Information AboutAphraates |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT APHRAHAT | |
| syriac writers | |
| late antiquity | |
| 270 births | |
| 345 deaths | |
| syrian saints | |
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LIFE, HISTORICAL INFORMATION AND IDENTITY His name, ''Aphrahat'', is the Syriac version of the Persian name ''Frahāt'', which is the modern Persian ''Farhād'' (فرهاد). The author, who was earliest known as ''hakkima pharsaya'' ("the Persian sage"), was a subject of Sapor II and may have come from a Pagan family and been himself a convert from heathenism, though this appears to be later speculation. However, he tells us that he took the Christian name ''Jacob'' at his Baptism , and is so entitled in the Colophon to a manuscript of AD 512 which contains twelve of his homilies. Hence he was already confused with Jacob, bishop of Nisibis , by the time of Gennadius Of Marseilles (before 496), and the ancient Armenian version of nineteen of The Demonstrations has been published under this latter name. Thorough study of the ''Demonstrations'' makes identification with Jacob of Nisibis impossible. Aphrahat, being a Persian subject, cannot have lived at Nisibis, which became Persian only by Jovian 's treaty of 363 . Furthermore, Jacob of Nisibis, who attended the First Council Of Nicaea , died in 338, and from the internal evidence of Aphrahat's works he must have witnessed the beginning of the Persecution Of Christians in the early 340s by Shapur II Of Persia . The persecutions arose out of political tensions between Rome and Persia, particularly the declaration of Constantine I that Rome should be a Christian empire. Shapur perhaps grew anxious that the Christians within Persia 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 learnt that his name was Aphrahat (or Pharhadh) from comparatively late writers, such as Bar Bahlul (10th century), Elias of Nisibis (11th), Bar-Hebraeus and 'Abhd-isho'. George, bishop of the Arabs, writing in AD 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 of Ctesiphon and Seleucia On The Tigris and elsewhere (later to become Demonstration 14) is held by Dr William Aldis Wright and 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 Mostil, but it is unlikely that this institution existed so early. ABOUT "THE DEMONSTRATIONS" Aphrahat's works are collectively called the ''Demonstrations'', from the identical first word in each of their titles (, ). They are sometimes also known as "the homilies". There are twenty-three ''Demonstrations'' in all. Each work deals with a different item of faith or practice, and is a pastoral quotations seem to be drawn from the '' Diatessaron '', the gospel harmony that served the church at his time. Aphrahat's mode of Biblical Interpretation is strikingly similar to that of the Babylon ian Rabbi nic academies of his day. ''Demonstration'' 5 deals with ongoing conflict between Persia and Rome, but uses the imagery of the Book Of Daniel to interpret these events. His position within the church is indicated in ''Demonstration'' 14, in which Aphrahat appears to be writing a letter on behalf of his Synod to the Clergy of the Persian capital, Ctesiphon - Seleucia On The Tigris . TRANSLATIONS The ''Demonstrations'' were originally composed in Syriac , but were quickly translated into other languages. The Armenian version, published by Antonelli in 1756 and containing only 19 homilies, circulated mistakenly under the name ''Jacob of Nisibis''. Important versions in Georgian and Ge'ez exist. A few of the ''Demonstrations'' were translated into Arabic , but wrongly attributed to Ephrem The Syrian . ORDER AND SUBJECTS OF THE DEMONSTRATIONS #''Demonstration on faith'' — ''Demonstrations'' 1–10 were probably written 336 – 7 #''Demonstration on charity'' #''Demonstration on fasting'' #''Demonstration on prayer'' #''Demonstration on wars'' #''Demonstration on Members Of The Covenant '' #''Demonstration on penitents'' #''Demonstration on resurrection'' #''Demonstration on humility'' #''Demonstration on pastors'' #''Demonstration on Circumcision '' — ''Demonstrations'' 11–22 were probably written 344 #''Demonstration on the Passover '' #''Demonstration on the Sabbath '' #''Demonstration on preaching'' #''Demonstration on various foods'' #''Demonstration on the call of the Gentiles'' #''Demonstration on Jesus the Messiah'' #''Demonstration on virginity'' #''Demonstration on the dispersion of Israel'' #''Demonstration on almsgiving'' #''Demonstration on persecution'' #''Demonstration on death and the last days'' #''Demonstration concerning the grape'' — ''Demonstration'' 23 was probably written in the winter of 344 – 5 FAITH The homilies of Aphraates are intended to form, as Professor Burkitt has shown, "a full and ordered exposition of the Christian faith." The standpoint is that of the Syriac-speaking church, before it was touched by the Arian controversy. Beginning with faith as the foundation, the writer proceeds to build up the Structure of doctrine and duty. The first ten homilies, which form one division completed in 337 , are without polemical reference; their subjects are faith, love, fasting, prayer, wars (a somewhat mysterious setting forth of the conflict between Rome and Persia under the imagery of Daniel ), the sons of the covenant (monks or ascetics), penitents, the resurrection, humility, pastors. Those numbered 11-22, written in 344, are almost all directed against the Jew s; the subjects are Circumcision , Passover , the Sabbath , persuasion (the encyclical letter referred to above), distinction of meats, the substitution of the Gentiles for the Jews, that Christ is the Son of God, virginity and holiness, whether the Jews have been finally rejected or are yet to be restored, provision for the poor, persecution, death and the last times. The 23rd homily, on the "grape kernel" (Is. lxv. 8), written in 344, forms an appendix on the Messianic fulfilment of prophecy, together with a treatment of the chronology from Adam to Christ. Aphraates impresses a reader favourably by his moral earnestness, his guilelessness, his moderation in controversy, the simplicity of his style and language, his saturation with the ideas and words of Scripture. On the other hand, he is full of cumbrous repetition, he lacks precision in argument and is prone to digression, his quotations from Scripture are often inappropriate, and he is greatly influenced by Jewish exegesis. He is particularly fond of arguments about numbers. How wholly he and his surroundings were untouched by the Arian conflict may be judged from the 17th homily -- "that Christ is the Son of God." He argues that, as the name "God" or "Son of God" was given in the Old Testament to men who were worthy, and as God does not withhold from men a share in His attributes--such as sovereignty and fatherhood--it was fitting that Christ who has wrought salvation for mankind should obtain this highest name. From the frequency of his quotations, Aphraates is a specially important witness to the form in which the Gospels were read in the Syriac church in his day; Zahn and others have shown that he -- mainly at least -- used the '' Diatessaron ''. Finally, he bears important contemporary witness to the sufferings of the Christian church in Persia under Sapor (Shapur) II as well as the moral evils which had infected the church, to the sympathy of Persian Christians with the cause of the Roman Empire , to the condition of early monastic institutions, to the practice of the Syriac church in regard to Easter, etc.--> REFERENCES
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