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Apostles' Creed

(608 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] The received text (T, first attested by Pirmin, Scarapsus §§10/12/28) of the creed known in the modern period as the Symbolum apostolicum or Symbolum Apostolorum goes back to the so-called Old Roman creed (R). The great majority of scholars accept the hypothesis of J. Ussher, archbishop of Armagh (1647), that R is first attested in Greek in Marcellus of Ancyra (Epiphanius, Haer. 72.3.1 = BSGR §17) or in the Psalter of Aethelstan (§18); the Latin text can be reconstructed from Rufinus's Explanatio symboli (§19). From 1910–1916 onward,…

Cappadocian Theology

(542 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] The monastic theologians and bishops, Basil the Great, his brother Gregory of Nyssa and their friend Gregory of Nazianzus came from the province of Cappadocia in Asia Minor and spent most of their lives there. For this reason, they are often referred to by modern historians and theologians as “the three great Cappadocians.” A cousin of Gregory of Nazianzus and colleague of Basil, Amphilochius of Iconium, is sometimes added to their number. The t…

Dionysius of Milan

(138 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] officiated from about 351 as bishop of Milan. On account of his bold stance at the synod held there in 355 (Homoeans), Constantius II banished him to Armenia together with Eusebius of Vercelli and Lucifer of Cagliari; he died there. Perhaps still in the 4th century, his remains were brought back to Milan, though certainly not under his second successor Ambrose of Milan, as a secondary passage in a let-¶ ter of Basil the Great would seem to want to suggest (Bas. Ep. 197.2; cf. BHL 2168–2170). Christoph Markschies Bibliography S. Cavallin, “Die Legendenbildung um den Mai…

Dynamism

(134 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] Traditional terminology in the history of dogma and theology distinguishes between “Dynamic” and a “Modalist” Monarchianism. It thereby subsumes under a common generic term (although see A. v. Harnack) the groups that energetically combatted the Logos theology (Logos) and the doctrine of a plurality of divine hypostases (Hypostasis; in e.g. …

Ptolemy the Gnostic

(406 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] Ptolemy worked in Rome as a freelance Christian teacher around the middle of the 2nd century; he was active in the “school” of the Roman teacher Valentinus (Iren. Haer. I prol. 2), possibly because he was a personal disciple of Valentinus. Only one text survives that can be ascribed to Ptolemy with assurance: an instructional epistle to the Roman matron Flora, preserved by Epiphanius of Salamis ( Haer. 33.3–7). The epistle deals with biblical interpretation, the Old Testament law, and the theory of principles. A brief discussion of Valentinian Gn…

Jerome, Saint

(741 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph | Thümmel, Hans Georg
[German Version] I. Person – II. Art History I. Person (c. 347, Stridon – 419/420, Bethlehem). Jerome was from a landowning Christian family. After an excellent education in grammar and rhetoric in Rome, Jerome went to Trier in the mid-360s. There he became acquainted withmonasticism (II) and rejected a secular career. He spent the following years in upper Italy. Probably at the beginning of the 370s, he undertook a pilgrimage to the holy sites in the East. However, an illness forced him to stop in Antioch. After recovering, he set out into the “wilderness of Chalcis.” Jerome stylized ¶ th…

Christianity

(28,993 words)

Author(s): Stolz, Fritz | Markschies, Christoph | Koschorke, Klaus | Neuner, Peter | Felmy, Karl Christian | Et al.
[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Church History – III. Survey of the Christian Confessions – IV. Systematic Theology I. Religious Studies For an overview of Christianity at the end of the second millennium of its development, it is reasonable to give a comparative presentation against the background of the world of religion. It must be remembered, however, that “religion” is not an immutable, ahistorical quantity: it is variable and controversial. The modern concept of religion is …

Church History/Church Historiography

(14,105 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph | Plümacher, Eckhard | Brennecke, Hanns Christof | Beutel, Albrecht | Koschorke, Klaus | Et al.
[German Version] I. Concept, Presuppositions – II. Development – III. Middle Eastern Church History and Historiography – IV. Religious Education I. Concept, Presuppositions 1. Concept The concept of church history has not yet been studied sufficiently, but it is already clear that since antiquity extraordinarily different conceptions of Christian historiography have been in simultaneous competition over the interpretation of past, present, and future. Often the different methodological option…

Image of God

(2,928 words)

Author(s): Janowski, Bernd | Markschies, Christoph | Wielandt, Rotraud
[German Version] I. Old Testament and Judaism – II. Christianity – III. Islam I. Old Testament and Judaism 1. Only in three passages does the Old Testament speak of humankind's being made in the image of God (collective use of הָ]אָדָם]/[ ] ʾādām in Gen 1; cf. Gen 1:27: male and female): in the relationship between God and human beings in Gen 1:26f. and 9:6, and in the relationship between human beings in Gen 5:1, 3 (all P). Substantially the same idea is conveyed in Ps 8:6–9*; for later treatment of the theme, Sir 17:3–7 and Wis 2…

Baumgarten-Crusius, Ludwig Friedrich Otto

(205 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] (Jul 31, 1788, Merseburg – May 31, 1843, Jena) studied classical philology and theology in Leipzig. After completing his habilitation in 1809 in the philosophical faculty there, he became associate professor of theology in 1812 and full professor of theology in 1817 in Jena. Baumgarten's erudition is demonstrated by his numerous articles on ancient philology and church h…

Maximilla, Priscilla and Quintilla

(236 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] Together with Montanus, the three women belong to the principal prophetic personalities of what later came to be known as the Montanism of Asia Minor. The variant name form “Prisca” is also attested for Priscilla in the writings of Tertullian. Seven of their prophetic logia have been preserved (nos. 5–11, Heine). Quintilla may well have belonged to a second generation of prophetesses, as her name is not explicitly mentioned in the earliest sources (cf. however Eus. Hist. eccl. V 18.6). How the exact hierarchical and institutional relationship of the origin…

Migne, Jacques Paul

(339 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] (Oct 25, 1800, St.-Fluor, Département Cantal – Oct 24, 1875, Paris), son of a merchant, began his theological studies in 1817 at the theological college in Orléans, where he soon became prefect of studies and later a lecturer. In 1824 he was ordained to the priesthood. From 1833 he worked as a journalist in Paris; with the support of patrons, he founded several journals that attracted great attention but had to be discontinued for financial reasons. In 1836 he turned to publishing…

Apostolic Succession

(2,883 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph | Wohlmuth, Josef | Felmy, Karl C. | Campenhausen, Axel Frhr. von | Neuner, Peter
[German Version] I. Terminology Ecumenical discussion (Ecumenicalism), in particular, assumes that the term “apostolic succession” refers to an original and clearly defined characteristic of the church office. However, the notion that the notae ecclesiae indicate an unbroken chain, going back to the apostles, of officeholders who have each come into office through the laying-on of hands by another legitimate officeholder, appeared only relatively late and is not the original meaning of the underlying Greek and Latin semantic field. The Greek and Latin terms διαδοχή/ diadochḗ/…

Will

(3,711 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph | Loos, Fritz | Herms, Eilert | Hühn, Lore
[German Version] I. History of the Term The development and spread of the term will go hand in hand with the history of Christian theology. Classical Greek had no single, distinct term like will denoting an independent mental faculty. The voluntative dimension was contained in the terms used for rational deliberation, decision-making, willingness, and non-rational desire. For Aristotleβουλή/ boulḗ is conation (Striving) that ensues after deliberation and hence is guided by reason based on knowledge ( De anima III 10, 433a ¶ 20–23). In the Bible, especially in Paul, the phenom…

Suger

(206 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] (c. 1081, Argenteuil – 1151, St.-Denis), was born to a wealthy family; c. 1091 he became an oblate in the royal Frankish abbey of St.-Denis before the gates of Paris. In 1101 he took his solemn vows; in 1107 he defended the exempt status of the abbey before Pope Paschal II. After serving in various political and ecclesiastical offices, he was elected abbot in 1122. He reformed his own abbey and also served as regent of France from 1137 to 1140 and from 1147 to 1149. His partial reconstruction of the abbey church (1140–1144) is famous; he discussed it in his De consecratione and De o…

Celestine I, Pope

(122 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] (422–432). As the successor of Boniface I, Celestine attempted to consolidate the Roman primacy, but he encountered the resistance of the West African bishops. Moreover, he opposed Pelagianism (Pelagius) and from 430 Nestorius; the majority of his correspondence relates to this conflict. ¶ Eventually, he sent Germanus of Auxerre in 429 and “the Celtic bishop” Palladius in 431 to England and Ireland for the anti-Pelagian mission. Christoph Markschies Bibliography CPL 1650–1654 PL 50, 417–558 ACO I/1/7, 125–137; I/2/5, 5–101 On Celestine: E. Caspar, Geschichte des…

Early Church

(6,745 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] I. The Term – II. Periods of the Early Church – III. The History of the Church and of Christianity in Antiquity – IV. Review I. The Term The term “early church” is one of the most common English expressions used to designate the church during the times of the emperors in Greco-Roman antiquity, i.e. the Christian church from its beginnings until the end of antiquity or Late Antiquity. The end of this …

Montanism

(1,168 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] I. Terminology and Sources – II. History – III. Theology I. Terminology and Sources Since the late 4th century, the adherents of a prophetic movement in early Christianity dating from the 2nd century have been referred to polemically as “Montanists,” and the movement itself was called “Montanism” (e.g Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses XVI 8.6 or [Pseudo-?]Didymus, De trinitate III 18.23 and 41 [PG 39, 881 B, 924 C, also 984 B]). This terminology, which refers to a prophet Montanus, has been accepted by modern scholarship, although the m…

Men

(10,627 words)

Author(s): Heller, Birgit | Gerstenberger, Erhard S. | Lichtenberger, Hermann | Greschat, Katharina | Markschies, Christoph | Et al.
[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. Primitive Christianity – IV. Church History – V. Judaism – VI. Islam – VII. Asia, Africa, and Latin America – VIII. Social Sciences – IX. Psychology – X. Philosophy of Religion – XI. Practical Theology I. Religious Studies To date there have been hardly any works devoted to men from the perspective of religious studies. Given the androcentrism of traditional scholarship, the category of homo religiosus has usually yielded knowledge of the religious male, but this work must …

Ambrose of Milan (Saint)

(439 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] (333/334, Trier – 397) was an important bishop and is regarded as one of the four teachers of the Western Church since the end of the 7th century. Ambrose was from a prominent family of Roman (city?) Christians; educated in Rome, he was the governor of Aemilia Liguria with a seat in Milan between 372 and 374. In 374, as the compromise candidat…

Inner Person

(1,567 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph | Burkert, Walter | Betz, Hans Dieter | Heesch, Matthias
[German Version] I. Concept – II. Antiquity – III. New Testament – IV. Early Church – V. Systematic Theology I. Concept The notion of a “real person” residing within the outer human being is widely attested in ancient literature and became part of a comprehensive system of metaphors by the time of Hellenism at the latest. However, this notion is conveyed through very different terms, corresponding also to conceptions of rather differing nature. The single English concept “inner person,” which cannot adequately …

Neo-Niceanism

(527 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] The modern term “neo-Niceanism” (Ger. Neunicaenismus), with its variants, is said to go back to F. Loofs. It denotes a specific Trinitarian position of the later 4th century (Arius) that was made normative in 381 at the Second Imperial Council of Constantinople (Constantinople, Council of: IV, 1) and in other confessional documents ( Symbolum Quicumque ). It belongs to the traditional corpus of teaching that shapes the identity of most Christian churches and faith communities. It is true that in the last 100 years the content of the expression “neo-Nicea…

Aquarians

(150 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] The use of water instead of wine in the Lord's Supper is attested esp. in the so-called NT Apocrypha ( Acts Pet. II 2; Acts Paul 7; Acts Thom. 120–21/152/158[?]), but it seems also to have been customary occasionally when wine was unavailable in the mainstream church ( Martyrdom of Pionius 3.1); Irenaeus ascribed a corresponding practice to Jewish Christians ( Haer. V 1.3); Clement of Alexandria to Encratites ( Paedagogus II 32.3–4; Stromata I 96.1); Epiphanius to Marcion ( Haer. 42.3.3); Theodoret to students of Tatian called ῾Υδροπαραστάται/ Hydroparastátai (Thdt. Hae…

Musanus

(117 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] According to Eusebius ( Hist. eccl. IV 28, cf. also 21) Musanus wrote a lost, “very elegant” book against people who had gone over to the so-called Encratites. Both the author's date and his place remain unclear. Suggestions, among others, are (because of the statement of Eusebius) the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161–180), or on the basis of Eusebius, Chronicorum liber ad annum, 2220 the time of Septimius Severus (193–211), and the regions of Egypt or Asia Minor. Christoph Markschies Bibliography A. v. Harnack, Geschichte der altchristlichen Litteratur bis E…

Encratites

(130 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] The Early Church's heresiologies employ this term (derived from Gk ἐγκράτεια/ enkráteia, “self-control,” “abstinence”) to describe a group of ascestics (Asceticism) and date their origins to the 2nd century. Irenaeus traces them back to Saturninus of Antioch and Marcion ( Haer. I 28.1); he, like Eusebius of Caesarea, names as founder the Syrian Tatian (Eus. Hist. eccl. IV 29.6). Typical ascetic positions are attributed to them, for example the renunciation of marriage and the consumption of …

Montanus

(124 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] was one of the three founders of a 2nd-century prophetic movement in Asia Minor (Maximilla, Priscilla and Quintilla), which since the 4th century has been called Montanism after him. As his Phrygian name indicates, he apparently came from Asia Minor. Later heresiology (Heresy: II, 2) in authors of the 4th century transmits further but probably unhistorical details of his life. Thus he is said to have been originally a priest of Apollo ( Disputatio [in Heine, 123]) or Cybele (Jer. Ep. 41,4), and to have hanged himself. Epiphanius of Salamis records four prophe…

Lietzmann, Hans

(458 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] (Mar 3, 1875, Düsseldorf – Jun 25, 1942, Locarno). After passing his Abitur in Wittenberg, Lietzmann went to Jena in 1893 to study classical philology and theology, but it was his studies at Bonn from 1894 to 1898 that enduringly influenced him. There his real academic mentor was H. Usener, a renowned scholar in classical philology and religious studies, from whom he acquired a love of philological detail, a particular concern for large-scale religio-historical relationships, and a great inte…

Pelagius/Pelagians/Semi-Pelagians

(2,236 words)

Author(s): Löhr, Winrich | Markschies, Christoph | Holmes, Stephen R.
[German Version] I. Church History Pelagius was an ascetic and theological writer from Britain. Before 410 he taught in Rome, and in 411/412, following the capture of Rome by the Goths, went to Palestine after a short stay in North Africa. His teaching, according to which the possibility of sinlessness was an essential part of human nature, provoked the criticism of Augustine and Jerome. This teaching had its setting in the pastoral care of members of the Roman elite. Pelagius stated that when one re…

Eucharist/Communion

(26,590 words)

Author(s): Hahn, Ferdinand | Markschies, Christoph | Angenendt, Arnold | Kaufmann, Thomas | Koch, Ernst | Et al.
[German Version] I. New Testament – II. Church History – III. Dogmatics – IV. Liturgical History – V. Practical Theology – VI. Missiology I. New Testament 1. Background Sacred meals are common to all religions. Before examining them in the context of the NT, it is necessary first to inquire into their background in the OT and in Judaism, whereupon it becomes evident that sacrificial meals play no role in them. Only the dai…

Paul Melanos

(230 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] of Bēth Ukkāme (Paul the Black, Paulos Melanos; c. 500 Alexandria – 584 Constantinople). In 564 Jacob Baradaeus consecrated Archimandrite Paul, who had grown up in Alexandria, as the anti-Chalcedonian (Jacobite) patriarch of Antioch (Monophysites), a position he held until 577. His tenure was beset by serious church-political conflicts. A temporary flirtation of the patriarch with the creed of Chalcedon affirming the two natures of Christ (c. 571) was followed by an abrupt dissoci…

Succession, Apostolic

(3,002 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph | Wohlmuth, Josef | Felmy, Karl Christian | Campenhausen, Axel Frhr. v. | Neuner, Peter
[German Version] I. Terminology Especially in ecumenical discussion (Ecumene), there is a widespread assumption that the expression apostolic succession denotes a primitive and clearly defined attribute of ecclesiastical office. However, the notion that the marks of the church (Notae ecclesiae) include an unbroken chain of office holders going back to the apostles and that each of these office holders was placed in office through the laying-on of hands of another legitimate office holder appeared on the scene rel…

Gnosis/Gnosticism

(8,426 words)

Author(s): Filoramo, Giovanni | Markschies, Christoph | Logan, Alastair H.B. | Koslowski, Peter | Leicht, Reimund | Et al.
[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Christianity – III. Philosophy – IV. Judaism – V. Islam I. Religious Studies Gnosis (Gk γνῶσις/ gnṓsis, “knowledge”) is a particular form of religious knowledge that brings salvation per se. It is not dependent on a particular object but has its value and its justification in itself. It is total knowledge, since it overcomes the dichotomy between subject and object – in fact every dichotomy –, because it is absolute knowledge of the absolute. From the point of view of the history o…

Nestorianism

(956 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] The term Nestorianism can be used in two senses. First, it can designate the theology (and sometimes also the ecclesiastical organization) of today’s Holy Apostolic and Catholic Assyrian Church of the East, whose members are called Nestorians (or East Syrians or Chaldeans; Apostolic Church of the East) because in 484/486, in conscious departure from the Roman imperial church, they adopted the Christology of Nestorianism, which had been condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431 (Nes…

Saturninus of Antioch

(162 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] Among the early Gnostic (Gnosis: III, 2) followers of Simon Magus, Irenaeus of Lyon mentions Saturninus of Antioch ( Haer. I 24.1f.), who probably lived in the early 2nd century. Irenaeus claims he taught that the world and humankind were created by seven individual angels and that humans were created in the image of “the supreme power,” which also gave them the “spark of life.” The angels in turn, according to Saturninus, were creatures of the supreme unknown father; the “God of the Jews” was one o…

Enhypostasis/Anhypostasis

(621 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] Leontius of Jerusalem and other neo-Chalcedonians (Neo-Chalcedonism) use the Greek adjective ἐνυπόστατος/ enhypóstatos from Late Antiquity to describe their view that the dogma of the human and divine natures of Christ as articulated by the Council of Chalcedon (Christology) is not referring to independent hypostases or persons, and that instead each of the two natures exists “enhypostatically” in relation to the one person of Christ and to the one hypostasis of the Trinity in three hypostases (Leontius, Adversus Nestorianos II 13 [PG 86, 1561 …

Origen

(3,010 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] I. Life – II. Works – III. Theology (c. 185/186 Alexandria – c. 253/254) I. Life In reconstructing the life of Origen, we must rely on information given by his grandson and pupil Eusebius of Caesarea ( Hist. eccl. VI 1–39). The relevant portions of the Apology for Origen of Pamphilus of Caesarea (CPG 1, 1715) were not translated into Latin by Tyrannius Rufinus and have been lost with the Greek original, but certain statements by Jerome, Rufinus, and Photius of Constantinople (Bibl. Codex 118) may derive from that source. The detailed section in Epiphanius of Salamis ( Haer. 64…

Traditio apostolica

(252 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] (also called the Church Order of Hippolytus). E. Schwartz (1910) and Richard Hugh Connolly (1916) discovered that a few Late Antique church orders could be treated stemmatically as editions or translations of a (lost) literary archetype. Both scholars theorized that it had the title (᾿Αποστολικὴ παράδοσις/ apostolikḗ parádosis, “Apostolic Tradition”) and had been written by Hippolytus. Today only a minority of scholars accept this double hypothesis. What has been confirmed is the hypothesis of a single archetype, probably in Greek, of these chur…

Free Will

(7,479 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph | Loos, Fritz | Herms, Eilert | Fraenkel, Carlos | Nagel, Tilman
[German Version] I. Terminology – II. Law – III. Church History – IV. Philosophy of Religion – V. Dogmatics – VI. Ethics – VII. Judaism – VIII. Islam I. Terminology Classical Antiquity lacked a term for free will, a concept first popularized by Christians in Late Antiquity. Aristotle discussed the problem in the context of asking in what sense actions lie “within us” (ἐϕ᾿ ἡμῖν/ ephʾ hēmín; Arist. Eth. Nic. III 1, 1110a, 1–3). The Stoics called the concept τὸ αὐτεξούσιον/ to autexoúsion (“self-control”; ¶ cf. Chrysippus [ SVF II, 975–990]), translated into Latin as liberum arbitriu…

Christopher, Saint

(422 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] The earliest evidence for the veneration of a Christopher goes back to the year 452, when the honorific title Χριστόφορος/ Christóphoros (“Christ-bearer”) first came into use as a proper name ( ASS Nov. II/2, 396 no. 39). The Acts of Saint Christopher (BHG 309) date from the early 6th century. They apparently equate Christopher with Christianus, a dog-headed soldier saint from the Acts of Bartholomew, who was called Reprebos before his baptism and who came from the land of the cannibals. Early Byzantine iconography accordingly portrayed…

Platonism

(4,813 words)

Author(s): Halfwassen, Jens | Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] I. Philosophy 1. General character.  The influence of Plato’s thought was unlike that of any other philosopher. With the Academy (I) (c. 385 bce), Plato was the first philosopher to found a school in the institutional sense and so establish a philosophical tradition. Moreover, his criticism of writing shows that he gave precedence to the oral transmission of his thought by his students over his Dialogues, which were mainly written to publicize the ¶ Academy. In this sense, Platonism in antiquity understood itself as the legitimate heir of Plato’s phil…

History/Concepts of History

(12,750 words)

Author(s): Rudolph, Kurt | Görg, Manfred | Schlüter, Margarete | Römer, Nils | Cancik, Hubert | Et al.
[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Ancient Near East and Israel – III. Judaism – IV. Greece and Rome – V. New Testament – VI. Church History – VII. Dogmatics – VIII. Ethics – IX. Philosophy I. Religious Studies History is a major aspect of the study of religion. Apart from its roots in the Enlightenment idea of tolerance, it owes its scholarly development to the historicism of the 19th century. As a result, the expression history of religions ( Religionsgeschichte, histoire des religions, storia delle religioni) has remained dominant in continental Europe, in con…

Congregational Order

(159 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
[German Version] Norms for the life and theology of Christian communities in the first century were primarily set by the two-Testament Bible, which had become a collection of authoritative texts, but also by church orders in the true sense, by the developing confession (of faith), initially set down in free formulations, and by theology, condensed into dogmas since the imperial councils of the 4th century (Nicea, Constantinople: IV). Naturally, after the demise o…

Leo I

(910 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
Leo I (d. 461), known as Leo the Great, was pope beginning in the summer of 440. Not much is known about Leo’s early years. Suggestions that he was born in Tuscany remain improbable as long as other signs point to an urban Roman origin. Before becoming pope, he was (arch)deacon at the papal ¶ court, and as early as 440 Empress Galla Placidia entrusted him with a political mission to Gaul. Leo devoted a great deal of energy to his urban Roman congregation, particularly through his sermons, and encouraged the production of narrative and pictorial cyc…

Tertullian

(762 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus (ca. 160–ca. 225) was an African church father who wrote primarily in Latin. Texts available for a reconstruction of Tertullian’s biography include, next to his own writings, accounts by Eusebius (ca. 260–ca. 340) and Jerome (ca. 345–420). It has been shown, however, that information from the fourth-century authors should not be used uncritically. From his own writings it appears that Tertullian’s father possibly was in the military, and one could add Jerome’s account that his father was a centurio proconsularis, thus a centurion in the cohors …

Jerome

(956 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph
Jerome (ca. 345–420), born Eusebius Hieronymus (perhaps as early as 333), was an outstanding translator, exegete, and theologian of the early church. He was the son of a well-to-do Christian family that owned property in Strido (near Emona, or modern Ljubljana, Slovenia). He was educated in Rome, and his teachers included, until 363, the famous grammarian Aelius Donatus (though not Marius Victorinus, neither does Jerome seem to have been closely acquainted with Ambrose in Rome; he did, however, …

Agape

(299 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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 …

Antiochene School

(216 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Macarius

(751 words)

Author(s): Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) | Schindler, Alfred (Heidelberg)
(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 …

Carmen contra paganos

(123 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Fortunat(ian)us

(124 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Apollinarius

(377 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) | Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) | Degani, Enzo (Bologna)
[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…

Collectio Avellana

(126 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Marius

(5,642 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Fündling, Jörg (Bonn) | Birley, A. R. (Düsseldorf) | Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Roberts, Michael (Middletown, CT) | Et al.
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…

Abgar Legend

(327 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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 …

Gregorius

(2,969 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) | Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) | Touwaide, Alain (Madrid) | Giaro, Tomasz (Frankfurt/Main) | Uthemann, Karl-Heinz (Amsterdam) | Et al.
[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…

Evagrius

(598 words)

Author(s): Rist, Josef (Würzburg) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) | Portmann, Werner (Berlin)
(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 …

Doketai

(403 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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 (…

Pectorius inscription

(202 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Victricius

(212 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Acacius

(589 words)

Author(s): Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
(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 …

Hadrianus

(554 words)

Author(s): Bowie, Ewen (Oxford) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
(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…

Origenes

(1,381 words)

Author(s): Baltes, Matthias (Münster) | Lakmann, Marie-Luise (Münster) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
(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…

Nicolaus

(2,154 words)

Author(s): Ameling, Walter (Jena) | Bäbler, Balbina (Göttingen) | Meister, Klaus (Berlin) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) | CH.KÄ. | Et al.
(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…

Sermon, Homily

(1,744 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Marcus

(4,055 words)

Author(s): Wick, Peter (Basle) | Bowie, Ewen (Oxford) | Wermelinger, Otto (Fribourg) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) | Rix, Helmut (Freiburg) | Et al.
(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…

Apostles, Letters of the

(262 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Marcellus

(1,746 words)

Author(s): Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) | Fornaro, Sotera (Sassari) | Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance) | Rist, Josef (Würzburg) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) | Et al.
[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 …

Cyprianus

(1,077 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Arnobius

(634 words)

Author(s): Mora, Fabio (Messina) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Pamphilus

(1,304 words)

Author(s): Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) | Volkmann, Hans (Cologne) | Hoesch, Nicola (Munich) | Zimmermann, Bernhard (Freiburg) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) | Et al.
(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…

Philostorgius

(207 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Hegesippus

(950 words)

Author(s): Engels, Johannes (Cologne) | Hidber, Thomas (Berne) | Albiani, Maria Grazia (Bologna) | Meister, Klaus (Berlin) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
(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…

Apostolic Fathers

(178 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Gelasius

(565 words)

Author(s): Rist, Josef (Würzburg) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) | Brändle, Rudolf (Basle)
[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…

Vincentius of Lerinum

(598 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Epiphanius

(956 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) | Hiltbrunner, Otto (Gröbenzell)
(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…

Domitianus

(2,341 words)

Author(s): Eck, Werner (Cologne) | Birley, A. R. (Düsseldorf) | Portmann, Werner (Berlin) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Hilarius

(1,066 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) | Fröhlich, Roland (Tübingen)
[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…

Barnabas

(144 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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, …

Eustathius

(1,031 words)

Author(s): Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) | Brisson, Luc (Paris) | Vassis, Ioannis (Athens) | Rist, Josef (Würzburg) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
(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…

Meletius of Antioch

(577 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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 …

Ruricius of Limoges

(170 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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 …

Iohannes

(7,268 words)

Author(s): Frey, Jörg (Stuttgart) | Domhardt, Yvonne (Zürich) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) | Rist, Josef (Würzburg) | Redies, Michael (Berlin) | Et al.
(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…

Iulianus

(4,648 words)

Author(s): Giaro, Tomasz (Frankfurt/Main) | Nutton, Vivian (London) | Franke, Thomas (Bochum) | Johnston, Sarah Iles (Princeton) | Montanari, Franco (Pisa) | Et al.
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…

Eirenaeus, Irenaeus

(1,002 words)

Author(s): Fornaro, Sotera (Sassari) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Maximus

(3,163 words)

Author(s): Trapp, Michael (London) | Hübner, Wolfgang (Münster) | Brisson, Luc (Paris) | Leppin, Hartmut (Hannover) | Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) | Et al.
[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…

Basilius

(1,337 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) | Portmann, Werner (Berlin) | Savvidis, Kyriakos (Bochum) | Leppin, Hartmut (Hannover) | Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) | Et al.
(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…

Hermas, Hermae Pastor

(628 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Nilus

(410 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) | Albiani, Maria Grazia (Bologna)
(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. …

Pachomius

(296 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[German version] (Παχώμιος; Pachmios). 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…

Heraclas

(196 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Episkopos, Episkopoi

(1,802 words)

Author(s): Rhodes, Peter J. (Durham) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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 …

Barnabas, Epistle of

(220 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Priscillianus, Priscillianism

(1,193 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
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…

Pacianus

(130 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[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…

Lucianus

(4,158 words)

Author(s): Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) | Leppin, Hartmut (Hannover)
(Λουκιανός; Loukianós). [German version] [1] L. of Samosata Greek rhetorical-satirical writer, 2nd cent. AD Important Greek rhetorical-satirical writer of the Roman Imperial period. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) [German version] A. Life and career L. was born between AD 115 and 125 [4. 8] in Samosata on the Euphrates, on the eastern edge of Roman Syria. Περὶ τοῦ ἐνυπνίου ἦτοι Βίος Λουκιανοῦ (‘The Dream, or Lucian's Life’, Somn.) portrays vividly (but not necessarily truthfully) L.'s decision for an education modelled on the example of the great classical authors ( paideía)…

Faustinus

(309 words)

Author(s): Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) | Fuhrer, Therese (Zürich) | Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[German version] [1] see Faustulus See Faustulus. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [2] Wealthy friend of the poet Martial Wealthy friend of the poet Martial, who dedicated bks. 3 (3,2) and 4 (4,10) to him; he owned villae in Baiae (3,58), Tibur (4,57), Tarracina (10,51,8) and Trebula (5,71). PIR2 F 127. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [3] Governor, in AD 273, of the province of Belgica under Esuvius [1] Tetricus Governor, probably in AD 273, of the province of Belgica under Esuvius [1] Tetricus; according to Polemius Silvius (Chron. Min.…

Theodorus

(7,286 words)

Author(s): Knell, Heiner (Darmstadt) | Folkerts, Menso (Munich) | Baumhauer, Otto A. (Bremen) | Schmitz, Winfried (Bielefeld) | Blume, Horst-Dieter (Münster) | Et al.
[German version] I Greek (Θεόδωρος; Theódōros). [German version] [I 1] Of Samos, Greek architect, bronze sculptor and inventor, Archaic period Multitalented Greek inventor, architect, bronze sculptor and metal worker ( toreutḗs; Toreutics) of the Archaic period from Samos (for the occupational image cf. architect). His father was Telecles (Hdt. 3,41; Paus. 8,14,8; 10,38,6) or according to other sources (Diog. Laert. 2,103; Diod. Sic. 1,98) Rhoecus [3]; his name is so frequently mentioned in conjunction with the latter that …

Cyrillus

(1,862 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin) | Rist, Josef (Würzburg) | Giaro, Tomasz (Frankfurt/Main) | Tosi, Renzo (Bologna) | Albiani, Maria Grazia (Bologna) | Et al.
(Κύριλλος; Kýrillos) [German version] [1] C. of Jerusalem Bishop Born c. AD 313, he was a member of the Jerusalem clergy (Jer. Chron. 2365 [GCS Eus. 7,236,7f. Helm/Treu]), and from 348 to 386 served as bishop of Jerusalem; he came to this office rather as a follower of the Homoeans (cf. Jer. loc. cit., Socr. 2,38,2 and Sozom. Hist. eccl. 4,20,1) than as a Nicaean (cf. Theod. Hist. eccl. 2,26,6). In 358 he was relieved of his office by  Acacius [2] of Caesarea and banished to Tarsus, rehabilitated in 359 a…

Athenagoras

(198 words)

Author(s): Markschies, Christoph (Berlin)
[German version] (Ἀθηναγόρας; Athēnagóras) From Athens (2nd cent. AD). From this author surely comes an apologia bearing the inscription πρεσβεία ( presbeía) to the Emperors  Marcus Aurelius and  Commodus (CPG I 1070; [1]); whether the work mentioned at the end of this text, about the resurrection (§ 37), is identical to the one handed down in Paris. graec. 451 (CPG I 1071), is controversial. In addition to critical voices, which attribute this identification as well as the statement ‘Philosopher from Athens’ in the…
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