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belonging to his stanch supporter, Senator Festus, and became an ascetic.

Brar.rocaerar: Sources are: La'ber pontificalis, ed. L. Duchesne, i. 44 sqq., 280, Paris, 1886, and ed. Mommsen, in MGH, Gest. Pont. Rom. i (1898), 120; Theodorus Lector, in MPG, lxccvi. 1, pp. 189-190; MGH., Auct. ant., ix (1891), 324, xii (1894), 393 sqq.; and the " Letters" in Epistoln;Roman.orum pontifcum gennino:, ed. A. Thiel, i. 639 sqq., Braunsberg, 1867. Consult further: Jal£e, Regesta, i. 96; A. von Reumont, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, ii. 38, Berlin, 1888; Vogel, in Historische Zeitschrift, i (1883), 400 sqq.; J. Langen, Geschichte der romischen Kirche, ii. 219 sqq., Bonn, 1885; F. Gregorovius, Hist, of the City of Rome, i. 317-321, London, 1894; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, ii. 625 sqq., Eng. transl., iv. 49 sqq., Fr. transl., pp. 947 sqq., Bower, Popes, i. 296-309; Plat-, Popes, i. 116-118; Milman, Latin Christianity, i. 350351, 416-423.

SYMMACHUS: Translator of the Old Testament into Greek. See B1s1,E VESRIONB, A, L, 2, § 2.

SYMPHORIANUS, sim-fer"i-g'nus: A Gallic martyr of the reign of Marcus Aurelius; d. probably in 180. He was a native of Autun,and is described as a youth of distinguished appearance and excellent education. Having refused to do homage to the statue of Berecynthia (Cybele), he was carried before the prefect Heraclius,who tried to subdue him by threats and torture, and finally had him beheaded outside the walls.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: The early Acta, with commentary, are in ASB, August, iv. 491-498. Consult further: C. L. Dinet, Saint Symphorien et son cults, 2 vols., Autun, 1861; K. J. Neumann, Der romische Staat and die alZpemeine Kirche, i. 303-304, Leipsic, 1890; DCB, iv. 753; Ceillier, Auteurs saeres, i. 472-473,x. 358, xii. 327, 832, 834, uii. 21; Neander, Christian Church, i. 108, 115.

SYNAGOGUE.

Number, Location, Structure, Furnishings (§ 2). Officers (§ 3).

Shema, Benediction, Shemoneh 'Esreh, Prayers (§ 1). Scripture Reading, Sermon (§ 2).

I. The Institution: Synagogue is the term applied to the Jewish local houses of worship which arose probably during the Babylonian exile and are still in common use. In the Mishnaand later they were called " houses of assemr.Name, bling," or a term shortened in the Origins, Aramaic from that; there was also in Purpose. use the expression "house of teaching." The Greek word synagoge,often employed in the New Testament, means both " assembly "and " house of assembly "; equivalent terms are " place of prayer " (I Mace. iii. 46),

simply " prayer " (cf. Acts xvi. 13), synagogion and proseukterion (the last two used by Philo). The need to appoint special places and to build houses for common worship seems not to have been felt before the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadrezzar, that is, so long as the Temple of Solomon stood with its centralizing of the sacrificial cultus. While it may be concluded from II Kings iv. 23 that the pious on feast-days assembled at the place of dwelling of a prophet who lived in the neighborhood, it is clear that this did not become a firmly established institution. That the T argums (e.g., Pseudo-Jonathan on Ex. xviii. 20; Judges v. 9; Isa. i. 13) speak of synagogues as an early institution is an example of the habit of the Targums to attribute unhistorically to earlier times what belonged only to later. During the exile the people had neither Temple nor sacrifice. There remained only their attention to the words of Ezekiel and other men of God, the Sabbath, and prayer in common. Whether during the exile houses for such meetings were already appointed can not be determined. It may be taken as correct, however, that the need produced by the exile led up to common services of worship which did not cease after the exile had come to an end. Another motive contributed to this end. The law, transgression of which in earlier times had led to so severe punishment, became now the determinative norm, knowledge of it the one condition of the continued favor of God, its study a profitable engagement. Reading and explanation of this law was the chief business of the post-exilic assemblages of the people

prayer and instruction in the prophetic word and in history were secondary to this. The purpose of learning to know the law could be accomplished only by regular recurrence of meetings. Naturally the day chosen was the Sabbath. This regularity of meeting together led as a matter of course to the appointment of definite places. The earliest mention of synagogues is in Ps. Ixxiv. 8, which may belong to the period of Artaxerxes III. Ochus (359338 D.C.) [now usually assigned to the early Maccabean period]; the expression used in that passage can hardly be understood of anything else than of houses of assembling for divine worship, and with this agrees Acts xv. 21. Josephus mentions synagogues seldom and only casually. It may be concluded from the mention by Josephus (War, VIL, iii. 3) of a synagogue in Antioch as first coming into existence in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes that he does not mean to claim so late an origin for them in Palestine.

At the time of Christ and the apostles there was at least one synagogue in each city of any size in Palestine (at Capernaum, Mark i. 21; Nazareth,

Mark vi. 2). In Jerusalem at least the

a. Number, more important, if not all, divisions of Location, the city had their own synagogues.

Furnishiags.torical in declaring (Megilla, iii., beginning, folio 73d) that there were 480 synagogues in the city, or 460 according to another reading. Also most of the cities of Syria, Asia Minor, Egypt, and Greece which contained any considerable number of Jews had one or more eyna-