Bishop ulfilas biography

Though Ulfilas in speech and sympathies was thoroughly Gothic, he was descended not from Teutonic ancestors, but from Cappadocians captured, in the reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, during the raids in Asia Minor made by the Goths from the north of the Danube. There seems to be no valid reason for thinking Ulfilas was not born a Christian Hodgkin places his conversion during his residence at Constantinople.

As a young man he was sent to that city either as a hostage or an ambassador, and, after occupying for sometime the position of lector in the church, he was consecrated bishop in his thirtieth year by the celebrated Arian bishop of Nicomedia , Eusebius. Shortly after his consecration he returned to Dacia and during the remaining forty years of his life he labored among his fellow-countrymen as a missionary.

At an early age Ulfilas was sent, either as an envoy or as a hostage for his tribe, to Constantinople, probably on the occasion of the treaty arranged in During the preceding century Christianity had been planted sporadically among the Goths beyond the Danube, through the agency in part of Christian captives, many of whom belonged to the order of 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 form to his later teaching, and here that he acquired his command over Greek and Latin. For some time before he worked as a lector reader of the Scriptures , probably among his own countrymen in Constantinople, or among those attached as foederati to the Imperial armies in Asia Minor.

From this work he was called to return as missionary bishop to his own country, being ordained by Eusebius of Nicomedia and "the bishops who were with him," probably at Antioch, in This ordination of Ulfilas by the chiefs of the semi-Arian party is at once an indication of their determination to extend their influence by active missionary enterprise, and evidence that Ulfilas was now a declared adherent of the Arian or semi-Arian party.

He was now thirty years of age, and his work as "bishop among the Goths" covered the remaining 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 drew down the persecution of the still pagan chief of the tribe. This "sacrilegus judex" has been identified with Athanaric, a later persecutor, but the identification is not beyond question.

See also [ edit ]. Notes and references [ edit ]. An Introduction to the Gothic Language , , p. Studies in Gothic. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN The gothic version of the Gospels and pauline Epistles: cultural background, transmission and character. Arbeiten zur neutestamentlichen Textforschung. Berlin: De Gruyter. Bibliography [ edit ].

External links [ edit ]. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ulfilas. Multilingual Wikisource has original text related to this article: Streitberg's edition of Ulfilas' Bible. Authority control databases. Categories : Arian bishops 4th-century Gothic bishops 4th-century Christian theologians Bible translators Creators of writing systems births deaths Gothic Bible 4th-century translators Missionary linguists.

Bishop ulfilas biography

Hidden categories: Articles containing Gothic-language text Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata Articles with hCards Articles containing Latin-language text Articles containing Greek-language text Commons category link from Wikidata Webarchive template wayback links. Toggle the table of contents. Overseeing translation of the Bible into Gothic.

A new edition by Bernhardt appeared at Halle in Discover the power of SwordSearcher: A complete Bible study package, with thousands of topical and encyclopedic entries all linked to verses, designed for meaningful Bible study. McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia. Ulfilas Ulfilas Ulphilas, Ulfila, or Wulfila, prob.