Aphrahat the Hermit

Venerable Aphrahat (Aphraates, Afrates) the Hermit was a Persian-⁠born hermit of the fourth century, who lived in Mesopotamia and Syria in the time of the emperor Valens and perhaps of Theodosius. His commemoration is on 29 January. He is not the same as Aphrahat the Persian Sage, author of the Demonstrations. We know his life only from Theodoret of Cyrrhus, who relates in his "History of the Friends of God" and in his "Ecclesiastical History" that, as a boy, he was taken by his mother to visit Aphrahat in Antioch and received the blessing of his right hand. The Russian source says that he lived in the fourth century and after the year 396.

His beginnings

Aphrahat was a Persian, born and raised in the Sassanian Empire, of a noble and famous family, but his parents were not Christians. At the age of reason he chose Christianity, left his home and moved to a foreign land, to Edessa in Mesopotamia. He found outside the city walls a hut, shut himself in it and led a monastic life, devoted to penance and the contemplation of heaven. His food was bread; in old age he added vegetables, which he ate after sunset. His bed was a mat on the ground, and his clothing a coarse garment.

After some time he moved to a retreat beside a monastery near Antioch in Syria, where he learned a little Greek and people began to seek his advice. Theodoret says that he spoke a half-⁠barbarous language (Greek with many Persian words); yet there came to him high officials, ordinary people and soldiers, learned and unlearned, poor and rich. Some listened to him in silence, others contradicted him, others asked questions and proposed new topics. He had no disciple to serve him, preferring to labour himself. He spoke with visitors through the door, but if anyone wanted to come in he opened it, and after the conversation saw them off. He accepted nothing from anyone, not bread, nor greens, nor clothing; only one friend brought him bread.

A certain Anthemius, who was to become prefect and consul, on returning from an embassy to Persia, brought him a tunic made by Persians. Aphrahat is said to have asked whether it was reasonable to exchange a trusted old servant for a new one merely because he was a fellow countryman. Anthemius is said to have replied, "Certainly not," and Aphrahat: "Then take back your tunic, for I have one that I have worn for sixteen years, and I need no more than one." It is not certain when the meeting took place. The authors of the PLRE connect the diplomat with the praetorian prefect of the East and consul of the same name and date the event to 383, when Anthemius was returning from an embassy to Persia sent by Theodosius alongside another official, the barbarian Stilicho. The Encyclopaedia Iranica does not count the diplomat as an officer of Theodosius and places the episode between 375 and 378, when terms for ending the war between Valens and Shapur II were under negotiation. The editors of "Butler's Lives of the Saints" agree with the PLRE on the identification but give no date.

Against Arianism

In the time of Valens, an Arian, there was great persecution of those who followed the Nicene Creed. In the 370s, when the emperor settled with his army at Antioch for the war against the Persians, the patriarch Meletius was banished and the Arians severely persecuted the Orthodox. Because of the disturbances Aphrahat went to Antioch, where he helped Flavian and Diodore, who had been entrusted with the government of the Catholics during Meletius's exile. Since he had a great reputation for holiness and miracles, his deeds and words carried weight. Theodoret places him beside Flavian and Diodore in the fight against Arianism; their preaching was of decisive importance in Syria. Together with the two, Aphrahat turned to Acacius, asking him to take as companion the famous Asterius, disciple of the old man Julian, and to go to Julian, a pillar of the evangelical teaching, to ask him to leave his school of asceticism and come to the help of thousands of Orthodox perishing under deception, and to quench the Arian flame with the dew of his coming. Julian then went with Acacius and Asterius to preach against Arianism.

With the churches taken over by the Arians, the Orthodox were forced to hold their services beside the river Orontes or in the large open field outside the city used for military exercises. One day, hurrying along the road to the training ground, Aphrahat was stopped by order of Valens, who stood on the portico of his palace. The emperor asked him where he was going, and Aphrahat replied, "To pray for the world and the emperor." The monarch then asked why, being dressed as a monk, he was wandering far from his cell. Aphrahat answered with a parable: "If I were a girl taken from my father's house, and saw it on fire, would you advise me to sit back and let it burn? It is not I who should be blamed, but you who lit the flames that I am struggling to extinguish. We are doing nothing contrary to our profession when we gather and nurture the adherents of the true faith." The emperor did not retort, but one of his servants reviled Aphrahat, who was threatened with death. Shortly afterwards the same man was accidentally scalded to death; Valens was terrified and refused to listen to the Arians who pressed him to banish Aphrahat. He was also impressed by the hermit's miracles, who healed not only men and women but also the emperor's favourite horse. According to the Russian source, his prayer freed a farmer from an invasion of locusts and brought a husband who had fallen into adultery back to his wife. Despite the difference of faith, Aphrahat enjoyed the respect of Valens, who did not send him into exile as his courtiers advised.