John of Damascus, “The Orthodox Faith”, translated by Ephrem Mtsire; 12th c

Ephrem Mtsire or Ephraim the Lesser ( ka, ეფრემ მცირე) (died c. 1101/3) was a Georgian monk at

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

, theologian and translator of patristic literature from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

. Information as to Ephrem’s life is scarce. Early in life he received a thorough Hellenic education presumably in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

, where his purported father Vache Karich'isdze, a Georgian

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...

from

Tao ''Tao'' or ''Dao'' is the natural order of the universe, whose character one's intuition must discern to realize the potential for individual wisdom, as conceived in the context of East Asian philosophy, East Asian religions, or any other phil ...

, had removed in 1027. Ephrem then became a monk at the Black Mountain near Antioch, which was populated by a vibrant Georgian monastic community of around 70 monks. Later in his life, c. 1091, Ephrem became a hegumen of the Kastana monastery, probably at the Castalia spring in

Daphne Daphne (; ; el, Δάφνη, , ), a minor figure in Greek mythology, is a naiad, a variety of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. There are several versions of the myth in whi ...

, outside Antioch. Ephrem’s hellenophile translational technique proved to be fundamental for later Georgian literature. He was the first to introduce literal rendering into Georgian, and made

scholia Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from grc, σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of t ...

and lexica familiar to Georgian readers. Some of his notable translations are the works by

Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (or Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite) was a Greek author, Christian theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century, who wrote a set of works known as the ''Corpus Areopagiticum'' o ...

, Basil of Caesarea, Ephrem the Syrian, and John of Damascus.Chelidze, Edisher. ''The Two Georgian Translations of the Homilies of St. Gregory Nazianzen'', p. 507, in Livingstone, Elizabeth A. (ed., 1997), '' Studia Patristica vol. XXXIII''. Peeters Publishers, . Ephrem’s original work "Tale on the Reason for the Conversion of the Georgians" (უწყებაჲ მიზეზსა ქართველთა მოქცევისასა; ''uts’qebay mizezsa k’art’velt’a mok’tsevisasa'') is yet another manifesto in defense of autocephaly of the

Georgian Orthodox Church The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამოციქულო ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, tr), commonly ...

which was subject of a dispute between the Georgian and Antiochian churchmen in the 11th century.

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External links

ღირსი ეფრემ მცირე, ფილოსოფოსი (+1101)
Orthodoxy.ge {{DEFAULTSORT:Mtsire, Ephrem 11th-century births 1100s deaths Philosophers from Georgia (country) Saints of Georgia (country) Writers from Georgia (country) Translators from Georgia (country) Christian monks from Georgia (country) 11th-century Christian saints