3. Conclusion. — Ethics in the Apostolic Age did not consist in a re-statement of old experience or in a system of purely ethical theory, but in the recognition and acceptance in the sphere of conduct of the practical consequences of what was believed to be an entirely new experience of spiritual facts.
LrrERATTTRB. — A. Neander, ' Verhaltniss der hellen. Ethik zur christlichen,' in WissenschaftUche Abhandlungen, 1851, also Qeschichte der christl. Ethik\ = Theoloq. Vorkmingen, v. [1864]) ; W. Gass, Geschichte der christl. Ethik, ISSl ; C. E. Luthardt, GescJiichte der christl. Ethik, 1888; H. Martensen, Christian Ethics, En^. tr., (General) 1885, (Individual) 1881, (Social)lS82 ; J. R. illin^worth, Christian Character, 1904; T. B. Strong-, CAjv'.s^fVrji /i7/t ('c.s, 1896 (to which this article isespeciallyindebted); H. H. Scullard, Early Christian Ethics,l907 ; T. v. Haering:, The Ethics oj tlie Christian Life, Eng. tr.2, 1909.
J. H. Maude. ETHIOPIANS. — Ethiopians are only twice men- tioned in the NT, and then in the same passage, viz. Ac S'-', where Candace, queen of (the) Ethio- pians, and her evvovxo$ dwdarrj^ are mentioned in connexion with Philip the Deacon (see artt. Candace, Ethiopian Eunuch, and Philip). The word is there doubtless, as in the OT, the Greek equivalent of the lieb. Knshl. It seems probable that AWioxJ/ (?== ' Redface') is only a Gra'cized form of some native word, not a proper description of their facial characteristic, but what that word was can only be conjectured. ' Ethiopia ' in NT times would appear to mean the southern
ETHIOPIAN EU]S"UCH
EUCHARIST
373
Eart of Egypt, now called the Sudan, the ancient ingdom of Meroe. In earlier days Napata, a town on the Nile, somewhat north of Meroe, which was likewise on the Nile, had been the capital ; but though Napata still retained some of its jjrestige as the sacred city, yet the seat of government had been removed to Meroe. Another kingdom, that of Axum in the mountain region of Abyssinia proper, seems to have taken its rise about the middle of the 1st cent. A.D., but that does not come into view in our present inquiry.
O T "P'p'T TOP* ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH.— PhUip ' the Deacon's convert (Ac S^^-) is described as Aidio\p evvovxos Swdarris Kai'od/ojs ^a<ri\icr(n]s AlOtdiruiv, &s Tjv iirl irdarjs T^s ydtvs avTTjs. AWlo-ip has been briefly discussed above, ewoDxos implies that he was one of the Court officials and perhaps subject to the physical disability Avhich the name ordinarily implies, but not ' chamberlain ' in the strict sense of the term, as he *was in charge of all her treasure' (see Candace). Becker {Charicles, Eng. tr., 1895, p. 365) notes that eunuchs were prized for their re- puted fidelity {irapa. rolai ^apjidpoiai [Herod, viii. 105]), and hence were employed as treasurers (fTTteu-ws yap elwOecrav eiivovxavs Sx^'" ya^o(pvXaKai [Plutarch, Demetr. 25]). Zvvd<T-n]% suggests that he possessed unusual power and influence at Court ; the word is not found in a similar connexion else- where in the NT (it is used of God in 1 Ti 6^^ and of kings in Lk 1^^), but we have two good instances in Xenoplion (Anab. I. ii. § 20 : tGiv \jirdpx<^v riva ovvd<jT7)v, and Cyrop. IV. v. § 40 : toO ^aciXiui /cat dWup ovvaaTGiv ; cf. Herod, ii. 32 and Plato, Rep. 473). There are no means hitherto available for identify- ing this personage who so early in the history of the Church was admitted to her fold by holy baptism* from the Gentile world; but the fact that he was returning from worship at Jerusalem, and was reading Is 53'- ^ in the LXX version, Avhich here differs somewhat from the Hebrew text, shows that he was acquainted with the Greek language and had been drawn to the religion of the Jews, although he was not very deeply versed in the Scriptures (v.^*). He was not actually a proselyte, and in any case his physical condition probably disqualified him. C. L. Feltoe.
ETHNARCH. — This comparatively rare term is derived from ^dvo$, 'a race,' and S.pxei.v, 'to rule'; perhaps the nearest English equivalent is 'chief.' The word is not known before the 2nd cent. B.C., and appears to indicate a ruler appointed by or over a people who were themselves part of a larger kingdom or empire, the appointment being made or recognized by its overlord or suzerain as valid. The purpose of such an appointment was perhaps primarily to safeguard the religion of a people. The earliest instance of an ethnarch known to us is that of Simon Maccabceus. In 1 ISIac \4:'" Simon accepts from the people the following oflices — dpxt- eparevcrai Kal eluaL arpaTr]y6s /cat idvdpxv^ tQv ' lovdaLuii> Kal iepiwp Kal rod TrpocrTaTrjcrai irdvToiv ('to be high priest and to be general and ethnarch of the Jews and their priests and to rule over all ') ; and in 15^ a letter of King Antiochus of Syria is addressed to him as lepeZ /xeydXip Kal iOvdpxv ( ' great priest and ethnarch '). From 15^'^ it is clear that the edfos was the Jews themselves, and indeed almost every- where where the term ' ethnarch ' occurs, it refers to a ruler over Jews. Josephus [Aiit. xiv. vii. 2) shows us that the large Je^v■ish community in the great city of Alexandria had an ' ethnarch ' over it, and he defines his duties precisely thus : dioiKel re t6 ^dvos /cat diaiTa Kpicreis Kal a-vf.i^6\aiwv iirineXelrai