— Aphraates
Tin: .n:visii
Apl^oros
kxcyclopedia
tion of the former is free from any iinplea.sant feeling, while that of the lalt<T is punished by disagree-
Homilies of Aphraates," v. 36). Wellbausen lias noted how eoiuplrtely the Syiiac Church was bouii<l to .Jewish tnidition, even in the fourth century." and has ])ointed out lliat this "is shown strikinirly by the ••
'
Thus, A])hraates refei-s godless rich, "who sit in sorrow Future lUid the shadow of death, and think not Condition of this world "(hom. xxii.423, 1, 15, 10), of Pious and which is not to In- interpreted as iiK-anWicked. ing ntribulion such as the doctrine of purgatory would imply. In the same manner Aphraates, with hisd(seri|itionof lifein paradise, based upon labbinical hagga<lic lines (Fiiidi, p. 158). does not intend to depict the ciaidition of the pinnsaflerdiiith, but
abledreains (hom. to
Iloniilicsof Aphraiiles' " (Bleck, " Einlcilunir iiidas
AlteTestanunl."llh id.. 1^78). Funk and Cin/.lierg (•• Die lla,i.',!;a<la liei drn Kirchenvilteru." i. 1, T(!, Anisterdnm, lS!t9. and in " Jlonatsschrift," pp. fit. 119, 153, 15,"!, l.')8. 221, 22S)liolh show many iiarallcl passjiges from Kabhinical literature with whichlheScrip-
tunil explanations of
Aphraates coincide.
In certain
very imiiortant questions concerning the soul, God. ntribution, etc., he sliows himself a docile pupil of the Jews. His doctrine of tin-
two attributes of God is
hom. vi. C, 114. and other passages); (see
the words, the time when all the just shall rise again." In this way idso is he to be underniMile
in
" iintil
often encountered in Rabbinical literature under the familiar designations " of "Middat lia-Din and " Middat lia-Rah aniim " its oldest rabbinical source is Sifre to Deut. (ed. Fried is
stood when he says "thai the earlier ones, who were strong in the faith, will not receive their reward until the later ones
His Doc-
viii. S).
till'
lo jiorliay Iheir state after resurrection. This is clearly evident when the transition from the description of the dead to that of paradise is
— justice and mercy — decidedly .lewish it
664
J!?^'" ^-^z p.
come"
71; and itisalso
156; is,
foun d
wait for their recom-
in Philo, as Siegfried
l)ensc until the resurrection. The suggestion must therefore
-
-
trine of the
Attributes of God.
("Philo," p. 213) has shown. Aphraates.
agreement
in
the rabbis, that God's
mercy
is
men
who
die
must
when
the full
num-
ber of .souls apitointed
by God
shall have received their bodies (Yell. 02.0; for there
—
no trace of this iu works. The last judgment, according to Aiihraates, does not
immediately after death, but only on the day of judgment. Aphraanot
p.
ix. 8); that
be rejected that Aphi-.nales herein teaclies the rabbinical theory that the resurrection will take place only
with
declares
living; while His justice is administered after their death. He holds also that divine justice the cctivity of the Jliildat ha-i)in does fur
all
Funk,
(see
hom.
begin
is
his
—
oschatology exist cither for the adhered to by the Afka (Ancient Aphek), Near Sidoii mi the Stmrce of tde River Ailuais perfectly pious, who Nestorians is base<l (Now Nahr Ibrahim). arise iniinediately and upon the theory that (From a photogr.iph.) at once participate in the human soul has a double entity: (</) the natural" soul, which is imeternal life, or for the absolutely wicked, who are demortal, but is buried with the body after death, reli veredoverto the torments of hell without judgment; maining without consciousness until the resurrection, therefore, " the judgment will be only for the rest of those who have the world who are called sinners; and(A) tlie " heavenly" soul, which after death reverts to its Ilea venl)- nature (hom. vi. 13). few faults the Judge will reproach and as.sign This peculiar them to eternal life as their portion after the judgconception of a stml-slumber (vi'pi-(jn'i-,^(n). it has ment. been shown ("Monatsschrift," 1899, p. 64), was wideAnd those sinners whose tran.sgressions are spread among the Jews in Aphraates' time. In the manifold will be sentenced in the judgment and go Talmud (Sliab. 152//) it is stated that the soul resides into suffering [hell] unto eternity" (hom. xxii. 433, in the body during the first year after death. line2; p. 434, line 7). This conception of Aphraates is none other than the familiar theory of Hillel (R. Now, since neither reward nor punishment can be predicated of a sleeping soul, Aphraates, to be conH. 16i) concerning the divine mode of judgment. sistent, is compelled to adopt the position contended While, then, the condition of man at the resurfor by him, which is that only on the day of judgrection depends upon the grace of God, the existment is recompense dealt out (hom. viii. 7. end). that is, ence of the world depends upon man The difference between the pious dead and the upon the pious. Therefore. Aphraates holds the wicked dead lies in the fact that the sleeping condiopinion that " in all times, from the beginning and tes'
still
—
.
.
.
.
.
.
