Published: 2015-12-31

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

Andrzej Uciecha

Abstract

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.

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Uciecha, A. (2015). Aphrahat, On Circumcision (Demonstratio XI. De circumcisione . Patrologia Syriaca I, 467-504). Silesian Historical and Theological Studies, 48(2), 343–355. https://doi.org/10.31261/SSHT.2015.48.2.06

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Vol. 48 No. 2 (2015)
Published: 2015-12-31


ISSN: 0137-3447
eISSN: 2956-6185

Publisher
Instytut Gość Media/Księgarnia św. Jacka

Licence CC Creative Commons License

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