Search Results

Journal: Silesian Historical and Theological Studies

Afrahat O pokorze (Demonstratio IX. De humilitate. Patrologia Syriaca I, 408-441)

Andrzej Uciecha

Published: 31-12-2014 | Abstract | pp. 256-266

Demonstration on humility appears as a ninth homily in an acrostically ordered collection of works by Aphrahat, following the texts dealing with the issues of faith, charity, fasting, prayer, wars, “sons of the covenant”, penitents and resurrection. In J. Parisot’s critical edition (Patrologia Syriaca I) it is called De humilitate. The composition of the demonstration dates to the years 336-337 CE . The ideal of humility is Christ, the only son of God (īhīdāyā) and He serves as a model for the “sons of covenant”. Aphrahat discusses at length the concepts of innocence and justice, which are fundamental in his ascetic teaching, identifying them with humility, moderation and purity.

2014-12-31



Journal: Silesian Historical and Theological Studies

Aphrahat, On Penitents, (Demonstratio septima. De paenitentibus. Patrologia Syriaca I, 313-360)

Andrzej Uciecha

Published: 30-06-2013 | Abstract | pp. 5-17

Aphrahat’s seventh Demonstration, entitled On penitents, and the preceding Demonstration on members of the covenant provided basic research material for the question of the structure and discipline in the early Syrian Church and the role played there by “the sons of the covenant” (bənay qəyāmā). In the Demonstration on penitents, Aphrahat describes ritual washing, clearly distinguishing it from baptism. He addresses the “solitary” who have fallen and delayed their conversion as well as priests refusing to reconcile penitents.

2013-06-30



Journal: Silesian Historical and Theological Studies

Aphrahat, On the Passover (Demonstra tio XII. De paschate. Patrologia Syriaca I, 505-540)

Andrzej Uciecha

Published: 26-03-2022 | Abstract | pp. 5-18

The Homily “On the Passover” is included in the second part of Aphrahat’s “Demonstrationes” and it begins with the lōmad, the twelfth letter of the Syriac alphabet. The Persian Sage refers clearly to the preceding homily (De circumcisione) and consistently applies the biblical argumentation. In his discourse on the Passover, Aphrahat opposes the Jews, charging them with disregard for the Law and the prophets. According to him, the Chosen Nation and its teachers rejected the God’s command to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem only. In effect, the Jews lost their exclusive choseness and became defiled as the Gentiles. Moreover, Aphrahat accuses the Jews of deliberate forgery of the God’s law. Exclusiveness of the Chosen Nation in the Old Covenant has been replaced by the „universalism of the peoples” in the Covenant of Christ. In the teaching of the Sage the idea of Sabbath is strictly connected with the Christian Passover, which in Mesopotamia was celebrated not as a day of Christ’s resurrection, but as a remembrance of His death.

2022-03-26



Journal: Silesian Historical and Theological Studies

Aphrahat , On the Avoidance of Foods (Demonstratio XV: De distinctione ciborum, Patrologia Syriaca I, 728-757)

Andrzej Uciecha

Published: 31-12-2020 | Abstract | pp. 345-360

Aphrahat composed his 15th Demonstration On various foods (or On clean and unclean foods) in the years 343-344. As usual, also in this work, he repeats anti-Judaistic argumentation to undermine the value of the Jewish rituals and to prove the false interpretation of the Old Testament by the Jews. The ultimate source of his arguments is Christ himself whom he calls « the Holy Mouth ».  Christological focus effectively denies the Jewish ritualism and any possibility of concordance between the Jewish customs and the New Covenant. According to Aphrahat, the division between clean and unclean foods becomes worthless and the very idea of such a differentiation denies the fundamental truth about God, the Creator of all. Demonstrations criticize Judaism as an external opponent, but the main axis of Aphrahat’s polemics concerns an internal enemy. The author deliberately reveals a weakness of the Church confronted with the Rabbinic Judaism in Babilonia. A circumcision, a Shabbat observance and the food customs seem to be especially dangerous for those among Christians who have been compared with the unconscious, inexperienced, and childish men.

2020-12-31



Journal: Silesian Historical and Theological Studies

Aphrahat, On Circumcision (Demonstratio XI. De circumcisione . Patrologia Syriaca I, 467-504)

Andrzej Uciecha

Published: 31-12-2015 | Abstract | pp. 343-355

Nine Demonstrations from the second series of the Persian sage’s works begin with a lecture De circumcisione, and they were to be directed against the Babylonian Jewish teachings. The Chosen People departed from true God and became similar to the godless Amorites, Sodomites and Gomorhites. In the context of anti-Judaic dispute  Aphrahat describes the essence and meaning of Christian circumcision, which is baptism, as a sign of faith (signaculum fidei). In a manner characteristic of his scripturist argumentation, the Persian provides negative (Adam, Jeroboam, Manasses) as well as positive (Abel, Henoch, Noah, Shem, Japheth, Abraham) examples of those famous Biblical figures for whom circumcision had a relative meaning in their lives, and its value was dependent on faith and observance of the orders of Law.

2015-12-31



Journal: Silesian Historical and Theological Studies

Afrahat, O wojnach (Demonstratio quinta. De bellis. Patrologia Syriaca I,184-237)

Andrzej Uciecha

Published: 31-12-2010 | Abstract | pp. 248–262

  

2010-12-31