The first cities of Pontus to receive Christianity were doubtless those of the seaboard, from which it must have rapidly spread inland. Pliny the Younger was sent to administer Pontus and Bithynia in A.D. Ill, and his correspondence with Trajan gives a clear idea of the changes already being wrought by the new religion — in his view a ' superstitio prava immodica' — not only in thegreat towns but in remote country places (Ep. x. 97). His reference to renegades who professed to have renounced their Christian faith as much as twenty- five years previously indicates that some parts of the province had been evangelized some time before A.D. 87 or 88. The First Epistle of Peter, even if it was not written till A.D. 80, carries the date of the introduction of Christianity into Pontus a good deal further back.
Aquila, the fellow-worker of St. Paul, was a native of Pontus (Ac 18'-). Another Aiiuila, the translator of the OT into Greek, who lived in the time of Hadrian, belonged to the same province. An inscription to an Aquila of Sinope (Sinvl)) has recently been found. Sino|>e was the birth]jlace of Marcion, whose father is said to have been a bishop.
LlTERATCRE.— W. M. Ramsay, The Church in the lioman Empire, 189:1, Ilisl. Geography o.f Asia Minor, 1890; J. G. C. Anderson, ' Exploration in I^ontus,' in Stvdia Pmitica, 190.^, and F. and E. Cumont, ' Voyage d'cxpioration archi^oL dans le Pont et la petite Arnienie," ifc., laOC. J AMES StRAHAN.
248
POOK, POVERTY
POSSESSION
POOR, POVERTY.— The terms used in the NT to describe the poor are tt^i't]!, Trei>ixi>6s, ipBa/it (once each), and wraxis. In the threat majority of in- stances it is obvious that these words describe the man who has little material wealth, but there are certain passages which sug^'est a lar-jer meaning.
In the Epistle of James and in the Gospel of Luke the word ' poor' (irTuxin) is used occasionally in a manner which suggests that, while it has in part its literal sense, it may also denote one who possesses certain virtues which may have been con- ceived of as usually associated with poverty. ' Did not God choose them that are poor as to tiie world to be rich in faith, and lieirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him ? Kut ye have dishonoured the poor man. Do not the ricli op- press you, and themselves drag you before the judgement-seats?' (Ja 2"-''). Our Lord's words ' Blessed are ye poor : for yours is the kingdom of God,' and ' Woe unto you that are rich ! for ye have received your consolation ' (Lk 6-°- ") may be thought to convey the same suggestion. In Mt 5' our Lord's words are repeated in a different form — ' Blessed are tlie poor in spirit ' ; and while we may be inclined to think that Luke gives us the more original form of the words, the gloss, if it be such, of Matthew's Gospel is very possibly just in sub- stance. When we examine the OT literature we lind that it is possible that the word ' poor ' is often used rather in a spiritual than in a literal sense, e.g. Ps 35'" 40".
It has been suggested that this points to some relation between the NT conception of the poor and some supposed body of Ebionites or pious men who are also called poor, but the material is too scanty to enable us to form any very positive judgment.
For the question of the position and treatment of the poor in the Apostolic Church see the artt. Alms and CoMMUNiTV OF Goods.
A. J. Caelyle.
PORCH. — When ' porch ' is a translation of (ttocL, it denotes a portico (so Ac 3" RVm), covered colonnade, or cloister, where people could walk and talk, protected from sun or rain, and where liberty of public speaking and teaching was generally en- joyed. Round the entire area of Herod's Temple there ran .a succession of magnilicent porticoes built against the enclosing wall. Solomon's Porch, which adorned the eastern side — hence called also the crrod dfaroXiKiJ (Jos. Ant. XX. ix. 7) — and faced the entrance to the Women's Court, was a double portico, about 50 ft. wide, formed by three rows of white marble monolithic columns, each about 40 ft. high. It was roofed by cedar beams, richly carved, and its aisles were paved in mosaic fashion with stone (Jos. Ant. XV. xi. 5, BJ v. v. 2). Josephus appears to have believed that it had survived from the time of Solomon {Ant. XX. ix. 7, BJv. v. 1), but in all probal)ility its name implied no more than that on the same foundations there had stood a previous .structure which partly dated from Solomon's time. The porch in which Jesus walked on the Feast of Dedication (Jn 10"^), to which the people ran together after witnessing St. Peter's miracle at the Beautiful Gate (Ac 3"), and which was a rendezvous of the early Church (S'-*), was certainly modern. It was in the style of contem- porary Hellenistic architecture, and was only less magnificent than the triple colonnade known as the ' Royal Porch '— tn-oa ^acnXiK-f) — which ran along the south side of the Temple court.
LiTBRATORE.— A. Edersheim, LT* i. 244 f., ii. 161 ; A. R. S. Kennedy, 'Some Problems of Herod's Temple,' in ExpT xx. [1908-09J, art. 'Temple' in EBrn; B. Kleinschmidt, art. 'Temple- in ./£. JaMES StuAHAN.