The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (736 page)

Ephesians, Letter to the
.

One of the epistles of
Paul
and a book of the New Testament.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Ephesus
.

City in Asia Minor (near the W. coast of modern Turkey and now a ruin), and venue of the third
ecumenical council
in 431.
A second synod was held in Ephesus in 449 to deal with
Eutyches
. Presided over by the bishop of
Alexandria
, it exonerated him; deposed instead the bishop of
Antioch
; and refused to receive the
Tome
sent by Pope
Leo I
. Its decisions were reversed by the Council of
Chalcedon
in 451. The second synod is often known as the Latrocinium (Robber Synod).

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(Heb.). A Jewish sacred garment. It was evidently part of the vestments of the
high priest
. The ephod and Urim and Thummim were used as a means of seeking God's will. Consultation of the ephod, however, had certainly died out by the time of the second
Temple
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Ephraem of Syria
(Syriac church father)
:

see
EPHREM, ST
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Ephraim
.

Younger son of
Joseph
. According to the
midrash
, the tribe of Ephraim left slavery in Egypt early, and many were killed by the
Philistines
. In order to avoid their bones, God led the Israelites a circuitous route to the
Promised Land
. It was these bones which came to life in
Ezekiel's
vision of the valley of the dry bones (ch. 37) (
B.Sanh
92b).

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(
c.
306–73).
‘The Syrian’, the most important of church
fathers
in the
Syrian churches
. He was born in Nisibis (Nusaybin in E. Turkey) where after his baptism he joined the ascetic and celibate circle in the church known as ‘covenanters’. He attended the famous theological school in Nisibis, and was ordained
deacon
(never
priest
). After the Roman cession of Nisibis to Persia in 363 he moved to Edessa. His biblical commentaries (e.g. on the
Diatessaron
) and anti-heretical works (against
Bardaisan
, Mani (see
MANICHAEISM
),
Arius
) come from his last ten years. Ephrem is however best known in Syriac tradition for his large number of
hymns
, which figure largely in liturgical books and which influenced later Syriac and even Greek hymnography. He was made a
Doctor of the Church
in 1920.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search