Iceland

IBAS (Syr. Yehiba, generally shortened into Hiba, - Donatus): Bishop of Edessa, succeeding Rabulas (q.v.) in 435; d. Oct. 28, 457. His election and retention of his office till the Second Synod of Ephesus shows that he must have been an influential person; for the views of the school of Antioch, with which he aided, were then dealfning. He was accused before the patriarch Produs and the emperor Theodosius II. of spreading the Nestorian heresy in all the Orient by means of the writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia, which, with two other Edessenes, Cumas and Probus, he translated into Syriac. Consultations in Tyre and Berytus led to a friendly understanding on Feb. 25, 449, but on Aug. 22 of the same year Ibas was deposed by the "Robber Synod" of Ephesus. The Council of Chalcedon recognized his orthodoxy on Oct. 28, 481, and restored him to his office. During 449-451 he was replaced by Nonnus, who became his successor. A letter of Ibas to Maria, partly preserved in Greek translation in the acts of the Council of Chalcedon (Mansi, Concilia, vii. 241), is important for the history of Nestorianism and the views of the author. The Emperor Justinian and the Fifth Synod of Constantinople (553) condemned it as one of the three chapters (see THREE CHAPTER CONTROVERSY), but did not object to the orthodoxy of Ibas. The Jacobites do not recognize him.

E. NESTLE.

BnswoaHAPHT: J. S. Aesemanf, Bibliogsaa orientaie, L 200, iii. 1, p. 85, Rome, 1719-28; Acts of the Soopnd Coandg of EPheAus, ed. S. G. F. Perry. Oxford, 1878, Eng. transl:, Dartford, 1877; Hallier, in TU, ix. 1 (1892); J. B. Chabot, L'Pcols de Nisibe, in JA, lzzv (1890); R. Duval, La Lit. thaftre syriaqw, Paris, 1900; F. X. E. Albert, The School qfNisibie, in Catholic Uniroemity Bulletin, nL 2, pp. 180181; DCB, iii. 192-198 (quite full).

ICELAND.

[The island of Iceland, situated in the North Atlantic Ocean and belonging to Denmark, is about 600 miles west of Norway, 550 miles northwest of Scotland, and 225 miles southeast of Greenland. The extent from north to south is about 225 miles, from east to west 300 miles; area, a little more than 40,000. square miles; population (1901), 78,489; the capital is Reikiavik].

The First Christians.

The first Norse settlers (after 870) found Christian Irish hermits already in the island, and among the colonists there were some at least nominal Christians. They came to Iceland mostly by way of the British Isles, where they became acquainted with Christianity, and where many of them for practical reasons accepted baptism, or at least, allowed themselves to be signed with the cross. These Christians, however, during the first century of Icelandic history, did not constitute a compact party, nor was their religion recognized by the state. The first missionary effort was made by Thorvaldr Kodransson Vidforli ("the Far-Traveled"), in 981, but the attempt miscarried and Thorvaldr and his associate, a Saxon cleric named Frederick, were outlawed and, in 986, left the island. A systematic conversion of the islanders to Christianity took place under the Norwegian king, Olaf Tryggvason, who devoted the five years of his reign (995-1000) almost exclusively to the introduction of the new religion into Norway and its "daughter" lands (Iceland, Shetland and Faroe Islands, Greenland). After ineffectual attempts on the part of Stefnir Thorgilsson, there came to Iceland, under commission by King Olaf, the Saxon priest Thankbrandr, in 997. In spite of a good measure of success, he, too, returned to Norway in 999, convinced that the Icelanders were never to be converted to Christianity. Nevertheless, the Christian party in Iceland was materially strengthened. Upon the report brought back by his commissioner, Olaf was fain to have all the Icelanders in Norway that were still heathen put to death; but he desisted from his purpose when the Christian Icelanders Gisurr and Hjalti Skeggiason promised him to undertake a mission to their countrymen. They went to Iceland in the year 1000, and after severe conflict, won the victory for Christianity.

Characteristics and Difficulties of the Early Church.

Houses of worship, like heathen temples, were built entirely by private persons. Whoever would might build a house of God, but he had also to provide for the clergyman. So he either became a clergyman himself or hired one, who was treated quite as a servant of the proprietor. In the earliest period the priests were mostly foreigners: German, English, or Irish. In 1058 Iceland received its first native bishop, Isleif, who had no fixed income, but was constrained to locate his see at Skalholt, his ancestral estate, In this way Skalholt became the episcopal residence of the island, and was fixed there by Isleif's son and successor in office, Gizurr, who endowed the bishopric with the estate, that the bishop might thenceforth have a fixed see and an established fund. Furthermore, in 1097, and on the German plan, Gisurr instituted the tithe system in Iceland. The extent of the island also led, under Gizurr, to the creation of a second episcopal see; the bishopric of Holar was founded, for the North, whose first bishop was Jon Ogmundarson. The island was made suffragan to the archdiocese of Lund (from 1103). Owing to the dependence of the bishop and the priests upon the State and upon private persons, the clergy lapsed into worldliness, and fell eventually into the greatest immorality and ignorance. The medieval Church in Iceland until about 1150 stands in abrupt contrast to the Church in other parts of the West; celibacy did not prevail; lay patronage was everywhere the rule; the Church had no legislative power, and the clergy were subject to the temporal law and not exempt from taxation.

Dating from 1152, Iceland was suffragan to the archdiocese of Nidaros (Trondhjem). Now began a conflict between Church and State which evoked the wildest turmoil, and finally compelled the archbishop of Nidaros to draw the reins tighter, and to force Norwegian bishops upon the island

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the island of Terebinthos. In Sept., 867, Basil became emperor after the assassination of Bardas and Michael. One of his first acts was to recall Ignatius, in order to obtain the favor of the people, who still honored Ignatius. At the eighth ecumenical council (Oct. 5, 869-Feb. 28, 870) the reputation of Ignatius was rehabilitated, and his election was confirmed by the Pope Adrian II. But Ignatius did not succeed in pacifying the opposition, and his death gave Photius his longed-for opportunity to regain his former position. Ignatius is esteemed as a saint in the Greek and Roman Churches, in the Roman Church evidently because he was looked upon as an important adherent and even martyr of the papal primacy; in the Greek Church on account of his personal piety and because in reality he did not acknowledge the absolute supremacy of Rome.

(F. KATTENBUSCH.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Early sources including a life and an encomium by contemporaries, are collected in Mansi, Concilia, xvi. 209-301; and letters to him from Nicholas I. and Hadrian lI. are in the same, xv. 159 sqq., 819 sqq. Consult: J. Hergenrother, Photius, vols. i.-ii., 3 vols. Regensburg, 1867-69; R. Baxman, Die Politik der Popste, i. 356-357, ii. 5 sqq., 29 sqq., Elberfeld 1868-69; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, iv. 384 sqq., et passim; KL, vi. 590 sqq.; Krumbacher, Geschicte, passim.