But the summers of youth did not pass for Ephraim without some stumbling-blocks. Naturally fiery, he was irritable, and impure desires were aroused in the young flesh from time to time. Ephraim himself later presented the first years of his youth in such traits, although, without a doubt, in his depiction it is impossible not to notice that deep humility that constituted a distinctive feature of his character in monasticism. "In my youth," he says in his Confessions, "I made a vow; However, in these short years I was malicious, beaten, quarreled with others, quarreled with neighbors, envious, was inhuman to strangers, cruel to friends, rude to the poor, quarrelled over unimportant matters, acted recklessly, indulged in evil designs and fornicatory thoughts, even not during the time of carnal excitement." And the inquisitiveness of a young, still immature mind, striving to comprehend that which is beyond its strength, or the frivolity of youth, has drawn it into certain doubts about God's Providence. "In my youth," he says, "when I was still living in the world, the enemy attacked me; and at this time my youth almost convinced me that what happens to us in life is accidental. Like a ship without a rudder, although the helmsman stands at the stern, goes backwards, or does not move at all, and sometimes capsizes if either an angel or a man does not come to its aid, so it was with me" [7].

But God's Providence did not leave the wavering young man without admonition, and the following events, told by Ephraim himself with deep contrition, served him as an intelligible lesson about Providence and a transition to a new way of life [8]. Once, by order of his parents, having gone out of the city, Ephraim was late and stopped to spend the night in the forest with a shepherd of sheep. At night, wolves attacked the flock and tore the sheep to pieces. When the shepherd announced this to the owners of the flock, they did not believe it and accused Ephraim of bringing thieves who had plundered the sheep. Ephraim was presented to the judge. "I made excuses," he says, "by telling how it happened. After me was brought a man who had been caught in adultery with a woman, who had run away and gone into hiding. The judge, postponing the investigation of the case, sent both of us to prison together. In prison we found a certain farmer who had been brought there for murder. But the one who was brought with me was not an adulterer, nor was the farmer a murderer, nor was I a sheep thief. Meanwhile, in the case of the farmer, the dead body, in my case, the shepherd, and in the case of the adulterer, the husband of the guilty woman; therefore, they were guarded in another house.

Having spent seven days there, on the eighth day I saw in a dream that someone said to me: "Be pious, and you will understand Providence; go over in your thoughts what you have thought and done, and you will know for yourself that these people do not suffer unjustly; but the guilty will not escape punishment." And so, when I awoke, I began to meditate on the vision, and, seeking out my transgression, I remembered that once, being in the same village, in the field, in the middle of the night, with evil intention, I drove out of the corral the cow of a poor wanderer. She was exhausted from the cold and from the fact that she was not idle; A beast overtook her there and tore her to pieces. As soon as I told the prisoners this dream and my guilt with me, they, excited by my example, began to tell about their own: the villager - that he saw a man drowning in the river, and could help him, but did not help; and a city dweller said that he had joined the accusers of a certain woman who had been slandered in adultery. "She," he said, "was a widow; her brothers, having brought this guilt against her, deprived her of her father's inheritance, giving a part of it to me, according to the condition." At these stories I began to be crushed, because in this there was some obvious recompense. And if all this happened only to me, one could say that all this happened to me for human reasons. But the three of us suffered the same fate. And so there is a fourth, the avenger, who is not related to those who suffer vain wrong, and is not known to us, because neither I nor they have ever seen him, for I have described to them the appearance of him who came to me in a dream.

I fell asleep another time, and I saw that the same man said to me: "Tomorrow you will see those because of whom you are offended, and release from the slander that has been raised against you."

On the next day, five more people accused of various crimes were presented to the governor, together with Ephraim and his other comrades in prison. Of these, two were brothers of a slandered widow, and had been taken to prison for other crimes which they had actually committed; and the other three were innocent of what they had been imprisoned for, but, as they themselves revealed themselves to Ephraim, they were guilty of perjury. The investigation of all these cases could not be completed soon. Meanwhile, another judge was appointed. The new judge knew Ephraim's parents and himself, but Ephraim did not immediately recognize him. On the eve of the day when all the prisoners were to appear before him at trial, Ephraim again saw in a dream the man saying: "The next day you will be released, and the rest will fall under a just judgment; be believers and proclaim the Providence of God." In fact, the next day the judge considered the cases of the accused; he recognized as innocent those who were put in prison by mistake or malice, and handed over to be devoured by beasts those who were caught or confessed to crimes.

"The judge," says Ephraim, "also commands me to be brought to the middle. Although he was close to me because of his own tribe, he nevertheless began to inquire about the matter in order, and tried to ask me how the matter of the sheep had been. I told the truth, how everything happened. Recognizing me by my voice and name, he ordered a shepherd to be whipped to inquire into the truth, and then released me from the accusation, after almost seventy days. My acquaintance with the judge came from the fact that my parents lived outside the city with those who had brought up this man; and I, too, from time to time had a residence with him...

After that, that same night, I saw my former husband, and he said to me: "Return to your place and repent of unrighteousness, having become convinced that there is an Eye that watches over everything." And having made strong threats to me, he departed; From that time until now I have not seen him" [9].

Ephraim was faithful to the instruction of the one who appeared. While still in prison, having made a vow to devote his whole life to repentance, he soon left the world and withdrew to the surrounding mountains to the hermits [10]. Meanwhile, even in his later years, he did not cease to repent of the sin of his youth and ask others to pray before the Lord for forgiveness.

The hermit's life early became known among the Christians of Nisibis. In the surrounding mountains (Xinjar), caves served as a dwelling for ascetics; plants and fruits, freely grown by the earth, provided them with food; prayer and contemplation of God, uninterrupted by the noise and vanity of the world, constituted their constant exercise. The disciple of the Monk Anthony Aon or Eugene brought the first example of the hermit's life from the deserts of Egypt to the extreme east of the Roman Empire, and soon found here many imitators of himself [11]. Among them was St. James, Bishop of Nisibis, as famous for his ascetic feats and miracles as for his zeal in the spread and defense of the true Christian faith. In order to establish Christianity in Persia, he went to this country, adjacent to Nisibis [12], and in order to protect the Orthodox from the impious teaching of the Arians, he wrote refutations against him, to which St. Athanasius of Alexandria referred [13]. The Monk Ephraim soon became a disciple of Saint James and a strict executor of the rules of wilderness life, which the saint sacredly observed even in the midst of a populous city.

The accident of imprisonment brought about a great change in Ephraim. Instead of a fiery but angry, inquisitive, but shaken by doubts youth, Ephraim is a humble and contrite desert dweller, day and night weeping over his sins and reverently learning the law of the Lord. The example of Saint James completed the spiritual education of his worthy disciple. And already at this time we see in Ephraim a complete submission to the ways of Providence and a truly ascetic firmness in enduring temptations.

In the clergy of the Church of Nisibis there was one man, also named Ephraim [14]. Fearing the exposure of his criminal connection with the daughter of one of the important citizens of Nisibis, he taught the accomplice in sin that, when the traces of her crime became obvious, she should lay the blame on Ephraim, a disciple of the bishop of his name, who for his piety had already gained for himself the love and respect of others. The taught girl did so. When she could no longer conceal her shame, she pointed out to her parents, as the culprit of her disgrace, the Monk Ephraim. Soon the rumor of this spread throughout the city, and the maiden's parents, together with many others, appealed to the bishop with an accusation against his disciple. The holy elder, convinced of the disciple's unfeigned piety, did not want to believe the accusation, having not received a confession from Ephraim himself. Ephraim, already taught by experience not to contradict the fate of Providence, which brings temptations, fell at the feet of the bishop and said in a contrite voice: "Indeed, my father, I have sinned!" As if he were really guilty, he took the infant with bitter tears and said in front of everyone: "Verily, my fathers, I have sinned!" But the Lord, having tested Ephraim's obedience and firmness in enduring temptation, gave him the means to come out of the trial with glory worthy of his humility. He inspired the unquestioning sufferer that his virtue should not remain darkened in the eyes of people by the reproach of vice, and He Himself contributed to the denunciation of the guilty. Once, when the people gathered in the temple for divine services, Ephraim also came with the infant and, asking the bishop's permission to ascend to the ambo, lifted up the infant, and said to him: "I adjure thee in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, reveal the truth, tell me, who is thy father?" The infant answered: "Ephraim, the steward of the church." Having said this three times, the infant died. Then with tears all those who accused him asked forgiveness of the Monk Ephraim, and from that time the fame of his holiness spread still more.

Saint James, who knew more than anyone else about the lofty merits of his disciple, took him with him to the First Ecumenical (Nicaea) Council (in the year 325), the divinely wise exposition of the faith of which Ephraim was destined to defend against false teachers [15]. For about twelve or thirteen years he used the instructions of his bishop. Exercising under his guidance in monastic labors, purifying his spirit by strict fasting and prayers, he at the same time diligently studied the word of God, which was himself prepared by the Spirit of God for the lofty service of the Church as a teacher. How deeply he was aware of the connection between the Christian life and the knowledge of the word of God, he relates one of his teachings: "Nature," he says, "is the land that we cultivate; volition — farmer; and the Divine Scriptures are advisers and teachers, teaching our farmer what bad habits he should eradicate, and what good virtues he should inculcate. No matter how sober and zealous our farmer may be, yet without the teaching of the Divine Scriptures he is neither strong nor knowledgeable, because the law of the Divine Scriptures gives him understanding and strength, and at the same time from his own branches the good virtues, in order to graft them into the tree of nature: faith to unbelief, hope to hopelessness, love to hatred, knowledge to ignorance, diligence to negligence, glory and praise to ignominy, immortality to mortality, Divinity to humanity" [16].

The Monk Ephraim left his mentor only when he left the world. The last beneficence of the pastor of Nisibis to his city, rendered during the invasion of the Persian king Sapor II, is also attributed by the memory of the people to Ephraim, a disciple of Saint James. The king of Persia, hearing of the death of the emperor Constantine (in 337) and counting on the weakness of his successors, decided to seize the border fortified city of Nisibis. The siege lasted about two months; Residents began to lose hope of saving the city. Saint James inspired everyone with his prayers and his instructions. And his disciple Ephraim, having received a blessing from the bishop, ascended the city wall and by his prayer brought a multitude of insects upon the Persian army. In the Persian camp everything fell into disorder. Both animals and people did not know how to protect themselves from the painful action of numerous enemies. The sapores were forced to immediately lift the siege and return to their own land without success.

After the death of Saint James (in the year 338) [18] Ephraim visited his mother's homeland, the city of Amida, which was also in Mesopotamia [19], and after a short stay there he undertook a journey to Edessa. "He was drawn there," says St. Gregory of Nyssa, "by the desire to venerate the shrine there, and, above all, by the desire to find a learned man from whom he could receive or impart to him the fruit of knowledge" [20].