Prayer of Saint Ephrem

Prayer Of Saint Ephrem

The Prayer of Righteous Ephrem (Greek: Εὐχἠ τοῦ Ὁσίου Ἐφραίμ, Euchē tou Hosiou Ephraim), is a prayer attributed to Saint Ephrem the Syrian and used during the Great Lent by the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine rite. In the Byzantine tradition, this prayer is considered to be the most succinct summation of the spirit of Great Lent and is hence the Lenten prayer par excellence, prayed during all Lenten weekday services, such as the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, and many more times in private. There are historically two versions of the prayer - the Greek and the Slavonic, with modern English translations taken either from the Greek, the Slavonic, or attempting to combine the two. As Ephrem wrote solely in Syriac, it is almost certain that it was not written by him. However, the Prayer of Saint Ephrem appears to belong to the large body of Greek penitential and ascetic literature that was composed in Ephrem's name during the century after his death in 373.