Rabbula

RABBULA, ra´bu-la (RABULAS): Bishop of Edessa 411–435. He was born at Ginnesrin (Chalcis) in Syria of a heathen father and Christian mother, and was baptized in the Jordan. His name signifies "chief shepherd." He was the predecessor and opponent of Ibas, and a decided supporter of the Synod of Ephesus, 432. He was described as a bishop whom his flock both feared and loved, a second Josiah in his zeal for the Church, destroying the synagogue of the Bardesanites and the chapel of the Arians, conquering the Marcionites by patience and the Manicheans by wisdom, and procuring peace by removing Borborians, Audians, Sadducees, and Messalians, until the heresy of Nestorius again caused dissension. On the question whether the building which he changed into a chapel of St. Stephen was a synagogue of the Jews or place of worship of the Audians cf. Hillier in T U, ix. 1 (1892), 106. His writings refer chiefly to matters of church discipline and rules for monks and clerics. Fragments of his correspondence with Andrew of Samosata, Gemellinus of Perrhi, and Cyril of Alexandria (q.v.) are extant. He translated the treatise of the last-named on the Incarnation (cf. Bedjan, Acta martyrum, v. 628–696, Paris, 1895; MPG, lxxvi. 1144, and Guidi, in Rendiconti dei Lincei. May–June, 1886, pp. 416, 546). There are known also some church hymns, which seem to be translated from the Greek, and a sermon preached at Constantinople on the question whether the Virgin may be called theotokos. It seems certain that the revision of the New Testament which is ascribed to him by his biographer, is the Peshito (cf. Journal of Theological Studies, vii. 2; Studia Biblica et Ecclesiastica, v. 231, 1903; and see Bible Versions, A.,III. Cf. also F. C. Burkitt, Early Eastern Christianity, London, 1904). Whether he is the person mentioned in the Syriac inscription "Rabbula made the throne; his memory be blessed" (Littmann, Semitic Inscriptions, 1905) is not easily decided.

E. Nestle.

Bibliography: The prose writings are in Germ. transl. by Bickell in Thalhofers Bibliothek der Kirchenväter, x. 153–271, Kempten, 1875. Consult: J. S. Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis, i. 198, Rome, 1719; Bar Hebræus, Nomocanon, in A. Mai, Scriptorum veterum nova collectio, vol. x., Rome, 1838 (contains numerous quotations); Tillemont, Mémoires, xiv. 504–506, 563–565; Ephraemi Syri, Rabulæ episcopi Edesseni, Balæi, aliorumque opera selecta, ed. J. J. Overbeck, pp. 152–248, 362–378, Oxford, 1865; G. Hoffmann, Verhandlungen der Kirchenversammlung zu Ephesus, 449, Kiel, 1873; F. Lagrange, in Science catholique, Sept., 1888; R. Duval, La Littérature Syriaque, pp. 341–343, Paris, 1900. The "life" is in P. Bedjan, Acta martyrum et sanctorum, iv. 398–460, Paris, 1894; cf. L. Köhler, in Schweizerische theologische Zeitschrift, xxv (1908), 210–224 (begins a series of studies in Syriac literature with a sketch of Rabbula); and especially the work of Burkitt named in the text; also O. Bardenhewer, Patrologie, pp. 323–324, 347–348, Freiburg, 1901. The sketch in DCB, iv. 532–534 is very full.