Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/556

 EPHESTJS

490

EPHESXrS

universal Cliurch of Christ, tlie fulfilment of the mys- terious decrees revealed to him, the Church in which it had been his privilege to bring together Jews and pagans, that presented itself to him for contem- plation.

Tliese subjects of habitual meditation are naturally introduced in the letters that he had to vrrite at that time. To the Colossians he speaks of Christ's dig- nity; to the Ephesians, and we have seen why, of the unity of the Church. But in these Epistles, Paul addresses those who are unknown to him; he no longer needs, as in preceding letters, to combat theo- ries which undermined the very foundation of the work anil to refute enemies who, in their hatred, at^ tacked him personally. Accordingly, there is no fur- ther occasion to use the serried argumentation with which he not only overthrew the arguments of his ad- versaries but turned them to the hitters' confusion. There is more question of setting forth the sublime considerations with which he is filled than of discus- sions. Then, ideas so crowd upon him that his pen is overtaxed; his sentences teem with synonyms and qualifying epithets and keep taking on new proposi- tions, thus losing the sharpness and vigour of contro- versy and assuming the ample proportions of a hjinn of adoration. Hence we can understand why, in these letters, Paul's style grows dull and sluggish and why the literary composition differs so widely from that of the first Epistles. When writing to the Colos- sians he at least had one particular church to deal with and certain errors to refute, whereas, in the Epistle to the Ephesians, he addressed himself at one and the same time to a group of unknown churches of which he had received but vague information. There was nothing concrete in this and the Apostle was left en- tirely to himself and to his own meditations. This is the reason why the special characteristics already in- dicatei-1 in the Epistle to the Colossians appear even more pronounced in that to the Ephesians, particu- larly in the dogmatic part.

(3) Tradition. — If we thus keep in mind the circum- stances under which Paul wrote both of these letters, their peculiar character seems no obstacle to their Pauline authenticity. Therefore, the testimony which, in their inscriptions (Col., i, 1; Eph., i, 1), they themselves render to this authenticity and the very ancient tradition which unanimously attributes them to the Apostle preserve all tlieir force. From the tra- ditional viewpoint the Epistle to the Ephesians is in the same class as the best attested letters of St. Paul. Used in the First Epistle of St. Peter, in the Epistle of St. Polycarp, in the works of St. Justin, perhaps in the Didache and I Clement, it appears to have been al- ready well known towards the end of the first century. Marcion and St. Irena;us ascribe it to St. Paul and it seems that St. Ignatius, when writing to the Ephe- sians, had alreatly made use of it as Pauline. It is also to be noted that if the authenticity of this Epis- tle has been denied by most of the liberal critics since Schleiermacher's day, it is nevertheless conceded by many modern critics, Protestants among them, and held at least as probable by Harnack and Jiilicher. In fact the day seems to be approaching when the whole world will recognize as the work of St. Paul, this Epistle to the Ephesians, of which St. John Chrysostom admired the sublime sentences and doctrines: vorj/jidTwv fi£(TT7] v}prj\Ci>v Kal Soy^Tuv.

Con.iult JnlToductions to the New Testament. We shall con- tent ourselves here with indicating the latest commentaries, in which the earlier bibhography is mentioned.

Catholic Co.mmentarie8: Bibping, Erklarunn da- Briefe an die Epheser, Philippcr und Kolosser (Manster, 1866); Henle, Z>cr Epheserbrief des hi. AponteU Pauius erklarl (.\ugsburg. 1908); Belser, Dcr Ephe.ierbrief tiberselil und erkliirt CFreiburg im Br., 1908); Maunourv. Commenlaire sur VfpUre aux Ga- latea, aux Ephisiemt. etc. (Paris, 1881).

Non-Catholic CoMMENTtniEs: Oltramare, Commenlaire eur let iptlres de .S. Paul aux Colossiens. aux Ephisiens el 4 Phile- mon (Paris. 1891); vos SonEU, Die Briefe an die Koloeser, Ephener, Philemon in Hand-Commentar zum N. T., ed. HoUz-

mann (Freiburg im Br., 1S93); Haupt. Die Gcfangenschaftsbriefe m Krit.-exeg. Kommentar, cd. Meyer (Sth ed.. Gottingen 1902); EWALD, Die Briefe des Paidus an die Epheser, Kolosser und Philemon in Kommentar zum N. T., ed. Zahn (Leipzig, 1905); Baljon, Commentaar op de brieven van Pauhts aan de Thess., Ef., Kol. en aan Philemon (Utrecht. 1907); Abbott, A Critical and E.regeticat Commentary on Epistles to the Ephesians and to the Colossians in International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh. 1897); Robinso.v, St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephe- sians (London, 1903); Westcott, St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephe- (London. 1906); Goee, .S(. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians

(London, 1907).

P. L.^DEDZE.

Ephesus, a titular archiepiscopal see in Asia Minor, said to have been founded in the eleventh century b. c. by Androcles, son of the Athenian King Codrus) with the aid of Ionian colonists. Its coinage dates back to 700 B. c, the period when the first money was struck. After belonging successively to the kings of Lydia, the Persians, and the Syrian successors of Alexander the Great, it passed, after the battle of Magnesia (190 B. c), to the kings of Pergamum, the last of whom, Attalus III, bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman people (133 b. c). It was at Ephesus that Mithradates (88 B. c.) signed the decree ordering all the Romans in Asia to be put to death, in which massacre there perished 100,000 persons. Four years later Sulla, again master of the territory, slaughtered at Ephesus all the leaders of the rebellion. From 27 b. c. till a little after a. d. 297, Ephesus was the capital of the procon- sular province of Asia, a direct dependency of the Roman Senate. Though unimportant politically, it was noted for its extensive commerce. Many illustrious persons were born at Ephesus, e. g. the philosophers Heraclitus and Hermodorus, the poet Hipponax, the painter Parrhasius (all in the sixth or fifth century B. c), the geographer Arteraidorus, another Artemi- dorus, astrologer and charlatan, both in the second cen- tury of the Christian Era, and the historian and essayist, Xenophon. Ephesus owed its chief renown to its temple of Artemis (Diana), which attracted multi- tudes of visitors. Its first architect was the Cretan Chersiphron (seventh to sixth century B. c.) but it was afterwards enlarged. It was situateil on the bank of the River Selinus and its precincts had the right of asylum. This building, which was looked upon in antiquity as one of the marvels of the world, was burnt by Herostratus (356 b. c.) the night of the birth of Alexander the Great, and was afterwards rebuilt, almost in the same proportions, by the architect Di- nocrates. Its construction is said to have lasted 120 years, according to some historians 220. It was over 400 feet in length and 200 in breadth, and rested upon 128 pillars of about sixty feet in height. It was stripped of its riches by Nero and was finall)' destroyed by the Goths (.\. d. 262).

It was through the Jews that Christianity was first introduced into Ephesus. The original community was under the leadership of Apollo (I Cor., i, 12). They were disciples of St. John the Baptist, and were con- verted by Aquila and Priscilla. 'Then came St. Paul, who lived three years at Ephesus to establish and organize the new church ; he was wont to teach in the schola or lecture-hall of the rhetorician Tyrannus (.\cts, xix, 9) and performed there many miracles. E%'entu- ally he was obliged to depart, in consequence of a sedition stirred up by the goldsmith Demetrius and other makers of ex-votoes for the temple of Diana (Acts, xviii, 24 sqq. ; xix, 1 sqq.). A little later, on his way to Jerusalem, he sent for the elders of the com- munity of Ephesus to come to Miletus and bade them there a touching farewell (.\cts, xx, 17-35). The Church of Ephesus was committed to his disciple, St. Timothy, a native of the city (I Tim., i, 3; II Tim., i, 18; iv, 12). The Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians was not perhaps addressed directly to them ; it may be only a circular letter sent by him to several churches. The sojourn and death of the Apostle St. John at Ephesus are not mentioned in the New Testament,