By CAROLE BRESLIN
The sounds of war drift up to the ancient monastery perched high on a hill to the east of Mosul, Iraq. Behind its stone walls refugees from the city, Catholics who were betrayed by friends and neighbors, fled for the lives to the safety on the hill. The fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have seized much of the land of Mosul, but conflict continues to the west as forces try to reclaim the land.
Many Christians are now refugees with no homes and even some of the inhabitants of Mar Mattai, the monastery of St. Matthew, have fled in fear. Over the past 1,600 years, the monks have been persecuted and sometimes expelled, and now it houses only a few of them. The buildings that once held thousands of monks now have a handful of men left to run them and to care for the refugees within their walls. Fr. Thomas has promised to stay until the end, whether it will be the end of hostilities or the end of his life.
This magnificent monastery was once the home of a man who came to be known as the Persian Sage. St. Aphraates, an Anchoret, wrote many defenses and explanations of Church teaching. These Demonstrations are the oldest known homilies of the Church in Syria.
What little is known about Aphraates comes from his own writings. He was born of wealthy but pagan parents around 280 in the frontier region of the Persian Empire in the Adiabene region of Assyria. This was located on the border of the Sassanid Empire bordering the Roman Empire in northern Iraq.
When still very young, he was exposed to the teachings of Christ and embraced them wholeheartedly. He shed his worldly attachments: his family and friends, including the privileges and possessions of his state in life. He then went to Edessa in Mesopotamia, where he knew that Christianity flourished, in order to learn more about Christian doctrine and spirituality.
He studied diligently and soon became deeply immersed in seeking the will of God and how to serve Him more perfectly. His primary goal was preparing his soul for eternal salvation. This led him to leave the inner city and take up residence in a small cell, striving to live a life of penance, reparation, and meditation on the life of Christ.
Eager to progress more in following Christ, he moved to Antioch on the Syrian coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Once again he lived in a small cell and his reputation for holiness quickly spread. However, instead of receiving the extensive spiritual direction that he sought in the past, he now gave it to the many pilgrims who came to his door seeking his advice. Aphraates welcomed the hungry souls, urging them to practice lives of virtue in order to counter the vices prevalent in the culture.
While living in the cell, he maintained the simplest lifestyle possible, subsisting on meager food and drink: just a bit of bread and water at sunset, in reparation and penance. He only added a few herbs to his meal when he was older. His bed was nothing more than a mat on the dirt floor and his possessions were only those things he absolutely needed to live. Thus he emptied his life as much as possible of material possessions in order to fill his mind with the things of God.
Even his clothing consisted of just one garment which was threadbare and coarse. When Anthemius, the governor, returned from a diplomatic visit to Persia, he urged Aphraates to accept a cloak from his home country. The hermit responded, “Do you think it reasonable to exchange an old faithful servant for a new one, merely because he is a countryman?” The governor responded in the negative and Aphraates concluded, “Then take back your garment, for I have one that I have worn these sixteen years, and I am not willing to have two at the same time.”
In addition, like Saints Athanasius, Hilary of Poitiers, Eusebius of Vercelli, Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory Nazianzen, he fought against the Arian heresy.
As the Arian conflict intensified under Emperor Valens, Aphraates decided to support orthodoxy by coming out of seclusion. He left his hermitage and met with the Christians of Antioch, comforting the faithful and defusing the wrath of the Arians.
Valens had exiled Bishop Meletius for his opposition to Arius and his followers. In the bishop’s absence, Flavian and Diodorus tended the Church in Antioch. The holiness of Aphraates and the miracles worked through him influenced the people to trust in his words.
Emperor Valens, when visiting Antioch, noticed Aphraates in his well-worn garment hastening down the street below his window. He questioned his servant about the old man dressed so poorly and rushing with such intention.
Valens then confronted Aphraates about why he left his cell, to which the man replied, “Were I a virgin confined in my father’s house and should see it take fire, would you advise me to sit still and let the house be burnt, in which I should also perish, or leave my room to run and procure help?. . . Reprove me not, O Emperor, if I do the like; rather blame yourself who have kindled the fire, not me for laboring to quench it.”
The emperor’s eunuch rebuked the saint and threatened to kill him — but not without consequence. When the eunuch went to prepare the emperor’s bath, he fell into the boiling water and was burned to death. Upon learning of the servant’s death, Valens was struck with fear and from that time he refused to be influenced by the Arians, no longer acceding to their demands that Aphraates also be exiled.
Aphraates continued his public ministry until Valens was no longer a threat and then moved to the Monastery of St. Matthew just east of Mosul. He remained there until he died around 345.
Aphraates lived a life totally dedicated to the Kingdom of God based on austerity, penances, and prayers. Throughout his life, he avoided contact with women by remaining at a distance and limiting his conversation to as few words as possible.
The 23 Demonstrations that he wrote earned him the name, the Sage of Persia. These homilies, written on a variety of subjects, included: fasting, prayer, wars, penitence, the Resurrection, humility, the Passover, the Sabbath, preaching, various foods, the call of the Gentiles, virginity, persecution, death and the last days.
The saint has left a lasting, universal example of dealing with division inside the Church and with external threats from secular powers. He left his life of solitude to comfort the persecuted and profess the truth in a charitable way in order to bring understanding to those in error.
Dear Aphraates, help us today! Help us deepen our prayer life that our efforts will prove fruitful when we faithful go out and preach the Truth in order to bring unity to the Church, to stand up to secular pressure, and to love our enemies enough to want to convert them. Intercede for us during this time of dire need. Amen.
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(Carole Breslin home-schooled her four daughters and served as treasurer of the Michigan Catholic Home Educators for eight years. For over ten years, she was national coordinator for the Marian Catechists, founded by Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ.)
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