UHLICH, LEBERECHT. See Free Congregations In Germany, § 1.

ULFILAS, ul'fi-las (ULPHILAS).

Origin and Youth (§ 1).

Prominence; Missionary Activities (§ 2).

Later Years (§ 3).

Theology (§ 4).

Works; Bible Translation (§ 5).

1. Origin and Youth

Ulfilas, bishop of the Visigoths and the author of practically the sole remnants of the Gothic lan guage, was born in the region of the lower Danube about 310, and died at Constantinople in 383. His name is variously given as Vulfila by Jordanes, Gulfila, or Gilfila by Isidore, Vulphilas by Cassiodorus, Ulfila by Auxentius and Maximinus, Oulphilas by Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, and Our philas by Philostorgius and Photius, all these rep resenting the Gothic W ulfila, "Little Wolf." His grandparents came from the village of Sadagol thina, near Parnassus (probably situated on the River Halys) it, western Cappadocia, and were among the Christians taken captive by the Goths when, in 264, they ravaged Cappadocia, Galatia, and Bithynia. In their pagan surroundings these Christian captives not only remained true to the faith, but also converted many of their captors and formed communities with at least some degree of organization. Ulfilas himself seems to have been born of a Gothic father and a woman of Asia Minor, was a serf by origin, but a Christian from his very youth. According to Auxentius, he became bishop at the age of thirty, and then officiated seven years in the land of the barbarians and thirty-three in "Romania." He was well acquainted with Greek, since he was made a "reader," in which capacity he had not only to read the Scriptures during the services but in all probability also to translate and explain them to the Goths among his hearers. When about thirty years of age, he was chosen to accompany a Gothic embassy to the imperial court, where he became acquainted with Eusebius of Nicomedia, who, with other bishops there assembled, torsocrated him to the episcopate apparently at Antioch during the synod of May 22-Sept. 1, 341.

2. Prominence; Missionary Activities

But Ulfilas could labor only a brief time as "bishop of the Christians in the land of the Goths," for about seven years later the "irreligious and sacrilegious judge of the Goths" (apparently Athanarich, who termed himself almost exclusively " judge ") inaugurated a persecution so severe that the survivors were forced nence; to seek refuge in Roman territory. At the request of Ulfilas, Constantius gave them shelter in the mountains near Nicopolis in lower Moesia, not far from the modern Plevna, and appointed Ulfilas their "judge." It would seem that Ulfilas now ranked only as a Chorepiscapus (q.v.), and he is known to have been present only at the synod held at Con stantinople in Jan., 360, so that it would appear that the importance ascribed to him by Auxentius is exaggerated. Whether, in addition to his duties in the vicinity of Plevna, he found time to carry on missionary work among the Goths north of the Danube is uncertain. According to Socrates, during the reign of Valens, but before the persecution of 370-372; war broke out between the Gothic chief tains, Frithigern and Athanarich. The former, de feated, fled to Roman territory, and, aided by the emperor, returned and proved victorious. In grati tude he adopted the faith of Valens, and constrained his subjects to do likewise, while Ulfilas labored among the people of both Frithigern and Athana rich. But the latter would not tolerate the Chris tians, and in 370-372 persecuted them bitterly. After peace between Frithigern and Athanarich, Ulfilas may well rave carried on missionary work, though it would appear that he made no extensive journeys, but rather supported the cause from his mountains near Plevna. He seems to have remained associated with Frithigern, and when, in 376, the greater part of the Visigoths sought a home on Ro man soil, Ulfilas is said by Sozomen (Hist. eccl., vi. 37) to have accompanied their embassy to the court and there to have advocated their cause. Whether he maintained these friendly relations with the newcomers when they became involved in strife with the Romans is uncertain, but there is little doubt that, half-Roman by birth, and entirely Ro man in religion and education, he took sides against the Goths.

Before Rome had concluded peace with the Goths (Oct. 3, 382), however, Ulfilas himself, through no fault of his own, had become involved in war with the land he had, in all probability, served in a political as well as in an ecclesiastical capacity, with whose bishops and churches he had been on the

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most friendly terms for more than a generation; and before the issue was decided, he had passed away. The cause and progress of these events are wrapped in obscurity. From the 3. Later letter of Auxentius, the sole document Years. dealing with the death of Ulfilas, it would appear that, shortly after the council of Aquileia, Ulfilas and other bishops went to the imperial court, where, at their request, Theo dosius promised to convene another synod for the settlement of the Arian controversy. This journey apparently took place in the autumn of 381 or the winter of 381-382, and somewhat later Ulfuas was summoned by the emperor to return to Constanti nople to take part in a disputation on the problems at issue, or, in other words, to attend the synod convened at Constantinople by Theodosius in June, 383. Bishops of every shade of doctrine had already assembled when Nectarius, patriarch of Constanti nople, succeeded in preventing the open debate promised by the emperor, who, instead, required each of the theological factions to present its own creed. This done, Theodosius gave his approval to the Nicene formula, tore up the others, and sent the bishops to their homes. It would accordingly seem that Ulfilas had reached the capital in June, 383, had fallen ill shortly afterward, and, though able to take part in the deliberations of his faction con cerning the formulation of their creed, so that he himself drew up one for this purpose, had died be fore the imperial decision was received. According to Socrates (Hist. eccl., ii. 41), Ulfilas, as a pupil of the Crimgothie bishop Theophilus, was primarily an adherent of the Nicene Creed, be coming an Arian only at the synod 4. Theology. held at Constantinople early in 360. This account is followed in the main by Sozomen (Hilt, eccl., vi. 37), while Theodoret (Hist. eccl., iv. 37) makes the Arianism of Ulfilas date from 376. The Acta Nicetx, on the other hand, represent him as a true Catholic throughout his life, and as the founder of none but orthodox communi ties among the Goths. The creed drawn up by Ulfilas himself runs thus: " I, Ulfilas, bishop and confessor, have ever thus believed, and in this sole true faith I pass unto the Lord: I believe that there is one only God, unbegotten and invisible; and in his only begotten Son, our Lord and God, creator and maker of every creature, not having his like. Therefore, God is one, who is also God of our God. And in one Holy Ghost, virtue illuminating and sanctifying . , neither God nor Lord, but the [faithful] minister of Christ, not equal, but subject and obedient in all things to the Son; and the Son subject and obedient in all things to God the Fa ther." Of the following lines of this creed only the words " through Christ " and " by the Holy Ghost," as well as a few letters, have survived. It is clear, however, that Ulfilas was unconscious of ever hav ing changed his theological position, and the state ments of Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, and the Acts Nicene must, therefore, be rejected. On the other hand, the creed seems to contain no clue as to the anti-Nicene group in which Ulfilas is to be reckoned. But the very fact that Ulfilas avoids all reference to the essence shows that he was a ho-

moian. This is borne out by a number of other facts: Auxentius testifies that he " said the Son was like the Father . . . according to the divine Scriptures and traditions "; he was one of the fortysix bishops who condemned and deposed tEtius at Constantinople early in 360; his pupil Auxentius, his partizans Palladius of Ratiaria, Secundianus, Demophilus of Berea, and Maximinus, and his successor Selinas were all homoians, as was the entire Gothic church. It is true that the homoians first appeared as a distinct faction at a synod held at Sirmium in 357; but the rapidity with which they became dominant along the lower Danube shows that their views had there long met favor, so that they were speedily adopted officially by the majority of the bishops. The homoian rejection of every dogma, that could not be proved from the Bible won the hearty support of such a conservative and traditionalist as Ulfilas, who, as Auxentius tells, regarded the Nicene Creed as a "devilish innovation," sided with the anti-Nicene party at Antioch in 341, and, when the tEtians and homoousians began to draw apart, joined the homoians, whose watchword was "according to the Scriptures." Herein he could follow not merely. his own inclination, but the example of almost all the bishops and churches of the Danube regions, where Arianism of this sort was so firmly intrenched that orthodoxy was forced to struggle with it until late in the fifth century.

Auxentius reports that Ulfilas " proved by sermons and treatises that there is a difference between the divinity of the Father and of the Son. He preached continually in the one and only Church of Christ in the Greek, Latin, and Gothic tongues,

and he also left behind him 'a number g. Works; of .treatises and many interpretations Bible in these same three languages." None Translation. of these.. productions has survived

under the name of Ulfilas, although it is not impossible that fragments may be included among the numerous remnants of Arian (or, rather, homoian) literature that are still extant. A number of works-the fragments of a homoian commentary on Luke (ed. A. Mai, Nova collectio, iii. 2, pp. 191 207, 10 vols., Rome, 1825-38) and of the Opus im perfectum in Matth,ceum, and the Gothic Skeireins aiwaggeljons t3uxir)x Johannen (" Interpretation of the Gospel according to John ")-have indeed been ascribed to him, but on insufficient basis. The sole fragment of Ulfila,a now extant is his incomplete confession of 383, and even this was probably written in Greek, not in Latin, as it now stands. The fame of Ulfilas is chiefly due, however, to two facts: his creation of a Gothic alphabet from modifications and adaptations of the Greek, Latin, and runic alphabets; and his Gothic translation of the Bible. Philostorgius and Socrates exaggerate his services when they ascribe to him the absolute invention of this new script; but there is little doubt that he formed it expressly to commit to writing his version of the Bible. This was intended primarily for the liturgy, not, for private devotion; and as there were then no lectionaries, he was obliged to translate the entire Bible. How far he was able to execute this plan is unknown. Philo-

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storgius states that he intentionally omitted I, II Samuel and I, II Kings because their warlike contents rendered them too. stimulating for so mar tial a people as the Goths; but this is improbable, and simply means that those four books were still missing from the Gothic Bible in the second quarter of the fifth century. Only the extant fragments of the Gospels can be referred with any certainty to the hand of Ulfilas; for these would naturally have been the first for him to undertake, while their uni formity of style points to a single author. In method he adhered strictly to his Greek original, sacrificing clarity to accuracy, and adopting a literary Gothic which disregarded the vernacular and admitted Hellenisms without scruple. The frag ments are utterly devoid of poetic inspiration, and in their rigid form reveal the habits to which Ulfilas had become accustomed by his long years as an interpreting reader in the services. His work can not be compared with that of Jerome in the Vulgate; if any parallel be sought, it must be with the old Slavic version, which is of the same type and character. See Bible Versions, A, X. The praises heaped on Ulfilas by Auxentius, Max iminus, and Philoatorgius are essentially partizan in spirit; and even the exclamation of Constantius (recorded only by Philostorgius), that Ulfilas was "the Moses of our time," alludes only to his lead ing the confessors from Gothic territory during the persecution of 348-349. The best evidence of his importance is the endeavor of historians of the fifth century to claim him for orthodoxy, though it is difficult to say whether the motive here is because he was a bishop and a primate, or a confessor. Equally exaggerated are the modern assertions that his translation of the' Bible enabled the Germans to be at once Christians and Teutons, that he created a school of Gothic Arian church-leaders, and that the Arian creed of the Gothic church and all her Teutonic off shoots were due to him. The time has not yet come for final decision on the importance of Ulfilas in history.

(H. Böhmer.)

Bibliography: The works named under Bible Versions, A, X., usually contain introductions on the life of Ulfilas, and for his work are important. Sources are: (1) Arlan authors: Auxentius, EpiaEula de fide, vita et obitu Ulfela;, included in G. Waltz, Ueber das Leben und die Lehre den UlfeEa, Hanover, 1840, and in F. Kauffmann, Aus der Schule den Wulfi.la, Strasburg, 1899; and Philostorgius, Hist. eccl., ii. 5 (for editions see under PfIILOSTORGIBB); (2) Orthodox authors: Socrates, HisE. eccl., fi. 41, iv. 24; Sozomen, Hist. eccl., iv. 24, vi. 37; Theodoret, Hist. eccl., iv. 37 (all these are in Eng. transl. in NPNF, 2 aer., Yols. ii.-iii.); Jordanis, Getica, li. 267, in MGM, Auct. ant., v. 1 (1882),127; and Isidore of Seville, Chronicon, cccl., in MGM, Auct. ant., xi (1894), 489, cf. pp. 270-271 (from the HisEoria Gotorum). Consult further: the work of G. Waltz, ut sup.; W. Krafft, Doe Anfiinge des Christentums bei den. germanisches YGlkern, Berlin, 1854; W. Bessell, Ueber das Le6en den Ulfilas und die Bekehrung der Goten zum Christentum, Göttingen, 1880; W. L. Krafft, De Jonti bus Ulfila' Arianismi, Bonn, 1860; E. Bernhardt, Wulfila oder die potische Bibel, Halle, 1875; C. P. V. Kirchner, Die Abstammung des UlfiZas, Chemnitz, 1879; P. Schaff, Com panion to the Greek Testament, pp. 160-163, New York, 1883; C. A. A. Scott, Ulfilas, Apostle of the Gotha, London, 1885; W. Streitberg, Gotisch,es Elementar6uch, pp. 9 sqq., Heidelberg, 1906; Stamm, Ulfilas, 11th ed. by F. Wrede, pp. avii. sqq., 281 sqq., Paderborn, 19¢8; Cambridge Medieval History, i. 212-213, New York, 1911; ADB, zliv. 270 sqq.