not partake of the cup at the Eucharist on account of | (Rom. xiv, 1-3; 1 Cor. viii). In another place the their natural aversion to wine.

Abstinence (agiria, not eating, Acts xxvii, 21), a general term, applicable to any object from which one abstains, while fusting is a species of abstinence, namely, from food. See FAST. The general term is likewise used in the particular sense to imply a partial abstinence from particular food, but fast signifies an abstinence from food altogether. Both are spoken of in the Bible as a religious duty. Abstinence again differs from temperance, which is a moderate use of food or drink usually taken, and is sometimes extended to other indulgences; while abstinence (in reference to food) is a refraining entirely from the use of certain articles of diet, or a very slight partaking of ordinary meals, in cases where absolute fasting would be hazardous to health. See SELF-DENIAL,

hath created.

same apostle reproves certain sectaries who should from meats which God had created to be received with arise, forbidding marriage, and enjoining abstinence thanksgiving (1 Tim. iv, 3, 4). The council of the apostles at Jerusalem decided that no other abstinence than from meats offered to idols, from blood, and regarding food should be imposed upon the converts from things strangled" (Acts xv, 29). Paul says (1 Cor. ix, 25) that wrestlers, in order to obtain a corruptible crown, abstain from all things, or from every to Timothy (iv, 3), he blames certain heretics who thing which might weaken them. In his First Epistle condemned marriage, and the use of meats which God all appearance of evil (1 Thess. v, 22), and, with much He requires Christians to abstain from stronger reason, from every thing really evil, and contrary to religion and piety. See FLESH; ALISGEMA. The Essenes, a sect among the Jews which is not mentioned by name in the Scriptures, led a more abstinent life than any recorded in the sacred books. Sec ESSENES. They refused all pleasant food, eating nothing but coarse bread and drinking only water; and some of them abstained from food altogether until after the sun had set (Philo, De Vita Contemplativa, p. 692, 696). That abstinence from ordinary food was practised by the Jews medicinally is not shown in Scripture, but is more than probable, not only as a dictate of nature, but as a common practice of their Egyptian neighbors, who, we are informed by Diodorus (i, 82), "being persuaded that the majority of diseases proceed from indigestion and excess of eating, had frequent recourse to abstinence, emetics, slight doses of medicine, and other simple means of relieving the system, which some persons were in the habit of repeating every two or three days. See Porphyry, De Abst. iv. See UNCLEANNESS.

1. Jewish.-The first example of abstinence which occurs in Scripture is that in which the use of blood is forbidden to Noah (Gen. ix, 20). See BLOOD. The next is that mentioned in Gen. xxxii, 32: "The children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day, because he (the angel) touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank." See SINEW. This practice of particular and commemorative abstinence is here mentioned by anticipation long after the date of the fact referred to, as the phrase "unto this day" inti mates. No actual instance of the practice occurs in the Scripture itself, but the usage has always been kept up; and to the present day the Jews generally abstain from the whole hind-quarter on account of the trouble and expense of extracting the particular sinew (Allen's Modern Judaism, p. 421). By the law abstinence from blood was confirmed, and the use of the flesh of even lawful animals was forbidden, if the manner of their death rendered it impossible that they 2. Christian.-a. Early.-In the early Church cateshould be, or uncertain that they were, duly exsan- chumens could be admitted to baptism; they were reguinated (Exod. xxii, 31; Deut. xiv, 21). A broad quired, according to Cyril and Jerome, to observe a rule was also laid down by the law, defining whole season of abstinence and prayer for forty days; accordclasses of animals that might not be eaten (Lev. xi). ing to others, of twenty days. Extreme caution and See ANIMAL; FOOD. Certain parts of lawful animals, care were observed in the ancient Church in receiving as being sacred to the altar, were also interdicted. candidates into communion, the particulars of which These were the large lobe of the liver, the kidneys may be found under the head CATECHUMENS. Superand the fat upon them, as well as the tail of the "fat-stitious abstinence by the clergy was deemed a crime. tailed" sheep (Lev. iii, 9-11). Every thing conse- If they abstained from flesh, wine, marriage, or any crated to idols was also forbidden (Exod. xxxiv, 15). thing lawful and innocent, in accordance with the heretIn conformity with these rules the Israelites abstained ical and false notions that the creatures of God were not generally from food which was more or less in usc good, but polluted and unclean, they were liable to be among other people. Instances of abstinence from deposed from office. See ABSTINENTS. There was alallowed food are not frequent, except in commemo- ways much disputation between the Church and several rative or afflictive fasts. The forty days' abstinence heretical sects on the subjects of meats and marriage. of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus are peculiar cases, requir- The Manichees and Priscillianists professed a higher ing to be separately considered. See FASTING. The degree of spirituality and refinement, because they abpriests were commanded to abstain from wine previous stained from wine and flesh as things unlawful and to their actual ministrations (Lev, x, 9), and the same unclean, and on this account censured the Church as abstinence was enjoined to the Nazarites during the impure in allowing men the moderate and just use of whole period of their separation (Num. vi, 5). See them. The Apostolical Canons enjoin, “That if any NAZARITE. A constant abstinence of this kind was, bishop, presbyter, or deacon, or any other clerk, ab at a later period, voluntarily undertaken by the Re- stain from marriage, flesh, or wine, not for exercise, chabites (Jer. xxxv, 16, 18). See RECHABITE. but abhorrence-forgetting that God made all things very good, and created man male and female, and speaking evil of the workmanship of God, unless he correct his error, he shall be deposed, and cast out of the church." At the same time, strict observance of the fasts of the church was enjoined, and deposition was the penalty in case of non-compliance with the directions of the canons on this subject.

Among the early Christian converts there were some who deemed themselves bound to adhere to the Mosaical limitations regarding food, and they accordingly abstained from flesh sacrificed to idols, as well as from animals which the law accounted unclean; while others contemned this as a weakness, and exulted in the liberty wherewith Christ had made his followers free. This question was repeatedly referred to the Apostle Paul, who laid down some admirable rules on the subject, the purport of which was, that every one was at liberty to act in this matter according to the dictates of his own conscience, but that the strong-minded had better abstain from the exercise of the freedom they possessed whenever it might prove an occasion of stumbling to a weak brother

b. Romish.-In the Romish Church a distinction is made between fasting and abstinence, and different days are appointed to each. On days of fasting, one meal in twenty-four hours is allowed; but on days of abstinence, provided flesh is not eaten and the meal is moderate, a collation is allowed in the evening. Their days of abstinence are all the Sundays in Lent, St. Mark's day, if it does not fall in Easter-week, the

three Rogation-days, all Saturdays throughout the year, with the Fridays which do not fall within the twelve days of Christmas. The observance of St. Mark's day as a day of abstinence is said to be in imitation of St. Mark's disciples, the first Christians of Alexandria, who are said to have been eminent for their prayer, abstinence, and sobriety. The Roman days of fasting are, all Lent except Sundays, the Ember-days, the vigils of the more solemn feasts, and all Fridays except such as fall between Easter and the

Ascension. See CALENDAR.

c. Protestant.-The Church of England, in the table of vigils, mentions fasts and days of abstinence separately; but in the enumeration of particulars, they are called indifferently days of fasting or abstinence, and the words seem to refer to the same thing. The Word of God never teaches us that abstinence is good and valuable per se, but only that it ministers to holiness; and so it is an instrument, not an end.- Bingham, Orig. Eccles. bk. x, ch. 11, § 9. See ASCETICISM.

Abstinents, a sect of heretics that appeared in France and Spain about the end of the third century, during the persecutions of Diocletian and Maximin. They condemned marriage and the use of flesh and wine, which they said were made not by God, but by

the devil. Sec ABSTINENCE.

Absus, a river of Palestine, according to Vibius Sequester (see Reland, Palæst. p. 297), prob. the "gentle stream" (mollis) referred to by Lucan (v, 485), and by Cæsar (Bell. Cir. iii, 13), as having been crossed by Pompey near Apollonia; hence, no doubt, the brooklet that enters the Mediterranean at this place.

Abu'bus ("Aẞovßoç, prob. of Syrian origin), the father of Ptolemy, the general of Antiochus, who slew Simon Maccabæus (1 Macc. xvi, 11, 15).

this prelate from the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria. At one time, when the Abyssinians were greatly oppressed, they applied to the pope for help, promising never again to accept their metropolitan from the Coptic patriarch; but this forced submission to Rome did not last long. See ABYSSINIAN CHURCH,

Abyss ("Aẞvaroc). The Greek word means literally "without bottom," but actually deep, profound. It is used in the Sept. for the Hebrew tehom' (), which we find applied either to the ocean (Gen. i, 2; vii, 11) or to the under world (Ps. lxxi, 21; cvii, 26). Hades, or the place of the dead generally (Rom. x, 7); but more especially Tartarus, or that part of Hades in which the souls of the wicked were supposed to be confined (Luke viii, 31; Rev. ix, 1, 2, 11; xx, 1, 3; comp. 2 Pet. ii, 4).

In the New Testament it is used as a noun to describe

In the Revelation the authorized

version invariably renders it "bottomless pit;" elsewhere "deep." See PIT.

Most of these uses of the word are explained by reference to some of the cosmological notions which the Hebrews entertained in common with other Eastcrn nations. It was believed that the abyss, or sea of fathomless waters, encompassed the whole carth. The carth floated on the abyss, of which it covered only a sinall part. According to the same notion, the earth was founded upon the waters, or, at least, had its foundations in the abyss beneath (Ps. xxiv, 2; cxxxvi, 6).

Under these waters, and at the bottom of the abyss, the wicked were represented as groaning and undergoing the punishment of their sins. There were confined the Rephaim-those old giants who, while living, caused surrounding nations to tremble (Prov. ix, 18; xxix, 16). In those dark regions the sovercigns of Tyre, Babylon, and Egypt are described by Abul-faraj (ABUL-PHARAGIUS, or ABULFARA- the prophets as undergoing the punishment of their DASCH), GREGORY (called also Bar-Hebræus, from his cruelty and pride (Jer. xxvi, 14; Ezek. xxviii, 10, father having been originally a Jew), was the son of etc.). This was "the deep" into which the evil spirAaron, a physician of Malatia, in Armenia, and was its, in Luke viii, 31, besought that they might not be born in 1226, and, like his father, was a Jacobite. He cast, and which was evidently dreaded by them. See applied himself to the study of the Syriac and Arabic CREATION; HADES. The notion of such an abyss languages, philosophy, theology, and medicine: in the was by no means confined to the East. It was equallatter he became a great proficient, and acquired a ly entertained by the Celtic Druids, who held that high reputation among the Moslems. When only Annun (the deep, the low part), the abyss from which twenty-one years of age he was made bishop of Guba the earth arose, was the abode of the evil principle by the Jacobite patriarch Ignatius; and in 1247 he (Gwarthawn), and the place of departed spirits, comwas made bishop of Aleppo. About 1266 he was prehending both the Elysium and the Tartarus of anmade Maphrian, or primate of the Jacobites in the tiquity. With them also wandering spirits were callEast, which dignity he retained till his death, in 1286. ed Plant annun, "the children of the deep" (Davis's His works are very numerous; the best known is the Celtic Researches, p. 175; Myth. and Rites of the B. Syriae Chronicle, which is largely cited by Gibbon, Druids, p. 49). See DEEP. and is, in fact, a repository of Eastern history. It consists of two parts: 1. The Dynasties--a Civil Chronicle from Adam to A.D. 1286; 2. An Ecclesiastical History, which again falls into two divisions: (1.) A Catalogue and Chronicle of the Patriarchs of Antioch, called by this author the Pontiffs of the West; (2.) A Catalogue and Chronicle of the Primates, Patriarchs, and Maphrians of the East. The Civil Chronicle is published in Syriae and Latin, from the Bodleian MS., under the title Chronicon Syriacum, ed. P. J. Bruns and G. G. Kirsch (Lips. 1788, 2 vols. 4to); an abridgment of the whole chronicle made in Arabic by Abul-faraj, in Arabic and Latin by Pococke, under the title HisAria Compendiosa Dynastiarum, ab Ed. Pocockio interrete (Oxon. 1663, 2 vols. 4to). A complete edition was proposed in Germany by Bernstein, in 1847, but nothing beyond the prospectus has yet appeared. The "Ecclesiastical History" exists in MS. in the Vatican and Bodleian (?) libraries. The autobiography of Abul-faraj is given by Assemanni, Bibliotheca Orien lis, tom. ii. See Cave, Hist. Lit. Ann. 1284; Chrisbun Remembrancer, vol. xxx, p. 300.

Abuma. See RUMAH.

Abūna (our father), the title given by the Abyssinian Christians to their metropolitan. They receive

We notice a few special applications of the word "deep," or abyss, in the Scriptures (see Wemyss, Symb. Dict. s. v.). Isaiah (xliv, 27) refers to the method by which Cyrus took Babylon, viz., by laying the bed of the Euphrates dry, as mentioned by Xenophon and others. The same event is noticed in similar terms by Jeremiah (i, 38 and li, 36). A parallel passage in relation to Egypt occurs in Isaiah (xix, 5), where the exhaustion of the country and its resources by foreign conquerors seems to be pointed out. Rom. x, 7: "Who shall descend into the abyss [Deut. xxx, 13, "beyond the sea"] to bring up Christ again from the dead ?" i. e. faith does not require, for our satisfaction, things impracticable, either to scale the heavens or to explore the profound recesses of the earth and sea. abyss sometimes signifies metaphorically grievous afflictions or calamities, in which, as in a sea, men seem ready to be overwhelmed (Ps. xlii, 7; lxxi, 20).

Abyssinia. See ABYSSINIAN CHURCH.

The

Abyssinian Church. Abyssinia is an extensive district of Eastern Africa, between lat. 7° 30′ and 15° 40′ N., long. 35° and 42° E., with a population of perhaps four millions. Carl Ritter, of Berlin, has shown that the high country of Habesh consists of three terraces or distinct table-lands, rising one above

another, and of which the several grades of ascent offer themselves in succession to the traveller as he advances from the shores of the Red Sea (Erdkunde, th. i, s. 168). The first of these levels is the plain of Baharnegash; the second level is the plain and kingdom of Tigré, which formerly contained the kingdom of Axum; the third level is High Abyssinia, or the kingdom of Amhara. This name of Amhara is now given to the whole kingdom, of which Gondar is the capital, and where the Amharic language is spoken, eastward of the Takazzé. Amhara Proper is, however, a mountainous province to the south-east, in the centre of which was Tegulat, the ancient capital of the empire, and at one period the centre of the civilization of Abyssinia. This province is now in the possession of the Gallas, a barbarous people who have overcome all the southern parts of Habesh. The of Tigre and Samen sent an embassy of submission to the present kingdom of Amhara is the heart of Abyssinia, and the abode of the emperor, or Negush. It contains the upper course of the Nile, the valley of Dembea, and the lake Tzana, near which is the royal city of Gondar, and likewise the high region of Gojam, which Bruce states to be at least two miles above the level of the sea. See ETHIOPIA.

sion aimed not only at the Christian population of Shoa, but the Galla tribes extensively spread over the southeastern parts of Africa. To the Galla language, therefore, hitherto unwritten, Mr. Krapf's attention was much given. During Mr. Isenberg's stay in London, the following Galla works, prepared by Mr. Krapf, were printed: Vocabulary, 12mo; Elements of the Galla Language, 12mo; Matthew's Gospel, 12mo; John's Gospel, 12mo.

I. History.-Christianity is believed to have been introduced, about A.D. 330, by Frumentius, who was ordained bishop of Auxuma (now Axum, or Tigre) by Athanasius. See FRUMENTIUS. As the Alexandrian Church held the Monophysite doctrine, the Abyssinian converts were instructed in this faith, which has maintained itself ever since. From the fifth to the fifteenth century little was known in Western Europe about Abyssinia or its Church. The Portuguese sent out by John II having opened a passage into Abyssinia in the fifteenth century, an emissary (Bermudes) was sent to extend the influence and authority of the Roman pontiff, clothed with the title of patriarch of Ethiopia. The Jesuits sent out thirteen of their number in 1555, but the Abyssinians stood so firm to the faith of their, ancestors that the Jesuits were recalled by a bull from St. Peter's. Another Jesuit mission was sent out in 1603, and led to twenty years of intrigue, civil war, and slaughter. In December, 1624, the Abyssinian Church formally submitted to the see of Rome; but the people rebelled, and, after several years of struggle and bloodshed, the emperor abandoned the cause of Rome, and the Roman patriarch abandoned Abyssinia in 1633. After this, little or nothing was heard from Abyssinia till 1763, when Bruce visited the country, and brought back with him a copy of the Ethiopic Scriptures. In 1809 Mr. Salt explored Abyssinia by order of the British government, and described the nation and its religion as in a ruinous condition. Mr. Salt urged the British Protestants to send missionaries to Abyssinia. Portions of the Bible were translated and published in the Amharic and Tigré languages under the auspices of the British and Foreign Bible Society (Jowett, Christ. Researches, vol. i); and in 1826 two missionaries (from the Basle Missionary Seminary), viz., Dr. Gobat, now bishop of Jerusalem, and Christian Kugler, were sent out by the Church Missionary Society. Kugler dying, was replaced by Mr. Isenberg. He was followed by the Rev. Charles Henry Blumhardt in the beginning of 1837, and by the Rev. John Ludwig Krapf at the close of that year. The Romish Church renewed its missions in 1828, and, by stirring up intrigues, compelled the withdrawal of the Protestant missionaries in 1842. Their labors had already laid the foundation of a reform in the Abyssinian Church. Much had been done also in the way of translations into the Amharic language. Mr. Isenberg carried through the press, after his return to England in 1840, an Amharic spelling-book, 8vo; gram-, mar, royal 8vo; dictionary, 4to; catechism, 8vo; Church history, 8vo; Amharic general history, 8vo. Mr. Isenberg had prepared a vocabulary of the Dankali language, which was likewise printed. The mis

In 1849 the Roman Catholic missionaries were expelled, and the prince of Shoa requested the return of Dr. Krapf to the East-African Mission. In 1885 Theodore became king of Abyssinia, and was at first favorable to missions, who had meanwhile recommenced their operations, especially the Society of Basle. In 1858 this last had six laborers in the country. In 1859 the king

pope, and 50,000 natives are reported to have entered into the papal communion. In 1864 king Theodore imprisoned British residents, and in 1868 an expedition under Lord Napier was sent against him, which reduced him to terms of submission. In 1872 Prince Kassai of Tigre was crowned emperor; but in 1879 king Theodore overthrew the prince of Shoa. In 1885 the Italians occupied Massowah, and relations towards Europeans have since continued unfriendly. The recent disturbances in Egypt have contributed to the decline of missions and all evangelical work along the Upper Nile, and the operations on the Congo have not yet materially aided it. The latest statistics give the Roman Catholic Church but 10,000 adherents in Abyssinia. See AFRICA.

II. Doctrines and Usages. —(1.) The Abyssinian creed is, as has been said, Monophysite, or Eutychian; maintaining one nature only in the person of Christ, namely, the divine, in which they considered all the properties of the humanity to be absorbed, in opposition to the Nestorians. In both faith and worship they resemble the Romish Church in many respects; but they do not admit transubstantiation. (2.) They practise the invocation of saints, prayer for the dead, and the veneration of relics; and while they reject the use of images, they admit a profusion of pictures, and venerate them. They practise circumcision, but apparently not as a religious rite. They keep both the Jewish and the Christian sabbath, and also a great number of holidays. Their clergy and churches are very numerous, the latter richly ornamented; and the number of monastic institutions among them is said to be great. The monks call themselves followers of St. Anthony, but follow various rules. (3.) The supreme government lies with the patriarch, called Abuna (q. v.), who resides in Gondar. The Abuna receives his investiture from the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria, who is the nominal head of the Ethiopian Church. (4.) They practise an annual ablution, which they term baptism, and which they consider necessary to wash away the defilement of sin. The priests receive the Lord's Supper every day, and always fasting; besides priests and monks, scarcely any but aged persons and children attend the communion. They call the consecration of the element Mellawat. At Gondar Bishop Gobat found no person that believed in transubstantiation. In Tigré there are some who believe in it. The wine is mixed with water. They consider fasting essential to religion; consequently their fasts occupy the greater part of the year, about nine months; but these are seldom all observed except by a few monks. The priests may be married men, but they may not marry after they have received orders. The priesthood is very illiterate, and there is no preaching at all. The Abyssinians prostrate themselves to the saints, and especially to the Virgin; and, like the Copts of Egypt, practice circumcision. When questioned on the subject, they answer that they consider circumcision merely as a custom, and that they abstain from the animals forbidden in the Mosaic law, but only because they have a disgust to them; but

Dr. Gobat observed that, when they spoke upon these subjects without noticing the presence of a stranger, they attached a religious importance to circumcision, and that a priest would not fail to impose a fast or penance on a man who had eaten of a wild boar or a hare without the pretext of illness. In short, their religion consists chiefly in ceremonial observances. Their moral condition is very low; facilities of divorce are great, and chastity is a rare virtue; the same man frequently marries several women in succession, and the neglected wives attach themselves to other men. Yet their religion, corrupt as it is, has raised the Abyssinian character to a height far beyond that of any African race. Much authentic information as to this interesting Church and people in modern times is to be found in Gobat, Three Years' Residence in Abyssinia; Isenberg and Krapf, Missionary Journals in Abyssinia (Lond. 1843, 8vo); Marsden, Churches and Sects, vol. i; Newcomb, Cyclopædia of Missions; Rüppell, Reisen in Abyssinien, Frankf. 1840; Veitch, W. D. Notes from a Journal of E. M. Flad, one of Bishop Gobat's missionaries in Abyssinia, with a sketch of the Myssinian Church (London, 1859); Schem, Eccles. Your-book for 1859; American Theol. Review, 1860

and later.

Acacia. See SHITTAH-TREE.

the numerous letters which he wrote, three only, ac cording to Cave, are extant, viz., two Epistles to his Primate, Alexander of Hierapolis; one to Cyril.Cave, Hist. Lit. anno 430; Theodoret, Hist. Eccles. iv. Academics, a name given to such philosophers as adopted the doctrines of Plato. They were so called from the Academia, a grove near Athens, where they studied and lectured. The Academics are divided into those of the first academy, who taught the doctrines of Plato in their original purity; those of the second, or middle academy, who differed materially from the first, and inclined to skepticism; and those of the new academy, who pursued probability as the only attainable wisdom. The Academics and Epicureans (q. v.) were the prevailing philosophical sects at the time of Christ's birth.-Tennemann, Hist. Phil. §§ 127-138.

Ac'atan ('Akaráv), the father of Johannes, said to be one of those who returned from the Babylonian captivity (1 Esdr. viii, 38); evidently the same with HAKATTAN (q. v.) of the parallel text (Ezra viii, 12).

Acatholici, not catholic; a name sometimes used by members of the Papal Church to distinguish Protestants, under the arrogant assumption that the word "Catholic" is to be appropriated solely to Romanists. See CATHOLIC.

Acacians, followers of Acacius, Monophthalmus, Ac'cad (Heb. Akkad', E, fortress; or, accordbishop of Cæsarea. In the Council of Seleucia, A.D. 359, they openly professed their agreement with the ing to Simonis Onomast. p. 276, bond, i. e. of conpure Arians, maintaining, in opposition to the semi-quered nations; Sept. 'Apxác [prob. by resolution of Arians, that the Son was not of the same substance with the Father, and that even the likeness of the Son to the Father was a likeness of will only, and not of essence. Socrat. Eccl. Hist. iii, 25. See ACACIUS. Acacius (surnamed Monophthalmus, from his having but one eye), was the disciple of Eusebius of Casarea, in Palestine, whom he succeeded in the see of Casarea in 340. He was one of the chiefs of the Arian party, and a man of ability and learning, but unsettled in his theological opinions. He was deposed as an Arian by the Synods of Antioch (A.D. 341) and Seleucia (359). Subsequently he subscribed the Nicene creed, and therefore fell out with the Anomoans, with

Jerome (de Scrip. cap. 98) says that he wrote seventeen books of commentaries upon Holy Scripture, six on various subjects, and very many treatises, among them his book Adversus Marcellum, a considerable fragment of which is contained in Epiphanius, Hares 72. Socrates (lib. ii, cap. iv) says that he also wrote a life of his predecessor, Eusebius.-Cave, Hist. Lit. anno. 340; Lardner, Works, iii, 583.

Acacius, bishop of Berea, was born about the year 322, in Syria. He embraced the monastic life at an early age under the famous anchorite Asterius. About A.D. 578 he was promoted to the see of Berea by Eusebius of Samosata; and after 381 Flavian sent him to Rome, to obtain for him communion with the Western bishops, and to effect the extinction of the schism in the Church of Antioch, in both which designs he succeeded. At the commencement of the 5th century he conspired with Theophilus of Alexandria and others against Chrysostom, and was present in the pseudo-council ad Quercum, in 403, where Chrysostom was deposed. In the great contest between Cyril and Nestorius, Acacius wrote to Cyril, endeavoring to exeuse Nestorius, and to show that the dispute was in reality merely verbal. In 431 the Council of Ephesus assembled for the decision of this question. Acaeius did not attend, but gave his proxy to Paul of Emesa against Cyril, and addressed a letter to the Oriental bishop, accusing him of Apollinarianism. In 432 he was present in the synod of Berea, held by John, and did all in his power to reconcile Cyril and the Orientals. His death occurred about 436, so that he must have attained the age of 114 years. Of

the Dagesh, like for 27], Vulg. Achad), one of the four cities in "the land of Shinar," or Babylonia, which are said to have been built by Nimrod, or, rather, to have been "the beginning of his kingdom" (Gen. x, 10). Elian (De Animal, xvi, 42) mentions that in the district of Sittacene was a river called Argades (Apyačne), which is so near the name Archad which the Sept. give to this city, that Bochart was induced to fix Accad upon that river (Phaleg, iv, 17). Mr. Loftus (Trav. in Chald. and Susiana, p. 96) compares the name of a Hamitic tribe emigrating to the plains of Mesopotamia from the shores of the Red Sea, and which he says the cuneiform inscriptions call Akkadin; but all this appears to be little more than conjecture. In the inscriptions of Sargon the name of Akkad is applied to the Armenian mountains instead of the vernacular title of Ararat (Rawlinson, in Herodotus, i, 247, note). The name of the city is believed to have been discovered in the inscriptions under the form Kinzi Akkad (ib. 357). It seems that several of the ancient translators found in their Hebrew MSS. Accar () instead of Accad (Ephrem Abulfaragi, etc.). Achar was the ancient name of Syrus, Pseudo-Jonathan, Targum Hieros., Jerome, Nisibis (see Michaelis, Spicileg. i, 226); and hence the Targumists give Nisibis or Nisibin (7) for Accad, and they continued to be identified by the Jewish literati in the times of Jerome (Onomast. s. v. Acad). But Nisibis is unquestionably too remote northward to be associated with Babel, Erech, and Calneh, "in the land of Shinar," which could not have been far distant from each other. On the supposition that the original name was Akar, Col. Taylor suggests its identification with the remarkable pile of ancient buildings called Akker-kuf, in Sittacene, and which the Turks know as Akker-i-Nimrud and Akker-i-Babil (Chesney's Survey of the Euphrates, i, 117). The Babylonian Talmud might be expected to mention the site, and it occurs accordingly under the name of Aggada. It occurs also in Maimonides (Jud. Chaz. Tract. Madee, fol. 25, as quoted by Hyde). Akker-kûf is a ruin, consisting of a mass of sun-dried bricks, in the midst of a marsh, situated to the west of the Tigris, about five miles from Bagdad (Layard's Babylon, 2d ser. p. 407). The most conspicuous part of this primitive monument is still called by the natives Tel Nimrúd,

and Nimrud Tepassé, both designations signifying the hill of Nimrod (see Ker Porter's Travels, ii, 275). It consists of a mound, surmounted by a mass of building which looks like a tower, or an irregular pyramid, according to the point from which it is viewed, it is about 400 feet in circumference at the bottom, and rises to the height of 125 feet above the elevation on which it stands (Ainsworth's Researches in Assyria, p. 175). The mound which seems to form the foundation of the pile is a mass of rubbish, accumulated from the

decay of the superincumbent structure (Bonomi's Nineveh, p. 41). In the ruin itself, the layers of sundried bricks can be traced very distinctly. They are cemented together by lime or bitumen, and are divided into courses varying from 12 to 20 feet in height, and are separated by layers of reeds, as is usual in the more ancient remains of this primitive region (Buckingham, Mesopotamia, ii, 217 sq.). Travellers have been perplexed to make out the use of this remarkable monument, and various strange conjectures have been hazarded. The embankments of canals and reservoirs, and the remnants of brick-work and pottery occupying the place all around, evince that the Tel stood in an important city; and, as its construction announces it to be a Babylonian relic, the greater probability is that it was one of those pyramidal structures erected upon high places, which were consecrated to the heavenly bodies, and served at once as the temples and the observatories of those remote times. Such buildings were common to all Babylonian towns; and those which remain appear to have been constructed more or less on the model of that in the metropolitan city of Babylon. See BABEL.

Ac'caron (1 Macc. x, 89). See EKRON.

ers, whose office is only to walk before the deacons, etc., with lighted tapers, are derived from the practice of the acolyths. The two offices are widely different, and the assumption that the Romish practice is derived from apostolical institution is absurd.-Bingham, Orig. Eccl. bk. iii, ch. iii. See ACOLYTHS.

Accent, in a grammatical sense, is the tone or stress of the voice upon a particular syllable, which is the means of distinguishing or separating words in rapid enunciation, and is not to be confounded with

the rhythmical or musical ictus or force which regulates poetry or metre, and is, at the same time, independent of the prosodiacal quantity. In English, as in most European languages. there is no fixed rule for the position of the accent, which often diffors in words formed after the same analogy. In Latin, in the absence of all positive information as to how the Romans themselves pronounced their language, at least in this particular, an arbitrary rule has been invented and generally acceded to by scholars of all nations, by which the tone is placed upon every mg penult, and upon the antepenult of words having a short or doubtful ("common") vowel in the penult. Many apply the same rule to the Greek language; but, as this has a written accent, the custom, still preserved among the modern Greeks, is gradually prevailing, of conforming the spoken to the written tone. In Hebrew the place of the accent is carefully designated in the common or Masoretic text (see R. Jehuda Ibn Balam, Treatise on the Poetic Accents, in Hebrew, Paris, 1556; reprinted with annotations, Amst. 1858), although the Jews of some nations, disregarding this, pronounce the words with the accent on the penult, after the analogy of modern languages, and as is done by natives in speaking Syriac and Arabic (see J. D. Michaelis, Anfangsgründe der Hebr. Accentuation, Hall. 1741; Hirts, Einleit. in d. Hebr. Abtheilungskunst, Jena, 1762; Spitzner, Idea Analytica V. T. ex Accentibus, Lips. 1769; Stern, Gründl. Lehre d. Hebr. Accentuation, Frankf. 1840). In words anglicized from the Greek the Latin rules are observed for the accent; and in those introduced from the Hebrew, as they have mostly come to us through the Vulgate, the same principle is in the main adhered to. so far as applicable, though with great irregularity and disagreement among orthoepists, and generally to the utter neglect of the proper Hebrew tone. In pronouncing Scripture and other foreign names, therefore, care should be taken to conform to the practice of the best speakers and readers, rather than to any affected or pedantic standard, however exact in itself (see Worcester's Eng. Dict. 1860, Append.).

Accept - ACCEPTABLE - ACCEPTED (properly

Accensorii In the early Church there was a class of officers called acolyths, corresponding to the Roman apparitor or pedellus, bedellus, beadle. In their ordination, the bishop, after informing them as to the duties of their office, placed in the hands of each a candlestick with a lighted taper in it, intimating that it was their duty to light the candles of the church; hence they were sometimes called accensorii, taper-, ratsah' to take pleasure in. cexouai). To accept lighters. Jerome says it was a custom in the Oriental churches to set up lighted tapers when the Gospel was read, as a demonstration of joy; but it does not appear that there was a peculiar order of acolyths for this purpose. The duty in question seems to have been nothing more than lighting the candles at night, when the church was to meet at evening prayer. The Romanists contend that their cero-ferarii, taper-bear

is not only to receive, but to receive with pleasure and kindness (Gen. xxxii, 20). It stands opposed to reject, which is a direct mode of refusal, and implies a positive sentiment of disapprobation (Jer. vi, 30; vii, 29). To receive, is an act of right-we receive what is our own; to accept, is an act of courtesy-we accept what is offered by another. Hence an acceptable time, or accepted time (Psa. lxix, 13; 2 Cor. vi, 2), signities