RamistThomist
Puritanboard Assessor
Aphrahat the Persian. Select Demonstrations
Found in the Schaff Nicene and Post-Nicene set, this selection of Demonstrations gives the reader a survey of “the East Beyond the East.” Writing in either Syriac or Aramaic in the late 3rd century, the Persian solitary Aphrahat gives a glimpse of early monastic life and Christian-Jewish apologetics.
Aphrahat is a Persian (or Assyrian, depending on how one looks at the geography). He does not think like a Roman, and while he dates his writing relative to the time of Alexander, he does not think like a Greek, either. Like the rest of the Syriac tradition, he relies on poetry and symbol, though never eschewing argumentation where necessary.
Of Faith: Faith is helped by pure fasting and pure prayer (1.4). He who lives by faith separates “himself from the observance of hours and Sabbaths and moons and seasons, and divinations and sorceries and Chaldean arts and magic, from fornication and from festive music, from vain doctrines” (1.19). Is Aphrahat attacking the notion of the Sabbath as it is understood today? The text is not clear. Since his argument is connected with “moons” and presumably other pagan practices, it could be a general warning against pagan astrology.
Of Wars: The “ram” in Daniel is Medea Persia. If the fourth beast is the children of Shem, then Antichrist will be a Shemite (V.10).
Of Monks: If we diligently ask for mercy, we will receive what is necessary for us in the spiritual life (VI.1).
Aphrahat exhorts the monks to resist the devil’s schemes in specific ways:
Sleepiness → vigils and psalms
Possessions → giving of alms
Christology
God and Christ are One, yet dwell in us who are many (VI.11).
Anthropology
“For when men die, the animal spirit is buried with the body, and sense is taken away from it, but the heavenly spirit that they receive goes according to its nature to Christ” (VI.14).
Scope of Biblical History
“Elijah divided up the Jordan, and John opened up baptism” (V.13).
Moses did not want to be buried in Moab, for Balaam had polluted the land (VIII.9).
On the Fate of the Wicked
Aphrahat is not a universalist. The wicked sleep as in a great fever, fearing to awake (VIII.19). Aphrahat’s position is not actually that clear. In the very next paragraph he says the good and wicked both sleep, not knowing either their good or bad deeds (VIII.20). That does not seem quite right. He argues that the righteous have not yet inherited the kingdom, and apart from us they cannot be made perfect. That much is true.
In section 23 he makes a distinction between the good spirit which goes up to God and the entire reward, presumably the resurrection of the body.
Conclusion
Because he writes in poetry and symbol, some of his arguments seem underdeveloped. Read slowly, however, he provides fruitful meditations and a sample of Christian life east of the Tigris and Euphrates.
Found in the Schaff Nicene and Post-Nicene set, this selection of Demonstrations gives the reader a survey of “the East Beyond the East.” Writing in either Syriac or Aramaic in the late 3rd century, the Persian solitary Aphrahat gives a glimpse of early monastic life and Christian-Jewish apologetics.
Aphrahat is a Persian (or Assyrian, depending on how one looks at the geography). He does not think like a Roman, and while he dates his writing relative to the time of Alexander, he does not think like a Greek, either. Like the rest of the Syriac tradition, he relies on poetry and symbol, though never eschewing argumentation where necessary.
Of Faith: Faith is helped by pure fasting and pure prayer (1.4). He who lives by faith separates “himself from the observance of hours and Sabbaths and moons and seasons, and divinations and sorceries and Chaldean arts and magic, from fornication and from festive music, from vain doctrines” (1.19). Is Aphrahat attacking the notion of the Sabbath as it is understood today? The text is not clear. Since his argument is connected with “moons” and presumably other pagan practices, it could be a general warning against pagan astrology.
Of Wars: The “ram” in Daniel is Medea Persia. If the fourth beast is the children of Shem, then Antichrist will be a Shemite (V.10).
Of Monks: If we diligently ask for mercy, we will receive what is necessary for us in the spiritual life (VI.1).
Aphrahat exhorts the monks to resist the devil’s schemes in specific ways:
Sleepiness → vigils and psalms
Possessions → giving of alms
Christology
God and Christ are One, yet dwell in us who are many (VI.11).
Anthropology
“For when men die, the animal spirit is buried with the body, and sense is taken away from it, but the heavenly spirit that they receive goes according to its nature to Christ” (VI.14).
Scope of Biblical History
“Elijah divided up the Jordan, and John opened up baptism” (V.13).
Moses did not want to be buried in Moab, for Balaam had polluted the land (VIII.9).
On the Fate of the Wicked
Aphrahat is not a universalist. The wicked sleep as in a great fever, fearing to awake (VIII.19). Aphrahat’s position is not actually that clear. In the very next paragraph he says the good and wicked both sleep, not knowing either their good or bad deeds (VIII.20). That does not seem quite right. He argues that the righteous have not yet inherited the kingdom, and apart from us they cannot be made perfect. That much is true.
In section 23 he makes a distinction between the good spirit which goes up to God and the entire reward, presumably the resurrection of the body.
Conclusion
Because he writes in poetry and symbol, some of his arguments seem underdeveloped. Read slowly, however, he provides fruitful meditations and a sample of Christian life east of the Tigris and Euphrates.
