RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Zacharias Zahn
xi. 722, Hamburg, 1807-08; E. Reuss, Bibliotheca Novi Testamenti Greci, p. 100, Brunswick, 1872; E. Legrand, Bibliographie Hellenique, vol. i. passim and iv. 392, Paris, 1894-95.
ZACHARIAS SCHOLASTICUS (RHETOR): Bishop of Mitylene and ecclesiastical writer; b. at Majuma, the port of Gaza; d. probably before 553. [The assumption of this article is that Zacharias Scholasticus, Zacharias Rhetor, and Zacharias, orother of Procopius, are one and the same personalty. His own writings show that his father’s house vas near the monastery of Peter the Iberian, and shat the family was large, that one brother was a nonk and a physician, and that facilities for study vere furnished the sons. Zacharias studied in Alexundria (probably 485-487) at the time when Petrus Mongus (q.v.) was there as archbishop. He came nto relations with Severus of Antioch at that place, und a friendship sprang up between them. He was yaptized there, was earnest in performance of reigious duties, and took part in the actions of the Christian students against the idolaters. He rezarded the monks with respect, but thought his srother Stephen too delicate to endure the monastic ife. After a short visit at home, he went to Berytus n 487 to pursue studies in law, where Leontius, son of Eudoxius, was one of his teachers, and perhaps ilso Diodorus; he also read diligently in the Church “athers. He emphasizes the fact that he held aloof rom the bishop of Phenicia, since he held with the nonks in Egypt and Palestine, i.e., was a straight Monophysite. With all his strong piety Zacharias lid not become a monk, as did so many of his acjuaintances, in this matter probably following both iis father’s wish and his own disinclination for that node of life. In this he seems to have been conirmed by the advice of Peter the Iberian. After is studies were completed, he returned home, but oon after, possibly in 492, he was settled in Contantinople as an advocate, and the two names of scholasticus (“‘ advocate’’) and Rhetor (“‘ pleadr ’’) are explained by his vocation there. He seems oon to have gained an enviable position, though nowledge of his exact estate is not known because f ignorance of the significance of terms expressing unctions. He appears at any rate as an assessor yf the emperor’s chancellor or comes patrimonti, and s once addressed as ‘‘ high chancellor.”’ The position f advocate was a step toward higher state offices. \mong his friends were men of influence, such as he eunuch Eupraxius and Misael, both marked for yiety and also interested im ecclesiastical affairs. Zacharias did not neglect ecclesiastical opportuniies, and when Severus visited the capital, the two ame into close relationship. A speedy change from voridly to ecclesiastical position was not unusual at hat time. In 527 Zacharias was still a layman (his vriting against the Manicheans could not have been composed before that time); in 536 he had taken art in the synod at Constantinople as bishop of litylene. He attended as a delegate for whom it vas the unpleasant duty to summon the Patriarch \nthimus to answer before the fathers; he took yart in the discussion and agreed to the condemnaion of Anthimus. icon of Zeno (see HENOTICON), and denounced the
He heartily favored the Heno- -
fanatical exclusiveness of the Alexandrians. Of his later years nothing is known, not even the date of his death. At the fifth ecumenical council of 553 Mitylene was represented by the Metropolitan Palladius.
Zacharias was the author of a number of writings: (1) A church history is contained in Syriac in Cod. Mus. Brit. Add. 17, 202, ed. in Anecdota Syriaca, J. P. N. Land (8 vols., Leyden, 1870); K. Ahrens and G. Kriiger (Leipsic, 1899; in German with notes, introduction, and commentary); and F. J. Hamilton and E. W. Brooks, The Syriac Chronicle Known as that of Zachariah of Mitylene (London, 1899). The “ Church History ” is only books iii. to vi. out of a composite work in twelve books, which was a universal history from creation to the author’s (editor’s?) time (568-569), and deals with the period 450-491, not claiming, however, to continue the “‘ history ”’ of Socrates, Sozomen, or Theodoret. The author’s horizon is limited to Alexandria and Palestine, and contains sources of great value which Evagrius (q.v.) used. It must have been written before 515. The general work was used by Michael the Syrian and Bar Hebreeus, who regard it as the work of Zacharias, whom they designate bishop of Mitylene. Zacharias wrote also a life of Severus, patriarch of Antioch (editions are: Syriac by J. Spanuth, Géttingen, 1893; Syriac and French by M. A. Kugener, Paris, 1903), which aims to disprove the charges of idolatry made against Severus, and is an account of the times possessing great value. He wrote accounts of Peter the Iberian, Theodore of Antinoe in Egypt, and of the Egyptian ascetic Isaiah, of which only the last is extant (ed. Land in Anecdota Syriaca, ut sup.; E. W. Brooks, in CSCO, 3 ser., xxv. 1-16, Paris, 1907). Polemic writings of Zacharias are: De mundi opificio (ed. J. F. Boissonade, Paris, 1836; MPG, lxxxv. 1011-1144), a dialogue between the author and a pupil of the Alexandrian philosopher Ammonius, in which appear also Ammonius and a physician, whose arguments are contested (the De immortalitate anime of Aineas of Gaza is the model); a treatise against certain writings by a Manichean (editions: Demetrakopulos, Bibliotheca ecclesiastica, pp. 1-18, Leipsic, 1866; J. B. Pitra, Analecia sacra, v. 67-70, Paris, 1888). A manuscript in Moscow has a preface, not by the author, which explains the title. The work was composed while Zacharias was still a layman and is to be brought into connection with the edict of 527 concerning the Manicheans. It appears that the author had written ‘‘ Seven Chapters ”’ against the Manicheans before this. What remains in the manuscripts can be but a fragment.
(G. Kricer.) BrsiriocrapHy: W. Cave, Historia litteraria, i. 462, 579,
Basel, 1741; K. Seitz, Die Schule von Gaza, Heidelberg,
1892; M. A. Kugener, in Revue del’ orient chrétien, v (1900),
201-214, 461-480; idem, in Byzantische Zeitschrift, ix
(1900), 464-470; H. Grisar, Hist. of Rome and the Popes in the Middle Ages, i. 67, 102, London, 1911.
ZAHN, tsin, JOSEF: Roman Catholic; b. at Stradtprozelten (near Aschaffenburg, 23 m. e.8.e. of Frankfort) June 20, 1862. He studied at the universities of Wiirzburg and Vienna, 1880-85; became subregent of the priests’ seminary at Wiirz-
Zahn Zealots