Oremus (^Let us pray) is an exclamation used in the early Christian Church to invite the different classes of praying ones to worship. It was usually followed by Flectamus ejenua, and at the conclusion of the prayer was heard the exclamation Levate from the mouth of the deacons. See Siegel, Christliche Alterthumer, iii, 241, 242.
O'ren (Heb. id. '"jN, ash-tree, as in Isa. xliv, 14; Sept. 'Apav, v. r. 'Api'ifx and 'Ai^iftpafi), third named of the five sons of Jerahmeel, of the house of Judah (1 Chron. ii, 25). B.C. ante 1658.
Oren. See Ash-tkee.
Orenburg, one of the eastern frontier governments of European Russia, is bounded on the south-east by the River Ural, and extends between the governments of Tobolsk on the north-east and Samara on the south- west, covering an area of 153,928 square miles, and con- taining a population of 1,810,275. This is the govern- ment proper; but the so-called Orenburg Country, in- cluding the recently organized government of Samara, the lands of the Orenburg and Ural Cossacks, and of Khirghiz tribes, under different names, extends over an area of 539,830 square miles, from the Volga to the Sir-Daria and the Amu - Daria, and has 2,370,275 inhabitants. The populations, the surface, soils, flora, and fauna of this extensive country are of the most various kinds. The country is traversed by numerous navigable rivers, by means of which and by canals it is in communication with the Caspian and Baltic seas and with the Arctic Ocean. The main streams are the Kama, a branch of the Volga, with its aflluents the Bielaia and Tchussovaia; the Tobol, a branch of the Obi, and the Ural. Forests abound, except in the south ; the soil is fertile, but is not yet much cultivated; and other natural, especially mineral, resources are rich, but in great part undeveloped. The climate is in general healthy. The government is divided into nine dis- tricts ; the centre of tlie governor-generalship is at Orenburg, though the chief town is Ufa.
The inhabitants of Orenburg are made up of Rus- sians, Kalmucks, and Bashkir, Tartar, Khirghiz, and certain Finnish tribes. The trade, mainly in the hands of the Bashkir tribes, is chiefly with Bt)khara, Khiva, Tashkent, and the Khirghiz (q. v.) ; the exports are gold, silver, and other metals, corn, skins, and manu- factured goods; the imports cattle, cotton — the demand for and supply of which have greath^ increased since the American rebellion — and the other articles of Asi- atic trade. The imports are either disposed of to Rus- sian merchants in the custom-house on the frontier, or are carried by Asiatic traders into Russia, and sold at the great nation.il market of Nijni-Novgorod. See Daniel, Handbuch der Geor/raphie, ii, 926, 927 ; Brooks, The Russians of the South (1854) ; Haxthausen, The Russia?) Empire (1856).
Oresme, Nicolas, a learned French prelate, was born at Caen, Normandy, in the 13th century. He was educated at the university in Paris, and was appointed grand master of the College of Navarre in 1355, and was finally made bishop of Lisieux in 1377. He died in 1382. He published several scientific treatises, translat- ed the Ethics and Politics of Aristotle into French, and
ORESTES
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ORGAN
contributed to theological literature the following work : Liber de Anti-Cliristo ejusque ministris acde ejusdem ad- veiitu, signis 2^^'opinquis simid ac remoiis IV continens purticiilas, and several Sermons. He has also been credited with a French popular version of the Script- ures, liut there is no ground for such assertion. See Du I'in, Bibliotkeque des Aut. Eccles. l-iieme Steele; Mo- reri, Grand Diet. Hist. s. v. ; Hoefer, Nouv. Biofj. Gene- rale, s. V.
Orestes (^Op'tnTriq), a Christian physician of lyana, in Cappadocia, called also Ai-estes, suffered martyrdom during the persecution under Diocletian, A.D. 303, 304. An interesting account of his tortures and death is given by Simeon Metajihrastes (ap. Suriam, De Probat. Sancior, Histor. vi, 231), where he is named Aiesters. See also Menolog. Grcec. i, 178 (ed. Urbin. 1727). Orestes has been canonized by the Greek and Roman churches, and his memory is celebrated on Nov. 9. See Ijzovius, Nomenclutor Sanctor. Pro/ess, Medicor. — Smith, Diet. Greek and Rom. Biog. and Mythol. s. v.
Orfand, Jacinto, a Spanish Dominican, noted as a missionary, was born at Jana in 1578. He early took an interest in religious life, and finally entered the Do- minican Order in Barcelona. In IGOo he asked to be sent to the Philippines. In 1607 he went to Japan, and there he labored about fil'teen years. He wrote an ac- count of the progress of Christianity in that country, entitled Ilistoriu ecclesiasHca de los successos de la Cris- tiandad de Japan (Madrid, 1G33, 4to). It was original- ly prepared to cover only the years 1602-1621, but Cul- lado brought it down to 1622. Orfand was put to death by the Japanese in 1622. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Gene- rale, s. V. ; Fernandez, Hist. Eccles. de Nuestros Tiemjjos, p. 289 ; Echard, Scriptor. ord. Pradic. ii, 425.
Organ occurs in the Authorized Version as the ren- dering of the Hebrew ugab', IVlV (Gen. iv, 21 ; Job xxi, 12), or uggab', 35^? (Job xxx, 31 ; Psa. cl, 4), which properly means that which is inflated or bloicn, from SilS.', to blow ; hence, a wind imti-ument. It was applied to a reed or pipe, either simple or complex, and is so understood by most interpreters (see Dudelsack, Hist. T7-in. p. 301 ; Gesenius, Thesaitr, p. 988). Thus the Septuagint, in Psa. cl, renders opyavoi', which means properly an instrument for any purpose ; but is applied by Plato (^Lact. 188 D.) and others to the pipe ; and from which comes our word " organ." In Job the Sept. vaguely renders by ipaX^oq ; but in the other passages this version renders Ki^dpa, the word from which guitar is corrupted. This cannot be right, for many reasons; indeed, in two of the passages quoted it is named in con- nection with the cithara or i^/re (Heb. "1123) as a different instrument (Gen. iv, 21 ; Job xxx, 31). " In Gen. iv, 21 it appears to be a general term for all wind-instruments, opposed to kinnor (A. V. ' harp'), which denotes all stringed instruments. In Job xxi, 12 are enumerated the three kinds of musical instruments which are possi- ble, under the general terms of the timbrel, harp, and organ. The ugdb is here distinguished from the tim- brel and harp, as in Job xxx, 31, compared with Psa. cl, 4. Our translators adopted their rendering, ' organ,' from the Vulgate, which has uniformly organum, that is, the double or multiple pipe. The Chaldee in every case has X3131SI, abbubd, which signifies ' the pipe,' and is its rendering of the Hebrew word so translated in our version of Isa. xxx, 29; Jer. xlviii, 36. Joel Bril, in his second preface to the Psalms in jMendelssohn's Bible, adopts the opinion of those who identify it with the Pandean pipes, or syrinx, an instrument of unquestion- ably ancient origin, and common in the East, It was a favorite with the shepherds in the time of Homer {II. xviii, 526), and its invention was attributed to various deities : to Pallas Athene by Pindar {Pyth. xii, 12-14), to Pan by Pliny (vii, 57 ; comp. Virg. lid. ii, 32 ; TibuU. ii, 5, 30), by others to Marsyas or Silenus (Athen, iv, 184).