BERYL
BISHOP, ELDEE, PRESBYTER 149
the obstacles at Thessalonica "would soon be re- moved and that they would be enabled to return — a hope which was not realized (1 Th 2'^). Their city of refuge, however, proved a sphere of success- ful missionary activity. It was large and prosper- ous enough to have attracted a colony of Jews, whom the historian commends as more noble in spirit (eir/eviffTepoL) than tliose of Thessalonica, comparatively free from jealousy, less fettered by prejudice, more receptive of new truth. They daily examined the Scriptures (rds ypacpds) — especi- ally, no doubt, the passages brought under their notice by the preachers, but not these alone — to find if the strange things taught found contirmation there, with the result that many of them believed (Ac 17'"). Nor were the labours of the apostles confined to the synagogue. It is stated that ' of the Greeks and of those of honourable estate, men and women in considerable numbers believed' (v.^^). This is the true rendering of the Greek words (Kal Twv 'EWrjvioojv yvvaiKuJv tQv evaxmJ-ovuiv Kal di/dpuiv ovk dXiyoi) rather than that in the RV, 'also of the Greek women of honourable estate, and of men, not a few.'
St. Paul's residence in Beroea probably lasted some months (W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul, 1895, p. 234). For the searching of the Scriptures daily [to Ka9' rifJpav), for the preaching of the gospel in the city as well as in the synagogue, and the consequent conversion not only of ' many ' Jews but also of 'not a few' Gentiles, a considerable time was re- quired. St. Paul would doubtless be slow to move farther south, and thereby put a longer distance between himself and Thessalonica, where his heart was. At lengtii, however, malicious Jews came all the way from that city to Bercea, and so stirred up the baser passions of the crowds (traXet/ovres toi)s 5xXoi;s), that the Christians thought it advisable to send St. Paul forth ' to go as far as to the sea' (not ws but ?ws eirl ttjv ddXaacrav being the true reading in v.'-*). That he was the real object of hatred is indicated by the fact that Silas and Timothy could safely remain behind (v.^*). Con- trary to his usual practice, the historian does not name the seaport of Bercea, but it was prob- ably from the town of Dium, the great bul- wark of the maritime frontier of South Macedonia, that St. Paul and his escort set sail for Athens (v.'°). Sopater, who is mentioned in Ac 2u^ as one of St. Paul's later associates, was a Beroean. There is a tradition (Ap. Const, vii. 46) that Onesimus was the first bishop of the Church of Bercea.
LrrERATOEE.— W. Smith, DGRG i. [1856] 393 ; E. M. Consi- nery. Voyage dans la MacMoine, 1831, i. 57 ff.; Conybeare- Howson, Life aiui Epistles of St. Paul, new ed., 1S77, i. 399 £E. ; T. Lewin, St. Paul^, 1875, i. 235 fl. ; W. M. Leake, Travels in iVortAemGreece, 1835, iiL 290 £E. JaMES StRAHAN.
BERYL.— Beryl {0-npvWos [Rev 21-"], a word of unknown etymology) is a mineral which ditt'ers little from the emerald except in colour. It never exhibits the deep rich green of that gem, being in general pale green, and sometimes yellowish, bluish, brownish, or colourless. Its finer varieties, which are transparent, are called aquamarine. It usually takes the form of long six-sided prisms, vertically' striated. It was much prized as a gem-stone by the ancients, and very fine specimens of Greek and Roman engraving in beryl are extant. Its great abundance in modern times has depreciated its value. In RVm of the OT, 'beryl' stands for shohapi, which Flinders Petrie {HDB iv. 620'') identifies Avith green felspar.
James Strahan.
BIGAMY.— See Marriage.
BIRTHRIGHT.— See FiRST-BORN.
BISHOP, ELDER, PRESBYTER. — The origin of the episcopate is, and is likely to remain, un- known. All the available evidence has been care- fully collected, sifted, and estimated, and it is insufficient. Equally honest and equally capable critics infer different theories of the episcopate from it, and no solution of the problem can claim demonstration. "We may hold, and perhaps be able to convince others, that one solution is more probable than another, but we cannot prove that it is the true one. All conclusions are tentative.
The problem is an old one, and as early as the 4th cent, there were two leading theories respect- ing the origin of the episcopate — that of Theodore of Mopsuestia and that of Jerome — but they are theories and no more. These two writers drew inferences from facts, or what they believed to be facts ; they did not know more about the origin than we do. And they both start from the same fact, viz. that in the xsT ' bishop ' and ' presbyter ' (or 'elder') are synonyms; they are two names for the same official. This is so generally recog- nized that there is no need to repeat the evidence. The two names are still synonymous in Clement of Rome {Cor. 42, 44), and by implication in Poly- carp (Phil. 1) and the Didache (15), which we may date about a.d. 130-150. Ignatius is the earliest writer known to us who clearly separates ' bishop ' from 'elder'; with him 'bishop' means the mon- archical ruler of a local church, distinct from, and superior to, the ' presbyters ' or ' elders.'