Page:Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature (1911).djvu/922

 greatest part of Italy, and of other provinces, thinking it unfit that the place where the monarch of the whole church and the vicar of Christ resided should be subject to earthly sway. (See Lib. Pontif. in Vit. Sylvestri, and the Lections in Fest. S. Sylvestri in the Breviaries of the various uses). The earliest known authority for the whole story appears to be the Acta Sylvestri (see below).

The attribution of Constantine's conversion and baptism to Silvester is as legendary as the rest. His profession and patronage of Christianity were anterior to the time spoken of, and he was not actually baptized till long afterwards, at the close of his life. There is abundant testimony that he did not seek baptism, or even imposition of hands as a catechumen, till in a suburb of Nicomedia, as death drew near, he received both from Eusebius, the Arian bishop of that see. (Eus. V. C. iv. 61, 62; Theod. i. 32; Soz. ii. 34, iv. 18; Socr. i. 39; Phot. Cod. 127; Ambrose, Serm. de obit. Theodos.; Hieron. Chron. an. 2353; Council of Rimini.)

The Acta S. Sylvestri, which seem to have furnished the materials for most of the legends—including the banishment to Soracte, the leprosy of Constantine, his lustration by Silvester, and his Donation—are mentioned and approved as genuine in the Decretum de Libris Recipiendis et non Recipiendis, commonly attributed to pope Gelasius (492–496), but probably of a later date. They are quoted in the 8th cent. by pope Hadrian in a letter to Charlemagne, where the Donation is alluded to, and in another to the empress Irene and her son Constantine on the occasion of the 2nd Nicene council in 787. The original Acts have not been preserved. The extant editions of them, given in Latin by Surius (Acta SS. Dec. p. 368), and in Greek by Combefis (Act. p. 258), purport to be only compilations from an earlier document.

Silvester died on Dec. 31, 335, and was buried in the cemetery of St. Priscilla.

[J.B—Y.]

Sylvia [ (7).]

Simeon (1), 2nd bp. of Jerusalem, succeeding James, the Lord's brother. According to the statement of Hegesippus preserved by Eusebius, Simeon was the son of Clopas "mentioned in Holy Scripture" (John xix. 25), the brother of Joseph, and therefore, legally, the uncle of our Lord, while Simeon himself—ὁ ἐκ τοῦ θείου τοῦ Κυρίου—was, legally, his cousin, ὄντα ἀνεψιὸν τοῦ Κυρίου, and of the royal line of David (Eus. H. E. iii. ii, 32 ; iv. 22). The language of Hegesippus (H. E. iv. 82) evidently distinguishes between the relationship of James and Simeon to our Lord. Dr. Mill, however, follows Burton (H. E. i. 290) in regarding Simeon as a brother of James and also of Jude, though perhaps by another mother (Mill, Pantheistic Principles, pp. 234, 253). Such an interpretation of Hegesippus's language is very unnatural and at variance with the statement of Epiphanius that Simeon was the cousin—ἀνεψιός—of James the Just (Epiph. Haer. lxxvii. c. 14, p. 1046; cf. Lightfoot, Galatians, p. 262). Bp. Lightfoot regards his age as "an exaggeration," and suggests that his being "a son of Cleopas mentioned in the Evangelical records "requires us to place his death earlier than the generally received date. According to Hegesippus, Simeon was unanimously chosen to fill the vacant see of Jerusalem on the violent death of James the Just, the date usually assigned for which being 62 or 63 (see Josephus, Ant. xx. 9. 1). Whether the appointment of Simeon immediately succeeded or was not made till the retirement of the Christian Jews to Pella cannot be determined. The former seems rather more probable. His retreat at Pella would save him from the inquisition after descendants of the royal line of David, made by Vespasian, according to Eusebius (H. E. iii. 12), as well as the later inquiry instituted by Domitian (ib. 19, 20). He must have returned with the Christians to Jerusalem when allowed to do so by the Roman authorities. Of his episcopate we know nothing. He was martyred in the reign of Trajan (ἐπὶ Τραϊανοῦ; Eus. H. E. iii. 32), but the exact date is uncertain. By a misinterpretation of the Chronicon of Eusebius, which seemed to assign his martyrdom with that of Ignatius to the 9th or 10th year of Trajan, Simeon's death has been assigned to 107 or 108. Bp. Lightfoot has shewn good reason for placing it earlier in Trajan's reign (Lightfoot, Ignatius, i. 21, 58–60, ii. 442–450). Hegesippus says that in his 121st year Simeon was accused before Atticus, then proconsul, by certain Jewish sectaries, first, that being of the line of David, he was a possible claimant of the throne of his royal ancestor, and secondly that he was a Christian. He was tortured for many days in succession, and bore his sufferings with a firmness which astonished all the beholders, especially Atticus himself, who marvelled at such endurance in one so advanced in age. Finally he was ordered to be crucified (Eus. H. E. iii. 32).

[E.V.]

Simeon (12) Stylites, 388–460. Simeon was, according to Theodoret, originally an enclosed anchorite, and raised his cell to avoid the honours paid to him (cf. Reeves on church of St. Doulough, pp. 8–11, with Evagr. H. E. i. 21). The fashion rapidly spread even to the sects, as we learn from Joannes Moschus (Prat. Spirit. cxxix.; cf. Ceill. xi. 701 that the 6th-cent. Monophysites had pillar saints. Sometimes both parties had opposition Stylites in the same district. Evagrius tells us that Simeon's pillar was only three feet in circumference at the top, which would barely afford standing ground. Assemani has depicted Simeon's column in his Life of the saint with a railing or kind of wooden pulpit at the summit. Some such structure must have been there, not only to prevent his fall, but also for him to write the epistles he sent broadcast to emperors, bishops, and councils on all pressing questions. He was born at Sisan, a village on the borders of Cilicia and Syria, and when about 16 embraced the monastic life. From 413 to 423 Simeon dwelt in an enclosed cell near Antioch, where his austerities speedily attracted a number of followers, who formed a society called the Mandra. In 423 he built a low pillar, which he gradually raised, till in 430 it was 40 cubits high; there, with his neck manacled by an iron collar, he spent his last 30 years of life engaged in perpetual adoration, save when