Saint Ephrem the Syrian's Works in Kyivan Rus

The article examines some features of the medieval Christian worldview, reflected in the translated works of Ephrem, IV cent. Syrian writer, that existed in Kyivan Rus. This paper aims to determine the reason for Ephrem the Syrian’s works extraordinary popularity among newly converted Slavs, proved by a large number of their manuscripts and allusions to them often found in ancient sermons, saints’ lives and even folk spiritual songs. The method of hermeneutic analysis is used. The article’s novelty is in comparing the situation of the newly converted Slavs and early Christian Syrian communities according to open-mindedness of their faith as it was before multi-volume theological works emerged. Despite lyricism and simplicity of presentation, in his sermons and homilies Ephrem the Syrian quite gradually explains the art of continuous prayer, heart purification, repentance, keeping mind in heart, self-condemnation and sorrow. The writer does not offer a reader theoretical considerations about necessity to repent and cry for one’s sins, but directly cries and prays together with a reader, includes a prayer and a penitential text in a sermon that a believer can pronounce as own speech to God. These works extraordinary popularity in Kyivan Rus and simultaneous absence of significant theological oeuvres among translated literature in the early period of the Slavs Christianization both indicate Ephrem the Syrian’s lyrical approach to a homily and a sermon became the most convenient and effective for the converted Slavs. Conclusion: the purpose of Ephrem the Syrian’s homilies and sermons is not in didactics, but in creating a prayerful mood, involving a reader in one’s prayer, emotion and praise. This was the source of the Slavs’ “kinship” feeling when they accepted Ephrem the Syrian. Kyivan Rus did not yet know scholastic “coolness” of theological tractates and the concept of “spiritual state”; it was still ready to accept perceptive words of the Syrian with an open heart and to imperceptibly and reliably learn from him the “art of arts” – hesychastic creation of continuous prayer.