RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Benmark Dervish
erally, in accordance with their view of the nature of orders, the only sentence of this kind is the deprivation of a specific office. In the Church of England " deprivation " is the term commonly used whether for the taking away of a benefice (deprivation a beneficio) or the withdrawal of the right to exercise clerical functions (deprivation ab officio). In the American Episcopal Church the term " deposition " is used for the latter; it is pronounced by the bishop to whom the cleric is subject, and may be at his own request, for causes not affecting his moral character, or after trial for certain grave offenses.
DEPRIVATION. See Degradation; Deposition.
DEPUTATUS: The title of an office in the Greek and Roman Catholic Churches. According to Codinus, the third in the ninth pentad of officials of the megale ekklesia was termed depotatos, while the other lists name several depotatoi in addition to the one official of this name, who was the first and drew double pay. The first depotatos accompanied the bishop on the street to make room for him, and in the service the depotatoi escorted him to the pulpit and to the Holy Table, bearing the mantles and the candles. The depotatos was allowed to marry a second time, since he was ineligible for any higher order. It is doubtful whether this office still exists, since Chrysanthos (about 1700) seems to depend for his statements on books rather than on actual usage.
In the Roman Catholic Church deputati act in certain districts as the administrators of the regiunculm, or subdivisions of large deaneries. They are usually subject to the dean and often act as his representatives, but occasionally they receive their orders immediately from the bishop, in which case the dean becomes merely first among his peers.
(Philipp Meyer.)
DE PUY, WILLIAM HARRISON: Methodist; b. at Penn Yan, N. Y., Oct. 31, 1821; d. at Canaan, Conn., Sept. 4, 1901. He was educated at Genesee College, Union University, and Mount Union College, and was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in Genesee Wesleyan Seminary 1851- 1855. He was associate editor of The Christian Advocate 1865-84, and editor of The Methodist Year Book 1866-89. He also edited The People's Cyclopedia of Universal Knowledge (3 vols., New York, 1882) ; The People's Atlas of the World (1886) ; and University of Literature (1896), and wrote Threescore Years and Beyond: or, Experiences of the Aged (New York, 1872) ; Home and Health and Home Economics (1880); and The Methodist Centennial Year Book, 1784-188 J^ (1884).
DERESER, de-re'ser, THADDiEUS ANTON: German Roman Catholic; b. at Fahr, in Franconia, Feb. 9, 1757; d. at Breslau July 16, 1827. He studied at Wurzburg and Heidelberg, became priest at Mainz (1780), and was made professor of Oriental languages and BibUcal interpretation at Bonn in 1783. He moved to Strasburg in 1791, returned to Heidelberg in 1797, and went to Freiburg in 1807. In 1810 he was made priest at Carlsruhe, but was dismissed the following year because of a funeral sermon over the Grand Duke of Baden. He then
became professor and head of the episcopal seminary at Lucerne, but was removed in 1814, and in 1815 became professor in Breslau. He belonged to the liberal wing of his Church, and his Commentatio bihlica in effata Christi: Tu es Petrus (Bonn, 1789) was put on the Index. He wrote Bibhcal commentaries, continued the Bible translation begun by Brentano (see Bible Versions, B, VII., § 5), and published a Hebrew grammar (Freiburg, 1812), a German breviary, and a prayer-book.
DE ROSSI, GIOVANNI BALLISTA. See Rossi.
DERVISH.
Origins and Objects of the Institution (§ 1). Character and Membership of the Orders (§ 2). Number and Insignia ot the Orders (§ 3). Names and Exercises of the Orders (§ 4).
A dervish is a member of one of the orders which in Mohammedanism have some correspondence to the monasticism of Buddhism and Christianity. The name is Persian, but its derivation is disputed. The first syllable means " door," and the last is taken to mean either "sill" or "to beg." The sense derived in either case is " to be destitute " or " to be dependent (upon God)." The Arabic fakir, " poor," " ascetic," is the equivalent in general use. The word is often popularly misused to mean the tribes still in a nomadic state; it is also misapplied to beggars, jugglers, and to impostors.
The existence of the orders is due to the union of two general characteristics of religion, the ascetic and the mystic. Their formation was stimulated in early times by the example of the
1. Origins Christian monastics who were nuand Objects merous in the lands conquered by the of the In- Moslems. They began by gathering
stitution. about an individual whose mode of life had gained him repute for piety; a shelter was built for winter quarters, and developed into a monastery. The continuance of the institution is decided by several considerations, such as the prestige, religious and political, which the orders enjoy, a sincere devotional spirit which the exercises satisfy, the food for vanity furnished the individual members by a reputation for sanctity, and by the value placed upon the ecstatic condition sometimes induced by the exercises. The theology is usually mystical and pantheistic, and therefore heretical, and the orders are sometimes considered a protest against the scholasticism of orthodox Islam.
Mohammedan monasticism, however, differs much from Christian. The vows are relative, not absolute. They do not usually involve celibacy or poverty, obedience to the sheikh, or head of the house, being the essence of the vow. Even this may be retracted, and the dervish may withdraw from the order. The members are
2. Charac- not required to reside at the monaster and tery. Full membership involves a
Member- novitiate which may run from a year ship of the to four or five years, varying with the Orders, assumed fitness of the candidate.
During his novitiate the candidate is under instruction, and learns the rules and ritual of the order. Very many do not pass beyond the
Dervish Descartes