Apocalypse of Pseudo-Ephraem - Use of Pseudo-Ephraem in Rapture Controversy

Use of Pseudo-Ephraem in Rapture Controversy

A translation of a late Latin text of what is purported to be a sermon of Pseudo-Ephraem, by a professor at Tyndale Theological Seminary, Ft. Worth, Tx., Cameron Rhoades, is cited by some, to support an early church reference to the rapture. However, this support is questionable. The Latin text is not "early" (later than 8th century) and is a conflated text, and not translated directly from either the Syriac or Greek texts.

For perspective, according to Frazier, "Collections of works ascribed to Ephrem exist in several languages, the largest body of texts being Greek. Nearly all the surviving texts attributed to Ephrem in languages other than Syriac and Armenian are derived from this Greek corpus, including the Latin corpus.

Importantly, according to Reeves, "The Latin pseudo-Ephrem and the Syriac pseudo-Ephrem are not the same text, and the nature of their relationship to one another has yet to be satisfactorily explained. What does seem to be clear is that the Latin text borrows from the Pseudo-Methodius apocalypse (and is thus later than circa 700 CE), whereas the Syriac text seems to be older and does not betray such influence."

Thus, different translations from different underlying texts (Syriac text, Greek, and Latin) are confusedly cited as the same Pseudo-Ephraem sermon and popular writers do not point out these important differences, e.g., that the Latin text is much later and borrows from Pseudo-Methodius.