Ephraem the Syrian on the utility of language and the place of silence (Exploring a trinitarian definition of verbal communication)

This paper attempts to trace the outlines of Ephraem the Syrian's ideas abo ut the extent to which theological language can be usefully applied to the description of God. Centering on the "Hymns on Faith" and "Sermons on Faith ", the paper describes Ephraem's ideas about the usefulness of all language s used by created beings and how each of them is limited to dealing with re alities close to ti on the ontological scale, Ephraem is shown to believe t hat each language has its own range of usefulness but that no language is u niversally useful and that no verbal language suffices for the expression o f the highest truths. since all verbal languages function by defining what they describe, the highest realities, which cannot be subjected to definiti on because of their infinite natures, can be expressed only through the med ium of silence. Silence is shown to be, in Ephraem's mind, the highest form of communication and to be used among the persons of the Trinity for their own communication.