The Lord gave the Byzantine Ephraim many talents. He was educated, read and spoke several languages. He made a great administrator. Under Emperor Anastasia (6th century), he was the chief treasurer of the Byzantine Empire. Ephraim remained a man of deep faith, just and good.
It was for his administrative talent that Emperor Justin I chose the saint to rebuild the city of Antioch after a great earthquake. There, in Antioch, Ephraim saw the light coming from a sleeping mason. He will wake up the stonecutter and he confessed to him that he had been a bishop before, but left this ministry and became ordinary stonemasons, serving the Lord with his work. An unusual worker predicted that Ephraim would become a patriarch.
The efforts of Ephraim to restore the city, his kindness, strong faith, were so loved by the townspeople that they asked the saint to take the place of the patriarch who died in the earthquake. The saint had to be persuaded for a long time, and only the direct order of the emperor made him agree.
In his service, the new patriarch was just, kind, but merciless to the enemies of the faith. During his patriarchate, Antioch was struck by another earthquake. People fled the city in fear. However, the patriarch reassured them by ordering them to write “Jesus Christ is with us” on the doors of the houses. No more tremors.
The city was rebuilt and the patriarch continued his ministry. He wrote many notes and essays aimed at condemning heretical currents. He died of his own accord in 545.
Remembrance days
June 8
The Holy Land Charitable Foundation
Lives of Saints
