Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/792

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776 EUNOMIUS EUPATORIA peror Julian. At the age of 16 years he went to Athens, where after four years' study he was admitted to know the secrets of the the- urgic doctrine of lamblichus, and was initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. He returned to Sardis as a teacher of rhetoric, and studied medicine. One of his works remains, a book entitled "Lives of the Sophists and Philoso- phers," which gives the history of philoso- phers, physicians, and rhetoricians, and of nearly all known in science and letters from the beginning of the 3d to the end of the 4th century. The best edition is that of Boissonade (2 vols. 8vo, Amsterdam, 1822). EUNOMIUS, a heresiarch of the 4th century, a native of Dacora in Cappadocia, who studied theology under the Arian teacher Aetius, and was made bishop of Cyzicus about 360. His opinions were a logical exaggeration of Arian- ism. He was soon deposed from his bishopric, resided at Constantinople during the reigns of Julian and Jovian, and at Chalcedon during that of Valens; was banished by the last named, but soon recalled ; was again ban- ished by Theodosius the Great to Halmyris in Mcesia, driven thence to Cresarea, and at length permitted to return to his native vil- lage, where he spent the remainder of his life, and died at an advanced age. His works were ordered by imperial edicts to be destroyed, but there remain of them a " Confession of Faith," which was presented to the emperor Theodo- sius at Constantinople in 383, and an " Apolo- getic Discourse," a famous treatise, of which St. Basil wrote a refutation in five books. His disciples were called Eunomians, and also Ano- moeans (Gr. av6(j.oios, dissimilar), because, un- like the Athanasians or Homoousians and the Arians or Homoiousians, they affirmed that the Son and Holy Spirit were neither identical with nor similar in essence to the Father. They acknowledged the Father as supreme, eternal, and distinct; the Son as generated from the Father, and the Holy Spirit as gene- rated from the Son. Like their founder, they were accustomed to subtle speculations upon the divine nature, the incomprehensibility of which they denied. They rejected mysteries, and opposed the honors rendered to martyrs and to the relics of saints. EUNUCHS (Gr. ewvow^of, from evvfj, a bed, and IXMV, to guard), emasculated men employed in the East from time immemorial to take charge of women. A product of oriental polygamy, jealousy, and despotism, eunuchs were early common in Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and the neighboring countries, and were introduced thence into Greece and Rome. Among the later Romans they were admitted into the families of senators and emperors, and by their skill in flattery and intrigue often es- tablished their power at court, especially un- der the Byzantine empire. The Romans in- geniously devised a method of making castra- tion more or less complete. Gibbon affirms that the general history of Persia, India, and China proves that the power of the eunuchs has uniformly marked the decline and fall of every dynasty. They are still employed in the East as guardians of the harem, black slaves from Africa being generally preferred. The eunuchs of the Turkish harems are mostly made such in Upper Egypt, near Nubia, at a vil- lage where the operation of castration is per- formed by Coptic priests. It is stated that about one in seven of the boys die in conse- quence of the operation. The Christian church from the beginning manifested her abhorrence of the practice of mutilating men, excluding eunuchs from orders even before a law to that effect had been promulgated. The ordination of Origen at an advanced age, by the bishops of Casarea and Jerusalem, was protested against by his own bishop, Demetrius of Alexandria, on the ground that Origen in his youth had mutilated himself as a safeguard against temp- tation a fact which Origen had concealed, but which had become known to Demetrius. This recognition of such an ordination as irregular attested the universal discipline of the church, confirmed by the law enacted by the council of Nice, and observed ever since throughout Christendom. This law was directed more especially at a sect of fanatics called Valesians, from their Arab founder Valesius, who insist- ed upon this practice of mutilation as a neces- sary means of salvation. Christian Italy in- herited from pagan times the custom of mu- tilating boys in order to preserve their voice; and down to our days such singers have been much sought for in theatres and churches. Clement XIV., renewing the enactments of several preceding popes, forbade their employ- ment in religious services. Nevertheless, the custom still continued to prevail in Rome it- self. (See CASTRATION.) EUPATORIA (formerly Jtozlov), a seaport town of Russia, in the government of Taurida, on the "W. coast of the Crimea, and on the N. shore of the bay of Kalamita, 38 m. N. W. of Simfero- pol, and 40 in. N. of Sevastopol ; pop. in 1867, 7,730, chiefly Tartars and Caraite Jews. Under the Tartars it was one of the most prosperous and populous towns in the Crimea. Before the Russian occupation of the peninsula, when the name of Eupatoria was given to the town by Catharine II., it had a population of above 30,000. It has a considerable trade in grain, and some trade in hides, butter, wax, &c. The export of salt, which is drawn from adjoining salt lakes, and from which the Tartars formerly derived great profit, has fallen off considerably. Butter, felt stuffs, and the black lambskins known in England as astrakhans, are prepared in the town. The port is shallow, but safe, and never frozen up. The principal buildings are a Greek church, an Armenian church, two synagogues, and several mosques, the chief of which, built by Devlet-Ghiri Khan in 1552, is the finest in the Crimea. On Sept. 14, 1854, the English and French effected a landing in the bay of Eupatoria, with about 60,000 men.