Search

[German version] [1] Commander of the infantry of Herod the Gr. Pro-Roman commander of the infantry of Herod the Great (Jos. BI 2,3,4; 4,2,3; 5,2; Ant. Iud. 17,10,3; 17,10,6f.; 17,10,9). Rist, Josef (Würzburg) [German version] [2] Valerius G. Procurator of Judaea In AD 15-26 procurator of Judaea as successor of Annius Rufus (Jos. Ant. Iud. 18,2,2; 18,6,5) under emperor Tiberius. He was in turn succeeded by Pontius Pilate. Rist, Josef (Würzburg) Bibliography PIR2, 123, no. 146 (G. 1); 3, 357, no. 58.

[German version] Important bishop of  Caesarea in Cappadocia (died in AD 268). Shortly after 230 he became bishop and around 250 he instigated the deposition of bishop Fabius of  Antioch [1] who was inclined towards Novatianus. In the dispute on the baptism of heretics, the close friend of  Origenes sided with  Cyprianus [2] of Carthage and opposed the Roman bishop Stephanus I. Informed by Cyprianus, he replied in autumn 256 [1. 248] with a letter originally written in Greek (Cypr. epist. 75 [CCL …

[German version] Dogmatic florilegium, dating from the end of the 7th into the 8th cent. AD, that was put together from already existing but now partially lost Christological collections (i.a. ch. 24 and 33) and wrongly ascribed to the apocrisiary  Anastasius [3] († 666) or the abbot  Anastasius Sinaites [5] (died shortly after 700). Rist, Josef (Würzburg) Bibliography Edition: F. Diekamp, D., 1907. Bibliography: A. Grillmeier, Jesus der Christus im Glauben der Kirche 2/1, 21991, 94-100.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Pompeius (Hebrew Mārēšā, Mārešā, ‘settlement on the heights’; Gr. Μάρισ(σ)α; Máris(s)a). City in the south-west of Judea ( Palaestina ). M. became Edomite (Edom) after the Exile and was probably an important administrative centre. It is known to us from frequent OT references (Jos 15:44; 2 Chr 14:8f.; 20:37 inter al.), non-biblical sources (e.g. Flavius Josephus) and numerous archaeological finds from Tell Sandaḫanna (‘Hill of St. Anna’; also known as Tell Mārēšā) located c. 2 km south of the modern Bet-Guvrin. Tra…

[German version] (Ἑνωτικόν; Henōtikón). Aimed at the churches of Egypt, Libya and the Pentapolis, on the occasion of patriarch Petrus Mongus' assumption of office, the H., promulgated in AD 482 by the East Roman emperor  Zeno, with the influential collaboration of patriarch Acacius of Constantinople (CPG III, 5999; originally Ἤδικτον Ζήνωνος, ‘edict of Zeno’, named H. since Zacharias Rhetor, Historia ecclesiastica 5,8; cf. Evagrius, Hist. eccl. 3,13f.), sought to restore the unity of belief and emp…

[German version] A special form of Christian asceticism common esp. in Syria, characterised by the ascetic's permanent abode on the top of a column (στυλίτης/ stylítēs, 'column-stander' of ὁ στῦλος/ ho stŷlos, 'column'). A connection to non-Christian forms (cf. the φαλλοβάται/ phallobátai in Lucian Syr. D. 28 f.) seems unlikely (differently [1]). The initiator and most important representative is Simeon the Elder (d. in AD 459) whose column became a destination for pilgrims. Other stylites of renown were the Simeon the Younger, Daniel, Alypius of Adrianopolis, Lazarus and Lucas. Ri…

[German version] (Εὐνόμιος; Eunómios). Bishop of Cyzicus († about AD 394). Of lowly origins, E., who was connected with the bishops Aetius of Alexandria and Eudoxius of Antioch, became Bishop of Cyzicus about AD 360. Following opposition he gave up his office. With the death of Aetius (367), E. became the sole leader of the church community of the Anhomoiousians ( Arianism) which had broken away from the imperial church. He was exiled repeatedly. Only a few of his writings are extant, among these being the Ἀπολογητικός ( Apologētikós) that was written about 360 and the work that w…

[German version] Bishop of Lycopolis in Middle Egypt. († c. AD 327), originator of a schism in the Egyptian church at the time of the Diocletian persecution ( Tolerance). Because of the frequent vacancies of episcopal sees, M. consecrated bishops in vacant bishoprics about 305/6 on his own initiative. Additional conflicts with bishop Petrus of Alexandria over the treatment of lapsi and the latent conflict between Alexandria and the rest of Egypt [2. 297] eventually resulted in his deposition. The numerically significant church of the M…

[German version] (Πνευματομάχοι/ Pneumatomáchoi, 'those who contend against the [Holy] Spirit'). Designation of a group of Christian theologians, active in Asia Minor primarily in the 2nd half of the 4th cent. AD, who denied the divinity ( homoousía) of the Holy Spirit. The first use of the expression pneumatomáchoi, in the form πνευματομαχοῦντες/ pneumatomachoûntes, is encountered in AD 358 in the letters of Athanasius of Alexandria to Bishop Serapion of Thmuis (Athan. Epist. ad Serapionem 1,32; 4,1). The local Egyptian group whom he calls 'tropi…

[German version] Theological controversy of the 7th cent. AD, closely linked to the politics of the Byzantine Empire. Monotheletism, as well as its predecessor, monenergism, is the doctrine of a single will (μόνος/ mónos, ‘single’; θέλημα/ thélēma, θέλησις/ thélēsis, ‘will’) or a single action or power of action (ἐνέργεια/ enérgeia) in Christ. Following military victories (Persian Wars), the East Roman Emperor Heraclius [7] (610-641) tried to reestablish ecclesiastical unity with the monophysites (Monophysitism). This was the starting point in…

[German version] Abbot general of the coenobitic association of monasteries founded by  Pachomius in Upper Egypt († after AD 386). Initially superior of the monastery in Šenesēt (Chenoboscium), H. was appointed by Abbot Petronius as his successor. After conflicts in the so-called poverty dispute, Theodorus took over the ‘deputy leadership’ [3. 527] for H. Later the latter again was head of the koinōnía (‘community’), initially jointly with Theodorus, and on his own after Theodorus' death. As a spiritual testament he wrote the Liber Orsiesii (Latin translation by  Hieronymus, …

[German version] (Coptic 'child of god'; Greek Σινούθιος/ Sinoúthios); abbot and important author of Coptic literature, died between AD 436 and 466 (466 is most often given as the year of his death). The stages in his life can be deduced from his writings and from a panegyric vita [6] written by his successor Besa. At an early stage, S., the son of a peasant family, entered the White Monastery at Sauhāǧ in Upper Egypt, which had been founded by a maternal uncle. He took over its leadership in about 385.…

[German version] (Greek Ἐβιωναῖοι; Ebiōnaîoi, from Hebr. םיִנֹויְבֶא < æbyōnı̄m, ‘[the] Poor’). Since  Irenaeus (Haer. 1,26,2); the usual collective term for selected, heterodox Jewish-Christian groups in antiquity. The name was wrongly interpreted as pejorative by Patristic authors (Euseb. Hist. eccl. 3,27; Orig. contra Celsum 2,1: ‘poor of mind’) or, since Tertullianus (De praescriptione haereticorum 10,8; also Hippolytus, refutatio omnium haeresium 7,35,1), ascribed to a homonymous namegiver Ebion, su…

[German version] (διδαχή; didachḗ, ‘teaching’ sc. ‘of the Twelve Apostles’). The earliest Church regulations, usually attributed to the  Apostolic Fathers. Highly prized in antiquity, frequently used in other works, the Didache has been known since 1873. The most important textual witness to this influential document of early Christian communality is the 11th-cent. Codex Hierosolymitanus 54. Greek and Coptic fragments, Ethiopic and Georgian translations, as well as considerable indirect transmission, including the Apostolic …

[German version] (Νοητός/ Noētós). Early Christian theologian (end of the 2nd cent. AD). According to the biased report of his adversary Hippolytus [2] (Refutatio omnium haeresium 9,7-10; 10,26f.) N. came from Smyrna. His heterodox teachings, which according to Hippolytus could be traced back to Heraclitus, were brought to Rome by Epigonus and further disseminated among the Roman bishops Zephyrinus ( c. 198-217) and Callistus (217-222) by Epigonus's pupil Cleomenes. N. is regarded as the founder of modalistic monarchianism. This school saw in the Father …

[German version] Monophysitism, a term known since the 7th cent. AD, refers to the doctrine that Christ, after the union of the divine and human, has a single nature (μόνος/ mónos, single; φύσις/ phýsis, nature). In a narrower sense, monophysites are opponents (who may be of a variety of theological and organisational backgrounds) of the doctrine of the two natures of Christ as stated by the Council of Calchedon (AD 451). Contrary to the definition of the Council (one person or hypostasis in two natures), they upheld the formul…

(named after N., bishop of Constantinople, AD 428-431; d. in c. 451). [German version] A. Life According to Socr. 7,29,2, N. was probably born after AD 381 in East Syrian Germanicea. The centre of his early work was Antiochia [1], where N. joined the monastery of Euprepius located outside of the city. Formative for his thinking was the so-called Antiochene theology represented by Diodorus [20] of Tarsus and Theodorus of Mopsu(h)estia (whose student he may have been). At Emperor Theodosius II's instigation, N., …

[German version] The term heresiologists refers to several early Christian authors, who enumerate past as well as contemporary  heresies in one or more of their works in an effort to describe and repudiate them. In the first three cents., this so-called antiheretical corpus (on the problems inherent in the concept of heresy cf. [1. 290-295]) focused on the disputes with  Gnosticism,  Montanism, and Jewish-Christian groups.  Iustinus provided a first collection of various heresies, tracing them back successively to their origin in Simon Magus ( Sýntagma; lost, content reconstru…

[German version] Initially the term for the Arian factions ( Arianism) gathered in the mid 4th cent. around bishop Macedonius of Constantinople († before AD 364). Later the name is applied to the pneumatomáchoi , i.e. all those, also non-Arians, who deny the divinity of the Holy Spirit. The eponymous Macedonius - initially in constant competition with the Nicene bishop Paulus who had been exiled on several occasions - became bishop of Constantinople in 342. After Paulus' final expulsion (in 351), sole bishop; …

[German version] ( Ibâs) Bishop of  Edessa [2] († AD 28 October 457), where he, as teacher at the ‘Persian School’ and follower of Antiochene theology, translated the works of  Theodorus of Mopsuestia,  Diodorus [14] of Tarsus, and Aristotle into Syrian. He was repeatedly attacked (i.e. accused of heresy and simony) and, as successor of the city bishop  Rabulas (Rabbula) in 436, was removed from office and exiled by the ‘Robber Synod’ of Ephesus (449) as a follower of  Nestorius, only to be reinstat…