Afrahat, Mowa XV - O pokarmach czystych i nieczystych (Demonstratio XV: De distinctione ciborum, PSyr 1, 728-757)

Abstract

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 c riticize Judaism a s a n e xternal o pponent, 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.