BALAJ. - 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 honor of Bishop Acacius of Beroea (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 they are: - that of B., although at times they go under the name of St. Ephrem, 12 songs on Joseph, the son of Jacob, among the most beautiful compositions of poetry
Syriac (complete edition: P. Bedjan, Paris-Leipzig, 1891: Th. Lamy, Ephraemi... hymni et sermones, III, Malines 1889, cols. 249-640; IV, cols. 791-844, where the Latin version is also found).
B. used the pentasyllabic meter; this does not, however, authorize the conclusion, as several copyists have drawn, especially where liturgical books are concerned, that the ancient pentasyllabic hymns are always his. At other times the same hymns bear the name of St. Ephrem, which makes their provenance doubtful.
In the authentic hymns there are valuable testimonies on Mariology and on the primacy of St. Peter.
Bibliography
Ignazio Ortiz de Urbina