THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (2 vols., 1SS3; condensation in one volume, 1890), his greatest work; and Prophecy and History in Relation to the Messiah (Warburton Lectures for 1880- 1SS4, 1SS5); Tohu-va-Vohu, " Without form and Void." A Collection of fragmentary Thoughts and Criticisms. Ed. with a Memoir, by Ella Edersheim (1890).
EDESSA: An important city of Northern Mesopotamia. It is located on the Daisan, an eastern tributary of the Euphrates, nearly midway between Diarbekir and Aleppo on the straight line which joins them, in 37° 21' n. lat., and 39° 6' e. long. The Targum of pseudo-Jonathan, Jerome, and Ephraem Syrus wrongly identified the city with the Erech of Gen. x. 10, and this may be reflected in the Arabic tradition which connects the place with the death of Abraham, after whom the principal mosque of the city is called. The early name is unknown. The city came into historical prominence as a part of the Greek empire in the time of Seleucus, who possibly renamed it after the Macedonian Edessa, though an etymological suggestion is that Edessa is a corruption of the Syriac Haditha, " New City." By the Greeks it was also called Callirrhoe (doubtless from its fountain), whence came the Syrian name Urhoi, the Arabic el-Roha, and the Turkish Urfa.
Edessa remained theoretically a city of the Seleucid kingdom till 136 B.C., when it became the capital of the Osrohenic (Chosroenic) kingdom founded by Osrhoes (Orhoi bar-Khevyo), among whose successors was Abgar (q.v.), famous for the alleged correspondence with our Lord (Eusebius, Hist, eccl., I.,xxiii. sqq.). It was plundered by Trajan's general Lucius Quietus, 116 a.d., and the kingdom was made tributary to the Romans, though its independence was restored by Hadrian, probably the following year. In 217 its autonomy was ended by Caracalla, and a Roman colony was established there During the next century it suffered severely in the wars between Romans and Persians, and it was visited by Julian, who proposed to distribute the wealth of the native Christians and churches among his soldiers. In 609 the Persians were in possession, and in 641 the Mohammedans took it. It was captured in the crusade under Godfrey of Bouillon in 1097 and remained in Christian hands till 1144, when it again became a Moslem possession. In 1234 it belonged to the Byzantines, Tamerlane took it in 1393, and the Turks in 1637.
The city was early a seat of Christianity, and an untrustworthy tradition attributes the introduction of the religion to Thaddeus (see Judas) or to Addai, alleged to be one of the Seventy sent by Thomas the Apostle (see Abgar, and cf. Acta Thaddmi, Apocrypha, B, II., 12). This Syrian tradition makes Addai the first bishop, and his immediate successors Aggseus and Barsimaeus. The first Christian church built there is said to have been destroyed by a flood in 202 a.d., which testifies to the early establishment of Christianity there. In the third century it was the seat of a bishop, and in the fourth was a city of monasteries as well as the chief seat of Syrian Christian learning with its famous schools whence issued a long line of famous scholars.
Ephraem Syrus made it his home, and Sozomen (Hist, cccl., vi. 18) affirms that in the time of Valens (363-378) most of the inhabitants were Christians. The type of Christianity seems to have changed from orthodox to Arian and later to Nestorian. Under Diocletian it appears to have been the scene of many martyrdoms, and under Sapor II. of Persia the Christians there suffered severe persecutions. It is still the seat of an Armenian archbishop, and it gives the name to a titular Roman Catholic archbishopric. Its present population is estimated at between 30,000 and 50,000, nearly all Mohammedans, with about 2,000 Armenian Christians and about 500 Jews.
Geo. W Gilmoee.
Bibliography: The basal source for the early history is the Chronicon Edessenum, ed. I. Guidi, in Syriac and Latin, 1903, also in J. S. Asseman, Bibliotheca orientalis, i. 388- 417, Rome, 1719; consult also T. L. Bayer, Hist. Osrhoena et Edessena ex nummis illustrata, St. Petersburg, 1734. The Christian sources are indicated in the text in the ecclesiastical histories of Eusebius, I. xiii. sqq., Sozomen, iii. 14, 16, and Socrates, iv. 18. Consult further: L. J. Tixeront, Les Origines de I'eglise d'Edesse, Paris, 1888; A. _Buffa, La Legende d' Abgar et les origines de I'eglise d'Edesse, Geneva, 1893; F. C. Burkitt, Early Eastern Christianity, chap, i, London, 1904.
EDIFICATION (Gk., oikodome, "building up," oikodomein, ekoikodomein, "to build up"): In a metaphorical sense a term peculiar to Christianity, occurring in the New Testament, in Matt. xvi. 18; Acts ix. 31, xx. 32; I Pet. ii. 5; Jude 20, and especially in Paul. The notion goes back to the conception of the congregation (Eph. ii. 21-22; I Cor. iii. 9, 16) and the individual Christian (I Cor. vi. 19; Gal. ii. 20; Eph. iii. 17) as the " temple of God "; but it transcends the literal significance of the word in so far as the subject in whom the edification takes place receives his origin through edification in the literal sense, but in the metaphysical sense is already in existence before the edification (so in I Pet. ii. 5). Pagans are not " built up " to a congregation of Christ, nor do individual Christians by their union " build up " the congregation, but the existing congregation of Christ is " built up " into the congregation of Christ, a member of the congregation into a member of the congregation of Christ, by edification the congregation and the individual Christian becomes that which it (or he) already is. By faith in Christ the congregation like the individual Christian has entered into the status perfectionis ; more than the congregation of Christ it can not become as the individual Christian can not become more than a child of God. But the task is to become perfectly that which they are, and to realize fully the principle of the new life: the activity by which this is accomplished is " edification."
According to Matt. xvi. 18 Christ is the subject, and Christians as a whole are the object of the " edification" ; according to Eph. iv. 16 Christians as a whole and according to Rom. xiv. 19 the individual congregation are the subject and object of the " edification; " according to I Cor. xiv. 4, " he that prophesieth," according to Eph. iv. 29 every Christian in every word is the subject and the congregation the object, of the "edification"; according to Rom. xv. (I Thess. v. 11; I Cor. xiv. 17) the
:lopedia
Edessa
Edmund
individual is to " edify " the individual; according to I Cor. xiv. 4, "he that speaketh in a tongue " " edifieth " himself (only). But whether the congregation edifies itself, or an individual the congregation, or another individual, or himself, the supreme subject of all " edification " is Christ the Lord, who exercises his edifying activity through his Gospel, through the gifts of his Spirit, through the new life (especially through love, I Cor. viii. 1), which he has awakened and preserves in his congregation. Christ himself leads his congregation and its individual members unto perfection.
E. C. Achblis.
EDMUND (EADMUND), SAINT, OF CANTER- BURY (EDMUND RICH): Archbishop of Canterbury; b. at Abingdon (7 m. s. of Oxford), Berkshire, c. 1175; d. at Soisy-en-Brie (75 m. s.e. of Paris), France, Nov. 16, 1240 or 1242. He studied at the universities of Oxford and Paris and became a teacher about 1200, or a little earlier. For six years he lectured on mathematics and dialectics, apparently dividing his time between Oxford and Paris, and winning distinction for his part in introducing the study of Aristotle. Through the influence of a pious mother he had led from boyhood a life of singular self-denial and austerity; and it is not surprising to find him tiring of secular subjects and ready to go over to theology. Though for some time he resisted the change, he finally entered upon his new career between 1205 and 1210. He received ordination, took a doctorate in divinity, and soon won fame as a lecturer on theology and as an extemporaneous preacher. After expounding the " Lord's Law " for a number of years, Edmund became disgusted with scholasticism and gave up his chair at Oxford. Some time between 1219 and 1222 he was appointed treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral, and held this position for eleven years, during which time he also engaged in preaching. In 1227, at the bidding of Innocent III., he preached the sixth crusade through a large part of England.
In 1233 came the news of his appointment, by Gregory IX., to the archbishopric of Canterbury. The chapter had already made three selections which the pope had declined to confirm, and Edmund's name had been proposed as a compromise by Gregory, perhaps on account of his work for the crusade, and he was consecrated Apr. 2, 1234. Before his consecration he allied himself with the national party, whose object was to make the kingdom independent, maintain the Great Charter and exclude foreigners from civil and ecclesiastical office, and in the name of his fellow bishops he admonished Henry III. at Westminster, Feb. 2, 1234, to take warning of his father, King John. A week after his consecration he again appeared before the king with the barons and bishops, this time threatening his sovereign with excommunication, if he refused to dismiss his councilors, particularly Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester. This threat was sufficient. The objectionable favorites were dismissed; and soon the archbishop was sent to Wales to negotiate peace with Prince Llewellyn.
In 1237, in order to destroy the authority of Edmund, Henry induced the pope to send Cardinal Otto as legate to England. Through numerous
disputes with bishops and monks, not to speak of the rupture with the king, and the excommunication of Simon de Montfort and his bride, Edmund had already made his position a difficult one. As the champion of the national Church against the claims of Rome he now found himself arrayed against the pope. In Dec, 1237, he set out for Rome, hoping to enlist the pope on the side of ecclesiastical reform. From this futile mission he returned to England in Aug., 1238, to find himself reduced to a cipher. If he excommunicated his monks, they appealed to Rome and paid no attention to his interdict. Finding himself foiled at every turn he finally submitted to the papal demands; and early in 1240, hoping to win his cause against his monks, he paid to the pope's agents one fifth of his revenue, which had been levied for the pope's war against Emperor Frederick II. Other English prelates followed his example. Then came the demand that 300 English benefices should be assigned to as many Romans. This attack upon the rights of the national Church was more than Edmund could endure. In the summer of 1240, broken in spirit, he retired to the abbey of Pontigny, France, which had been the refuge of his predecessors, St. Thomas and Stephen Langton. A few months later he died at the priory of Soisy. In less than a year after his death miracles were alleged to be wrought at his grave; and in 1247 he was canonized.
Edmund is one of the most attractive figures of medieval history. His life was one of self-sacrifice and devotion to others. From boyhood he practised asceticism; and throughout his life he wore sackcloth next his skin, pressed against his body by metal plates. After snatching a few hours' sleep without removing his clothing, he usually spent the rest of the night in prayer and meditation. Besides his " Constitutions," issued in 1236 (printed in W- Lynwood's Constitutiones Anglice, Oxford, 1679), he wrote Speculum ecclesice (London, 1521; Eng. transl., 1527; reprinted in M. de la Bigne's Bibliotheca veterum patrum, v., Paris, 1609).