Afrahat, Mowa XXI: O prześladowaniu - (Demonstratio XXI: De persecutione, PSyr 1, 931-990)

Abstract

Aphrahat was writing his Demonstrationes during bloody persecutions of the Persian Church in the years 337-379 during the reign of Shapur II (309-379). The discourse De Persecutione was fully devouted to the martyrdom of the Persian Christians. In his polemic, Aphrahat repels attacks of the Jewish opponents and expounds their fallacies since the Jews have interpreted the suffering of Jesus and the dire situation of the Christians as proof of the falsehood of Christianity and its founder. The core of this discourse is an elaborated section made of references to chosen Biblical heroes who have suffered persecutions: Joseph in Egypt, Moses, Joshua, Jephthah, David, Elijah, Elisha, Hezekiah, Josiah, Daniel, Ananias, and Mordecai. All these men have been presented as the types of persecuted Jesus and personal models for the Christians in the current historical reality; they have formed paragons of the just men who kept God’s law and who were not abandoned by God.