This great Eastern Doctor of the Church was a contemporary of St. Athanasius, a defender of Christ’s Divinity against the Arians, a lover of Holy Scriptures and an apostle of the Holy Eucharist, which even in the Fourth Century he explained so well:

Do not believe that what I have just given to you is bread, receive it, eat it, do not crumble it away. That which I have called my Body, truly is so. The smallest morsel is sufficient to sanctify millions of souls and suffices to give life to those who receive it. Receive and eat with faith, do not waver, for it is my Body, and he who partakes of it with faith partakes of the fire of the Holy Spirit. It seems to him who partakes without faith to be but ordinary bread, but to him who with faith partakes of the Bread consecrated in my name, if he be pure it preserves his purity, if a sinner it obtains his pardon. Let those who reject, despise or outrage this Bread know that of a certainty they do outrage to the Son, who has called and has made bread to be his Body. Take and eat, and by it partake of the Holy Spirit, for it is truly my Body, and he who eats thereof has eternal life. It is the Bread of heaven come down from on high unto us. The manna which the Israelites ate in the desert, the manna which they gathered and which they despised although it fell from heaven, was a figure of the spiritual food you have just received. Take ye all of it and eat, in eating this Bread and eat my Body, the true source of the redemption.”

I have borrowed heavily from Dom Gueranger’s The Liturgical Year in this post. But in so reading about this saint I was reminded of that harrowing line of the Dies Irae sequence in the requiem Mass,

“What shall I, frail man, be pleading?
Who for me be interceding,
When the just are mercy needing?

Why? Because this man, not only a Saint but declared by Pope Benedict XV to be a Doctor of the Church, wrote as follows at the end of his life, when he felt the approach of death:

When I think of my past life my knees tremble and my teeth chatter, and when I call to mind my deeds I am overcome with horror. For I have never done anything good, nothing worthy of praise since the day of my birth. Do not embalm me for burial, such honor is not due to me; do not place sweet perfumes upon my body, I am not worthy of such distinction. Burn the incense in the sanctuary, but encompass me with your prayers. Offer sweet perfumes to God and chant psalms for my soul. Instead of pouring sweet perfumes and sweet savors over my body remember me in your prayers, for of what use are sweet odors to a dead man who has no senses with which to perceive them? Carry your incense to the house of God and there burn it that others may benefit thereby. Do not bury that which decays in silk which is useless to it, but rather leave in the pit that which cannot appreciate honors. Luxury belongs to the rich, the dunghill to the poor. Authority belongs to the royal family, but abjection and humility to the stranger and wayfarer …

“The one thing that gives me courage and hope before God is that I have never insulted my Savior and no blasphemy has ever been uttered by my lips. Those who hated thee, Lord, I have hated and have abhorred thy enemies. (Psalm 138:21) Write my words upon your hearts and be mindful of what I say, for after I am dead evil persons will come among you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (Matthew 7:15) Their speech is sweet, but the desires of their hearts are bitter; they have the appearance of good, but they are the messengers of Satan. Fly from them and from their doctrines; do not go near them, for you know that whoever is found in a place where outrage has been offered to the king has to come into court to be questioned according to law. Even if he can prove he was not guilty he will be condemned for want of zeal. Do not sit with heretics nor associate with apostates. It would be better to dwell with a demon than with a renegade. For if you abjure the demon he will flee, for he cannot stand before the name of Jesus, but even were you to exorcise the apostate ten thousand times he would not cease from his wickedness nor renounce his folly. It would be better to teach demons than to try to convince heretics. Demons bore witness, saying, ‘Thou art the Son of God,’ (Matthew 8:29) but infidels and heretics daily contend pertinaciously that he is not the Son of God. Satan himself who dwells in them confesses the truth, but they assiduously deny it.

“Farewell, my friends, and pray for me, my beloved. The time has come for the merchant to return to his own country. Woe is me, my merchandise is gone and my riches are all spent. No one weeps over the death of the holy, because they pass from death to life; but weep for me, brethren, for we have wasted our days and hours in idleness. May peace abide on the earth and may her sons be joyful. May peace abide in the Church and may the persecution of the malicious cease. May the wicked become just and be converted from their sins.

From The Liturgical Year

Heady stuff. In these evil times, and against a sudden and unprovided-for death, St. Ephraem, pray for us!