Symbolics.
1. Creeds and Confessions.
Original Idea of Symbol (§ 1).
The Rule of Faith (§
2).
I. Creeds and Confessions: The term symbol is
used in a twofold sense; for the pictorial repre
sentation of religious ideas (see MYs
I.
Original
TAGOGICAL THEOLOGY; SYMBOLISM,
Idea of
ECCLESIASTICAL),
and for the au
Symbol. thoritative ecclesiastical formulations
of religious doctrines. This article is
to be restricted to the latter class of symbols, other
wise styled the church creeds or confessions. From
them the theological discipline styled " symbolics "
and mostly pursued in Protestantism has derived
its name. The custom of designating as symbols
the formulas by which Christian faith has expressed
itself in history took its origin in referring to
that formula as a symbol by which, in the ancient
Church, the candidates for baptism were wont to
confess their faith. It began with " I believe,"
being therefore decidedly individual and personal.
Of its many names one was simply that of " the
faith." In the East " the lesson " (to
mathema)
was sometimes employed, but seldom " the con
fession of faith." The designation of the baptismal
confession as " symbol " originated in the West;
in the East it appeared relatively late. The term
is first found in Tertullian (Adv.
Marcionem, v. 1).
The Latin Church borrowed the term from the
secular Greek. Derived from
symballein ("
to com
pare "),
symbolon
may be applied to whatever sig
nifies a means of recognition or identification, a
sign, a watchword, a comparison or agreement.
The equivalents in Latin are
signum, nota, indicium,
tessera, pactum;
some of the older Latin theol0-
SYMBOLICS.
Western Development (§
3).
Change of Attitude in the West (§ 4).
Post-Reformation Creeds (§ 5).
Sword
Symbolics
of Ancona, 1170 or 1174; d. at his monastery on
Monte Fano near Fabriano, 45 m. s.w. of Ancona,
Nov. 26, 1267). After studying at Padua and
Bologna and being canon in his native city, he re
tired, about 1227, to the Grotta fucile near Osimo.
Here his piety attracted so many pupils and fol
lowers, that about 1231 he established a monas
tery for them on Monte Fano. The congregation
was approved by Innocent IV. (June 27, 1247), and
spread especially in Umbria, Tuscany, and Ancona.
In 1662-67 the Sylvestrins were united with the
order of Vallombrosa, and in 1688 their rule was
revised, approval being given by Alexander VIII.
in 1690. The congregation was directed by a gen
eral, elected by the chapter general quadrennially,
and represented at Rome by a procurator-general,
whom he appointed triennially. The habit is dark
blue, and that of the general, who may wear epis
copal vestments, is violet. The order is now very
small in numbers, although it has monasteries in
Rome and other parts of Italy, and an active mis
sion in Ceylon. (A.
HAUCK.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.
Fabrini,
Breve Chronica delta Congregaxione dei Monachi Silvestrini,
Camerino, 1618, new ed.,
ed. A. Morosi and A. Lacantovi, Rome, 1706; the " Constitution " was printed at Camerino, 1610, and Rome,
1690; Helyot,
Ordres monastiques, vi.
170 sqq.; Heimbucher,
Orden and Kongregationen, i. 277-279; KL, xi.
1039-41.
II. Comparative Symbolics.
Nature, Scope, and History (§ 1).
Konfessionskunde (§
2).
gians, such as Rufinus, rendered it by collatio, confusing the Greek
symbole
and
symbolon.
The latter
attached his interpretation to the legend that the
primitive creed was composed jointly by the Apostles, each contributing one sentence. Cyprian
(Epist., Ixix [Lxxv.] 7;
Eng. transl.,
ANF, v. 399)
is a sure witness of the application of " symbol "
to the baptismal confession. In what sense it was
applied is open to explanation; it was probably
used as a general token of recognition, although
different views are held on this point, according to
the diverse theories of the origin of the creed itself.
The view of the present writer is that all the formulas found in the primitive Church go back to the
creed known as the old Roman (designated as R
in this article); that this creed was composed in
Rome at one time, as the expression of the summary of faith at the period of its date, probably
about 100, but rather earlier than later; and that
it was composed for liturgical and catechetical purposes, butnotastheoutcome of polemical antagonism
to heresy, as is the view advocated by A. C. McGiffert
(The Apostles' Creed,
New York,
1902).
The latter
considers R the fundamental formula, indeed, but
one composed by the Roman Church during the
struggle with Marcion. Loofs doubts the hypothesis of a single " mother-formula," and traces the custom of making the catechumens recite a creed (which
was substantially the same everywhere, though not
identical in phraseology) to Asia Minor, if not to the
primitive churches of Palestine and Syria.
It may at least, however, be taken as proved
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226 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Synergism
Synesfus .
when he criticized the same as indicative of Mani-
chean error and sophisms.
Support of Strigel
In the mean time Victorinus Strigel (q.v.) as
sumed the defense of Melanchthon at Jena. He
had successively sought to prevent the severity and
the adoption of the Book of Confutations, and now Duke Johann Friedrichcalled for a disputation between
Flacius and Strigel, which occurred at
Weimar Aug. '2-8, 1560. For Flacius conversion
was the awakening in brief time of the sinner to re-
pentance and his endowment with faith, while the
will remains passive. For Strigel, conversion was
the development of the state of grace continuously
through life, embracing the "perpetual repentance,
governance, and conservation," the beginning and
growth of the spiritual life. According to Flacius
a new will is originated by the "gift of faith"
capable of spiritual motives. According to Strigel
the human will enters into coordinate action with
the inception of conversion, and to every spiritual
activity there is a corresponding exercise of human
will. The disputation was suspended without judg-
ment by the duke, who thought to bring the matter
before a synod. The attitude of the court, at first
favorable to Flacius, underwent a gradual change,
and in spite. of Flacius' fanning of the flames and of
his increasing clamor to secure the condemnation
of his rival the duke simply demanded a declaration
of doctrine from both (ut sup., pp. 322 sqq.). Be-
fore the end of 1561, Flacius and his associates were
driven from Jena. In his
Declaratio of Mar. 3, 1562
(ut sup., p. 591), Strigel distinguished between the
"power" or "efficacy" (lost in the fall) to con-
sider, will, and execute what is well-pleasing to God,
and the "capacity" for the divine calling which
marks the rational man from the other creatures,
by which he remains capable of assenting to the
Word through the Holy Spirit and of retaining
the acquired blessing of grace. This was adopted
and Strigel was restored to his professorship. The
Declaratio meeting with opposition from the clergy,
the visitator Johann Stoessel supplemented it by a
mitigating
Superdeclaratio requiring only condi-
tional signature. This only served to intensify the
quarrel, so that the refractory clergy were removed,
and Strigel, dissatisfied with the
Superdeclaratio, in
disgust withdrew from the discussion of free will
and retired to Leipsic. See further STRIGEL, VIC-
TORINUS; STOESSEL, JOHANN; FLACIUS, MATTHIAS.
With the reign of Duke Johann Wilhelm Gnesio
Lutheranism entered, and with it stress upon the
"Book of Confutation" as a doctrinal norm. As
the Wittenberg theologians broke off the discus-
sions at the Altenburg Colloquy, Oct. 21, 1568-
Mar. 9, 1569, the Jena theologians had to be con
tent with a protest in writing consisting of the old
objections. The Formula of Concord (q.v.) cast its
decision against the Philippists (q.v.) but rejected
the language of Flacius identifying original sin with
substance as a Manichean error.
(G. KAwERAU.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Consult the articles in this work on Matthias
Flacius, Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, Johann
Pfeffinger, Philippists, Augustus Gottlieb Spangenberg,
Johann Stigelius, Johann Stoessel, Victorinus Strigel, and
Will, as also the literature given thereunder. In addition
to the matter thus indicated, consult: H. Heppe,
Geschichte des deutschen Protestantismus 1666-81, 4 vols., Marburg,
1853-59; idem,
Dogmatik des deutschen Protestantismus im
16. Jahrhundert, Gotha, 1857; A. Beck,
. Johann Friedrich der Mittlere, 2 vols., Weimar, 1858; F: H. R. Frank,
Theologie der Konkordienformel, vol. i., Erlangen, 1858; C. E. Luthardt,
Die Lehre vom freien Willen, Leipsie, 1863; Flotow,
De
synergismo Melanthonis, Wratislaw, 1867; E. F. Fischer,
Melanchthons Lehre von der Bekehrung, Tübingen,
1905; F. Loofs,
Leitfaden zum Studium >der Dogmengeschichte, 4th ed., Halle,
1906.
SYNESIUS, si-ni'shi-us, OF CYRENE: Bishop of
Ptolemais; b. at Cyrene in the Libyan Pentapolis
between 370 and 375; d. before 415. He prided
himself upon his descent from a royal stock, as the
descendant of Eurysthenes, one of the Heraclides,
who led the Dorians to Sparta. Eager for classical
learning, he went to Alexandria to study poetry,
rhetoric, and philosophy under Hypatia. After returning home, although still young he became the
head, of a deputation from the Pentapolis to the
Emperor Arcadius to secure release from certain
onerous conditions of taxation. About 399 or 400
he traveled to Constantinople, where the eunuch
Eutropius was ruling the incompetent emperor and
the empire; he remained there three years, waiting
a year before he could obtain audience. He then
delivered before Arcadius and the court his celebrated oration "Concerning Kingship " (MPG,
lxvi. 1053-1108), in which he showed the difference
between a tyrant and a king ruled by the fear of
God, and portrayed the departure from the old
Roman simplicity in affectation of oriental ostentation and ceremony. He uttered a patriotic protest
against the entrusting of the empire to irresponsible
and dangerous foreigners, just then emphasized by
the outbreak of the Goths under Tribigild in Asia
Minor, with whom Gainas made common cause soon
after and compelled the banishment of three noted
statesmen, among them Synesius' friend Aurelian.
This situation Synesius described in a historical
romance (MPG, lxvi. 1209-1282). By 402 he had
achieved the results he sought for his native city,
and returned home, describing his journey in a letter
(MPG, lxvi. 1328 sqq.). He next visited Athens
and Alexandria (402-404) for further study, and
then divided his time between his home in Cyrene
and his country estate, where he occupied himself
in rural occupations and leisurely study, having a
distaste for public occupations. At times he was
engaged in defense of his estates, against the incursions of tribes from the interior. In 403 he married
a Christian woman. He engaged in an extensive correspondence; though bewailing that he was in unphilosophical surroundings, he produced in his " On the Dream " (MPG ut sup., 1281-1320) a statement of his ideal of philosophical culture; his
Dion, e peri
tes kath' heauton diagoges is a defense of the same.
It is a remarkable fact that such a man should a
few years later be called to work in public as a
bishop. No trace in his life or writings up to this
point suggests that he was a Christian, though he
knew Christianity well. . He may have witnessed
the fanaticism which in 392 destroyed the Serapion
at Alexandria, as at Constantinople he did not escape
the activities of a Chrysostom. He had sung of the
Christian temples as sanctuaries of the serving gods
and spirits whom the All-ruler had clothed with
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Marcus Eugenicus of Ephesus, a strictly orthodox
anti-unionist. According to his own account, he
detested the whole journey, did not expect success,
became involved in conflict with the patriarch and
even the emperor, and obstinately refused his
assent to the agreement; only the demand and threat
of the emperor induced him to sign, and this he
counted a weakness. After his return to
Constantinople his concessions at the synod occasioned
bitter attacks. He then retired from his activity and
gave an account of this important experience in a
work bearing perhaps the title as "Recollections of
the Council of Florence." It is of great value as a
source, being the work of a participant in the events.
Though partizan, it reveals a series of relationships
and developments which otherwise would have
remained unknown. The author tries to prove that
a real harmony could not be attained, but that the
leading personalities, the pope, Bessarion, the
patriarch, and the emperor, together with some other
spokesmen, approached each other more closely until
the urgent position of the Greeks decided the issue.
Syropulus justly calls the result a mediating pact,
instead of a union.
In 1642 Claudius Serrarius, the learned senator
in Paris, had the work of Syropulus copied from a
codex of the Bibliotheca regia (N. 1247) and sent
the manuscript to Isaak Vossius for publication.
The English minister, Robert Creighton, chaplain at
the court of Charles II. and subsequently bishop
of Bath, was entrusted with the work; he undertook
the publication of the Greek text together with a
Latin translation under the title, Vera historia
unionis non verae inter Graecos et Latinos, sive
Concilii Florentini exactissima narratio graece scripta per
Sylvestrum Sguropulum (The Hague, 1660).
Unfortunately the edition is incomplete since the whole
of the first book was missing in the Paris codex,
but the beginning may perhaps still be supplied
from manuscript.
(PHILIPP MEYER.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
L. Allatius. In R. Creyghtoni apparatum
ad historiam concilii Florentine, part i., Rome, 1665,
also 1674; Fabricius-Harles, Bibliotheca Graeca, xi. 711,
Hamburg, 1808; Hefele. Conciliengeschichte, vol. vii,
passim; idem, in TQ, xxix (1847); O. T. Frommann,
Kritische Beitrage zur Geschichte der Florentiner Kircheneinigung,
Halle, 1872; A. C. Demetracopulos, Graecia orthodoxa,
p. 109, Leipsic. 1872; KL, xi. 1154-55.
