Primary source · Syriac
The Demonstrations (Tahwyatha)
Aphrahat, the Persian Sage · AD 337–345, in Persia
What this text is
Twenty-three alphabetic discourses from inside the Persian empire — faith, fasting, prayer, the Sons of the Covenant — Christianity's earliest voice wholly untouched by Greek philosophy.
Profile of Aphrahat the Persian Sage →
Public-domain translations
John Gwynn (NPNF, 1898)
Faith is compounded of many things… For first a man believes, and when he believes, he loves; when he loves, he hopes; when he hopes, he is justified; and when he is justified, he is perfected. (Demonstration I, On Faith.)
Manuscript witnesses
London, BL Add. 17182
AD 474 & 512 (dated portions)A fifth-century dated Syriac codex of the Demonstrations — among the very oldest dated Christian literary manuscripts anywhere.
Wright edition (from the Nitrian codices)
1869Editio princeps of the Syriac; Parisot's Patrologia Syriaca followed.
Provenance
Persian Mesopotamia, AD 337–345 — the Persian Sage under Sapor's persecution
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Aphraatis Sapientis Persae Demonstrationes (Patrologia Syriaca I–II)Jean Parisot, 1894–1907The critical edition with Latin translation.
- The Demonstrations of Aphrahat, the Persian SageAdam Lehto, 2010Complete modern English translation.