We are going to work through some of Sebastian Brock’s invaluable book The Syriac Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life. It is an anthology of materials from Syriac writers, beginning at the very start with Aphrahat, although not including the Odes of Solomon which, it must be said, may well have been originally written in ancient Greek, although they mainly survive in Syriac.
Brock writes that little is known of Aphrahat, “the Persian Sage,” who: “… was evidently a prominent figure in the Christian Church in the Persian Empire …” Aphrahat wrote 23 homilies known as the Demonstrations. Number 4 of these is the earliest surviving Christian text on prayer, other than those which deal with the Our Father. His writings were influential in the later Syriac tradition, and even translated into Armenian.
Then he sets out the Demonstration on prayer. It opens powerfully: “Purity of heart constitutes prayer more than do all the prayers that are uttered out aloud, and silence united to a mind that is sincere is better than the loud voice of someone crying out.” (5)
Now even by itself, this would be a remarkable statement. It is saying that a state of being, which it calls “purity of heart” is a higher form of prayer than that prayer which is on the lips but no deeper. It is placing prayer not in activity but in being: like happiness or joy. On this understanding, we could say that a person is prayer, and not only that they are praying. Prayer thus becomes a quality of the Christian.
This thing which it calls “purity of heart” is not found in the Bible as we know it, but it is in the Syriac translation of the First Book of Chronicles; one of the history books of the Old Testament. This is a significant example of something unique in the Syriac tradition. In chapter 16, the Chronicler is speaking of the worship offered in connection with the Ark of the Covenant, by King David and others. In verse 42, the English translation of the Hebrew reads: “Heman and Jeduthun had trumpets and cymbals for the music and instruments for sacred song. The sons of Jeduthun were appointed to the gate.”
However, the Syriac reads, in translation: “These righteous ones were giving praise: not with instruments of praise, nor with tambourines, nor with tabors, nor with curved or straight horns, nor with cymbals, were they giving praise, but with a pleasing mouth and with prayer that was pure and perfected, and in righteousness and integrity, to the Lord God Almighty …”
This substituting prayer and spiritual works for musical instruments is a feature of the Syriac translation of Chronicles, thus in 1 Chronicles 25:1, in the Hebrew Text: King David dedicated the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to prophesying ” with lyres, harps, and cymbals.” The Syriac text changes this so that they prophesy by the Holy Spirit, and offer praise and thanks. I doubt that the Hebrew excludes a spiritual attitude, but the instruments which have a large role in it, are removed. Perhaps this was because the Syriac services did not use these instruments, and feeling that the practices of the past could be significant for those of the present, they changed the report of the past to make it match the present. That is, it removes the argument, it used to be done that way, we should still do it that way now.
I am by no means certain why it was done, and in particular, if that was the reason. But the emphasis on prayer and singing, and especially on purity of prayer, is clear. Later on, people would not usually know what was written in the Hebrew of the First Book of Chronicles, and the fact that it had been changed: but they would have a text extolling pure and perfected prayer, offered in righteousness and integrity.
Then Aphrahat says that the silence of a mind is better than loud voices. Now the Syriac word translated as “sincere” is shafya. Sebastian Brock writes that this word and its derivatives “constitute a distinctive aspect of the vocabulary of Syriac spirituality.” (xxviii) The word can refer to purity, clearness, lucidity, and serenity and sincerity of heart. Thus, he says, in Luke 8:15, in the parable of the Sower, Our Lord says that: “As for that [seed] in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” However, where that translation has “honest and good heart,” the Syriac has a shafya and good heart. This can be better translated as a pure heart, or a sincere heart, or more perfectly, all the meanings of shafya taken together.
This word will appear much later in Syriac spirituality, especially in connection with what we call “the luminous eye” and the “mirror” which is highly polished. These are the internal mirror in which God is reflected and the eye by which we see Him. So, already in the opening of this demonstration by Aphrahat, a whole new world of concepts has opened up.
Now it is not saying that spoken prayer is of no avail, or that he who prays in words sins or even errs. But it is saying that there is a higher prayer: and that is the internal change of heart and mind of which we can say that the praying person has become the prayer.
Aphrahat then asks his readers to pay attention to this discourse on the power of pure prayer with their heart and thought, and so, by implication, not just with their eyes and ears. He then states that the prayer of the righteous men of the past, such as Noah, was like their offering to God. Brick believes that this is a reference to verse 11 from chapter 1 of the prophet Malachi: “…from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering.” This verse was understood as referring to the Eucharist from as early as the Didache, which is from either the first century or the early second century.