19. A Jewish conjuror whom Josephus speaks of having seen exorcise demons in the presence of Ves- pasian and his officers by means of a magical ring {Ant. viii, 2, 5).
20. A son of Sameas, and born in Saab in Galilee, who performed a heroic act of valor and self-devotion during the final siege of Jerusalem (Josephus, War, iii, 7, 21).
21. Son of Simon, and ringleader of the Zealots in the final convulsions of the Jewish nation (Josephus, War, iv, 4, 1). Ho first appears as possessor of a large amount of plunder from the Romans under Ces- tiuF, which gave him control of public affairs {ib. ii, 20, 3). During the siege by Titus he hold the Temple against the other factions {ib. v, 1, 2), being supplied by the sacred stores of provisions {ib. 3) ; but at length he formed a coalition with one of these opponents, John of Gischala, who occupied the remainder of the eastern part of the city {ib. v, G, 1), having lost his vantage by a stratagem of the latter {ib. 3, 1). See the full account under Jerus.\lem.
Sleazar (in Armenian Eghiazar), an Armenian patriarch, was born at Anthab, in Syria. In 1650, David, the patriarch of Constantinople, was ejected from his seat, and Eleazar elected in his place. Ho held this position only for two j'ears, for in 1G52 Phil- ip, the patriarch of Etchmiadzin, and supreme head of the Church, arrived at Constantinople, expelled Elea- zar, and consecrated John of Meghin, who, in turn, was soon ejected bj' the intrigues of Eleazar. The see then remained vacant for some time. Eleazar went to Jerusalem, in compliance with an invitation of the patriarch of that city, Azduadzadur, who wished his assistance in a quarrel with the Greeks, and prom- ised to make him his successor. "While residing in the convent of St. James, Eleazar discovered a treasure of 100,000 pieces of gold and 100,000 pieces of silver. After many troubles with Turkish officials and several imprisonments, he succeeded in obtaining possession of the convent. He built a church, called after the residence of the chief patriarch of the Armenians, Etchmiadzin, and caused himself to be elected inde- pendent patriarch of Jerusalem. He was expelled in 1664, and again, after having regained possession of the dignity, in 1668, when he was succeeded b}' a per- sonal enemy, Martyr. The people, dissatisfied with this change, replaced Azduadzadur, after whose death Eleazar took forcilde possession of the patriarchal see. He maintained himself in this position until 1680, when, after the death of James IV, the patriarch of Etchmiadzin, he assumed the title of patriarch of all the Armenians. A subsequent election confirmed hira in this position, and in 1G82 he took up his residence in Etchmiadzin. His chief aim as he.ul of the Arme- nian Church was to put an end to internal dissensions. He died at Etchmiadzin in 1691. — Hoefer, Xouv. Biog, Generale, xv, 791. (A. J. S.)
Eleazu'rus (a strange rendering for 'E\iac(jioQ, Alex. MS. 'E\(«(Ti/3oc,Vulg. Elinsib}, one of the Levit- ical musicians who married a Gentile wife after the re- turn from Babylon (1 Esdr. i.x, 24) ; evidently the Eliasiiib (q. V.) of the Heb. text (Ezra x, 24).
Elect, a term sometimes applied in the ancient Church (1) to the whole body of Ijaptized Christians, who were called dytot, tKXticroi, saints, elect ; (2) to the highest class of catechumens elected to baptism ;
ELECTA
124
ELECTION OF CLERGY
(fi) at other times to the newly bnptizcd, as especially ailiiiitted to tlie full privilegus of tlieir profession, and sonratiinos called the iierfect.
Ascetics, who at one time were considered tlie most eminent of Christian professors, were called the elect of the elect. — Bingham, Oriff. Eccles. bk. x, ch. ii, § 5. See Catechumens.
Electa or Eclecta ('EicX£(cr//,Auth. Vers. " elect" lady). According to Grotius, Wetstein, and some oth- er critics, this word is used as a proper name in the ad- dress of John's second epistle, 'O llptalU'repog 'E/cXf/c- T)j Kvpi(f — "T//e Presbyter to the Lady Eclecta." This meaning is advocated l>y bishop Middleton, in his trea- tise on the Doctrine of the Greek Article (2d edit. Cam- bridj:e, 1828, p. 626-62!*). He adduces in support of it several epistolary inscriptions from Basil, in which the name precedes, and the rank or condition in life is sub- joined, such as EvaraOiiij iaTp(^ — \(oi>7iii> cotpiary — BoffTTOpi^j tTTdTKoTT'/J — Mciyi'muavi^ K6j.n]Ti : none of these, however, are purel}^ honorary titles. To meet the objection that the sister of the person addressed is also called Eclecta in verse 13, he suggests that the words T)]Q 'EkXiktTiq are a gloss, explanatory' of aov. But this is mere conjecture, unsupported bj^ a single manuscript ; and such a gloss, if occasioned (as bishop Middleton supposes) liy the return to the singular number, would more naturally have been inserted af- ter f7£, in which position, however unnecessarj', it would at least produce no ambiguit}'. Some writers, both ancient and modern, have adopted a mj^stical in- terpretation, though contrarj' to tlie usus loquendl, and to all apostolic usage, and suppose with Jerome that the tarni ticXeKTi) referred to the Church in general, or with Cassiodorus, to some particular congregation. The last-named writer (Ijorn A.D. 470, died 562), in his Complexiones in Epistolax. etc. (London, 1722, p. 136), saj's, "Johannes — alectiB dominie scribit ecclesice, fili- isque ejus, quas sacro fonte genuerat." Clemens Al- exandrinus, in a fragment of his Adiimhrationes, at- tempts to combine the literal and the m^-stical mean- ings— "Scriptaveroestadquandam Bab3'loniam Elec- tam nomine, signiticat autem electionem ecclesiae sanc- ta:" {Opera, ed. Klotz, iv, p. G6). The Auth. Version translates the words in question "</ie elect lady" an interpretation approved hy Castalio, Beza, Mill, Wolf, Le Clerc, and Macknigiit. Most modern critics, how- ever—Schleusner and Breitschneider, in their lexi- cons; Bourger (1763),Vater (1824\ Goschen, and Tis- chendorf (l^^ll). in their editions of the N. Testament ; Ncandar {I'lantimj of the Church, ii, 71), De Wette (Lchi-huch, p. 339), and LUcke {Commentary on the Epis- tles of St. John, p. 314-320, Eng. transl.) — agree with the Syriac and Arabic versions in making Kvpla a proper name, and render the words "to the elect Cyria.'' (See Grntiixi Inscnpt. p. 1127.) Lardner has given a copious account of critical opinions in his History of thz Apostles and Evangelists, c. xx ( Worht, vi, 284-288). — Kitto, s. V. See also Heumann, De Cyrin (Gotting. 1726); Rittmeier, De ticXt/cry Kiwi'^t (Helmst. 1706) ; Knauer, Ueber tKXcKTtJ Kmnif. (in the Theol. Stud. it. Krit. vi, 452 sq.); Amer. Preih. Rev., Jan. 1867. See Joiix (Third Epistle ok).