Phonascus {fymvaoKoc, a singing-master'); a name given in the ancient Christian church to the individual who acted as precentor (q. v.), or led the psalmody in divine service. This appellation seems to have been used first in the lib century, and is slill employed in the I Ireeb I Lurch.
Phoicus or Phorcys, a Homeric sea-god, to whom a harbor in Ithaca was dedicated. He i- said to have been the son of Pontus and Ge, and to have been the fail H r, bj bis sister Ceto, of the Gorgons, the Hi perian dragon, and the H< speridi 3. Bi Hecate he was the father of Scj lla.
Pho'ros | 'I'ooiii i. an incorrect Creek form il Esdr. v. 19; i\. -_'«: > of the Heb. name (Ezra ii. 3; viii, 3)
PAROSri i.|. v. i.
Phos (<f>Gtc, light), and ii- allied term Photisma (illumination), are generalh applied in the ancienl Christian Church to baptism, from the greal blessings supposed to arise from it. Hence baptized < bristians were sometimes called tpo)Ti£6[ttvot, fA< enlightened, and the baptistery t/>tirriori]piov, place of' enlightenment. The same terms were also applied to the Lord's Supper.
Riddle, Christian Antiquities, p. 184,485, 551. See also Baptism i Names of, 5.).
Phosphorus (<paje<p6poc, light-oringer), a surname of Artemis, Eos, and Hecate. This was also the name uiven by the C reek poets to the plane! I . 1,11.1 when ii appeared in the morning before sunrise.
Phota Hagia (fuira ilyia, holy lights), a term an- ciently used io denote the festival of Epiphany, as be- ing commemorative of Christ's baptism. See Epiph-
\N1.
Photinians is the name of those Christian here- tics who denied Christ's divinity. They dl rived their views from Phoiinus of Sirmium (q, v.). They flour- ished in the lib and part of the 5th century.
Photinus of Sirmium, an Eastern ecclesiastic, noted as the founder of a heretical body, flourished mar the middle of the lib century. Of his origin and earliest history we know nothing, lie was a pupil of Marcellus of Ancyra, and was for a time deacon under him. Later Photinus was made bishop of Sirmium. in l'annonia. He was a person of unusual accomplishments, and was generally respected for his learning. Even while yet connected with Marcellus, heretical tendencies were manifest in Photinus. ( hue advanced to the bishopric, he soon fell away from all restraint, gradually aban- doned orthodox associations, and suddenly changed, af- ter having taughl the people the knowledge of the true ( iod. to those pernicious Sabellian notions for which his teacher had been condemned. According to Vineentius Xirinensis, he went even further than Macarius, and added to the impieties of Sabellius, Paulus Samosate- inis. Cerinthus, and Ebion, ibis distinctive formula, that "Chrisl was nol only mere man, but began to be the Christ when the Holy Ghosl descended upon him in .Ionian." In other words. " that Jesus Chrisl was born of the Holy (.host and the Virgin Mary; thai a certain divine emanation, which he called the Word, descended upon him ; and that, because of the union of the divine Word with his human nature, he was called the Son of <iod. and even God himself: and that the Holy Ghost was nol a person, bul merelj a celestial virtue proceed- ing from the Deity." Hence, while the Oriental Church could suffer Marcellus to remain within the fold, ii could not tolerate the man who would teach such extreme
heresy. At a s\ I held al Milan in 345, the doctrine
was also rejected and condemned: and while thus dis- carded by both the Easl and the West, he yet managed to retain his episcopal office until A.D. 351, when a Semi-Arian council at Sirmium removed him. For a time restored under the emperor Julian, he was soon again deposed, and died in. exile, probably mar 1 he close of the lib century. His writings arc lost. His doc- trines we learn from the anathemas of those synods which sai in judgment o\cr them. Sir. besides the literature quoted in the article M ueu ellus lb fi ■ . t.vol.i. (.MI.W.)
Photisma. See Phos.
Photisterion (<pu>Ti<jrfipiov), a place of illumina- tion, being a term frequently used in the ancient Chris- tian Church to denote the baptistery, or the place of baptism, thai ordinance being supposed to be attended with a divine illumination of the soul. Sec Phos. This name might also be used for another reason, namely, because baptisteries were the places in which instruction
PH0TIU3
165
PHOTIUS
was communicated previous to baptism, the catechu- mens being there taught the creed and instructed in the first rudiments of the Christian faith.
Photius of Constantinople (1), an Eastern ec- clesiastic, flourished in the 4th century. In the Acta Sanctorum, Junii, i, 274, etc., is given an account of the martyrdom of St. Lucillianus, and several others who are said to have suffered at Byzantium, in the perse- cution under Aurelian. The account bears this title: i>ix)Tiov rod paKapaordrov <TKEuo<pu\aKoc tuiv 'Ayiwv ' A-rroGToXiov Kai XoyoStrou tyKiopiov eic rlv ilyiov iepo/iapTvpa AovKiWiavuv ; Sancti Martyris Lucilliani Encomium, auctore beatissimo Pkotio, Sanctorum Aposto- lorum Sceuop/iylace ac Logotheta. Of the writer Pho- tius, nothing further appears to be known than is con- tained in the title, namely, that he was keeper of the sacred vessels in the great church of the Apostles at Constantinople, which was second in importance only to that of St. Sophia; and that he must be placed after the time of Constantine, by whom the church was built. The Encomium is given in the Acta Sanctorum in the original Greek, with a Commentarius prcevius, a Latin version, and notes by Conradus Janningus. See Fa- bricius, Bibl. Grcec. x, 271, 678.— Smith, Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Biog. s. v.