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ULFILAS (c. 311-383)
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See also:ULFILAS (c. 311-383) , the apostle of See also:Christianity to the See also:Gothic See also:race, and, through his See also:translation of the Scriptures into Gothic, the See also:father of See also:Teutonic literature, was See also:born among the Goths of the trans-Danubian provinces about the See also:year 311.1 The Arian historian Philostorgius (Hist. eccl. ii. 5) says that his See also:grand-parents were See also:Christian captives from Sadagolthina in See also:Cappadocia, who had been carried off to the lands beyond the See also:Danube in the Gothic See also:raid of 264, and became so naturalized that the boy received a Gothic name, Wulfila (Little See also:Wolf). 1 See also:Krafft gives 313 as the date; See also:Waitz, 318. An authoritative See also:record of the outlines of his See also:life was only discovered See also:early in the 19th See also:century in a See also:writing of See also:Auxentius of See also:Milan, his See also:pupil and See also:companion. At an early See also:age Ulfilas was sent, either as an See also:envoy or as a See also:hostage for his tribe, to See also:Constantinople, probably on the occasion of the treaty arranged in 332. During the preceding century Christianity had been planted sporadically among the Goths beyond the Danube, through the agency in See also:part of Christian captives, many of whom belonged to the See also:order of See also:clergy, and in part of merchants and traders. Ulfilas may therefore have been a convert to Christianity when he reached Constantinople. But it was here probably that he came into contact with the Arian doctrines which gave the See also:form to his later teaching, and here that he acquired his command over See also:Greek and Latin. For some See also:time before 341 he worked as a See also:lector (reader of the Scriptures), probably among his own countrymen in Constantinople, or among those attached as foederati to the Imperial armies in See also:Asia See also:Minor. From this See also:work he was called to return as missionary See also:bishop to his own See also:country, being ordained by See also:Eusebius of See also:Nicomedia and " the bishops who were with him," probably at See also:Antioch, in 341. This ordination of Ulfilas by the chiefs of the semi-Arian party is at once an indication of their determination to extend their See also:influence by active missionary enter-prise, and See also:evidence that Ulfilas was now a declared adherent of the Arian or semi-Arian party. He was now See also:thirty years of age, and his work as " bishop among the Goths " covered the remaining See also:forty years of his life. For seven of these years he wrought among the Visigoths beyond the Danube, till the success which attended his labours See also:drew down the persecution of the still See also:pagan See also:chief of the tribe. This " sacrilegus judex " has been identified with See also:Athanaric, a later persecutor, but the See also:identification is not beyond question. To See also:save his See also:flock from extinction or See also:dispersion, Ulfilas decided to withdraw both himself and his See also:people. With the consent of the See also:emperor See also:Constantius he led them across the Danube, " a See also:great See also:body of the faithful," and settled in See also:Moesia at the See also:foot of the range of Haemus and near the site of the See also:modern Tirnova (349)• Here they See also:developed into a See also:peace-loving See also:pastoral people.
The life of Ulfilas during the following thirty-three years is marked by only one recorded incident (See also:Sozomen iv. 24), his visit to Constantinople in See also:January 36o, to attend the See also:council convened by the Arian or Homoean party. His work and influence were not confined to his own immediate flock, but radiated by means of his homilies and See also:treatises, and through the disciples he despatched as missionaries, among all the Gothic tribes beyond the Danube. Thus the See also: The part played by Ulfilas in these troublous times cannot be ascertained with certainty. It may have been he who, as a " See also:presbyter christiani ritus," conducted negotiations with Valens before the battle of Adrianople; but that he headed a previous See also:embassy asking for leave for the Visigoths to See also:settle on See also:Roman See also:soil, and that he then, for political motives, professed himself a convert to the Arian creed, favoured by the emperor, and drew with him the whole body of his countrymen—these and other similar stories of the orthodox church historians appear to be without See also:foundation. The death of Valens, followed by the See also:succession and the early See also:conversion to Catholicism of See also:Theodosius, dealt a fatal See also:blow to the Arian party within the See also:empire. Ulfilas lived longenough to see what the end must be. Hardships as well as years must have combined to make him an old See also:man, when in 383 he was sent for to Constantinople by the emperor. A split seems to have taken See also:place among the Arians at Constantinople. Ulfilas was summoned to meet the innovators, and to induce them to surrender the See also:opinion which caused the dispute. His pupil Auxentius describes how, " in the name of See also:God," he set out upon his way, hoping to prevent the teaching of these new heretics from reaching " the churches of See also:Christ by Christ committed to his See also:charge." No sooner had he reached Constantinople than he fell sick, " having pondered much about the council," and before he had put his See also:hand to the task which had brought him he died, probably in January 383. A few days later there died, also in Constantinople, his old enemy and persecutor, Athanaric. The Arianism of Ulfilas was a fact of pregnant consequence for his people, and indirectly for the empire. It had been his lifelong faith, as we learn from the opening words of his own See also:confession—" Ego Ulfilas See also:semper sic credidi.'' If, as seems probable from the circumstances of his ordination, he was a semi-Arian and a follower of Eusebius in 341, at a later See also:period of his life he departed from this position, and vigorously opposed the teaching of his former See also:leader. He appears to have joined the Homoean party, which took shape and acquired influence before the council of Constantinople in 36o, where he adhered with the See also:rest of the council to the creed of See also:Ariminum, with the addendum that in future the terms uaderacr s and o(ata should be excluded from Christological See also:definitions. Thus we learn from Auxentius that he condemned Homoousians and Homoiousians alike, adopting for himself the Homoean See also:formula, " filium similem esse patri suo." This Arian form of Christianity was imparted by Ulfilas and his disciples to most of the tribes of the Gothic stock, and persisted among them, in spite of persecution, for two centuries. The other See also:legacy bequeathed by Ulfilas was of less questionable value. His version of the Scriptures is his greatest See also:monument. By it he became the first to raise a See also:barbarian See also:tongue to the dignity of a See also:literary See also:language; and the skill, knowledge and adaptive ability it displays make it the crowning testimony of his See also:powers as well as of his devotion -to his work. The See also:personal qualities of the man may be inferred from his pupil's description of him as " of most upright conversation, truly a See also:confessor of Christ, a teacher of piety, and a preacher of truth—a man whom I am not competent to praise according to his merit, yet altogether keep silent I dare not." See Waitz, Das Leben See also:des Ulfilas (184o) ; W. L. Krafft, Kirchengeschichte der deutschen Volker (Abth. i., 1854); H. See also:Bohmer in See also:Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie,3 vol. xxi. ; W. Bessell, Das Leben des Ulfilas (186o) ; C. A. See also:Scott, Ulfilas, Apostle of the Goths (1885). (C. A. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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