Ephraim 2 was a monk; he was the addressee of three letters from Theodoros 15 (Theodore the Stoudite) between 815 and 820 and mentioned in a fourth. In a letter addressed to Euthymios 15 "and the other brothers", probably around the middle of 816, he is named as one of the ten "martyrs" who suffered because they supported the veneration of icons; the others named are Aphrodisios 1, Ammonas 1, Hyperechios 1, Stephanos 135, Parthenios 1, Hegesimos 1, Symeon 28 and Dorotheos 10: Theod. Stud., Ep. 181, pp. 303-305 (addressed Εὐθυμίῳ καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἀδελφοῖς). Before the end of 816 he was in exile, one of ten colleagues to suffer; described as the first in rank (ἐν τῷ σχήματι: p. 295, line 6) but the second of them to be flogged; Theodoros wrote him a letter of encouragement; he is addressed as τέκνον Ἐφραίμ (p. 295, line 2): Theod. Stud., Ep. 174, p. 295 (addressed Ἐφραὶμ τέκνῳ; the letter is dateable to the second half of 816). Another letter to him, dateable to winter 817/818 or spring 818, also refers to his exile (ἡ ἐξορία καὶ ὁ περιορισμός: p. 483, line 4): Theod. Stud., Ep. 344, p. 483 (addressed Ἐφραὶμ τέκνῳ). At some point in this period he and his fellow monks had lost their leader, the hegoumenos Laurentios 3, and received a letter from Theodoros 15 encouraging them to live a communal life under the leadership of Ephraim 2 - κοινοβιακῶς ζήσητε, δηλονότι ἔχοντες τὸν ἀδελφὸν Ἐφραὶμ προκαθηγούμενον (p. 184, lines 33-34) (he was therefore designated as their new hegoumenos; the identity of the monastery is unknown); they are addressed as γενναῖοι στρατιῶται Χριστοῦ (p. 184, line 30): Theod. Stud., Ep. 68, pp. 183-184 (addressed Ἐφραὶμ καὶ Ἀγάθωνι καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς τέκνοις; the letter is dateable only between 815 and 820, during the persecution under Leo V, i.e. Leo 15). He may have been identical with Ephraim 3; if so, the monastery was that of Tripyliana.

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