Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity Online

In the early church, labor was a duty as well as a mark of dignity. In his apology, written in 197 CE, Tertullian ( Apol. 42.1–3) states that Christians are idle Brahmins nor Gymnosophists. Far from being infructuosi in negotiis (“unfruitful in business”), they engage in agriculture, arts, and commerce, just like the heathens do. In the apostolic fathers and early church fathers, idleness was a sin. Citing from Prov 6:6–11 that calls for imitation of the diligent ant and bee, the author of the Didascalia Apostolorum (2.63; see Apos. con. 2.8) goes as far to claim that God hates slug…

Lucius Caelius Firmianus Lactantius (c. 250–c. 325 CE) was a Christian Latin author during the Diocletianic persecution and the times of Constantine the Great, with whom he was in contact. He wrote the treatise On the Workmanship of God ( De opificio dei), probably the elegy Phoenix ( De ave Phoenice), the Divine Institutes ( Divinae institutiones), an apologetic overall presentation of Christian teaching in seven books, the polemic historiographical sketch On the Deaths of the Persecutors ( De mortibus persecutorum), the treatise On the Anger of God ( De ira dei), and the Epitome of the…

A schism within the Roman Church, the Laurentian schism takes its name from Laurentius, a priest who became the rival of Bishop Symmachus when the two men were elected and ordained bishop of Rome on the same day, Nov 22, 498 CE. The schism (Schism/Schismatics) apparently ended with the appointment of Laurentius as bishop of a rural see a few months later, but resumed when he returned to Rome, probably in 502 CE, and took up residence in the Lateran, at that time the headquarters of the Ro…

The Hebrew word for the Jewish law is תּוֹרָה/ torah. The Septuagint mostly translates this expression with νόμος/ nomos: 193 times out of 223 references; the closest competitor is νόμιμος/ nomimos, which translates תּוֹרָה six times (Abegg, 2001, 205). Already in the Old Testament the meaning of  torah/nomos  shows a broad variety of possibilities (García Lopez, 1995, 631). Thus, in early Judaism one should not limit the meaning of “Torah” to the Pentateuch (see the critique of Müller, 1996, 258). The same caveat was entered by H. N…

Lawrence (Lat. Laurentius), archdeacon of Sixtus II (257–258 CE), was martyred in Rome, probably in the area of the Church of San Lorenzo in Panisperna and buried on the Via Tiburtina on Aug 10, 258 CE (MGH.AA 10.1892, 72; contra Franchi de’ Cavalieri, 1900, who assigns Lawrence’s death to one of Diocletian’s persecutions). The catacomb, in which Lawrence was buried was located at the first kilometer of the Via Tiburtina, in the cymiterio Cyriaces in agrum Veranum ( LP, vol. I, 155, “in the cemetery of Cyriaces in the Ager Veranus”); this area has been related with pos…

From its inception, Christian art and its creators were interested in depicting the miracles of Jesus. As Christian art developed from the 3rd century CE forward, scenes from the New Testament that featured Jesus (Christ, Jesus, 01: Survey) performing healings and miracles were the dominant theme. Since early Christian art during these centuries was created mostly in a funerary environment, either on catacomb walls or carved on sarcophagi friezes, some of the most popular subjects from this bibl…

The noun lectio may be interpreted in two ways. It can refer to the act of reading and, by extension, it can also refer to what is read. Lectio divina can, therefore, be understood as the act of reading the Scriptures, or the Scriptures themselves, a synonym for sacra pagina; usually in a communal or liturgical context.PreparationCoinciding with the crystallization of the elements of the Old Testament (Bible, 01: Old Testament) during the post-exilic period, the community of Israel became recognizably bookish. With the dissolution of structures an…

Lent is a distinct fasting season in the liturgical year, comprised (nominally) of 40 days, prior to the feast of Easter/Pascha. Despite its widespread observance, the origins of Lent are unclear. The earliest unambiguous references to a 40-day fast before Easter date from the second quarter of the 4th century CE and these sources mention it as an already-established and accepted practice without providing an account of its origins and without indicating how recently it began to be observ…

Little is known of Leo’s life before he entered the pontificate on Sep 29, 440 CE. The  Liber pontificalis  relates that Leo was born in Tuscia, the son of a Quintianus who is otherwise unknown. It seems that Leo served as archdeacon under Sixtus III (432–440 CE), in which role he would have received valuable training for the office of bishop. This was a common career path in the papal service. From Sixtus III, he inherited an ongoing major building program within the city and divisions within the urban pop…

Leontius from Vanand (Lewond, Łewondē[o]s), a disciple of Mesrop Mastoc and Sahak, is a Christian martyr whose martyrdom allegedly took place in 454 CE. He was executed for participating in the Persarmenian resistance against the Persian decree of de-Christianization.Leontius as a Disciple of Mesrop and SahakKoriun mentions Leontius in his  Life of Mesrop (20): between 423 and 425 CE, Mesrop took the majority of his disciples to Melitene and left them in Bishop Akakius’ (or his predecessor’s?) care, choosing Leontius, “a loyal and pious man,” as supervisor of the group.In 434 or 435…

The Lérins islands, located in the Mediterranean Sea about a kilometer off the coast of southern France between Antibes and Fréjus, and comprising the islands of Lerinum (Saint-Honorat) and Lero (Sainte-Marguerite), along with the smaller islets of Saint-Ferréol and La Tradelière, were not inviting places in the early 5th century CE. Hilary of Arles, in his Sermo de Vita S. Honorati ( Sermon on the Life of St. Honoratus), described Lérins as an “island uninhabited on account of its excess of squalor and unvisited for fear of venomous animals.” Nevertheless, sc…