St. Jerome, the Latin father, writes in his Book on Famous Men, in A.D. 392, about St. Ephrem's "lofty intellect": "Ephrem, a deacon of the church of Edessa wrote a great deal in the Syriac language. He attained such distinction that his writings are read in some churches after the scriptural lections. I have read a work of his on the Holy Spirit, which someone had translated from Syriac into Greek, and even in translation I could recognize the acumen of a lofty intellect." [1]

Palladius also wrote about St. Ephrem's saintliness in his Lausiac History (419/20), chapter 40, paragraph 1 and 3, the following:

"This Ephrem is one of the saints who is worthy of mention. He journeyed excellently and uprightly along the spiritual path, never turning to either side from the straight path... "

Paladius goes on to tell us a lot about St. Ephrem‟s prolific writings:

"It is said of him that when he was a boy, he saw a dream- or a vision - in which a vine shoot sprung up from his tongue; it grew and everywhere under the heavens was filled by it; it bore bunches of grapes in proliferation, and all the birds of the sky came and ate of its fruits; the more they ate, the more the bunches multiplied and grew." [2]

Sozomen, in his Ecclesiastical History, talks laudably and glowingly about him:

"Ephrem the Syrian was entitled to the highest honors and was the greatest ornament of the catholic (universal) church... His style of writing was so filled with

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