Difference between revisions of "Lucius"

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== Smith's Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_73645" /> ==
 
<p> '''Lu'cius.''' </p> <p> 1. A kinsman, or fellow tribesman, of St. Paul, &nbsp;Romans 16:21, by whom he is said, by tradition, to have been ordained bishop of the church of Cenchreae. He is thought by some to be the same with [[Lucius]] of Cyrene. </p> <p> 2. Lucius of [[Cyrene]] is first mentioned, in the New Testament, in company with Barnabas, [[Simeon]] called Niger, [[Manaen]] and Saul, who are described as prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch. &nbsp;Acts 13:1. </p> <p> Whether Lucius was one of the seventy disciples is quite a matter of conjecture; but it is highly probable that he formed one of the congregation to whom St. Peter preached on the '''Day of Pentecost''' , &nbsp;Acts 2:10, and there can hardly be a doubt that he was one of "the men of Cyrene" who, being "scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen," went to [[Antioch]] preaching the '''Lord Jesus''' . &nbsp;Acts 11:19-20. </p>
Lucius <ref name="term_14857" />
       
<p> <b> [[Lucius]] (16) </b> ( <i> Lleirwg, Lles, Lleufer-Mawr, Lleurwg </i> ), a mythical character represented as the first [[Christian]] king in Britain. By [[William]] of Malmesbury ( <i> Ant. Glast. </i> ii.), and more especially by Geoffrey of Monmouth ( <i> Brit. Hist. </i> iv. v.), besides later writers, Lucius is assigned a most important place in the Christianizing of Britain. </p> <p> [[I.]] As represented by Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose narrative has made the deepest impression on popular history, Lucius was descended from Brutus, the founder and first king of Britain, and succeeded his father Coillus, son of Meirig or Marius. Like his father, he sought and secured the friendship of the Romans. The fame of the Christian miracles inspired him with such love for the true faith that he petitioned pope [[Eleutherus]] for teachers, and on the arrival of the two most holy doctors, Faganus and Duvanus, received baptism along with multitudes from all countries. When the missionaries had almost extinguished paganism in the island, they dedicated the heathen temples to the service of God, and filled them with congregations of Christians; they fully organized the church, making the flamens into bishops, and the archflamens into archbishops, and constituting 3 metropolitans with 28 suffragan bishops. Lucius largely endowed the church, and, rejoicing in the progress of the gospel, died at [[Gloucester]] (Malmesbury says at Glastonbury) a.d. 156; without leaving any issue (Baron. <i> Ann. </i> a.d. 183; Cressy, <i> Church Hist. Brit. </i> iii. iv. at great length and diffuseness; <i> Lib. Landav. </i> by Rees, 26, 65, 306, 309, but much shorter). </p> <p> [[Ii.]] Parallel to the preceding, but without such minute details, is the legend in the [[Welsh]] Triads and genealogies, which are of very uncertain date and authority. Lleirwg, Lleurwg, or Lles, also named or surnamed Lleufer-Mawr ("the great luminary," as all the names express the idea of brightness, corresponding to the Latin Lucius), son of Coel ap Cyllin ap Caradog or [[Caractacus]] ap Bran, was a Welsh chieftain of Gwent and Morganwg in the [[S.]] of Wales. Two of the Triads ( <i> Myv. Arch. </i> ii. 63, 68) state that he founded the church of Llandaff, which was the first in Britain, and endowed it with lands and privileges, giving the same also to all those persons who first embraced the gospel. The Welsh Triads would place him about the middle of the 2nd cent. (Rees, <i> Welsh [[Saints]] </i> , c. 4; Williams, <i> Emin. Welsh. </i> 276; <i> Lib. Landav. </i> by Rees, 309 n.; Lady Ch. Guest, <i> Mabinogion </i> , ii. 130; Stephens, <i> Lit. Cymr. </i> 69.) </p> <p> [[Iii.]] In tracing the rise and growth of the legend there is comparatively little difficulty. [[Gildas]] makes no allusion to it. The earliest English author to notice it is [[Bede]] ( <i> Chron. </i> a.d. 180): "Lucius Britanniae rex, missâ ad Eleutherium Romae episcopum epistolâ, ut [[Christianus]] efficiatur, impetrat"; and again <i> [[H.]] [[E.]] </i> i. c. 4. </p> <p> The source from which Bede received the name of Lucius, and his connexion with Eleutherus, is shewn by Haddan and Stubbs ( <i> Counc. </i> etc. i. 25) to have been a later interpolated form of the <i> Catalogus Pontificum Romanorum </i> ( <i> ap. </i> Boll. <i> Acta [[Ss.]] </i> 1 Apr. i. p. xxiii. <i> Catalogi Veteres Antiquorum Pontificum </i> ). The original <i> Catalogue </i> , written shortly after 353, gives only the name and length of pontificate by the Roman consulships, but the interpolated copy (made <i> c. </i> 530) adds to the <i> Vita [[S.]] Eleutheri </i> "Hic accepit epistolam a Lucio Britanniae Rege ut Christianus efficeretur per ejus mandatum." Haddan and Stubbs conclude: "It would seem, therefore, that the bare story of the conversion of a British prince ( <i> temp. Eleutheri </i> ) originated in Rome during the 5th or 6th cents., almost 300 or more years after the date assigned to the story itself; that Bede in the 8th cent. introduced it into England, and that by the 9th cent. it had grown into the conversion of the whole of Britain; while the full-fledged fiction, connecting it specially with [[Wales]] and with Glastonbury, and entering into details, grew up between cents. 9 and 12." </p> <p> Of the dates assigned to king Lucius there is an extreme variety, Ussher enumerating 23 from 137 to 190, and placing it in his own <i> Ind. Chron. </i> in 176, [[Nennius]] in 164, and Bede ( <i> Chron. </i> ) in 180, and again ( <i> [[H.]] [[E.]] </i> ) in 156. But the chronology is in hopeless confusion (see Haddan and Stubbs, i. 1–26). Ussher ( <i> Brit. Eccl. Ant. </i> cc. iii.–vi.) enters minutely into the legend of Lucius, accepting his existence as a fact, as most other authors have done. His festival is usually Dec. 3. </p> <p> [[[J.G.]]] </p> <p> [[Iv.]] [[A]] final explanation of the Lucius legend was given by Dr. Harnack in 1904. in the <i> Sitzungsberichte der Königl. Preuss. Akademie der Wissensch. </i> xxvi.–xxvii.. [[A]] recovered fragment of the <i> Hypotyposes </i> of [[Clement]] of [[Alexandria]] suggested to him that the entry in the <i> Liber Pontificalis </i> was due to a confusion between Britannio and Britio. Dr. Harnack shews that the latter word almost undoubtedly refers to the birtha or castle of Edessa. Bede probably misread Britio in the <i> Liber Pontificalis </i> as Britannio, and referred the entry in consequence to Britain, whereas it relates to the conversion of [[Edessa]] in the time of Lucius [[Abgar]] [[Ix.]] Harnack further shews that the original quotation was probably transferred from [[Julius]] Africanus to the <i> Lib. Pont. </i> See the review of the question in <i> Eng. Hist. Rev. </i> xxii. (1907) 769. Thus the mythic king Lucius of Britain finally disappears from history. </p> <p> [[[H.G.]]] </p>
== Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible <ref name="term_52362" /> ==
 
<p> <strong> LUCIUS. </strong> <strong> 1 </strong> . A ‘consul of the Romans’ ( 1Ma 15:16 ff.), who transmitted the decree of the senate in favour of the Jews. Probably the reference is to Lucius Calpurnius Piso, consul in b.c. 139. <strong> 2 </strong> . Of Cyrene, one of certain prophets and teachers at Antioch in Syria, mentioned in &nbsp; Acts 13:1 , to whom it was revealed that Paul and [[Barnabas]] should be separated for the work to which they had been called. The suggestion that he was the same person as <strong> St. Luke </strong> , the Evangelist, has nothing to support it. <strong> 3 </strong> . [[Mentioned]] in &nbsp; Romans 16:21 , as sending greetings to the brethren at Rome. Possibly the same person as <strong> 2 </strong> , but of this there is no certain proof. </p> <p> Morley Stevenson. </p>
== References ==
       
== Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament <ref name="term_56444" /> ==
<p> Lucius of Cyrene was one of the prophets and teachers who presided in the Church at Antioch (&nbsp;Acts 13:1). He seems to have belonged pretty certainly to the band of Cypriotes and Cyrenians by whom the [[Gentile]] Church at Antioch was founded (&nbsp;Acts 11:20). Some commentators have rather absurdly identified him with St. Luke. The names are not identical or even very near one another, and there is no reason to think that St. Luke would have introduced himself in this haphazard way. He <i> may </i> be identified with the Lucius of &nbsp;Romans 16:21. </p> <p> W. A. Spooner. </p>
       
== People's Dictionary of the Bible <ref name="term_70426" /> ==
<p> '''Lucius''' (lû'shĭ-ŭs). A Cyrenian, a [[Christian]] teacher at Antioch. &nbsp;Acts 13:1. It is probably the same person whom Paul calls his kinsman, i.e., of his own tribe, and whose salutation he conveys to the [[Roman]] church. &nbsp;Romans 16:2. </p>
       
== Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary <ref name="term_48106" /> ==
<p> One of the prophets of the Christian church at Antioch. (See &nbsp;Acts 13:1) His name signifies, light. There is another of this name, styled Paul's kinsman. (See &nbsp;Romans 16:21) </p>
       
== Morrish Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_67378" /> ==
<p> 1. [[Prophet]] or teacher of Cyrene, one of those at Antioch who, after prayer and fasting, laid their hands on Barnabas and Paul and sent them on the first missionary journey. &nbsp;Acts 13:1 . </p> <p> 2. [[Kinsman]] of Paul whose salutation was sent to Rome. &nbsp;Romans 16:21 . </p>
       
== American Tract Society Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_16503" /> ==
<p> Of Cyrene, mentioned &nbsp;Acts 13:1 , was on of the ministers and teachers of the Christian church at Antioch, and probably a kinsman of Paul, &nbsp;Romans 16:21 . He is supposed by some to be the same with the evangelist Luke; but of this there is no evidence. </p>
       
== Fausset's Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_36381" /> ==
<p> Paul's kinsman or fellow tribesman (&nbsp;Romans 16:21). Tradition makes him consecrated [[Bishop]] of [[Cenchreae]] by Paul (Apost. Const. 7:46). </p>
       
== Holman Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_42067" /> ==
&nbsp;Acts 13:1&nbsp;Romans 16:21
       
== Easton's Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_32435" /> ==
&nbsp;Acts 13:1&nbsp;Romans 16:21
       
== Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature <ref name="term_49101" /> ==
<p> (Λεύκιος v.r. Λούκιος ), a Roman consul (ὕπατος ῾Ρωμαίων ), who is said to have written the letter to [[Ptolemy]] (Euergetes) which assured [[Simon]] I of the protection of Rome (B.C. cir. 139-8; &nbsp;1 [[Maccabees]] 15:10; &nbsp;1 Maccabees 15:15-24). The whole form of the letter — the mention of one consul only, the description of the consul by the proenomen, the omission of the senate and of the date (comp. Wernsdorf, De fide Macc. § 119) — shows that it cannot be an accurate copy of the original document; but there is nothing in the substance of the letter which is open to just suspicion. [[Josephus]] omits all mention of the letter of "Lucius" in his account of Simon, but gives one very similar in contents (Ant. 14:8, 5), as written on the motion of Lucius [[Valerius]] in the ninth (nineteenth) year of [[Hyrcanus]] II; and unless the two letters and the two missions which led to them were purposely assimilated, which is not wholly improbable, it must be supposed that he has been guilty of a strange oversight in removing the incident from its proper place. The imperfect transcription of the name has led to the identification of Lucius with three distinct persons: </p> <p> '''(1.)''' [Lucius] Furius Philus (the lists, Clinton, [[Fasti]] Hell. 3:114, give P. Furius Philus), who was not consul till B.C. 136, and is therefore at once excluded. </p> <p> '''(2.)''' Lucius [[Caecilius]] Metellus Calvus, who was consul In B.C. 142, immediately after Simon assumed the government. On this supposition it might seem not unlikely that the answer which Simon received to an application for protection, which he made to Rome directly on his assumption of power (comp. &nbsp;1 Maccabees 14:17-18) in the consulship of Metellus, has been combined with the answer to the later embassy of [[Numenius]] (&nbsp;1 Maccabees 14:24; &nbsp;1 Maccabees 15:18). </p> <p> '''(3.)''' But the third identification with Lucius Calpurnius Piso, who was consul B.C. 139, is most probably correct. The date exactly corresponds, and, though the praenomen of Calpurnius is not established beyond all question, the balance of evidence is decidedly against the common lists. The Fasti [[Capitolini]] are defective for this year, and only give a fragment of the name of Popillius, the fellow-consul of [[Calpurnius.]] Cassiodorus (Chron.), as edited, gives Cn. Calpurnius, but the eye of the scribe (if the reading is correct) was probably misled by the names in the years imrmediately before. On the other hand, Valerius Maximus (1:3) is wrongly quoted from the printed text as giving the same prsenomen. The passage in which the name occurs is in reality no part of Valerius Maximus, but a piece of the abstract of [[Julius]] [[Paris]] inserted in the text. Of eleven MSS. of Valerius which have been examined, it occurs only in one (Mus. Bri. Burn. 209), and there the name is given Lucius Calpurnius, as it is given by Mai in his edition of Julius Paris (Script. Vet. Nova Coll. 3:7). Sigonius says rightly (Fasti Cons. page 207): "Cassiodorus prodit consules Cn. Pisonem... epitoma L. Calpurnium." The chance of an error of transcription in Julius Paris is obviously less than in the Fasti of Cassiodorus; and even if the evidence were equal, the authority of 1 Macc. might rightly be urged as decisive in such a case. </p>
       
== Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature <ref name="term_16100" /> ==
<p> Lu´cius of Cyrene, a person named along with Barnabas, Saul, and others, as 'prophets' and 'teachers' in the church at Antioch . Lucius was probably one of 'the synagogue of the Cyrenians,' and was without doubt one of the men of Cyrene, who went abroad in consequence of the persecution raised on the death of [[Stephen]] . Some suppose that he was one of the seventy disciples; and the tradition is, that he was eventually bishop of Cyrene. This is probably the same Lucius who is mentioned in as Paul's kinsman; and he has been supposed by some the same with Luke the Evangelist. </p>
       
==References ==
<references>
<references>
 
<ref name="term_14857"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/a-dictionary-of-early-christian-biography/lucius+(16) Lucius from A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography]</ref>
<ref name="term_73645"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/smith-s-bible-dictionary/lucius Lucius from Smith's Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_52362"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hastings-dictionary-of-the-bible/lucius Lucius from Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_56444"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hastings-dictionary-of-the-new-testament/lucius Lucius from Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_70426"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/people-s-dictionary-of-the-bible/lucius Lucius from People's Dictionary of the Bible]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_48106"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hawker-s-poor-man-s-concordance-and-dictionary/lucius Lucius from Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_67378"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/morrish-bible-dictionary/lucius Lucius from Morrish Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_16503"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/american-tract-society-bible-dictionary/lucius Lucius from American Tract Society Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_36381"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/fausset-s-bible-dictionary/lucius Lucius from Fausset's Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_42067"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/holman-bible-dictionary/lucius Lucius from Holman Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_32435"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/easton-s-bible-dictionary/lucius Lucius from Easton's Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_49101"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/cyclopedia-of-biblical-theological-and-ecclesiastical-literature/lucius Lucius from Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_16100"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/kitto-s-popular-cyclopedia-of-biblial-literature/lucius Lucius from Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature]</ref>
       
</references>
</references>

Revision as of 21:42, 12 October 2021

Lucius [1]

Lucius (16) ( Lleirwg, Lles, Lleufer-Mawr, Lleurwg ), a mythical character represented as the first Christian king in Britain. By William of Malmesbury ( Ant. Glast. ii.), and more especially by Geoffrey of Monmouth ( Brit. Hist. iv. v.), besides later writers, Lucius is assigned a most important place in the Christianizing of Britain.

I. As represented by Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose narrative has made the deepest impression on popular history, Lucius was descended from Brutus, the founder and first king of Britain, and succeeded his father Coillus, son of Meirig or Marius. Like his father, he sought and secured the friendship of the Romans. The fame of the Christian miracles inspired him with such love for the true faith that he petitioned pope Eleutherus for teachers, and on the arrival of the two most holy doctors, Faganus and Duvanus, received baptism along with multitudes from all countries. When the missionaries had almost extinguished paganism in the island, they dedicated the heathen temples to the service of God, and filled them with congregations of Christians; they fully organized the church, making the flamens into bishops, and the archflamens into archbishops, and constituting 3 metropolitans with 28 suffragan bishops. Lucius largely endowed the church, and, rejoicing in the progress of the gospel, died at Gloucester (Malmesbury says at Glastonbury) a.d. 156; without leaving any issue (Baron. Ann. a.d. 183; Cressy, Church Hist. Brit. iii. iv. at great length and diffuseness; Lib. Landav. by Rees, 26, 65, 306, 309, but much shorter).

Ii. Parallel to the preceding, but without such minute details, is the legend in the Welsh Triads and genealogies, which are of very uncertain date and authority. Lleirwg, Lleurwg, or Lles, also named or surnamed Lleufer-Mawr ("the great luminary," as all the names express the idea of brightness, corresponding to the Latin Lucius), son of Coel ap Cyllin ap Caradog or Caractacus ap Bran, was a Welsh chieftain of Gwent and Morganwg in the S. of Wales. Two of the Triads ( Myv. Arch. ii. 63, 68) state that he founded the church of Llandaff, which was the first in Britain, and endowed it with lands and privileges, giving the same also to all those persons who first embraced the gospel. The Welsh Triads would place him about the middle of the 2nd cent. (Rees, Welsh Saints , c. 4; Williams, Emin. Welsh. 276; Lib. Landav. by Rees, 309 n.; Lady Ch. Guest, Mabinogion , ii. 130; Stephens, Lit. Cymr. 69.)

Iii. In tracing the rise and growth of the legend there is comparatively little difficulty. Gildas makes no allusion to it. The earliest English author to notice it is Bede ( Chron. a.d. 180): "Lucius Britanniae rex, missâ ad Eleutherium Romae episcopum epistolâ, ut Christianus efficiatur, impetrat"; and again H. E. i. c. 4.

The source from which Bede received the name of Lucius, and his connexion with Eleutherus, is shewn by Haddan and Stubbs ( Counc. etc. i. 25) to have been a later interpolated form of the Catalogus Pontificum Romanorum ( ap. Boll. Acta Ss. 1 Apr. i. p. xxiii. Catalogi Veteres Antiquorum Pontificum ). The original Catalogue , written shortly after 353, gives only the name and length of pontificate by the Roman consulships, but the interpolated copy (made c. 530) adds to the Vita S. Eleutheri "Hic accepit epistolam a Lucio Britanniae Rege ut Christianus efficeretur per ejus mandatum." Haddan and Stubbs conclude: "It would seem, therefore, that the bare story of the conversion of a British prince ( temp. Eleutheri ) originated in Rome during the 5th or 6th cents., almost 300 or more years after the date assigned to the story itself; that Bede in the 8th cent. introduced it into England, and that by the 9th cent. it had grown into the conversion of the whole of Britain; while the full-fledged fiction, connecting it specially with Wales and with Glastonbury, and entering into details, grew up between cents. 9 and 12."

Of the dates assigned to king Lucius there is an extreme variety, Ussher enumerating 23 from 137 to 190, and placing it in his own Ind. Chron. in 176, Nennius in 164, and Bede ( Chron. ) in 180, and again ( H. E. ) in 156. But the chronology is in hopeless confusion (see Haddan and Stubbs, i. 1–26). Ussher ( Brit. Eccl. Ant. cc. iii.–vi.) enters minutely into the legend of Lucius, accepting his existence as a fact, as most other authors have done. His festival is usually Dec. 3.

[[[J.G.]]]

Iv. A final explanation of the Lucius legend was given by Dr. Harnack in 1904. in the Sitzungsberichte der Königl. Preuss. Akademie der Wissensch. xxvi.–xxvii.. A recovered fragment of the Hypotyposes of Clement of Alexandria suggested to him that the entry in the Liber Pontificalis was due to a confusion between Britannio and Britio. Dr. Harnack shews that the latter word almost undoubtedly refers to the birtha or castle of Edessa. Bede probably misread Britio in the Liber Pontificalis as Britannio, and referred the entry in consequence to Britain, whereas it relates to the conversion of Edessa in the time of Lucius Abgar Ix. Harnack further shews that the original quotation was probably transferred from Julius Africanus to the Lib. Pont. See the review of the question in Eng. Hist. Rev. xxii. (1907) 769. Thus the mythic king Lucius of Britain finally disappears from history.

[[[H.G.]]]

References

  1. ↑ Lucius from A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography
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