SEVENTY YEARS
603
SEVERINUS
Hoffmann, Die 70 Juhrivochen (Nuremb. 183G) ; Dcnnv, Charts of the 70 W. (Loud. 1849) ; Blackley, The 70 W. Explained (Ibid. 1850). See also tlie Stud, und Krit. 183i, ii, 270 ; 1858, iv ; (Gettysb.) Evangel. Rev. April, 1867, iii; Goode, Wu) burton Led. /or 1854-58 (Lond. 1860), See Danik.l.
SEVENTY YEARS is a frequent number in Script- ure, both symbolical and literal; e.g. tlie seventy years of Tyre's depression after its capture by Nebuchadnezzar till its relief by the downfall of Babylon (Isa. xxiii, 15- 17) ; and especially the seventy years of the Jewisli captivity at Babylon (Jcr. xxv, 11; xxix, 10). See Captivity.
Severally. In the office for the bajjtism (Prot- estant Episcopal Church) of those of riper years, the questions proposed by the minister to the candidates are to be considered as addressed to them sereruUi/, and the answers to be made accordingh-. By this rubric every candidate is to view himself as isolated and alone, al- though the minister is not obliged to distinctly propose the questions to every individual. In the Order of Con- firmation there is a rubric somewhat analogous. The candidates "kneeling before the bishop, he shall lay his hands upon the head of ereri/ one several///, saying," etc. See Stanton, Diet, oj' the Church, s. v.
Severans, an old term not now in use, which seems to have signified a kind of cornice, or string- course.
Severians, a sect of Encratito Gnostics, successors of the Tatianists, whose complicated system of yEous they abandoned, but whose Encratite notions of creation they developed or heightened. The Severians held that the well-known Gnostic power laldabaoth w'as a great ruler of the powers; that from him sprang the Devil; that the Devil, being cast down to the earth in the form of a serpent, produced the vine, wli;)se snake- like tendrils indicate its origin; that the Devil also created woman and the lower half of man. Eusebius states that the Severians made use of the law and prophets and Gospels, giving them a pecidiar interpre- tation, but abused the apostle Paul and rejected his epistles, as also the Acts of the Apostles (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. iv, 29). Augustine, on the other hand, states that they rejected the Old Test. (Aug. /her. xxiv). "The tenet of the creation of the world by an inferior Demiurge presupposes the inherent evil of matter, and it is a natural deduction from tiiis to deny the resurrec- tion of the body. The Severians followed out their principle to this conclusion, according to Augustine {/leer, xxiv), while Natalis Alexander denies the prob- ability of Augustine's report. The Severians were Do- ceta;, as were the Tatianists. See Blunt, Diet. oJ' Sects, s. v.; Gardner, Euiths of the World, s. v. " Monophj'- sites ;" Hagenbach, Hist, of Doct. i, 280 ; Neander, Ch. Hist, iii, 170. See Enckatites; Moxophysitks.
Severianus, bishop of Gabala, ni Syria. The his- torical appearance of tliis personage is interwoven with the life and fortunes of John Chrysostom. During a protracted absence of the latter in Asia Minor, Severia- nus acted as his representative, and availed himself of the opportunity to intrigue against Clirysostom, for which he was expelled from Constantinople. Being soon recalled by his patroness, the empress Eudoxia, he became reconciled to Clirysostom; but lie afterwards renewed his intriguing eftV)rts in connection with Tlie- opliilus of Alexandria. His later historj' is unknown. Six sermons on the iiistory of the creation, together with other sermons by this man, are published in the works of Chrysostom in the ^lontfaucon ed. i, vi, and the Mechitarists of Venice published certain of his homilies in 1827. On his life, see Palladius, I)e Vita S. Joh. Chrysostom. ; Socrates, IJist. Eccl. vi, 18 ; Sozomen, Hist. Eccl. viii, 6. — Herzog, Reul-Encijklop. s. v.
Severinus, St., the apostle of Noricum. The rec- ords of his earlv life are scantv, but indicate that he was
born of Christian parents in Italy early in the 5th cen- tury. He chose a hermit's life in early youth, and set- tled in the East in pursuance of that purpose, but soon returned to the West in order to devote himself to the active propagation of Ciiristianity among the heathen, establishing himself first in Pannonia, but afterwards in Noricum. The latter was an imperial province lying between the river Danube and the Alps, and was inter- sected with IJoman roads on which were located not only flourishing native towns, but numerous Koman colonies, municipalities, and camps, which contained a Roman population (comp. Strabo, iv, 20G, and vii, 304, 313; Tacitus, Ann. ii, 63; id. IJist. i, 11, 70; Pliny, xxi, 7, 20; I'tolemy, ii, 1, 12; viii, 6, 2, 7; 1, 8, 2; Zosiraus, iv, 35). The popidation had also adopted the Roman language, culture, and customs, and carried on an active trade with the Italian cities, particularly Rome and Aquileia. Christianity had, consequently, been long introduced when Severinus settled in Noricum; but it had failed to subdue the prevailing paganism, so that in the middle of the 4th century St. Valentine was repeatedly expelled from the country because of his at- tempts to preach the Gospel. A complete recognition was not accorded to Christianity until after Theodosius the Great had issued a general edict prohibiting all idolatry throughout the empire (in 392 {Cod. Theod. de Payanis, i, 7, 9, 11 sq.]) ; and an additional diffi- culty was encountered in the convulsions which grew out of the migration of Eastern nations then in prog- ress.