Listed 18 sub titles with search on: Religious figures biography for wider area of: "ALEPPO Town SYRIA" .
BEROEA (Ancient city) SYRIA
322 - 432
Antonius, a Greek Monk, and a disciple of Simeon Stylites, lived about A. D. 460. He wrote a life of his master Simeon, with whom he had lived on intimate terms. It was written in Greek, and L. Allatius (Diatr. de Script. Sim. p. 8) attests, that he saw a Greek MS. of it; but the only edition which has been published is a Latin translation in Boland's Act. Sanctor. i. p. 264. (Cave, Script. Eccles. Hist. Lit. ii. p. 145.) Vossius (De Hist. Lat. p. 231), who knew only the Latin translation, was doubtful whether he should consider Antonius as a Latin or a Greek historian.
St. Simeon was the first and probably the most famous of the long succession of stylitoe, or "pillar-hermits", who during more than six centuries acquired by their strange form of asceticism a great reputation for holiness throughout eastern Christendom. If it were not that our information, in the case of the first St. Simeon and some of his imitators, is based upon very reliable first-hand evidence, we should be disposed to relegate much of what history records to the domain of fable; but no modern critic now ventures to dispute the reality of the feats of endurance attributed to these ascetics. Simeon the Elder, was born about 388 at Sisan, near the northern border of Syria (near Aleppo). After beginning life as a shepherd boy, he entered a monastery before the age of sixteen, and from the first gave himself up to the practice of an austerity so extreme and to all appearance so extravagant, that his brethren judged him, perhaps not unwisely, to be unsuited to any form of community life. Being forced to quit them he shut himself up for three years in a hut at Tell-Neschin, where for the first time he passed the whole of Lent without eating or drinking. This afterwards became his regular practice, and he combined it with the mortification of standing continually upright so long as his limbs would sustain him. In his later days he was able to stand thus on his column without support for the whole period of the fast. After three years in his hut, Simeon sought a rocky eminence in the desert and compelled himself to remain a prisoner within a narrow space less than twenty yards in diameter. But crowds of pilgrims invaded the desert to seek him out, asking his counsel or his prayers, and leaving him insufficient time for his own devotions. This at last determined him to adopt a new way of life. Simeon had a pillar erected with a small platform at the top, and upon this he determined to take up his abode until death released him. At first the pillar was little more than nine feet high, but it was subsequently replaced by others, the last in the series being apparently over fifty feet from the ground. However extravagant this way of life may seem, it undoubtedly produced a deep impression on contemporaries, and the fame of the ascetic spread through Europe, Rome in particular being remarkable for the large number of pictures of the saint which were there to be seen, a fact which a modern writer, Holl, represents as a factor of great importance in the development of image worship (see the Philotesia in honour of P. Kleinert, p. 42-48). Even on the highest of his columns Simeon was not withdrawn from intercourse with his fellow men. By means of a ladder which could always be erected against the side, visitors were able to ascend; and we know that he wrote letters, the text of some of which we still possess, that he instructed disciples, and that he also delivered addresses to those assembled beneath. Around the tiny platform which surmounted the capital of the pillar there was probably something in the nature of a balustrade, but the whole was exposed to the open air, and Simeon seems never to have permitted himself any sort of cabin or shelter. During his earlier years upon the column there was on the summit a stake to which he bound himself in order to maintain the upright position throughout Lent, but this was an alleviation with which he afterwards dispensed. Great personages, such as the Emperor Theodosius and the Empress Eudocia manifested the utmost reverence for the saint and listened to his counsels, while the Emperor Leo paid respectful attention to a letter Simeon wrote to him in favour of the Council of Chalcedon. Once when he was ill Theodosius sent three bishops to beg him to descend and allow himself to be attended by physicians, but the sick man preferred to leave his cure in the hands of God, and before long he recovered. After spending thirty-six years on his pillar, Simeon died on Friday, 2 Sept., 459 (Lietzmann, p. 235). A contest arose between Antioch and Constantinople for the possession of his remains. The preference was given to Antioch, and the greater part of his relics were left there as a protection to the unwalled city. The ruins of the vast edifice erected in his honour and known as Qal `at Sim `an (the mansion of Simeon) remain to the present day. It consists of four basilicas built out from an octagonal court towards the four points of the compass. In the centre of the court stands the base of St. Simeon's column. This edifice, says H.C. Butler, "unquestionably influenced contemporary and later church building to a marked degree" (Architecture and other Arts, p. 184). It seems to have been a supreme effort of a provincial school of architecture which had borrowed little from Constantinople.
Herbert Thurston, ed.
Transcribed by: Robert B. Olson
This text is cited July 2004 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
CHALKIS (Ancient city) SYRIA
Monk of Chalcis in Syria
Hieronymus, commonly known as Saint Jerome: Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronius was
a native of Stridon, a town upon the confines of Dalmatia and Pannonia, which
having been utterly destroyed by the Goths in A. D. 377, its site cannot now be
determined. His parents were both Christian, living, it would appear, in easy
circumstances. The period of his birth is a matter of considerable doubt. Prosper
Aquitanicus, in his chronicle, fixes upon the year A. D. 331; Dupin brings down
the event as low as 345 ; while other writers have decided in favour of various
intermediate epochs. That the first of the above dates is too early seems certain,
for Jerome, in the commentary upon Habbakuk (c. 3), speaks of himself as having
been still occupied with grammatical studies at the death of Julian the apostate
; but since this took place in 363, he must, according to the statement of Prosper,
have been at that time thirty-two years old, while the calculation adopted by
Du Pin would make him just eighteen, an age corresponding much better with the
expressions employed, unless we are to receive them in a very extended acceptation.
After having acquired the first rudiments of a liberal education from his father,
Eusebius, he was despatched to Rome for the prosecution of his studies, where
he devoted himself with great ardour and success to the Greek and Latin languages,
to rhetoric, and to the different branches of philosophy, enjoying the instructions
of the most distinguished preceptors of that era, among whom was Aelius Donatus.
Having been admitted to the rite of baptism, he undertook a journey into Gaul,
accompanied by his friend and schoolfellow Bonosus; and after a lengthened tour,
passed some time at Treves, where he occupied himself in transcribing the commentaries
of Hilarius upon the Psalms, and his voluminous work upon Synods. Here too he
seems to have been, for the first time, impressed with a deep religious feeling,
to have formed a steadfast resolution to amend his career, which had hitherto
been somewhat irregular, and to have resolved to devote himself with zeal to the
interests of Christianity. Upon quitting Gaul, he probably returned to Rome ;
but in 370 we find him living at Aquileia, in close intimacy with Rufinus and
Chromatius; and at this time lie composed his first theological essay, the letter
to Innocentius, De Muliere septics percussa. Having been compelled by some violent
cause, now unknown (Subitus turbo me a latere tuo convulsit, Ep. iii. ad Ruf.),
suddenly to quit this abode in 373, he set out for the East, along with Innocendtus,
Evagrius, and Heliodorus, and traversing Thrace, Bithynia, Galatia, Pontus. Cappadocia,
and Cilicia, reached Antioch, where Innocentius died of a fever, and he himself
was attacked by a dangerous malady. A great change seems to have taken place in
the mind of Jerome during this illness; the religious enthusiasm first kindled
upon the banks of the Moselle, assumed a more austere and gloomy form in the luxurious
capital of Syria. In obedience, as he believed or pretended, to the warnings of
a heavenly vision (Ep. xxii. ad Eustoch.), which reproached him especially on
account of his excessive admiration of Cicero, he determined to abandon the study
of the profane writers, and to occupy himself exclusively with holy toils and
contemplations. From this time forward a devotion to monastic habits became the
ruling principle, we might say, the ruling passion of his life. After having listened
for some time to the instructions of Apollinarius, bishop of Laodiceia, whose
errors with regard to the Incarnation had not yet attracted attention, he retired,
in 374, to the desert of Chalcis, lying between Antioch and the Euphrates, where
he passed four years, adhering strictly to the most rigid observances of monkish
ascetism, tortured by unceasing remorse on account of the sinfulness of his earlier
years. The bodily exhaustion produced by fasting and mental anguish did not prevent
him from pursuing with resolute perseverance the study of the Hebrew tongue, although
often reduced almost to despair by the difficulties he encountered; from composing
annotations upon portions of Scripture ; and from keeping up an active correspondence
with his friends. His retirement, however, was grievously disturbed by the bitter
strife which had arisen at Antioch between the partisans of Meletins and Paulinus;
for having, in deference to the opinion of the Western Church, espoused the cause
of the latter, he became actively involved in the controversy. Accordingly, in
the spring of 379, he found himself compelled to quit his retreat, and repair
to Antioch, where he unwillingly consented to he ordained a presbyter by Paulinus,
upon the express stipulation that he should not be required to perform the regular
duties of the sacred office. Soon after he betook himself to Constantinople, where
he abode for three years, enjoying the instructions, society, and friendship of
Gregory of Nazianzus, and busily employed in extending and perfecting his knowledge
of the Greek language, from which he made several translations, the most important
being the Chronicle of Eusebius. In 381 Meletius died; but this event did not
put an end to the schism, for his partisans immediately elected a successor to
him in the person of Flavianus, whose authority was acknowledged by most of the
Eastern prelates. The year follo wing, Damasus, in the vain hope of calling these
unseemly dissensions, summoned Paulinus, together with his chief adherents and
antagonists, to Rome, where a council was held, in which Jerome acted as secretary,
and formed that close friendship with the chief pontiff which remained firm. until
the death of the latter, at whose earnest request he now seriously commenced his
grand work of revising the received versions of the Scriptures, while at the same
time he laboured unceasingly in proclaiming the glory and merit of a contemplative
life and monastic discipline. His fame as a man of eloquence, learning and sanctity,
was at this period in its zenith; but his most enthusiastic disciples were to
be found in the female sex, especially among maidens and widows, to whom he was
wont to represent in the brightest colours the celestial graces of an unwedded
life. The influence exercised by Jerome over this class of persons, including
many of the fairest and the noblest, soon became so powerful as to excite strong
indignation and alarm among their relations and admirers, and to arouse the jealousy
of the regular priesthood. He was assailed on every side by open invective and
covert insinuation; and even the populace were incited to insult him when lie
appeared in public. These attacks he withstood for a while with undaunted firmness;
but upon the death of his patron and steadfast supporter Damasus in 384, he found
it necessary, or deemed it prudent to withdraw from the persecution. He accordingly
sailed from Rome in the month of August, 385, accompanied by several friends;
and after touching at Rhegium and Cyprus, where he was hospitably received by
Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis, reached Antioch. There he was soon afterwards joined
by the most zealous of his penitents, the rich widow Paula, and her daughter Eustochium,
attended by a number of devout maidens, along with whom lie made a tour of the
Holy Land, visited Egypt, and returning to Palestine in 386, settled at Bethlehem,
where Paula erected four monasteries, three for nuns and one for monks, she herself
presiding over the former until her death, in 404, when she was succeeded by Eustochium,
while Jerome directed the latter establishment. In this retreat he passed the
remainder of his life, busied with his official duties, and with the composition
of his works. Notwithstanding the pursuits by which lie was engrossed in his solitude,
the latter years of Jerome did not glide smoothly away. The wars waged against
Rufinus, against John bishop of Jerusalem, and against the Pelagians, were prosecuted
with great vigour, but with little meekness; and the friendship formed with Augustin
must have been rudely broken off by the dispute regarding the nature of the difference
betwen St. Peter and St. Paul, but for the singular moderation and forbearance
of the African bishop. At length the rancorous bitterness of his attacks excited
so much wrath among the Pelagians of the East, that an armed multitude of these
heretics assaulted the monastery at Bethlehem; and Jerome, having escaped with
difficulty, was forced to remain in concealment for upwards of two years. Soon
after his return, in 418, both mind and body worn out by unceasing toil, privations,
and anxieties, gradually gave way, and he expired on the 30th of September, A.
D. 420.
The principal sources of information for the life of Jerome, of which
the above is but a meagre sketch, are passages collected from his works, and these
have been thrown into a biographical form in the edition of Erasmus, of Marianus
Victorinus, of the Benedictines, and of Vallarsi. See also Surius, Act. Sacwt.
vol. v. mens. Septemb.; Sixtus Senensis, Bibl. Sacr. lib. iv.; Du Pin, History
of Ecclesiastical Writers, fifth century; Martianay, La Vie de St. Jerome, Paris,
4to. 1706 ; Tillemont, Men. Eccles. vol. xiii.; Schrock, Kirchengesch. vol. xi.
pp.; Sebastian Dolci, Maximus Hieronymus Vitae suae Scriptor, Ancon. 4to. 1750;
Engelstoff, Hieronymus Stridonensis, interpres, criticus, exegeta, apologeta,
historicus, doctor, monachus, Hafn. 8vo., 1797; Bahr, Gesch. der Rom. Litterat.
Suppl. Band. II. Abtheil, § 82; but perhaps none of the above will be found more
generally useful than the article Hieronymus, by Colln, in the Encyclopadie of
Ersch and Gruber.
In giving a short account of the works of Jerome, which may be classed
under the four heads -- I. EPISTOLAE; II. TRACTATUS; III. COMMENTARIIS BIBLICI;
IV. BIBLIOTHECA DIVINA, we shall follow closely the order adopted in the edition
of Vallarsi, the best which has yet appeared.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
342 - 420
St. Jerome, Eusebius Hieronymus
IERAPOLIS (Ancient city) SYRIA
Abercius (Aberkios), the supposed successor of St. Papias in the see of Hierapolis. flourished A. D. 150. There are ascribed to him, 1. An Epistle to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, of which Baronius speaks as extant, but he does not produce it; and, 2. A Book of Discipline (biblos didaskalias) addressed to his Clergy; this too is lost. See Illustr. Eccles. Orient. Script. Vitae, Γ P. Halloix. Duac. 1636.
d. 5th century, feastday: February 22
At Cyrrhus a magnificent basilica held the relics of SS. Cosmas and Damian, who had suffered martyrdom in the vicinity about 283, and whose bodies had been transported to the city, whence it was also called Hagioupolis.
393 - 457
The Life and Writings of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus.
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