ON THE NAME AND PERSON OF APHRAHAT.

in the Chronicon ecclesiasticum, sect. 2, c. 10: ܘܒܙܒܢܗ ܕܗܢܐ ܡܫܬܡܥ ܗܘܐ ܚܟܝܡܐ ܦܪܣܝܐ ܕܫܡܗ ܦܪܗܐܕ. ܘܐܝܬ ܠܗ ܟܬܒܐ ܕܡܐܡܪ̈ܘܬܐ. ܘܐܓܪ̈ܬܐ ܥܣܪܝܢ ܘܬܪ̈ܬܝܢ ܐܝܟ ܟܠ ܐܬܘ̈ܬܐ ܕܐܠܦ ܒܝܬ. » original: "And in his time, the Persian Sage named Farhad became known. He has a book of discourses and twenty-two letters according to all the letters of the alphabet." ¹ "In his time (that is, of Papa, bishop of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, † 326 or 335), the Persian Sage became known, by the name Farhad, whose book of exhortation exists in Syriac, with twenty-two epistles according to the letters of the alphabet." Such indeed is the reading in the Cambridge and Oxford (Bodl. 122) codices; but the London (Rich. 7198) codex uses the plural ktābē book of exhortations. And in the first section, c. 26, after he enumerated Athanasius of Alexandria, Eusebius of Emesa, Ephrem, and others, he adds: ܘܐܬܝܕܥ ܬܘܡ ܚܟܝܡܐ ܒܘܙܝܐ ܘܐܝܬܘܗܝ ܗܘ ܚܟܝܡܐ ܦܪܣܝܐ ܬܪܝܨ ܫܘܒܚܐ ܕܟܬܒ ܟܬܒܐ ܕܬܚܘܝ̈ܬܐ. » original: "And there became known also the Sage Buzitis, and he is the Persian Sage, the orthodox, who wrote the book of Demonstrations." "The Sage Buzitis also became known, and likewise the Persian Sage, the orthodox, who wrote the book of Demonstrations." And this is the reading of the Cambridge codex. The Oxford codex provides wa-ītawhī hū and he is, without a change in meaning. But in the London codex, to which W. Wright alone had referred, it is read differently, namely "The Sage Buzitis (who is) the Persian Sage." Wright, suspecting a scribe’s error regarding a name otherwise perhaps never heard, conjectured that instead of Būzītīā Buzitis, one should read Aphrahat ³. But from the report of other codices, it will be doubtful to no one that Barhebraeus intended to distinguish Aphrahat from that Buzitis (whoever the person mentioned by that name may be).

By the name "the Orthodox," Barhebraeus refers to the Monophysites, to whose sect he attempts to ascribe Aphrahat as if in advance.

A little later than Barhebraeus, Ebediesu of Soba, a Nestorian bishop (1318), in his Catalog of all ecclesiastical books—in which he lists the works of Syrians first, but also those of some Greeks and Latins of any sect accepted among the Syrians—praises Aphrahat in this tetrastich ⁴:

"The most blessed Aphraates, that Persian Sage, composed two volumes of discourses, digested in alphabetical order."

As will be shown, the two volumes of twenty-two discourses according to the order of the letters are separated by an interval of seven years. Assemani (l. c.) expressed the last verse differently: two volumes, as well as orations digested in alphabetical order, i.e., with orations... Others have also followed in the same footsteps. The meanings of the particle a? are indeed ambiguous.

¹ I. B. Abbeloos and Th. Lamy, Gregorii Barhebraei Chronicon ecclesiasticum, Leuven, 1872-1877, t. I, p. 85; t. II, p. 33.
² Ibid., t. I, c. 85; cf. t. II, cc. 865-866.
³ W. Wright, The homilies of Aphraates, p. 3.
⁴ Assemani, Bibliotheca orientalis, Rome, 1719-1728, t. III, part 1, p. 85.