The functions of the luocurators were judicial, financial, and military. The last tended to become less important in the later Empire. They had supervision of the taxes. They liad to pay the soldiers, not only in procuratorial but also in the other Imperial provinces. Each had charge of the
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PROFESS lOX
carryinp out of road-buildinf; and other buildings in his j)rovince. In the more important Imperial provinces the financial procurators acted ordinarily with the governors in the sujiorvisioii of buildin}; and also in the settlement of boundary disputes, but also sometimes independently. In theonliiiary Civil Court (Kecoriler's Court, Court of Common Pleas) they had a jurisdiction like that of other governors, and in later times at least they could appoint a puardian to a ward {/iitoris datio). Criminal jurisdiction over non-citizens was ex- ten<leil to them in Jud;ea already in Augustus' time in full compass (,Jn 19'"), but over Koman citizens they had no ))Ower of life and death (iu.i glndii), unless this had been communicated to them in a special mandate from the Emperor. The right of pardon belonged only to the Emperor, and the liberation of such a criminal as Harabbas can have been made possible only by a clause in the special lex prouinrim, according to which Juda'a was governed (Jn IS™). The procurator of Juda>a appears to have stood in a special position of dependence under the governor of the Imperial province of Syria. Pilate was deposed, or at least suspended, by L. Vitellius, the governor of Syria (Josephus, Ant. XVIII. iv. 2), with the command that he should appear before the Emperor in Rome, and a provisional governor appointed for Judfea. A similar experience fell to the lot of later procurators of Judoea, Felix and Cumanus, at the hands of Ummidius Quadratus, governor of Syria. But it has been pointed out that both these governors had a wider command than Syria, extending in fact over the neighbouring provinces as well. There was, however, a close connexion between Judwa* and Syria, the result of Syria's importance as a frontier province with four legions stationed in it.
LiTERATDRE.— O. Hirschfeld, Die kaiserlichen Verwaltungs- leamten bis an/ Diocletian'^, Berlin, 1905, pp. 410-465. bn Imperial estates, formerly the property of ftorls or Eoddesses, see W. M. Ramsay, 'The Teknioreian Guest-Friends: an Anti-Christian Society on the Imperial Estates at Pisidian Antioch,' in Studies in the HiatiM-y and Art of the Eastern Promnceg of the Roman Empire, 1906, pp. 303-377, Athenceum, 12 Aug. 1911, p. 193, 'Iconiuni and Antioch,' in Exp, 8th ser., ii. [1911]257ff., JHSxxxn. (1912] 151 ff. ; J. G. C. Anderson, in JRS iii. (1913) 267(1. ; M. Rostowzew, Studien zur Gesch. des rbm. Kolonates, Leipzig, 1910. \^ SOUTER.
PROFANE [^i^riXoi, ' trodden under foot ' ; pro- fatius, 'outside the shrine'). — The word denotes not simply what is common (see Clean), but a temper which despises sacred things (1 Ti 1") ; cf. 'profane language.' E.sau was 'profane' (He 12"*) because he despised his spiritual birthright. St. Paul is accused of 'profaning' the Temple (Ac 24") by bringing Gentiles into it. It is the temper of those who know the good and yet despise it. In the early days of Christianity we do not find this sin remarked on, because Christianity was then novel and unrecognized, and hostility to it was passionate rather than profane. But later, as in 1 and 2 Tim., when it became a tried institution with recognized doctrine (1 Ti 4"), and had a clien- tele amongst men, then there was room for this sin. The term ' profane ' is applied especially to those who under cover of Christianity foist their own errors and deceits upon the Church. Judaism from behind and Gnosticism coming on in front are the worst ott'enders. They simulated Christi- anity and brought their mischief into its very centre. Thus 'profane fables' (1 Ti 4') recalls the foolish stories of Rabbinical preaching (Tit V- "). 'Profane babblings and oppositions of knowledge falsely so-called ' (1 Ti e-". 2 Ti 2'"), if they are not Gnostic, are leading to Gnosticism, its hair-split- tings, cloud of words, pride of knowledge, unnatural asceticism, and moral looseness. Gnosticism, with all that led up to it, was peculiarly prq/ixree, because
it brought into the meekness of Christianity the dialectical pride of the West and the ' caste ' feeling of the East ; it pretended to have special know- ledge ; it made jiurity into a formal distinction between matter and spirit (see CLEAN) ; it indulged in capricious philosophical views of Christian truth, and became a masijuerade of sacred things.
LiTEHATiiiB.— A. Edersheim, LT*, 1887, i. 448 ; F. J. A. Hort, Jtnlaistie Chrif^tianili/, 1S94, p. 138; W. Moeller, History of the Christian Church, Eng. tr., i. [18921 12»-1.'.3 ; J. B. Lightfoot, Cvlosnians and Philemon, new ed., 1379, pj). 73- 113; for analysis of prtKcnt-ilay tlnostieisin, P. T. Forsyth, Positive Preaching and Modem' Mind, 1907, pp. 118-123.
Sheuwin Smith.
PROFESSION.— Several words are used in Acts and the Epistles to express avowal, professing, or confessing. (1) In the general .sense of professing or avowing something we have i^acritii' (' professing themselves to Vie wi.se, they became fools,' Ko 1-^) anil iwayyiWecrOat (' which becometli women profess- ing godliness,' 1 Ti 2'"; 'they profess that they know God,' Tit 1"*). (2) In tlie particular sense of 23rofessing or confessing faith, the words bixoXoyuv and ofioXoyla are regularly used. In this connexion the word ' profession ' disappears from the KV and the more accurate word ' confession ' takes its place : e.g. ' Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate wit- nessed the good confession' (1 Ti 6'^). In the specilic sense of confessing faith in Jesus Christ it is the technical term. The lurus classii'iis is Ro JQ9. w . 1 jf tiioji sijalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord . . . thou slialt be saved : for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation ' (cf. Ac 24''', 2 Co 9'3, 1 Ti 6>-, He 3' 4"). In the 1st and 2nd Epistles of John, particular stress is laid on the confession of the reality of the human life of Jesus — no doubt with reference to the Docetic heresy : e./f. ' Every spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the iiesh is of God' (1 Jn 4=, also 4', 2 Jn').