ABESAR
14
ABIASAPH
lectcd a numerous congregation. His constitution tailed under his excessive labors, and he died sud- denly in December, 1740. His discourses on the be- ing and attributes of God have always been held in much esteem. His works are: 1. Discourses on the 1U ing and Perfections of God (Lond. 1743, 2 vols. 8vo) ; 2. Sermons on variant Subjects (Lond. 1748-'51, 4 vols. 8vo) ; 3. Tracts and Sermons (Lond. 1751, 8vo).
Abesar. See Abez.
Abesta. See Avesta.
Abeyance signifies expectancy, probably from the French Layer, to gape after. Lands, dwelling-houses,
or g Is, are said to be in abeyance when they are
only in expectation, or the intendment of the law, and not actually possessed. In the Church of England, ■when a living has become vacant, between such time and the institution of the next incumbent, it is in abeyance. It belongs to no parson, but is kept sus- pended, as it were, in the purpose, as yet undeclared, of the patron.
A'bez (Heb. E'bcfs, yzt<, in pause "j"3X, A'bets, lustre, and hence, perhaps, tin; Sept. 'Aeptx, Vulg. a 1 6i s), a town in the tribe of Issachar, apparently near the border, mentioned between Kishion and Remeth (Josh, xix, 20). It is probably the Abesar ('A/3ecra/)oc) mentioned by Josephus (Ant. vi, 13, 8) as the native city of the wife whom David had married prior to Ab- igail and after his deprival of Michal; possibly re- ferring to Ahinoam the Jezreelitess (1 Sam. xxv, 43), as if she had been so called as having resided in some town of the valley of Esdraelon. According to Schwarz (Palest, p. 167), "it is probably the village of Kwiebiz, called also Karm en-Abiz, which lies three English miles west-south-west from Iksal ;" meaning the Khuneifis or ULhneijis of Robinson (Research's, \\\, 167, 218), which is in the general locality indicated by the associated names.
Abgarus (Abagarus, Agbarus ; sometimes de- rived from the Arabic AJcbar, "greater," but better from the Armenian Avag, "great," and air, "man;" see Ersch unci Gruber, s. v. Abgar), the common name of the petty princes (or Toparchs) who ruled at Edes- sa in Mesopotamia, of one of whom there is an East- ern tradition, recorded by Eusebius (Eccl. Hist, i, 13), that he wrote a letter to Christ, who transmitted a re- ply. Eusebius gives copies of both letters, as follows :
" Abgarus, Prince of Edessa, to Jesus, the merciful Saviour, who has appeared in the country of Jerusa- lem, greeting. I have been informed of the prodigies and cures wrought by you without the use of herbs or medicines, and by the efficacy only of your words. I am told that you enable cripples to walk; that you tone devils from the bodies possessed; that there is no disease, however incurable, which you do not heal, and that you restore the dead to life. These wonders persuade me that you are some god descended from heaven, or that you are the Son of God. For this rea on 1 have taken the liberty of writing this letter to you, beseeching you to come and see me, and to cure me of the indisposition under which I have so long labored. I understand that the Jews persecute you, murmur at your miracles, and seek your destruc- tion. I have here a beautiful and agreeable city which, though it be not very large, will be sufficient to Bupply you with every thing that is necessary."
To this letter it. is said Jesus Christ returned him an answer in the following terms : " You are happy, Abagarus, thus to have believed in me without having Been me : for it is written of me, that thev who shall see me will not believe in me, and that they who have never Been me shall believe and be saved." As to the desire you express in receiving a visit, from me, I must tell you that all things for which I am come must be fulfilled in the country where [ am ; when this is done, I must return to him who sent me. And when I am
departed hence, I will send to yon one of my disciples, who will cure you of the disease of which you com- plain, and give life to you and to those that are with you." According to Moses of Chorene (died 470), the reply was written by the Apostle Thomas.
Eusebius further states that, after the ascension of Christ, the Apostle Thomas sent Thaddasus, one of the seventy, to Abgar, who cured him of leprosy, and con- verted him, together with his subjects. The docu- ments from which this narrative is drawn were found by Eusebius in the archives of Edessa. Moses of Cho- rene relates further that Abgarus, after his conversion, wrote letters in defence of Christianity to the Empe- ror Tiberius and to the king of Persia. He is also the first who mentions that Christ sent to Abgarus, to- gether with a reply, a handkerchief impressed with his portrait. The letter of Christ to Abgarus was de- clared apocryphal by the Council of Rome, A.D. 494, but in the Greek Church many continued to believe in its authenticity, and the people of Edessa believed that their city was made unconquerable by the posses- sion of this palladium. The original is said to have later been brought to Constantinople. In modern times, the correspondence of Abgarus, as well as the portrait of Christ, are generally regarded as forgeries ; yet the authenticity of the letters is defended by Til- lemont, J/emoires pour Servir a VHist. Eccles. i, p. 362, 615 ; by Welte, Tubing. Quartalschrift, 1842, p. 335 et seq., and several others. Two churches, St. Sylvester's at Rome, and a church of Genoa, profess each to have the original of the portrait. A beauti- ful copy of the portrait in Rome is given in W. Grimm, Die Sage vom Ursprung der Christusbilder (Berlin, 1843). The authenticity of the portrait in Genoa is defended by the Mechitarist, M. Samuelian. Hefele puts its origin in the fifteenth century, but believes it to be the copy of an older portrait. See the treatises on this subject, in Latin, by Frauendorff (Lips. 1693) ; Albinus (Viteb. 1694); E. Dalhuse (Hafn. 1699), Schulze (Regiom. 1706) ; Semler (Hal. 1759) ; Heine (Hal. 1768) ; Zeller (I'rnkf. ad 0. 1798) ; in German, by Hartmann (Jena, 1796) , Rink (in the Morgenblalt, 1819, No. 110, and in Ilgen's Zeitschr. 1843, ii, 3-26) ; and comp. Bayer, Hist. Edessana, p. 104 sq., 358 sq. See, also, Neander, Ch. Hist, i, 80 ; Mosheim, Comm. i, 95; Lardner, Works, vi, 596 ; Stud. v. Kril. I860, iii ; and the articles Ciikist, Images of: Jesus.