Didymus of Alexandria and Ephraim the Syrian

At that time the admirable Ephraim flourished at Edessa, and Didymus at Alexandria. Both wrote against the teachings that are at odds with the truth. Ephraim, writing in the Syrian language, sent out beams of spiritual grace. Untouched as he was by pagan education, he was able to expose the fine points of pagan error and lay bare the weakness of every heretical trick. Harmonius, the son of Bardesanes, had once composed certain songs. By mixing the sweetness of melody with his impiety, he charmed his hearers and led them to their ruin. Ephraim took over the music of those songs but set godliness to it, and so gave his hearers great delight and a healing medicine at the same time. These songs are still used to brighten the festivals of our victorious martyrs. [a]

Didymus, on the other hand, had been deprived of his sight from childhood. Yet he had been educated in poetry, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, the logic of Aristotle and the eloquence of Plato. He received instruction in all these subjects by hearing alone. He did not take them as carrying the truth, but as likely to serve as weapons for the truth against falsehood. Of the holy Scriptures he learned not only the sound but the sense. So among those who lived the ascetic life and those who devoted themselves to virtue, these men stood out at that time.