Prolegomena in Aphraatis Sapientis Persae Sermones Homileticos

The German scholar C. J. F. Sasse here in his inaugural dissertation offers a study of the early Syriac author Aphrahat. Writing just a few years after the publication of Wright’s edition of Aphrahat’s Demonstrations (also available from Gorgias Press), Sasse, in the first section of his work, discusses what is known about Aphrahat’s life, then he turns to his main subject, Aphrahat’s writings, the twenty-three Demonstrations, as they are known. He considers their date, style, doctrine, and Aphrahat’s hermeneutical method evidenced in them. In addition, Sasse spends several pages comparing the Armenian translation with the original Syriac, including a list of corrections to the first four homilies. Finally, in the last section, he studies Aphrahat’s biblical citations in comparison with the Peshitta. This early study of Aphrahat has been foundational for later research into this author and it remains a necessary starting point in the secondary literature on “the Persian sage.