ANTIOCH
568
ANTIOCH
occurrence sent Barnabas thither, who called Saul
from Tarsus to Antiocli (ib., 22, 25). There they
laboured for a whole year with such success that the
followers of Christ were acknowledged as forming a
distinct community, "so that at Antioch the disci-
ples were first named Christians" (ib., 26). Their
charity was exhibited by the offerings sent to the
famine-stricken brethren in Judea. St. Peter him-
self came to Antioch (Gal., ii, 11), probably about
the year 44, and according to all appearances lived
there for some time (see Peter, Saint). The com-
munity of Antioch, being composed in part of Greeks
or Gentiles, had views of its own on the character
and conditions of the new religion. There was a
faction among the disci|)les in Jerusalem which
maintained that the Gentile converts to Chris-
tianity should pass first through Judaism by sub-
mitting to the observances of the Mosaic law, such
as circumcision and the like. This attitude seemed
to close the gates to the Gentiles, and was strongly
contested by the Christians of Antioch. Their plea
for Christian liberty was defended by their leaders,
Paul and Barnabas, and received full recognition in
the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem (Acts, xv, 22-32).
Later on St. Paul defends this principle at Antioch
even in the face of Peter (Gal., ii, 11). Antioch be-
came soon a centre of missionary propaganda. It
was thence that St. Paul and his companions started
on their journey for the conversion of the nations.
The Church of Antioch was also fully organized
almost from the beginning. It was one of the few
original churches which preserved complete the cata-
logue of its bishops. The first of these bishops,
Evodius, reaches back to the Apostolic age. At a
very early date the Christian community of Antioch
became the central point of all the Christian inter-
ests in the East. After the fall of Jerusalem (,\. d.
70) it was the real metropolis of Christianity in those
countries.
In the meantime the number of Christians grew to such an extent, that in the first part of the fourth century Antioch was looked upon as practically a Christian city. Many churches were erected there for the accommodation of the worshippers of Christ. In the fourth century there was still a basilica called "the ancient" and " apostolic ". It was probably one of the oldest architectural monuments of Christianity; an ancient tradition maintained that it was originally the house of Theophilus, the friend of St. Luke (Acts, i, 1). There were also sanctuaries dedicated to the memory of the great Apostles Peter, Paul, and John. Saint Augustine speaks (Sermo, ccc, n. 5) of a "basilica of the holy Machabees" at Antioch, a famous shrine from the fourth to the sixtli century (Card. Rampolla, in " Bessarione", Rome, 1S97- 98, I-II). Among the pagan temples dedicated to Christian uses was the celebrated Temple of Fortune (Tycha;ion). In it the Christians of Antioch en- shrined the body of their great bishop and martyr Ignatius. There was also a martyTinm or memorial shrine of Babylas, a third-century martyr and bishop of Antioch, who suffered death in the reign of De- cias. For the development of Christian domestic architecture in the vicinity of tlie great city see De Voeii^, "Architecture civile et religieuse de la Syrie Centrale" (Paris, 1865-77), and the similar work of Howard Crosby Butler (New York, 1903). The very important monastic architecture of the vicinity will be described under Simeon Stvlites and Byzantine Architectuue. The Emperor Constantine (306-337) built a church there, which he adorned so riclily that it was the admiration of all contemporaries (St. John Chrys., "Hom. in Ep. ad Eph.", X, 2; Eas., "Vita Const.", Ill, 50, and "De laud. Const.", c. 9). It was completely pillaged, but not destroyed, by Chosroes in 540. The Church of Antiocli showed itself worthy of being
the metropolis of Christianity in the East. In the
ages of persecution it furnished a very large quota
of martyrs, the bishops setting the example. It may
suffice to mention St. Ignatius (q. v.) at the begin-
ning of the second century; Asclepiades under Septi-
inius Severus (193-211); and Babylas under Decius
(249-251). It produced also a number of great men,
who either in writing or otherwise distinguished
themselves in the service of Christianity. The let-
ters of the afore-mentioned St. Ignatius are very
famous. Theophilus (q. v.) wrote in the latter part
of the second century an elaborate defence and
explanation of the Christian religion. In later ages
there were such men as Flavian (q. v.), who did
much to reunite the Christians of Antioch divided
by the Arian disputes; St. John Cluysostom (q. v.),
afterwards Bishop of Constantinople, and Theodoret,
afterwards Bishop of Cyrus in Syria. Several heresies
took their rise in Antioch. In the third century
IPaul of Samosata (q. v.), Bishop of Antioch, pro-
fessed erroneous doctrines. Arianism had its original
root not in Alexandria but in the great Syrian city,
Antioch; Nestorianism sprang from it through Theo-
dore of Mopsuestia (q. v.) and Nestorius (q. v.) of
Constantinople. A peculiar feature of Antiochene
life was the frequency of conflict between the Jews
and the Christians; several grievous seditions and
massacres are noted by the historians from the end
of the fourth to the beginning of the seventh century
(Leclercq, Diet, d'arch. et de liturg. chr6t., I, col.
2396).
III. P.\triakchate of Antioch. — When the early organization of the Church was developed, the Church of Antioch, owing to its origin and influence, could not fail to become a centre of special higher jurisdiction. Traces of this power were seen in the very first ages. Towards the end of the second century Serapion Bishop of Antioch (q. v.) gave instructions on the Apocryphal Gospel of St. Peter to the Christians of Rhossus, a town not of Syria but of Cilicia. Tradition has it that the same Serapion consecrated the third Bishop of Edessa, which was then outside of the Roman Empire. The councils held alwut tlie middle of the third century in Antioch called together bishops from Syria, Palestine, Arabia, and the provinces of Eastern Asia Minor. Dionysius of Alexandria spoke of these bishops as forming the episcopate of the Orient, among whose members Demetrian of Antioch was mentioned in the first
Elace. At the Council of Ancyra (314) presided over y Bishop Vitalis of Antioch, about the same coun- tries were represented through the bishops of the principal cities. In general, the Churches in the "East", as tliis complexus of Roman provinces was known (cf. Oriens Christianus), gravitated towards the Church of Antioch, whose bishop from remote antiquity exercised a certain jurisdiction over them. This custom was sanctioned by the Council of Nica?a (325). The Fathers of this assembly decreed in the sixth canon tliat the privileges of the Church of Antioch should be maintained. According to the second canon of the Council of Constantinople (381) the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Antioch comprised, and was restricted to the civil diocese of the Orient (see Roman Empire) which included all the eastern- most provinces of the Kcmuin Enipirc. In the Coun- cil of Ephe-sus (431) the Bishojis of t*ypnis were de- clared independent of Antioch; and in that of Chalcedon (451) the three provinces of Palestine were detached from Antioch and placed under the Bishop of Jerusalem (see Cyprus). From the fore- going it is evident that, while in the early ages the jurisdiction of Antioch extended over the Christian communities in the countries outside the Roman Empire, its proper limits were Syria, Palestine, and F^astern Asia Minor. Gradually it was so restricted that by the middle of the fifth century it was con-
