MARCELLUS
V34
MARCELLUS
a full confession, adding that lie had been tempted with gold. The synod declared that Marccllinus had con- demned liimself, for the prima sales non jialicutur a quo- qntiiu. This resulted, however, in Diocletian causing a large number of the bishops who had taken part in the synod, and even Marcellinus himself, to be put to death, August 23, 303. Although the Koman Breviary itself credits this account of the weakness and punishment of Marcellinus (in Nocturn. ii, April 20), this account of the synod is now considered spurious both by Komanists and by Protestants. Indeed, Augustine {De unico baptismo contra I'ttUianum, c. 10) and Theodoret {Hist. Ecclvs. i, 2) declared the statement of Marcellinus having be- traj'ed Christianity and offered sacritices to idols false. Dr. Dollinger, in his Fables respecting Popes in the Mid- dle Ages (edit, by Dr. H. B. Smith, N. Y. 1872, 12mo), p. 84, says " the acts of the pretended synod are evidently fabricated in order to manufacture a historical support for the principle that a pope can be judrjed by no man. This incessantly -repeated sentence is the red thread which runs through the whole ; the rest is mere appen- dage. By this means it is to be uiculcated on the laity that they must not venture to come forward as accusers of the clergy, and on the inferior clergy that they must not do the like agauist their superiors." As the date and occasion of the fabrication. Dr. Dollinger assigns "those troubled sixteen years (498-514) in which the pontificate of Symmachus ran its course. At that time the two parties of Laurentius and Symmachus stood op- posed to one another in Kome as foes. People, senate, and clergy were divided ; they fought and murdered in the streets, and Laurentius maintained himself for sev- eral years in possession of part of the churches. Sym- machus was accused by his oppoiicuts of grave offences. . . . The hostile party were numerous and influential . . . and tlicrcfore the adherents of Symmachus caught at this means of showing that the inviolability of the pope had been long since recognised as a fact and an- nounced as a rule. . . . This was the time at which Eu- nodius wrote his apology for Symmachus, and this, ac- cordingly, was also the time at which the Synod of Sin- uessa, as ■well as the Constitution of Sylvester, was fabri- cated." JNIarcellinus is commemorated in the Eomish Church April 24. See Pagi, C)-it. in annales Baronii ad ami. 302, n. 18 ; Papebroch, A da Sancta in Propi/l. Maji, t. viii ; Xaver de Marco, Difesa di alcimi pontejici di er- rore, c. 12; Bower, i/w^ of the Popes, i, 80 sq. ; Hefele, Concilienf/esch. i, 118; iii, § 10, note 2, Avhere the main authorities against the fable are cited. (J. H. W.)
Marcellus, St. (murti/r). Aside from JIarcellus I, pfipc of Kome (q. v.), and Marcellus of Apamca (q. y.\ the martyrologues mention a number of other raartj'rs of that name, the more important of which are :
I. ]\lAi;cELi,rs who perished during the persecution of Antoninus Philosophus. Having refused to partici- pate in a repast with the prefect Priscus, and remon- strated with the latter and his guests on accouut of their idolatry, he was half buried in the ground, in the open air, and died thus after three days. The year 140 is given as the date of his death ; he is commemorated on September 4. See Snrius, T. V. (iregorii Turon. Lib. de f/loriamart. c. 53; Euinart, -4 c^a jnimorum mar- tyritm, p. 73.
II. Maucellus, the chief of the Trajan Legion, who, for refusing to participate in heathen sacritices at Tin- gis, in Mauritania, was beheaded by order of the gov- ernor, Aureliarnis Agricola, in 270. See Snrius, vol. v; liuinart, p. 302 sq. He is commemorated on Oct. 20.
HL Marcklia"s who suffered at Argenton, in France, under Aurelian. He was a native of Pome, son of a heathen father and a Christian mother, who Ijrought him up a Christian. When of age, he tied to Argenton on account of the persecution of Aurejian. Here he wrought some wonderful cures, which attracted the at- tention of the prefect Heraclius. Arrested, he fearlessly confessed his faith, and, after scourging, was roasted on a spit ; but as this neither converted nor killed him, he
was beheaded. He is commemorated on June 29. See Gregorii Turon. Lib. de r/loria mart. c. 52.
IV. Makckllus, bishop of Die, in France, was bom at Avignon of Christian parents, and religiously brought up. He was ordained by his brother, who was bishop of Die before him. At the time of his election another was also appointed, but he was taken to the church by his adherents and there reconciled with his adversaries. On this occasion, it is said, a dove was seen to descend upon his head. He was thrown into prison by the Arians for opposing their views, and died there in the beginning of the Gth century. He is commemorated on April 9. See Gregorii Turon. Lib. de gloria confess, c. 70. — Herzog, Real-Encyhlopddie, ix, 22 ; Pierer, Univ.- Lexilcon, x, 855. (J. N. P.)
Marcellus, bishop of Axcyra, in Galatia, noted for the part he took in the Synod of Ancyra (314 or 315), held at the end of the persecution of Maximin (see An- cyka), made himself conspicuous at the Council of Ni- cffia (325) by his homoousian views, and was upheld by Athanasius and the whole Western Church. We next find him at the Council of Tyre (335), where he opposed the condemnation of Athanasius, and of Maximus IH, patriarch of Jerusalem. In the Council of Jerusalem, of the same year, he declared against the admission of Arius to communion. At the Council of Constantino- ple, in 330, the Arians having the majority, Marcellus wa^ deposed with the assent of the emperor, who had been prejudiced against him. After the death of Con- stantine. May 22, 337, he was restored to his bishopric; but once more expelled, he sought refuge in the West, where he was absolved by the councils of Kome and of Sardica (347). He returned to Ancyra, but Basil, who had l)een appointed bishop in his place, refused to sur- render his seat. IMarcellus, who was alreadj- well ad- vanced in years, retired to a monaster^-, where he sub- sequently died. St. Jerome states that he wrote several works, principally against the Arians ; but we now pos- sess under his name only a letter addressed to Julius I, containing an exposition of his doctrine, given by St. Epiphanius ; two confessions of faith, given by his dis- ciples ; and some passages, quoted by Eusebius, of his work against Asterius. There has been great diversity of opinion concerning his orthodoxy. His confessions are perfectly correct; but in the passages of the work against Asterius, his doctrine, otherwise very difticult to make out, seems to border on Sabellianism. Photinus of Sirmium, who was condemned as a heretic, was his disciple, and had been his deacon, and a sect who re- fused to admit the three hypostases took tlie name of Marcellians (q. v.). Yet all ecclesiastical writers agree in calling him a saint; and it is possible that his enemies, the Arians and others, unjustly made Marcellus the fa- ther of heretic views. See Athanasius, A poll. 2; Basil- ius, Lpist. Iii ; Theodoret, Hist. Eccl. vol. ii ; Socrates, Hist. Eccles. vol. i ; Sozomen, Hist. Eccl. vol, ii and iii ; Hermani, Vie de St.Athanase ; Du Pin, Hihl. Ecclesias- tique, ii, 79 ; Rettberg, Marcelliana (Giitting. 1794) ; Klose, Gesch. u. Lehre des Marcellus und Photin (Hamb. 1837) ; Zahn, Marcellus von A nciji-a (Gotha, 1867, 8vo) ; \\'illenborg, Ueber die Orthodoxie des Marcellus ( Jliinich, 18.59) ; Schaft", Ch. Hht. iii, 651 sq, ; Hagenbach, History of Doctrines, i, 255, 263, 368; Lardner, Woiks (see In- dex) ; Herzog, Real-Encyklopadie, ix, 22 sq,