ZACHARIAS SCHOLASTICUS (RHETOR) Bishop of Mitylene and ecclesiastical writer; b. at Majuma, the port of Gaza; d. probably before 553. The assumption of this article is that Zacharias Scholasticus, Zacharias Rhetor, and Zacharias, brother of Procopius,are one and the same personal ity. His own writings show that his father's house was near the monastery of Peter the Iberian, and that the family was large, that one brother was a monk and a physician, and that facilities for study were furnished the sons.' Zacharias studied in Alex andria (probably 485-487) at the time when Petrus Mongus (q.v.) was there as archbishop. He came into relations with Severus of Antioch at that place, and a friendship sprang up between them. He was baptized there, was earnest in performance of re ligious duties, and took part in the actions of the Christian students against the idolaters. He re garded the monks with respect, but thought his brother Stephen too delicate to endure the monastic life. After a short visit at home, he went to Berytus in 487 to pursue studies in law, where Leontius, son of Eudoxius, was one of his teachers, and perhaps also Diodorus; he also read diligently in the Church Fathers. He emphasizes the fact that he held aloof from the bishop of Phenicia, since he held with the monks in Egypt and Palestine, i.e., was a straight Monophysite. With all his strong piety Zacharias did not become a monk, as did so many of his ac quaintances, in this matter probably following-both his father's wish and his own disinclination for that mode of life. In this he seems to have been con firmed by the advice of Peter the Iberian. After his studies were completed, he returned..home, but soon after, possibly in 492, he was settled in Con stantinople as an advocate, and the two names of Scholasticus ("advocate ") and Rhetor (" plead er ")are explained by his vocation there. He seems soon to have gained an enviable position, though knowledge of his exact estate is not known because of ignorance of the significance of terms expressing functions. He appeals at any rate as an assessor of the emperor's chancellor or comes patrimonii, and is once addressed as "high chancellor." The position of advocate was a step toward higher state offices. Among his friends were men of influence, such as the eunuch Eupraxius and Misael,both marked for piety and also interested in ecclesiastical affairs. Zacharias did not neglect ecclesiastical opportuni ties, and when Severus visited the capital, the two came into close relationship. A speedy change from worldly to ecclesiastical position was not unusual at that time. In 527 Zacharias was still a layman (his writing against the Ma niche ans could not have been composed before that time); in 536 he had taken part in the synod at Constantinople as bishop of Mitylene. He attended as a delegate for whom it was the unpleasant duty to summon the Patriarch Anthimus to answer before the fathers; he took part in the discussion and agreed to the condemna tion of Anthimus. He heartily favored the Heno ticon of Zeno (see Henoticon), and denounced the fanatical exclusiveness of the Alexandrians. Of his later years nothing is known, not even the date of his death. At the fifth ecumenical council of 553 Mitylene was represented by the Metropolitan Palladius.

Zacharias was the author of a number of writings: (1) A church history is contained in Syriac in Cod. Mus. Brit. Add. 17, 202, ed. in Anzcdota Syriaca, J. P. N. Land (3 vols., Leyden, 1870); K. Ahrens and G. Krüger (Leipsic, 1899; in German with notes, introduction, and commentary); and F. J. Hamilton and E. W. Brooks, The Syriac Chronicle Known as that of Zachariah of Mitylene (London, 1899). The "Church History" is only books iii. to vi. out of a composite work in twelve books, which was a universal history from creation to the author's (editor's?) time (568-569), and deals with the period 450-491, not claiming, however, to continue the "history" of Socrates, Sozomen, or Theodoret. The author's horizon is limited to Alexandria and Palestine, and contains sources of great value which Evagrius (q.v.) used. It must have been written before 515. The general work was used by Michael the Syrian and Bar Hebrxus, who regard it as the work of Zacharias, whom they designate bishop of Mitylene. Zacharias wrote also a life of Several, patriarch of Antioch (editions are: Syriac by J. Spanuth, Göttingen, 1893; Syriac and French by M. A. Kugener, Paris, 1903), which aims to disprove the charges of idolatry made against Severus, and is an account of the times possessing great value. He wrote accounts of Peter the Iberian, Theodore of Antinoe in Egypt, and of the Egyptian ascetic Isaiah, of which only the last is extant (ed. Land in Anecdota Syriaca, ut sup.; E. W. Brooks, in CSCO, 3 ser., xxv. 1-16, Paris, 1907). Polemic writings of Zacharias are: De mundi opificio (ed. J. F. Boissonade, Paris, 1836; MPG, lxxxv. 1011-1144), a dialogue between the author and a pupil of the Alexandrian philosopher Ammonius, in which appear also Ammonius and a physician, whose arguments are contested (the De immortalitste animce of lEneas of Gaza is the model); a treatise against certain writings by a Manichean (editions: Demetrakopulos, Bibliotheca ecclesiastics, pp. 1-18, Leipsic, 1866; J. B. Pitra, Analecta sacra, v. 67-70, Paris, 1888). A manuscript in Moscow has a preface, not by the author, which explains the title: The work was composed while Zacharias was still a layman and is to be brought into connection with the edict of 527 concerning the Manicheans. It appears that the author had written "Seven Chapters" against the Manicheans before this. What remains in the manuscripts can be but a fragment.

(G. Krüger.)

Bibliography: W. Cave, Historia litteraria, i. 462, 579, Basel, 1741; K. Seitz, Die Schule von Gaza, Heidelberg, 1892; M. A. Kugener, in Revue de Z'arient chr6tien, v (1900), 201-214, 461-480; idem, in ByzanEische Zeitschrift, is (1900), 464-470; H. Griaar, Hist. of Rome and the Popes in the Middle Ages, i. 67, 102, London, 1911.