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 EPHOD

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EPHOD

it seems that the Greek form of the story, which is the basis of Symeon Metaphrastes, is the source. The story is this: Decius (249-251) once came to Ephesus to enforce his laws against Christians — a gruesome de- scription of the horrors he made them suffer follows — ■ here he found seven noble young men, named Maxi- milian, Jamblichos, Martin, John, Dionysios, Exakos- todianos, and Antoninos (so Metaphrastes ; the names vary considerably; Gregory of Tours has Achillides, Diomedes, Diogenus, Probatus, Stephanus, Sambatus, and Quiriacus), who were Christians. The emperor tried them and then gave them a short time for con- sideration, till he came back again to Ephesus. They gave their property to the poor, took a few coins only with them and went into a cave on Mount Anchilos to pray and prepare for death. Decius came back after a journey and inquired after these seven men. They heard of his return and then, as they said tlieir last prayer in the cave before giving themselves up, fell asleep. The emperor told his soldiers to find them, and when found asleep in the cave he ordered it to be closed up with huge stones and sealed ; thus they were buried alive. But a Christian came and wrote on the outside the names of the martyrs and their story. Years passed, the empire became Christian, and Theo- dosius [either the Great (.379-.395) or the Younger (408-450), Koch, op. cit. infra, p. 12] reigned. In his time some heretics denied the resurrection of the body. While this controversy went on, a rich landowner named Adolios had the Sleepers' cave opened, to use it as a cattle-stall. Then they awake, thinking they have slept only one night, and send one of their num- ber (Diomedes) to the city to buy food, that they may eat before they give themselves up. Diomedes comes into Ephesus and the usual story of cross-purposes follows. He is amazed to see crosses over churches, and the people cannot understand whence he got his money coined by Decius. Of course at last it comes out that the last thing he knew was Decius's reign; eventually the bishop and the prefect go up to the cave with him, where they find the six others and the in- scription. Theodosius is sent for, and the saints tell him their story. Every one rejoices at this proof of the resurrection of the body. The sleepers, having improved the occasion by a long discourse, then die praising God. The emperor wants to build golden tombs for thera, but they appear to him in a dream and ask to be buried in the earth in their cave. The cave is adorned with precious stones, a great church built over it, and every year the feast of the Seven Sleepers is kept.

Koch (op. cit.) has examined the growth of this story and the spread of the legend of miraculously long sleep. Aristotle (Phys., IV, xi) refers to a similar tale about sleepers at Sardes; there are many more exam- ples from various countries (Koch, pp. 24-40, quotes German, British, Slav, Indian, Jewish, Chinese, and Arabian versions). Frederick Barbarossa and Rip van Winkle are well-known later examples. The Ephesus story is told in the Koran (Sura xviii), and it has had a long history and further developments in Islam (Koch, 123-152), as well as in medieval Christen- dom (ib., 1.5.3-183). Baronius was the first to doubt it (Ann. Eccl. in the Acta SS., July, .386, 48); it was then discredited till modern study of folk-lore gave it an honoured place again as the classical example cf a widely spread myth. The Seven Sleepers have feasts in the Byzantine Calendar on 4 August and 22 Octo- ber; in the Roman Martyrology they are commemor- ated as Sts. Maximianus, Malchus, Martinianus, Diony- sius, Joannes, Serapion, and Constantinus on 27 July.

Metaphrastes' version is in P. G., CXV, 427-448; Greg- ory OF Tours. Passio VII Dormientium in the Anal. BoUand., XII, 371-387; Chardry. Li Set Dormam, ed. Koch (Leipzig. 1879); Legcnda Aurea and Caxton's versun for .luly; Koch, Die SiebenschlafeTUotmde, ihr Ursprung u. ihre Verbreitung (Leip- eig, 1883), an exhaustive monograph with a full bibHography.

Adrian Fortescue. v.— 32

Ephod (Heb. "naS or IDN; Gr. iiraiJ-k, icpdiS, loi8, Lat. superhumerale) is a kind of garment mentioned in the 0. T., which differed according to its use by the high-priest, by other persons present at religious services, or as the object of idolatrous worship.

Ephod of the High-Priest. — Supplementing the data contained in the Bible with those gleaned from Jose- phus and the Egyptian monuments, we may distin- guish in the ephod three parts: a kind of waistcoat or bodice, two shoulder-pieces, and a girtUe. The first of these pieces constituted the main part of the ephod; it is described by some writers as resembling the form of the chasuble, by others as being an oblong piece of cloth bound round the body under the arms and reach- ing as far as the waist. Its material was fine-twisted linen, embroidered with violet, purple, and scarlet twice-dyed threads, and interwoven with gold (Ex., xxviii, 6; xxxix, 2). The ephod proper must not be confounded with the "tunick of the ephod" (Ex., xxviii, 31-35), nor with the "rational of judgment" (Ex., xxviii, 15-20). The tunick was worn under the ephod; it was a sleeveless frock, made " all of violet ", and was put on by being drawn over the head, some- thing in the manner of a cassock. Its skirt was adorned with a border of pomegranates " of violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, with little bells set between", whose .sound was to be heard while the high-priest was ministering. The "rational of judg- ment" was a breastplate fastened on the front of the ephod which it resembled in material and workman- ship. It was a span in length and width, and was ornamented with four rows of precious stones on which were inscribed the names of the twelve tribes. It held also the Urim and Thummim (doctrine and truth) by means of which the high-priest consulted the Lord. The second part of the ephod consisted of a pair of shoulder-pieces, or suspenders, fastened to the bodices in front and behind, and passing over the shoulders. Each of these straps was adorned with an onyx stone engraved with the names of six of the tribes of Israel, so that the high-priest while rainister» ing wore the names of all the tribes, six upon each shoulder (Ex., xxviii, 9-12; xxv, 7; xxxv, 9; xxxLx, 16-19). The third part of the epiiod was the cincture, of the same material as the main part of the ephod and woven in one piece with it, by which it was girt around the waist (Lev., viii, 7). Some writers main- tain that the correct Hebrew reading of Ex., xxviii, 8, speaks of this band of the ephod; the contention agrees with the Syriac and Chaldee versions and with the rendering of" Josephus (cf. Ex., xxviii, 27 sq.; xxix, 5; xxxix, 20 sq.). It must not be imagined that the ephod was the ordinary garb of the high-priest; he wore it while performing the duties of his ministry (Ex., xxviii, 4; Lev., viii, 7; I K., ii, 28) and when consulting the Lord. Thus David learned through Abiathar's ephod the disposition of the people of Ceila (I K., xxiii, 11 sq.) and the best plan of campaign against the Amalecites (I K., xxx, 7 sqq.). In I K., xiv, 18, it appears that Saul wished the priest Achlas to consult the Lord by means of the Ark; but the Septuagint reading of this passage, its context (I K., xiv, 3), and the text of Jo.sephus (Ant. Jud., VI, vi, 3) plainly show that in I K., xiv, 18, we must read "take the ephod" instead of "bring the ark".

The Common Ephod. — An ephod was worn by Samuel when serving in the time of Heli (I K., ii, 18), by the eighty-five priests slain by Doeg in the sanctu- ary of Nobe (I K., xxii, 18), and by David dancing be- fore the Ark (II K., vi, 14). This garment is called the linen ephod; its general form may be supposed to have resembled the ephod of the high-priest, but its material was not the celebrated fine white linen, nor does it appear to have been adorned with the varie- gated colours of the high-priest's ephod. The Septua- gint translators seem to have intended to emphasize the difference between the ephod of the high-priest