RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
G-entillet George, Bishop
in the church practises, in accordance with his natural disposition and with Luther's acquiescence. Loving peace, he sought to deter Luther, in 1538, from publishing the tract Wider den Bischof zu Magdeburg; and persuaded him, in 1542, not to circulate his sharply worded tract on the feud of Wurzen. In 1544 the protector of Merseburg Cathedral, Maurice of Saxony, appointed his brother, Duke Augustus, administrator, but because the latter was not a cleric, designated George of Anhalt as his " coadjutor in spiritual affairs." In this capacity he forthwith proceeded, in company with Antonius Musa, just then appointed cathedral preacher at Merseburg, upon a visitation of all the cathedral parishes, exhibiting great patience, tactful discretion, and forbearance. He next conferred with Maurice in the matter of a prospective liturgy, which, in accordance with his suggestions and in virtue of the deliberations of the consistories of Merseburg and Meissen, was officially completed at Altenzelle in 1545. Thenceforth twice a year George convened the cathedral clergy to a synod in Merseburg Cathedral, and on such occasions discoursed upon the questions and evils of the time, and upon proper official conduct. He based these condones synodicce upon outlines furnished him by Melanchthon. Of the sermons which he delivered in the cathedral before many hearers, only a few have been preserved. They are distinguished by temperate and lucid exposition.
When, in spite of his efforts to the contrary, the Schmalkald War broke out, George received under his roof the fugitive Camerarius and his family; interceded for Jonas, who had incurred Maurice's anger; and sought to restrain the clergy from " suspicious and frivolous words that might serve to cause discord." Although he " hated " the Augsburg Interim, he felt that he ought to lend a hand in the preparation of the Leipsic Interim, in order to preclude still worse results (see Interim). In 1549 the emperor's candidate Michael Heldingk (Sidonius) was postulated by the chapter as bishop of Merseburg. Until his arrival, George was to continue administering the diocese. To strengthen the Evangelical confession as firmly as possible before the threatening storm, he now delivered his powerful sermons " On the False Prophets," and " On the Right Worthy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ," which are directed both against Rome and against the fanatics. Afterward he retired to his Anhalt estates. Sojourning mostly in Warmsdorf he continued to preach there, and when occasion offered sought to adjust the Osiandrian dispute. He died unmarried after lingering sickness. His unfeigned piety, his gentleness and love of peace, his benevolence and freedom of service, gained him the honorable title of the " devout " or " pious." His theology was that of Luther.
WlLHELM WALTHER. Bibliography: His writings in German were edited by Melanchthon, Wittenberg, 1555, 7th ed., 1741, Latin edition containing the Condones synodicce, 1570; the Condones were edited by G. Stier in Germ, transl., 1895. For his life consult: Leben der Altvater der lutherischen Kirche, iv. 63 sqq., Leipsic, 1864 (contains lists of the older literature); M. Steffenhagen, Georg von Anhalt, Merseburg, 1893; A. Riimelin, Die Reformation in Des- •ou, Halle, 1895.
GEORGE, BISHOP OF THE ARABIANS: One
of the most important writers of the Syrian Church; was born about 640 in the Juma, the district of the lower Afrin valley, belonging to the Life. diocese of Antioch, and died in 724. As a youth he attached himself to his famous countryman Jacob of Edessa (q.v.), whose Hexaemeron he completed after Jacob's death. In Nov., 686, in conformity with the dying wish of the Patriarch Athanasius II. of Balad, he was consecrated bishop by the Jacobite Maphrian Sergius Zakunaja, archbishop of Kartamin near Mardin. His jurisdiction was not a local one, but included the Arab tribes on the eastern border of the northern half of the Arabian desert. Doctrinally he was attached to the Jacobite church of Syria, as is shown by his dogmatic and controversial writings.
He had an extensive knowledge of both Christian and classical literature. Besides the Bible, he knew the principal church his- Mental torians, Eusebius, Socrates, and Theo- Equipment. doret. In Basil's works he was specially at home, and was well acquainted with Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory Nazianzen, as well as with the Monophysite authorities to whom the Jacobites appealed, especially the patriarch Severus of Antioch; he knew both Cyril of Alexandria and Sabellius and Julian of Halicarnassus, and was very familiar with the works of the Pseudo-Dionysius. He was not less well-read in the older Syriac literature, Bardesanes, Aphraates, and Ephraem. Even of works still further removed, like those of Josephus and the Clementines, he displays more than a superficial knowledge. His extensive correspondence, of which the letters from 714 to 718 still exist, shows that he was the intellectual leader of his countrymen.
The greater part of his works is still extant, and shows his many-sidedness, not only covering the most various theological branches, but including a valuable translation of a part of Prose the Organon of Aristotle, with the full- Works, est commentary on that author existing in Syriac. With this Aristotelian work may be classed, as to both plan and purpose, a collection of scholia on the homilies of Gregory Nazianzen (preserved in a tenth or eleventh century manuscript in the British Museum), though neither the translation of the homilies nor the writing of the scholia was done by George, who only compiled them.
Of his poetical works, the Chronicon, written in twelve-syllable verse, was formerly preserved in a single manuscript in the Vatican, which has now totally disappeared. This dealt in Poetical twenty-four chapters with the epacts, Works. with rules for finding the movable feasts, with the cycles of the sun and moon, with the months and weeks, and other things pertaining to the ecclesiastical reckoning. The table for finding the time of the new moon which originally formed part of this has been preserved separately in two copies, one in the Vatican and one in the British Museum. The author's competence in these astronomical questions is shown
George, Bishop George of Brandenburg