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Aphrahat (c. 270–c.345; — ; also Greek , and Latin Aphraates) was a Syriac-Christian author of the fourth century from Persia, who composed a series of twenty-three expositions or homilies on points of Christian doctrine and practice. He was born in Persia around 270, but all his known works, the Demonstrations, come from later on in his life. He was an ascetic and celibate, and was almost definitely a son of the covenant (an early Syriac form of communal monasticism). He may have been a bishop, and later Syriac tradition places him at the head of Mar Mattai Monastery near Mosul, in what is now northern Iraq. He was a near contemporary to the slightly younger Ephrem the Syrian, but the latter lived within the sphere of the Roman Empire. Called the Persian Sage (, ), Aphrahat witnesses to the concerns of the early church beyond the eastern boundaries of the Roman Empire.
Life, history 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 homily or exposition. The Demonstrations are works of prose, but frequently, Aphrahat employs a poetic rhythm and imagery to his writing. Each of the first twenty-two Demonstrations begins with each successive letter of the Syriac alphabet (of which there are twenty-two). The Demonstrations were not composed all in one go, but in three distinct periods. The first ten, composed in 337, concern themselves with Christian life and church order, and predate the persecutions. Demonstrations 11–22 were composed at the height of the persecution, in 344. Some of this group deal with matters as before, others focus on apocalyptic themes. However, four Demonstrations are concerned with Judaism. 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 gently explaining the meaning of the symbols of circumcision, Passover and Sabbath. The twenty-third Demonstration falls outside of the alphabetic 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 from Isaiah chapter 65 and elsewhere, as its cue. It deals with the fulfilment of Messianic promise from Adam to Christ. Aphrahat never strays too far from the Bible in the Demonstrations: he is not given to philosophizing. All of his gospel 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 Babylonian rabbinic 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
References
- Editions by W. Wright (London, 1869), and J. Parisot (with Latin translation, Paris, 1894); the ancient Armenian version of 19 homilies edited, translated into Latin, and annotated by Antonelli (Rome, 1756).
- Besides translations of particular homilies by Gustav Bickell and E. W. Budge, the whole have been translated by G. 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)
- J. Zahn, Forschungen I.
- "Aphraates and the Diatessaron," vol. ii. pp. 180-186 of Burkitt's Evangelion Da-Mepharreshe (Cambridge, 1904)
- articles on "Aphraates and Monasticism," by R. H. Connolly and Burkitt in Journal of Theological Studies (1905) pp. 522-539, (1906) pp. 10-15.
Church Fathers | Christian writers | Late Antiquity | 360s births | 346 deaths
"Aphrahat"