the feeling against him that a Wittenberg mob pelted him with stones and dirt, and even children railed at him as a " Calvinistic rogue." He was released in 1593, and spent the remainder of his life in a private station, writing only an occasional poem. He died in the Cal- vinistic faith at Zerbst, March 16, 1600. Major's con- temporaries were united in their estimate of his poetic talent and of the worth of his writings. His ideal as a poet was Virgil. He introduced Christian thought, un- der Virgilian forms, into his non-controversial poems, while his satire, after the manner of the Prwceptor Ger- maniie, often degenerated into ridicule of the anti-Phi- lippists that was even cruel. See Frank, Johann Major, der Wittenherger Poet (Halle, 1863); and the same in Herzog, lieal-Encyklojmdie, xx, 75 sq. (G. M.)
Major, John, a Scottish historian and theologian, was born at Gleghorn, East Lothian, Scotland, in 1469 ; was educated at Oxford, Cambridge, and Paris. After teaching a number of years in Paris, as professor of scholastic philosophy-, he became professor of divinity, and subsequentl}' provost at St. Andrews, in Scotland. He died in 1547. He published Commentaries on the Scriptures, besides works of a secular character. — Alli- bone. Diet, of Brit, and Amer. Authors, s. v. ; Thomas, Diet, of Biog. and Mythol. s. v.
Majores, a name given to Jewish ministers in the Theodosian Code, and also by Augustine and others to a party called Coelicolce, made up of Jewish apostates. The laws were specially severe against them, three stat- utes of Honorius being aimed at them.
Majorlnus. See Donatists.
Majoristic Controversy, named after Georg Major — his followers hokUng that good works are es- sential to salvation ; his opponent, Amsdorf, reprobating them as prejudicial to it. See Major, Geokg.
Majorists. See Major, Georg.
Majoritas (Precedence) is the form in ecclesiastical law to denote the preference of the clergy over the laity, as well as the rank of the Church officers. In the Roman Catholic Church the distinction between the clergy and the laity is greater than in the Protestant churches. In the former there is also greater distinc- tion in the ranks of the clergy itself. Thus an older ordination has precedence over a more recent ordination, and a higher over a lower order (c. i, 15, X, De maj. et obed. i, 33), excepting only an ordination conferred by the pope himself, as his act takes precedence in any case (c. vii, X, eod). In ordinations equal in rank the secu- lar clergy precede the regulars; and again, among the secular clergy, the canons of the chapter-house those of the collegiate ; among the orders, the regular canons the monks, and all other orders the mendicants; and among the latter the Dominicans precede all others (compare Benedict XIV, De Syn. diaec. lib. iii, c. x). This term expresses also the official authority, the legal power of the Church office. Persons who are invested with such offices are denominated in the Protestant churches of- Jicials (q. v.). In the Roman Catholic Church they are called Church superiors (superio)-es ecclesiastici), and as a body they make up the hierarchical rank (status hierarchicus). The Romish Church authority requires obedience not only of its subjects, i. e. non-offici.nls. but also of its officials, who, on entering upon tluir clfice, vow submission and obedience to their superiors by a formal oath. Hence arose the dispute whether the pope should be accejjted as the highest authority, or whether even he was subject to a council. See Infai.lihility; Papacy.
Makarij, a noted Russian prelate, was born in the JMoscovite province near the end of the 15th century. He early entered the monastic state ; became archiman- drite (abbot) of the Lus-hezkian monastery at Mos-ha- isk; in 1.526, archbishop of Novgorod Velikiz ; and in 1542, finally, metropolitan of all Russia. He died at Moscow Dec. 31, 1564, By reason of his talents, schol- arship, ecclesiastic authorship, eloquence, zeal for Chris-
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tian missions among the heathen, extensive activity and influence, and patriotism, and by reason of the sin- cerity of his character, Makarij figures prominently in Russian historj'. When yet archbishop, he converted the Ishudian tribes in the north of the empire, and is justly styled the '" apostle of the Ishuds." AVhen a met- ropolitan, he gathered around himself numerous schol- ars from Russia as well as from abroad, with whose aid he compiled many books. His celebrated " Book of Le- gends" went through more than a dozen editions, and was translated into German. — Wagner, Staats ami Ge- sellsch. Lex. vol. xii, s. v.
Ma'kaz (Heb. Ma'kafs, Vp'S, boundary ; Septuag. MaKiQ v. r. Max^tnc), a place first named among those designating the district of Ben-Dekar, one of Solomon's purveyors (1 Kings iv,9). The associated names, Shaal- bim, ISeth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan, would seem to indicate a locality in the tribe of Dan, perhaps in the plain east of Ekron.
Ma'ked (Ma/cf^ v. r. M«/c£/3; Syr. Mokor ; Vulg. Ma<jeth), one of the "strong and great cities" of Gilead — Josephus says Galilee, but this must be an error — into which the Jews were driven by the Ammonites under Timotheus, and from which t'hey were delivered by Ju- das MaccabfEus (1 Mace, v, 26, 36 ; in the latter passage the name is given in the A. V. as Maged). Bj' Jose- phus (J nf. xii, 8, 3) it is not mentioned. Some of the other cities named in this narrative have been identi- fied, but no name corresponding to Maked has yet been discovered, and the conjecture of Schwarz (p. 230), that it is a corruption of Minnith {Tyo for rSO), though ingenious, can hardly be accepted without further proof. — Smith.