Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/824

 ZENONOPOLIS

756

ZEPHYRINtJS

(from hia Summa Historialis, tit. X, cap. xii) ; (3) that by the monk Blassius (from a Florentine MS.); that by Laurence, Archbishop of Amalfi (1040-1048): and varioua narratives of the translation of his body. See also Gams, Series episcoporum (Ratisbon, 1873). 747; Butler, Lives of the Saints, X (London, 1814), 436-438; HoRNEH, Walks in Florence (London, 1873), I, 5, 79, 118, 177; IL 177.

D. O. Hdnter-Blair.

Zenonopolis, titular see of Asia Minor, suffragan of Seleucia Trachaea in Isauria. The abbreviated form used in the Roman Curia is Zenopolis. It was the native village of Emperor Zeno, and was formerly known as Codissos. In the "Notitia Episcopatuum" of Antioch (sixth century) Zenonopolis is among the suffragans of Seleucia (Echos d'Orient, X., 145). About 732 the province of Isauria was joined to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and ZenopoUs appears about 940 in the " Not it ia Episcopatuum" of Constan- tine Porphyrogenitus, but is situated in Pamphylia (Georgius Cyj^rius, "Deseriptio Orbis Romani", ed. Gelzer, 1606). The city is again mentioned by George of Cyprus in the seventh century (op. cit., 847) and by Constantine Porphyrogenitus (De The- mat., I, 13) as a city of the DecapoUs. Le Quien (Oriens Christ., II, 1033) mentions two bishops: EuIaUus, present at the Council of Constantinople, 681; Marcus, at that of Nice, 787. Gennadius, who assisted at the fifth council, .5.53, as bishop of Zeno- nopolis in Pamphylia, was very probably a prelate of this see (Mansi, "Concil. Coll"", IX, 176, 393). Zeno- nopolis is to-day Isnebol in the caza of Ermenek and the vilayet of Adana (Ramsay, "Asia Minor," 365). It must not be confounded with another of the same name situated in Lycia. S. Vailhe.

Zeno of Elea, Greek philosopher, b. at Elea, about 490 B. c. At his birthplace Xenophanes and Par- menides had estabhshed the metaphysical school of philosophy known as the Eleatic School. The chief doctrine of the school was the oneness and immut- ability of reality and the distrust of sense-knowledge which appears to testify to the existence of multiplic- ity and change. Zeno's contribution to the literature of the school consisted of a treati.se, now lost, in which, according to Plato, he argued indirectly against the reality of notion and the existence of the manifold. There were, it seems, several discourses, in each of which he made a supposition, or hypothesis, and then proceeded to show the absurd consequences that would follow. This is now known as the method of indirect proof, or reducHo ad absurdum, and it appears to have been first used by Zeno. Aristotle in his "Physics" has preserved the arguments by which Zeno tried to prove that notion is only apparent, or that real motion is an absurdity. The arguments are fallacious, because, as Aristotle has no difficulty in showing, they are founded on false notions of motion and space. They are, however, specious, and might well have puzzled an opponent in those days, before logic had been developed as a science. They earned for Zeno the title of "the first dialectician", and, be- cause they seemed to be an unanswerable challenge to those who relied on the verdict of the senses, they helped to prepare the way for the skepticism of the Sophists. Besides, the method of indirect proof opened up for the sophist new possibilities in the way of contentious argument, and was very soon de- veloped into a means of confuting an opponent. It is, consequently, the forerunner of the Eristic method, or method of strife.

Fairbanks, First Philosophers of Greece (New York, 1888), 112 sqq; ZELhEK, Pre-Socratic Philosophu, tr. Alleyne, I (Lon- don, 1881), 60S sqq.; Turner, Hist, of Phil. (Boston, 1903), 49 sqq.

William Turner. Zephaniah. See Sophgnias.

Zephyrinus, Saint, Pope (198-217), d;ite of birth unknown; d. I'O Dec, 217. After the deatli of Pope Victor in 198, Zephyrinus was elected bis successor and

consecrated. The pope is described by Hippolytus in the " Philosophymena " (IX, xi) as a simple man with- out education. This is evidently to be understood as meaning that Zephrinus had not taken the higher studies and had devoted himself to the practical ad- ministration of the Church and not to theological learning. Immediately after his elevation to the Roman See Zephrinus called to Rome the confessor Callistus, who lived at Antium and who had received a monthly pension from Pope Victor, and intrusted him with the oversight of the ccemelerium. It is evident that shortly before this the Roman Christian commun- ity had, under Victor, become the owner of a common place of burial on the Via Appia, and Zeph>Tinus now placed CaUistus over this cemetery which was given the name of CaUistus. Undoubtedly Callistus was also made a deacon of the Roman Church by ZephjTinus. He was the confidential councillor of the pope, whom he succeeded. The position of the Christians, which had remained favourable in the first years of the government of Emperor Septimius Severus (193-211), grew con- stantly worse, and in 202 or 203 the edict of persecu- tion appeared which forbade conversion to Chris- tianity under the severest penalties. Nothing is known as to the execution of the edict in Rome itself nor of the martyrs of the Roman Church in this era.

More, however, is certain concerning the internal disputes in the Roman Church over the doctrine of the Trinity. The adherents of the heretical teacher Theodotus the Tanner had been excommunicated with their leader by Pope Victor. They formed an independent heretical community at Rome which was ruled by another Theodotus, the Money Changer, and Asclepodotus. These men persuaded a confessor of Rome named NataUs, who had acknowledged his faith without wavering before the heathen judge and had suffered torture, to permit himself to be made the bishop of the sect for a monthly payment of 170 denarii. Natalis, however, received many warn- ings in dreams. At first he paid no attention to these visions, but on one occasion he beheved that he had been severely tortured by angels and now he began to ponder the matter. Early in the morning he put on a penitential garment, covered himself with ashes, and threw himself with tears at the feet of Zephyrinus. He confessed his wrong-doing and begged to be re- ceived again into the communion of the Church, which was finally granted him (Eusebius, "Hist, eccl.", V, xxxii). In the same era the adherents of Montanus also worked with great energj- at Rome. The Montanist Proculus (or Proclus) published a work in defence of the new prophecies. A refutation of Proclus in the form of a dialogue was WTittcn by a learned and rigidly orthodox Roman Christian named Caius, wherein he refers to the grave of St. Peter on the Vatican Hill and of St. Paul on the Via Ostiensis. Caius rejects the Apocalypse of St. John, which he regards as a work of the heretic Cerinthus. In opposition to Caius, Hippolytus wrote his "Capita contra Caium" (cf. Eusebius, "Hist, eccl.", Ill, xxviii; VI, xx).

Hippolytus was the most important theologian among the Roman presbyters of this era. He was an avowed adherent of the doctrine of the Divine Logos. He taught that the Divine Logos became man in Christ, tliat the Logos differs in every thing from God, that he is the mcdiary between God and the world of creatures. Tliis doctrine in the form in which it was .set forth by Hippolytus and his school aroused many doubts, and another theological school appe;ired in opposition to it. This latter school was reijresenfed at Rome in this era by Cleomenes and particularly by Sabellius. These men were rigid opponents of the Theodotians, but were not willing to acknowledge tlie iiicarnalioii of the Logos, and emphasized above all the absolute unity {monarchia)