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GABLER, gitfbler, JOHANN PHILIPP: German theologian; b. at Frankfort-on-the-Main June 4, 1753; d. at Jena Feb. 17, 1828. He studied for ten years at the gymnasium of his native town, and from 1772 to 1778 was a student at Jena, -where Griesbach and Eichhorn were his teachers in theol ogy. After filling minor positions in Frankfort (1778) and Göttingen (1780), and after officiating as professor at the gymnasium at Dortmund (1783), he was called to Altdorf in 1785 as deacon and pro fessor of theology. In 1804 he was called to the University of Jena, and in 1812 he succeeded his former teacher, Griesbach, as professor of theology there. As a theological author Gabler is chiefly known by his edition of- Eichhorn's Urgeschichte, to which he added a preface and notes (2 vols., Alt dorf and Nuremberg, 179(1-83), also by.a number of Latin and German essays, several of which ap peared in his periodicals: Neuestes theologisckes Journal (1798-1800), Journal far theolo*chs Literatur (1801-04), and Journal fair auaerlesena theolooche IRteratur (1805-11). Some of these minor works are devoted to church history, and others to dogmatics, but the greater number con sist of expositions and criticisms of narratives and sayings of the New Testament. In tendency Ga bler was naturalistic and rationalistic. A collec tion of his essays, lectures, and Latin programs and speeches was published by his sons, Theodor August and Johann Gottfried Gabler (2 vols:, Ulm, 1831), with an autobiographical sketch written for EiehsWt's Annalea academia Jenensia (Jena, 1823).

(E. Hencke.)

Bibliography: W. Schr6ter. Erinnerungen as J. B. taablar, Jena, 1827; G. Thomseiue, Do& WiedersruwaAen des evangelisaAen Lebsns in der nun Sirde Bayerns, pp. 21 sqq., Erlangen, 1887.

GABRIEL SEVERUS: Greek metropolitan and theologian; b. at Monemvasia (45 m. s.e. of Sparta) 1541; d. at Venice Oct. 21, 1616. After completing his education at Padua, he resided in Crete and at Venice, where the Greek colony chose him priest of 1St. George in 1573. Four years later he was made metropolitan of Philadelphia, but continued to live at Venice. He was one of the most learned theologians of the modern Greek Church, whose claims he passionately defended against Roman Catholicism and the unionistic tendencies within his own communion. The first of his three chief works was the collection of three treatises on the honor due the sacred elements of the Eucharist, the "portions" (Gk: merides, pieces of bread set stride at the Eucharist in honor of the Virgin and the saints, and for the spiritual welfare of all orthodox Christians, whether living or dead), and the boiled wheat distributed to the congregation on certain days, generally in memory of the dead. This was first published at Venice in 1604. His second work was the "Treatise on the Holy and Sacred Mysteries" (1600), of which separate portions have been edited at various times. In its presentation the book is scholastic and not altogether free from

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unconscious approximations to Roman Catholic doctrines. The chief work of Severna is his "Exposition against those who ignorantly say and unlawfully teach that we, the true and orthodox Children of the Eastern Church, are Schismatics from the Holy and Catholic Church. 'I Of this only the first portion has been published (Ogdom scriptorum grcecorum by N. Metaxas, Constantinople, 1627). It is a polemic against. the Roman Catholics, occasioned by the charge of the Jesuits Possevino and Bellarmine that the Greek Catholics were 'heretics. In his work he seeks to show what are the differences between the Roman an Greek Churches, which is the true Church, and the proof that the Orthodox possess the true faith and are neither schismatics nor heretics. Severus wrote little except in systematic theology, although he collaborated in -Sir Henry Savile's edition of Chrysostom (Eton, 1612). Certain anecdota are given by Legrand, while some of his fetters have been edited by G. Lami, M. Crusius, and others.

(Philipp Meyer.)

Bibliography: R. Simon, Fides ecclesioa orientadia, seu Gabrielie Metropolitie Philadelphiensis, Paris, 1671; Fabricius-Harlee, Bibliotheca Grorca, ai. 625, Hamburg, 1808;. E. Legrand, Bibliographic HcWnique, Paris, 1885 sqq.