GEISSENHAINER
165
GELASIUS
rum (Strasb. 1510, 1511, 1513), translated into German by Pauli, D.Kaisersbergers Narrensch'ffXStnxsh. 1520) ; there is also another translation (Basel, 1513). Of another of his works. Das Schijf des Ilcils, dann der Seekn Puradks (first edit.), a free translation into mod- ern German has lieen published bj' H. Bone (Mentz, 18G4). Many collections of his sermons have been published. Sae Von Animon, G.'s Lebeii, Lehren und Predigten (Erl. 182G) ; A\'eick, Juhann G. von Kaisers- lerg, sein Leben it. seine Sdiriftcn, etc. (Fraiikf. 182G, 3 vols.); lllgen's ifeiVscAri/V, xxvii, 530 ; Huber, Z7eier G.'s Leben und Scliriften (1831 ; also in the French lan- guage, Esstti kistorique et literaire sttr la vie et les ser- mons de G., Strasburg, 1834, containing a selection from G.'s works); Kehrein, Geschichie der hatholischen Kanzelbcredtsamkeit d. Deidschen (Ratisb. 1843, 2 vols.) ; Pierer, Universal- Lexikon, s. v. ; Herzog, Real-Encyklo- pddie, iv, 714.
Geissenhainer, Frederick Wilboxo, D.D., was born June 2G, 1771, at jMiilheini, on the Ruhr. In earl}' life he gave evidence of great intellectual pre- cocity, and a wonderful facility in the acquisition of knowledge. He studied in the universities of Giessen and Gcittingen, and in the latter institution became for a season professor extraordinanus. When he reached his twentieth year he applied for ministerial ordina- tion, which, although usually withheld from all under twenty-five j'ears of age, was granted to him as an honorable exception to the general rule, on account of his superior qualifications for the office. For nearh' two years he preached in his native land, and then cams to America in 1793. For fifteen j'ears he la- bored in the Goschenhoppen and associated churches in Pennsylvania, and in 1808 removed to the cit}- of New York as successor to Dr. Kunze. His health failing, he suspended for a time his ministerial labors, and re- paired to Clearfield Co., Pa. Subsequently he resumed the pastoral work, and labored at theTrappe, Pottstown, Vincent, and other places. In 1822 he returned to New York. He died May 27, 1838, in the 67th year of his age, and the 47th of his ministry. Dr. Geissenhainer enjoyed the reputation of an eminent divine in the Lu- theran Cluirch. He possessed an intellect of the high- est order, which had been brought under the influence of the most thorough culture. The Latin and Greek were as familiar to him as his native tongue. From the University of Pennsylvania he received the doctorate of divinity in 182G. His MS. lectures on Church Ilis- tor}', on the Gospels, Epistles, and portions of the Old Test unfnt, in the hands of surviving relatives, we trust, will yet be given to the Church. (M. L. S.)
Geistweit, George, a minister of the German Reformed Church, was born in the year 1761 ; licensed and ordained in 1794 ; became pastor of churches in Northumberland Co., Pa. His large field of labor laj' on both sides of the Susquehanna, and along both its branches. He became pastor in York, Pa., May, 1804. By failing health he was compelled to resign and quit the active duties of the ministry in 1820. He died Nov. 11, 1831. He was a very useful man, in his old aga higldy venerable, and always greatly beloved for his childlike piety, well -tempered zeal, and amiable spirit. He preached onlv in the German language. (H. H.)
GelasiiLS Cyzicenus was son of a presbj^ter of Cyzicum. He fiourishcd about .\.D. 47G. He com- piled .1 History of th^ Council of Xice, put together without judgment, in throe l)Ooks, the last of which is lost. It was published under the title of Gelasii Ilis- tor. Nicen., cura Rob. Balfour, Gr. et. Lat. (Paris, 1599, 8vo). It may be found also in Labl)e, Concilia, vol. ii, and in Jligne, Fairologin Lafina, vol. Ixxxv. See Dupin, Ei'cl. Writers, vol. iv; Fabricius, Bibl. Grceca, vol. ix; Cave, Hist. Lit. Ann. 476.
Gelasiiis of Caesarea was nephew of Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, by whose influence he was made
bishop of Csesarea perhaps about A.D. 370. Of his works there are extant only some fragments, explan- atory of the Apostles' Creed and of the traditions of the Church. He died in 394. The accounts of hini are obscure ; some writers make two persons of the same name. See Fabricius, Bibl. Grcec. vol. ix.
Gelasius I, a pope and saint of the Roman Church, succeeded Felix III March 1,492. He is one of the popes who contributed most to the extension of the tem- poral power of the see of Rome. He was the first to claim for the Papacy a complete independence of the em- perors or from the sj'nods in matters of faith. See his iMter to Faustus (IMansi, Sacroruin Conciliorum nova et ampliss. collectio, viii, 19), in which he argued that the pope has not only a right to decide all ecclesiastical questions, but that an appeal from such decision to any other tribunal is inadmissible ; that the pope holds the first rank {pjima sedes^ in the Church, and councils de- rive their authority from his countenance and co-oper- ation (pro suo scilicet principatu). "There are two powers," he wrote to the emperor, "who have sover- eign rule over the world : the spiritual and the tem- ! poral authority ; the sacred authority of tlic liisliops is I so much the greater, as on the day of judgment they j must render an account of the actions of kings. You j know, magnanimous emperor, that your dignity sur- I passes that of other princes of the earth ; nevertheless, I you are obliged to submit to the power of the ministers j in sacred things, for it is to them j-ou address yourself to know what are the sources of your safety, and the j rules which you ought to follow in receiving the sac- j raments, and in disposing of religious things. The j bishops persuade the people that God has given you a j sovereign power over temporal things, and thej' cause them to submit to your laws. In return, you should I obe}', with entire submission, those who are destined j to distribute to you the holy sacraments. If the faith- ] ful ought blindly to follow the orders of bishops who acquit themselves worthih' in their functions, so much the more ouglit thej' to receive the decree of the pon- tiff of Rome, whom God has established as the first of his bishops, and whom the Church has always recog- nised as its supreme chief." The schism of the East- ern Church, wliich had already taken place, continued during his administration, notwithstanding the efforts he made in the Synod of Rome, 495, to heal the breach. He wrote on this controversy his De duabus in Christo naturis adversus Eutt/cken et Nestorium. He is said to have written also the so-called Decrelum Gelasii de li- bris recipiendis et non recipiendis, which is a list of the scriptural books, etc., considered authentic and unau- thentic by another synod, which he held at Rome in 496, but this work was probaldy compiled in the Gth centurj'. Amoiig the minor works ascribed to Gelasius are a IJber sacramentorum, published by Jos. Maria Tiiomasius (Rome, 1680), and a number of letters. He died in Rome Nov. 19, 496. See Schrockh, Kirchen- f/esch. (xvii, 181 sq.); Regenbrecht, de canonibus Apos- toloj-um et codice Eccl. hispance Diss. (Vratisl. 1828). — Herzog, Real-Encyklop. iv, 761; Bower, IHsionj of the Popes, ii, 216 sq.