Aphraates

ON SAINT APHRAATES

ANCHORITE IN SYRIA

TOWARD THE END OF THE 4TH CENTURY.

Aphraates, anchorite in Syria (Saint)

G. H.

The Acts of Saint Aphraates were described for us by Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus in Syria, who as a young man visited him with his mother, and was strengthened with his blessing. He published them chiefly in his Philotheus or Religious History, chapter 8, Acts are given from Theodoret and repeated a few things in book 4 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 23. From which we note a few things on the earlier Acts. Theophanes also mentions him in the 11th year of Valentinian and Valens, where he has the following: "But also the divine Aphraates publicly reproached and chided the impiety of Valens at Antioch with great freedom," etc. More, but from Theodoret, whom he cites, Nicephorus Callistus published in book 11 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 25.

[2] His sacred cult is indicated in the Latin and Greek Fasti. For the tables of the Roman Martyrology on this April 7 have the following concerning him: cult among the Latins April 7 "In Syria of Saint Aphraates the anchorite, who in the time of Valens defended the Catholic faith against the Arians by the power of miracles." The Greeks celebrate him on January 29, as we said then among the Passed Over and referred to other days. among the Greeks January 29 In the very ancient manuscript Synaxary of the College of Clermont of the Society of Jesus at Paris, this eulogy, excerpted from his Life, is read: "Memory of our holy Father Aphraates. He was under the reign of Valens, both born and educated among the Persians, With this eulogy. and instructed in their laws and decrees. But detesting the impiety of his countrymen, he came to Edessa, and shut himself up in a little house found outside the walls of the city. Thence he came to Antioch, and lodging in a certain monastery before the city, took up care of his own soul. He never allowed himself to admit a companion: he accepted nothing from anyone, not bread, not food, not clothing. But it happened that Anthemius the Consul, when returning from the Emperor as legate sent to the Persians, brought the Saint a tunic woven among the Persians, which he did not accept, fully satisfying him with his reasons. But when the impious Valens troubled the Church, and compelled all to embrace the heresy of Arius, admitted to his presence, he brought him into amazement with most wise words and paradigms: when one of the eunuchs from the Emperor's servants threatened this holy man with death. But he paid the penalties of his boldness not long afterward; for when he had leaped into the bath-tub, he miserably lost his soul in it. At which the Emperor, terrified, did not dare to send the Saint into exile. He healed his horse stricken with a grave illness: also by sacred oil he loosened a woman's sorcery, and reconciled her husband's love. Also locusts infesting the fields, at the request of someone, he drove away by water which he had blessed, with which he ordered the boundaries of the field to be sprinkled. When he had accomplished these and other things,

the most sacred Aphraates ended this life, and delivered his soul to God the rewarder of his labors." These things the Greeks recited of the said Saint in their Ecclesiastical offices: who in the great Menaea have this distich:

Ὁ σάρκα καὶ ζῶν νεκρὸς ὢν Ἀφραάτης, Αἰωνίως ζῆ καὶ νεκρὸς φανεὶς ἄπνους

Aphraates, who in the flesh even while living was a dead man; Now too, though breathless, lives eternally.

[3] That the body of the deceased was buried in the shrine of the holy Martyrs in the same tomb with Saints Macedonius and Theodosius (of whom the latter has his cult on January 11, Burial with Saints Macedonius and Theodosius. the former on January 24), is established from the Acts of both, described by the same Theodoret: for treating of Macedonius, he speaks thus: "Bearing that sacred bier on their shoulders, they carried it into the shrine of the Martyrs distinguished by victory, and laid that holy body pleasing to God with the divine men Aphraates and Theodosius." And treating of Theodosius, he writes thus: "The same sepulchre received him, which also received that Divine and blessed Aphraates." But who were these holy Martyrs in whose shrine these sacred relics were laid to rest? That city had so many Martyrs that it is difficult to conjecture which of them are here indicated antonomastikos. The mind inclines toward those who are venerated on November 10, Demetrius the Bishop, Anianus the Deacon, Eustasius and twenty others, until more certain light shines forth from elsewhere: for the famous temples of Saint Julian, Saint Babylas, or of others are usually called by their names alone.

LIFE

By Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus.

Aphraates, anchorite in Syria (Saint)

FROM THEODORET

CHAPTER I.

Birth in Persia. Conversion and anchoretic life.

Aphraates a Persian by nation, That the nature of all men is one, and that it is easy to philosophize for those willing, whether Greeks or barbarians, is at hand to be known from many other things: but to demonstrate this openly, Aphraates alone suffices. For he, ^a both born and educated among the Persians, who are most unjust; and sprung from such parents, and instructed in their laws; arrived at such virtue that he obscured those who had been born of pious ones and had received pious doctrine from their earliest age. For first, despising his birth (which was however famous and illustrious), he ran to the Lord to adore him, imitating his ancestors the Magi; then, detesting the impiety of the men of his own family, he preferred a foreign region to his own.

[2] And when he had come to ^b Edessa (which is a very great city and most frequented by people, and which is signally adorned with piety), and had found a little house outside its precincts, and had shut himself up in it; he exercises an ascetic life at Edessa, then at Antioch. he took care of his own soul, like some most excellent farmer, cutting out the thorns of vice by the roots, and cleansing the divine seed-plot and offering the ripe fruits of the Gospel to the Lord. ^c Thence he came to Antioch, which was grievously besieged by a heretical tempest; where, having turned aside before the city into a certain gymnasium of philosophy, and having learned a few words of the Greek language, he drew many to listen to divine sermons: but using a language mixed with barbarism, he brought forth offspring of wit and intelligence, receiving these streams from the grace of the divine Spirit. For who of those who boast of their eloquence, and who, contracting their brows, speak grandly and magnificently, and exult youthfully on account of the snares of syllogisms, was ever superior to that unschooled and barbarous voice? For he overcame the reasonings of the philosophers with reasonings, and their arguments with divine utterances, crying out with the great Paul, "though unskilled in speech, yet not in knowledge." In this manner he continuously, according to the Apostle's sentence, cast down reasonings, and every high thing that is lifted up against the knowledge of God, and brought into captivity every understanding to the obedience of Christ. One could see converging upon him those who held magistracies, and those who were enrolled in some army numbers, he instructs men of every kind and those who earned their living by the work of their hands, and, to say it once, private men and soldiers, the learned and the untutored, the poor and the rich: and some receiving in silence the things that were offered, others asking and inquiring, and giving occasion for discourse.

[3] But while he took such labor, he never allowed anyone to dwell with him: he lives in great austerity rather he preferred his own work than the service and ministry offered him by others. And when his meetings and colloquies took place at the gate of the court, he himself opened it to those entering, and led out and dismissed those departing. But he never accepted anything at all from anyone, neither bread nor food nor clothing; but one alone known to him supplied him bread. When he had advanced into deep old age, after sunset he fed on herbs. They say moreover that Anthemius, who was afterwards both Prefect and ^d Consul, when having been chosen Legate he had set out to the Persians, brought to him a tunic woven among the Persians, and said: "Knowing that to each his own fatherland is sweet, and that the fruits which are born there are most pleasant, I have brought to you this tunic from your fatherland, and I ask that you receive it, and that I may be a sharer in your blessing." But he first ordered it to be placed on a bench, the Persian tunic offered by Anthemius, then when many words had been interposed, he said that he was troubled in mind, since his thought was divided into two parts. The other asking the reason, "Always," he said, "I have determined to have only one person who dwelt with me; and I have imposed this law upon myself, that the dwelling together of two at the same time be altogether denied me. Since therefore one has now dwelt with me for sixteen years, and was dear to my heart; a certain countryman of mine has arrived, wishing to dwell with me, and asking that this be permitted him. This divides my mind: for I will not permit to have two together. For I embrace the countryman as a countryman; but to expel the former having told an excellent parable, he rejects it: who had been dear to my heart, I reckon both grievous and unjust." But he said, "Rightly, O father: for it is not right that you should cast off as unfit him who has served you for so long a time; and that you should admit him, of whose character you have not yet made trial, on account of fatherland alone." To this the divine Aphraates, "I shall not accept, therefore," he said, "O admirable man, this tunic; for I will not allow myself to have two: for my own, indeed in my opinion, is more pleasant; but yours is better than the one which has served me for so long a time." Having thus by a cunning device eluded Anthemius, and displayed a miracle of ingenious cleverness, he persuaded him that no one thereafter should deal with him concerning that tunic. But I have reported these things, wishing to show two things at the same time: both that he accepted from one alone what was enough for caring for the body, and that his wisdom was so great, that he brought it about that the one who was asking that he should accept, gave judgment that he ought not to accept. But with these and the like things set aside, I will narrate greater matters.

[4] When ^e Julian, hostile to God, had paid the penalties of his impiety in the land of the barbarians, In the great persecution stirred up by Valens matters indeed were for a little while more tranquil for the foster-children of piety, when Jovian had taken the helm of the Roman empire: but after he too, having reigned a short ^f time, had received the end of life, and Valens had received the principate, storms and tempests again agitated our sea, and a grave wave was raised up, and greatest billows assailed the bark from every side. Moreover, the solitude of the pilots made the tempest graver. For the Emperor compelled those who exercised their boldness in the one true religion alone to dwell in exile. And when he had used such iniquity, the satiety of impiety did not hold him; but he scattered and dispersed the assembly of all pious ones, like some savage beast striving to tear apart a flock. For this reason he expelled them not only from every Church, but also from the side of a mountain, and from the bank of a river, and from a military gymnasium. For they were continually changing these places, that against whomsoever his armed hand met on the way, it might rage. And ^g the Scythians and ^h other barbarians securely depopulated all Thrace from the Danube to the Propontis: but he could not bear the report of them, not even, as the saying is, with pricked-up ears: but against those who were of the same nation and of his own dominion, distinguished for piety and religion, he used arms. But the divine people bewailed the importunity of those evils, singing that Davidic song: "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Ps. 136:4 And we wept when we remembered you, O Sion." But the rest of the song did not befit them. For Aphraates and Flavian ⁱ and Diodorus did not permit the instruments of doctrine to be hung on willows; nor did they allow themselves to say: with Flavian and Diodorus he persists constant: "How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land?" But on the mountains, and in the fields, and in the city, and in the suburbs, and in houses, and in market places, they sang the song of the Lord assiduously. For they had learned from David, "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, the world and all who dwell in it." Ps. 23:1, Ps. 102:22 And again they had heard the same Prophet crying out: "Bless the Lord, all his works, in every place of his dominion." And they heard also the divine Paul commanding that men should pray in every place, lifting up holy hands without anger and disputations. 1 Tim. 2:8 Moreover, the Lord himself, speaking with the Samaritan woman, foretold this more openly: "Amen, I say to you, woman," he said, "the hour is coming, and now is, when neither in this place, nor at Jerusalem, but in every place they will worship the Father." John 4:21

[5] When they had learned these things, both at home and in the market, and, to speak apostolically, publicly and from house to house, they continually testified: He defends the Church. and like some most outstanding emperors, they armed their own and pierced through their adversaries. Acts 20:20 And that indeed the great Flavian and the divine Diodorus, who then under another shepherded the flock, and were reckoned worthy of the second chair, did these things which I have said, is both admirable and worthy of praise: but yet they did these things when they were commanders of a chosen army, and subject to the laws of their commander. But the most wise Aphraates leaped of his own accord into these contests: for brought up in quiet, when his resolution was to live by himself and sit beyond the cast of a weapon, as the saying is: when he had seen the violence of the war, it did not please him to be in safety; but bidding quiet farewell for a time, he was the leader of the pious phalanx in battle, striking indeed by life and word and miracles, but himself never struck.

[6] When the Emperor, stupid in every way, had seen him once ^k going out into the military gymnasium (for it happened that then

there were gathered those who were companions of the rightly venerable Trinity; and someone showed him, Rebuked by Valens for having left his cell, he answers sharply. as the Emperor was watching, walking along the bank of the river) he asked him where he was going. When he had said that he was going to pray for the world and for the Empire; the Emperor again replied, "And for what reason, professing a monastic life, do you go safely through the forum, silence and quiet having been left behind?" But he (for he was accustomed, imitating the Lord, to reason in parables) said, "Tell me, O Emperor, if I were a virgin hidden in a chamber, and had seen someone throwing fire into my father's house, what would you have advised me to do, seeing the flame burning and the house being consumed; to sit within, and to despise the burning house? But thus I too would perish in the fire. But if you say that I ought to hurry, to bring water, to run up and down, and to extinguish the flame; do not rebuke me, O Emperor, if I do this very thing. For what you would have counseled the virgin who is in the chamber, this I am compelled to do, I who have professed the monastic life. But if you rebuke me, who have left my quiet; rebuke yourself, who have thrown this flame into the divine house; and not me, who am compelled to extinguish it. For that one ought to bring aid to the paternal house which is burning, you yourself will also confess: but that God is more truly and genuinely a father than those who are on earth, is clear to anyone, even to one not altogether initiated in divine matters. Therefore we do nothing absurd, O Emperor, nor contrary to our undertaking and plan, if we gather and feed the foster-children of true religion, and offer them the divine herb."

[7] An insult inflicted upon him is punished with death. These things having been said, the Emperor silently assented, considering his just defense: but one of those who are reckoned neither men nor women, but from whom the power ever to become fathers is taken away, and for this reason are judged to be well-disposed toward the Emperor and to speak to him confidently, this one from a higher place assailed the divine man with abuse, and ^l threatened him with death: but not long afterwards he paid the penalty of his boldness. For when the Emperor wished to bathe his body, the wretch went in as though to see whether the tub was well tempered, but being out of his mind, leaped into the tub which contained hot water not in the least tempered: and when no one was present within (for he had entered alone, to see if it was prepared) he remained cooked and dissolved. When some time had passed, the Emperor sent another to call him: but he, finding no one in that house, reported this to the Emperor. When then many had come running, searching all the tubs, and had at last come to that one, they saw him lying and deprived of life. A tumult having been stirred up and all weeping, some drained out that hot water, others carried forth the most wretched body. Hence it came to pass that fear invaded the Emperor and all who were arming themselves against piety: and the report was spread through the whole city, what penalties that unhappy man had paid for the insult by which he had affected Aphraates: and all celebrated the God of Aphraates with perpetual praises. This, although the adversaries pressed, prevented the man of God from being sent into exile: for the Emperor terrified turned away from those who were suggesting these things, and revered the man.

[8] Moreover, he also learned his virtue from another quarter. A certain horse born of good breed, and excellently trained to carry, was most dear to the Emperor: a certain sickness that had befallen it kept the Emperor ill, and its excretion of watery excrements was retained; and those who had been exercised in this art were summoned to cure it. When she was even inferior to the disease, the Emperor indeed was affected with annoyance, but he whose care of the horses had been entrusted lamented. But being pious and firm in faith, at noon he came together with the horse to the dwelling of the great Aphraates: and having told the disease, and made known his faith, prayed that he would loose the disease by his prayers. He heals the sick horse of the Emperor He, nothing delaying, but immediately having prayed to God, ordered water to be drawn from the well: and when he had placed upon it the sign of the saving Cross, he ordered it to be brought to the horse: and it drank more than it was accustomed. Then when he had filled oil with divine invocation with benediction, he anoints the belly of the horse: and at the touch of his hand immediately the disease was removed. The man therefore rejoicing, the horse having been received, ran to the stable. In the evening (for he was accustomed at that time to come to the stable the Emperor) he came and asked how the horse was. But he, when he had signified that he was well, and had led out the horse vigorous and exultant and neighing and raising its neck proudly, asked him the cause of its health. But when he had long hesitated (for he feared to show the doctor, Valens being extinguished, he lives tranquilly: knowing that he who was asking was hostile to him) at last he was compelled to tell the truth, and showed the manner of the cure. The Emperor was amazed, and confessed that he was an admirable man: nor however did he desist from his former insanity, but continued to rage against the Only-Begotten, until he was consumed by ^m barbarian fire, not deemed worthy even of the burial with which servants or beggars are. But the divine Aphraates in that tempest too showed his virtue, and with tranquility restored did likewise. Moreover, he did innumerable other miracles, of one or two of which I will make mention.

[9] A certain woman, noble by birth, dragging the yoke of matrimony together with an intemperate husband, came to that blessed man, weeping over her own calamity. For she said that her husband, captivated by the habit of a concubine, had been enchanted by certain magical sorceries, and held her, joined in lawful matrimony, in hatred. [The sorcery which had arisen between husband and wife he loosens with sacred oil,] But she said these things, standing before the doors of the court: for thus he was accustomed to speak with a woman; for he never admitted any within the doors. Then therefore pitying the wailing woman, by prayer he abolishes the operation of enchantment: and when he had sanctified a drop of oil brought by her herself with divine invocation, he ordered that she be anointed with it. When the woman had fulfilled these commands, she transferred her husband's love to herself, and persuaded him to choose the legitimate bed for the illegitimate.

[10] Now they also say that when locusts had once suddenly invaded the region, and like fire were consuming all things, crops, trees, meadows and groves; a certain pious man came to him, asking that he should bring aid, having only one field, from which he was feeding both himself and his wife and sons and household, and from which also the imperial tribute was exacted. He then again imitating the Lord's kindness, He keeps locusts from the fields by blessed water ordered a congius of water to be brought to him. But after he who was praying had brought the congius of water, he placed his hand upon it; and prayed to God, that he should fill the stream with divine power: then the prayer finished, he ordered that water should be sprinkled on the boundaries of the estate. He who had brought it did as he had been ordered: and that was for those fields a sacred and impregnable rampart: for the locusts creeping and flying around up to those boundaries, like an army, retreated again, fearing the blessing imposed, and as though choked by some bridle, and prevented from advancing further.

[11] And what need is there to tell all the things that were done by that blessed soul: for these are enough to show the splendor of grace which dwelt in him. Him I saw, and received the blessing of that holy right hand, when I was still a youth, He blesses Theodoret and his mother. and had joined myself as companion to my mother going to him. And when he had opened the door according to custom, he both dignified her with his speech and blessing: but me, brought within, he imparted with the wealth of his intercession. I enjoy it even now, as one who believes him to live, and to lead choirs together with the Angels, and to use greater confidence before God than formerly. For then his mortal body measured it, lest occasion of arrogance should arise, if his confidence had been greater than was fitting. But now, the burden of perturbations of mind being laid aside, like an athlete having obtained victory, he uses confidence and free faculty of speaking before the Judge of the contest. For which cause I also pray, that I may obtain his intercession.

ANNOTATIONS.