Verse homilies with some hymns by early Christian writers

Ephrem the Syrian – foundational

c. 306–373; Syriac

• Ephrem the Syrian. Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns. Edited by Bernard McGinn, Translated by Kathleen E. McVey, Paulist Press, 1989.
• Schaff, Philip, and Henry Wace, editors. Gregory the Great (Part II), Ephraim Syrus, Aphrahat. Christian Literature Company, 1898.
• St. Ephrem the Syrian. The Hymns on Faith. Translated by Jeffrey T. Wickes, vol. 130, The Catholic University of America Press, 2015.
• St. Ephrem the Syrian. St. Ephrem the Syrian: Songs for the Fast and Pascha. Translated by Joshua Falconer et al., vol. 145, The Catholic University of America Press, 2022.
• Ephrem the Syrian. Select Metrical Hymns and Homilies of Ephraem Syrus. Translated by Henry Burgess, Robert B. Blackader; Sampson Low, Son and Co.; Asher and Co., 1853.
• S. Ephrem the Syrian. Select Works of St. Ephrem the Syrian. Translated by J. B. Morris, John Henry Parker; F. and J. Rivington, 1847.
• Ephrem the Syrian. A Spiritual Psalter or Reflections on God. Translated by Isaac E. Lambertsen and Antonina Janda, The St. John of Kronstadt Press, 2004.

Narsai of Nisibis – liturgical and sacramental exposition

c. 399–c. 502; Church of the East

• Bishop, Edmund. The Liturgical Homilies of Narsai. Edited by J. Armitage Robinson, Translated by R. H. Connolly, No. 1, vol. 8, Cambridge at the University Press, 1909.

Isaac of Antioch – moral exhortation and svial criticism

probably several fifth- and sixth-century Syriac authors confused under one name

• Becker, Adam H. Isaac of Antioch: Homilies on Moral and Monastic Reform (Writings from the Greco-Roman World). SBL Press, 2024.

Jacob of Serugh – sustained narrative and typological biblical exegesis

451–521; Syriac, associated with the Syriac Orthodox tradition

• Jacob of Serugh. Monalis: Progression of Homilty of Salvation. Translated by Rev. Awele Ilobah. JDM International Ministry 2021.
• Jacob of Serug. On the Mother of God. Translated by Mary Hansbury. St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press. 2011
• Jacob of Serugh. The Stanzaic Poems of Jacob of Serugh: A Collection of His Madroshe and Sughyotho (Texts from Christian Late Antiquity). Translated by Sebastian P. Brock. Gorgias Press. 2022.

Romanos the Melodist

early sixth century; Byzantine Greek

• Mellas, Andrew with Saint Romanos the Melodist. Hymns of Repentance. Edited by John Behr, Translated by Andrew Mellas, vol. 61, St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2020.

Balai of Qenneshrin

early fifth century; Syriac

Anonymous Syriac poets attributed to Ephrem

fourth–sixth centuries and later