EVAGRIUS SCHOLASTICUS: Early church historian; b. at Epiphania, Coele-Syria, c. 536; d. after 594. He received careful training in the schools of the grammarians and rhetoricians and settled in Antioch as a lawyer (hence his surname, Scholasticus). Here he assisted the patriarch Gregorius (569-594) in drafting briefs reports, and decrees, and successfully defended him at Con atantinople (589) when he was arraigned on the charge of grievous persecutions. From the Emperor Tiberius he obtained the rank of a quaeator; from Mauritius, that of a prefect. He is known chiefly for his "Ecclesiastical History," in six books, which is a continuation of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, extending from the Council of Ephesus (431) to the twelfth year of the reign of Mauritius (593-594). It is one of the chief sources, espe cially for the history of contemporary theological controversies, though it also takes account of the wars with the Persians and other barbarians, and, like other Byzantine chronicles, contains notices of all sorts of remarkable events (calamities, con flagrations, earthquakes, etc.). Evagrius made good use of his original sources (Euetathius of Antioch, Procopius of Cæsarea, John Malala, John of Epiphania Menander Protector, Zacharias Rhetor and others), and his judgment is discreet and impartial. Ecclesiastically orthodox, he strictly abides by the synodical decisions, and censures, in particular, every deviation from the Chalcedonian dogma. Even his great predecessor, Eusebius is not quite proof against his criticism; though Evagrius concedes that Eusebius led his readers close to the true faith, even if be did not teach them strict orthodoxy. The best edition of the history is that of J. Bidez and L. Parmentier, The Ecclesiastical History of Evttgrius, with the Scholict (London 1898); Eng. transl. in Bohn's Ecclesiastical Library in the volume with Theodoret (London, 1854).

G. Krüger..

Bibliography: Fabricius-Harlea, Bi'Sliotheca Grow, ix. 284 sqq., Hamburg, 1904; Ceillier, Auteurs sacrés, xi. 415-41B; DCB, ii. 423-424; C. de Boor, in ZKG, v (1881), 315-322, vi (1883), 482 sqq.

EVANGELIARIUM (i.e., cwtlngeliarium volume., " Gospel book "; evaregeliarius, with liter or codex

understood, is found more rarely): A book containing the appointed Gospel lectiona for church service. The collecting of the Gospel writings

221

under the name euangelion dates back to the earliest age of the Church (cf. Zahn, Kanan, i. 161 sqq.). At first separate rolls (volumirea) were united; then codices (manuscripts in which the leaves lay consecutively like a modern book) were made. This form coincides with the traditional history of the New Testament and sacred Scriptures generally, during the first centuries (cf. Victor Schultze, Rolls and Codex, in Greifstoalder Studien., Gütersloh,1895, pp. 149 sqq.). The subsequent rise of the Pericopea (q.v.) from the fourth century on led either to the attachment of an appendix to the Gospel book, in which the canonical lectiona were tabulated (lectionarium, euangelistarion, in the narrower sense), or to the formation of a new book, whose contents were exclusively the prescribed Gospel lectiona. The usual designation for such a book in the West came to be evangeliarium, in the East, euangeliatarioit (in the wider sense). Combined with the epistolare (i.e., ePistolare volumen, "the Epistle [book]," Gk. apostoloa, juraxajuostolos, " the Apostle "), which grew out of a similar process, and contained the remaining portion of the New Testament, the evangeliarium constituted the lectiorcarium or ledionarius (in the wider sense; Gk. anagnifstikon [biblion], biWon apostolihon).

Even as early as in the fourth century, the religious and ecclesiastical appreciation of the evangeliarium rose to such a degree that people regarded the same as typifying Scripture generally. Thus it was used in the administration of oaths, and it gained an established place in the ceremony of ordination, being either solemnly delivered to the candidate for orders, or held over his head during the act of blessing. Copies written in small script were worn by women and boys as a charm about the neck. It was applied to the relief of the sick, and ecclesiastical ordinances insured for it the same veneration as was accorded to sacred images. In public worship, in processions and other ecclesiastical observances, reverence was shown toward it in various ways.

This being the popular state of mind, the zealous cooperation of art is a matter of course. Beginning even in the fourth century, covers ornamented with costly stones and ivory carvings (cf. Victor Schultze, Archaeologie der altchristlichen Kunst, Munich, 1895, pp. 258 sqq.), purple parchment, gilt and silver script, and miniature painting, come into vogue on a scale of lavish luxury. The Carolingian era continued the practise, and it was tenaciously conserved by the medieval era proper. Ivory carving, enameling, and other fine arts were more and more extensively brought into requisition; and along with descriptive illustration, there is developed the art of initial painting, while marginal decoration reaches its highest perfection during the later Middle Ages and the Renaissance (cf. H. Otte, Kunstarchaologie des deutschen Mittelalters, i., Leipsic, 1883, pp. 171 sqq.; F. X. Kraus, Geschichte der christlichen Kunst, 2 vols., Freiburg, 1896-1900). Embroidered cloths (camisice evangeliorum), or artistic eases (capsce), served as protection against wear. Thus the history of the Gospel textia closely connected with religious and ecclesiastical customs and with the history of art.

Victor Schultze.

Bibliography: Consult, besides the literature mentioned in the text: C. R. Gregory, Prolegomena, ii. 887-777,

Leipsic, 1890; DCA, i. 740-745, ii. 9b3-987, 1008-1b, and the literature under Bible Text, II.