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 MAROOPOLIS

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MAROOSIANS

Ephesians (which, however, he knew under the name of Laodiceans), Colossians, rhilippians and Philemon. The Pastoral Epistles, the Catholic Epistles, Hebrews and the Apocalypse, as well as Acts, were excluded. Recently de Bruyne ("Revue Benedictine", 1907, 1-16) has made out a good case for the supposition that the short prefaces to the Pauline epistles, which were once attributed to Pelagius and others, are taken out of a Marcionite Bible and augmented with Catho- lic headings for the missing Epistles.

V. Anti-Marcionite Writers. — (1) St. Justin the. Martyr (150) refers to the Marcionites in his first Apol- ogy; he also wrote a special treatise against them. This, however, mentioned by Irenseus as ^^vr ay iul irpbs MapKlupa, is lost. Irenaaus (Hcer., IV, vi, 2) quotes short passages of Justin containing the sentence: "I would not have believed the Lord himself if he had announced any other than the Creator''; also V, 26, 2. (2) Irenseus (c. 176) intended to write a special work in refutation of Marcion, but never carried out his

Surpose (Haer., I, 27, 4; III, 12, 13); he refers to [arcion, however, again and again in his great work against Heresies, especially III, 4, 2; III, 27, 2; IV, 38, 2 sq.; Ill, 11,7,25, 3. (3) Rhodon (180-192) wrote a treatise against Marcion, dedicated to Callis- tion. It is no longer extant, but is referred to by Eusebius (H. E., V, 13) who gives some extracts. (4) TertuUian, the main source of our information, wrote his "Ad versus Marcionem'* (five books) in 207, and makes reference to Marcion in several of his works: "DePraB8criptione","DeCame Christi", "DeResur- rectione Camis ", and " De Anima". His work against Apelles is lost. (5) Pseudo Tertullian (possibly Com- modian. See H. Waitz, " Ps. Tert. Gedicht Adv. M.", Darmstadt, 1901) wrote a lengthy poem against Mar- cion in doggerel hexameters, which is now valuable. Pseudo Tertullian's (possibly Victorinus of Pettau) short treatise against all heresies (c. a. d. 240) is also extant. (6) Adamantius. — \\Tiether this is a real per- sonage or only a nom de plume is uncertain. His Dia- logue, "De itecta in Deum Fide'*, has often been ascribed to Origen, but it is beyond doubt that he is not the author. The work was probably composed about A. D. 300. It was originally written in Greek and translated by Rufinus. It is a refutation of Mar- cionism and Valentinianism. The first half is directed against Marcionism, which is defended by Megethius (who maintains three principles) and Marcus (who defends two). (Berlin ed. of the Fathers by Sande Bakhuysen, Leipzig, 1901.) (7) St. Hippolytus of Rome (c. 220) speaks of Marcion in his Kefutation of all Heresies", Book VII, ch. 17-26, and X, 15. (8) St. Epiphanius wrote his work against heresies in 374, and is the second main source of information in his Ch. xUi-xliv. He is invaluable for the reconstruc- tion of Marcion's Bible text, as he gives 78 and 40 passages from Marcion's New Testament where it differs from ours and adds a short refutation in each instance. (9) St. Ephraem (373) maintains in many of his writings a polemic against Marcion, as in his "Com- mentary on the Diatessaron" (J. R. Harris, "Frag- ments of Com. on Diates.**, London, 1895), and in his "Metrical Sermons" (Roman ed.. Vol. II, 437-560, and Overbeck's Ephrem etc., Opera Selecta). (10) Eznik, an Armenian Archpriest, or possibly Bishop of Bagrewand (478), wrote a "Refutation of the Sects", of which Book IV is a refutation of Marcion. Trans- lated into German, J. M. Schmid, Vienna, 1900.

Meyboom. Marcion en de Marcionieten (Leyden, 1888); Idbm, Hft Christendom der tweede Eeuw (Qmningfin, 1897); KrCoew, extensive article in Hauck, Real Encyclop. derProt. Theol., XII (1903). 8. v.; Harnack, Oeschichie d*r altchrial. Lit., I, 191-197, 839-840; Texte und Unterauehung, VI. 3 pp., 109-120; XX, 3, pp. 93-100 (1900); 2nd II, 2, 537; Bardenhewer. GeBch. der aUkirchL lit.. II (1902); Zahn. OenchiefUe dea N. T. Kanone, I and II (1888): Dae Apoat. Symbol (Leipzig. 1893): Hilobnfeij>,

Ur-Chrtkenthume (LJpxig, 1884).

KeUergeachichte dea

J. P. Arendzen.

Marcopolifl, a titular see of Asia Minor, suffragan of Edesaa. The nati ve name of this city is not known , but it owes its Greek name to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Marcopolis is described at the beginning of the seventh century by the geographer George oi Cyprus ("Descriptio orbis romani, ed. Gelser, 46), ana in the'^Notitiseepiscopatuum" of Antioch (sixth century) is alluded to as a see of Osrhoene (Echos d'Orient, X, 145). Two of its early bishops are known : Cyrus, who attended the Council of Ephesus in 431 (Mansi, "ConciUorum coUectio", IV, 1269; V, 776, 797) and Caioumas, present at the Council of Chalce- don in 451 (Mansi, "Cone. coll.". VI, 572, 944; VII, 148). Eubel O'Hierarchia catnolica medii aBvi", Munich, I, 341) mentions four other titulars between 1340 and 1400, and a fifth from 1441 to 1453 (ibid., II, 204). The site of this city has not been found.

S. VailhI:.

Marco Polo. See Polo, Marco.

Marcosians, a sect of VaUentinian Gnostics, founded by Marcus (q. v.) and combated at length by Irenseus (Haer., I, xii-xxiii). In the district of Ly[ons, the Rhone Valley and Spain, they continued to exist till well into the fourth century. They main- tained their Gnostic system not merely in theory but, forming Gnostic confmunities, they were addicted to Gnostic practices. In their conventicles prophecy was habitually practised; not only men but women wer6 bidden by their leaders or by lot to stand up in the congregation and prophesy. The incoherent gibber- ish they uttered was taken for the voice of God. Women were likewise bidden to utter the Eucharistic formula over the elements. The wine was then poured in a larger cup and by a chemical trick in- creased 'in volume. Irenceus scornfully repeats that the sect was an affair of silly women, ruining their souls and their bodies, and narrates that women who repented and returned to the Church confessed their past degradation.

The Marcosian system was a degraded variety of that of Valentinus (q. v.). It retained the 30 i^ns, but called them " Greatnesses " and gave them numer- ical values. It kept the myth of the fall of Sophia but called it a "Divine Deficiency*'. Peculiar to it was the adaptation of the Pythagorean number theory to Gnosticism. The 30 iEons are obtained by adding the numbers of the Ogdoad together: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 7 + 8 = 30. The 6 is purposely omitted for it is the iirlffrjfiop and not a letter of the usual Greek alphabet. The fall of Sophia is clearly shown by the fact that A which equals 30, or the complete set of Greatnesses, ia really only the eleventh letter of the alphabet, but to make up for this deficiency it sought a consort and so became M (= AA). The episemon, or 6, is a number fuU of potency; the name 'I1^^ovf consists of six letters, hence the name of the Saviour. When the Propator, who is the M6yaf, willed the Unspeakable to be spoken, He uttered the Word which has 4 syllables and 30 letters. The plenitude of Greatness is 2 tetrads, a decad and a dodecad (4 + 4 + 10+12 = 30); the 2 tetrads are the Unspeakable, Silence, Father and Truth followed by Logos, Life, Man and Church. These form the Ogdoad. The mutes of the Greek alphabet belong to Father and Truth (The Unspeak- able, and Silence, of course, do not count); these being mute reveal nothing to man. The semivowels belong to Word and liife, but the vowels to Man and Church, for through Man voice gave power to all. The 7 Greek vowels go through the seven heavens, which thus sing the Great Doxology in harmony. Even numbers are female, odd numbers male, by the union of the first of these, 2X3, was begotten the ejnsemorif or 6, the number of our Salvation. G. Salmon well re- marks that Marcus's system is the most worthless of all that passed under the name of knowled ge in second cen- tury literature. Irenceus (I. c.) is practically our only authority. (See Gnosticibm.) J. P. Abendzek^