RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Marcus Eremita Margaret of Navarre
mately fixed by the monastic system which was at once developed yet free in form, the mention of the Council of Nicsea as an event of the past, the development of the doctrine of the three hypostases of the Godhead, his independence of tradition, and his creed in his polemic against the Nestorians, as well as by the omission of all mention of the Antiochian Creed of 433 or of the Chalcedonian Creed. As a theologian Marcus was ethical rather than dogmatic, feeling that it was more important to keep the commandments of Christ than to speculate concerning the miracles of God. Convinced that the truth was contained in the apostolic tradition of the Church, and needed only to be guarded against innovations, he never dogmatized except when obliged to do so, and then based his arguments directly on the Bible so far as he could. He accordingly decided Christological controversies by referring the predicates both of exaltation and humility to Christ, guided by his belief in the uncom-
bined yet essentially indivisible union
5. His of the Logos and the flesh, since the
Theology, deeds of a mere man could not give
salvation. The general theological positien of Marcus closely approximates that of Chrysostom, Nilus, Isidore of Pelusium, and, in Biblical doctrine, of Theodore of Mopsuestia. His ethical attitude is in harmony with his theology. His asceticism is practical rather than mystical, and he attaches little value to mere formalism. In his teachings concerning sin and grace Marcus Eremita held that man was mortal since and because of the sin of Adam, inasmuch as he, being himself condemned to die, could beget none but mortal offspring. Though this death is termed sin and punishment, he denies original sin in so far as he restricts sin to voluntary acts. Death is defined as " estrangement from God," which must be obviated by the atonement of Christ, yet the view is nowhere expressed that death is the cause of sin, but the opinion is maintained that the prevalence of sin is the fault of the individual, though all are subject to a captivity and impurity which can be removed only by the grace of Christ. Grace accordingly consists, on the one hand, of the ransom from death by the death of Christ, and, on the other, in the mystic gift of the Holy Ghost through the baptism of the Catholic Church, which thus restores the perfect freedom of the will hindered by the dominion of sin. The power to fulfil the commandments of Christ is conferred by grace, though the human will is a necessary condition of the manifestation of grace according to Phil. ii. 13. Nevertheless, in all good works hidden grace alone is revealed, and all self-righteousness is thus excluded, while grace so completely annihilates the entire " fault of Adam " that the death of the baptized is traced to their own iniquities. On the other hand, death is necessary for the attainment of complete perfection, for while man remains in the flesh, his human nature renders it impossible for him to become unchanging. (Johannes Kunze.)
Bibliography: The works of Marcus are found most handily in MPG, lxv. 903-1140, with prefatorial matter, pp. 893 sqq. One of his hitherto unknown writings (§ 1 above) is printed by P. Kerameus in Analekta Hierosolymitikes stachyologias, i. 89-113, St. Petersburg, 1891. For Syriac
VII.— 12
translations cf. J. S. Assemani, Bibliotheca orientalis, iii. 1, pp. 96, 194, Rome, 1728; W. Wright, Catalogue of Syriac MSS. in the British Museum, London, 1871; E. Sachau, Verzeichnis der syrischen H andschriften . zu Berlin, Berlin, 1899. Consult: J. Kunze, Marcus Eremita, ein neuer Zeuge fur das altkirchliche Taufbekenntnis, Leipsic, 1895; idem, in TLB, xix (1898), 393-398; C. Oudin, Commentarius de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, i. 902-908, Leipsic, 1722; G. C. Hamburger, Zuverlassige Nachrichten von den vornehmsten Schriftstellern, iii. 1-3, Lemgo, 1760; Fabricius-Harles, Bibliotheca Gratca, ix. 267-269, Hamburg, 1804; T. Ficker, in ZHT, xxxviii (1868), 402 sqq.; U. Chevalier, Repertoire des sources historiques, Paris, 1877-86; J. Fessler, Institutiones patrologim, ed. Jungmann, ii. 143-146, Innsbruck, 1892; Ceillier, Auteurs sacres, xi. 634-643; H. G. Floss, Macarii Mgyptii epistolm, in MPG, lxv. 877 sqq.; DCB, iii. 826-827; KL, viii. 684.
MARESIUS, SAMUEL. See Des Mabets, Samuel.
MARGARET OF NAVARRE: Daughter of Duke Charles of Orleans-Angouleme, duchess of Alencon, and later Queen of Navarre, patron of the Reformation in France; b. at Angouleme Apr. 11, 1492; d. at the chateau of Odos, near Tarbes, Dec. 21, 1549. After her father's death, Social she was sent by her mother, the witty Position; and ambitious Louise of Savoy, to the Patronage court of Louis XII., her guardian, of Letters, where she received an excellent education. Endowed with rare mental qualities, including eagerness for knowledge and a warm appreciation of everything beautiful, she studied philosophy and theology in addition to the living and dead languages. On Dec. 1, 1509, she married Charles, last Duke of Alencon, and on the accession of Francis I. in 1515, was introduced to the court. The king was very fond of his sister, for whose intellect he had a high esteem, and often asked her advice in difficult matters. Like him, she was the patron of many scholars and men of letters, who clustered about her at her court at Nerac. Among them were some of a serious turn of mind, who spoke to her of religion, such as Lefevre d'Etaples (see Faber Stapulensis, Jacobus) and his friend Gerard Roussel (q.v.), Michel d'Arande, Clement Marot (q.v.), and Guillaume Briconnet, bishop of Meaux (q.v.), who with the help of D'Arande, of Evangelical tendencies, was trying to awaken in his diocese a religious life that would lead to a study of the Bible. Between 1521 and 1524 she kept up a correspondence with Briconnet, through which she became acquainted with " the wisdom of learned ignorance," the art of contemplating God without intermediary (neglecting all scholastic deductions and even the use of the sacraments) and finding union with him only through an intense faith and increasing love.
These letters also discuss the need of reform in the Church. In his reforming zeal Briconnet had chosen Lefevre d'Etaples as his vicar-general, and sent Michel d'Arande to Margaret as her chaplain. The latter expounded the Scriptures Attitude in private to Margaret and her brother Toward and mother, who, she says, often ex- Reform, pressed the wish to reform the Church; and she mentions the spreading of the idea that " divine truth is not heresy." It was on suspicion of heresy, however, that the Franciscans arraigned Briconnet before the Parlement of Pari3
Margaret of Navarre Marheineke