The Monk Ephraim the Syrian left a remarkable trace in the history of the Church as a great teacher in repentance and the first and most notable author of church hymns, which affirm in poetic forms the doctrine of the Church and constitute a vital part of today’s church worship.
To Saint Ephrain, repentance is the main driving force of Christian life. We do not repent to have our sins exonerated by some external entity. Instead, we repent to wash and burn them away in our tears of repentance and to have the ability to proceed in the way of the commandments of God. “By sailing across in the fiery font of repentance, O sinner, you resuscitate yourself from the dead,” wrote Saint Ephraim.
He developed the scriptural teaching that the Kingdom of God is within each person. He asserted that we obtain the Kingdom through repentance and by growing in the likeness of God. Saint Ephraim wrote: "If the Son of God is within you, His Kingdom is also within you. Go inwards into yourself, search diligently and without you will find it without difficulty. Outside of you is death, and the door to it is sin. Go inwards, for since there – is God".
Saint Ephraim's Prayer of Repentance, "O Lord and Master of my life...", is said during Great Lent, and it summons Christians to spiritual renewal. Other known prayers of Saint Ephraim are to the Most Holy Trinity, to the Son of God, and the Mother of God. He wrote multiple instructions to monks in repentance, and the Rule of the Russian Orthodox Church some of them to be read during the Great Lent.
