EPARCHY
484
EPERIES
Counting 14 days from 4 April, which we include in
our reckoning, we find the fourteenth day of the pas-
chal moon to be 17 April. In 2459, therefore, Easter
will be kept on the Sunday after 17 April, which with
the help of the Dominical Letters is found to be 20
April. (See Dominical Letter.)
For bibliography see Dominic.vl Letter.
Thomas Kennedy.
Eparchy (iirapxla-) was originally the name of one of the divisions of the Roman Empire. Diocletian (2S4-30.3) and Maximian divided the empire into four great Prefectures (Gaul, Italy, Illyricum, and the East). Each was subdivided into (civil) Dioceses, and these again into Eparchies under governors (proesides, TiyeiJ.6ve!) . The Church accepted this divi- sion as a convenient one for her use. The Prefec- tures of Gaul, Italy, and Illyricum made up the Ro- man Patriarchate; the Prefecture of the East was divided (in the fourth century) between the Patri- archs of Alexandria and Antioch and three exarchs. The Diocese of Egypt was the Patriarchate of Alex- andria, the Diocese of the East (not to be confused with the Prefecture of the East) became that of Antioch. Asia was under the Exarch of Ephesus, Pon- tus under Cappadocia, and Thrace under Heraclea. Under these pa- triarchates and exarchates came the eparchies under metropolitans;
ordain him. This bishop died shortly afterwards,
whereupon the Abbe de I'Epee returned to Paris, and
began to occupy himself with the education of two
deaf and dumb sisters who had been recommended to
him by Father Vanin, of the Congregation of the Chris-
tian Doctrine. He endeavoured to develop the minds
of his pupils by means of certain conventional signs
constituting a complete alphabet. Succeeding in
this attempt, he resolved to devote himself to the edu-
cation of the deaf and dumb, and founded a school
for their instruction at his own expense. His method
is based on the principle that "the education of deaf
mutes must teach them through the eye what other
people acquire through the ear". Several other
methods had been tried, previous to this time, to
enable the deaf and dumb to communicate with one
another and with the rest of mankind, but there can
be no doubt that he attained far greater success than
Pereira, Bulwer, Dalgarno, Dr. John Wallis, or any
of his predecessors, and that the whole system now
followed in the instruction of deaf mutes virtually
owes its origin to his ingenuity and devotion. His
own system has, in its turn, been replaced by a newer
method, which teaches the pupils
to recognize words and, in time, to
utter them, by closely watching, and
afterwards imitating, the motions
of the lips and tongue in speech,
the different portions of the vocal
organs being shown by means of dia-
they had under them the bishops of the various cities.
The original ecclesiastical eparchies then were prov-
inces, each under a metropolitan. The First Council of
Nicsea (335) accepts this arrangement and orders that:
" the authority [of appointing bishops] shall belong to
the metropolitan in each eparchy" (can. iv). That is
to say that in each such civil eparchy there shall be a
metropolitan bishop who shall have authority over the
others. This is the origin of our provinces. Later in
Eastern Christendom the use of the word was gradu-
ally modified and now it means generally the diocese
of a simple Isishop. The name Eparchy is, however,
not commonly used except in Russia. There it is the
usual one for a diocese. The Russian Church now
counts eighty-six eparchies, of which three (Kiev,
Moscow, and St. Petersburg) are ruled by bishops who
always bear the title " Metropolitan ", and fourteen
others are under archbishops.
HiNscHius, Kirckenrecht, I, 538. .576; Fortesctie, The Ortho- dox Eastern Church (London, 1907), 22-23, 297.
Adrian Fortescue.
Ep6e, Charle.s-Michel de l', a philanthropic priest and inventor of the sign alphabet for the instruc- tion of the deaf and dumb; was b. at Versailles, 25 November, 1712; d. at Paris, 23 December, 1789. He studied theology, but, having refused to sign a con- demnation of Jan.senism, was denied ordination by Cliristc)[)hc de Beaumont, .Vrchbishop of Paris. lie then studied law, but no .sooner had he been admitted to the Bar than the Bishop of Troyes consented to
grams. Excellent resultshave thus been attained, deaf
and dumb persons acquiring the ability to converse flu-
ently. This method has of late increased in favour. But
it remains true that the Abbe de I'Epee by his sign sys-
tem laid the foundations of all systematic instruction
of the deaf and dumb, a system which was further
developed by his pupil and successor, the Abb^ Sicard.
The Abbe del'Epde became known all over Europe.
The Emperor Joseph II himself visited his school.
The Duke of Peuthievre, as well as Louis XVI, helped
him with large contributions. In 1791, two years
after his death, the National Assembly decreed that
his name should be enrolled among the benefactors of
mankind, and undertook the support of the school he
had foimded. In 1838 a bronze monument was erected
over his grave in the church of Saint-Roch in Paris.
He published in 1776 "Institution des sourds-muets
par la vole des signes mcthodiques " ; in 1794, "La
veritable maniere d'instruire les sourds et inuets, con-
firmee par line longne experience ". He also began a
" Dictionnaire g^n?ral des signes", which was com-
pleted by the Abbe Sicard. (See Education of the
Deaf and Dumb.)
Behthier, LWbbc de VEpee. sa vie et ses oeuiires (Paris, 1852); American Annals of Ihe Deaf (Washingtonl; .^HNOLt), The Edu- cation of the Deaf and Dumb (London. 18T2): Bell, Education of Ihe Denf (1898); GoRnON, The Difference between Ihe Two Sys- lem.1 of Teaching Deaf Mult Children (1898).
Jean Lebars.
Eperies, Diocese of (Eperiensis Ruthenorum), of the (ircek Rutheuian Rite, suffragan to Gran. De-
