Aphrahat and Ephrem: Semitism or Anti-semitism?IntroductionIn Arbel, the capital of Adiabene, the early advance of Christianity in eastern Mesopotamia, as was the case inwestern Mesopotamia, was upon the ground prepared by the Jews. There was a large concentration of Jews inArbela and in Nisibis in eastern Mesopotamia. Nisibis which was situated west of Tigris was the seat of aJewish Academy of learning whose fame was acknowledged in the first century even by the rabbis in Palestine.The first century jewish historian, Josephus, mentions that a king of Adiabene accepted Judaism about AD 36.Such a conversion could have made Arbela a natural centre for Jewish Christian mission at a very early date.Murray1 is of the opinion that the first Christians in Adiabene were the Jews. According to him Adiabene whichwas the neighbouring state to Osrhoene had a flourishing Jewish community which made effective converts, themovement culminating in the conversion of the royal household itself in the first century:Whatever is the truth about Christian origins elsewhere in the Syriac speaking area, the Christianity of Aphrahat andEphrem is best accountable for a break away movement among the Jewish community in Adiabene. The latter didhave historic links with Palestine.Who were the Jews in Persia? Were they descendants of the ‘Lost tribes of Israel’? There is a tradition amongthe Nestorian Christians in Persia that they are the descendants of Israel. But this does not mean that allChristians in Persia were of Jewish origin. Though the initial response was from the Jews, Christianity spreadamong the Persians. By the third century, according to Mingana, the majority of the inhabitants of Adiabenewere Christians and the majority of these and of the Christians in Persia generally were of Persian and not ofsemitic or Aramean birth and extraction. According to John Stewart McCullogh there is no evidence of largenumbers of Jews turning to Christianity, and that most of the converts must have...