THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG 56
Sibete e
posed all efforts in that direction. He was likewise distressed by theological developments, for though he advocated freedom of research both in universities and in seminaries, and deprecated any direct influence of the Church in the selection of professors for the theological faculties, he felt that the new movements could work only destruction to the ancient faith and to the Lutheran confession. In 1894 and 1896 he defended the building of motherhouses for deaconesses, and elucidated the difference between Roman Catholic sisterhoods and Lutheran deaconesses. His last weeks were devoted to the preparation of a Lutheran liturgy for Hanover which was unanimously accepted by the national synod, thus completing the organization of an independent Hanoverian church with the exception of a catechism which is still a desideratum. (F. UHLHORN.)
BrstiogRapHy: Uhlhorn’s literary activity was constant, some of his works, however, were ephemeral, dealing with questions of his times. Of the more permanent works mention may be made of: Die Homilien und Recognttionen des Clemens Romanus, Géttingen, 1854; Das Basilidianische System, 1855; Urbanus Rhegius, Elberfeld, 1861; Die modernen Darstellungen des Lebens Jesu, Hanover, 1866, Eng. transl., Modern Representations of the Life of Jesus, Boston, 1868; Das rémische Concil, 1870; Der Kampf des Christenthums mit dem Heidenthum, Stuttgart, 1874, Eng. transl., Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism, New York, 1879; Die christliche Liebesthitigkett, 3 vols., vol. i., In der alten Kirche, 1882, Eng. transl., Christian Charity in the Ancient Church, Edinburgh, 1883, vol. ii., Im Mittelalter, 1884, vol. iii., Seit der Reformation, 1890; and also his edition of Hin Sendbrief von Antonius Corvinus an den Adel von Gottingen, Gottingen, 1853.
For his life consult F. Uhlhorn, Gerhard Uhlhorn, Abt zu Loccum, Stuttgart, 1903; F. Diisterdieck, Zum Andenken an G. Uhlhorn, Hanover, 1902.
UHLICH, LEBERECHT. See Free ConGREGA- TIONS IN GERMANY, § 1.
ULFILAS, wil’fi-las (ULPHILAS). Origin and Youth (§ 1).
Prominence; Missionary Activities (§ 2). Later Years (§ 3).
Theology (§ 4).
Works; Bible Translation (§ 5).
Ulfilas, bishop of the Visigoths and the author of practically the sole remnants of the Gothic language, was born in the region of the lower Danube about 310, and died at Constantinople in 383. His name is variously given as Vulfila by Jordanes,
Gulfila or Gilfila by Isidore, Vulphilas
1. Origin by Cassiodorus, Ulfila by Auxentius and Youth. and Maximinus, Oulphilas by Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, and Our-
philas by Philostorgius and Photius, all these representing the Gothic Wulfila, “ Little Wolf.” His ‘grandparents came from the village of Sadagolthina, near Parnassus (probably situated on the River Halys) in western Cappadocia, and were among the Christians taken captive by the Goths when, in 264, they ravaged Cappadocia, Galatia, and Bithynia. In their pagan surroundings these Christian captives not only remained true to the faith, but also converted many of their captors and formed communities with at least some degree of organization. Ulfilas himself seems to have been born of a Gothic father and a woman of Asia Minor, was a serf by origin, but a Christian from his very youth. According to Auxentius, he became bishop
at the age of thirty, and then officiated seven years in the land of the barbarians and thirty-three in “Romania.” He was well acquainted with Greek, since he was made a ‘ reader,”’ in which capacity he had not only to read the Scriptures during the services but in all probability also to translate and explain them to the Goths among his hearers. When about thirty years of age, he was chosen to accompany a Gothic embassy to the imperial court, where he became acquainted with Eusebius of Nicomedia, who, with other bishops there assembled, consecrated him to the episcopate apparently at Antioch during the synod of May 22-Sept. 1, 341.
But Ulfilas could labor only a brief time as ‘‘ bishop of the Christians in the land of the Goths,” for about seven years later the ‘‘ irreligious and sacrilegious judge of the Goths”’ (apparently Athanarich, who termed himself almost exclusively
‘‘judge’’) inaugurated a ‘persecution 2. Promi- so severe that the survivors were forced nence; to seek refuge in Roman territory. At Missionary the request of Ulfilas, Constantius Activities. gave them shelter in the mountains near Nicopolis in lower Moesia, not far from the modern Plevna, and appointed Ulfilas their ““judge.”’ It would seem that Ulfilas now ranked only as a Chorepiscopus (q.v.), and he is known to have been present only at the synod held at Constantinople in Jan., 360, so that it would appear that the importance ascribed to him by Auxentius is exaggerated. Whether, in addition to his duties in the vicinity of Plevna, he found time to carry on missionary work among the Goths north of the Danube is uncertain. According to Socrates, during the reign of Valens, but before the persecution of 370-372, war broke out between the Gothic chieftains, Frithigern and Athanarich. The former, defeated, fled to Roman territory, and, aided by the emperor, returned and proved victorious. In gratitude he adopted the faith of Valens, and constrained his subjects to do likewise, while Ulfilas labored among the people of both Frithigern and Athanarich. But the latter would not tolerate the Christians, and in 370-372 persecuted them bitterly. After peace between Frithigern and Athanarich, Ulfilas may well have carried on missionary work, though it would appear that he made no extensive journeys, but rather supported the cause from his mountains near Plevna. He seems to have remained associated with Frithigern, and when, in 376, the greater part of the Visigoths sought a home on Roman soil, Ulfilas is said by Sozomen (Hist. eccl., vi. 37) to have accompanied their embassy to the court and there to have advocated their cause. Whether he maintained these friendly relations with the hewcomers when they became involved in strife with the Romans is uncertain, but there is little doubt that, half-Roman by birth, and entirely Roman in religion and education, he took sides against the Goths.
Before Rome had concluded peace with the Goths (Oct. 3, 382), however, Ulfilas himself, through no fault of his own, had become involved in war with the land he had, in all probability, served in a political as well as in an ecclesiastical capacity, with whose bishops and churches he had been on the