Mogila(s), Peter, a distinguished Russian prelate, was born in Moldavia very near the close of the 16th century (about 1597). He stutlied at the University of Paris and other high schools, afterwards entered the Polish army, and greatly distinguished himself. Be- coming sober-minded, he decided to devote himself to the service of the Church, was made a monk at Kief in 1625, and rapidly rose in favor. In 1629 he was elected archimandrite of his monastery, and in 1633 was ele- vated to the rank of metropolitan of Kief, Galicia, and Little Eussia. Mogila was the first to introduce in the study of theology at Kief the developments which it had acquired in the European miiversities. Indeed, IMogila is to-day honored annually by a panegyrical oration at the Academy of Kief, in recognition of his services to that institution of learning. He arranged and improved the courses of study in every particular ; established, among other advantages, three classes in philosophy and theology in the Latin and Polish lan- guages; obtained from the Polish government permis- sion to erect a printing-press, invited many learned men to the academy, and settled upon them sources of revenue which had formerly gone to the metropolitan ; and, besides affording all these advantages, gave them his own library, which was considered a very rare and valuable collection of books. He died Dec. 31, 1646. To contirm the views and feelings of the Oriental Church in opposition to the encroachments of Koman and Protestant elements, Mogila wrote a Confession of Faith (Op^oCoiog 6/xo\oyia r»/t' Ka^oXiKijQ Kni ('nro- crro.\i(cr/(; iKK\)](riaQ rZ/f c'tfaroXtKric), which occupies an important place in the history of the I\us.-;ian Ciuirch. In this the doctrines of the Church arc presented in the simple manner and style of the ancient Church, but in accordance also with the latest developments they had gradually attained; and as the reception of the work was ranked among the three cardinal theological virtues, it has become prominent in the practical system of the Church (I Lose, Ch. JJist. p. 481). '• The ICastei-n churches," says 'M. Boulgakof, bishop of Vinit/.i, " had heretofore no symbolic books of their own in which they could find, on matters of faith, sufficient authoritative information and direction ; no systematic exposition and ajiology of their dogmas; they had to be satislied with short defi- nitions, given by oecumenical and local councils, and with the rules of the fathers named iu the cotnicil in Trullo. For anything further they had to refer to the other writings of the fathers, whicli did not possess the same authority. The Confssion of Faith of Peter Mo- gila, examined and approved by two councils— that of Kief in 1640, and that of Jassy in 16415— and further endorsed by the four (jecumcnical patriarchs, and by the Russian patriarchs Joachim and Adrian, became the
MOGTASILAH
403
MOHAMMED.
first sj-mbolic book of the Eastern Church." This work, which remains to this day the text-book of the Eusso- Greek Church in dogmatic theology, went through nu- merous editions in Kussian, was translated into Greek (Amst. 1662), Latin (Leips. 1693), and German (Berlin, 1727, and Breslau, 1751), and has furnished the basis for several catechisms in different Greek churches. See Confessions of Faitii. Mogila published also a Cat- echism (Kief, 1645), and some pamphlets. A work con- taining biographical sJietches of the saints, in the Sla- vonic language, he undertook, but did not bring to com- pletion. But Mogila gained some distinction also as a poet, and made dramas, which were acted by the pupils of his academy ; one of them, on the Nativity of Christ, was for a long time very popular. See IJist. de la IJie- rarchie Eusse, iii, 735 ; Dictiounaire des A uteurs Eccle- siastiques Russes, s. v. ; Otto, Hist, of Russian Lite?-a- ture (Oxf. 1839, 8vo), p. 321 sq. ; Briihl, Russische Stu- dien zur Theologie u. Gesch. (Munst. 1857-58) ; Ge- rebtzof, Essai sur I'Hisfoire de la Civilisation en Russie; Haag, Hist, des Dogmes Chretiens, i, 458; Kimmel, Lihri symholici ecclesim Orientalis (Jena, 1843, 8vo), p. 56. See (xKEEK Church ; Russia. (J. H. \V.)
Mogtasilah (i. e. those who wash themselves') is a name which mediaeval Arabic writers gave to a sect of Christians said to have flourished on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. Recent investigations render ix probable that they were the Zubians (from S-'DiJ = S'3:2, iSmrri^nv, to wash), or Mendceans (q. v.) of the pres- ent day.
Mogul, Great, the popidar designation of the em- peror of Delhi, as the impersonation of the powerful empire established in Hindustan by the Mongols, who were called Moguls by the Persians. The first Great Mogul was Baber, the great-grandson of Timiir, who founded the Mongul empire in Hindustan in 1526. In 1803 the Great Mogul was deprived of his throne ; in 1827, of even the appearance of authority, becoming a mere pensioner of the British ; and in 1858, Mohammed Bahadur, the last of the dynasty, was condemned, and transported for complicity in the Indian mutiny. See Mongols,
Mohammed or Mohammet (written also Ma- hommed or Mahommet, and Mirhamed or Muhamet, an Arabic word meaning the predicted 3fessiah ; applied to him in allusion to Hag. ii, 7; but formerly called, according to a tradition quoted bj' Halabi, Kotham) ivas a great Arabian legislator, who not only completely changed the face of the world in his own age, but still continues to exercise a powerful influence in the civili- zation of the Eastern world, being best known as the founder of a religious system which has spread exten- sively among men, and is denominated Islam, or, more properly, after its founder, Mohammedanism (q. v.).