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[German version] (ἀγάπη; agápē) In the NT (Jud 12) agápē is also used for the ‘love feast’ if it is an occasion of brotherly love (Tert. Apol. 39,16: agápē is equal to dilectio). Tertullian described a communal meal of the congregation comparable to ancient sacral meals. Since  Ignatius ( c. AD 110) admonished the community in Smyrna not to hold the agape without the bishop, he was probably referring to a joint celebration of the Eucharist with the ordinary meal as documented by Paul for Corinth (1 Cor 11,20-34) and which was in part custom until the 5th …

[German version] This modern name describes a group of theologians who worked as exegetes. A true bond as a school can only be demonstrated for theologians who temporarily resided in Antiochia between c. 350 and c. 430, e.g.,  Diodorus of Tarsus, his students  Theodorus of Mopsuestia,  Iohannes Chrysostomos and their (?) student  Theodoretus of Cyrrhus. The characteristics of this school are apparent in its exegetical work, such as the methodological prologues of a commentary on the Psalms attributed to Diodorus (CPG 2,3818): int…

(Μακάριος; Makários). I. Greek [German version] [1] Spartiate, in 426/5 BC in the council of war of Eurylochus Spartiate, in 426/5 BC he took part in the council of war of Eurylochus [2] in the campaign of the armed forces of Spartan allies against Naupactus and the Acarnanians and fell in battle at Olpae (Thuc. 3,100,2; 109,1). Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum) Bibliography J. Roisman, The General Demosthenes and his Use of Military Surprise, 1993, 27ff. [German version] [2] M. of Alexandria Monk, 4th cent. AD According to the Historia monachorum in Aegypto [1. § 23], a certain M. (4th …

[German version] The Parisian Cod. Lat. 8084 of Prudentius transmits in fol. 156r-158v 122 v. an anonymous defamatory poem (CPL 1431), directed against a praefectus ( urbis or praetorio orientis), presumably Virius Nicomachus  Flavianus [2] the Elder, but alternatively perhaps  Vettius Agorius Praetextatus. The text is not only a Christian reaction to the pagan Roman renaissance under  Symmachus, but also a testimony of the Christian reception of Virgil. The Carmen contra paganos belongs to the genre of apologetic poetry, and makes interesting references to the pag…

[German version] F., an African, held office in 342-368/370 as bishop of  Aquileia. According to Jerome he wrote a gospel commentary Titulis ordinatis brevi sermone rusticoque (Jer. Vir. ill. 97,1) under Constantius [2] II (337-361). Perhaps three smaller fragments have been preserved (CPL 104); Jerome used the work for his own Matthew commentary (Praef.: PL 26,200 and Ep. 10,3). F. received  Athanasius in Aquileia in 345 but then pressured  Liberius of Rome to be lenient towards the Homoean movement ( Arianism) under e…

[German version] [1] Forms of the name The following are attested: Apollinaris or Ἀπολινάριος ( Apolinários) or Ἀπολεινάριος ( Apoleinários), but not  Ἀπολλινάριος ( Apollinários). Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) Bibliography Th. Zahn, Apollinaris, Apollinarius, Apolinarius, in: id., Paralipomena, Forsch. zur Gesch. des nt. Kanons 5/1, 1893, 99-109. [German version] [2] of Laodicea Priest and teacher of grammar Priest and teacher of grammar. According to Sozom. Hist. eccl. (2,46; 3,15-16; 5,18; 6,25) the father of  A. [3]. Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) Bibliography J. Dräseke…

[German version] Between 556 and 561 a private collection was made in Rome of 243 letters from the pope and the emperor, emperor's edicts and rescripts, official reports, synodal decrees and creeds (inventory with evidence [1. 274-281]). The name of the collection derives from a MS earlier kept in the Umbrian monastery Santa Croce di Fonte Avellana; it is today kept in Rome (Vat. Lat. 4916). The inventory goes back to a (lost) document, which constituted a semi-official product of the Church polit…

Oscan praenomen ( Egnatius [I 3]). Attested as a Roman nomen gentile from the 2nd cent. BC. The most important holder is the seven-time consul M. [I 1]; the prominent Imperial-period Spanish bearer of the name, M. [II 3], is probably a descendant of family members of that Marius. I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] M., C. Seven-time consul, victor over Jugurtha and over the Cimbri and Teutoni, opponent of Sulla The seven-time consul; victor over Jugurtha and over the Cimbri and Teutoni. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] A. The rise to political prominence Born c. 157 BC…

[German version] The Abgar legend is a pseudepigraphic correspondence between  Jesus of Nazareth and king Abgar V. Ukkāmā (= the Black; Tac. Ann. 12,12,2) of Edessa, who ruled the kingdom of Osroene from 4 BC to AD 50. The oldest version in  Eusebius, who allegedly found the letters in the Edessene archives and translated them from Syriac (H.E. 1,13,6-21). A. supposedly heard of Jesus' healing and invited him to Edessa to be healed by him. In his answer Jesus praised the king as blessed but would …

[German version] I. Greek (Γρηγόριος; Grēgórios) [German version] [I 1] Thaumaturgus Lawyer and theologian, 3rd cent. AD G. was born between AD 210 and 213, as the son of a wealthy pagan family in Neocaesarea/ Pontus (modern Niksar), probably under the name of Theodorus. In 232/3 (or 239), after a thorough elementary education G. actually wanted to study law in  Berytus/Beirut but before this in  Caesarea [2] (Palestine) got to know  Origen who taught there and then studied under his supervision the ‘Christian s…

(Εὐάγριος; Euágrios) [German version] [1] Ponticus Christian writer and monastic leader Religious writer and monastic spiritual leader (AD 345-399). Born in the Pontic Ibora, he was a pupil of  Gregorius of Nazianzus; after periods spent in Constantinople (ordination to deacon) and Jerusalem, he stayed in the Egyptian anchorite community of Kellia (Nitrian desert) from 383 as a much sought-after spiritual advisor. Posthumously condemned as an Origenist (553 Council of Constantinople), his few extant works …

[German version] (δοκηταί; dokētaí). With this generic term or τῶν ... δοκιτῶν αἵρεσις ( tôn ... dokitôn haíresis, Theod. Epist. 82,1) ancient Christian theologians from the middle of the 5th cent., as also recent academic research, designated various points of view that (in the minds of their critics at any rate) call into question or even repudiate the real humanity of  Jesus Christ and postulate a ‘pseudo-body’. Opponents of  Ignatius of Antioch maintained for example that Christ had only appeared to suffer (…

[German version] Inscription (IG XIV 2525 = SEG 29, 825 = [1]) on a marble panel discovered in 1839 at Augustodunum/ Autun. It consists of three elegiac distychs (V. 1-6) and five hexameters (V. 7-11). Alongside the Abercius inscription, it is one of the most significant examples of ancient Christian epigraphy; in its current form, it constitutes a funerary inscription commissioned by one Pectorius for his mother. The first six verses form the acrostic ΙΧΘΥΣΕ, so it must be assumed that this section of text is incompletely preserved ([1] ventures a completion: ἰχθύς/ ichthýs, ἐλπίς/ elpís…

[German version] Born c. AD 340; after his conversion to the Christian faith, between 360 and 363 he ended his military service (according to Paul. Nol. epist. 18,7, at any rate, with detailed description of the circumstances) and c. 380/386 became bishop of Ratomagus (modern Rouen). Letters to him from Paulinus [5] of Nola (Epist. 18 and 37) and from the Roman bishop Innocentius I ([1. vol. 1, 286]: a liber regularum) from this period survive. The focus of his work was the battle against Homoean theology in the Imperial church (Trinity III; Arianism), the advanc…

(Ἀκάκιος; Akákios). [German version] [1] Rhetorician and poet from Caesarea Rhetorician and poet from Caesarea, contemporary of  Libanius, who mentions A. numerous times in his letters, also known through Eunapius (Vitae Sophist. 497, cf. PLRE s. v. Acacius 6-8). After completing his studies in Athens, A. taught in Antioch [1]. He is said to have been superior to Libanius because of his natural talent. A. may have authored Ὠκύπους (Lib. Ep. 1380 W. = 1301 f.), the parody of a tragedy that was passed down …

(Ἁδριανός; Hadrianós) [1]. [German version] [1] Rhetor Sophist from Tyre, at 18 years of age a favourite pupil of  Herodes Atticus (Philostr. VS 2,10,585-586). With  Flavius Boethus (also from Phoenicia) he attended the anatomy lectures of  Galen in Rome in AD 162-166 (Gal. 14,627; 629 Kuhn). He may perhaps have been the target of mockery in Lucian's Pseudologístēs [1]. He taught in Ephesus (Philostr. VS 2,23,605) and (163-169) [2] honoured his patron there, the consular Cn.  Claudius [II 64] Severus, with a statue and a poem [3; 4]. From 176 at the l…

(Ὠριγένης/ Ōrigénēs). [German version] [1] Platonic philosopher, 3rd cent. AD Platonic philosopher of the 3rd cent. AD, not to be confused with the homonymous Christian O. [2] [1. 17ff.; 2. 404ff.]. Along with Erennius and Plotinus, he was a pupil of Ammonius [9] Saccas. O. wrote two works: On Demons and The one creator is the king (Ὅτι μόνος ποιητὴς ὁ βασιλεύς, fr. 1 and 2 Weber) [3. 92, 336f.]. Proclus conserves numerous comments of O. on the style and content of the proem of Plato's Timaeus (fr. 8-16 Weber). Since O. did not write a commentary on that dialogue, these remark…

(Νικόλαος/ Nikólaos). [German version] [1] Strategos of Ptolemy IV in Coele Syria, 219 BC Aetolian, stratēgós of Ptolemy IV in Coele Syria. In 219 BC, he unsuccessfully besieged the dissident Theodotus in Ptolemais,  but succeeded in preventing the encirclement of Dora by Antiochus [5] III. Made supreme commander in 218, he occupied the coastal pass north of Sidon, but was repelled by Antiochus at the Damuras river. N. then probably defected to Antiochus, whom he accompanied in 209 to Hyr…

[German version] I. General remarks, concept and origins The term sermon refers to a type of speech (Greek ὁμιλία/ homilía, Latin sermo) given, beginning in the 2nd cent. AD, as part of an ancient Christian religious service (Cult, Cultus IV) following readings from the Holy Scriptures (Bible). The sermon dealt either with topics of the readings or with the current feast or festal period of the liturgical year, but also and increasingly with saints (B). Methods of interpretation that had been generally introduced (e…

(Μάρκος; Márkos). I. Greek [German version] [I 1] The Evangelist, [1] (Lat. Marcus). The author of the second Gospel (Mk) could be a missionary (Iohannes) M. who is often mentioned in the NT especially in close association with Paulus (Acts 12:12:25; Phm 24 among others) (for example, for the first time Papias around AD 130, see Euseb. Hist. eccl. 3,39,15). The fact that evidence of a closeness to Paul's theology can barely be found [3] is an argument against this identification, while the straightforwardn…

[German version] The Letters of the Apostles are ancient Christian ‘epistles’ attributed to an ἀπόστολος ( apóstolos): a) those that were included in the NT  canon in the first four cents. and b) those that belong to the  apocryphal literature: thus, 1. the pseudo-Pauline Laodicene Epistle, which is found in many Latin Bible MSS; 2. the correspondence between Paul and the Corinthians; 3. the correspondence between  Seneca and Paul; 4. the Epistle of pseudo-Titus ‘On the State of Chastity’; 5. the Epistula Petri, also from the correspondence preserved in the  Nag Hammadi G…

[German version] I. Greek (Μαρκέλλος; Markéllos). [German version] [I 1] From Pergamum, orator, 2nd cent. AD, [1] Rhetor from Pergamum known solely from a brief reference in the Suda; he is said to have written a book (or several books) entitled Ἀδριανὸς ἢ περὶ βασιλείας/ Adrianòs ḕ perì basileías (‘Hadrian, or On Monarchy’). He would thus have lived in the first half of the 2nd cent.; whether Dio's [I 3] speeches perì basileías, addressed to Trajan, served as a model is uncertain. Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) [German version] [I 2] From Side, physician and poet, 2nd cent. AD M. from …

[German version] [1] C. Gallus Heptateuch poet see  Heptateuch poet Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) [2] C. Thascius Caecili(an)us From AD 248/9 bishop of Carthago [German version] A. Biography Caecilius Cyprianus qui et Thascius (his transmitted name, combining his original Punic cognomen Thascius C. with a newly adopted Christian cognomen after his godfather Caecilianus, according to Pontius, vita 4 -- or rather Caecilius, according to Jer. Vir. ill. 67 [1. 110, n. 1]) was the son of wealthy parents. Prior to his conversion t…

[German version] [1] of Sicca Christian Rhetor of the 3rd/4th cent. AD Christian rhetor in Sicca Veneria (Jer. Vir. ill. 79), author of seven books: Adversus Nationes (only Cod. Paris. 1661, 9th cent., and the copy in Brussels 10847, 11th cent.) c. AD 297-303, certainly before 311 [3. 30-34]. The opinion that the work is unfinished and that A. therefore died before 311 is unfounded [4. 24]. Teacher of  Lactantius; however, the precise relationship is disputed, as Lactantius does not quote A. [5. 367]. The style is very emphatic, with a…

(Πάμφιλος; Pámphilos). [German version] [1] Athenian soldier, 4th cent. BC Athenian hípparchos and stratēgós. In 389 BC, he erected a permanent emplacement on Aegina and besieged the island, but had to be relieved after five months, himself besieged by the Spartan Gorgopas. Convicted of embezzlement and fined heavily at Athens, P. still owed the city five talents at his death after having sold his estates (Lys. 15,5; Xen. Hell. 5,1,2; Aristoph. Plut. 174; 385; Plat. fr. 14 PCG; Dem. Or. 39,2; 40,20 and 22). Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) Volkmann, Hans (Cologne) Bibliography Davies, 36…

[German version] (Φιλοστόργιος; Philostórgios). The Church historian P. was born around AD 368 in Borissus/Cappadocia and remained a layman throughout his life. From 388 on he lived in Constantinople and expanded through travel the good education he had received. Of significance for his theological views was an encounter with his countryman Eunomius, whose neo-Arianism influenced his theology (Arianism B.3.; he rejected the concept of 'Anomoean' [3. 65,11-14 et passim]). Fragments of his history of the Arian controversy are found notably in the Passio of Artemius [2] [1. 169…

(Ἡγήσιππος; Hēgḗsippos). [German version] [1] Athen. rhetor and envoy, 4th cent. BC Son of Hegesias from Sunium, Athenian rhetor and envoy from a wealthy family. In 357/6 BC he spoke in the ekklesia as a champion of aid for Eretria (IG II2 125 = Tod, 154), in 356/5 of the Athenian symmachy with Phocis (Aeschin. In Ctes. 118; Dem. Or. 19,72-74 with schol.) and between 346 and 340 of further decrees for foreign policy (Dem. Or. 18,75). In the year 345 he defended Timarchus against  Aeschines [2] (Aeschin. In Tim. 71) together with his br…

[German version] According to J. B. Cotelier, who coined it, the term includes the writings of three presumed students of Paul: 1.   the Epistle of Barnabas (Gal 2,1; 1 Cor 9,6); 2. two Epistles attributed to  Clement of Rome (Phil 4,3); 3. the ‘Shepherd of Hermas’ (Rom 16,4); and the works of two presumed students of John; 4. seven letters by bishop  Ignatius of Antioch; 5. a letter and other writings by Polycarp of Smyrna. Today it is customary to include: 6. fragments by bishop  Papias of Hiera…

[German version] [1] Bishop of Caesarea [2] Maritima/Palaestina Bishop of  Caesarea [2] Maritima/Palaestina (died before AD 400). The nephew of  Cyrillus of Jerusalem, installed as bishop around 365/367, took part in the Council of Constantinople in 381 and in the synod there in 394. At the wish of his uncle, G. wrote a continuation of the Church history by  Eusebius [7] of Caesarea, going as far as 395, which had a long-lasting effect (Gelasius of Cyzicus, hagiographic lives, etc.). Parts of the lost s…

[German version] I. Life Theologist, died before AD 450 V. of Lerinum (Lérins) died before AD 450, perhaps c. 435. According to Gennadius ( De viris illustribus 65) and Eucherius [3] ( De laude heremi 42; Instructiones I, praef. p. 66,5 Wotke) he was born in northern France and led a secular life, until he took up residence before 427 as a priest-monk on the smaller of the two islands of Lerinum/Lérins off the coast at Cannes (Saint-Honorat), which was used primarily by noble refugees from Gaul as a 'monastery of asylum' [5]. V. describes the seclusion of the place with traditional topoi as an e…

(Ἐπιφάνιος; Epiphánios). [1] of Salamis Ascetic and priest [German version] A. Biography E. was born between 310 and 320 in the Palestinian Beṯ Guvrin/Eleutheropolis (short biography in GCS Epiphanius 1,1 Holl), more precisely in the nearby village of Besanduke/Beṯ Zedek (= Dair Saad?), probably as the son of Christian parents. He became an ascetic early on in his life, and in conjunction with that may have spent longer periods in Egypt (Sozom. Hist. eccl. 6,32,3); at the age of about 20, he founded a mona…

[German version] [1] Roman emperor, born AD 51 Roman emperor; original name T. Flavius Domitianus = Imperator Caesar Domitianus Augustus. Eck, Werner (Cologne) [German version] A. Up to the death of Titus Born on 24 Oct. AD 51 in Rome; his parents were T. Flavius  Vespasianus and Flavia Domitilla. D. spent his childhood in Rome; he did not accompany his father Vespasian to Judaea. His life was first threatened in the 2nd half of 69 during the reign of Vitellius, when D.'s father had already been proclaimed emperor, and fightin…

[1] H. of Poitiers 4th cent. AD [German version] A. Biography H. was probably born in Poitiers in the first quarter of the 4th cent. and baptized as an adult (De synodis 91). He became bishop of Poitiers before 356; H. is the first known bishop of this place, in which there cannot have been many Christians. In 356, at a synod in Béziers, H. was sent into exile in Asia Minor on the orders of the later emperor  Julianus [11]. Whereas formerly only a lengthy resistance activity against the line of ecclesiasti…

[German version] The well-off Levite B., who came from Cyprus, belonged temporarily to the closest circle of co-workers of  Paulus and, before that, to the prominent heads of the Antiochene community. After a missionary period together in Cyprus and Galatia with Paulus, it came to a severe conflict between both, as B. together with others in Antioch ( c. AD 48), revoked the table community between Jewish Christians and pagan-Christians (Gal 2,11-16). Whether he then went to Egypt, like some individual traditions seem to believe (e.g. Ps.-Clem. Hom. 1, …

(Εὐστάθιος; Eustáthios). [German version] [1] from Caria Rhetor of the 4th cent. AD, imperial administrator, consularis Syriae Rhetor of the 4th cent. AD; studied in Athens and later settled in Tyre. He held many offices in the imperial administration, and used them to enrich himself (i.a.: rationalis summarum per orientem), in 388 he was consularis Syriae. He was at first a friend of  Libanius (panegyric: Lib. Or. 44), later his enemy (diatribe: Or. 54, cf. also Or. 1,271-275). There is no other witness apart from Libanius. Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) [German version] [2] Neop…

[German version] came from a wealthy family from Melitene/Armenia Minor (Greg. Nyss. in Meletium, p. 444 Spira; Philostorgius, Hist. eccl. 5,5 = GCS 69,11 Bidez/Winkelmann), was privileged with a thorough education and then apparently lived as an ascetic. He was elected to be the successor of the deposed Homoiousian Eustathius [6], bishop of Sebaste, and advocated a theology in the tradition of Eusebius [7] of Caesaria from AD 357 as well as supporting the ecclesiastical politics of his successor …

[German version] Christian bishop and author; initially married (wedding song: Sid. Apoll. Carm. 11), under the influence of Faustus [3] Reiensis he decided in 477 to lead an ascetic life and ultimately became a bishop in 485. He died shortly after 507. An epitaph on him and his successor, his grandson R. II, can be found in Venantius Fortunatus (Carm. 4,5). Two books with 18 or 64 (65) letters, as well as 14 letters to R., survive. They are primarily testimonials and 'everyday correspondence' of …

(Ἰωάννης; Iōánnēs). Well-known persons i.a.: I. [1] the Evangelist, I. [4] Chrysostomos, bishop of Constantinople and Homilet, I. [18] Malalas, author of the world chronicle, I. [25] of Gaza, rhetor and poet, I. [33] of Damascus, the theologian, I. [39] Baptistes. [1] I. the Evangelist [German version] A. Tradition and criticism According to the inscriptions, the author of a  Gospel (Jo), of three letters and the Apocalypse in the NT is called I. (= J.; the name appears only in Apc. 1:1; 1:4; 1:9; 22:8). Since the end of the 2nd cent. (Iren. adv…

Epithet of many gentilicia [1]. Famous persons: the jurist Salvius I. [1]; the doctor I. [2]; the emperor I. [11], called ‘Apostata’; the bishops I. [16] of Aeclanum and I. [21] of Toledo. [German version] [1] L. Octavius Cornelius P. Salvius I. Aemilianus Roman jurist, 2nd cent. AD Jurist, born about AD 100 in North Africa, died about AD 170; he was a student of  Iavolenus [2] Priscus (Dig. 40,2,5) and the last head of the Sabinian law school (Dig. 1,2,2,53). I., whose succession of offices is preserved in the inscription from Pupput, provi…

[German version] [1] Greek grammarian (Εἰρηναῖος; Eirēnaîos). Grammarian, student of Heliodorus the metrician, 1st cent. AD ( terminus ante quem due to the quotation in the Hippocratic lexicon by Erotianus, 116,8 Nachmanson). He probably taught also in Rome under the Latin name of Minucius Pacatus (perhaps the rhetor Pacatus in Sen. Controv. 10, praef. 10). He was not a freedman [2]. The Suda mentions him in the praefatio and s.v. ‘E.’ (ει 190) as well as s.v. ‘Pacatus’ (π 29), and lists numerous titles of grammatical and lexicographical writ…

[German version] I. Greek (Μάξιμος; Máximos) [German version] [I 1] Maximus of Tyre Author of lectures mainly on ethics and theology, 2nd cent. AD, [1] Maximus of Tyrus AD 2nd cent.; author of 41 short dialéxeis (lectures), according to the most important MS (Cod. Parisinus graecus 1962) delivered in Rome (the Suda dates a visit to the reign of Commodus, AD 180-191). His concepts are simple yet rhetorically sophisticated (frequent use of comparisons, quotations from poetry, mythological and historical examples); his main topic is…

(Βασιλεῖος; Basileîos). [German version] [1] Basil the Great Theologian and bishop of Caesarea/Cappadocia. Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) [German version] A. Biography B. (born around 329/330 as the son of a Christian senatorial family who owned large estates) together with his younger brother  Gregorius of Nyssa and his friend  Gregorius of Nazianze were called the three great Cappadocians. His grandmother gave him his first introduction to the Bible and theology along the lines of Origenism. His education contin…

[German version] The work ‘The shepherd of H.’ (Greek only Ποιμήν; Poimḗn, Latin Liber pastoris nuntii paenitentiae or Liber Hermae prophetae) is a Christian prophetic script with the stylistic character of an  apocalypse but not wholly corresponding to this genre. The work places H. among the  Apostolic Fathers. The title ‘Shepherd’ (Ποιμήν) for the entire work appeared in the Canon Muratori, a substantial index of canons (more likely dated end of the 2nd cent. than the 4th cent.: l. 74), but it refers only to the second part of the work (visio 5 to sim…

(Νεῖλος/ Neîlos, Latin Nilus). [German version] [1] N. of Ancyra Author of monastic letters and stories, c. 400 A number of monastic letters, stories, apophthegmata, treatises and fragments are attributed to a N. of Ancyra or an ascetic N. in MSS. The question of authorship is hardly fully resolved in any of the texts. If the autobiographical data in the Dihēgḗmata [1. 6044] are not held to be authentic (but so in [4]), little more is known of N. than that he lived in Galatia at the turn of the 4th and 5th cents. AD  (but cf. the critique of this in [7. …

[German version] (Παχώμιος; Pachṓ mios). P. was born in AD 292, probably in Latopolis/Esna, and died of the plague in AD 346. He is regarded as the founder of cenobitic monasticism in Egypt and the author of the first regulations for monks. The Pachomian monastic community, which he founded, is called koinóbion (in the sense of koinōnía, 'community') throughout the Vita prima [2. 24]. P. was born into a pagan Egyptian family and converted to Christianity around the age of twenty when he enrolled in the army. He was baptised after he had returned to the tow…

[German version] Before his conversion to the Christian faith H. took lessons from the Platonic philosopher  Ammonius [9] Saccas (Euseb. Hist. eccl. 6,19,13) with his brother Plutarchus, who later died a martyr's death. After five years of instruction he met  Origenes there as a fellow student and then visited his class in Alexandria (Euseb. Hist. eccl. 6,3,2). At a certain point Origen made H. responsible for the beginning students (Euseb. Hist. eccl. 6,15). H. himself was a celebrated teacher (Euseb. Hist. eccl. 6,31,2) and apparently belonged to the presbyters who…

[German version] [1] Greek official The lexical meaning of epískopos equates to ‘supervisor’. In the Greek world, episkopos habitually referred to an official, similar to   epimelētaí and   epistátai , but used less frequently. The Delian League sent epískopoi, who were Athenian officials, into allied cities, e.g. in order to set up a democratic constitution (Erythrae: ML 40; cf. Aristoph. Av. 1021-1034). Rhodian officials also included episkopoi (Syll.3 619), Massilia appointed an episkopos for its colony of Nicaea (ILS 6761), and Mithridates VI sent one to Ephesus …

[German version] The writer of this treatise, written in the form of a letter, (CPG I 1050), who belongs to the so-called  Apostolic Fathers, does not give his name. The MSS as well as Christian theologians of the 2nd/3rd cents. like  Clemens and  Origenes (who regarded the letter as καθολικὴ ἐπιστολή: c. Cels. 1,63) state that the author is  Barnabas, the travelling companion of St. Paul. The first part (chs. 2-16) interprets holy Scripture (= the OT) in terms of God, Christ and the new people of…

Spanish ascetic and Christian theologian of Late Antiquity; term used for the ascetic movement he founded. [German version] I. Life of Priscillianus and history of Priscillianism A great deal of P.' biography remains unknown and has been distorted by a hostile tradition. P. was probably born prior to AD 350; he is believed to have been from a wealthy Spanish family. His training in rhetoric indicates an education befitting his class. In connection with his decision to lead an ascetic life, he chose to be baptized as an a…

[German version] After AD 343, bishop of Barcinona (modern Barcelona), died before 393; of his life practically nothing is known. Three letters from him to the Novatian Sympronianus survive, in which he opposes Novatianism (Novatianus) (CPL 561), also a pamphlet Paraenesis sive Exhortatorius Libellus ad Paenitentiam ( Exhortation to Penitence, CPL 562) and a Sermo de Baptismo ( Sermon on Baptism, CPL 563). A Cerv(ul)us ('Stag') against the pagan celebration of the new year, mentioned by Hieronymus  (Vir. ill. 106), is lost. The author was well educated and t…