Anger – Antiochus

Anger

Anger (WEATH) OP GOD.— It might seem that the idea of the Divine anger, manifesting itself in judgments of destruction, belongs to an early and anthropomorphic stage of religion. Yet, on the whole, the Biblical conception will be found consistent and profoundly ethical. God is holy — a term which seems to unite all the unapproachable perfections of Deity, especially His majesty and awful purity. He is the ‘Holy One of Israel,’ in covenant relation with a nation to whom He has revealed Himself as holy, and whom He will fashion with slow redemptive purpose into ‘an holy people.’ Moreover, God is righteous, a moral governor and lawgiver, demanding obedience and punishing transgression of His commands. The Divine holiness Is not an element in an abstract conception of Deity: it is not a passive perfection, but an active attribute of a self-revealing and redeeming God. It follows that one side of this activity is necessarily a reaction against, a repudiation of, what is unholy and unrighteous in His creatures. This disposition towards sin is the anger or wrath of God. In the history of Israel it appears as a terrible factor in the discipline of the nation to righteousness: the ungrateful, the rebellious, and especially the idolatrous, are destroyed by fire and sword, pestilence and famine (Psalms 78, Deuteronomy 32:15–43). So ‘jealous’ is God for His holiness, that even accidental profanation of its symbol, the Ark, is visited by extreme penalty (1 Samuel 6:19, 20. 2 Samuel 6:7). But the anger of the Lord, though fierce, is also just: it is ‘provoked’ by moral causes and for moral ends, and is averted by penitence and moral acquiescence in the righteousness of His judgments (Exodus 32, Leviticus 10. Numbers 25:11. Deuteronomy 13:17). Psalmist and Prophet dwell upon the subordination of the Divine anger to the Divine mercy. God is ‘slow to anger’ (Psalms 103:8 145:8. ji 2. Jonah 4:2. Nahum 1:3). and His anger passes away (Psalms 30:5. Isaiah 12:1. Jeremiah 3:12, Micah 7:18).

Yet the wrath of God remains an essential element of His revelation through the prophets, a real Divine attribute, conplementary, not antithetic to the Divine mercy (Is li8-2» 5 42 54). in the NT, although the stress has shifted to the love of God revealed to the world in Jesus Christ, the anger of God still holds place. The teaching of Jesus, while refusing to see in all physical ills the Divine displeasure against sin (Luke 3:1–5. John 9:3), impressive warning of the terrible reality of God’s judgments (Luke 13:3–5. Matthew 25:30, 41. Luke 12:5). In St. Paul’s writings this conception of judgment, held in reserve against unrepentant sin, is expressed in the phrase ‘the wrath of God,’ or, more simply, ‘the wrath’ (Romans 1:18. Ephesians 5. Colossians 3:6. Romans 2:8 5:9). There is a coming ‘day of wrath’ (Romans 2:5. cf. Matthew 3:7) sinful man unredeemed by Christ is necessarily a ‘vessel of wrath,’ a ‘child of wrath’ (Romans 9:22. Ephesians 2:3).

It is true that the NT references to God’s anger are mainly eschatological and contain figurative elements (see esp. Revelation 6:16 ‘the wrath of the Lamb,’ llis 14:10 16:19 9:15). But for the significance of the Divine wrath as an ethical necessity in God, though His fundamental attribute is love, it may be noted that (1) the writer through whom the revelation of the Divine love attains its culminating expression (‘God is love,’ 1 John 4:8) declares also of him that obeys not the Son, ‘the wrath of God abideth on him’ (John 3:36). (2) The Epistle which shows how in Christ the aloofness and terror of Israel’s worship are done away in favour of full and free access to a ‘throne of grace,’ has, as the climax to its glowing description of Christian privilege, the solemn warning ‘our God is a consuming fire’ (Hebrews 12:18–29).

S. W. Green.

AlfGLE. — Isaiah 19:8. Habakkuk 1:15. The same Heb. word is translated ‘hook’ in Job 41:1.

Aniam

A man of Manasseh (1 Chronicles 7:19).

Anim

(Joshua 15 only). A town of Judah, in the mountains near Eshtemoh. It seems probable that it is the present double ruin of Ghuwein, west of Eshtemoh.

Anise

Anise (RV ‘dill,’ Matthew 23:23) is the familiar plant Anethum graveolens, one of the Umbelliferee. It is indigenous in Palestine, and is extensively used both in cooking and in the form of ‘dill water’ as a domestic remedy for flatulence. It is expressly stated in Jewish writers that the dill was subject to tithe.

E. W. G. Masterman.

Ankle-chaihs, Anklets

See Ornaments, § 1.

Anna

Anna (the Greek form of Heb. Hannah, which means ‘grace’). — The name of an aged prophetess (Luke 2:36–38). one of the godly remnant in Israel who in the dark days which preceded the Messiah’s advent were looking for the dayspring from on high and waiting for the consolation of Israel. She was the daughter of Phanuel, and belonged to the ancient tribe of Asher, whose women were celebrated for their beauty, which fitted them for wedding with high priests and kings. She had attained a great age, upwards of a hundred years, since she had been a wife for seven years and a widow for eighty-four (see RV) . She had given herself to a life of devotion, frequenting the Temple and ‘worshipping with fastings and supplications night and day’ (cf. 1 Timothy 5:5). At the Presentation of the Infant Messiah (Luke 2:22–24) she entered the sacred court, and, hearing Simeon’s benediction and prophecy, took up the refrain of praise and talked about the Holy Child to her godly intimates, quickening their hope and preparing a welcome for the Saviour when He should by and by be manifested unto Israel. David Smith.

Annas

1. High priest from a.d. 6 to 15, an astute and powerful ecclesiastical statesman. At the time of our Lord’s trial he was merely high priest emeritus, and his son-in-law Caiaphas, the acting high priest, presided ex ofllcio over the meeting of the Sanhedrin (John 18:24. Matthew 26:57). Nevertheless, since the high priest emeritus retained not only his title (cf. John 18. 22, Acts 4). but all his obligations and many of his prerogatives, it is not surprising that the masterful Annas took an active and independent part in the proceedings. After Jesus’ arrest at dead of night, ‘they led him to Annas first’ (John 18:13). The Sanhedrin might not meet until daybreak, and the interval seemed well employed in a preliminary examination of the prisoner by the skilful veteran (John 18:12, 19–23). Subsequently he took part also in the trial,of Peter and John (Acts 4:6). 2. 1 Es 9:32 lO’i Harim. David Smith.

Annis

The eponym of a, family that returned with Zerubbabel (1 Esdras 5:16). Omitted in Ear. and Neh.

Annus

A Levite (1 Esdras 9:48 8:7 Bani).

Annutjs

Annutjs (1 Esdras 8:48). The name does not occur in Ezra 8:19.

Anointing, Anointed

1. The Hebrews distinguished between anointing with oil in the sense of its application to the body in ordinary lite (suk), and anointing by pouring sacred oil on the head as a rite of consecration (mdshach). As regards the former, olive oil, alone or mixed with perfumes, was largely used in the everyday toilet of the Hebrews, although among the poor its use would be reserved tor special occasions (Ruth 3). To abstain from anointing in this sense was one of the tokens of mourning (2 Samuel 14:2). its resumption a sign that mourning was at an end (12:20). Honour was shown to a guest by anointing his head with oil (Psalms 23:5, Luke 7:46). and still more by anointing his feet (Luke 7:38). For medicinal anointing see Oil.

2. Anointing as a religious rite was applied to both persons and things. Kings in particular were consecrated for their high office by having oil poured upon their heads, a practice which seems to have originated in Egypt. Though first met with in OT in the case of Saul (1 Samuel 10:1. cf. David, 2 Samuel 2:4 5:3. Solomon, 1 Kings 1:39 etc.), the rite was practised in Canaan long before the Hebrew conquest. By the pouring of the consecrated oil upon the head (see 2 Kings 9:3). there was effected a transference to the person anointed of part of the essential hohness and virtue of the deity in whose name and by whose representative the rite was performed. By the Hebrews the rite was also believed to impart a special endowment of the spirit of J" (1 Samuel 16:13. cf. Isaiah 61:1). Hence the sacrosanct character of the king as ‘the Lord’s anointed’ (Heb. meshiach IJahweh], which became in Greek messias or, translated, christos — both ‘Messiah’ and ‘Christ,’ therefore, signifying ‘the anointed’). The application of this honorific title to kings alone in the oldest literature makes it probable that the similar consecration of the priesthood (Exodus 29:7 40:13–15. Leviticus 8:1–12) was a later extension of the rite. Only one exceptional instance is recorded of the anointing of a prophet (1 Kings 19:16 — Isaiah 61:1 is metaphorical).

In the case of inanimate objects, we find early mention of the primitive and wide-spread custom of anointing sacred stones (Genesis 28 etc., see Pillar), and in the Priests’ Code tiie tabernacle and its furniture were similarly consecrated (Exodus 30 40:9). For 2 Samuel 1:21 see War. See also Mary, No. 2. A. R. S. Kennedy.

Anon

A contraction for ‘in one (moment),’ ‘anon’ means at once, as Matthew 13:20 ‘he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon (RV’ straightway’) with joy receiveth it.’

Anos

1 Es 9’‘=Vaniah, Ezra 10:36.

ANSWER, — An answer is (1) an apology or defence, as 2 Tl 41" ‘at my first answer no man stood by me’ ; so perhaps 1 Peter 3:21 ‘the answer of a good conscience’ ; (2) oracle. Divine response, as Romans 11:4 ‘what saith the answer of God?’

Ant

Ant inermlSli, Arab, namlah). — Ants are exceedingly abundant all over Palestine, where, through their vast numbers, they perform a most important r61e, by continually changing the surface soil in the way earthworms do in northern countries. No more afit illustration of diligence (Proverbs 6:6–8) could be found than these little insects, which, in all but the wettest weather, can be seen scurrying backwards and forwards on the long tracks they have made. Some common varieties of Palestine ants (Aphcenogasier barbara, A. structor and Pheidole megacephaia) store up great quantities of various kinds of seeds, which they are able, in some unknown way, to prevent germinating and make use of as food (Proverbs 30:25). Whole troops of these little insects may be seen carrying seeds, often many times their own size and weight, from a distant garden or corn-field. The writer has even seen a procession of ants carrying their harvest under the thickness of a broad mud wall which bounded the corn-field, and then across a wide and frequented road. The stores of seeds so collected have been found so great that the Mishna laid down rules in regard to their ownership. If they were discovered in the field before reaping, they belonged to the owner, but if afterwards, they were all or in part for the poor. The sagacity of the ant in this and other respects is widely recognized both in Oriental lore — as in Proverbs 30:24, 25 — and even more forcibly by the modern naturalist. E. W. G. Masteeman.

Antelope

(RV). A doubtful translation of te’B, Deuteronomy 14 and Isaiah 51:20. Tradition, our only guide here, is in favour of ‘ox’ [wh. see]. E. W. G. Masterman.

Anthothijah

A man of Benjamin (1 Oh 8f).

Antichrist

The great opponent and counterpart of Christ, by whom he is finally to be conquered. The word appears only in the NT (1 John 2:18–22 i’, 2 Jn ‘), but the idea was present in Judaism and developed with the growth of the Messianic hope.

1 . The origin of the conception. — While the precise term ‘Antichrist’ is lacking in Jewish literature, the idea of an opponent who persecutes God’s people and is ultimately to be conquered by the Messiah, is an integral part of that general hope, born in Prophetism, which developed into Messianism in the NT period. As in the case of so many elements of Messianism, the beginning of the ‘opponent’ idea may fairly be said to have been Daniel 11:36 (cf. also Zee 12-14), where the reference is to Antiochus i v. ; but it would be a mistake to see in the Antichrist conception of the Johannine literature an unprecedented description of distinct personalities. There seems to have been rather a gradually developing anti-Messianic scheme, which at many points duplicated the developing Messianic hope. This general conception, which played an important r61e in early Christianity, was probably due to the synthesis of at least five factors, each independent in origin.

(o) The historical opponents of the Jews, such as Antiochus iv., Pompey, and the Roman Empire in general (cf. the position of Gog in Prophetic thought). These naturally aroused the most intense hatred on the part of the Jews, particularly those under the influence of Pharisaism. Their hostility was regarded as extending not only to the Jews as a nation, but as heathen, to Jehovah himself, and particularly to His plans for the Jewish people. This political hatred of the Pharisees entered into the Antichrist expectation, just as their political hope went into the Messianic programme. Both alike tended to grow transcendental.

(6) The dualism of Babylonia and Persia, especially as it was expressed by the dragon, between whom and the agents of righteousness there was to be a fight to the death. This dragon conception may with much probability be seen not only in the identification of the serpent of the Temptation with the devil, but also in the beast of the Johannine Apocalypse, the great opponent of the Christ, and in the sea monster of Rabbinism.

(c) The Beliar (or Belial) myth, which underlies the NT thought (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:15). as well as Jewish fears. The first reference to Beliar seems to have been in Jubilees 1:20. but the myth is not unlike that of the Babylonian Tiamat, queen of the abyss, who was conquered by Marduk. Subsequently he was identified with Satan, who was also identified with the dragon (cf. Ascens. Isaiah 4:3, 4. Revelation 12:10). This identification was the first step towards the fully developed expectation of the Talmud, of a confiict between God and the devil.

(d) Belief in the return from death of the persecuting Emperor Nero. — This expectation seems to have been widely diffused throughout the Roman Empire in the latter part of the first Christian century (Si6. Or. iv. 119-150, v. 363 ff.), and lies behind the figures of Revelation 13. 16. and 17. He is apparently to return with the kings of Parthia, but he is also, in Revelation 17. identified with the beast of the abyss (cf. Sib. Or. v. 28-34).

(e) The myth of Simon Magus, or that of the false prophet. — This myth seems to have been common in Christian circles, and Simon Magus (wh. see) became the typical (Jewish) prophet and magician who opposed Christianity.

2. Synthesis of the elements. — These variouselements possess so much in common that it was inevitable that they should be combined in the figure of the Satanic opponent whom the Christ would utterly destroy as a pre-condition of establishing His Kingdom of God. A study of the Book of Revelation, as well as of other NT writings (e.j. 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12. 2 Corinthians 6. 1 John 2:18–22 4:3. 2 Jn ‘, Rev ll’-i2 13 17. 19. Mark 13:14–20). will show that there was always present in the minds of the writers of the NT a superhuman figure, Satanic in power and character, who was to be the head of opposition both to the people of Christ and to the Christ Himself. This person is represented in Assumption of Moses (ch. 8), Ascension of Isaiah (ch. 4), as well as in other Jewish writings, as one who possessed the Satanic supremacy over the army of devils. He was not a general tendency, but a definite personality. As such it was easy to see his counterpart or incarnation in historical characters. Indeed, the entire anti-Messianic programme was employed to characterize historical situations. We must think similarly of the use of ‘the man of lawlessness’ of St. Paul (2 Thessalonians 2:3; see Man of Sin) and the various opponents of Christ in the Apocalypse. Transcendental pictures and current esohatology set forth the Christian’s fear on the one hand of the Roman Emperor or Empire as a persecuting power, and on the other of Jewish fanaticism. Just which historical persons were in the mind of the writers It is now impossible to say with accuracy, but Nero and Domitian are not unlikely.

In the Patristic period the eschatological aspects of the anti-Messianic hope were developed, but again as a mystical picture of historical conditions either existing or expected. In Ephraera Syrus we have the fall of the Roman Empire attributed to Antichrist. He is also by the early Church writers sometimes identified with the false Jewish Messiah, who was to work miracles, rebuild the Temple, and establish a great empire with demons as his agents. Under the inspiration of the two Witnesses (Elijah and Enoch) the Messianic revolt against the Antichrist was to begin, the Book of Revelation being interpreted literally at this point. The saints were to be exposed to the miseries that the book describes, but the Messiah was to slay Antichrist with the breath of His mouth, and establish the Judgment and the conditions of eternity.

Thus in Christian literature that fusion of the elements of the Antichrist idea which were present in Judaism and later Christianity is completed by the addition of the traits of the false prophet, and extended under the influence of the current polemic against Jewish Messianism. The figure of Antichrist, Satanic, Neronic, falsely prophetic, the enemy of God and His Kingdom, moves out into theological history, to be identified by successive ages with nearly every great opponent of the Church and its doctrines, whether persecutor or heretic.

Shailer Mathews.

ANTILIBANUS,— Judith 1:7. See Lebanon.

Antimony

Isaiah 54:11 RVm. See Eye.

Antioch

(Syrian). By the issue of the battle of Ipsus, Seleucus Nikator (b.c. 312-280) secured the rule over most of Alexander the Great’s Asiatic empire, which stretched from the Hellespont and the Mediterranean on the one side to the Jaxartes and Indus on the other. The Seleucid dynasty, which he founded, lasted for 247 years. Possessed with a mania for building cities and calling them after himself or his relatives, he founded no fewer than 37, of which 4 are mentioned in the NT — (1) Antioch of Syria (Acts 11:19). (2) Seleucia (Acts 13:4). (3) Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13:14 4:21. 2 Timothy 3:11). and (4) Laodicea (Colossians 4:13–16. Rey 1:11 3:14). The most famous of the 16 Antioohs, which he built and named after his father Antiochus, was Antioch on the Orontes in Syria. The spot was carefully chosen, and religious sanction given to it by the invention of a story that sacred birds had revealed the site while he watched their flight from a neighbouring eminence. It was politically of advantage that the seat of empire should be removed from the Euphrates valley to a locality nearer the Mediterranean. The new city lay in the deep bend of the Levant, about 300 miles N. of Jerusalem. Though 14 miles from the sea, the navigable river Orontes, on whose left bank it was built, united it with Seleucia and its splendid harbour. Connected thus by the main caravan roads with the commerce of Babylon, Persia, and India, and with a seaport keeping it in touch with the great world to the W., Antioch speedily fell heir to that vast trade which had once been the monopoly of Tyre. Its seaport Seleucia was a great fortress, like Gibraltar or Sebastopol. Seleucus attracted to his new capital thousands of Jews, by offering them equal rights of citizenship with all the other inhabitants. The citizens were divided into 18 wards, and each commune attended to its own municipal affairs.

His successor, Antiochus i., Soter (e.g. 280-261), introduced an abundant water supply into the city, so that every private house had its own pipe, and every public spot its graceful fountain. He further strove to render Antioch the intellectual rival of Alexandria, by inviting to his court scholars, such as Aratus the astronomer, and by superintending the translation into Greek of learned works in foreign tongues. In this way the invaluable history of Babylon by Berosus, the Chaldsean priest, has been rescued from oblivion.

The succession of wars which now broke out between the Seleucidse and the Ptolemys is described in Daniel 11. The fortunes of the war varied greatly. Under the next king but one, Seleucus 11., Kallinikus (b.c. 246-226), Ptolemy Euergetes captured Seleucia, installed an Egyptian garrison in it, and harried the Seleucid empire as far as Susiana and Bactria, carrying off to Egypt an immense spoil. Worsted on the field, KalUnikus devoted himself to the embellishment of his royal city. As founded by S. Nikator, Antioch had consisted of a single quarter. Antiochus i., Soter, had added a second, but Kallinikus now included a third, by annexing to the city the island in the river and connecting it to the mainland by five bridges. In this new area the streets were all at right angles, and at the intersection of the two principal roads the way was spanned by a tetrapylon, a covered colonnade with four gates. The city was further adorned with costly temples, porticoes, and statues. But the most remarkable engineering feat begun in this reign was the excavation of the great dock at Seleucia, the building of the protecting moles, and the cutting of a canal inland through high masses of soUd rock. The canal is successively a cutting and a tunnel, the parts open to the sky aggregating in all 1869 ft., in some places cut to the depth of 120 ft., while the portions excavated as tunnels (usually 24 ft. high) amount in all to 395 ft.

With Antiochus iii., the Great (b.c. 223-187), the fortunes of the city revived. He drove out the Egyptian garrison from Seleucia, ended the Ptolemaic sovereignty over Judffia, reduced all Palestine and nearly all Asia Minor to his sway, until his might was finally shattered by the Romans in the irretrievable defeat of Magnesia (B.C. 190). After the assassination of his son Seleucus iv., PhUopator (b.c. 187-175), who was occupied mostly in repairing the flnancial losses his kingdom had sustained, the brilliant but wholly unprincipled youth Antiochus iv Epiphanes (b.c. 175-164), succeeded to the throne. With the buffoonery of a Caligula and the vice of a Nero, he united the genius for architecture and Greek culture which he inherited from his race. In his dreams Antioch was to be a metropolis, second to none for beauty, and Greek art and Greek religion were to be the uniform rule throughout all his dominions. To the three quarters already existing he added a fourth, which earned for Antioch the title ‘Tetrapolis.’ Here he erected a Senate House, a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus on one of the eminences of Mt. Silpius, and a strong citadel on another spur of the mountains that surround the city. From B. to W. of Antioch he laid out a splendid corso with double colonnades, which ran for 5 miles in a straight line. In wet weather the populace could walk from end to end under cover. Trees, flowers, and fountains adorned the promenade; and poets sang of the beauty of the statue of Apollo and of the Nymphaeum which he erected near the river. To avert the anger of the gods during a season of pestilence, he ordered the sculptor Leios to hew Mt. Silpius into one vast statue of Charon, the infernal ferryman. It frowned over the city, and was named the Charonlum. Epiphanes’ policy of Hellenizing Palestine evoked the determined opposition of the Maccabees, and in the wars which ensued his forces suffered many defeats, though the injuries and atrocities he committed in Jerusalem were unspeakable. With Antiochus Epiphanes died the grandeur of the Syrian throne.

Succeeding princes exercised only a very moderate influence over the fortunes of Palestine, and the palmy days of Antioch as a centre of political power were gone for ever. The city was the scene of many a bloody conflict in the years of the later Seleucidse, as usurper after usurper tried to wade through blood to the throne, and was shortly after overcome by some rival. In several of these struggles the Jews took part, and as the power of Antioch waned, the strength and practical independence of the Jewish Hasmonaean princes increased. In B.C. 83 all Syria passed into the hands of Tigranes, king of Armenia, who remained master of Antioch for 14 years. When Tigranes was overwhelmed by the Romans, Pompey put an end to the Seleucid dynasty, and the line of Antiochene monarchs expired in b.c. 65. The strong Pax Romana gave new vigour to the city. Antioch was made a free city, and became the seat of the prefect and the capital of the Roman province of Syria. Mark Antony ordered the release of all the Jews in it enslaved during the recent disturbances, and the restoration of their property. As a reward for Antioch’s fidelity to him, Julius Csesar built a splendid basilica, the Ccesareum, and gave, besides, a new aqueduct, theatre, and public baths. Augustus, Agrippa, Herod the Great, Tiberius, and, later, Antoninus Pius, all greatly embellished the city, contributing many new and striking architectural features. The ancient walls were rebuilt to the height of 50-60 ft., with a thickness at the top of 8 ft., and surmounted by gigantic towers. The vast rampart was carried across ravines up the mountain slope to the very summit of the hills which overlook the city. Antioch seemed thus to be defended by a mountainous bulwark, 7 miles in circuit. Earthquakes have in later ages demolished these walls, though some of the Roman castles are still standing.

When Christianity reached Antioch, it was a great city of over 500,000 inhabitants, called the ‘Queen of the East,’ the ‘Third Metropolis of the Roman Empire.’ In ‘Antioch the Beautiful’ there was to be found everything which Italian wealth, Greek sstheticism, and Oriental luxury could produce. The ancient writers, however, are unanimous in describing the city as one of the foulest and most depraved in the world. Cosmopolitan in disposition, the citizens acted as if they were emancipated from every law, human or Divine. Licentiousness, superstition, quackery, indecency, every fierce and base passion, were displayed by the populace; their skill in coining scurrilous verses was notorious, their sordid, fickle, turbulent, and insolent ways rendered the name of Antioch a byword for all that was wicked. Their brilliance and energy, so praised by Cicero, were balanced by an incurable levity and shameless disregard for the first principles of morality. So infamous was the grove of Daphne, five miles out of the city, filled with shrines to Apollo, Venus, Isis, etc., and crowded with theatres, baths, taverns, and dancing saloons, that soldiers detected there were punished and dismissed the Imperial service, ‘Daphnic morals’ became a proverb. Juvenal could find no more forcible way of describing the pollutions of Rome than by saying, ‘The Orontes has flowed into the Tiber.’ In this Vanity Fair the Jews were resident in large numbers, yet they exerted little or no Influence on the morals of the city. We hear, however, of one Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch (Acts 6:5). and there may have been more. But after the death of St. Stephen, Christian fugitives from persecution fled as far north as Antioch, began to preach to the Greeks there (Acts 11:19), and a great number believed. So great was the work that the Jerus. Church sent Barnabas to assist, who, finding that more help was needed, sought out and fetched Saul from Tarsus. There they continued a year, and built up a strong Church. Antioch had the honour of being the birthplace of (1) the name ‘Christian’ (Acts 11:26). and (2) of foreign missions. From this city Paul and Barnabas started on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:1–4). and to Antioch they returned at the end of the tour (Acts 14:26). The second journey was begun from and ended at Antioch (Acts 15:35–41 18:22) and the city was again the starting-point of the third tour (Acts 18:23). The Antiochene Church contributed liberally to the poor saints in Jerus. during the famine (Acts 11:27–30). Here also the dispute regarding the circumcision of Gentile converts broke out (Acts 15:1–22). and here Paul withstood Peter for his inconsistency (Galatians 2:11–21). After the fall of Jerusalem, Antioch became the true centre of Christianity. A gate still bears the name of ‘St. Paul’s Gate.’ It was from Antioch that Ignatius set out on his march to martyrdom at Rome. The city claimed as its natives John Chrysostom, Ammianus Marcellinus, Evagrius, and Libanius. From A. D. 252-380 Antioch wasthesceneof ten Church Councils. The Patriarch of Antioch took precedence of those of Rome, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Alexandria. Antioch was captured in a.d. 260 by Sapor of Persia; in A.D. 538 it was burned by Chosroes; rebuilt by Justinian, it again fell before the Saracens in a.d. 636. Nicephorus Phocas recovered it in a.d. 909, but in A.D. 1084 it fell to the Seljuk Turks. The first Crusaders retook it in 1098 after a celebrated siege, signalized by the ‘invention of the Holy Lance’; but in 1268 it passed finally into the hands of the Turks. Earthquakes have added to the ruining hand of man. Those of b.c. 184, A.D. 37, 115, 457, and esp. 526 (when 200,000 persons perished), 528, 1170, and 1872 have been the most disastrous. The once vast city has shrunk into a small, ignoble, and dirty town of 6,000 inhabitants, still, however, bearing the name of Antaki (Turkish) orAnlakiyah (Arabic). It is again the centre of a Christian mission, and the Church of Antioch, as of old, is seeking to enlighten the surrounding darkness.

G. A. Frank Knight. ANTIOCH (Pisidian). — The expression ‘Antioch of Pisidia’ or ‘Antioch in Pisidia’ is incorrect, as the town was not in Pisidia. Its official title was ‘Antioch near Pisidia,’ and as it existed for the sake of Pisidia, the adjective ‘Pisidian’ was sometimes loosely attached to it. It was actually in the ethnic district of Phrygia, and in the Roman province of Galatia (that region of it called Phrygia Galatica). Founded by the inhabitants of Magnesia, it was made a free town by the Romans, and a colonia was established there by the emperor Augustus to keep the barbarians of the neighbourhood in check. The municipal government became Roman, and the official language Latin. St. Paul visited it four times (Acts 13:14 14:21 16:6 18:22). and it is one of the churches addressed in the Epistle to the Galatians.

A. SOUTER.

Antiochians

Antiochians (2 Maccabees 4:9, 19). The efforts of Antiochus Epiphanes to spread Gr. culture and Gr. customs throughout his dominions were diligently furthered by a section of, the Jews. The leader of this Hellenizing party, Jason, brother of the high priest Onias in., offered a large sum of money to Antiochus to induce the king to allow the inhabitants of Jerusalem ‘to be enrolled as Antiochians.’ Antiochus acceded to the proposal, and shortly afterwards a party of ‘Antiochians’ from Jerusalem was sent by him with a contribution of money for the festival of Heracles at Tyre.

Antiochis

(2 Maccabees 4:30). A concubine of Antiochus Epiphanes, who assigned to her the revenues of the two Cilician cities, Tarsus and Mallus.

Antiochus

Antiochus (1 Maccabees 12:16 14:22; cf. Jos. Ant. xm. V. 8). — The father of Numenius, who was one of the envoys sent (c. B.C. 144) by Jonathan the Maccabee to renew the covenant made by Judas with the Romans, and to enter into friendly relations with the Spartans.