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 HERACLAS

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HERACLEA

kings when fighting against the Saxons. Again four kings were reigning at one and the same time in Sus- sex and three in Essex. There were also kings of the Hwiccas (Worcestershire and Warwickshire), as well as a separate Kingdom of the Midille Angles and of Lindsey. .\s regards the reception of Christianity, the heptarchic kingdoms seem in a measure to have formed the earliest units of ecclesiastical organization, Kent of course being the first to accept the Gospel. But even here we find St. Augustine, before his death, consecrating St. Justin to be Bishop of Rochester, a second see within the Kingdom of Kent, at the same time that he consecrated St. Laurence to be his own successor at Canterbury, and St. Mellitus to be Bishop of London, which was included in the Kingdom of Essex.

There is of course a large literature dealing withthe divisions of Anglo-Saxon England from the sixth to the ninth century. The subject of this article, so far as reg.ard3 the nature of early kingship, is specially discussed in Chauwick, AnqUt-Saxon In- slitutions (London, 1905), 269-307. But see also Lingaro. Anglo-Saxon Church (London, 1S45): Green, The Making of England (London, 1.S.S3): and for an exaggeratedly Anglican standpoint consult G. F. Browne, The Conversion of the Hep- tarchy.

Herbert Thurston.

Heraclas, Bishop of Alexandria from 231 or 232; to 247 or 248. Of his earlier life Origen tells us, when defending his own philosophical studies (Euse- bius, "Hist. Eccl.", VI, xLx) : " In this we imitated Pan- Uenus, who before our day assisted many and had no little knowledge of these matters, and Heraclas, who is now one of the priests of Alexandria, whom I found a hearer of my own teacher of philo.sophical studies, for he had already been with him for five years before I began to attend these lectures. On this teacher's ac- count he put aside the ordinary dress he had worn till then, and assumed the garb of a philosopher, which he still wears, and he ceases not to study the books of the Greeks with all his might." Thus Heraclas was prob- ably at least five years older than Origen, who was bom in 185. Yet when Origen in his eighteenth year was obliged by his father's martyrdom and the conse- quent confiscation of his goods to commence teaching grammar (for a short time) and philosophy, Heraclas and his brother Plutarch were the first pupils of the young teacher. Origen converted them both to Christianity, and St. Plutarch soon suffered for the faith, being the first of Origen's pupils to gain the crown of martyrdom. Heraclas "gave a great ex- ample of philo.sophical life and S.<rK-naLi (ibid., vi, 33), and it was his reputation for knowledge of philosophy and Cireek learning that drew Julius Africanus to visit Alexandria. In course of time Origen found his day so occupied liy pupils that he had scarce breathing space from moVn till eve, so that he chose Heraclas as his assistant in the catechetical school (of which he was himself now head in succession to Clement), to teach the beginners (ibid., vi, 15). Heraclas was made a priest by the long-lived Bishop Demetrius. When in 231 the latter condemned Origen, who re- mained at Ca-sarea, Heraclas became head of the school. Soon afterwards he succeeded Demetrius as bi-shop. According to Theophilus of Alexandria (in Gennadius, "De vir. ill.", xxxiv), when Origen returned to the city, Heraclas deposed him from the priesthood and banished him (cf.the life of St. Pachomius in Acta SS., 14 May, S 21. and the probably spurious " Mystago- gia" of St. Alexander of Alexandria, in Routh's " Reli- quiae Sacra;", IV, 81). This statement is supported by an interesting fragment of Photius {"Sivvay Kal utoS., 9). who probably had good authority. It runs as follows fDolIinge'r, "Hippol. uiid Kallist.", 264, Engl, transl. 245): "In the days of the most holy Heraclas, Origen, called Adamantiiis, was plainly expounding his own heresy on Wednesdays and Fridays; the said holy Heraclas therefore "separated him from the Church and drove him from Alexandria, as a distorter

of the wholesome doctrine and a perverter of the or- thodox faith. Origen, thus excommunicated, on his way to Syria reached a city called Thmuis, which had an orthodox bishop named Ammonius, who com- mitted to Origen the delivery of an instruction in his Church. The said Pope Heraclas, having heard this, went to Thmuis, deposed Ammonius for this cause, and set up in his stead as bishop a younger man named Philip, who was of great note among the Christians. Later on, Heraclas, being besought by the people of the city, received Ammonius again as bishop, and gave the episcopate of Thmuis to both Ammonius and Philip. But after the holy Heraclas had gone thence, Philip never sat upon the bishop's throne, but when Ammonius expounded or celebrated the liturgy, always stood behind him all the days of the life of Am- monius. But when the latter was dead, then Philip sat on the throne, and became one of the bishops re- markable for virtue." On the identification of this Ammonius with the author of the "Ammonian Sec- tions", mentioned in the letter of Eusebius to Carpi- anus, see Harnack, "Chronol.", II, 81-2. Heraclas was succeeded in the third year of the Emperor Philip, by St. Dionysius, who had previously been his suc- ces.sor as head of the catechetical school. St. Diony- sius describes the custom of Heraclas in receiving heretics into the Church without rebaptism, but only after a public examination of their conduct (Euseb., "Hist. Eccl.", VII, vii, 4). Heraclas was inserted by Usuard in his martyrology on 14 July, and he has thus come into the Roman Martyrology on that day. The Copts and Ethiopians celebrate his feast on 4 Dec.

On the testimony of St. Jerome (Ep. xlvi) that " un- til Heraclas and Demetrius" the bishops of Alexan- dria were ordained by priests, see Eoypt (V). The lat- est discussion (with'full bililiography) is by Cabrol in "Diet, d'archdol. chrft.". In close connexion with this question is the statement of Eutychius of Alex- andria (933—40) that until Demetrius there was but one bishop for all Egypt ; Demetrius established three suffragan sees, and "Heraclas twenty more. Euty- chius adds that one of the new bishops, named Eu- menius (is this a mistake for Ammonius?), fell into error ; Heraclas, having summoned a council of bishops, went to his city, examined the matter and brought him back to the truth. The people, hearing the bishops call their patriarch "Aba" (Father), enti- tled him their grandfather "Baba", hence the title " Papas" given to the Alexandrian as to the Roman bishop.

Ada SS., 14 July, and June, V (VII), Hist. Chronol. Patri- archam Alex.: Lequien, Oriens Christ., II; Harnack, Gesch. tier altchr. Lill. I, 332, Chron., II, 24; Smith and Wace. Dtct. of Christ. Biography, s. v.

John Chapman.

Heraclea, a titular see of Thracia Prima. Heradea is the name given about four centuries before the Christian era to the town of Perinthus, a very ancient Saniian colony, built like an amphitheatre on tlie hill- side of a peninsula in the Propontis (Sea of Marmora). It became famous becau.se of its resistance to Philip of Macedonia. Its port and hs happy shuation at the junction of several great sea-routes, made it a town of commercial importance. Many of its coins have come down to us, and give us infonnation concerning the festivals held there. Justinian restored its ac^ueducts and a palace. It now forms part- of the vilayet of Adrianople, has 2000 inhabitants, Turkish and Greek, and is known to the Turks as Eregli. The ruins of the ancient town of Heraclea are on a cape close to the modern one. Heraclea became a see at an early date: according to a Greek tradition it dates from apostolic times. It would seem that in the beginning the Bishop of Byzantium w.as under its jurLsdiction. Later it appears to have had 5 suffragan sees, and this number gradually increa.sed to 15 and 17. A little before the Ottoman conquest the number stood