Aphrahat the Sage – A Lesser-Known Church Father
By Simonetta Carr - Posted at Place for Truth:
Typically depicted with a turban and a thin and grave bearded face, Aphrahat is not high in most people’s list of Christian authors. Scholars, however, find him interesting for several reasons. For one, he lived in the Persian Empire where he faced different challenges than the most renowned church fathers. Besides, his writings, being in Syriac (a semitic language similar to the Aramaic spoken by Jesus), are considered free of the Greek influences that permeated western churches.Aphrahat (a version of today’s name Farhad) was born around the year 270, most likely around ancient Niniveh, in today’s Iraq. The region, ruled by the Sassanian Emperor Shapur II, stood as a rival to the power of Rome.
Many Christians in that region endorsed an ascetic-monastic life, and Aphrahat was not different. He became known as “the Sage” for the wisdom of his teachings. Today, we have a collection of these teachings in 23 homilies, called Demonstrations. Little is known of his life. He was probably leading a monastery and might have been ordained bishop.
The Demonstrations are divided into subjects, such as faith, humility, love, prayer, monastic life, and wars. His language is simple and his writings are impregnated with Scriptures.
In the conclusion to his book, he describes himself as “a disciple of the Holy Scriptures.”[1]
