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[German version] ( Onı̄ṯā). One of several Syrian terms meaning 'refrain', 'responsorium' or 'antiphon' (others include ōnāyā or Enyana). In liturgical texts of the 'Church of the East', onitha has the specific meaning of a metrical composition following a verse of a psalm. Brock, Sebastian P. (Oxford)

Syrian poet and theologian ( c. AD 306-373); his reputation was already known to Jerome in 392 (Vir. ill. 115). He spent the greater part of his life as a deacon in Nisibis; when in AD 363 the city was ceded to the Persians, he settled in Edessa, the modern Urfa. The 6th.-cent. vita is filled out with many fabulous tales. E.'s writings may be divided into three categories: verse writings, which make up the major part, artistic prose and prose. [German version] 1. Verse writings His verse writings in more than 50 metres, mostly in strophes (  madraše , hymni), survive in cycles of various lengt…

[German version] Bishop of Edessa [2] (AD 412-435 or 436). Information on his life comes from a Syrian panegyric as well as occasional references found in other sources (e. g. the Edessa Chronicle). Born to wealthy parents in Qinnasrīn (Chalkis), R. was brought up according to Greek custom; he was introduced to Christianity by the bishops Eusebius of Qinnasrīn and Acacius [3] of Beroea (Aleppo). With the help of the latter's influence, he was elected bishop of Edessa in the year 412. He offered guidelines for the lives of clerics and monks in his Kanónes ('Rules'; preserved in Syrian). I…

(from Hebrew Yiṣḥāq, ‘he will laugh’). [German version] [1] Son of Abraham and Sarah Son of  Abraham [1] and Sarah, half-brother of  Ishmael (Gn 17ff.), father of Esau and  Jacob and the second o the patriarchs of Israel. The main event in I.'s life is the command issued by God to his father to sacrifice him. This sacrificial binding (Hebrew aqedah), by which God put Abraham's fidelity to the test, has been dealt with in detail in the Talmud and Midrash: unlike in the Biblical version, in many accounts in the  Haggadah the test was not by God but by Sata…

[German version] [1] Son of Isaac and Rebecca According to Gn 25:26 a person ‘who holds the heel (of Esau)’; otherwise the etymology of the word is unsolved. The son of Isaac and Rebecca, third and most outstanding patriarch apart from  Abraham [1] and  Isaac, as well as the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, is named after his battle with the angel Israel (‘he who wrestles with god’). From the regal period onwards, J. also served as a metaphor for the people of Israel. J., who - according to the traditional view - embodies virtuousness, truth and fear of God on one hand, but…

I. General [German version] A. Introduction The terms  Bible and translation are not clearly separable from each other since the acknowledged textual basis ( Canon) has changed in the course of time and even paraphrases are regarded as translations. Recent discoveries ( Qumran, papyri) have shown that even the texts of the source language, the so-called Masora text, and of the target language, the Septuagint (LXX; Peshitta; Vetus Latina), have undergone historical development and should be read only b…

[German version] [1] The prophet Elijah (Elijah, prophet). The biblical character of E., according to the evidence of the Deuteronomic History, appears as a prophet of the northern kingdom at the time of king Ahab (871-852 BC) (cf. the E. traditions in 1 Kgs 17-19; 21; 2 Kgs 1-2); probably because of his miraculous translation to heaven (2 Kgs 2), E. comes to play a very important role in post-biblical Judaism. Thus, even in early Judaism, the notion arose of E.'s eschatological return (cf. Mal 3,23; …

[German version] I Greek (Σευῆρος; Seuêros). [German version] [1] Platonist, 2nd cent.? Platonist, probably 2nd cent. AD. He wrote a monograph On the soul [1. 80, 299; 2. 409-13, 428 f., 435 f.] and a commentary on Plato’s Timaeus [1. 52, 217 f.; 2. 407-9]. He appears in these works to be an original-minded, somewhat stoicizing interpreter of Aristotle’s doctrine of categories [1. 259; 2. 413 f.; 3. 66, 288 f.], and of Plato’s theories of the soul [1. 299; 3. 56, 278 f.] and of the origin of the world [4. 116-18, 417-21]. His works …

(Μιχαήλ/ Michaḗl; Mîkāēl). [German version] [1] Archangel Archangel, [1] One of the most prominent angels (cf. the description archistratēgós, ‘supreme commander’ of the heavenly host, Joseph of Aseneth 14,8, cf. Slavonic Hen 22,5; 33,10), one of the seven (Ethiopic Hen 20,5) or four (Ethiopic Hen 9,1; 10,11) archangels (cf. [1]). The name means ‘who is like God’ or ‘who is victorious like God’. M., who was first mentioned in the ‘Book of Watchers (Ethiopic Hen 1-36, end of the 4th/beginning of the 2nd cent. BC)…

Name of an old patrician family. The tribus Sergia was named after it. The family is attested to have attained consulship in the 5th cent. BC (S. [I 5]) but did not achieve lasting importance in the historical period. The attempt of its best-known member, L.S. Catilina, to attain the consulship once more failed with the Catilinarian Conspiracy. I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] S., M. The brother of L.S. Catilina (?) According to Plutarch (Sulla 32,3; Cicero 10,3), the brother of L.S. Catilina, killed by him in 81 and posthumously put on the proscriptions…

(Φιλόξενος; Philóxenos). [German version] [1] Name of several officers under Alexander the Great Several officers with the name P. are mentioned in the sources about Alexander  [4] the Great. They cannot always be distinguished with certainty. One P. was appointed by Alexander in 331 BC (incorrect [1]) ' to collect tribute on this side of the Taurus'(i.e. in Asia Minor) (Arr. An. 3,6,4). This cannot be correct. Arrian must, as often, have expressed himself imprecisely, as this duty had already been entrusted to somebody else. It can also hardly be th…

(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…

(Διονύσιος; Dionýsios). Famous personalities: D. [1], the tyrant of Syracuse; the historian D. [18] of Halicarnassus. Dionysios (month),  Months, names of the. The chronicle of Ps.-D. by Tell Maḥre see D. [23]. I. Politically active personalities [German version] [1] D. I. Notorious tyrant in Syracuse c. 400 BC of Syracuse, son of Hermocritus, born in c. 430 BC, died in 367 BC. Founder of the ‘greatest and longest tyrannical rule in history’ (Diod. Sic. 13,96,4; appearance: Timaeus FGrH 566 F 29). Possessing a sophist education (Cic. Tusc. 5,63), D. had enormous ambitions a…