Cyprian mentions the Ophites (A/i. Ixxii, 4) ; and the last chapter but one of Irenasns's first book is sup- posed to have been written against thera and the Seth- ians (.4 dv. Hares, i, 30). Origen calls them " a very ob- scure sect," and denies that they were Christians, say- ing that " no person was allowed to join their assemblies till he had uttered curses against Jesus" (Contr. Cels. iii, 13 ; vi, 24). He also says they were founded by a man named Euphrates (ibid, xi, 28), a name mentioned by Theodoret as belonging to the founder of the heresy of the Perata?, but which in the account of the Naasseni, or Ophites, given by Hippolytus is regarded as the name of the mystical water of life spoken of in John iv,
OPHNI
386
OPHRAH
10, Hippolytiis looks upon the Ophites as the origina- tors of all heresies, and associates them with both Jews and the Gnostics ; for he writes of them under the He- brew form of their name as " the Naasseni," from CnJ {nachash, "a serpent"), "who call themselves Gnostics" (Hippol. Refut. V, 6). Philastes places them first in his list of heresies before Christ (Z>e Har. i), while Epiphanius (Panar. xxxviii) and Augustine (Be Hwr. xvii) say that they were alleged to have been de- rived from the Nicolaitanes or the Gnostics. The he- retical philosophy of the sect is given by Hippolytus and Epiphanius, as above (juoted. The former says that they professed to derive it from James, the brother of our Lord, who handed it down to Mariamne. He also quotes from a '• Gospel according to Thomas" which was in use among them, which seems to be the " Gospel according to the Egyptians" mentioned by Epiphanius in his twenty-sixth book among the Gnostic Apoc- rypha. In addition to these sources of information, there is also an account given by Origen of their " Di- agram," a tablet on which they set forth their doctrines in a hieroglyphical form {Contr. Cels. vi, 33). See, be- sides the literature on Gnosticism, Pressense, Doctrities and Heresies of the Early Christian Church, p. 58 ; Wer- ner, Gesch. d. rdmisch.-kathol. Kirchenlehre ; Neander, Ch. Hist. voL ii ; id. Genetische Entwickelung des gnos- tischen Systems, p. 231 sq. ; id. Hist, of Christian Dog- mas, i, 178, 179; Haag, Histoire des Dogines Chretiens, i, § 25; Walch, Gesch. der Ketzei-eien, i, 447 sq. ; Milman, Hist, of Christianity ; Liddon, Divinity of Christ, i, 59, 143, 163 ; Schaff, Ch. Hist. vol. i ; Hagenbach, Hist, of Doctrines; Baur, Z'ie christl. Gnosis, p. 171 sq. ; and his Das Christenthiim der ersten drei Jahrhunderte, p. 176 ; Mosheim, Gesch. der Schlangenbruder (Helmst. 1748, 8vo) ; Schumacher, Lehrtafel der Ophiten (Wolfenb. 1755, 4to) ; Fuldner, Commnitaria de Ojjhitis ; Jocher, De Ophioruni hceresi; Kille, Ophifnrum mysteria retecta (Freib. 1822, 4to) ; Vogt, De Ophltis, in his Bibl. hcere- siol. ii, 37 sq. ; Wilke, De Oph. (Regioni. 1706) ; Schrockh, Kirchengesch. ii, 409 sq. There is an article on the Ophitic System, by Lepsius, in the Zeitsclir. fur wissen- ichaftliche Theologie, 1863, vol. iv ; 1864, vol, i. See Serpent- WORSHIPPERS, (J. H, W.)
Oph'ni (Heb. Ophni', ''SSS' [always with the art. ''iS^n, ha-Ophni', q. d, the Ophnite], perh. pressure, famine [comp. ')B3] ; Sept. 'Atpvi, but most MSS. omit ; Vulg. Ophni), a town in the north-eastern section of the tribe of Benjamin, named only in Josh, xviii, 24, be- tween Chephar-haammonai and Gaba (q. v.). "Its name may perhaps imply that, like others of the towns of this region, it was originally founded by some non-Is- raelitish tribe — the Ophnites — who in that case have left but this one slight trace of their existence" (Smith), It was probably the Giifnith (n^iSia), Giifna, or Beth- gufnin of the Talmud (Schwarz, p. 126), and doubtless the Gophna of Josephus {Voipvd; Ptolemy, Yov(pva, iv, 16), a place which at the time of Vespasian's invasion was apparently so important as to be second only to Jerusalem {War, iii, 3, 5), as the centre of a district or toparchy {Ant. xiv, 11, 2), It was fifteen Roman miles from Jerusalem on the way to Neapolis (Eusebius, Onomast. s. v. ipdpay^ jSoTpvoc). The place still sur- vives in the modern Ji/na or .Tufna, two and a half miles north-west of Bethel (Heland, Palnst. p. 816; Wilson, Lands of the Bible, ii, 41). The change from the A in, with which Ophni begins, to G, is common enough in the Sept. (comp. (Jomorrah, Athaliah, etc.). It is now a poor village, in a fertile valley between high hills, and contains about 200 Christian inhabitants (Rob- inson, Bib. Res. iii, 79). Remains of an old Greek church still exist there, especially a baptistery; and traces may be seen of the Roman road leading through the town from Jerusalem to Antipatris {ib. ii, 138).
Op'hrah (Heb, Ophrah', 'n'^;\^Z'J, fawn ; Sept, 'A^a- pd, 'E(ppd, 'Oipipd, V, r. 'E(ppa^d, Po^fpa ; but 1 Chron,
iv, 14, To(popa), the name of two places in Palestine, and of a man,
1. A town of Benjamin (.Josh, xviii, 23), mentioned between hap-Parah and Chephar ha-Ammonai, in the north-east of that tribe's domain {Ku\, Joshua, ad loc), "It appears to be named again (1 Sam. xiii, 17) in de- scribing the routes taken by the spoilers who issued from the Philistine camp at Jlichraash. One of these bands of ravagers went due west, on the road to Beth- horon ; one towards the ' ravine of Zeboim,' that is in all probability one of the clefts which lead down to the Jordan valley, and therefore due east ; while the third took the road ' to Ophrah and the land of Shual' — doubt- less north, for south they could not go, owing to the position held by Saul and Jonathan" (Smith). Ac- cordingly it is placed by Eusebius and Jerome {Ono- mast. s. V. Aphia) live Roman miles east of Bethel, This corresponds with the position of a place called et- Taiyibeh, which was visited by Dr. Robinson in his ex- cursion to Bethel {Bibl. Researches, ii, 120-123). It is now a small village, curioush^ situated upon a conical hill, on the summit of which is an old tower, whence is commanded a splendid view of the valley of the Jordan, the Dead Sea, and the eastern mountains (so Rodiger, in the Hall. Lit.-Zeit. 1842, No. 71 ; Stanley, Palest, p. 211; Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 238). These notices also suggest the identitj- of Ophrah with Ephrain or Ephron, a city which king Abijah took from Jeroboam along with Bethel (2 Chron. xiii, 19). We read in Jo- sephus also that Vespasian captured a small town near Bethel called Ephraim, which appears to be the same place {War, iv, 9, 9); and probably it was to this that Christ went from Jerusalem after the resurrection of Lazarus (.John xi, 54). It may also have given its name to the district or government of Apiierema (1 Mace, xi, 84).