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GEORGE OF LAODICEA
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See also:GEORGE OF See also:LAODICEA in See also:Syria, often called " the Cappadocian," from 356 to 361 Arian See also:archbishop of See also:Alexandria, was See also:born about the beginning of the 4th See also:century. According to See also:Ammianus (xxii. IT), he was a native of Epiphania, in See also:Cilicia. See also:Gregory Nazianzen tells us that his See also:father was a See also:fuller, and that he himself soon became notorious as a See also:parasite of so mean a type that he would " sell himself for a cake." After many wanderings, in the course of which he seems to have amassed a considerable See also:fortune, first as an See also:army-contractor and then as a See also:receiver of taxes, he ultimately reached Alexandria. It is not known how or when he obtained ecclesiastical orders; but, after See also:Athanasius had been banished in 356, George was promoted by the See also:influence of the then prevalent Arian See also:faction to the vacant see. His theological attitude was that known as semi-Arian or Homoiousian, and his associates were See also:Eustathius of Sebaste and See also:Basil of See also:Ancyra. At George's instigation the second Sirmian See also:formula (promulgated by the third See also:council of Sirmium 359), which was conciliatory towards strict Arianism, was opposed at the council of Ancyra in 358 (See also:Harnack, Hist. of See also:Dogma, iv. 76). His persecutions and oppressions of the orthodox ultimately raised a See also:rebellion which compelled him to flee for his See also:life; but his authority was restored, although with difficulty, by a military demonstration. Untaught by experience, he resumed his course of selfish tyranny over Christians and See also:heathen alike, and raised the irritation of the populace to such a See also:pitch that when, on the See also:accession of See also:Julian, his downfall was proclaimed and he was committed to See also:prison, they dragged him thence and killed. him, finally casting his See also:body into the See also:sea (24th of See also:December 361). With much that was sordid and brutal in his See also:character George combined a highly cultivated See also:literary See also:taste, and in the course of his chequered career he had found the means. of See also:collecting a splendid library, which Julian ordered to be conveyed to See also:Antioch for his own use. An See also:anonymous See also:work against the Manicheans discovered by See also:Lagarde in 1859 in a MS. of See also:Titus of Bostra has been attributed to him. The See also:original See also:sources for the facts of the life of George of Laodicea are Ammianus, Gregory Nazianzen, See also:Epiphanius and Athanasius. His character has been See also:drawn with graphic fidelity by See also:Gibbon in the 23rd See also:chapter of the Decline and Fall; but the theory, accepted by Gibbon, which identifies him with the See also:patron See also:saint of See also:England is now rejected (see GEORGE, SAINT). See C. S. Hulst, St George of See also:Cappadocia in See also:Legend and See also:History (1910). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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