SELEDCIA (SeXciJKcio). — Seleucia was the sea- port of Antioch and the maritime stronghold of the Macedonian monarchy in Syria. It lay 5 miles to the north of the mouth of the Orontes, on the southern skirts of Mt. Pieria, whence it was called SeXeuKcia r/ if Iliepi?, in distinction from the many other foundations of the same name. It was one of the cities which formed the Syrian Tetrapolis, the others being Antioch, Apameia, and Laodieea. ' They were called sisters from the concord which existed between them. They were founded by Seleucus Nicator. The largest bore the n.ame of his father, and the strongest his own. Of the others, Apameia had its name from his wife Apama, and Laodieea from his mother' (Strabo, XVI. ii. 4).
Seleucia overlooked a bay ' not unlike the Bay of Naples and scarcely less beautiful ' (G. L. Bell, Syria, the Desert and the Sown, 1908, p. 329). It was built partly at the foot and partly on the top of precipitous cliffs, the lower and the upper city being connected by a cutting through the solid rock 1100 yards long. Strongly protected by nature and by fortifications, Seleucia was regarded as the key of Syria (Polybius, v. 58). Ptolemy
SELF-DENIAL
SELF-DENIAL
Eueicetes seized it in 24G B.C., n.ul Antioclu.s I ulle Vireat) achu,ved renou „ by ro.aj,turmg.t m 2^.
on lunil-lftlie diadem of Asia {1 Mac 11 - ^'" ^ aC isaeall. the city Lad to be restored to tie Seb-ueidsdi '«•'»). ^M'cn Syria came undei the sway o^th': Romans, they "-de Seleucia a Uoe^.^y -'Selencia libera, Piena appellata (lluiy.i/AV.
'^i<^iahad great ""r-tan^^,:f ^^nav"" of Levantine commerce. 1 he Oiontes was nn^ ^ able as far as Antiocli (Strabo, XVI. u. 7), bat only for smaller craft, .hile the l-'-- "^ ^^If-X received the largest transport ships of UJF- Phffinic a Cyprus, Asia Minor, Creece, and Italy. V:Z^^ s^.;.rt'st. I'aul and ';«- -,-" f - their first missionary journey (A ,13 )■ '^'^' ''V ^ "i end of the adventure they ' sailed to Antiocn nd-«l laudiii" probably at Seleucia. '' Th'e relnains'^f Seleticia-citade amj.u lea re, temnles etc. — are numerous and u ipit.ssue. 'Some day there will be much to disclose here, bu? exca! Ition will be exceedingly cost y o.vmg to the deep silf (G. L. Bell, op. cU., p. 334).
.CO Rpvan The Uouse of Seteums. 2 vols.,
o5o I.
SELF-DENIAL.-Jesusemphadzedthenecessity
of <;elf-denial {iavriv airapvu^eai, M 1. ?> ) ,,..,!
Uldnl up of the cross if outward follow ...« ^v s to become real discipleship. Sel -denial looks nrimarilv to the initial struggle by which the disc ne cuts himself adrift from his former way olWng renouncing parents, ^vlfe Po^^essioi^s hatin-' life itself when these stand in the way Mt U)''' Lk U-^'-). Taking up the cross looks rathei to'the acceptance of the stern conditions a Id dread possibilities of the new l^fe/tse f By the former the individual tears himself out of t e old conditions, by the latter ^^^^'^^'^J^ burdens of the new and as yet ""t"*^^' ^^^^"''^^^
TatUe' Both are acts of -}^^ /^^'^^^^ ^ immediacy and decisiveness ^^f-^^^{J-'l^!:.^i^'. Mt.l6=;); ^^-^^'^Z^'^ iL^^'be 'cSii^i;^r:-affinn:d°if^he acolyte is not to
become an apostate, . , .
The best commentary on these two ideas is found in Ph y-'S ^vhele St. Paul describes both h°sownseu!denial and his taking up of the cross What tbin-s were gain to him these he counted
ss for'chHst, i.e. Ue gave upfri-ds ,>rivih.ges earthly prospects-in reality his old ^e''-'''"'' ''^ accepted to \he full the conditions of the new accepreu Lo fellowship of Christ s
service (ct. AC a ), ^'"^ "^ j..,fi, i^iiiii .nr
sulierin"s and conformitv to His death, binular is the thou.'ht in Gal 2"'^. The Apostle speaks of what he° alls his own death, his own crucifixion, and Christ now living in him.
Thus, although the evangelic phrase io-vriv ajrap- JJaX not found in the apostohc literature the idea underlies the whole apostolic view of the
^'Jaf The'id'ea %vas primarily used in the martyr sense of willingness to sutler death or persecution f^rlsus- sake. Death and l.e-ecution in ^hem- selves have no spiritual value (.^ \" !^,'J^*o.3 3»', but to deny the 'name' or the 'faith (Kev - .i) in order to escape them is to renounce Christ '"Vlioever denies himself to be a Christian and
rTi- •in'^ letter to Pliny, Kj'. xcvn. [xcviu.]. in ..Hardy's ed. of Pliny, i>/'. f. ^';-?'"''»; I ..,rlnn 1SS<» P 217). lo do that IS the very iC^te of Ch I'stTan self-denial in this martyr sise The Apocalvpse is a warning against 'cowardice' (Kev 21») and an encouragement to b^t^r^ul unto death (2.«) The Cl--^-^- -
«T^'?;tt™'^co^:^^'?«'^l^"co"^'!
sake (Ito b", J i^o * , i " •» . ' . i
., -r: .iu-isv I'liis .-^Kpwffis, or dying to tlie ^jor'"- ;as "however, the sure foretaste of eternal lie 'God cannot deny himself,' and this Uiviiie moral c.mltency ensu/es future glory to those who deny 111 1 not as it ensures shame to those who do (2 1 1 "■") sJme explain 2 Ti 2" of t >« (^''J- '''".
death with Christ in '=0"\-«?"^".iJ- f^'" f ,\Ue r F(;T London, I'JIO), and 1 Co lo^' of the uttci
^eu'deni^witii whiclh he [«t.. 1'-'?, -^f-^f^ c' self to the work of preaching Cli. ist d- C.
claims (like the Kipioi /caiffap claim) to determine