circulation among the Ebionite sects before Alcibiades brought it to Rome, though it is also possible that it may have been then of quite recent manufacture.
It would seem to be long before the sect of Elkesaites disappeared. En-hedim, an Arabic author (c. a.d. 987) quoted by Chwolson (Die Sabier, i. 112, ii. 543), tells of a sect of Sabeans of the Desert who practised frequent religious washings, and who counted one El-Chasaiach as their founder. See Ritschl, Zeitschrift für histor. Theol. (1853), pp. 573 sqq., Entstehung der altkatholischen Kirche, pp. 234 sqq.; Hilgenfeld, Nov. Test. extra Canonem Receptum, iii. 153, where all the fragments of the book are collected; Uhlhorn, Hom. u. Recog. des Clem. Rom. p. 392; and Lightfoot's Dissertation on the Essenes, "Ep. to Colossians," pp. 118 sqq.
[G.S.]
Elpidius (8), bp. of Laodicea in Syria at the close of the 4th cent. and opening of the 5th. He was originally a priest of Antioch under Meletius, whose confidence he enjoyed and with whom he resided (σύσκηνος) (Theod. H. E. v. 27). He shared in his master's sufferings under Valens, and accompanied by Flavian, attended him at the council of Constantinople a.d. 381 (Labbe, ii. 955). We next find him as bishop at a council at Constantinople a.d. 394 (Labbe, ii. 1151), and again at Constantinople at the close of a.d. 403, as a member of the council summoned by Chrysostom's enemies, and issuing in his deposition. Elpidius had been an intimate friend of Chrysostom at Antioch, and now lent the weight of his age and well-deserved reputation to the defence of his old associate. When the validity of the canons of the council of Antioch, of suspected orthodoxy, used by Chrysostom's enemies as an instrument to secure their object, came into question before the emperor, Elpidius adroitly turned the tables on Acacius and his party by proposing that the advocates of the canons should declare themselves of the same faith with those who had promulgated them (Pallad. Dial. c. 9, p. 80). After Chrysostom's deposition and exile, Elpidius exerted himself strenuously in his behalf, dispatching letters to bishops and faithful laity in all parts of the world, exhorting them to remain true to Chrysostom, and encouraging them to bear up against persecution. Chrysostom wrote to Elpidius shortly after his arrival at Cucusus in 404, thanking him most warmly, and giving him information concerning the place of his banishment, his companions, and his health (Chrys. Ep. 114). Four other letters from Chrysostom to Elpidius are extant, all written from Cucusus (Epp. 25, 138, a.d. 405; Ep. 131, a.d. 406; Ep. 142, a.d. 407).
Elpidius suffered for his fidelity to his friend in the persecution against the Joannite party under Atticus and Porphyry. In 406 he was deposed from his see, and was closely imprisoned in his house for three years (Pallad. Dial. p. 195). In 414 Alexander, succeeding Porphyry as bp. of Antioch, restored Elpidius to his see in a manner which testified deep reverence for his character, and pope Innocent heard of it with extreme satisfaction (Baron. 408 §§ 35, 37; Tillem. xi. 274).
[E.V.]
Emilianus (8) (Aemilianus, San Millan), solitary; claimed by the Spanish Benedictines as joint patron of Spain with St. James (Sandoval, Fundaciones de San Benito en España, Madrid, 1601). The only original source of information about him is his Life by St. Braulio bp. of Saragossa, written about 50 years after his death, on the testimony of four of his disciples. St. Braulio gives no dates and no names of parents, but the common tradition is that St. Emilianus was born c. 473, and died c. 572. His birthplace and the site of his oratory have caused much controversy, Castile claiming him as born at Berceo, close to the existing monastery of San Millan, while Aragon urges Verdeyo, near Calatayud.
He began life as a shepherd, and while following his flock over the mountains had the dream which caused his conversion. He betook himself to St. Felix, a neighbouring hermit, for instruction in Catholic belief and practice. He soon left Verdejo for the mountains, wandering N.W. into the remotest parts between Burgos and Logrono. For 40 years he lived a hermit's life there, mostly on or near the peak of La Cogolla (according to the tradition of the monastery; there is no mention of the Cogolla of St. Braulio's life), whence the after-name of the monastery which commemorated him—San Millan de la Cogolla. Didymus, bp. of Tarrazona (Turiasso), much against the saint's will; ordained him presbyter, and gave him the cure of Vergegium. Here his entire unworldliness drew upon him the hatred of his brother clergy. He was accused before Didymus of wasting the goods of the church, and deprived of his cure. Thus released from an unwelcome office, Emilianus passed the rest of his life at an oratory near Vergegium. During this second retirement, although his personal asceticism increased rather than diminished, he allowed himself to be surrounded by a small circle of disciples, and became widely famed for charity and tenderness towards the poor. St. Braulio nowhere speaks of him as monachus, but only as presbyter. Tamayo de Salazar, Martyr. Hisp. vi. 109; Esp. Sagrada, l. 2; Mabillon, saec. i.; Yepes, Chron. Benedictin. i. ann. 572; Sanchez, Poesias Cast. ant. al Siglo XV. vol. ii.
[M.A.W.]
Encratites (Ἐγκρατεῖς, Irenaeus; Ἐγκρατηταί, Clem. Alex.; Ἐγκρατῖται, Hippol.), heretics who abstained from flesh, wine, and the marriage bed, believing them essentially impure. Persons who so abstained called themselves continent (ἐγκρατεῖς, Iren. i. 28, p. 107); and the slightly modified form, Encratites, soon became a technical name to denote those whose asceticism was regarded as of a heretical character (Clem. Alex. Paed. ii. 2, p. 182; Strom. i. 15, p. 359, vii. 17, p. 900; Hippol. Ref. viii. 20, p. 276). We are not bound to suppose that all who were known by the name formed a single united sect. Irenaeus, e.g. (l.c.), says that some of the earliest of them were followers of Saturninus and Marcion; and it is reasonable to understand by this, not that they united in a single heretical body, but that, independently using the same mode of life and making the same boast of continence, they were known to the orthodox by the same name. The practice of such abstinence was older than Christianity. Not to speak of the Indian ascetics (to whom Clement of Alexandria refers
