ENCYCLICAL
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ENCYCLICAL
by Tatian, a disciple of Justin. As long as he was with
Justin he gave no sign of these things, but after his
martyrdom Tatian separated himself from the Church.
Elated and pufTed up by his professorship, he estab-
lished some teaching of his own. He fabled about some
invisible a;ons, as the Valentinians do ; and proclaimed
marriage to be corruption and fornication, as Marcion
and Saturninus do, but he made the denial of Adam's
salvation a specialty of his own." The Encratites are
next mentioned by Clement Alex. (Pted., II, ii, 33;
Strom., I, XV ; VII, xvii). The whole of the third book
of the Stromata is devoted to combating a false encra-
teia, or continency, though a special sect of Encra-
tites is not there mentioned. Hippolytus (Philos.,
VIII, xiii) refers to them as "acknowledging what
concerns God and Christ in like manner with the
Church; in respect, however, of their mode of life,
passing their days inflated with pride"; "abstain-
ing from animal food, being water-drinkers and for-
bidding to marry"; "estimated Cynics rather than
Christians". On the strength of this passage it is
supposed that some Encratites were perfectly ortho-
dox in doctrine, and erred only in practice, but ri, irepl
ToO SfoS Kal ToO xp'<'"oO need not include the whole of
Christian doctrine. Somewhat later this sect received
new life and strength by the accession of a certain
Severus (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., IV, xxix), after whom
Encratites were often called Severians. These Seve-
rian Encratites accepted the Law, the Prophets, and
the Gospels, but rejected the Book of the Acts and
cursed St. Paul and his Epistles. But the account
given by Epiphanius of the Severians rather betrays
Syrian Gnosticism than Judaistic tendencies. In their
hatred of marriage they declared woman the work of
Satan, and in their hatred of intoxicants they called
wine drops of venom from the great Serpent, etc.
(H»r., xlv). Epiphanius states that in his day Encra-
tites were very numerous throughout Asia Minor, in
Pisidia, in the Adustan district of Phrygia, in Isauria,
Pamphylia, Cilicia, and Galatia. In the Roman Prov-
ince and in .Vntioch of Syria they were found scattered
here and t hero, lliey s])lit up into a number of smaller
sects, of whom the .\postolici (q.v.) were remarkable
for their condemnation of private property, the Ily-
droparastatiE for their use of water instead of wine in
the Eucharist. In the Edict of 382, Theodosius pro-
nounced sentence of death on all those who took the
name of Encratites, Saccophori, or Ilydroparastatae,
and commanded Floras, the Magister Officiorum, to
make strict search for these heretics, who were Mani-
chseans in disguise. Sozomen (Hist. Eccl., V, xi) tells
of an Encratite of .\ncyra in Galatia, called Busiris,
who bravely submitted to torments in the Julian per-
secution, and who under Theodosius abjured his
heresy and returned to the Catholic Church. On the
other hand, we learn from Macarius Magnes (about
40.3 — Apocr., Ill, xliii) of a certain Dositheus, a Cili-
cian, who about the same time wrote a work in eight
books in defence of Encratite errors. About the mid-
dle of the hfth century they disappear from history,
absorbed, probably, by the Manichfeans, with whom
they had so much in common from the first.
II. Writings. — The Encratites developed a con- siderable literary activity. The earliest writer in their defence probably was Tatian in his book "Concerning Perfection according to the Saviour", which Clement of Alexandria quotes and refutes in Strom., Ill, xii. Almost contemporary with him (about a.d. 150) was Julius Cassianus, known as the founder of Docetism (.see DooET.T,). He wrote a work "Concerning Self- restraint and Continency", of which Clcinent and St. Jerome have preserved some passages (Strom., I, xxi; Euseb., Praep. Ev., X, xii; Strom., Ill, xiii; Jerome, ad Gal., VI, viii). Concerning the eight books of Dosi- theus we know only that he maintained that, as the world had its beginning by sexual intercourse, so by continency (encraleia) it would have its end ; and that
he inveighed against wine-drinkers and flesh-eaters.
Among the apocryphal works which originated in
Encratite circles must be mentioned : The Gospel ac-
cording to the Egyptians, referred to by Clement
(Strom., Ill, ix, 13), Origen (Hom. in i Luc), Hippo-
lytus (Philos., V, vii), which contained a dialogue
between Jesus and Salome specially appealed to by
the Encratites in condemnation of marriage (to this
Gospel the recently discovered "Logia" probably be-
long) ; the Gospel of Philip, of Thomas, the Acts of
Peter, of Andrew, of Thomas, and other Apocrypha,
furthering Gnostic-Encratite views.
Eusebius (Hist. Eccl., IV, xxi, 28) says that Mu- sanus (a.d. 170 or 210) wrote a most elegant book addressed to some brethren who had fallen into the heresy of the Encratites. Theodoret (Ha;r. Fab., I, .xxi) says that ApoUinaris of Hierapolis in Phrygia (about 171) wrote against the Severian Encratites.
Salmon in Diet. Chr. Biogr., s. vv., i?ncrn/;?. .s-. Apo^lolict, Hydroparastatai, Tatian, Cassian; H.\rnack, Hr-.'i': , "/ /'.;■/?;, tr., I; Crvttwel.1^, A Literary Hi^t. of Early Cfn '■'.
I; HiLGENFELD, Ketzergesch, des Vreh. (1884); i i > i , - ./j,
der altchr. Lit. (Leipzig, 1893-97). I, 201 sqr|., II. 1. inn ;,:;.-,; Bahdenhewer, Gesch. der aUkirchl. Lit. (FreilMiru. 100.' i, I, 243-5, 346. 386-391; Idem, Patrology. Shahan tr. (Freiburg im Br., St. Louis, 1908), 81, 92. J. P. ArbNDZEN.
Encyclical (Lat. Liltcrw Enci/cliac). — According to its etymology, an encyclical (from the Greek ^ykukXios, ki'ikXos meaning a circle) is nothing more than a circular letter. In modern times, usage has confined the term almost exclusively to certain papal documents which differ in their technical form from the ordinary style of either Bulls or Briefs, and which in their supenscriptinn are explicitly addressed to the patriarchs, primates, archbishops, and bishops of the Universal Church in communion with the Apostolic See. By exception, encyclicals are also sometimes addressed to the arch- bishops and bishops of a particular coimtry. Thus this name is given to the letter of Pius X ((i Jan., 1907) to the bishops of France, in spite of the fact that it was published, not in Latin, but in French ; while, on the other hand, the letter " Longinqua Oceani" (5 Jan., 1S95) addres,sed by Leo XIII to the archbishops and bishops of the United States, is not styled an encyclical, although in all other respects it exactly observes the forms of one. From this and a number of similar facts wemayprobably infer that the precise designation used is not intended to be of any great significance. From the nature of the case encyclicals atldressed to the bishops of the world are generally concerned with matters which affect the welfare of the Church at large. They condemn some prevalent form of error, point out dangers which threaten faith or morals, ex- hort the faithful to constancy, or prescribe remedies for evils foreseen or already existent. In form an encyc- lical at the present day begins thus — we may take the encyclical " Pascendi ' ' on Modernism as a specimen ; —
" Sanctissirai Domini Nostri Pii Divina Providentia Papse X Litterae Encyclicse ad Patriarchas, Primates, Archiepiscopos, Episcopos alio.sque locorum Ordinar- ios pacem et coinmunionem cum Apostolica Sede hab- entes de Modernistarum Doctrinis. Ad Patriarchas, Primates, Archiepiscopos, Episcopos alio.sque locorum Ordinarios, pacem et coinmunionem cum Apostolica Sede habentes, Pius PP. X., Venerabiles Fratres, salu- tem et apostolicam benedictionem. Pascendi domi- nici gregis mandatum", etc.
The conclusion takes the following form: — "Nos vero, pignus caritatis Nostra; divinique in adversis .solatii, Apostolicam Benedictionem vobis, cleris, populisque vestris amantissime impertimus. Datum Hom;r, apud Sanctum Petrum, die VIII Septembris MCMVII, Pontificatus Nostri anno quinto. Pius PP. X."
Although it is only during the last three pontificates that the most important utterances of the Holy See have been given to the world in the shape of encycli- cals, this form of Apostolic Letter has long been in
