Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Aphrahat of Persia and Transubstantiation

Q. Did Aphrahat advocate the Roman dogma of transubstantiation?


Aphrahat of Persia (c. 280-345 A.D.):

Our Saviour ate the Passover sacrifice with his disciples during the night watch of the fourteenth. He offered to his disciples the sign of the true Passover sacrifice. After Judas left them, he took bread and blessed [it] and gave [it] to his disciples. (Aphrahat of Persia, Demonstration 12, On the Passover, § 6) see (The Demonstrations of Aphrahat, the Person Sage, Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies, Vol. 27, Trans. Adam Lehto, [Gorgias Press, 2010], p. 282). Here and Online Here


Roman Objection:

He stood up from where he had offered the Passover sacrifice and given his body to be eaten and his blood to be drunk. (Aphrahat of Persia, Demonstration 12, On the Passover, § 6) see (The Demonstrations of Aphrahat, the Person Sage, Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies, Vol. 27, Trans. Adam Lehto, [Gorgias Press, 2010], p. 282). Here and Online Here


A. See context above. These are two separate actions not one.


For during the dawn of the fourteenth he ate the Passover sacrifice with his disciples according to the Law of lsrael, and on that day, which was Friday, the fourteenth, he was judged until the sixth hour, and crucified for three hours. (Aphrahat of Persia, Demonstration 12, On the Passover, § 12) see (The Demonstrations of Aphrahat, the Person Sage, Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies, Vol. 27, Trans. Adam Lehto, [Gorgias Press, 2010], p. 289). Here and Online Here


He is clearly not conflating the Passover with the Lord's supper.


The Passover of the Jews is on the day of the fourteenth, its night-time and day-time. Our day of great suffering, however, is Friday, the fifteenth day, its night-time and day-time. (Aphrahat of Persia, Demonstration 12, On the Passover, § 8) see (The Demonstrations of Aphrahat, the Person Sage, Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies, Vol. 27, Trans. Adam Lehto, [Gorgias Press, 2010], p. 283). Here and Online Here


If the suffering [of our Saviour] should fall on another one of the days of the week, we are not troubled by these things, since our great day is Friday. And if the calculation is according to the day of the month, the day of the crucifixion (upon which our Saviour suffered, and during whose night-time and day-time was among the dead) is the fifteenth. …He went down to the place of the dead during the night of the dawn of the fifteenth… (Aphrahat of Persia, Demonstration 12, On the Passover, § 12) see (The Demonstrations of Aphrahat, the Person Sage, Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies, Vol. 27, Trans. Adam Lehto, [Gorgias Press, 2010], pp. 288-289). Here and Online Here


Compare with Rome:

“ON HOLY THURSDAY Christ brought the Old Law to an end, He TOOK AWAY SIN” (Maurice De La Taille, S.J., The Mystery of Faith, Regarding The Most August Sacrament And Sacrifice Of The Body And Blood Of Christ, Ch. 3). [emphasis in original] Online Here



~ Soli Deo Gloria



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