MESORION
133
MESS JOHNS
potamia, and it remained a Roman province until the end of tlie 4th century. On the death of Julian, Jovian found himself obliged to abandon the greater part of the country to the Persians, the Romans only retaining so much of Western Mesopotamia as was enclosed by the Chaboras and Euphrates, and on the north by the Mons Masius (see Smith's Diet, of Class. Geog. s. v.). When the Sassanian dynasty in Persia was overthrown by the Arabs, towards "the middle of the 7th century, Mesopo- tamia came under the dominion of the caliphs. Since the year 1516 it has formed an integral part of the Ot- toman empire. See Syria.
Mesorion {fitawpioii) is the technical term for an intermediate office in the Greek Church after Proton, Triton, Ekton, Eiinaton; but omitted after Liichnikon and Hesperinon, Apodeipnon, Mesonuktion (matins), and Orthron (lauds). See Canonical Houes.
Mespelbrunn, Johann Eciiter von, an eminent German theologian, of princely birth, was born at Mes- pelbrunn, near Mayence, March 18, 1545. In 1555, when but ten years old, he obtained a canonicate in Wiirzburg, and in 1559 one in Mayence. He studied at Mayence, Cologne, Louvain, Douay, Paris, and Pavia; became prebendary of Wiirzburg in 1569, and soon after dean of the cathedral, and finally prince bishop of Wiirz- burg, Dec. 1, 1573. He was ambitious of honors and consideration, but aimed at the same time at the moral and religious improvement of his diocese. The emperor Rudolph H often employed him, particularly in 1578-79, to quell the disturbances in the Spanish Netherlands, and as envoy on affairs of state ; in this capacity Echter was one of the prime motors of the Ligue. Yet in a difficulty he had with the abbot of Fulda concerning that abbey, both the pope and, in 1602, the emperor de- cided against him. In order to check the progress of the evangelical doctrines of the Reformation in Wiirz- burg, he occupied himself zealously with the interior af- fairs of his diocese, and endeavored to reform its Church. In 1576 he took part in the Diet of Regensburg, and in 1582 in that of Augsburg. He improved the system of education, organized several public schools, and in 1582 founded the University of Wiirzburg. The chairs of philosophy and theology he filled with Jesuits, and founded three colleges, which were afterwards united into one under the name of Seminary of St. Kilian. On the other hand he deposed and exiled all the evangelical ministers and preachers, and even the civil officers of his diocese who favored the principles of the Reformation, whenever an occasion presented. He sought to retain the people in their allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church by means of preaching and visiting tours, while he tried to reform the immorality of the clergy, and to restore them to a better standing. With this view he wrote his Constitiitiones pro cultii divino, statuta ruralia 2)ro Clero (IbSi; in German, 1589) ; several A ntipkonieii n. Psalterien (1602), and a Missal. He also founded the Jidius Hospital at Wiirzburg. He died Sept. 13, 1617. See J. N. Buchinger, J. Echter v. Mespelbrunn (Wilrzb. 1843). (J.H.W.)
Mesplede, Louis, a French canonist, was born at Cahors about 1601. He became a Dominican monk, \va3 made a prior, and then a provincial of Langnedoc ; but in the latter capacity he had to contend with many difficulties, and failed in his efforts to bring about a gen- eral reform of the order to which he belonged. He died at Cahors in 1663. The following works of his, written in tolerably good Latin, deserve our notice: Qumrela apologetica provincial Occiianice Ordinis Prcedicatorum (Cahors, 1624, 4to) : — Catalaunia Gallia vindicata, ad- versns Hispaniurum scriptorum imj)0Sturas (Paris, 1643, 8vo) : — ■ Notitia antiqui status Ordinis Prcedicatorum (Paris, 1643, 8vo; reprinted in Cahors, 1644, with appen- dices, under the title Commonitorium de Ordinis Prce- dicatorum Renouatione). See Echard et Quetif, Script. Ord. Pradicat ; Bayle, Diet. Crit. s. v. ; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s. v.
Mesrop, also called Mashtoz, the noted translator of the Armenian version of the Bible, was born in the lat- ter half of the 4th century in a small village of the prov- ince Taron. He was at first secretary of the Armenian patriarch Nerses the Great, and afterwards became his minister of ecclesiastical affairs. After filling this posi- tion seven years, he went into a convent, but, failing to find any satisfaction there, he went into a desert, where he gathered about him a number of young men as scholars. Under the government of the patriarch Isaak (Sa'ak) the Great (A.D. 390-440) Mesrop was commissioned to preach as missionary, for which po- sition he was especially fitted by his thorough knowl- edge of foreign languages. He now found need of an Armenian version of the Scriptures, the version of the clergy being in the S^Tiac, a language but little imder- stood by the populace. After having spent several years in the arduous task, and that with but little show of success, he resolved to throw himself upon the mercy of his Lord and God, and seek at his hands the wisdom and knowledge required for the successful accomplish- ment of his undertaking. Nor did he wait long for answer to his prayer. While sojourning at Samosata, we are toki, he was led to see the different types en- graved in a rock, and that he could remember every single letter so plainly that he was able to describe them to the distinguished calligraph Rufanus, who finally composed the desired alphabet. He immediately com- menced the gigantic work of translating the Bible from the Greek into the Armenian, a version which was in- troduced afterwards into that part of Armenia governed by his king Yramshapuh. By request of other sover- eigns, he made also translations for the Georgian and Albanian countries. A change in the government obliged him to quit Persian territorj-, and he sought a new home in Grecian Armenia, where he continued his activity under the special protection of the emperor Theodosius of Constantinople and the patriarch Atticus. In spite of the severe crusades against the members of the new religion, he continued to inspire his scholars and friends with confidence in their final success, and defeated several times the various attempts to introduce idolatry in the practices of a pure Catholic religion. One of his later great works was the translation of the liturgical books of the Greeks into the modern Armenian language. After the death of his old companion Isaak I, Mesrop was elected patriarch of Armenia, but he died the next j'ear, February 19,441. A critical edition of Mesrop's translation of the Bible appeared in Venice in 1805, in four volumes. As an energetic and scientific man, Mesrop ranks among the most important combat- ants of the Christian religion in the early centuries, when the communication of the new religion met especi- ally with great obstacles in the East for want of written languages. Mesrop furthered literature among his countrymen not only by his own literary productions, but by founding " a whole school of remarkable thinkers and writers, that created what is called ' the golden pe- riod' for the enlightenment of ancient Armenia" (Malan). See Naumann, Versuch einer Gesch. d. A rrnenischen Lit. (Leips.1836, 8vo); Quadro della storia letteraria di A?- menia estesa da ifons Placido Tukias Somal. etc. (Ven. 1829), p. 14 sq. ; Quadro delle opere di vari autori anti- camente tradotte in A rmeno (Ven. 1825), p. 7-9; Goriund, Life of St. Mesrop; Malan, Life and Times of Gregory the Llluminator, etc. (Lond. 18*68, 8vo), p. 28 sq. See Armknian Version. (J. H.AV.)