RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Damascenus Damianus
object of attack, was captured by the Mongols in 12(50, plundered by the Tatars in 1300, and taken by the Turks under Selim in 1516, since which date it has been the capital of a Turkish province, except for the period 1832-41, when it was under Egyptian control. The present population is not accurately known, estimates varying from 160,000 to 180,000, of whom about 100,000 are Mohammedans, about 5,000 Jews, 22,000 Orthodox Greeks, and the rest are distributed among the Christian sects. See Aram, Ahameans, §§ 9-10.
Geo. W Gilmore.
Bibliography: J. L. Porter, Five Years in Damascus, London, 1S55; W. K. Kelly, Syria and the Holy Land, chaps, xv.-xvi., ib. 1844; P. Schaff, Through Bible Lands, pp. 361 sqq.. New York, 1878; Mrs. Macintosh, Damascus and its People, London, 1882; M. F. von Oppenheim, Vom Mittelmeer zu7n persischen Golf, i. 49-86, Berlin, 1899; SchUrer, Geschichte, iii. 117 sqq. et passim; Eng. transl., passim.
DAMASUS: The name of two popes.
Damasus I. : Pope 366-384. He was born in 305, probably in Rome, the son of a priest of the Church of St. Laurence. After the death of Liberius, he was elected bishop by a part of the Church, while another faction chose the deacon Ursinus. Damasus could secure recognition only after a conflict marked by bloodshed, which lasted two years on account of the uncertain attitude of Valentinian I.; and even after the suppression of the disturbances the party of Ursinus maintained their opposition, to the point of schism. During these troubles clerics had been summoned before secular judges, and torture had even been used. On complaint being made, Valentinian issued a rescript, the substance of which is known from Ambrose {Epist., xxi. 2); it is summed up in the phrase " that priests should judge priests." Rade thinks that the emperor meant to declare a fundamental division between secular and ecclesiastical jurisdiction; but this is too much to infer from the words. It was only an express recognition of the disciplinary power of bishops and councils, as it had been previously recognized in practise, and limited to questions of faith, morals, and contests over ecclesiastical offices. The appeal of the Roman council of 378 or 379 to Gratian was, in view of the occasion, an attempt to secure not extension, but recognition of the disciplinary power of the Roman See, which was practically nullified as long as imperial officials declined to enforce the sentence of ecclesiastical tribunals. This the council asked that they should be instructed to do, and Gratian agreed. There appears nothing in all this to support the contention of Rade and Langen that the Western bishops at least were subject to the tribunal of the pope; and the imperial decrees mentioned above can scarcely be cited as triumphs of the policy of Damasus. In fact, he does not seem to have known how to use either these or the famous edict of Theodosius (Feb. 27, 380), or the third canon of the Council of Constantinople in .'-iSl, as means to the elevation of Rome's ecclesiastical position — which, indeed, was actually damaged by his conduct in the Antioch controversy (see Meletius of Antioch), and did not again make progress until the pontificate of Siricius. In dogmatic conflicts Damasus remained
steadfast in the traditional Roman policy. He opposed the Arians, and took strong measures against the Luciferians. It was during his pontificate that the understanding was reached between the Old and Young Nicene parties in the East; but he rather hindered the rapprochement than helped it, taking the side of the strict old orthodox party in the schism of Antioch. Basil of Cajsarea tried in vain to get him to acknowledge Meletius. A Roman synod of 382 renounced communion with Flavian. The measures taken by Damasus against Arianism in Italy were not very successful. Apparently as early as 369 he had condemned Auxentius of Milan at a council of Italian bishops, but the sentence was not executed by the secular authorities; Auxentius remained bishop until his death, and only in the election of Ambrose to succeed him did orthodoxy come into power. He was more successful in his repeated pronouncements against ApoUinarianism, which was condemned in Roman councils of (probably) 377 and 381. Damasus was not lacking in learning, and did a good work by setting on foot a revision of the Latin Bible. He wrote a (lost) treatise on virginity and a number of metrical inscriptions for the catacombs, on which he bestowed intelligent care. He died Dec. 11, 384. (A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: The Opera of Damasus are in MPL, xiii., and his Epigrammata, ed. M. Ihm, were published, Leipsic, 1895. Consult: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne,!. 212, Paris, 1886, and ed. Mommsen ia MGH, Gest. pont. Rom., i. 82-84; Jaff^, Regesta, i. 37; M. Rade, Damasus, Bischof von Rom, Freiburg, 1882; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, vols, i.-ii.; Bower, Popes, i. 83-107; Milman, Latin Christianity, i. 108-110. Consult also B. Holscher, De Damasi hymnis, Miinster, 1858.
Damasus II. (Poppo): Pope 1047-48. After the premature death of Clement II., Poppo, bishop of Brixen, was nominated to succeed him by Henry III. at Christmas, 1047. He was conducted to Rome in the following summer, consecrated July 17, and died Aug. 9. (A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: Jaff^, Regesta, i. 528; J. Langen, Geschichte der romischen Kirche , bis Gregor VII., Bonn, 1892; Hauck, KD, iii. 593; Bower, Popes, ii. 343; Milman, Latin Christianity, iii. 239.
DAMIAN, SAINT. See Cosmas and D ami an, Saints.
DAMIANI, PIETRO. See Peter Damian, Saint.
DAMIANUS: Jacobite patriarch of Alexandria; b. in Syria July, 578; d. June 12, 605. He succeeded Peter IV as patriarch of Alexandria in 578 under circumstances which were probably of a turbulent character. Controversies between the Jacobites and Paulites (the latter the adherents of Bishop Paul the Black of Antioch, d. probably 585) ensued and passed over into Egypt. On a journey in Syria and to Constantinople Damianus endeavored to frustrate peace negotiations which had already commenced. The Jacobite patriarch Peter of Antioch was consecrated by him in Alexandria (580 or 581), and later a controversy arose between the two which is known as a phase of the tritheistic controversy (see Tritheism); Damianus defended a position similar to that of Sabellianism (q.v.). On two Coptic ostraca a writing of Damianus is
Dancers Daniel