THEOLOGICAL

DICTIONARY.

ABBA, a Syriac word, signifying Father. It is used in the Syriac, Coptic, and Ethiopic churches, as a title given to the bishops. The bishops themselves bestowed the title Abba more eminently on the bishop of Alexandria, which occasioned the people to give him the title of Baba, or Papa; that is, Grandfather: a title which he bore before the bishop of Rome. It is a Jewish title of honour given to certain Rabbins called Tanaites: it is also used by some writers of the middle age for the superior of a monastery. St. Mark and St. Paul use this word, Mark xiv. 36. Rom. viii. 15. Gal. vi. 6, because it was then commonly known in the synagogues and the primitive assemblies of the Christians. Selden has brought a very pertinent quotation from the Babylonian Gemara, to prove that it was not allowed to slaves to use the title of Abba in addressing the master of the family to which they belonged, or the correspondent title of ImMother," when speaking to the mistress of it.-De Succ. in bona Def. cap. 4.

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ABBE, before the French Revolution, was the title of all those Frenchmen who devoted themselves to divinity, or had at least pursued a course of study in a theological seminary, in the hope that the king would confer on them a real abbey, i.e. a certain part of the revenues of a monastery. Ordained clergymen were those only who devoted themselves entirely to the performance of clerical duty; the others were engaged in every kind of literary occupation. There were so many of them, poor and rich, men of quality and men of low birth, that they formed a particular class in society, and exerted an important influence over its character. They were seen everywhere; at court, in the halls of justice, in the theatres, the coffee-houses, &c. In almost every wealthy family was an abbe,

occupying the post of familiar friend and spiritual adviser, and not seldom, that of the gallant of the lady. They corresponded, in a certain degree, to the philosophers who lived in the houses of the wealthy Romans in the time of the emperors.

ABBE'S COMMENDATAIRES.The king of France had formerly the right of appointing abbots over 225 monasteries. These abbots enjoyed a third part of the revenues of the monastery, but had no authority over it, the charge of superintendence being committed to a prieur claustral. According to rule, every abbot ought to receive ordination in the course of a year; but the pope dispensed with the rule, and the abbè spent his income (from 1200 to 150,000 French livres) wherever he pleased. This shocking abuse excited the indignation of the people, and was one of the causes of the revolution. The lower sinecures of this kind, the abbayes des savans, were used as pensions for learned men; the richer, to provide for the younger sons of the nobility.

ABBESS, the superior of an abbey or convent of nuns. The abbess has the same rights and authority over her nuns that the abbots-regular have over their monks. The sex, indeed, does not allow her to perform the spiritual functions annexed to the priesthood, wherewith the abbot is usually invested; but there are instances of some abbesses who have a right, or rather a privilege, to commission a priest to act for them. They have even a kind of episcopal jurisdiction, as well as some abbots, who are exempted from the visitation of their diocesan.

ABBEY, a monastery, governed by a superior under the title of Abbot or Abbess. Monasteries were at first nothing more than religious houses, whither persons retired from the bustle of the world to spend their time in solitude and devo

tion; but they soon degenerated from their original institution, and procured large privileges, exemptions, and riches. They prevailed greatly in Britain before the reformation, particularly in England; and as they increased in riches, so the state became poor, for the lands which these regulars possessed could never revert to the lords who gave them. These places were wholly abolished by Henry VIII. He first appointed visitors to inspect into the lives of the monks and nuns, which were found in some places very disorderly; upon which the abbots, perceiving their dissolution unavoidable, were induced to resign their houses to the king, who by that means became invested with the abbey lands: these were afterwards granted to different persons, whose descendants enjoy them at this day: they were then valued at 2,853,000l. per annum, an immense sum in those days. Though the suppression of these houses, considered in a religious and political light, was a great benefit to the nation, yet it must be owned that, at the time they flourished, they were not entirely useless. Abbeys were then the repositories as well as the seminaries of learning: many valuable books and national records have been preserved in their libraries, the only places wherein they could have been safely lodged in those turbulent times. Indeed, the historians of this country are chiefly beholden to the monks for the knowledge they have of former national events. Thus a kind of Providence overruled even the institutions of superstition for good.-See MONASTERY.

ABBOT, originally the name of every aged monk; but, after the eighth century, it denotes the chief or head of a monastery. Since the second council of Nice (787), abbots have always been priests, and have enjoyed the power of conferring the lower orders of priesthood; but in essential points of jurisdiction, they were everywhere subject to the diocesan bishop till the eleventh century, when, in consequence of the wealth of their monasteries, they were raised to the titles and privileges of bishops, held a rank next to that of bishop, and had a vote in the ecclesiastical councils. Equal rights and privileges appertained to the abbesses as the superiors of the nunneries, except that they have seldom been allowed to vote in synods. As the result of the favour, or the wants of kings, and other causes, many of the most consi

derable convents came, in the ninth and tenth centuries, into the hands of secular masters, and their spiritual supervision was devolved on inferior abbots, deans, or priors. To the princes and princesses of royal families, abbeys were presented to defray the expenses of their table,— while the richest were retained by the kings themselves. Nunneries were sometimes assigned to men, and monasteries to females. In the tenth century, the convents under royal patronage were frequently given in reward for the services of the crown vassals in war; the abbots thus became a kind of military clergy, whose superiors bore, in the camp, the name of field-abbots. In consequence of a reform commenced at Cluny, new monasteries arose without abbots, over which the abbot of reformed Benedictines at that place appointed priors or pro-abbates, or even co-abbates, who remained dependent on him. Besides the Benedictines, only the gray monks of Vallombrosa, the Cistercians, Bernardines, Trappists, Grand Montani, Præmonstratenses, and some bodies of regular choristers, denominate their superiors abbots. Besides the female branches of these orders, the nuns of Fontrevaud, and the female secular choristers, have abbesses. These have always remained under the jurisdiction of their diocesan bishop; but the abbots of many other convents shook off the authority of the bishops, and acknowledged no master but the pope. The mitred abbots enjoyed the right, frequently conferred on the Benedictines in the middle ages by the papal legate, of adopting the episcopal title and insignia. Only a few, however, possessed the episcopal power with dioceses of their own, of whom there was not one in France. Before the period of secularization, there were in Germany, but in Germany only, princely abbots and princely abbesses. These abbeys were secularized in 1803, and became principalities. By rule, the choice of abbots belongs to the chapters of their convents. In the independent abbeys, this is followed by the papal confirmation; in the dependent, by the episcopal; yet, for a long time, many abbeys in Italy have been conferred by the pope, and in France by the king, notwithstanding the concordat of 1516. The secular clergy, who enjoy these benefices without observing the rules of the order, are termed secular abbots; on the other hand, their vicars in the convents them

selves, like all abbots of the monkish order, are called regular abbots. Younger sons of distinguished families have often entered the ranks of the secular clergy, in order to become secular abbots, and to receive the income of an abbey without being restricted by monastic rules. As such expectants were called in France abbés, this became a general appellation for young secular clergy who were out of office (see Abbè). Since the revolution, which changed the abbeys into national property, and took from those expectants the objects of their exertions, this class has diminished in France, but it is yet numerous in Italy, where young scholars are called abbots, merely from having undergone the tonsure, though not in orders. Napoleon led a whole army of Italian abbots to Corsica, where they lived on reduced incomes till the restoration again scattered them over Italy.

At the time of the reformation, several abbeys and convents were retained for the benefit of the clergy, and the support of unmarried females. Some Protestant clergymen, therefore, still bear the name of abbot, with which dignity the right of sitting in the Diet of the States is united; as, for example, in the Wurtemberg Assembly. There are also Protestant ladies who are called abbesses. In Lower Saxony, indeed, this dignity was abolished at the time of the confiscation of the cloisters, &c., under the French Westphalian government; but in some countries, as in the kingdom of Hanover, it has been restored.

In the Greek church, the superiors of a convent are called Hegoumeni, and the abbots-general, Archimandrites.

ABDIAS, a reputed disciple of Christ in Babylon, to whom is ascribed a book purporting to contain the Lives of the Apostles, but which is full of fabulous stories utterly unworthy of the least credit.

ABELIANS, ABELITES, ABELONIANS, a sect which arose about the year 360, near Hippo, in Africa, and borrowed their name from Abel, the son of Adam, because, as they supposed, he died unmarried, and without children. Though they did not abstain from matrimony, yet they had no carnal knowledge of their wives, that they might not be instrumental in propagating original sin. That their numbers might be kept up, they adopted the children of others, on whom they settled their pro

perty, on condition that they would adhere to the principles of the sect. It does not appear to have continued long in existence, but it has recently been revived among the Shakers of America.

ABGARUS, or AGBARUS, a king of Edessa in Mesopotamia, who, according to Eusebius, wrote a letter to our Saviour, and received an answer from him, both of which are preserved by that historian, and may be seen also in Lardner's works, and Jones on the Canon. Though their genuineness has been advocated by Cave, Grabe, and others, they are generally considered to be spurious. The pretended epistle of Christ is by no means worthy of him, and appears to be a mere piece of patchwork, taken from several passages of the Gospels. Nor is it likely that anything written by the Saviour's own hand could have remained unknown to the rest of the world till the time of Eusebius. The royal epistle, too, is not in the style of an oriental prince.

ABJURATION, OATII OF, an oath by which an obligation was come under not to acknowledge any right in the Pretender to the throne of England. It is also used to signify an oath, ordained by the 25th of Charles II., abjuring particular doctrines of the church of Rome.

ABLUTION, a ceremony in use among the ancients, and still practised in several parts of the world. It consisted in washing the body, which was always done before sacrificing, or even entering their houses. Ablutions appear to be as old as any ceremonies, and external worship itself. Moses enjoined them, the heathens adopted them, and Mahomet and his followers have continued them. The Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Jews, all had them. The ancient Christians had their ablutions before communion, which the Romish church still retain before their mass, and sometimes after. The Syrians, Copts, &c., have their solemn washings on Good Friday: the Turks also have their ablutions, their Ghasl, their Wodou, &c.

ABRAHAMITES. I. A sect of heretics so called from their founder, who, towards the end of the eighth century, revived, at Antioch, his native place, that of the Paulicians, and corrupted a great part of the Syrians; but Cyriacus, the bishop of the Syrian church, power fully opposed him, and soon put an end to his party.

II. An order of monks in the ninth

century, who were exterminated by Theophilus for the idolatrous practices in which they indulged.

III. A modern sect which sprang up in Bohemia about the middle of the last century. They take the name because they profess to be of the same religion that Abraham was before he was circumcised. They reject this rite, though some of them are circumcised, having formerly been Jews: the rest have either been Catholics or Protestants. They believe in one God, the immortality of the soul, and future rewards and punishments; but they deny the divine legation of Moses, and only receive the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer. They reject the doctrine of original sin, the Trinity, and other peculiar doctrines of revelation. To avoid persecution they at first attended worship in the churches; but on the publication of the edict of Joseph II., establishing entire toleration throughout his dominions, they avowed their sentiments, and presented a petition to the emperor, who declared that he would not violate their consciences; but, false to his promise, he only allowed them till the 24th of March, 1783, to incorporate themselves with one of the religions tolerated in the empire, and threatened them with banishment if they did not comply. Proving obstinate, the imperial menace was carried into execution; and they were transported to Transylvania and the Bannat of Temeswar. There are still in Bohemia numbers between whom and the Abrahamites some connexion has been traced; but they are not molested by the government. They are known by the name of Deists and Nihilists, because they believe in nothing.-Gregoire's Histoire des Sectes, b. ix. ch. xi.

ABRASAX STONES, gems found in great abundance in Spain, which represent a human body, with the head of a cock and the feet of a reptile. They have often the inscription Abrasax, or Abraxas in Greek characters, which is supposed, however, to be of Persian or Egyptian origin. According to Bellerman, they belonged to the religious sect of the Basilidians, and were used, partly as means for teaching secret doctrines, partly as symbols, and partly as amulets or talismans. The name is also given to those stones which bear the emblems of Sahæism. Dr. Neander, of Berlin, has written an interesting dissertation on the subject.

ABSOLUTION signifies acquittal. It is taken, also, for that act whereby the priest declares the sins of such as are penitent remitted. In the earlier ages it was a judicial act, by which the priest, in the name of the community, invoking the favour of God, announced to the penitent his remission from ecclesiastical punishment, and readmission into the bosom of the church. Private absolution having in the course of time become prevalent, through priests acting in the nam of the bishop, the opinion was spread among the people, that they had the power of absolving by their own authority, and without the consent of the church. The formula of absolution in the church of Rome has been said to be absolute; in the Greek church, deprecatory; and, in Protestant churches, declaratory. The Romanists hold absolution a part of the sacrament of penance; and the council of Trent and that of Florence declare the form or essence of the sacrament to lie in the words of absolution, “I absolve thee of thy sins." According to this, no one can receive absolution without the privity, consent, and declaration of the priest; except, therefore, the priest be willing, God himself cannot pardon any man. This is a doctrine as blasphemous as it is ridiculous. The chief passage on which they ground their power of absolution is that in John xx. 23: "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained." But this is not to the purpose; since this was a special commission to the apostles themselves, and the first preachers of the Gospel, and most probably referred to the power Christ gave them of discerning spirits. By virtue of this power, Peter struck Ananias and Sapphira dead, and Paul struck Elymas blind. But, supposing the passage in question to apply to the successors of the apostles, and to ministers in general, it can only import that their office is to preach pardon to the penitent, assuring those who believe that their sins are forgiven through the merits of Jesus Christ; and that those who remain in unbelief are in a state of condemnation. Any idea of authority given to fallible, uninspired men to absolve sinners, different from this, is unscriptural; nor is there any propriety in the terms ministerial or declarative absolution, as adopted by some divines, since absolution is wholly the prerogative of God; and the terms