RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
G-elzer Geneva
The concepts of Plethon are contained chiefly in his " Laws," which were first edited by C. Alexandre (Paris, 1858). His theological works are of minor importance, although they include a treatise on the procession of the Holy Ghost.
(Philipp Meyer.)
Bibliography: Most of the works of Gemistos are in MPG, cxxx. Consult: W Gass, Gennadios und Pletho, Breslau 1844; F. Sohultze, Geschichte der Philosophie der Renaissance, vol. i., Georgios Gemistos Plethon, Jena, 1874; H F Tozer, in Journal of Hellenic Studies, vii (1886), 353-380; J. Draseke, in ZKG, xix (1898), 265-292; Krumbacher, Geschichte, pp. 121, 429 et passim.
GENERAL CONFESSION: The name given to a public and general confession of sins made by the clergyman for the congregation, to distinguish it from auricular and private confession. It is of South German origin and goes back probably to the time of Charlemagne. It was spoken in German after the sermon (also in German) and was followed by the absolution and confession of faith and the Lord's Prayer. The earliest testimony to the usage dates from the ninth century; then there are a number of confessional prayers of this sort of the eleventh and twelfth centuries (cf. Hauck, KD, ii. 255, 729). The priest or deacon pronounced the confession, the people repeated it silently kneeling, and then the priest gave the absolution. The forms vary, but in time a certain formula seems to have developed. The first person singular was used, thus corresponding to private confession.
The Reformation found the general confession in common use, and the question whether it should be retained occasioned some controversy. It was solved differently in different places. In South and West Germany under influence of the Reformed Churches it was put at the beginning of the service, — a custom which had medieval precedent. Zwingli retained it in Zurich after the sermon. Calvin adopted for Geneva a custom already established in Strasburg of beginning service with a general confession repeated kneeling and using it at the daily " morning prayer." At present it is little used. [The Anglican service has a general confession said by the minister and congregation at morning and evening prayer and the communion service.] See Confession of Sins. (P. Drews.)
In Roman Catholic theology and practise the term "general confession " is used to designate a confession in which the penitent makes a review, confessing the sins of his entire life even though they have already been declared in previous confessions. This is obligatory whenever the foregoing confessions either through insincerity or for any other reason have been invalid ; otherwise it is a matter of counsel or spiritual direction. The name is also applied, though less strictly, to confessions which cover a given period, say a few years, by way of recapitulation, as distinguished from the ordinary weekly or monthly confession in which sins previously declared are not repeated. (J. F Driscoll.)
"ibliography: R. Cruel, Geschichte der deutschen Predigt, pp. 220-221, Detmar, 1879; G. Rietschel, in Monatsschrifl ii'ir Gottesdienst und kirchliche Kunst, i (1896-97), 396 sqq.; idem, Glossen zu der Ordnung des Flauptgottesdiensles, pp. 31 sqq., Leipsic, 1898; idem, Lehrbuch der hiturgik, l. 369 sqq., 429 sqq., Berlin, 1898; E C Achelis, IV.— 29
Lehrbuch der praktischen Theologie, i. 389 sqq., Leipsic, 1898; and literature under Common Prayer, Book of.
GENESIS. See Hexateuch.
GENESIS, LITTLE (Leptogenesis): Another name for the Book of Jubilees; see Pseudefigrapha, Old Testament, IV. 33.
GENEVA: A city of Switzerland, of considerable importance in ecclesiastical history, with a population (1900) of 105,710. It was founded by the Allobroges, and employed by Caesar as headquarters in his campaign against the Helvetii. At the beginning of the fifth century it came under Burgundian rule and was the residence of King Chilperic; but before tins Christianity had taken firm root in the district. The establishment of the bishopric, which Leo the Great in 450 declared subject to the metropolitan of Vienne, is usually placed in the middle of the fourth century. When the death of the last Burgundian king, Rudolf III., in 1032 transferred Geneva to the Empire, the bishops acquired princely rights which led to frequent contests with the counts of Geneva during the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Bishop William of Conflans (1287-95) sought aid from Amadeus V. of Savoy, which was the beginning of gradual encroachments on the part of the latter power, and ultimately, through the necessity of forming an alliance in 1478 with Bern and Freiburg, of the Bernese influence which made the Reformation successful in Geneva. In 1534 its adherents, augmented by fugitives from France, were estimated to be equally numerous with those of the old religion. The bishop, Pierre de la Baume (1523-44), left the city, transferring his see first to Gex (1534) and then to Annecy (1535). In the latter year the senate abolished the bishopric; but the bishops, of whom the most distinguished was St. Francis of Sales (q.v.), continued to rule from Annecy those of their former subjects who still acknowledged their allegiance until 1802, when the French Revolution put an end to the see. The Congress of Vienna, restoring the canton to Switzerland, decreed religious equality; and in 1819 Pius VII. placed the Roman Catholics of Geneva (who formed a third of the population) under the bishop of Lausanne, allowing him two years later to add to his title that of the ancient see. When, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, for the first time in three hundred years, mass was celebrated in the city, there were not more than 300 Roman Catholics there; at present they number over 30,000 in spite of the repressive measures undertaken by the cantonal government after the Vatican Council of 1870, which included the repudiation and banishment of the vicar apostolic named by the pope and the requirement of an oath of allegiance to the government incompatible with Roman Catholic belief (law of Mar. 23, 1873). An Old Catholic congregation was established by the French ex-Carmelite Hyacinthe Loyson; the churches were one by one handed over to this organization, which in 1904 had ten congregations in Geneva.
The first seeds of the Reformation were sown here as early as 1524 with the importation of the French
Geneva Genevieve