Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 2, Slice 2 Part 37

827-828; Chase, in Hastings' _Bible Dict._ iv. 776.

_Acts of Thomas._--This is one of the earliest and most famous of the Gnostic Acts. It has been but slightly tampered with by orthodox hands.

These Acts were used by the Encrat.i.tes (Epiphanius, _Haer._ xlvii. 1), the Manichaeans (Augustine, _Contra Faust_. xxii. 79), the Apostolici (Epiphanius lxi. 1) and Priscillianists. The work is divided into thirteen Acts, to which the Martyrdom of Thomas attaches as the fourteenth. It was originally written in Syriac, as Burkitt (_Journ. of Theol. Studies_, i. 278 sqq.) has finally proved, though Macke and Noldeke had previously advanced grounds for this view. The Greek and Latin texts were edited by Bonnet in 1883 and again in 1903, ii. 2; the Greek also by James, _Apoc. Anec._ ii. 28-45, and the Syriac by Wright (_Apocr. Acts of the Gospels_, 1871, i. 172-333). Photius ascribes their composition to Leucius Charinus--therefore to the 2nd century, but Lipsius a.s.signs it to the early decades of the 3rd. (See Lipsius, _Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten_, i. 225-347; Hennecke, _N.T.

Apokryphen_, 473-480.)

_Teaching of the Twelve Apostles_ (Didache).--This important work was discovered by Philotheos Bryennios in Constantinople and published in 1883. Since that date it has been frequently edited. The bibliography can be found in Schaff's and in Harnack's editions. The book divides itself into three parts. The first (i.-vi.) contains a body of ethical instruction which is founded on a Jewish and probably pre-Christian doc.u.ment, which forms the basis also of the _Epistle of Barnabas_. The second part consists of vii.-xv., and treats of church ritual and discipline; and the third part is eschatological and deals with the second Advent. The book is variously dated by different scholars: Zahn a.s.signs it to the years A.D. 80-120; Harnack to 120-165; Lightfoot and Funk to 80-100; Salmon to 120. (See Salmon in _Dict. of Christ. Biog._ iv. 806-815, also article DIDACHE.)

_Apostolical Const.i.tutions._--For the various collections of these ecclesiastical regulations--the Syriac _Didascalia, Ecclesiastical Canons of the Holy Apostles_, &c.--see separate article.

(c) EPISTLES.--_The Abgar Epistles._--These epistles are found in Eusebius (_H.E._ i. 3), who translated them from the Syriac. They are two in number, and purport to be a pet.i.tion of Abgar Uch.o.m.o, king of Edessa, to Christ to visit Edessa, and Christ's answer, promising after his ascension to send one of his disciples, who should "cure thee of thy disease, and give eternal life and peace to thee and all thy people."

Lipsius thinks that these letters were manufactured about the year 200.

(See _Dict. Christ. Biog._ iv. 878-881, with the literature there mentioned.) The above correspondence, which appears also in Syriac, is inwoven with the legend of Addai or Thaddaeus. The best critical edition of the Greek text will be found in Lipsius, _Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha_, 1891, pp. 279-283. (See also ABGAR.)

_Epistle of Barnabas._--The special object of this epistle was to guard its readers against the danger of relapsing into Judaism. The date is placed by some scholars as early as 70-79, by others as late as the early years of the emperor Hadrian, 117. The text has been edited by Hilgenfeld in 1877, Gebhardt and Harnack in 1878, and Funk in 1887 and 1901. In these works will be found full bibliographies. (See further BARNABAS.)

_Epistle of Clement._--The object of this epistle is the restoration of harmony to the church of Corinth, which had been vexed by internal discussions. The epistle may be safely ascribed to the years 95-96. The writer was in all probability the bishop of Rome of that name. He is named an apostle and his work was reckoned as canonical by Clement of Alexandria (_Strom._ iv. 17. 105), and as late as the time of Eusebius (_H.E._ iii. 16) it was still read in some of the churches. Critical editions have been published by Gebhardt and Harnack, _Patr. Apost.

Op._, 1876, and in the smaller form in 1900, Lightfoot, 1890, Funk, 1901. The Syriac version has been edited by Kennet, _Epp. of St Clement to the Corinthians in Syriac_, 1899, and the Old Latin version by Morin, _S. Clementis Romani ad Corinthios epistulae versio Latina antiquissima_, 1894.

"_Clement's_" _2nd Ep. to the Corinthians._--This so-called letter of Clement is not mentioned by any writer before Eusebius (_H. E_. iii. 38.

4). It is not a letter but really a homily written in Rome about the middle of the 2nd century. The writer is a Gentile. Some of his citations are derived from the Gospel to the Egyptians.

_Clement's Epistles on Virginity._--These two letters are preserved only in Syriac which is a translation from the Greek. They are first referred to by Epiphanius and next by Jerome. Critics have a.s.signed them to the middle of the 2nd century. They have been edited by Beelen, Louvain, 1856.

_Clement's Epistles to James._--On these two letters which are found in the Clementine Homilies, see Smith's _Dict. of Christian Biography_, i.

559, 570, and Lehmann's monograph, _Die Clementischen Schriften_, Gotha, 1867, in which references will be found to other sources of information.

_Epistles of Ignatius._--There are two collections of letters bearing the name of Ignatius, who was martyred between 105 and 117. The first consists of seven letters addressed by Ignatius to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Romans, Philadelphians, Smyrnaeans and to Polycarp. The second collection consists of the preceding extensively interpolated, and six others of Mary to Ignatius, of Ignatius to Mary, to the Tarsians, Antiochians, Philippians and Hero, a deacon of Antioch.

The latter collection is a pseudepigraph written in the 4th century or the beginning of the 5th. The authenticity of the first collection also has been denied, but the evidence appears to be against this contention.

The literature is overwhelming in its extent. See Zahn, _Patr. Apost.

Op_., 1876; Funk, _Die apostol. Vater_, 1901; Lightfoot, _Apostolic Fathers_, 1889.

_Epistle of Polycarp._--The genuineness of this epistle stands or falls with that of the Ignatian epistles. See article in Smith's _Dictionary of Christian Biography_, iv. 423-431; Lightfoot, _Apostolic Fathers_, i.

629-702; also POLYCARP.

_Pauline Epistles to the Laodiceans and the Alexandrians_.--The first of these is found only in Latin. This, according to Lightfoot (see _Colossians_, 272-298) and Zahn, is a translation from the Greek. Such an epistle is mentioned in the Muratorian canon. See Zahn, _op. cit_.

ii. 566-585. The Epistle to the Alexandrians is mentioned only in the Muratorian canon (see Zahn ii. 586-592).

For the _Third Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians_, and _Epistle from the Corinthians to Paul_, see under "Acts of Paul" above.

(R. H. C.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Judaism was long accustomed to lay claim to an esoteric tradition. Thus though it insisted on the exclusive canonicity of the 24 books, it claimed the possession of an oral law handed down from Moses, and just as the apocryphal books overshadowed in certain instances the canonical scriptures, so often the oral law displaced the written in the regard of Judaism.

[2] See Porter in Hastings' _Bible Dict._ i. 113

[3] The New Testament shows undoubtedly an acquaintance with several of the apocryphal books. Thus James i. 19 shows dependence on Sirach v. 11, Hebrews i. 3 on Wisdom vii. 26, Romans ix. 21 on Wisdom xv. 7, 2 Cor. v. 1, 4 on Wisdom ix. 15, &c.

[4] Thus some of the additions to Daniel and the Prayer of Mana.s.ses are most probably derived from a Semitic original written in Palestine, yet in compliance with the prevailing opinion they are cla.s.sed under h.e.l.lenistic Jewish literature. Again, the Slavonic Enoch goes back undoubtedly in parts to a Semitic original, though most of it was written by a Greek Jew in Egypt.

[5] These editors have discovered (1907) a gospel fragment of the 2nd century which represents a dialogue between our Lord and a chief priest--a Pharisee.

APODICTIC (Gr. [Greek: apodeiktikos], capable of demonstration), a logical term, applied to judgments which are necessarily true, as of mathematical conclusions. The term in Aristotelian logic is opposed to dialectic, as scientific proof to probable reasoning. Kant contrasts apodictical with problematic and a.s.sertorical judgments.

APOLDA, a town of Germany, in the grand-duchy of Saxe-Weimar, near the river Ilm, 9 m. E. by N. from Weimar, on the main line of railway from Berlin via Halle, to Frankfort-On-Main. Pop. (1900) 20,352. It has few notable public buildings, but possesses three churches and monuments to the emperor Frederick III. and to Christian Zimmermann (1759-1842), who, by introducing the hosiery and cloth manufacture, made Apolda one of the most important places in Germany in these branches of industry. It has also extensive dyeworks, bell foundries, and manufactures of steam engines, boilers and bicycles.

APOLLINARIS, "the Younger" (d. A.D. 390), bishop of Laodicea in Syria.

He collaborated with his father Apollinaris the Elder in reproducing the Old Testament in the form of Homeric and Pindaric poetry, and the New after the fashion of Platonic dialogues, when the emperor Julian had forbidden Christians to teach the cla.s.sics. He is best known, however, as a warm opponent of Arianism, whose eagerness to emphasize the deity of Christ and the unity of His person led him so far as a denial of the existence of a rational human soul ([Greek: nous]) in Christ's human nature, this being replaced in Him by a prevailing principle of holiness, to wit the Logos, so that His body was a glorified and spiritualized form of humanity. Over against this the orthodox or Catholic position maintained that Christ a.s.sumed human nature in its entirety including the [Greek: nous], for only so could He be example and redeemer. It was held that the system of Apollinaris was really Docetism (see DOCETAE), that if the G.o.dhood without constraint swayed the manhood there was no possibility of real human probation or of real advance in Christ's manhood. The position was accordingly condemned by several synods and in particular by that of Constantinople (A.D. 381).

This did not prevent its having a considerable following, which after Apollinaris's death divided into two sects, the more conservative taking its name (Vitalians) from Vitalis, bishop of Antioch, the other (Polemeans) adding the further a.s.sertion that the two natures were so blended that even the body of Christ was a fit object of adoration. The whole Apollinarian type of thought persisted in what was later the Monophysite (q.v.) school.

Although Apollinaris was a prolific writer, scarcely anything has survived under his own name. But a number of his writings are concealed under the names of orthodox Fathers, e.g. [Greek: He kata meros pistis], long ascribed to Gregory Thaumaturgus. These have been collected and edited by Hans Lietzmann.

He must be distinguished from the bishop of Hierapolis who bore the same name, and who wrote one of the early Christian "Apologies" (c.

170). See A. Harnack, _History of Dogma_, vols. iii. and iv. _pa.s.sim_; R.L. Ottley, _The Doctrine of the Incarnation_; G. Voisin, _L'Apollinarisme_ (Louvain, 1901); H. Lietzmann, _Apollinaris von Laodicea und seine Schule_ (Tubingen, 1905).

APOLLINARIS, SULPICIUS, a learned grammarian of Carthage, who flourished in the 2nd century A.D. He taught Pertinax--himself a teacher of grammar before he was emperor,--and Aulus Gellius, who speaks of him in the highest terms (iv. 17). He is the reputed author of the metrical arguments to the _Aeneid_ and to the plays of Terence and (probably) Plautus (J.W. Beck, _De Sulpicio Apollinari_, 1884).

APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS, CAIUS SOLLIUS (c. 430-487 or 488), Christian writer and bishop, was born in Lyons about A.D. 430. Belonging to a n.o.ble family, he was educated under the best masters, and particularly excelled in poetry and polite literature. He married (about 452) Papianilla, the daughter of Avitus, who was consul and afterwards emperor. But Majoria.n.u.s, in the year 457, having deprived Avitus of the empire and taken the city of Lyons, Apollinaris fell into the hands of the enemy. The reputation of his learning led Majoria.n.u.s to treat him with the greatest respect. In return Apollinaris composed a panegyric in his honour (as he had previously done for Avitus), which won for him a statue at Rome and the t.i.tle of count. In 467 the emperor Anthemius rewarded him for the panegyric which he had written in honour of him by raising him to the post of prefect of Rome, and afterwards to the dignity of a patrician and senator. In 472, more for his political than for his theological abilities, he was chosen to succeed Eparchius in the bishopric of Arverna (Clermont). On the capture of that city by the Goths in 474 he was imprisoned, as he had taken an active part in its defence; but he was afterwards restored by Euric, king of the Goths, and continued to govern his bishopric as before. He died in A.D. 487 or 488.

His extant works are his _Panegyrics_ on different emperors (in which he draws largely upon Statius, Ausonius and Claudian); and nine books of _Letters_ and _Poems_, whose chief value consists in the light they shed on the political and literary history of the 5th century. The _Letters_, which are very stilted, also reveal Apollinaris as a man of genial temper, fond of good living and of pleasure. The best edition is that in the _Monumenta Germaniae Historica_ (Berlin, 1887), which gives a survey of the ma.n.u.scripts.

Apollinaris Sidonius (the names are commonly inverted by the French) is the subject of numerous monographs, historical and literary. See, for bibliography, A. Molinier, _Sources de l'histoire de France_, no.

136 (vol. i.). S. Dill, _Roman Society in the Fifth Century_, and T.

Hodgkin, _Italy and her Invaders_ (vol. vii.), contain interesting sections on Apollinaris. See also Teuffel and Ebert's histories of Latin literature.

APOLLO (Gr. [Greek: Apollon, Apellon]), in Greek mythology, one of the most important and many-sided of the Olympian divinities. No satisfactory etymology of the name has been given, the least improbable perhaps being that which connects it with the Doric [Greek: apella]

("a.s.sembly")[1] so that Apollo would be the G.o.d of political life (for other suggested derivations, ancient and modern, see C. Wernicke in Pauly-Wissowa's _Realencyclopadie_). The derivation of all the functions a.s.signed to him from the idea of a single original light- or sun-G.o.d, worked out in his _Lexikon der Mythologie_ by Roscher, who regards it as "one of the most certain facts in mythology," has not found general acceptance, although no doubt some features of his character can be readily explained on this a.s.sumption.

In the legend, as set forth in the Homeric hymn to Apollo and the ode of Callimachus to Delos, Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto. The latter, pursued by the jealous Hera, after long wandering found shelter in Delos (originally Asteria), where she bore a son, Apollo, under a palm-tree at the foot of Mount Cynthus. Before this, Delos--like Rhodes, the centre of the worship of the sun-G.o.d Helios, with whom Apollo was wrongly identified in later times--had been a barren, floating rock, but now became stationary, being fastened down by chains to the bottom of the sea. Apollo was born on the 7th day ([Greek: Ebdomagenes]) of the month Thargelion according to Delian, of the month Bysios according to Delphian, tradition. The 7th and 20th, the days of the new and full moon, were ever afterwards held sacred to him. In Homer Apollo appears only as the G.o.d of prophecy, the sender of plagues, and sometimes as a warrior, but elsewhere as exercising the most varied functions. He is the G.o.d of agriculture, specially connected with Aristaeus (q.v.), which, originally a mere epithet, became an independent personality (see, however, Farnell, _Cults of the Greek States_, iv. 123). This side of his character is clearly expressed in the t.i.tles _Sitalcas_ ("protector of corn"); _Erythibius_ ("preventer of blight"); _Parnopius_ ("destroyer of locusts"); _Smintheus_ ("destroyer of mice"), in which, however, some modern inquirers see a totemistic significance (e.g. A.

Lang, "Apollo and the Mouse," in _Custom and Myth_, p. 101; against this, W.W. Fowler, in _Cla.s.sical Review_, November 1892); _Erithius_ ("G.o.d of reapers"); and _Pasparius_ ("G.o.d of meal"). He is further the G.o.d of vegetation generally--_Nomios_, "G.o.d of pastures" (explained, however, by Cicero, as "G.o.d of law"), _Hersos_, "sender of the fertilizing dew." Valleys and groves are under his protection, unless the epithets _Napaeus_ and _Hylates_ belong to a more primitive aspect of the G.o.d as supporting himself by the chase, and roaming the glades and forests in pursuit of prey. Certain trees and plants, especially the laurel, were sacred to him. As the G.o.d of agriculture and vegetation he is naturally connected with the course of the year and the arrangement of the seasons, so important in farming operations, and becomes the orderer of time (_Horomedon_, "ruler of the seasons"), and frequently appears on monuments in company with the Horae.