A new history of ecclesiastical writers containing an account of the authors of the several books of the Old and New Testament, of the lives and writings of the primitive fathers, an abridgement and catalogue of their works ... also a compendious history of the councils, with chronological tables of the whole / written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin.

DEMETRIUS CIZICENUS.

WE have, under this Bishop's Name, a little Writing of the Original and Errors of the * 1.1 Jacobites, in which he says, That the Author of that Sect was a Monk of Syria, named James, Sirnamed Tzantzale, who had embraced Eutyches's Error, and Dioscorus's Party; That since the Council of Chalcedon, those among the Syrians, who sided with the Emperor, had been called Melchites, that is to say, Royalists, because * 1.2 Melchi in Syriack signifieth King; and those who followed Eutyches's Opinion, took the Name of Jacobites. That these ac∣knowledge, there were Two Natures in Christ before the Union, but they hold there is but one after the Union; and so they suppose either the confusion, or the mixture of the Two Natures, and are condemned as Theopaschitae, because they believe the God-head did suffer; That they own the Three first Synods only; That when they cross their Foreheads they do it with one Finger only, to signifie the Unity of Nature; That because of that they do not cross themselves from the right hand to the left, as others do, but from the left to the right; That they mingle the Oblation with Oil, and matter not much Communicating; That they put no Water into the Cup; That they care very little, whether they do Worship Images, or not, and look upon that as an indifferent thing; That they Eat Flesh in Lent; That they have their peculiar Offices, and have added these words to the Trisagion, Thou that are Cruci∣fied for us. There be some among them, who call themselves Chatzizarys. They Worship Crosses, and put Nails into them, to signifie that the God-head suffered: But they differ from the true Jacobites, in that they own Two Natures in Christ, and seem to fall into Nestorius's Error, by saying, That during the Passion there were Two Persons in Christ, the one suf∣fering, and the other beholding the sufferings. They Fast some Days before the time that they leave Eating Flesh. In Lent they Eat Eggs, Milk, and Butter; They offered unleavened Bread; They put no Water into the Cup; They Baptized their Crosses. I have made an

exact Extract, or Abridgment, of that small Writing, because it contains some particulars pretty remarkable. It is not known when the Author of it lived. Yet in all probability he is of the 7th or 8th Century.

Upon what he says, That the Jacobites had their peculiar Offices, it may be observed, that in the Bibliotheca Patrum there is an Order of the Prayers and Ceremonies of the Baptism, and Mass, with some other Prayers for the use of the Syrian Jacobites, which are said to have been prescribed by Severus the Patriarch; that Work is probably of the same time.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Demetrius Cizicenus.
• * 1.2

  [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Syr. Rex.]