METROrOLITAN.
It thus appears that anciently suffragan bishops were all the city bishops of any province under a metro- politan, who were called his suffragans because they met at his command to give their suffrage, counsel, or advice in a provincial synod. In this sense the word was used in England at the time when Linwood wrote his Provinciale (in l-iSO) : "They were called suffra- gans because they were bound to give their suffrage and assistance to the archbishop, being summoned to take part in his care, though not in the plenitude of his power." The suffragans were not the same as Cuore- riscopi (q. v.), or rural bishops. Thus it was also in other churches. The seventy bishops wOio were imme- diately subject to the bishop of Rome, as their primate or metropolitan, were called his suffragans, because they ■were frequentlj' called to his synods. These bishops were called by the peculiar technical term lihru, which stood for seventy. Their elections were regulated by the metropolitan, who either ordained them himself, or authorized their ordination. They were summoned l)y him to attend the provincial synods, and could not dis- obey such summons under pain of suspension, or some such canonical censure, which was left to the discretion of the metropolitan and the council. From the 13th to the Itjth centurj' there were in the English Church a class of bishops (1) holding nominal sees, titulars or in partibus inji/leliiim, in Ilinigary, (Jrcece, and Asia; (2) exiles, temporary or pennaneuf, from bishoprics in Ireland or Scotland, who were called suffragans.
Bishops who had no metropolitan power first began to have suffragans under them in the 10th century. These were styled vicar-generals, vicegerents, Mce-epi*-- cnpi. etc. Suffragan bishops were ajipointed in Germa- ny for the ordination of inferior othcers and the conse- cration and benediction of churches, altars, baptismal waters, etc. Some attemjjt was made in England, at the beginning of the Reformation, to restore the chor- episcopi. under the name of suffragan bishops. Act 26, Henry VIII, 1534, appointed several towns for suffra- gan sees. One suffragan bishop was consecrated for Not- tingham, and another as bishop of Dover in 1.S70. A permissive act for bishops suffragan in Ireland was passed in the early part of the present century, and others have recently been consecrated in the colonies. See Bing- ham, Christ. Aniiq. bk. ii, ch. xv, § 13-15 ; eh. xvi, § 12, 17 ; Coleman, Ancient Christionity, p. 139.
Suffrage. In the early Church, one of the ways of designating persons to the ministry was l)v the ordi- nary course of iiuffni;/<' and election of the Church. It was also customary for the clergy or presl)ytery (or the retiring bishop or presbyter) to nominate a person to fill the vacant office, which nomination was followed by the suffrages of the people — suffrages not merely testimonial, but judicial and elective. See Riddle, Christ. A ntiq. p. 329.
The term was also used to designate — 1. The public worship — the united voice and consent of the people in the pet il ions offered. "See now, then, both learned and unlearned, bow prayers and all tA\wx suffrages are in com- mon to this spiritual Cliurcli" [Lantern of Liyht, AA). 1400). 2. A short form of petition, as in the Litany. Thus, in the Order for the Consecration of Bishops we read that in the Litany as then useij, after the words " that it may please thee to illuminate all bishops," etc., '• tlie proper siiffraqc shall be," etc. 3. The versi- cles after the Creed iu Morning and Evening Prayer. See Stanton, Church Did. s. v.
Stafis, a sect of mystic philosophers in Persia, which was founded in the 9th century by Abul Khair. It has contained among its members manj' of the most noted iMoliammedan scholars and poets. Schamyl, the famous Circassian leader, is said to have belonged to this sect, and to have given to it a semi-political char- acter, directing it especially against the aggressions of the Russians. They are to be found in every part of the empire; have their acknowledged head at Shiraz, and their chief men in all the principal cities. IMr. ]\Iartyn, missionary to that country, calls them "mystic latitu- dinarians." For the tenets, see SOfism.
Sufism, or Sooflsm (Arabic, suf, ptire, wise), a certain mystic .system of philosophical theology within Islam. Its tenets are, that nothing exists absolutely l)ut God; that the human soul is an emanation from his essence; that every man is an incarnation of Deity; and, though divided for a time from this heavenly source, will be finally reunited with him ; that the highest possi- ble happiness will arise from that reunion; and that the chief good of mankind consists in as perfect a union with the Eternal Spirit as the encumbrances of a mortal frame will allow ; that, for this purpose, they should break all connection with extrinsic objects, and pass through life without attachments, as a swimmer in the ocean strikes freely without the impediments of clothes; that if mere earthly charms have power to infiuence the soul, the itlea of celestial beauty must overwhelm it in ecstatic light. It maintains also that, for want of apt words to express the divine perfection and the ardor of our de- votion, we must borrow such expressions as approach the nearest to our ideas, and speak of beauty and love in a transcendent and mystical sense ; that, like a reed torn from its native bank — like wax separated from its delicious honey — the soul of man bewails its disunion with melancholy music, and sheds burning tears; like the lighted taper, waiting passionately for the moment of its extinction, as a disengagement from earthly tram- mels, and the means of returning to its only beloved. Sufism teaches four principal degrees of human perfec- tion or sanctity. 1. Shuriat, or the lowest, is the de- gree of strict obedience to all the ritual laws of Moham- medanism — such as prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, alms- giving, ablutions, etc. — and the ethical precepts of hon- esty, love of truth, and the like. 2. Turikat. This de- gree is attainable by those who, while strictly adhering to the outward or ceremonial injunctions of religion, rise to an inward perception of the mental power and virtue necessary for the nearer approach to the Divinity, the necessity of and the yearning for which they feel. 3. Ilakikal (trutii) is the degree of those who, by contin- uous contemplation and inner devotion, have risen to the true perception of the nature of the visible and in- visible— who, in fact, have recognised the Godhead, and through this knowledge of it have succeeded in estab- lishing an ecstatic relation to it. 4. Maarifal is the degree in which man communicates directly with the Deity, and is admitted into a mysterious union with him. Thus it will be seen that the highest aim of the Sftfi is to attain self-annihilation by losing his humani- ty in Deity. This is to be accomplished by abstracting his mind from all worldly objects, and devoting himself to divine contemplation. Accordingly the Siifis neglect and despise all outward worship as useless and unneces-