The Demonstrations of Aphrahat

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TO THE READER

You have in your hands, excellent Reader, the first volume of a collection dedicated to Syriac literature, not a small undertaking indeed, which, however, with the favor of God the Almighty, we shall strive to complete. In these few words, learn the reason why we have undertaken such a work, what our method and procedure have been, and how we hope to be able to bring this collection to a close.

Since we took on the responsibility of teaching Syriac language at the Theological Faculty of the Catholic Institute of Paris several years ago, it seemed to us that nothing could bring greater utility and honor to these Syriac letters than if we were to publish and entrust to print a collection of these works written in Syriac. These works, collected from everywhere, especially in these times of ours, now lie in the principal libraries of our Europe, either not yet published or already printed, but in such a way that they cannot be used by many without excessive difficulty.

For even though Syriac cannot hold the first place among human letters, it can in no way be neglected by those who have devoted their study and labor to Christian letters. For there exist many versions of the Sacred Books written in the Syriac language; everyone knows that version which they call the Simple Peshitta the standard Syriac version of the Bible, not to mention other versions written by the Monophysites those who believe Christ has a single, divine nature, as well as some others which, although they do not contain the whole Bible, are nevertheless of no small importance, especially when dealing with the critical apparatus of the New Testament.

Furthermore, this same Syriac language is used by many liturgies, namely, the Chaldean liturgy used by the Chaldean Catholics Eastern Rite Catholics in communion with Rome and also...