment
of the saints: Do not disregard the
petitions of your servants, but in your sympathy come speedily to the salvation of us who lie sick with
painful diseases, so that we may cry with affection, Glory be to you, O God.
Do
not reject me, though I have been led astray by the deceit of the crafty serpent
who once thrust our ancestors out of Paradise; afflictions and painful
sicknesses have surrounded me, and apart from you I have no other refuge, help or
consolation. In my wretchedness I take
refuge in you, Ephraim, for you are the great physician of our souls. O boast of the saints, do not abandon me.
No
one who runs to you goes forth from you ashamed, without receiving healing. Therefore your servant cries out with fervent
faith, Have mercy on me.
I repent and cry from the depths of my
heart, “I have sinned, have mercy on me, my holy Ephraim, though I am your
unworthy suppliant, and grant me healing of soul and body.”
Ode VII
Abiding
in great boldness by the throne of the Holy Trinity, remember the world and the
salvation of us sinners and the strength of our
Orthodox faith, so that we may chant unceasingly, Glory to you, our God.
Due to our various sins, we have met
with a pitiable and utterly wretched fall and are not able to gaze at you,
Saint of God, blessed Ephraim. But raise
us up from our weakness so that we may chant, Glory to you, our God.
Your
unworthy servants pray, St. Ephraim, that you not reject the petitions that we
make, crying out night and day to you. Hear
us as we compunctionately cry out with fear and affection. Strengthen our Orthodox faith, on account of
which you contended even to the shedding of blood, O saint.
Most favored Lady and Mother of God, the
joy of the angels and the delight of all the saints, and the refuge and hope of
us sinners! We ask you, my most holy and
all-pure Virgin, with my saint, Father Ephraim the hieromartyr, to
intercede for peace for the world and concord for the church.
Irmos. The king of Heaven whom the hosts of angels
hymn, hymn and exalt him above all forever.
Let us magnify, ye faithful, the leader
of the faith in odes and hymns, for he has made of no effect the designs of the
impious. Therefore we chant, Blessed is
the God of our fathers.
We
magnify in odes and hymns Ephraim, who dwells with the angels in heavenly tabernacles,
for the noble soldier and champion of Christ unceasingly intercedes for the
salvation of our souls.
Let the assembly of all martyrs and
ascetics gather with the hieromartyr Ephraim, the godly minded, and standing by
the Holy Trinity, unceasingly pray for peace for the world and the strength of
the church.
The
choirs of the angels unceasingly celebrate in song the queen of Heaven, and with
the saints and the ranks glorify her. My
all-holy Mother of God, beseech God with Ephraim the hieromartyr to strengthen
the Orthodox faith and save our souls.
Godly minded and divinely inspired
saint, we praise you, for through you have we been saved from various diseases;
wherefore with affection we bless you, Ephraim.
We
praise and bless the Lord of glory, who has glorified your memory, Father Ephraim,
for you are the glory of the martyrs and the boast of the monks.
And I fall on my knees, Father Ephraim,
begging you with tears to help me, your servant. Receive my little hymn and save me, O saint.
Having
borne the Lord of glory, we praise you, all-pure Queen, for you are the mother
and boast of the Orthodox Christians.
ENDNOTES
FOR THE CIRCUMSPECT
I thank my peerless Greek editor and my eagle-eyed English editor, my lawfully wedded, for their wonderful contributions to making this canon happen. All remaining errors may ethically be blamed on me.
Source: http://users.otenet.gr/~mystakid/Agios_Efraim.htm.
Ode
I.
“Illnesses”: ἀσθενεία
may refer generally to frailty of the flesh or weakness in moral
purpose and fiber (Lampe) and so be rendered as infirmity. It may also be used to mean illness or
sickness and as such is virtually indistinguishable from νόσος. Nόσος, however, starts with disease
and plague and descends to madness, vice and torment
(Montanari). In the next troparion, νόσους is used to highlight that tormenting quality of
illness.
“Has been given”: The original misspells
ἐδόθη
as ἐδόθει,
which is one of a number of disquieting clues to the quality of the Greek of
this hymn.
“Complicated” renders ποικίλων, which can also mean varied, difficult,
profound.
"Intervention" seems like the most straightforward translation of μεσιτεία, which usually is rendered mediation, a word which our "early-prowling, base-informing, sad-litigious plaguy ways" (Aristophanes' expression, which in Greek is a single word) have given a very dreary meaning.
“Queen, Virgin, Mother of God”: good example of how hymnographers like to pile up their invocations to produce a figure of repetition. Our hymnographer surpasses even this example in the theotokion of Ode V.
“All-pure” or “wholly pure” seems the best way to put Πανάμωμε. “All-blameless”
means nothing in English—who uses that translationese? Bauer rightly observes that the term was used
to mean unblemished in the case of sacrificial animals or men in ritual
contexts but also blameless in religious contexts. I do not think that we call the Mother of God
blameless in the same sense that we speak of a blameless man. In his 44th homily on Matthew, St.
John Chrysostom speaks of Christ correcting his mother, so she is not all-blameless
in that sense. Montanari adds as later developments
immaculate or pure. These
extensions make “all-immaculate” and “all-pure” viable, where all means wholly
or entirely. As an epithet of
extreme affection, “all-pure” makes sense. Forcing this term of endearment to carry a
dogmatic burden is silly.
Ode III.
“Come quickly” is the Demotic definition of πρόφθασον,
which in Classical Greek means roughly to act pre-emptively. This is a favorite verb of the
hymnographers.
“Avenging me” is conjectural. I suppose
that ἐκτίω comes from ἐκτίνω, which
Pape and Shrevelius define as avenge, take revenge for. The case of the pronoun is not right, but that
is an issue even in Classical Greek.
The
third troparion in Ode III is identical to the kathisma, which is chanted after
Ode III. Until I can speak with an
expert on hymnography to clear up this puzzlement, I am inclined to regard the appearance
of the kathisma in two places as suspect.
Prayers
after Ode III.
“Wall” (τεῖχος)
but later “fortress.”
“O defender.” The Greek ἂστατο is
borrowed from Latin hastatus (one armed with a spear; German Speerträger). This word shows up in an inscription as adstato. I guess it is a kenning (a roundabout, poetic
expression) for defender. The
fact that the hymnographer thought it was neuter or could not remember the acc.
sg. m. form of the definite article may betray modern Greek influence. The theme of this kenning is comparable to the military and sports references in Ode VIII (ὁπλίτην καί ἀθλητήν [soldier and athlete]).
“Confident” is the proper translation of ἀκαταίσχυντος. In Classical Greek, this means devoid of
modesty, then confident (Montanari). There is a certain cockiness required of an
immodestly attired person, but in our hymns this brazenness is transformed into a pious
certainty. Lampe does define this word
as “that cannot be put to shame,” but such a wordy and ambiguous expression has
no place in our hymns.
Ode IV.
“Turmoil.” The text reads τόν τάραχο. Kontopoulos admits τάραχος, but politely refers the reader
to see ταραχή.
Ode
VI.
In view of the fact that the last troparion does
not address the Mother of God, it may be supposed that the theotokion was lost
at some point. (The theotokion is the last troparion in an ode.) My source for this canon
bravely supplies the refrain for the theotokion.
“Do not despise us our petitions but deliver
us from dangers” is my reconstruction of μή παρίδης ἡμᾶς κινδύνων (lit., do not
despise us of dangers). This appears to be a slip for μὴ παρίδης ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀθλίως κινδυνεύοντας (do not despise us
wretched sinners who are in danger [from the theotokion of Ode IV above]) or a
reminiscence of the Akathist (ὡς
ἔχουσα τὸ κράτος ἀπροσμάχητον, ἐκ
παντοίων με
κινδύνων ἐλευθέρωσον as one who has irresistible might,
deliver me from all kinds of dangers).
Ode
VII.
“Abiding” is conjectural for περιπολεύων. περιπολεύω means to
wander around, to roam etc.
However, πολεύων means to keep guard
(Donnegal) or dwell (Schrevelius).
If περι- is used to mean near or simply
to touch up the verb with a perfective aspect, then my conjecture is tolerable.
