Afrahat, O obrzezaniu (De monstratio XI. De circumcisione. Patrologia Syriaca I, 467-504)
Aphrahat, On Circumcision (Demonstratio XI. De circumcisione . Patrologia Syriaca I, 467-504)

Summary/Abstract: Nine Demonstrations from the second series of the Persian sage’s works begin with a lecture De circumcisione, and they were to be directed against the Babylonian Jewish teachings. The Chosen People departed from true God and became similar to the godless Amorites, Sodomites and Gomorhites. In the context of anti-Judaic dispute Aphrahat describes the essence and meaning of Christian circumcision, which is baptism, as a sign of faith (signaculum fidei). In a manner characteristic of his scripturist argumentation, the Persian provides negative (Adam, Jeroboam, Manasses) as well as positive (Abel, Henoch, Noah, Shem, Japheth, Abraham) examples of those famous Biblical figures for whom circumcision had a relative meaning in their lives, and its value was dependent on faith and observance of the orders of Law.

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