HARVAND

JAN 17 13 3

MISCELLANEOUS

NOTES AND QUERIES,

WITH ANSWERS.

"Man is the first Dialogue that Nature held with God."-Goethe.

VOL. V.

JANUARY, 1888.

No. 1.

(Vol. IV, p. 412.) then of the king

The passover or

JEW, HEBREW, OR ISRAELITE-THE DIFFERENCE. A Few is a Judæan; formerly one of the tribe and dom of Judah; and later an inhabitant of Judæa. Hebrew is from the Hebrew word Eber, "over." pascha undoubtedly was a custom reminding the Abrahamids of their emigration, and the crossing of the Euphrates at Tiphsah or Thap. sakos; and from that crossing they were called Hebrews or overpeople. Iberia has the same meaning. Abraham is the first one called a Hebrew (Genesis XIV, 13.) The term, however, is never given to his reputed descendants, the Idumeians, Ishmaelites, Midianites, and Nabatheans of Arabia ; and I suspect that they were Erythaians from India, or Semites of an anterior descent.

The Israelites were the reputed posterity of Jacob, surnamed Israel. In the Bible they are first described as the Abrahamids and Arabs that left Egypt and ruled in Palestine; but at the death of Saul the Judæans made David their king, and so their adherents were largely included under that name. I doubt the existence of "twelve" tribes. That is astrological. The Canon was established by the Makkabees about 200 B. C.; and the "historical books " were compiled or revised at that time. The evidence that the Patriarchs, Judges, and early kings were historical characters is very slight.

A. WILDER, M. D., Newark N. J.

Council of Nicæa (Nice) and the Biblical Canon.

On page 372 of NOTES AND QUERIES, September, 1887, it is stated, "at the Council of Nicæa the canon of Scriptures was one of the chief objects of settlement, as to what books were to be received with authority, and what not." This is a mistake. In no trustworthy history of the first Nicene Council (A. D. 325), ancient or modern, can be found any reference to this council having in any manner had under consideration the canonicity of the scriptural writings. The extant accounts of the proceedings of the council, as given by eyewitnesses and members,-namely, Eusebius, Athanasius, Eustathius of Antioch, Auxano, a Novitian presbyter, and others with whom Jerome had conversed,—make no reference to any such action by the council. The following are the only authentic sources of information concerning this council: Eusebius, "De Vita Constantini," III, 4-24, and "Theod." 1, 9; Socrates, "Hist. Eccles.", I 4-14; Sozomen, "Hist. Eccles." I 15-28; Theodoret, "Hist. Eccles." I 1-3; Philostorgius, "Arian Fragments"; Rufinus, "Hist. Eccles." 1 1-6, Ambrose, "De Fide;" "Acta Concilii Nicæni;" in Combefis' "Novum Auctarium Biblioth, Patr.," vol. II, p. 547; Gelasius Cyzicenus, "Commentar de Synodo Nicæno," I ib. III, in Hardouins; Concilorum Collectio," vol. I, p. 345 et seq.; Maruthas, "Lost History of Council of Nicæa" (in Syriac), in Asseman, "Biblioth' Orient, 1, pp. 177, 195; Renaudot, "Hist. Patriarch, Alexandriner," p. 69 et seq.; various treatises in the first volume of Athanasius's works, especially his "Epistola de Nicænis Decretis ;" several passages in Ephiphanius, "Contra Haereses," lib. III, and Cowper's "Analecta Nicæna." All other narratives anent this council are based upon the foregoing, and contain nothing authentic not found in them. The British Museum contains a fragment of a Syrian manuscript concerning the Nicene Council written in A. D. 501. It furnishes a number of valuable data concerning this council not elsewhere accessible. Among other things it gives a list of all the decrees or canons of the council, but among them there is no canon concerning the authenticity of the Scriptures.

66

The sole foundation for the statement that this council took action relative to the selection of the canonical from the apocryphal books of

the Bible, is contained in a curious littlę manuscript, written by an unknown Greek author, certainly as late as the latter part of the ninth century, and perhaps later. This manuscript was brought from the Morea in the sixteenth century by Andreas Darmasius, and it was bought by Rev. John Pappus, a learned Lutheran Divine, who first published it in 1601, in Strasburg, in the original Greek, with a Latin version of his own. Its title in Greek was given as Sunodikon Periechon en epitome hapasas apo ton hagion Apostolon gegonuias orthodoxous kai hairetikas sunodous." Its name in Latin was given by Pappus, as follows: "Libellus Synodicus, omnes synodus, tam orthodoxas quam haereticus; brevi compendio continens quae ab Aposto lorum inde tempore usque ad octavam." It contains an epitome of the proceedings of all the church councils, orthodox and heretical, from the time of the apostles down to the great eighth council of A. D. 869. It is published complete, both in Greek and Latin, under the title, "Synodicon Vetus," in Fabricius's "Bibliotheca Graeca." In the original Hamburg edition of Fabricius, in 14 quarto volumes, 1795-1828, the "Synodicon" can be found in volume XI, pp. 185-258; in Harles's revised edition, in 12 volumes, 1790-1809, it may be found in volume XII, pp. 360 et seq. It is also published entire in Voel and Justel's "Bibliotheca juris canon veteris," volume II, pp. 1166 et seq; and in Hardouin's "Conciliorum Collectio," volume V, pp. 1291 et seq. Mansi, in his great compilation, "Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio," 31 volumes, Florence, 1759, et seq., included the "Libellus Synodicus"; but he separated its various parts, distributing them throughout his work under the various councils to which they pertained,-that portion relating to the action of the Nicene Council upon the biblical canon being found in vol. II, p. 749. "Synodicon Vetus" or "Libellus Synodicus" is a very inaccurate and unreliable little book. Various instances of its blunders, errors, and general untrustworthiness are indicated in C. J. Hefele's History of the Christian Councils." See volume I, pp. 79, 80, 83, 84, 96, 125, 126, 223, English translation, Edinburgh, 1871.

In this obscure work, teeming with errors, written at a late date, written by whom, no one knows, is contained the first, last, and only mention of the Nicene council having decided upon the canonicity of the biblical books; and in this account, as related in chapter XXXIV of the work, the decision is made, not by a vote of the council, but by