Legends of Eastern Saints

Aphrahat the Persian Sage, (fl. 337-345 C.E.), was a Syriac Christian author who wrote twenty-three treatises entitled The Demonstrations. This book examines “temple” as a key image for Aphrahat’s theological anthropology. The temple is central for both Jews and Christians; it is the place of sacrifice, meeting, and communication with the Divine. For Aphrahat, the devout Christian person may be a micro-temple which then allows one to encounter the divine both within oneself and through a vision ascent to the heavenly temple.

Ephrem, the most celebrated writer of the Syriac Church, presents a wide range of theological themes and images that are characteristic of fourth-century Syrian Christianity. A significant theme that no one has yet studied in Ephrem is the concept of sickness and healing. This book presents the significance of healing theology and the ways in which the healing of man - spiritually, mentally, and corporally - is highly valued by Ephrem. The main part of the book deals with the causes of spiritual sickness and the process of healing, and the way in which Ephrem places them in the divine history of salvation.

Cureton’s book was first begun as early as 1848 on the basis of manuscripts in the collection of the British Museum. It furnished nineteenth-century students of Syriac Christianity with a wealth of new resources and continues to be just as valuable for students today.

Contains six lectures: early bishops of Edessa, Bible in Syriac, early Syriac theology, marriage and the sacraments, Bardaisan and his disciples, Acts of Judas Thomas, and Hymn of the Soul. They were delivered in 1904 by Burkitt, then lecturer in paleography, at the University of Cambridge.