Aphrahat

Saint Aphrahat the Persian
Aphrahat depicted inLes Vies des Pères des déserts d'Orient: leur doctrine spirituelle et leur discipline monastique(1886)
Church Father Bishop,Abbot
Born	c. 280 Erbil,Sassanian empire
Died	c. 345 Erbil,Sassanian empire
Venerated in	Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church Oriental Orthodox Church Church of the East
Canonized	Pre-congregation
Majorshrine	Mar Mattai Monastery
Feast	29 January (Roman Catholic,Eastern Orthodox,Oriental Orthodox) 20Tobi(Coptic Orthodox)
Attributes	Shemagh,habit
Patronage	Erbil,Mosul

Aphrahat(c. 280–c. 345;Syriac:ܐܦܪܗܛ,Ap̄rahaṭ,Persian:فرهاد,Arabic:أفراهاط الحكيم,Ancient Greek:Ἀφραάτης,andLatinAphraates), venerated asSaintAphrahat the Persian,was a third-centurySyriac Christianauthor ofIraniandescent from theSasanian Empire,who composed a series of twenty-three expositions or homilies on points of Christian doctrine and practice.All his known works, theDemonstrations,come from later on in his life. He was anasceticandcelibate,and was almost definitely ason of the covenant(an early Syriac form of communalmonasticism). He may have been abishop,and later Syriac tradition places him at the head ofMar Mattai MonasterynearMosulin what is now northernIraq.He was a near contemporary to the slightly youngerEphrem the Syrian,but the latter lived within the sphere of theRoman Empire.Called thePersian Sage(Syriac:ܚܟܝܡܐ ܦܪܣܝܐ,Ḥakkimā Pārsāyā), Aphrahat witnessed to the concerns of the early church beyond the eastern boundaries of the Roman Empire.

Life, history and identity

Aphrahat was born near the border ofRoman SyriainNeo-Persian Iranaround 280, during the rule of Sasanian EmperorShapur II.

The name Aphrahat is the Syriac version of the Persian nameFrahāt,which is the modern PersianFarhād(فرهاد). He might have hadPersian Jewishancestors.The author, who was known as "the Persian sage", came from aZoroastrianfamily and may have himself been a convert from Zoroastrianism, though this appears to be later speculation. However, he tells us that he took the Christian name Jacob at hisbaptism,and is so entitled in thecolophonto a manuscript of 512 which contains twelve of his homilies. Hence he was already confused withJacob of Nisibis,by the time ofGennadius of Massilia(before 496), and the ancientArmenianversion of nineteen of The Demonstrations has been published under this latter name. Thorough study of theDemonstrationsmakes identification with Jacob of Nisibis impossible. Aphrahat, being a Persian subject, cannot have lived at Nisibis, which became Persian only byEmperor Jovian's treaty of 363.

Furthermore, Jacob of Nisibis, who attended theFirst Council of Nicaea,died in 338, and from the internal evidence of Aphrahat's works he must have witnessed the beginning of thepersecution of Christiansin the early 340s by Shapur II. The persecutions arose out of political tensions between Rome and Persia, particularly the declaration ofConstantine the Greatthat Rome should be a Christian empire. Shapur perhaps grew anxious that the largely Syriac and Armenian Christians within his Empire might secretly support Rome. There are elements in Aphrahat's writing that show great pastoral concern for his harried flock, caught in the midst of all this turmoil.

It is understood that his name was Aphrahat from comparatively late writers, such asBar Bahlul(10th century), Elias of Nisibis (11th),Bar HebraeusandAbdisho bar Berika.He appears to have been quite prominent in the Christian Church of the Persian Empire during the first half of the fourth century.George, bishop of the Arabs,writing in 714 to a friend who had sent him a series of questions about the "Persian sage", confesses ignorance of his name, home and rank, but gathers from his works that he was a monk, and of high esteem in the clergy. The fact that in 344 he was selected to draw up a circular letter from a council of bishops and other clergy to the churches ofCtesiphonandSeleuciaand elsewhere (later to become Demonstration 14) is held byWilliam Wrightand others to prove that he was a bishop. According to a marginal note in a 14th-century manuscript (B.M. Orient. 1017), he was "bishop of Mar Mattai," a famous monastery near Mosul, but it is unlikely that this institution existed so early.

About "The Demonstrations"

Aphrahat's works are collectively called theDemonstrations,from the identical first word in each of their titles (Syriac:ܬܚܘܝܬܐ,taḥwîṯâ). They are sometimes also known as "the homilies". There are twenty-threeDemonstrationsin all.Each work deals with a different item of faith or practice, and is a pastoralhomilyor exposition. According toFrancis Crawford Burkitt,they are intended to form "a full and ordered exposition of the Christian faith." The standpoint is that of the Syriac-speaking church, before it was touched by theArian controversy.Beginning with faith as the foundation, the writer proceeds to build up the structure of doctrine and duty.

TheDemonstrationsare works of prose, but frequently, Aphrahat employs a poetic rhythm and imagery to his writing. Each of the first twenty-twoDemonstrationsbegins with each successive letter of theSyriac Alpha bet(of which there are twenty-two). TheDemonstrationswere not composed all at one time, but in three distinct periods. The first ten, composed in 337, concern themselves with Christian life and church order, and predate the persecutions.Demonstrations11–22 were composed at the height of the persecution, in 344. Some of this group deal with matters as before, others focus onapocalypticthemes. However, fourDemonstrationsare concerned withJudaism.It appears that there was a movement within the Persian church by some either to become Jews or return to Judaism, or to incorporate Jewish elements into Christianity. Aphrahat makes his stand by explaining the meaning of the symbols ofcircumcision,PassoverandShabbat.The twenty-thirdDemonstrationfalls outside of the Alpha betic system of the early works, and appears to be slightly later, perhaps near the end of Aphrahat's life. The twenty-third piece takes the symbolism of the grape, drawn fromIsaiahchapter 65 and elsewhere, as its cue. It deals with the fulfillment of Messianic promise fromAdamto Christ.Aphrahat never strays too far from theBiblein theDemonstrations:he is not given to philosophizing. All of hisgospelquotations seem to be drawn from theDiatessaron,the gospel harmony that served the church at his time. Aphrahat's mode ofbiblical interpretationis strikingly similar to that of theBabylonianrabbinicacademies of his day. His position within the church is indicated inDemonstration14, in which Aphrahat appears to be writing a letter on behalf of hissynodto theclergyof Persian capital,Ctesiphon-Seleucia on the Tigris.

InDemonstrations 5,Aphrahat dealt with eschatology. Concerning the beasts of Daniel 7, he identified the first beast asBabylon;the second,Media and Persia;the third,Alexander'sMacedonian empire.The four heads of the leopard were the four successors of Alexander. The fourth beast appeared to include both the Macedonian successors of Alexander and the Roman emperors. Its horns he applied to the Seleucid kings down toAntiochus,whom he identified as the Little Horn.

Translations

TheDemonstrationswere originally composed in theSyriac language,but were quickly translated into other languages. TheArmenianversion, published byAntonelliin 1756 and containing only 19 homilies, circulated mistakenly under the nameJacob of Nisibis.Important versions inGeorgianandGe'ezexist. A few of theDemonstrationswere translated intoArabic,but wrongly attributed toEphrem the Syrian.

Order and subjects of The Demonstrations

1. Demonstration on faith—Demonstrations1–10 were probably written 336–7
2. Demonstration on charity
3. Demonstration on fasting
4. Demonstration on prayer
5. Demonstration on wars
6. Demonstration onmembers of the covenant
7. Demonstration on penitents
8. Demonstration on resurrection
9. Demonstration on humility
10. Demonstration on pastors
11. Demonstration oncircumcision—Demonstrations11–22 were probably written 344
12. Demonstration on thePassover
13. Demonstration on theSabbath
14. Demonstration on preaching
15. Demonstration on various foods
16. Demonstration on the call of the Gentiles
17. Demonstration on Jesus the Messiah
18. Demonstration on virginity
19. Demonstration on the dispersion of Israel
20. Demonstration on almsgiving
21. Demonstration on persecution
22. Demonstration on death and the last days
23. Demonstration concerning the grape—Demonstration23 was probably written in the winter of 344–5

References

References noted inMcLean 1911

• Editions byW. Wright(London, 1869), and J. Parisot (with Latin translation, Paris, 1894); the ancientArmenianversion of 19 homilies edited, translated into Latin, and annotated by Antonelli (Rome, 1756).
• Translations of particular homilies byGustav BickellandE. W. Budge;the whole have been translated byG. Bert(Leipzig, 1888).
• C. J. F. Sasse,Proleg. in Aphr. Sapientis Persae sermones homileticos(Leipzig, 1879)
• J. Forget,De Vita et Scriptis Aphraatis(Louvain, 1882)
• F. C. Burkitt,Early Eastern Christianity(London, 1904)
• J. Labourt,Le Christianisme dans l'empire perse(Paris, 1904)
• Froom, Le Roy Edwin (1950).The prophetic faith of our fathers: the historical development of prophetic interpretation(PDF).Vol. I. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald.ISBN9780828024563.
• Theodor Zahn,ForschungenI.
• "Aphraates and the Diatessaron," vol. ii. pp. 180–186 of Burkitt'sEvangelion Da-Mepharreshe(Cambridge, 1904)
• Articles on "Aphraates and Monasticism," byR. H. Connollyand Burkitt inJournal of Theological Studies(1905) pp. 522–539, (1906) pp. 10–15

Other sources

• M. Lattke,"„Taufe “und „untertauchen “in Aphrahats ܬܚܘܝܬܐ (taḥwyāṯā) ", inAblution, Initiation, and Baptism: Late Antiquity, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity = Waschungen, Initiation und Taufe: Spätantike, Frühes Judentum und Frühes Christentum,ed. David Hellholm, Tor Vegge, Øyvind Norderval, Christer Hellholm (BZNW 176/I–III; Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2011) 1115–38.
• Urdang, Laurence.Holidays and Anniversaries of the World.Detroit:Gale Research Company, 1985.ISBN0-8103-1546-7

External links

• Demonstrations in Syriac with Latin translation.
• Lexicon and index to Demonstrations.
• English Translations of Demonstrations 1, 5, 6, 8, 10, 17, 21 and 22
• Demonstrations 2 and 7 translated(scroll down)
• Audience of Pope Benedict XVI on 21 November 2007