COLOSSI
131
COLOSSIANS
t are always excused as a matter of custom. They
» specifically exempt from military duty. Each
inch of the legislature selects a chaplain who opens
ssions with prayer. Christmas is a legal holiday;
lod Friday is not. Confessions made to any clergy-
in or priest are protected against disclosure.
Marriage and Divorce. — Marriage is a civil contract
t may be performed by a clergyman of any denomi-
tion. The law of divorce is extremely loose. It
ly bo granted for any of the usual statutory reasons,
t the greatest abuse of the law is under the phrase
lied the sentimental cruelty clause, where the stat-
- says it may be granted where either party has been
ilty of acts of cruelty and that such acts of lelty may consist as well in the infliction of mental ffering as of bodily violence". Under this clause y discontented man or wife can frame a complaint lich will state a case for divorce. The number of .'orces has greatly increased since the adoption of iman suffrage. No one thing has done more to engthen the moral influence of the Catholic Church this State and command respect and gather cou- rts from the denominations than its firm stand ainst divorce.
rhe ratio of deaths by suicide in 1906 was one in 3ry 84, or 1.18 per cent, and the statistics of the ite Board of Health do not indicate any notable Tease since 1900.
Robert S. Morrison.
Colossae, a titular see of Phrygia in Asia Minor, apressed in 1894. Little is known about its his- y. The later name, Colassoe, is probably the old rygian form. Colossce was at one time the cliief city South- Western Phrj-gia, lying on the trade-route m Sardis to Cetense ; it produced fine wool, the colour which was called colossinus. The ruin of the city s brought about by the change of road system, the nidation of Laodicea, eleven miles distant, and •ere earthquakes. It retained municipal indepen- iicc, but at the time of Strabo (XII, viii, 4) it was
small town". It had its own coinage under the pire. St. Paul (probably about 61) addressed an stle from Rome to the inhabitants of Colossae, who i perhaps been evangelized by him. Colossae was
- home of his companions, Archippus and Philemon,
his very dear sister, Appia, and of Onesimus and laphras, who probably founded the Church of Colos- . The ruins of the city are visible near ChonEe, in ! vilayet of Smyrna, on the left bank of the Lycus churuk Su) ; they include the acropolis, an aque- ct, theatre, etc. There is also a curious {petrifying er, the Ak Su. Under the Byzantine Empire the ritory of Colossae rose again to importance, and a ong fortress was built (perhaps by Justinian) at onae, three miles south-south-east of Colos.sae. The itre of population long remained at the old site, t about the eighth century it was moved to a shelf
land beneath the castle. Chona? (vulgar Greek lon&i, Turk. Honas) is still a little village, twelve les east of Denizli ; it has been rendered famous by
miraculous church of St. Michael. Colossae was a Iragan of Laodicea in Phrygia Pacatiana. Besides
Epaphras, two bishops are mentioned: Epiphanius 4')1 and Cosmas in 692; Archippus and Philemon, lecially the latter, are very doubtful. Chonae was kIc an archbishopric about 8.58-60, and in some er"Notiti£eepiscopatuum" appears as a metropolis ihout suffragans. Many titulars are known: Dosi- !us at Nicaea, in 787; Samuel, a friend of Photius, .0 sent him to Rome, was present at the Council of nstantinople in 866; Constantine, in 1028; Nicho- , in 1066 and 1080; in 114.S Nicctas, the godfather the historian Nicetas .Vcominatus, who was born at ona', a.s was his brother Michael, the famous Metro- litan of Athens. >Equi£N, 1, 813; Hamilton, Re^earchw in Asia Minor
(London, 1S42). I, 507-14; Ramsay. The Cilics and Bishopries
of Phrygia. 20S-34; Idem, The Letters to the Seren Churches of
.Asia (London and New York, 1905): Le Camds, Voyage aux
sept Eglises; Bonnet, Narraiio de miraculo a Michaele arch-
angelo Chonis palraio (Paris, 1880).
S. Petrides.
Oolossians, Epistle to the, is one of the four Cap- tivity Epistles written by St. Paul during his first imprisonment in Rome — the other three being Ephe- sians, Philemon, and Philippians. That they were written in prison is stated in the Epistles themselves. The writer mentions his "chain" and his "bonds" (Eph., vi, 20; Coloss., iv, 3, 18; PhUip., i, 7, 13, 17); he names his fellow prisoners (Coloss., iv, 10; Philem., 23); he calls himself a prisoner (Eph., iii, 1; iv, 1; Philem., 9): "Paul an old man, and now a prisoner". It was supposed by some that the-se letters were writ- ten during the two years' captivity at Caesarea; but it is now generally acknowledged (by all who admit their authenticity) that they were written during the years itnmediately following, in Rome, during the time that " Paul was suffered to dwell by himself, with a soldier that kept him. . . . And he remained two whole years in his own hired lodging ; and he received all that came in to him" (.\cts, xxviii, 16-30). As St. Paul had ap- pealed to the emperor, he was handed over, to await his trial, to the prefect of the Praetorian Guard, who was at that time probably the famous Burrhus, the friend of Seneca. He allowed the .\postle to live near the imperial palace in what was known as custodia militaris, his right wrist being connected day and night, by means of a chain, to the left arm of a soldier, who was relieved at regular intervals (Conybeare, Howson, Lewin). It was in such circumstances that these Epistles were written, some time between A. d. 61 and 63. It cannot be objected that there is no mention in them of the earthquake spoken of by Taci- tus and Eusebius as having destroyed Laodicea ; for there is no evidence that its effects reached Colossae, and Eusebius fixes the date later than these letters. Colossians, Ephesians, and Philemon were written and despatched at one and the same time, while Philip- pians was composed at a somewhat different period of the captivity. The first three are all very closely con- nected. Tychicus is the messenger in Eph., vi, 21 and Coloss., iv, 7, 8, 9. In the latter he is accompanied by Onesimus, in whose favour the Epistle to Philemon was written. In both Colossians and Philemon greet- ings are sent from Aristarchus, Mark, Epaphras, Luke, and Demas, and there is the closest literary affinity between EjAesians and Colossians (see Authenticity OF the Epistle below).
Readers Addressed. — Three cities are mentioned in Colossians, Colossae (i, 2), Laodicea, and Hierapolis (iv, 13.) These were situated about 120 miles east from Ephesus in Phrygia, in Western Asia Minor, Colossic and Laodicea being on the banks of the Lycus, a tributary of the Mjeander. All three were within two or three hours' walk from one another. Sir William Ramsay has shown that these towns lay altogether outside the routes followed by St. Paul in his mission- ary journeys; and it is inferred from Coloss., i, 4, 6, 7, 8 and ii, 1, that they were never visited by the Apostle himself. The great majority of the Colossian Chris- tians apjiear to have been Gentile converts of Greek and Phrygian extraction (i, 26, 27; ii, 13), though it is probable that there was a small proportion of Jews living amongst them, as it is known that there were many scattered over the surrounding districts (Jose- phus. Ant., XII, iii, 4, and Lightfoot).
Why Written. — Colossians was written as a warn- ing against certain false teachers, about whom St. Paul had probably heard from Epaphras, his "fellow-pris- oner" and the founder of the Church of the Colossians. The most diverse opinions have been held regarding these seducers. They were called philosophers by Tertullian, Epicureans by St. Clement of Alexandria,
