ubsicinus

UEBITIUS

1067

+u„ choice of an abbat so badly, that each“? tw0 candidates claimed to be elected. Gre-!„rv rebukes him sharply for his indecision. Inf 603 he was proposed by one party for thevacant see of Palermo, but Joankes (284) wasdually chosen. (Epp. V. 6; vi. 42 48 ; xi.48 j 49; xiii. 15.) [F-D-]

UBBITIUS, bishop of Dyrrachium, is, withether bishops, addressed in two circular lettersof Gregory the Great. ( Epp . viii. 5,ix.^680

UESA, wife of Fortunius (2), q. v. Shewas carried into captivity by the Goths, and.tin-inr her absence her husband married again.

S [F. D.]

UKSACIUS (1), bishop of Singidunum(Belgrade). He and Valens, bishop of Mursa,appear at every synod and council, from 330 tillabout 370, as leaders of the Ariau party, bothin the East and West. They seem to have im-bibed their Arian views from Arius himselfduring the period of his exile into Illyricumimmediately after the council of Nice. Theyare described by Athanasius Ad Episc. Aegypt.7, p. 218, as the disciples of Arius. They couldscarcely have been taught by him at Alexandria,but may easily have come in contact with Ariusduring the period of his exile, which seems tohave been very fruitful in spreading his views,as almost all the bishops of the Danubian pro-vinces, together with Ulfilas and the Gothic con-verts, appear as Allans immediately afterwards(cf. Sulp. Sever. Chron. ii. 38). Ursacius musthave been born, at latest, about A.D. 300, as wefind him a bishop, actively eDgaged in con-spiracy against Athanasius at the time of therecall of Arius, about 332. From Socrates wemay gather the leading events of his life. InH E. I. 27. we find him united with Eusebius ofNicomedia, Theognis of Nice, Maris of Chalcedon,and Valens in getting up a case against Atha-nasius, and fabricating those scandalous chargesof theft, sacrilege, and murder, which wereinvestigated at the council of Tyre in 335,when Ursacius and Valens were also present'1 bey must, have been very active and influentialmembers of the party even at that early period,for they were sent to Egypt, as deputies of thesynod, to investigate the charge on the spot,notwithstanding the protests of Athanasius (l. c.r o 1). In 342 they appeared at Constantinople,when they assisted at the cousecration ofMacedonius as Patriarch. [Macedonius.]upon the triumph of Athanasius in 346, theymade their peace with Julius, bishop of Rome,accepted the hiicene formula, and wrote tothanasius, professing their readiness to holdcommunion with him. At the synod ofnmmm in 359, they again appeared as activemembers of the Homoean party, who drew upe Dated Creed, May 22, 359. Ursacius anda ens duly presented the creed to the councilo Aruminum a few weeks later, whichpiomptly rejected it, and deposed Ursacius andvalens from their sees, “as well for theirpiesent conspiracy to introduce heresy, as fore contusion they had caused in all theeurc.es by their repeated changes of faith.”ursacius and Valens at once sought the emperor’spiesence and gained him over to their side. The

council also sent a long epistle to the emperor,which Socrates (ii. 37) inserts. The emperorrefused to see the deputies of the council, andsent them to wait his leisure at Hadriaruoplefirst, and then at Nice in Thrace; whereUrsacius and Valens displayed their power ofmanaging men, by inducing these same deputiesto sign, on Oct. 10, 359, a revised versionof the creed, which the council had rejected.Socrates tells us that Nice, in Thrace, waschosen in order that it might impress theignorant, who would confound it with Nice inBithynia, where the orthodox symbol had beenframed ; cf. Soz. H. E. iv. 19; Hieron. Adv. Lucif.p. 189: Sulp. Sev. Chron. ii. 44; and Gwatkin’sStudies of Arianism, pp. 157-178, for the historyof this troubled period, during which Ursaciusand Valens were the acknowledged leaders of theAnti-Athanasian party. They seem to haveremained influential with the court till the endof life, for the last notice of either of them inhistory tells, how Valens obtained the recall ofthe Arian Eunomius . from exile, in 367 (Philo-storg. II. E. ix. 8. [Eunomius (3).] Most ofthe original authorities have been already men-tioned. The writings of Athanasius and Hilaryhave frequent notices of Ursacius and Valens.Mr. Gwatkin’s book is very full of information,and Hefele’s Councils (t. ii., Clark’s trans. s. v.Valens and Ursacius) give abundant references tothe synods in which they took part; see alsoTill. Mem. vi. [G. T. S.]

URSACIUS (2), friend of Rufinus, waswith him when he took refuge in Sicily, A.D.410, and it was at his instigation that he trans-lated the Homilies of Origen on Numbers.Ursacius assisted him as a copyist in the work.(Rufinus, Prologus in Origenis Op. ii. 275 inMigne, Pair. Gr. xii. 583.) [F. D.]

URSACIUS (3), a Roman officer (dux), em-ployed under Leontius, count of Africa in thetime of Constantine and also Constans, to repressthe excesses of the Donatists, in doing whichsome of them lost their lives, and the nameof Ursacius, like that of Taurinus and others,was branded by them as that of a persecutor(Opt. iii. 4, 10.) it is mentioned in this wayin the speech of a Donatist about A.D. 430(M. v. d. xxvii. 2, p. 219, ed. Oberthiir), and inthat of Habetdeus at the conference A.D. 411.(Garth. Coll. iii. 253.) Silvanus of Cirta wasto have been banished for refusing to com-municate with him and Zenophilus. He musttherefore have been a Christian by profession.(Aug. c. Cresc. iii. 30. 34.) Petilian said thathaving been wounded in battle with barbarians,the birds of prey and dogs tore him in pieces,a death which he regarded as an instance ofdivine vengeance on him for his former be-haviour, but Augustine seems to doubt thetruth of this story. (Aug. c. Petil. ii. 92, 202,208, 209.) [H- W. P.]

URSEIUS, abbat of a monastery at thePinetum near Ravenna, where Rufinus so-journed on his return from one of his journeysto the east, and to whom he dedicated his trans-lation of the rule of St. Basil. ( Praefatio inReg. in Migne, Pair. Eat. ciii. 485.) [F. D.]

XJRSICINUS (1), June 19, physician andmartyr at Ravenna. His martyrdom, with that