BĀLAJ. - A classical Syriac hymnographer, probably living between the Euphrates and Aleppo around the middle of the 5th century, author of 5 hymns or madrāsē in honour of Bishop Acacio of Berea (d. 432) and of another for the consecration of the new church of Qennešrīn or Aleppo (ed. J. Overbeck, S. Ephraemi Syri... opera selecta, Oxford 1865, pp. 259-69, 251-58; German trans. in Bibliothek der Kirchenväter, 2nd ed., 6th series, pp. 71-89, 63-75). Very probably 12 songs to Giuseppe, the son of Giacobbe, among the finest compositions of poetry, are by B., although they are sometimes published under the name of St. Efrem
B. employed the pentasyllabic metre; this does not, however, justify the conclusion, as various copyists have done, especially in the case of liturgical books, that ancient pentasyllabic hymns are always his. At other times the same hymns bear the name of s. Efrem, which makes their provenance doubtful.
The authentic hymns contain valuable testimonies concerning Mariology and the primacy of s. Pietro.