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[German version] I. General Many early cultures assumed the superiority of divine to human authorship (notion of a god as first cause) [1]. This establishes pseudepigraphy as the earliest form of literary work: a god or a divine human of a mythical primeval time is considered author. This form was common in the Orient, but there are also traces in Greece (as, e.g., in laws, oracles, Orphism). With the adoption of artists' signatures and indications of the creator's own name (orthonymity) beginning with Hesiod, various kinds of pseudepigraphy are attested: besid…

[German version] became bishop ordinary of Rome in 230 opposite of  Hippolytus [2]. In a persecution under Maximinus [2] Thrax, P. and Hippolytus were exiled to Sardinia in 235, where P. resigned his office on 28 September 235 (MGH AA 9,74 f.) and both died (still in 235?), ending the schism in the church of the city of Rome. P. is buried in the catacombs of St. Callistus in Rome (MGH AA 9,72; burial inscription: ILCV no. 953). Heimgartner, Martin (Halle) Bibliography E. Caspar, Geschichte des Papsttums von den Anfängen bis zur Höhe der Weltherrschaft, vol. 1, 1930, 43-50  W. Enßlin, s. v. P. …

[German version] I. General Since the 16th cent. the Latin term missio (‘sending’) has designated the efforts by Christians to spread their religion, by divine command. The term mission, unknown in antiquity, corresponds in essence to the instruction of the risen Christ to his disciples to make all peoples disciples (Mt 28:19). It is this commission that distinguishes Christian mission from similar manifestations of expansion (diffusion) in most other religions and cults. Only Manichaeism (Mani) and Islam (divine ‘summons’, dawa, to spread the religion) are acquainted wit…

(Πάτροκλος/ Pátroklos, also Πατροκλῆς/ Patroklês; Lat. Patroclus). [German version] [1] Companion to Achilleus Son of Menoetius [1] from Opus (Hom. Il. 11,814; his mother's name is not given in Homer, alternative suggestions in Apollod. 3,176), best friend of Achilleus [1]. In his childhood, P. kills a fellow-player out of anger during a game of dice and then flees to Phthia to Peleus, who gives him to Achilleus as a companion (Hom. Il. 23,85-90; Hellanikos FGrH 4 F 145; Apollod. 3,176). According to Pind. O…

[German version] [1] Valeria Maximilla Daughter of Galerius and wife of Maxentius Daughter of Galerius [5] and wife of Maxentius. The marriage produced two sons, Valerius Romulus (died 309?) and another son who is mentioned along with her as late as 312 (Pan. Lat. 12,16,5). Bleckmann, Bruno (Strasbourg) Bibliography PLRE 1, 576 [German version] [2] Cofounder of Montanism in the 2nd cent. AD In the middle of the 2nd. cent. AD she founded, together with Montanus and Priscilla, the Christian revivalist movement of Montanism. She was also a writer (Hippolytus, Refutatio omnium haeresium 8,…

[German version] I. Definition The term 'creation of the world' ('CW') (κτίσις/ ktísis, Lat. creatio) in the narrower sense should be distinguished from two similar concepts. Unlike 'cosmogony', 'CW' refers to a personal act. Secondly, unlike 'fashioning of the world' in the sense of the craft of a demiourgos [3] (cf. [1]), 'CW' does not mean the mere modelling of existing material in analogy to the creative intervention of an artist, but the absolute bringing-into-being of everything (the universe, i.e. 'the whole', τὰ πάντα/ tà pánta) out of the void. The concept of a creation…

Roman praenomen ( P. Iulius, a contemporary of Romulus [1]), and secondarily a cognomen. Depending on the form, a diminutive (older * prokelo-) of the stem * proko- (~ classical procus 'wooer, suitor'), it originally perhaps meant 'the one who demands or claims (the inheritance?)'. Proca (King of Alba Longa) can also be regarded as etymologically connected. The praenomen, which had already become rare at an early time, survived in derivatives, the gentilician names Procilius and Proculeius. Steinbauer, Dieter (Regensburg) [German version] [1] Roman jurist, 1st cent. The jurist fro…

[German version] A fragment of the apology (Apologists) of Q. (Κοδρᾶτος; Kodrâtos), believed to be the oldest Christian apology and said to have been addressed to the emperor Hadrianus [II], survives in Euseb. Hist. eccl. 4,3,1 f.; the fragment says that up to Q.' time, there were still individual persons who were healed or raised from the dead by Jesus. Further accounts of Q., who may be identical with the prophet Q. from Asia minor (Euseb. Hist. eccl. 3,37; 5,17), are based on Eusebius. Heimgartner, Martin (Halle)

see Iulius [IV 15] (poet); see Iulius [IV 16] (jurist) [German version] I Greek (Παῦλος; Paûlos). [German version] [I 1] Bishop of Antioch [1], died after 272 Bishop of Antiochia [1] († after AD 272). P., who was probably born in Samosata and grew up in modest circumstances, succeeded Demetrianus in 260/1 and quickly antagonized influential parts of the Antioch community with his teachings and conduct of his office. According to Eusebius [7] (account of P.: Eus. HE 7,27-30), the presbyter Malchion, head of a school of r…

in Latin referred both to an order (e.g. the marching order or that of a legal process) as well as to groups or corporations, into which several or many persons were organized (also in the plural ordines), e.g. the Roman equites ( ordo equester). [German version] I. Procedural law In a procedural context the term ordo is traditionally used in the composition of the ' ordo iudiciorum' (Cod. Iust. 7,45,4). It signified the proper types of legal procedure (cf. still today: 'proper' jurisdiction) both of the formulary procedure ( formula ) as well as of the actions at law proceedings ( legis actio …

[German version] I. Concept The Greek word parádeisos (παράδεισος/ parádeisos, Latin paradisus) or Hebrew pardēs comes from the ancient Iranian pairidaeza, meaning “surrounding walls, round enclosure, something that is enclosed,” and originally referred to an enclosed park. In the ancient Orient, gardens, particularly in conjunction with palace and temple grounds, “epitomized a wholesome living space” as well as representing a “visible domestication of "chaotic" powers” [4. 705] (especially when wild animals were k…

[German version] (διάκονος; diákonos, literally ‘servant’). The word group διακονεῖν/ diakoneîn, diákonos, διακονία/ diakonía ─ ‘to serve’ (especially at table), ‘servant’, ‘service’ ─ emphasized service as a favour to someone while δουλεύειν/ douleúein etc. emphasized the dependency relationship in service. Therefore, in the NT diakonía generally describes a ‘service’ modelled on the brotherly love of Jesus, whose work of salvation was understood as a ‘service’ to humanity (Mk 10,45). Diakonos as the term for a church office is only tentatively encountered in th…

I. Ancient Orient [German version] A. General comments In the Near East, idols which functioned as cult images (CI) could be found in central temples, peripheral sanctuaries, private houses, and sometimes on open-air sanctuaries and cult alcoves. Their material consistency, appearance, and size varied depending on their origin and the context of their use. Berlejung, Angelika (Heidelberg) [German version] B. Egypt CI of gods already existed in earliest times. They could be anthropomorphic (anthr.), theriomorphous, or of mixed shape, and were created as in…

(σοφία/ sophía, Latin sapientia). I. Greco-Roman [German version] A. General and philosophical concept The Greek noun σοφία/ sophía (Ionic: σοφίη/ sophíē), derived from the adjective σοφός ( sophós), which has been documented since the 6th cent. BC, generally refers to the superior skill and knowledge that distinguishes the expert and artist from the masses and accounts for the high regard in which he is held. The term sophía is used to describe any practical mastery, such as that of a helmsman, master builder, physician, military commander or statesman (cf. Ho…

[German version] (died c. 830), from Edessa [2]. T. lived as a monk in the monastery of Mār Sābā at Jerusalem, and after 780 and after 799 became the Melchite (Melchites) bishop of Ḥarrān (the reasons for his temporarily removal from office are unclear). His Syriac writings [1.212] do not survive. He is the first clearly apprehensible Christian theologian to also write in Arabic: in more than 20 (some still unpublished) treatises (for the editions see [5.238f.]; Germ. transl. [1; 2]) he deals, in d…

[German version] Probably the eighth bishop of Verona, c. AD 370. In his treatises (homilies and short draft sermons) he comments on the Trinity and Mariology (Maria [II 1] as a virgin also during and after the birth of Jesus: 2,12, CCL 22 = 2,9 BKV 2,10). In 1,38 (CCL 22 = 2,43 BKV 2,10) he interprets the Zodiac allegorically in terms of Christian salvific history. Gregorius [II 3] the Great (Dial. 3,19; cf. also Paulus Diaconus, Historia Langobardorum 3,23) layed the foundation for Z.'s fame as a patro…

[German version] (Πάνταινος; Pántainos). Christian teacher in Alexandria [1], end of the 2nd cent. AD. Biographical details first recorded in Euseb. Hist. eccl. 5,10 et.al. (originally a Stoic, a journey to India, head of the Catechetical School of Alexandria). Clemens [3] of Alexandria, probably a teacher at the same time as P., passed down only one quote from "our P." (Clem. Al. eclogae propheticae 56,2). Clement also mentioned P. as a teacher in the now lost Hypotyposes (Euseb. Hist. eccl. 5,11,2; 6,13,2). This led later scholars to assume that P. had been his teach…

[German version] (Πράξεις Πέτρου/ Práxeis Pétrou). The Acts of Peter (New Testament Apocrypha), originating probably from around AD 180/190 and only fragmentarily extant, give a romantic picture of the activities and the martyrdom of Peter (Petrus [1]) during the reign of the emperor Nero. Like the Acts of Paul (Paul, Acts of), that are dependent on them, they testify to an engagement in ascetism and frugality. Their effect on Christian piety and iconography - also in redrafts and translations - has …

[German version] Despite confusion with the tradition of Priscilla, it is unlikely that Priscilla and Q. were one and the same. Rather, Q. was probably an independent Montanist (Montanism) prophetess from the 3rd cent. AD [1. 152, 167 f.], whose followers were referred to as Quintillians. She, and not Priscilla, is believed to be the source of the account in Epiphanius [1] of Salamis (Panarion 48,1,2 f.), relating that Christ, in the form of a woman and wearing a radiant garment, appeared to her i…

[German version] (mostly Filastrius or Filaster). After long journeying as an anti-heretical preacher (Gaudentius [5] of Brescia, Sermo 21), P. became bishop of Brixia (Brescia) before AD 381. He met Augustine between 383 and 387 (Aug. Epist. 222) and died on the 18th July of a year before 397. The surviving Diversarum hereseon liber on 156 heresies is based on Epiphanius [1] of Salamis ( Panárion) and Irenaeus [2] of Lyon ( Adversus haereses), and was used by Augustine (Augustinus) ( De haeresibus). Heresiology Heimgartner, Martin (Halle) Bibliography F. Heylen (ed.), Filastrii Epi…