RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Nerses Nestor
versity Bulletin, xii., 2, pp. 160-181. In addition, on Nerses IV.: his writings were edited by the Mechitarists in Armenian with Latin translation, Venice, 1830; a collection of his letters (excerpts in Mai, Nova collectio, vi. 415-424) appeared in Echmiadzin, 1865; and the encomium of him by Nerses of Lambron, ib. 1875; Liber superiorum Mar Naraetis homiliae in Joseph, documenta patrum de quibusdam vera! fidei dogmatibus, ed. P. Bedjan, Leipsic, 1901. Consult: J. S. Assemanni, Bibliotheca Orientalis, ii. 364- 365, Rome, 1719; Arsak Ter-Mikaelian, Die armenische Kirche in ihren Beziehungen zur byzantinischen (4.-13. Jahrhundert), pp. 88 sqq., Leipsic, 1892. On Nerses of Lambron consult: S. C. Malan, Life and Times of Gregory the Illuminator, pp. 35-36, London, 1868; C. F. Neumann, Versuch einer Geschichte der armenischen Literatur, p. 148, Leipsic, 1836; Ter-Mikaelian, Nerses. Das armenische Hymnarium. Studien zu seiner geschichtlichen Entwicklung, Leipsic, 1905; The Liturgical Homilies of Narsai, in TS, viii. 1 (1909); and the literature under Armenia.
NERVA, MARCUS COCCEIUS: Roman emperor from Sept. 18, 96, to Jan. 27, 98; b. at Narnia (40 m. n. of Rome), Umbria, 32; d. at Rome Jan. 27, 98. [He came of a family eminent as jurists, father and grandfather both having followed with distinction that profession. His own training was civil rather than military. These facts have bearing upon the character of his relations to the Christians as indicated below.] Proclaimed emperor immediately after the assassination of Domitian, probably in accord with a previous understanding, his reign was characterized by mildness. Domitian had already ceased persecuting the Christians and recalled the fugitives, who actually returned under Nerva (cf. Eusebius, Hist, eccl., III., xix. 20; Tertullian, Apol., v.; Dio Cassius, lxviii. 1). He also stopped the abuses of the informers, forbade all complaints against Jewish practises, and abrogated the fiscal disabilities of the Jews (among whom the Christians were included). The legal status of Christianity, however, remained unchanged; and the reign of Nerva marked for them the transition from persecutions of caprice, such as those of Nero and Domitian, to those begun by Trajan, based upon the execution of existing law.
(G. UHLHORNf.)
Bibliography: C. Peter, Geschichte Roms unter den Kaisem, iii. 507, Halle, 1871; B. Aube, Hist, des persecutions de Veglise, i. 195 sqq., Paris, 1875; K. Wieseler, Die Christenvervolgungen der Christen, pp. 12 sqq., Giitersloh, 1878; A. H. Hore, Eighteen Centuries of the Orthodox Greek Church, p. 73, New York, 1899; and the works on the church history of the period and on the history of the Roman empire.
NESTLE, nesf'le', CHRISTOF EBERHARD: German Lutheran; b. at Stuttgart May 1, 1851. He was educated at the theological seminaries at Blaubeuren and Tubingen and at the universities of Tubingen (Ph.D., 1874) and Leipsic (1874-75), after which he spent two years in further study in England. He was then a tutor at the Evangelical theological seminary at Tubingen (1877-80), deacon at Munsingen, Wurttemberg (1880-83), gymnasial professor at Ulm (1883-90, again 1893-98), and provisional supply for the vacant professorship of Semitic languages at the University of Tubingen (1890-93). Since 1898 he has been professor in the Evangelical theological seminary at Maulbronn, Wurttemberg. Theologically he is an adherent of the mediating school. He has written: Die israelitischen Eigennamen nach ihrer religions-
geschichtlichen Bedeutung (Haarlem, 1876); Conradi Pellicani de modo legendi atque intelligendi Hebroeum (Tubingen, 1877); Psalterium tetraglottum, Greece, Syriace, Chaldaice, Latine (Leyden, 1879) Psalmi Chaldaice et Syriace (Tubingen, 1879). Psalterium Syriacum (1879); Brevis linguae Syriacm grammatica (Carlsruhe, 1880); Veteris Testamenti Grceci codices Vaticanus et Sinaiticus cum textu recepto collati (Leipsic, 1881); Syrische Grammatik (Berlin, 1888; really a translation and second edition of the Latin Syriac grammar; Eng. transl. by A. R. S. Kennedy, 1889) ; De sancta cruce, ein Beitrag zur christlichen Legendengeschichte (1889); Septuagintastudien (4 parts, Ulm and Maulbronn, 1886- 1903); Marginalien und Materialien (Tubingen, 1893); Novi Testamenti Grceci supplementum (Leipsic, 1896); Philologica sacra, Bemerkungen uber die Urgestalt der Evangelien und Apostelgeschichte, Berlin, 1896); and Einfuhrung in das griechische Neue Testament (Tubingen, 1897, 3d ed., 1909; Eng. transl. by W. Edie, London, 1901). He edited the sixth and seventh editions of Tischendorf 's Septuaginta (Leipsic, 1880, 1887) the Syriac version of Plutarch's De capienda ex inimicis utilitate (London, 1894), an edition of the Greek and German New Testament since 1898, and an excellent edition of the Latin and Greek-Latin New Testament since 1906.
NESTOR: Russian monk of the eleventh century, incorrectly regarded as the earliest Russian annalist. According to his own statements, he entered the cave-monastery of Kief shortly after the death of Abbot Theodosius in 1074, where he was soon ordained deacon or archdeacon, and where he wrote his " Readings from the Life and Death of the Blessed Martyrs Boris and Gleb " and " Life of the Abbot Theodosius "; both works are characterized by edifying material and rhetoric rather than by history. The first Russian historical writer, however, was Jacob a monk of the same cloister, possibly identical with the priest Jacob, who seems to have come from the monastery of Boris and Gleb in Pereiaslaf, whom Abbot Theodosius on his death-bed desired for his successor. Before 1072 Jacob wrote his " Account of the Martyrdom and Eulogy of the Murdered Holy Martyrs Boris and Gleb," and his " Memorial and Eulogy of the Russian Prince Wolodimer."
As early as the middle of the thirteenth century the oldest Russian annals became connected with the name of Nestor; wrongly, however, for the annalist expressly states that he was an inmate of the monastery in the lifetime of Theodosius. He was apparently born at Kief, and entered the cloister shortly after 1065, when seventeen years of age. He was, in all probability, Silvester, abbot of the monastery of St. Michael, who in 1116 stated that he had written the annals in question. Though borrowing from John Malalas and Gregorius Hamartolus, this pioneer Russian historian adhered strictly to the simpler annalistic form.
(N. Bonwetsch.)
Bibliography: Chronica Nestoris, ed. F. Miklosich, pp. 183- 186, Vienna, 1860 ; L. Leger, La Chronique dite de Nestor, Paris, 1884; P. Strahl, Beitrage zur russischen Kirchengeschichte, Halle, 1827; J. J. Sreznevskij, " The Narratives concerning the Holy Boris and Gleb," St. Petersburg, 1860 (in Russian) ; Krumbacher, Geschichte, pp. 35, 356-357, 408.
Nestorians