Bethlehem has been more or less fully described by most travellers in Palestine (comp. also Keland, Palsest. p. 643 sq. ; Rosenmuller, Alterth. II, ii, 276 sq. ; Ver- poortenn, Fascic. Dissert. Coburg, 1739 ; Spanheim, Be prcesepi Bom. nostri, Berl. 1695 ; Wernsdorf, Be Bethlehemo ap. Hieron. Vitsb. 1769). Treatises on va- rious points connected with the place, especially as the scene of the Nativity, have been written by Ammon (Gott. 1779), Buddeus (Jen. 1727), Ernesti (Lips. 1776), Feuerlein (Gott. 1744), Frischmuth (Jen. 1662), K6- nigsmann (Schlesw. 1807), Krause (Lips. 1699), Mid- ler (Rost. 1652), Oetter (Niirnb. 1774), Osiander (Tub. 1722), Rehkopf (Helmst. 1772), Scalden (Otium tkeol. p. 795 sq.), Scherf (Lips. 1704), Schwarz (Cob. 1728), same (ib. 1732), same (ib. eod.), Strauch (Viteb. 1661), same (ib. 1683), Vogel (Regiom. 1706), Wegner (Bran- deb. 1690), Ziebich (Viteb. 1751) ; Cundis (Jen. 1730).
2. A town in the portion of Zebulun, named only in connection with Idalah in Josh, xix, 15. It has been discovered by Dr. Robinson (Bibliotheca tSacra, 1853, p. 121) at Beit-Lahm, about six miles west of Nazareth, and lying between that town and the main road from Akka to Gaza (comp. Schwarz, Palest, p. 172). Robin- son characterizes it as "a very miserable village, none more so in all the country, and without a trace of an- tiquity except the name" (Bib. Res. new ed. iii, 113).
Bethlehem, Council of, held at Bethlehem in March, 1672, but commonly named the Council of Je- rusalem. It seems to have been brought about by French influence, with the aim of procuring from the Greeks a confession of the doctrine of transubstantia- tion (Covel, Greek Church, p. 146). Dionysius, patri- arch of Constantinople, at the suggestion ofDositheus, patriarch of Jerusalem, in January, 1672, prepared an encyclical letter, which was sent round to the various prelates for the approval of those who should be una- ble to attend the council. Tt asserts, in the first place, the seven sacraments, and declares an unequivocal be- lief that the living body of our Lord Jesus Christ is
invisibly present with a real presence in the blessed Eucharist, and that the bread is really, and truly, and properly changed into the very body of our Saviour Christ, and that it, the holy Eucharist, is offered up as a sacrifice for all Christians, both quick and dead. It then asserts the doctrine of baptism ; denies the doc- trine of final perseverance, maintains the necessity of episcopacy to a church, the superiority of virginity to matrimony, the infallibility of the Catholic Church, the invocation of saints, the use of images, and the ne- cessity of fasting. This letter received the signatures of forty-six metropolitans and bishops, including that of Dionysius. In March the council assembled at Bethlehem, Dositheus of Jerusalem presiding. The first act of the council was an ineffectual attempt to exculpate Cyril Lucar from the charge of Calvinism brought against him, and to deny the authenticity of the confession attributed to him. The}' then proceed to declare that the confession, whoever was its author, was never that of the Greek Church, and they repeat and authenticate the synods of Constantinople and Jassy, concluding with a confession of faith founded on that of Peter Mogilas, though in many respects differing from it. Its contents are : Art. 1. On the Trinity and the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father alone. 2. On the authority of the Church to interpret Holy Scriptures. 3. Against the doc- trine of irrespective predestination. 4. Against those who call God the author of evil. 5. On the same ; and on Divine Providence in turning evil into good. 6. On original sin. 7. On the incarnation and pas- sion. 8. That there is but one Mediator, Jesus Christ ; nevertheless, that the Church may and ought to have recourse to the intercession of the blessed Virgin and other saints. 9. That faith working by love, i. e. by the fulfilment of the commandments, justifies. 10. That there is a visible Catholic Church ; that epis- copacy is essential to it, and that, it is an order en- tirely distinct from the priesthood. 11. Of members of the church living in sin. 12. Of the teaching of the Holy Ghost by the fathers and by the oecumen- ical Church. 13. Of good works. 14. Of free will. 15. That there are seven sacraments. 16. Of the ne- cessity of regeneration in baptism. 17. Of the Holy Eucharist; asserts the doctrine of transubstantiation, and condemns consubstantiation. 18. Clearly admits the Latin doctrine of purgatory. As to the canon of Scripture, the council admitted the title of the apocry- phal books to be considered as canonical. It assented to the doctrine of the second Council of Nicrea with regard to images. The acts are signed by Dositheus, the patriarch of Jerusalem, Nectarius, the ex-patri- arch, seven other prelates, and the proxj' of one ab- sent ; also by sixty-one other ecclesiastics ; ten signed in Arabic, the rest in Greek ; the date is March 20, 1672.— Neale, History of the Oriental Church ; Landon, j Manual of Councils, p. *80 sq. ; rainier, Dissertations on \the Orthxlox Communion (Lond. 1853); Christian Re- I membrancer, July, 1853, p. 90.
Beth'lehemite (Heb. Beyth hal-Lachmi', fVa "'"Cn'sn, Sept. B?/2fXefju(V/;c or BatSXten'tTijc, occasion- ally tug Br)S\etfi or iv tij BT}S\dfi), an inhabitant of Bethlehem (q. v.) in Judah (1 Sam. xvi, 1, 18; xvii, 58; 2 Sam. xxi, 19).