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[English Version] (Ulfilas/Wulfila; Anfang 4. Jh. – 383), gotischer Nachfahre von im 3.Jh. verschleppten kappadokischen Christen. Nach seinem Biographen Auxentius von Dorostorum dreisprachiger Lektor der gotischen christl. Gemeinde, wohl 336 anläßlich einer gotischen Gesandtschaft an Konstantin von Eusebius von Nikomedien zum Bf. der Christen im gotischen Herrschaftsbereich ordiniert. In den 40er Jahren kam er mit einer Gruppe gotischer Christen als Flüchtling in das Reich und wurde von Konstantiu…

[English Version] Thebäische Legion, nach der »Passio Acaunensium martyrum« des Eucherius von Lyon (vor 450) eine Gruppe von Soldaten unter Führung des Mauritius, die unter Kaiser Maximian Anfang des 4.Jh. im Wallis als Christen hingerichtet wurden (Christenverfolgungen: I.). Der durch Eucherius bezeugte Märtyrerkult geht auf die Erhebung der Reliquien durch Bf. Theodor von Octodunum (Sitten) Ende des 4.Jh. zurück. V.a. im Früh-MA erlebte der Kult der Th. eine europaweite Ausweitung mit Schwerpunk…

[English Version] Papst, Bez. für den Bischof von Rom als Nachfolger des Petrus, Oberhaupt der (röm.) kath. Kirche und Inhaber eines universellen kirchl. Lehr- und Jurisdiktionsprimats (Primat, Papsttum). Πα´πας/pa´pas war in der griech. Kirche urspr. Bez. oder Anrede für Äbte und Bischöfe, später exklusiv für Patriarchen; seit der 2. Hälfte des 4.Jh. ist die Bez. inschriftlich auch für die röm. Bischöfe bezeugt; im lat. Bereich wurde sie seit dem 5.Jh. exklusiv für den röm. Bischof benutzt. Seit Leo I. ist die Übernahme d…

[English Version] (Styliten), Sonderform frühchristl. Asketentums (Askese), das im dauernden, meist lebenslangen Stehen auf einer Säulenplattform bestand, wobei die Säule (griech. στυ˜λος/stýlos, daher Styliten) oft sukzessiv erhöht wurde (z.T. über 20 m) als sichtbarer Ausdruck für das asketische Ideal der Unbehaustheit und Ortsstabilität. Die Versorgung mit Nahrung und Eucharistie oblag Mönchen. Als Motiv nennen die Quellen eine möglichst vollständige Trennung von der Welt und Nähe zum Himmlischen; vermutete außer…

[German Version] (c. 316–397; feast day Nov 11). The writings of Sulpicius Severus about Martin are the only contemporary sources ( Epistulae et dialogae [CSEL 1]; Vita Martini [SC 133–135]). In the Vita, written c. 395/397, the various episodes are only loosely linked. They are continued after Martin's death in three letters and three (or two) Dialogues, in which Sulpicius depicts Martin according to his monastic ideals. Martin was born c. 316/317 (conflicting chronology) as the son of a tribune in Pannonian Sabaria. He grew up in Pavia, and at the …

[German Version] ( Jan 31, 314 – Dec 31, 335). According to the Liber pontificalis and hagiographic tradition, Silvester was a Roman presbyter under Bishop Miltiades and a confessor in the Diocletian persecution (Persecutions of Christians: I). He did not come forward as bishop of Rome in succession to Miltiades during the reign of Constantine the Great. ¶ He was informed of the results of the Synod of Arles (Donatism), which he probably did not attend out of fear of endangering his episcopate; he played no role in the conflict with Arius and Arianis…

[German Version] I. History – II. Theological Faculty I. History In the early modern period, as territorial states were being formed on the soil of the Holy Roman Empire, Brandenburg-Ansbach/Bayreuth took the side of the Reformation in 1526. In 1529, at Luther's suggestion, it set out to establish a territorial university, but this hope was never realized, not least because …

[German Version] (pontificate Mar 1, 492 – Nov 21, 496). According to the Liber pontificalis , Gelasius was an African. Entrusted with the papal correspondence under Simplicius and especially Felix III, in the context of the Acacian Schism, Gelasius maintained the schism with the East even after the death of Acacius of Constantinople. In a dispute with the emperor Anastasius, Gelasius developed the “two powers” doctrine, building on the doctrine of papal primacy stated by Leo I, in a situati…

[German Version] (died c. 360), a presbyter in Alexandria, was deposed and expelled because of his support for Arius. In the context of the reversal of church policy after the Council of Nicea (325), he was bishop of Syrian Laodicea after around 335. As one of the leading Eusebians, he was deposed and excommunicated in absentia in 342/43 at the (Western) Synod of Sardica, actions that remained without effect in the East. Through his protest in 358 against the usurpation of the Antiochene episcopacy by Eudoxius of Constantinople and his support by Ge…

[German Version] according to the Passio Acaunensium martyrum of Eucherius of Lyon (before 450), a group of soldiers under the leadership of Mauritius, who were executed as Christians in the early 4th century under Emperor Maximian (Persecutions of Christians: I). The cult of the martyrs described by Eucherius goes back to the collection of their relics by Bishop Theodore of Octodunum (Sion, Switzerland) at the end of the 4th century. Especially in the early Middle Ages, the cult of the Theban Legion e…

[German Version] Servatius, Saint, the first verifiable bishop of Tongeren ( civitas Tungrorum) in the Roman province of Germania II; by the 6th century, nothing more was known of him. According to Athanasius ( Apol. sec. 49.1, where he is called Sarbatios), he signed the decrees of the Synod of Serdica (342/343). His signature on the forged decrees of a purported Synod of Cologne in 346 must be ruled out as a source. In 350 he was on a diplomatic mission in the East on behalf of the usurper Magnentius, which included Athanasius ( Apol. Const. 9); at the Synod of Rimini in 359, he was amo…

[German Version] was a deacon of Cyril of Alexandria who became his successor as bishop of Alexandria following the latter's death in 444. In spite of the extant hagiographic vita (CPG 3, 5470) from the Monophysite milieu, hardly anything is known about his life. Unlike Cyril, whose theology was his absolute norm, Dioscorus cannot be regarded as an independent or prominent theolo…

[German Version] (c. 390 in Cilician Sis – Jul 24 [Sep 1], 459). Without education, Simeon entered a monastery early in the 5th century; he was forced to leave on account of his extreme asceticism. He lived as a hermit in Telanissus (some 60 km east of Antioch). From the early 420s, he lived on a hill atop a pillar that gradually reached a height of over 20 m (Stylite); visited by countless pilgrims, he gave political counsel to several emperors and appeared as a savior to the persecuted Christian…

[German Version] (or Wulfila; early 4th cent. – 383), Gothic descendant of Cappadocian Christians kidnapped in the 3rd century. According to his biographer Auxentius of Durostorum, he was a trilingual lector in the Gothic Christian community, probably consecrated to the episcopate by Eusebius of Nicomedia when a Gothic delegation was sent to Constantine the Great, to serve as bishop of the Christians in the region controlled by the Goths. In the 340s, he and a group of Gothic Christians entered th…

[English Version] I. Zum Begriff Als Primat (P.) bez. man die rechtliche Vorrangstellung des Papstes (Papat) als Bischof von Rom in der Gesamtkirche, d.h. seine höchste und unmittelbare Leitungsgewalt in der Gesamtkirche als Haupt des Bischofskollegiums, Hirte der Gesamtkirche und Stellvertreter Christi auf Erden (c.331 CIC/1983: »Der Bischof der Kirche von Rom … ist Haupt des Bischofskollegiums, Stellvertreter Christi und Hirte der Gesamtkirche hier auf Erden; deshalb verfügt er kraft seines Amtes …

[German Version] I. Definition The expression papal primacy denotes the juridical supremacy in the universal church of the pope as bishop of Rome, i.e. his supreme and immediate administrative authority as head of the College of Bishops, pastor of the universal church, and vicar of Christ on earth ( CIC/1983, c. 331: “The Bishop of the Church of Rome . . . is the head of the College of Bishops, the Vicar of Christ, and the Pastor of the universal Church here on earth; consequently, by virtue of his office, he has supreme, full, immediate, and…

[German Version] I. Erlangen School (Theology) – II. Erlangen School (Philosophy) I. Erlangen School (Theology) 1. History From the founding of the University of Erlangen (Erlangen, University of), the members of the theological faculty have been bound to the confessional statements of Lutheranism; a Lutheran Enlightenment theology largely dictated by Jena and Göttingen was predominant until …

[German Version] I. Church History – II. Church Law – III. Dogmatics I. Church History 1. Early Church Council (Lat. concilium, Gk σύνοδος [Lat. synodum]; the two terms were first differentiated in modern usage; see also synod) are meetings of bishops from various communities for binding clarification of disciplinary, organizational, or doctrinal questions, whose decisions, as inspired by the Holy Spirit, are not in principle revisable and claim validity for the whole church r…

[English Version] I. Alte Kirche 1.  Grundsätzliches Im Sinn der Definition von P. als Anspruch der röm. Bischöfe unter Berufung auf Mt 16,16–19; 28,20; Lk 22,31f.; Joh 21,15–19 als Nachfolger und Erben des Petrus auf die Leitung und den Jurisdiktions- und Lehrprimat in der Gesamtkirche (Primat: I.) kann vom P. im eigentlichen Sinne erst seit dem MA und nur für das lat. Abendland gesprochen werden; für die Alte Kirche handelt es sich um die Gesch. des röm. Bischofsamtes und der christl. stadtröm. Geme…

[German Version] I. Early Church – II. Middle Ages and Reformation – III. Modern Period and Today – IV. Chronological List of the Popes I. Early Church 1. Definition. If papacy is defined as the claim (based on Matt 16:16–19; 28:20; Luke 22:31f.; John 21:15–19) of the bishops of Rome as successors and heirs to Peter to leadership along with jurisdictional and magisterial primacy (I) within the universal church, papacy in the strict sense dates only from the Middle Ages in the Latin West. In the Early Church, the point at iss…