Volume 1

A dictionary of Christian antiquities : being a continuation of the 'Dictionary of the Bible' / edited by William Smith and Samuel Cheetham ; illustrated by engravings on wood.

Date:: [between 1890 and 1899?]

Credit: A dictionary of Christian antiquities : being a continuation of the 'Dictionary of the Bible' / edited by William Smith and Samuel Cheetham ; illustrated by engravings on wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

1001/1096 (page 981)

$of the Christian ministry came to be universally recognise 1, the analogy between the bishop with his attending presbyters and ministering deacons, anl the high-priest with his attending priests an! mini tering Levites, was on the surface so strong, that the terms appropriate to the one soon came to be transferred to the other. Thus Origen {Hun. 12 in Jerem. 3, iii. p. 196, ed. Delarue), quoted by Lightfoot (ib. p. 256), regards the priests and Levites as correspond- ing to the presbyters and deacons respectively. From the third century onward Levite is a frequent designation of the Christian ministry. Thus the 2nd council of Carthage, a.d. 390, designates (c. 2) the three orders of the ministry as antis ites, sacerdotes, and Levitae (^Codex Eccl. Afric. c. 3). Synesius (Epist. 58, p. 35, ed. Paris, 1640) speaks of the different grades of the ministry as Levites, presbyters, and bishops. In the early portion of the Apostolical Consti- tuti ms, however, the bishops are regarded as suc- ceeding to the Levitical privileges of the older dispensation. The bishops who serve the holy tabernacle, that is, the Holy Catholic Church, are the Levites in respect of the congregation (ii. 25. 5); the bishops inherited the Levitical privi- lege of receiving gifts for the benefit of the com- munity (iv. 8. 1). On the other hand, in the later portion of the Constitu'ions (viii. 46. 3 ff.) the high-priest, priest, and Levite are regarded as analogous to bishop, presbyter, and deacon. LEVITO (also Levitonarium, Lebito, Lebito- narium, Lebetes; Aefiirwi/, AffirjTciv, AefirjTtav- dpiov, Acvndiiv, etc.). The name Levito, a word apparently of Coptic origin “ (see Tattam’s Lexicon Aegyptiaco-Latinuyn, in Append.), is used for a kind of sleeveless cloak, ordinarily worn by Egyptian monks—“ Lebitonarium est colobium sine manicis, quali monachi Aegyptii utuntur (Isidore, Etym. xix. 22). The word occurs frequently in the Rule of Pachomius, of which we have Jerome’s translation from Euse- bius (FtYa, c. 2; Begula, cc. 2, 67, 70, 81 ; in Jerome, vol. ii. 53 sqq. ed. Vallarsi). From this we learn that each monk was allowed two Levitonaria and a Psiathiiim, or mat, in his cell. The material, of which this dress was made, was doubtlessly linen. Menard (xVof. ad Con- cord. Regularum, Benedicti Anianensis, c. 2; Patrol, ciii. 1237) argues that in the passage of Isidore cited abov'e, the word liueum has dropped out after colobium, for Papias, the grammarian, quoting apparently from Isidore, so reads it. Also, Kuthnus {de Vitis Patintm, c. 7 ; Patrol, xxi. 411) speaks of it as stupeum colobium.” Cassian again (de Coenobiorum In- stitutis, i. 5 ; Patrol, xlix. 68, where see Gazet’s note) speaks of the Egyptian monks as “ colobiis lineis induti.” Also the Rule of Pachomius speaks of it directly as “tunica liuea.” We need not therefore attach weight to the defini- tion given by Suidas, povayiKbs e/c rpt- X^v (Tvi/Tedeijueros. For further references, see • In the article Colobium it is suggested that the word is derived from Levita, since the colobium was the special vestment of deacons. This view, though found in some mediaeval writers, is, I think, quite untenable, as the passages already cited point distinctly to a primarily monastic use, and connect the dress essentially with Egypt. Ephrem Syrus (de Humilitate, c. 88 ; vol. i. 326, ed. Assemani) and Palladius (Hist. Lausiaca, cc. 38, 52; Patrol. Gr. xxxiv. 1099, 1138); also Ducange, Glossaries, s. vv. [R. S.] LIAFWINI. [Livinus.] LTASTINONUS (Liastamon), Egyptian martvr; commemorated Feb. 9 (Mart. Hieron.; Acta SS. Feb. ii. 294). [C. H.] LIBANIUS (Levaxgius), bishop of Senlis, 6th centurv; commemorated Oct. 19 (Acta SS. Oct. viii. 447). [C. H.] LIBANUS, Egvptian abbat; commemorated Ter. 3 = Dec. 29 (Cal. Ethiop ). [C. H.] LIBARIA, virgin and martyr in Lorraine, 4th century ; commemorated Oct. 8 (Acta SS. Oct. iv. 228). [C. H.] LIBEL ( Li’iellus famosus). The frequent enactments, both in ecclesiastical and civil legislation, against the circulation of libels, that is, scandalous charges circulated in writ- ing, prove the frequency of the practice. The Theodosian Code (lib. ix. tit. 34, de Fmiosis Libdlis) has detailed and rigorous enactments. Even the reader or collector of such libels is to be liable to capital punishment. And that of Justinian has provisions substan- tially the same. This seems to have been because the person in possession of or circulating a libel, was presumed, in law, to have been the author of it and punished as such (sciat se quasi auctorcm hujusmodi subjugandum). And this jiresumption might probably be rebutted by suitable evidence. The Apostolical Canons (Xos. 54, 55, 83) deal only with the case of a clergy- man maligning another cleric, or a bishop, or the emperor; in the latter case he was to be deposed. Sozomen (Hist. Eccles. lib. i. c. 17) remarks on the proneuess of the clergy to present to the emperor accusations (^i0Kia) against each other before the first council of Nice, and relates that Con- stantine ordered all these libelli to be burnt unread. In a collection of canons said to have been delivered by pope Adrian to Ingilram, bishop of Metz, we find one apparently founded on the rule of law mentioned above, and embodying similar provisions. And the Council of Eliberis (a.d. 305) anathematised in' its 52nd canon those who should be found to have circulated libels, “ famosos libellos,” in the church. In the 6th century denunciations of this offence become much rarer. From that period forwards we have only a very few canons, and those in general terras, against libel. The councils are mostly occupied with a different class of offences, such as would naturally arise in the ruder state of society which followed upon the irruption of the barbarians and the fall of the empire. [S. J. E.] LIBELLATICI. [Libelli.] LIBELLI. I. In the Decian persecution the constitution of the courts employed to enforce conformity, and the number of minor officials deal- ing with individuals, rendered evasion easy. The approved form of submission to the state citual was (as under Trajan) to offer sacrifice or incense, but it was possible also to tender submission in writing. The name of one who “ professed ” in 3 S 2$