About weights and measures

The treatise “On Weights and Measures” was written by St. Epiphanius of Cyprus in 392 in Constantinople for a Persian priest and is a short biblical dictionary or reference guide for students of the Holy Scriptures. The work consists of 3 parts and 84 chapters. In the 1st part (chap. 1-20) we are talking about the canon of the Old Testament and its translations, special textual signs introduced in Origen’s “Hexaples” (chap. 7). Part 2 (chap. 21-60) talks about the system of weights and measures, as well as the biblical canon (chap. 23). Part 3 (chap. 61-84) contains the topography of the Holy Land. *The title of the work in Greek is Περ μέτρων κα σταθμῶν. *The title of the essay in Latin is De mensuris et ponderibus. Chapter 1. If anyone wants to know the weights and measures most commonly used in the Divine Scriptures, let him not find it burdensome to read the following interpretation of them. And first of all, an inquisitive person should know how many types of speech are contained in the prophetic writings. There are ten such kinds: teachings, contemplations, exhortations, threats, regrets, lamentations, prayers, narratives, predictions. The following signs belong to the same prophecies: 1 about the rejection of the first people; about rejecting the law of the flesh; about the calling of the pagans; + about Christ: about the promises of the first people: about ambiguities in the Divine Scriptures; Ch. 2. But since some have marked the Scriptures with accents 2, then the following should be known about the accents: acute . One should think the same way about other signs, and above all about the asterisk. . Where this asterisk is placed 3, there it means that the famous word is in the Hebrew text, it is also found in Aquila and Symmachus, and occasionally in Theodotion 4; and the LXXII interpreter omitted this word and did not translate it, since in these places the same words are read twice or more. This should be said briefly, so that from this you can learn about the rest. At the beginning of the book of Genesis there are the words: ueeei adam salosim samoif sana 5, which can be translated as Aquila translated: and Adam lived the nine hundredth year and the thirtieth year of his life. And LXXII interpreters, coming from Jews and from a young age carefully taught the Hebrew and Greek languages, not only translated the Scripture from Hebrew into Greek, but also, while translating, tried to clarify those words that were repeated in Hebrew. Therefore, instead of using the word: year in two places, they, having used it in one, softened the roughness of speech presented here, saying: Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years (Gen. 5:5; cf. v. 3). Thus, they did not omit anything in the words of the original, but they also brought into clarity the reading of this passage, which could not be expressed in Hebrew as briefly as the LXXII interpreter expressed it, namely: Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years, nor in Greek, as Aquila translated with unnecessary words, saying: Adam lived the nine hundredth year and the thirtieth year of his life. You see, inquisitive man, what ugliness he gives to speech, not caring about its clarity, but about the exact repetition of the word. But it seemed to some that what was missing in the translation of the LXXII interpreters was replenished by Aquila, Symmachus and other translations. However, LXXII does not have this disadvantage. On the contrary, in Akila there is a cacophony in the excess of the word, placed in two places instead of one, that is, instead of: years, - year and year. That is why LXXII was left with the name of the year in only one place. And even after that, those who looked through the translation of Aquila and published what was left by LXXII by interpreters found this unnecessary. Origen, who later lived, restored the missing word in each place and placed an asterisk over it, not because it was necessary to search for the word (for the word was superfluous), but so that the Jews and Samaritans would not leave any reason to complain about the lists of Divine Scriptures found in the holy churches, since in the words that were missing in them there was nothing reproachful against the faith. For these words are unnecessary and repeated, as we know from the passage cited about Adam and his life, so from this short example you can conclude about the remaining words over which asterisks are placed. But so that you know why Origen placed asterisks above these words, I will gladly tell you about this. You, listener, know that there are stars in the firmament of heaven, although they are hidden by clouds or the sun; in thought about them, he invented and placed asterisks 6; so that you imagine that the words over which asterisks are placed are in the Hebrew text, like stars in the firmament of heaven; but are covered by the translation of the seventy-two, just as the stars are covered by clouds. Here is the base of the asterisk. Ch. 3. The ovel sign has the following explanation. It has an outline close to a line, exactly like this: . Ovelom is called from the Attic usage in the meaning of a dart; and for others it is called a spear or pike. It is placed with those words of the Divine Scripture that are found in the LXXII interpreters, but not in the translations of Aquila and Symmachus. For the LXXII interpreter added these words on his own, but not in vain, but on the contrary for benefit. By adding them to the words of the original, which did not constitute a complete speech, they brought the speech into clarity, so that we assume that they even participated in the Holy Spirit. What was not needed, they did not want to repeat, and where the speech translated into Greek was lame (was insufficient), there they made an addition. One should be surprised at this, and not blame, but rather praise, since everyone who is reverent understands that this happened according to the will of God. These men, seventy-two in number, were confined from morning to evening in thirty-six houses (rooms), two in each house, on the island of Pharos, which means the upper land, opposite Alexandria; and in the evening, on thirty-six boats, they were transported to the palace of Ptolemy Philadelphus 7, had a meal with him and went to bed in pairs on thirty-six beds, so as not to be shaken by their thoughts from an agreement with others, but to translate as each himself thought. The now named Ptolemy, having built the thirty-six aforementioned houses on the island of Pharos, divided each of them into two and imprisoned two in each, as I said, and with them imprisoned in each two youths for service and for cooking; also cursive writers. And he did not install window doors in the walls of the houses, but made holes in the roof above, called anaphotids 8 . Thus, spending time from morning to evening, locked with a key, they made the transfer. Each pair of interpreters was given one book for translation, such as the book of the Genesis of the world - to one pair, the Exodus of the Children of Israel - to another pair, Leviticus - to the third, the next book in order - to the fourth, etc. In this way, twenty-seven books of the Old Testament were translated, known and arranged in a certain order, counted among twenty-two according to the number of letters of the Hebrew alphabet 9 . Ch. 4. Hebrews has twenty-two letters; five of them are doubled: kaf, mem, nun, pe and aleph 10. In the same way, the books are counted as twenty-two, but turn out to be twenty-seven, because five of them must be divided by two. This is how the book of Ruth is connected with the book of Judges and is considered by the Jews to be one book; the first book of Chronicles is combined with the second and is considered one book with it; the first book of Kings is combined with the second and is considered one book; The third book of Kings is combined with the fourth and is considered one book with it. So all the books are folded into four pentateuchs, and in addition two more books remain, arranged in the following order: the five books of the law: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. This is the Pentateuch, which contains the entire law. This is followed by five books written in verse: the book of Job, the Psalter, the Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs. Next follows another pentateuch, consisting of books called by some: Scriptures, and by others: Hagiographa 11, which are: the book of Joshua, Judges together with the book of Ruth, the first and second Chronicles, the first two and last two Kings. This is the third Pentateuch. The Fourth Pentateuch consists of the twelve minor prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. This is the prophetic Pentateuch. There remain two more books: one of Ezra, counted as one, and the other of Esther. Thus the twenty-two books are completely numbered according to the number of twenty-two Hebrew letters. As for the two books divided into verses, namely the book of the Wisdom of Solomon, called Panaret 12, and the book of the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, the grandson of Jesus, who wrote this book in Hebrew, which his grandson Jesus translated into Greek, they are common and useful, but are not included among those recognized by everyone as sacred. Therefore, they were not placed in the Aron, that is, in the Ark of the Covenant 13. Ch. 5. But let it not be hidden from you, dear lover, that the Jews also divided the Psalter into five books, so that it constitutes a special Pentateuch. They consider Psalms from the first to the fortieth to be the first book; second, from forty-first to seventy-first; third, from seventy-second to eighty-eighth; fourth, from eighty-nine to one hundred and fifth; fifth - from one hundred and sixth to one hundred and fiftieth. For each of these psalms has at the end the saying: Blessed be the Lord, be the Lord. The Jews thought that the book should end with these words. They are indeed found at the end of the fortieth, seventy-first, eighty-eighth and one hundred and fifth psalms; but at the end of the fifth (according to them) book, instead of the words: Blessed be the Lord, be the Lord, there are the words: Let every breath praise the Lord, Alleluia 14 (Psalm 149:6). So, these twenty-seven books, counted among the twenty-two (among the Jews), with the Psalter and included in the book of Jeremiah - I mean the Lamentations of Jeremiah and the Epistles of Baruch, although these Epistles are not found among the Jews, and only Lamentations is included in the book of Jeremiah - handed over to each pair of interpreters, were translated over a certain period of time in the manner that we have outlined above. And then those translated by the first pair were transferred for a secondary translation to another, those translated by another to the third, and so on, until they passed through all thirty-six pairs, as the legend says. Apocryphal books are also added to these twenty-two. Ch. 6. When they had finished the translation, the King sat down on a high throne, and thirty-six readers appeared before him, having the same number of copies of each book, together with another reader who had the Hebrew original of the book. And when one reader read, and the others carefully followed the reading according to their lists, there was no disagreement. Such a wonderful work of God makes it clear that these men, only having the gift of the Holy Spirit, although they were separated from each other, were so unanimous that where one had a word added, there it turned out to be added by all; and where one had it reduced, they all reduced it equally. And what they reduced was not necessary, and what they did not reduce was necessary. And so that it is clear to you what was said, that they translated miraculously according to the economy of God and according to the consent of the Holy Spirit and that they did not differ in any way from each other, I will present you in brief words with proof of this, so that you, having learned and become convinced, agree with my words. In the one hundred and fortieth psalm in Hebrew it reads like this: Adonai, elikha, karyon, ismael, yevvita akol 15, which means: Lord, I have called to You, hear me: listen to the voice (v. 1). You see how incomplete the speech is. And the LXXII interpreter, adding the expression: my prayer, filled in what was missing and translated: Lord, I have cried to You, hear me: listen to the voice of my prayer. And notice how euphoniously the psalm is sung in this corrected form. Therefore, from this brief example, conclude about other similar ones everywhere, wherever the interpreters made additions, that is, that the words they added were good, either for the clarification of speech, or for the benefit of the pagans, who were to be led to faith in God and to receive the inheritance of eternal life on the basis of the Divine words of the Old and New Testaments. Ch. 7. Thus Origen did well by placing the signs and, among other things, leading them. Oh, if only he had done the other things just as well! He juxtaposed six translations and the Hebrew text on one page with Hebrew letters and sayings, and on the other with Hebrew words in Greek letters in the corresponding column, so that those who do not know Hebrew letters, with the help of Greek ones, could understand the power of Hebrew sayings. These are the so-called exaples and octaplas, in which he juxtaposed two pages of Hebrew text and six translators in parallel rows. And in this way he brought great benefit to those inquisitive about all that is good. And oh, if only he had not fallen into error in his writings, he would not have offended himself and the world by beginning to teach badly about the faith and poorly explain most of the passages of the Holy Scriptures! But let me return to the explanation regarding the ovel. I said that an ovel is a spear; and this latter is a kind of sword useful in battles for the destruction of people. And so, where a saying is found in the LXXII interpreters, but not in the Hebrew, there the oval sign placed over it shows that the word is taken out of its place or text of Scripture, as if it were no longer in that place of the Bible. This is what I considered necessary to say about asterisk and ovel. Ch. 8. Now we must also say about limniscus and hypolimniscus. Limnisk has the following outline: . It is a sign like a line located between two points, one of which is placed above and the other below. They say that it was invented by doctors and received its name from them, precisely from surgical operations on the body, since in this case two simple incisions or injections are first made, and then among these incisions an incision is made along the entire length of the line along the two incisions, so that the body is a kind of ovel formed by a piece of linen material, in a thin and long form passing through both incisions. And it is good that doctors call this sign limniscus, since lint immersed in a wet place is replete with phlegm 16. Therefore, Origen applied this type of sign to the sayings of the Divine Scripture, so that when in the translation of the seventy-two you find a rarely found saying that disagrees (with the original), neither applicable to the previous ones, nor does it agree with similar sayings, then you would know by two points that this saying was used by one or two pairs of interpreters. This is called mutual or similar. And to make this more understandable and visual for you, I will give an example of this too. When you find that in the seventieth psalm it is written: My mouth will proclaim Your righteousness (v. 15), and: They will proclaim Your righteousness (from Hebrew) 17; and also in the seventy-first psalm: and His name is honorable before Him (v. 14), instead of which it stands: and His name is honorable in His sight 18 (and you will find many such places): then in this there is nothing missing or inconsistent (with the original), but it is the same thing, only expressed differently, since neither one nor the other violates the meaning and can be expressed one way or another. This is what is indicated by the limnisk, that this or that saying is translated this way only by one or two pairs of interpreters. This is what we could say about limniscus. In a similar way we will make an explanation regarding the polymniscus. The outline of this sign is as follows: – . -, that is, a simple line that looks like an oval, but with a point at the bottom. Where you find such a sign, then know that this is ipolimniscus. And its power is this: where you find it placed above any saying, there it means that it was expressed by only one pair of interpreters, as one point shows, and that, in addition, it is mutual and akin to the saying behind which it stands. This is what can be said about the asterisk, ovel, limniscus and ipolimniscus. Ch. 9. We must also be told the history of everything mentioned. For it will be useful for you to know who each of the translators was, where, when and what kind, as well as what reason he had for the translation. The very first translators of the Divine Scripture from Hebrew into Greek were seventy-two men who made the first translation under Ptolemy Philadelphus. They were chosen from the twelve tribes of Israel, six men from each tribe, as Aristaeus reports in his work 19. We partly talked about them above, when we talked about asterisks and ovels and about other translators, that is, about Aquila, Symmachus and others. And now we will explain the very reasons for the translation. The second Ptolemy, nicknamed Philadelphus, who reigned in Alexandria after the first Ptolemy (Lagi), was, as stated above, a good-willed and inquisitive man. Having established a library in the same city of Alexander 20, in that part of the city called Vrukhium 21 and which is currently deserted in this city, he entrusted the management of this library to a certain Demetrius of Phalereus 22, ordering him to collect books from all over the earth into it. To do this, he wrote letters to many of the kings and heads of the regions, with an urgent request not to be burdened by sending books, meaning the works of poets, storytellers, rhetoricians, sophists, doctors, sophist doctors (scientific doctors), historians and others. And while this matter was moving forward, and books were being collected from everywhere, one day the king asked the head of the library how many books had been collected in the library. The librarian answered the king that there were already about fifty-four thousand of them there, osmisot. But I heard, he added, that there are also a great many of them in different countries of the world: among the Ethiopians, Indians, Persians, Elamites, Babylonians, Assyrians and Chaldeans, among the Romans and Phoenicians, among the Syrians and the Latins living in Greece, who were not yet called Romans 23; Also, the people of Jerusalem and those living in Judea have the Divine books of the prophets, containing the teaching about God, about the world, and about all sorts of other generally useful subjects. So if it pleases your majesty, king, to send for them, then write about this to the Jerusalem scholars, and they will send it to you, so that I can put these books in the same library of yours. Then the king wrote a letter with the following content: Ch. 10. King Ptolemy wishes good health to the Jews living in Jerusalem 24. I built a library and, having collected many books from different nations, placed them in it. But having heard that you have books of the prophets teaching about God and peacemaking, I would like to add them to the others. That's why I'm writing to you to send them to us. That I desire this not for the sake of curiosity, but for the sake of the honor of having them, and not with evil intent, but out of trust and friendship, I turn to you with a request for them, you can know this by remembering my previous favor towards you. Remember how many captives taken from your fatherland and brought to our fatherland - Egypt, I set free and, at the same time, providing them with travel supplies and surrounding them with attentive care; but he not only set him free, but also sent away those stricken with the disease, healed and naked, clothed. And now I am sending to you a golden meal, adorned with the most precious stones, weighing five hundred talents, 25 instead of the meal taken from the Holy Temple of Jerusalem, as well as gifts and treasures for the same church. I am telling you about this so that you know that I am asking for these books out of vow and piety. Such a letter was sent and along with the letter gifts. The Jews, having willingly accepted the letter and gifts, were filled with great joy, without delay rewriting in golden Hebrew letters the twenty-two canonical and seventy-two apocryphal books I had already mentioned. The king, having received the books and opened them, could not read them, since they were written in Hebrew letters and in the Hebrew language. Then he was forced to write them another letter and ask them for translators who could explain these books to him in Greek instead of Hebrew. The contents of the letter were as follows: Ch. 11. King Ptolemy greatly wishes good health to the teachers of piety living in Jerusalem. What use can there be in a hidden treasure, or in a sealed source? The books you sent have the same meaning. Since we cannot read their writings, they will not serve us in the least. Therefore, deign to send us translators who would definitely know the Hebrew and Greek languages. Then the teachers of the Jews, having chosen, sent (to Egypt) LXXII an interpreter, just as Moses once did when he ascended the mountain (Sinai) at the command of the Lord, having heard what was said to him: take with you seventy men, and go up to the mountain (Ex. 24:1). But Moses himself, for the sake of peace between the tribes, so as not to choose from some five husbands, and from others six, and thereby not cause disturbance between the tribes, decided it was better to take seventy-two husbands and add two to the indicated number 27. So they too, as I said, sent the same number of men who translated the Holy Books on the island called Pharos, according to what I said above. And thus the Holy Books, having been translated into Greek, were placed in the first library built in Vruhie. Later, another library appeared in Serapium 28 smaller than the first, which was named her daughter. Two hundred and fifty years later, it contained the translations of Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion and other translators. Ch. 12. After the first Ptolemy, the son of Lagov, who reigned for forty years, this same Ptolemy Philadelphus reigned for thirty-eight years, under whom the LXXII interpreter translated the Bible. After Philadelphus, Ptolemy Euergetes reigned for 24 years. After Euergetes, Ptolemy Philopator, who reigned for 21 years. After Philopator, Ptolemy Epiphanes, 22 years old. After him Ptolemy Philopator 29 years old, 34 years old. Then Ptolemy Philologos and Euergetes, 29 years old. Ptolemy Soter 30, 15 years old. Ptolemy, aka Alexas, 31, 12 years old. Ptolemy, brother of Alexander, overthrown from the throne by his own matter, 8 years old. Ptolemy Dionysus 32, 31 years old. Cleopatra, daughter of this Ptolemy, who cohabited with Antony, and was defeated by the Emperor Octavius, 32 years old. Thus, all together the years, from the first Ptolemy, son of Lagov, to Cleopatra, come out to 306 33. From the seventh year (reign) of Ptolemy Philadelphus, during which in this very year LXXII the interpreter translated the Bible, to Cleopatra, 249 years. And with her the reign of the Lagids, that is, the Ptolemies, who descended from Lagus, ended, who, having built a hippodrome in Alexandria, called it Laius. Ch. 13. Then follow the Roman emperors, viz. Augustus reigned for 56 years 34. In the 42nd year of his reign, our Lord Jesus Christ was born according to the flesh. Tiberius – 23 years old. In the seventeenth year of his reign, Christ was crucified. Kayi – 3 years, 9 months and 29 days. Claudius - 13 years, 2 months and about 2 days. Nero - 13 years, 7 months and 27 days. Galba - 7 months and 26 days. Oton – 3 months and 5 days. Vitelius - 18 months and 12 days 35. Vespasian - 9 years, 7 months and 12 days. Titus – 2 years, 2 months and 2 days. At this time, the devastation of Jerusalem took place, 65 years and a few days after the crucifixion of Christ. Domitian - 15 years and 5 months 36. Nerve – 1 year and 4 months 37. Adrian – 21 years old. In the twelfth year of his reign, Aquila became famous. And so from Augustus to Hadrian 180 years, 4 months and about 9 days passed, so from the time of the translation of the LXXII interpreters to the translator Aquila, or until the 12th year of the reign of Hadrian - 430 years and 4 months. Ch. 14. This Adrian, stricken with a disease of the body, sent for all the many doctors who were in his kingdom, demanding from them the healing of his body. When they, having worked hard, did not help him, they were ridiculed by him, so he even wrote a reproachful message against them, in which he blamed their art for not being able to do anything to cure his illness. Then he goes to the land of Egypt. Having left Rome, he considered it necessary to survey all the cities that were on his route: for he was an inquisitive man. So he passes through the city of Antioch, moves through Coelesyria and Phenicia and arrives in Palestine, otherwise called Judea, forty-seven years after the devastation of Jerusalem. Enters Jerusalem, a glorious, eminent city, which was destroyed by Titus, the son of Vespasian in the second year of his reign. And Hadrian found this entire city destroyed to the ground, the church of God trampled, with the exception of a few buildings and a small Christian church, in the upper room of which the disciples of the Savior met, after He ascended from the Mount of Olives. It was built on part of Mount Zion, remaining after the devastation of the city with part of some other buildings that were near it in Zion, and with seven synagogues, which alone stood in Zion, like tents, and of which one remained until the time of the ruler Maximons 38 and King Constantine, like a tabernacle of vines, according to what is written (Isa. 1:8). Hadrian planned to recreate the city, but not the church. And taking Aquila, the aforementioned translator, a Greek by birth, his father-in-law, who came from Pontic Sinope, he placed him there to supervise the work of rebuilding the city, giving the city both his name and the title of the royal name. Just as he himself was called Aelius Hadrian, so he named the city Aelia. Ch. 15. Thus, Aquila, living in Jerusalem, saw that the disciples of the apostolic disciples were distinguished by faith and performed great signs of healing and other miracles. For, having returned from the city of Pella, they stayed and taught in Jerusalem. When the city of Jerusalem was about to be taken by the Romans, all the disciples were forewarned by an angel to move out of the city, which was about to perish completely. Having moved out from here, they settled in the aforementioned Pella, a city that lay on the other side of the Jordan, within the Decapolis 39. And after the devastation of Jerusalem, returning to it, they, as I said, performed great signs. Aquila, struck in his soul by this, believed in Christianity. And after a little time, according to his request, he received the seal of Christianity 40. But at the same time, he did not abandon his previous occupation, that is, from trusting vain stargazing. Every day he observed his birth hours and, denounced by teachers and reproached for this, did not correct himself, but on the contrary, he curiously opposed and strenuously defended what was untenable, that is, fate and the reasoning related to it. For this he was expelled from the Church as a member of it useless for salvation. Saddened by this in his soul, as if dishonored, he is inflamed with vain jealousy and, renouncing Christianity and Christian life, becomes a proselyte of Judaism and is circumcised. At the same time, he devoted himself with the greatest zeal to the study of the Hebrew language and Hebrew letters. Having learned it perfectly, he began to translate the Holy Scriptures, guided not by right reason, but by the deliberate thought of subverting some clear sayings, directing his attacks on the translation of the seventy-two, so that what was testified in the Scriptures about Christ would be conveyed differently, in order to cover up his shame and protect his foolishness. Ch. 16. And thus this was the second translation of the Holy Scriptures, after the expiration of the amount of time about which we wrote above. We could tell you, beloved, about the sayings he altered, which serve as evidence against him as a translator. But since we have already discussed above the difference between his translation and other translations, we consider what has been said to be sufficient for now. After this Aquila and his translation to King Hadrian, Antoninus, nicknamed Pius, which means the Pious, succeeded him and reigned for 22 years. His successor is Caracalla, who is also Geta, who was called Marcus Aurelius Verus, and reigns for 7 years. At the same time, Lucius Aurelius Commodus reigned, also for 7 years. Then Pertinax for 6 months. During the time of Severus there was a certain Samaritan named Symmachus, one of those who are considered wise men by the Samaritans. Infuriated by the arrogance of rulers and having no success among his tribe, he was indignant at them and converted to Judaism, receiving secondary circumcision for this purpose. Do not be surprised at this, listener; it happens. Just as those who convert from Judaism to Samaritanism are circumcised a second time, so are those who convert from Samaritanism to Judaism. But even more difficult than this is that even after circumcision they become uncircumcised. With the help of medical art, through the so-called spufistir, 41 by tightening the skin of the reproductive members, stitching it and coating it with adhesive substances, they again produce uncircumcision. You have, most lover of the Philokalia, a testimony from the Holy Apostle, in the words that are said like this: Is anyone called to the circumcision? Let him not make himself uncircumcised: is anyone uncircumcised? let him not be circumcised (1 Cor. 7:18). They say that this tradition of demonic trickery originates from Esau, the brother of Jacob, who invented it to renounce God and to destroy the seal of his fathers. Therefore, they say, God said: I hated Esau, but loved Jacob (Malach. 1:2). And so this Symmachus, having compiled his translation to refute the translations of the Samaritans, made a third translation. Ch. 17. After him and in his footsteps, in a short time, precisely during the reign of the second Commodus, who reigned after the aforementioned Commodus Lucius Aurelius for 13 years, a certain Theodotion of Pontus, one of the adherents of the heresiarch Marcion of Sinope, also angry for something about his heresy, turned away to Judaism and was circumcised and, having learned the Hebrew language and letters, published his translation of the Holy books. In most cases, his translation agrees with the translation of the seventy-two. For he acquired great skill from this translation. And so you yourself, most lover of the Philokalia, be the judge of the assumption of who should have the truth more; whether from these three - I mean Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, who were not identical with each other, but each was separated from the other by time and place, although there were not many of them, but only three, and yet they could not agree with each other - or from the first seventy-two, who were and made the transfer at one time and were distributed into thirty dwellings by order of the king. They did not have an agreement with each other, but at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit they did the entire translation unanimously, and where an increase was needed for the sake of clarity of the word, there they added, in complete agreement with one another, although each of them did not know how the other was translating; and where it was necessary to throw out a word, they threw it out in the same way, and again in agreement. If they all sat together to translate, then they would consult with each other regarding the translation. (And since this did not happen, then) it is clear that the truth is on the side of the seventy-two, so for anyone who wants to begin researching this with love for the truth, it should be clear that they were not only translators, but partly prophets. For what was not needed during the translation, they omitted. Subsequently, Origen placed asterisks in place of these words. Likewise, he did not exclude what they added, knowing that this was even more necessary; but where he found anything that was said more, he left ovels there, only indicating with ovel similar places for information when reading. By limnis, he similarly signified what was found in only one or two pairs of LXXII interpreters, and only rarely, and few sayings are only not similar in meaning (to the original), but are similar to each other and have the same force. Like, for example, if someone instead of: said, expressed himself: spoke, or, instead of: came, - came. This is what I wrote to you about the four translations. Ch. 18. As for the fifth and sixth editions of the translations, I cannot say who or where the translators were from. I can only say that the fifth was found hidden in a barrel in Jericho after the persecution of King Septimius Severus during the time of the son of Severus, nicknamed Caracalla, otherwise Geta. After Antoninus, nicknamed Pius, that is, the Pious, there was the following order of succession of reigning Emperors in time: After Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, also known as Verus, reigned for 19 years. After him, another Commodus reigned for 13 years 42. In his time, as we said, the translation of Theodotion, the fourth translator, became famous. The successor of this Commodus was Pertinax another and reigned for 6 months 43. This latter was succeeded by another Severus, who reigned together with his son Antonin for 18 years. After the death of Severus, power passed to his son Antonin, or otherwise Goethe, also nicknamed Caracalla, who reigned for another 7 years. In the seventh year of his reign, books of the fifth edition of the translation were found hidden in barrels in Jericho, along with other Hebrew and Greek books. Caracalla was succeeded by another Antonin, who reigned for 4 years 44. After him, Alexander, son of Mamaea, reigned for 13 years 45. In the middle of his reign, the sixth edition was found, also hidden in barrels in Nicopolis near Actium 46. After Alexander, Maximian reigned for 47, 3 years. He was succeeded by Gordian and reigned for 6 years. After him Philip reigned for 7 years 48. Decius succeeded him and reigned for 1 year and 3 months 49. During the time of Decius, Origen became famous, flourishing from the times of Decius to Gallus and Volusianus and beyond. During the persecution that took place under Decius, they suffered martyrdom: Babyla in Antioch, Flavian in Rome and Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem in Caesarea. And Origen himself, having suffered a lot, did not achieve martyrdom. Having come to Caesarea Stratonova 50 and living for a short time in Jerusalem, then arriving in Tire, he spent twenty-eight years, as they say, in an ascetic life, and then he began to interpret the Scriptures. At this time, he compiled his exaples with a comparison of two Hebrew texts and translations in parallel columns one against the other, calling them exaples, as I have said at length above. Ch. 19. When he found the books of the fifth and sixth edition (translations), as we said, then, not knowing at the time when they were found who translated them, he added them in order to the previously existing four and called one of them the Fifth, denoting the number five with the fifth letter and thereby indicating its name. In the same way, what was found after him, denoting it with the sixth letter, he called it by the name of the Sixth Translation. But he did this not without some skill, which for some of the inquisitive is a mystery. It has names: tetraplas, exaplas, or octaplas. Tetrapla are four Greek translations, and the translations are compared: Aquila, Symmachus, Seventy-two and Theodotion. And when these four columns are compared with the two Hebrew ones, then they are called exapl. If the fifth and sixth translations are added to this in order, they are called octapla. But some, looking through the books themselves and finding two Hebrew texts placed in first place, and after them the translation of Aquila, after it the translation of Symmachus and then the translation of the seventy-two, after which the translation of Theodotion is placed, and then in order the fifth and sixth editions, think that Aquila and Symmachus were translated first, and then the seventy-two, as the order of their arrangement shows, which, however, was not in reality. Meanwhile, Origen, knowing that the edition of the LXXII translation was the most accurate, placed it in the middle, so that through this the dignity of the other translations located on either side of it could be more easily experienced. Origen did this one thing with great benefit. But in order not to leave the established order of reigns of the Roman emperors, we will add to the above the successions of other emperors showing how long each of them reigned. Ch. 20. After Gallus and Volusian, the above mentioned, who reigned for about 2 years and 4 months, Valerian and Galien reigned for about 12 years 51. In the ninth year of their reign, Manes appeared from Persia. And at the same time, having entered into a competition with Archelaus, Bishop of Karkhare in Mesopotamia, he was defeated by him and secretly fled from there. Then, having come to Diodoris, a village in the Karkhar region, and entering into competition with Saint Tryphon the Presbyter, he was finally put to shame by him. Therefore, the people even wanted to stone him; but he was delivered by Bishop Archelaus. When he returned to Persia, by order of the king of Persia, his skin was flayed using a sharp instrument in the form of a reed. That's how he ended his life. After Valerian and Galien, Claudius reigned for 1 year and 9 months. Aurelian succeeded him and reigned for 5 years and 6 months 52. After him Tacitus reigned for 6 months. Then Probus reigned for 6 years and 4 months. After him, Kar reigned, together with his children Karin and Numerian, for 2 years. After them Diocletian, together with Maximian and Constantius, 13 years 53. During their time there was a strong persecution of Christians, which lasted for twelve whole years. When the persecution ended, Diocletian reigned for another year and then abdicated the throne. Maximian, having suffered, according to the definition of evil, an eye disease and general bodily suffering, voluntarily tearing out his eyes as a result of pain, thereby subjected himself to torture and thus ended his life, leaving Licinius and Constantius to reign. When these latter died, their successor was Blessed Constantine, who reigned for 32 years. Having died, he left the kingdom to his children: Constance, Constantius and Constantine. After them Julian reigned; then Jovinian, Valentinian the Great and Valens his brother, and Gratian the son of Valentinian; then Valentinian the Younger, son of Valentinian, brother of Gratian and the most God-loving king Theodosius. Finally, Arcadius, the son of Theodosius and the most glorious Honorius, his brother. The years of their reign until the consulate of Arcadius II and Rufinus are considered 57. During their consulate, Valentinian the Younger, son of Velentinian the Great, died, suddenly strangled in the palace, as they say, on the Fifteenth Day of May, the day before Pentecost, on the Sabbath; and on the very day of Pentecost he was carried out for burial. According to the Egyptian calendar, it was then the twenty-first day of the month Pacho, according to the Greek, the twenty-third day of the month Artemisia, and according to the Roman calendar, seventeen days before the calendar of June 54. Ch. 21. Hitherto we have explained to everyone, dear friend of the Philokalia, the history of the translators of the Holy Scriptures, being content with what has been said above. Now let us turn our thoughts to the rest of what was promised according to your desire, man of God, that is, to the explanation of what is found in the Divine Scriptures regarding weights, measures and numbers, why each of these is called and for what reason it is called so, what is the quality of each, what is the weight and what is the strength. Among the measures there is a cow, which is mentioned in the Gospel of Luke (16:7), where the Savior praises the prudent steward, who wrote fewer cows instead of a large number of cows to his debtors in promissory notes, and instead of a large number of watts of butter, he wrote a smaller number (v. 6). The names of the measures are as follows: lefek, gomor, vat, sam, modiy, kav, hinik, ephah of wheat, a handful of flour, artava, three measures of wheat flour, three baskets of loaves of bread, a skin of wine, collaf, alabaster of the world, a slab of water, a vessel of oil, a measured cup of wine, a measured vessel of oil, trivliy, xest, amphora, aporrima, savifa, in, khus, golden stamna, in which manna was deposited, maris, cyprus, congiary. So the name: kor is taken from the Hebrew language, in which it is called: hor. It contains 30 modia; and the choir is called from the assumption of a heap, since a heap in Hebrew is called: hariya. Collected in a heap, thirty modii make up a camel's burden 55. Lephek is clearly indicated in the book of the prophet Hosea, where it says: nayah a lephek of barley, and in some lists: an omer of barley (3:2), which means the same thing: for both measures mean fifteen modii. Lefekom is called in Hebrew and means: lifting, since it is possible for a young man to lift fifteen modii and put them on a donkey. The same thing is called gorom. But there are two Gomers: big and small. The large one is equal to the lefek and consists, like the last one, of fifteen modii, and the small one of twelve vats 56. And this latter also derives its name from the Hebrew name: vit, the same as the name of the vessel containing oil. For wat means a vessel for oil, containing fifty xests, and is used as a measure of capacity in oil mills 57 . Mnasis or medimn, I believe, can be derived from the Latin: medium, which means: middle 58. As a measure, mnasis is used by the Cyprians and other peoples and contains ten modii of wheat or barley. The modium among the Cyprians is seventeen xaests, and the medimn among the same Cyprians is different. The Salamis or Constantians count the medimnu at five modii, and the Paphians and Sicilians measure it at four modii and a half 59 . Satom is a measure used in the feminine gender in Hebrew, and in the neuter gender in Greek, for it is said: σάτον, and not σάτος. It is a modium with excess, so that it contains a full modium and, in addition, a quarter of a modium. In Hebrew, sata means taking or lifting due to the fact that the measurer usually takes the measure and raises it 60. And the name modius, which contains twenty-two xestas, is used by the Jews with great care, not simply and not haphazardly, but with great care. For righteous Modius, as the law usually says, was measured according to the holy measure. And the holy measure is nothing other than those 22 things that God did on six days of the week 61 . Ch. 22. On the first day He created the highest heavens, earth, and waters. From these elements are formed: ice, hail, frost and dew. Then, from the ministering spirits before Him, follow: the angels who stand before His face, the angels of glory, the angels of the blowing winds, the angels of clouds and darkness, snow, hail and frost; angels of noise, thunder, lightning, cold, heat, winter, autumn, spring and summer and all the spirits inherent in His creations located in heaven and on earth. Next are the abysses: the underground abyss and the abyss of chaos and darkness. Then follow: evening and night, light of day and morning. God did these seven greatest things on the first day. On the second day (God created) a firmament in the midst of the waters and a division between the waters that were above the firmament and the waters that were under the firmament on the surface of the whole earth. This is the only thing God did on the second day. On the third day - seas, rivers, springs and lakes, seeds, plants, fruitful and barren trees and forests. God did these four greatest things on the third day. On the fourth day - the sun, moon and stars. God did these three great things on the fourth day. On the fifth day - great whales, fish and other reptiles in the waters, birds and winged creatures. God did these three great things on the fifth day. On the sixth day - animals, livestock, reptiles on the earth and humans. God did these four great things on the sixth day. And all the works of God that were created were done in six days 22 62 . And God finished on the sixth day everything that was in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and the abysses, in the light and in the darkness and in everything else. And God rested from all his works on the seventh day, and blessed him and sanctified him and pointed this out to Moses through an angel (cf. Gen. 1:1–2, 8 and Exod. 20:11). And from Adam to Jacob there are twenty-two ancestors. And I will choose for myself, says God, from his seed a people chosen from all languages ​​(Deut. 14:2). The heads of the generations about which the Lord spoke are the following: Adam, Seth, Enos, Enoch, Arphaxad, Shelah, Cainan, Peleg, Maleleel, Eber, Raghav, Jared, Seruch, Nahor, Methuselah, Terah, Lamech, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Shem. There are twenty-two of all genera together. The Jews have twenty-two letters and, accordingly, they also count 22 sacred books, although there are twenty-seven of them; but since their five letters are doubled, there are twenty-seven of them, although this number is reduced to 22; therefore, the Holy Books, although there are 27 of them, are considered 22 by the Jews. Ch. 23. The first of the Holy Books is Bereshit, which is called: The Genesis of the World. Second: Eleshemoth, describing the Exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt. Third: Vayikra, which name signifies the book of Leviticus. Then Vayedabber, which is the book of Numbers; Elledevirim, Deuteronomy; Yeshua, that is, the book of Joshua; Job, book of Job; Shofetim, i.e. the book of Judges; Ruth, book of Ruth; Sefer Tehillim. Psalter; Divre hayamim, first book of Chronicles: Divre hayamim, second book of Chronicles; Samuel, 1st Samuel; Samuel, 2 Samuel; Melachim, that is, the third book of Kings; Melachim, 4th Book of Kings; Michelet, book of Proverbs; Kohelet, that is, Ecclesiastes; Shir hashirim, Song of Songs; Dafariaser, twelve prophets; Yeshaya, Isaiah the prophet; Jeremiah, book of Jeremiah; Ezekiel, book of Ezekiel; Daniel, book of Daniel; Ezra, the first book of Ezra; Ezra, second book of Ezra; Esther, book of Esther 63. These are the twenty-seven books, which are counted as 22, according to the number of letters, since five letters are doubled, as we said above. There is another small book called: Kinot, which means Lamentations of Jeremiah. Being the odd one out among those, she joins the book of Jeremiah. This number 22 is found everywhere and is seen in various forms, namely: in the twenty-two things that God did in the six days of peace; in twenty-two generations from Adam to Jacob; in twenty-two letters from Aleph to Tav and in 22 books from the book of Genesis to the book of Esther. So our measure is the modium, consisting of 22 xests. The Jews call it modi, and the Greeks, for the sake of definition, modia. The Egyptians call it similarly. Likewise, the Syrians and Arabs say: modia, which means: confession. For the filled modius confesses that he is full. It is also called gnomon 64. Ch. 24. By the number of 22 works of God created from the beginning, 22 generations before Jacob, 22 books before the book of Esther and 22 letters, the number of which signifies the law for us and prefigures the teaching of God, it means that from the law and the mysteries contained in it, Christ, who was to come, was witnessed and revealed to us. It was He who came to earth in the Gospel and filled us with the measure of life through mode, that is, confession, precisely to everyone who confessed Him and received life from Him. For this reason, the Jews call this measure holy, that is, consisting of 22 xests, according to the above. For many of the other tribes either added something to this measure or subtracted from it, while among the Jews it was calculated exactly. And the Romans, by a happy coincidence, have a name for the measure with a similar ending: modius, just like the Jews with the first letter: the child begins to teach aleph. And among the Greeks the verb: ἀλφεῖν means: to seek, to explore. From this it is clear that alpha was transferred to Greek from Hebrew 65. Likewise, modium comes from a Hebrew word, which means: to confess, as I said above, and this meaning refers to the very use of this measure. For if someone had not filled her to the top, she would not have confessed that she was full. And when it is filled and leveled to the brim, then it confesses that it is full. Kav is the name of the measure, coming from the same Hebrew language; it makes up a fourth of modium 66. Khinik and Efa are one and the same thing, only called by two names. This measure contains two xests with a small 67. A handful of flour. This measure is not difficult to understand and is known to everyone. Artava. The name of this measure is Egyptian 68. It contains seventy-two xestas and thus contains something mysterious. Seventy-two men built the tower, when from one tongue they were divided into seventy-two tongues (cf. Gen. 11). Hence they were called Meropes, due to the division of language 69. The same measure also contains a metreta, that is, a measured vessel, if we mean a sacred measure. Three measures of wheat flour, from which Abraham ordered Sarah to make bread for the angels, which was baked in ashes (Gen. 18:6). Each of these measures contains an omer 70. And the omor was a tenth of a large measure, that is, artava, and contained 7 1/3 xests 71. Three baskets of grainy loaves, in which these loaves, which looked like loaves cut into two, were usually deposited. The wine skin is a measure of one hundred and fifty xests. The sat consists of 56 xests 72. The alabaster of the world is a glass bottle with two ears, containing a pound of oil; it measures half a sixth. Alavaster is named for its fragility 73 . A swagger of water is a measure of 12 xests of water. The chvanets prepared for Elijah (1 Kings 19:6) contained four xestas 74. The vessel of oil, called a cotyl, is a measure of half a xest, and is so called because the xest is cut 75 into two parts. The measured cup is a measure, constituting a sixth part of the xest. Scripture also calls these cups medecof. And it calls strainers, which we also call sieves, masmarof 76. Both objects are called by the same name because they have the same use. Trivliy is a vessel similar in shape to a dish in which seasoning for food (sauce for fried food) is served, which is why it is also called paropsis 77. It measures half a sixth. And the xest of Alexandria contains two pounds of oil. Aporrima 78 serves as a measure only for the Thebans and is half of the Sait measure of the same name. This true Sait measure contains 22 xestas. Savifa. This Syrian name means drawn. Among the Ascalonians, this measure contains 22 xestas. In . The big in contains 18 xests; and in sacred 9 xests 79. The ordinary khus contains 8 xests, and the so-called sacred one contains 6 xests, which is the twelfth part of a metret 80. Talent is the greatest of all weights; if counted in pounds, it contains 125 pounds 81 . Six mites of talent are equal to seven assaries; and seven mites of Assarii make one hundred denarii 82 . Silver, like a coin, has been minted since ancient times. It was minted from the Assarii 83. They say that Abraham brought a sample of it to the land of Canaan. One hundred and twenty-fifth of a talent is one liter (pound); and a liter contains twelve ounces. An ounce contains two staters. A stater is half an ounce and contains a didrachm (two drachms) 84. A shekel, also called a kondrat, is a fourth of an ounce and half a stater, containing two drachms; for an ounce contained 8 drachmas 85 . The drachma was a name for weight and had the same weight as a shekel, as it weighed at the time of Absalom's hair being shorn (2 Sam. 14:26), having a weight of 125 shekels. And this represents an ounce of one shekel, which was two liters (pounds) and a half 86. Ovol was also listed among the silver coins. It also had a measure of one ounce, if only it was made not of silver, but of iron. There was another ovol, which was minted from silver. Then it was a very small coin, amounting to the 80th part of an ounce. For the book of Leviticus says: twenty pennies shall be a didrachm (27:25). And that the didrachm is the fourth part of an ounce, we have already explained this 87. Halki. They were invented by the Egyptians. There are two types of silver hulks minted; but the Alexandrians call silver chalks copper. By weight, the halq is an octopart of an ounce, like a drachm 88. Mna in Hebrew is called mane 89 . The Italian mina contains forty staters, which is 20 ounces or one liter (pound) and a half. There were many examples of silver pieces at different times. Numm was first minted by Numos, king of Rome 90. The ancients called the half-silver nummus dichrys 91; and silver is what the Romans call miliarisium, which means: imperial gift to soldiers 92. Dichris was also silver. Subsequently, it was called false for the reason that the image of the emperor minted on it, then killed, was erased from it. From then on, wherever the dichris appeared, bearing the image of the murdered emperor, he was called false, or dishonored. Follis, which is also called a small talent, is a double coin: it consists of two silver coins, containing 208 denarii. But the follis, if compared with the denarii, as a copper and not a silver coin, is two small (two small coins) 93. Maris is a measure of two buckets, used by the inhabitants of Pontus; and their bucket holds ten xests, so that Cyprus consists of twenty Alexandrian xests 94 . For the same Pontic inhabitants, Cyprus serves as a measure of dry objects. It contains two modia, or, according to their count, five quinica. And their hinik contains five xestes 95, so that Cyprus consists of 20 xests; for their great modium consists of 24 xests. Collaf is a measure for liquid substances among the Syrians and is half a sat, and xestov is 25 96. Congiary is also a measure for liquid substances used by the Jews. This measure is mentioned in the chronicles of Eusebius and other chronographers. These chronicles say that each of the then emperors, out of ambition, to testify to his generosity, gave the people a congiary of money, which means: united or united 97. In one of the codes of the translated work of St. Epiphany, instead of this sign, cost the sign: The ancients for the most part wrote in large letters and without any breaths or accents. About asterisks and ovels in their use they especially often say: blessed. Jerome, Isidore Pelusiot and others. St. Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion are discussed in more detail by St. Epiphany further. These Hebrew words were written by St. Epiphany in Greek letters. The Latin translator made the transcription in Latin letters. In the Hebrew original the text reads: Asterisk means: asterisk; from άστήρ - star. Reigned in Egypt from 285 to 246 BC. That is, they transmit light from above. We find a similar story of the translation of the seventy in St. Justin the philosopher in his “Admonition to the Gentiles”, also among the Jews: Aristaeus, Philo and Josephus. The difference is that St. Justin counts as many houses as there were interpreters, but the named Jewish writers do not mention anything about the houses. The doubling extends to other letters when the sign (.) dagesh is placed in them. On the other hand, the aleph does not double. Books written by holy men. from Hebrew it means: ark. See Ref. 25:22. 1 Nav. 3:6 etc. Alleluia (praise the Lord) is included in the title of the psalm. The one hundred and fiftieth psalm of the Slavic Bible was outside the number of 150 psalms of the Hebrew Bible. In the current Hebrew text these words are read differently, namely: The name of the limniscus (λιμνισκος) of St. Epiphanius thus derives from λιμνάζειν - to become a swamp, to abound in standing water, etc., while among doctors this word is written: λημνισκος which means: a woolen bandage, and comes from ληνος - wool, wave, from where λημ νάζειν - to make a woolen bandage. Perhaps in the time of St. Epiphany in the Hebrew original stood: Thy righteousness; but in current editions it is stated directly: In the Hebrew original it is stated: St. Epiphanius is referring to a letter from an unknown Alexandrian Jew, hiding under the name of the Greek Aristaeus, to his brother Philocrates, conveying the history of the translation of the LXX interpreters. The text of this letter can be seen in the work Van – Dale, Super Aristea, pag. 231–333. Amstelaedami, 1705. That is, in Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great. The name: Vruhiy (Βρουχείον) occurred as a result of a change in the word: πυρουχείον (- granary), which was the official name of this part of the city, in which there were grain warehouses (spare stores). Dmitry Falereisky is a famous statesman and scientist of the 4th–3rd centuries. BC The same Ptolemy Philadelphus later exiled him to Upper Egypt, where he died, as they say, from the bite of a poisonous snake. See Plutarch's biography of Demetrius of Phalereus. Since the Greeks themselves began to be called Romans only after the fall of the Western Roman Empire (in the 5th century AD), this probably means Roman settlers who lived in various regions of ancient Greece. In Aristeas, and from here in Josephus and Eusebius of Caesarea, the letter of Ptolemy Philadelphus is addressed not to the Jews in general, but directly to the high priest Eleazar. The Greeks' gold talent was worth ten times more than the silver talent, which cost about 1,500 rubles. The 500 talents of gold consumed for the meal therefore cost about 7,500,000 rubles. Such an inordinately large number of apocryphal books, allegedly written in Hebrew, is explained by the number of interpreters and can be attributed to some individual sacred books and departments of books, according to the above. We find no confirmation of this in the Bible. Here, on the contrary, it is said that Moses took, according to the command of the Lord, seventy men to the mountain (Ex. 24:9), and not seventy-two. The Serapium was a pagan temple in Alexandria and at this temple there was a library, which, together with the temple, was burned during the war under Julius Caesar, as Ammianus Marcellinus testifies. It would be more correct to say: Philometor, as he is listed in the chronicles of Alexandria and Eusebius. So it is with Kedrin. Other historians call him Alexander. Otherwise called Ptolemy Auletes, father of Cleopatra. If we count so accurately, it turns out that the kingdom of the Lagids ended (with Cleopatra) in 18 BC, and meanwhile it is known that Octavius ​​defeated Antony and Cleopatra not in 18, but in 30 BC. An error occurred in counting the years of Cleopatra's reign, which are supposed to be 32 instead of 22, as is supposed in the chronicles of Alexandria and Eusebius. Compare Anchor Word, above p. 105 and note. 2nd. All these three emperors, that is, Galba, Otho and Vitelius, as they reigned briefly, are not mentioned by St. Epiphany in the Anchor Word (see page 105). Compare what was said above, on page 105 and in notes. 4. Compare there is also a note. 5. Isn’t it Maximin, or Maximian, who was close to Constantine in terms of time of control in the Roman Empire? Compare Matt. 4:25; Mar. 5:20; 7:31. What Pella. was from among these 10 cities, all ancient writers unanimously testify to this, while there were disagreements regarding others. That is, the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. One of the surgical instruments used in circumcision. Compare what was said in the Anchor Word, above, on page 106 and in the note. 1. Compare there is also a note. 2. The Anchor Word mentions his predecessor Macrinus, who reigned for 1 year. See also note there. 3. Compare there is also a note. 4. Of the many cities of the same name, here is of course Nicopolis, located in Acarnania, between Epirus and Aetolia. In the Anchor Word - Maximin. See page 106. In the Anchor Word - 6 years. See also there. In the Anchor Word – 1 year. See also there. The name of Caesarea Palestine, in contrast to other cities of the same name. It was before that it was called: Ξτράτωνος πύργος (- military fortification), about which see Strabo. Geogr. XVI, 758. In the word Anchor there is one Galien and the number of years of his reign is supposed to be 15. See above, p. 106. In the Anchor Word – 14 years. Compare p. 106 and note. 5. Compare Anchor Word, pp. 106–107. The Romans called Kalends the first day of each month. , is a measure for bulk and liquid substances. Mentioned, in addition to the above passage from the Gospel of Luke, in 1 Kings. 4:22; 5:11 ; 2 Par. 2:10; Ezek. 45:14, etc. Like a homer, it contains 10 eff or 30 sats. The Hebrew name St. Epiphanius, obviously, derives from the Talmudic only by consonance: which means: dung heap. See Buxtorfii, Lexic. chald. talm. et rabb. pag. 423. Ed. fischeri. Lipsiae, 1875. , means a measure for free-flowing bodies, equal to half a bark, and is used only in this one place of the book, the prophet Hosea. But does not mean: rise, as St. interprets it. Epiphany, and containment. Moreover, the indication of the uniformity of the lefek gomera is not entirely accurate. There are really two Gomoras. In Hebrew they differ in outline: ; in the Greek translation of LXX they are rendered identically by the word: γόμορ. The first (homer) is not equal to a lephek, but to a kor, i.e., two lepheks, and the last (gomor) is a tenth of an ephah, i.e., a hundredth of the first. As for modium, this later Greek name, taken from the Latin (modius), means a measure for free-flowing bodies, somewhat smaller than our garnz. For the great gomer (homer), see Isa. 5:10; Ezek. 45:14, etc., and about the little things (gomorah) in Ex. 16:36. And it is not a small omor that could contain 12 watts, but rather a large one. Vat (βάτος, βάθον), from Heb. means a measure of capacity for liquid or granular bodies and how the word can be produced, according to the opinion of St. Epiphany, from – house, container, e.g. container of two sats of grains, as in 1 Kings. 18:32. According to the fact that a large omer or kor is made up of 10–12 wat, a wat will be 2–3 modi or 1.5–2 garnz. Neither mnasist (μνασίς) nor medimn (μέδιμνος) are words derived from Latin roots, and if the name: medimn has some hint of the Latin: medium, then there is no hint of this in the name: mnasis. This last is the local (Cypriot) name for the measure of granular bodies, and it is more fair to derive medimn from the Greek: μέδω (from where the Latin: modus) - I control, I moderate. According to Hesychius, mnasis is not equal to medimnus, as St. interprets it. Epiphanius, and contains two medimnus. Sat in Hebrew is actually used as , but in Chaldean it really is , as indicated by St. Epiphanius. But according to the meaning of the name of the measure, it must be recognized that it comes from the Arabic root , does not mean collection or lifting, but cutting, trying on. Moreover, according to the instructions of Josephus (Ant. IX, 4, 5), the sat contained not 1¼, but 1½ modia. Actually, the name Modi is not used in the Holy Scriptures, neither in the Hebrew original nor in the Greek translation LXX. However, St. does not speak based on Jewish tradition alone. Epiphanius about righteous mode and holy measure. In Deuteronomy 25:15 we read: true and righteous measure shall be given to you. Word: measure in Hebrew: – efa; in Greek: μέτρον - measure in general, and in Latin the translation is direct: modius - modius. Compare also Lev. 19:36; Ezek. 45:10–12, etc. In this case, there will only be no accuracy in the relationship of this measure with others already indicated by St. Epiphany in measures. According to him, the modium is three times smaller than the epha, which was not the case in reality. In this interpretation of the biblical history of peacemaking, there are undoubtedly many elements that are purely biblical; but for this there are features that resemble the features of the rabbinic interpretation of it, as can be seen from the targums, midrashim, etc. In the Hebrew names of various sacred books, St. Epiphanius often disagrees with their current names; to some of these names he attaches the Chaldean term: d, which is usually used by Jews in the Talmud, midrashim, etc. It is obvious that both of them are holy. Epiphanius did this more by ear or guided by works such as those of Origen, rather than by his own thorough acquaintance with the Jewish biblical and rabbinic language. Strictly speaking, modium, as a later developed name for a measure, did not mean anything more than just a measure. We indicated the production of the word above. But just as in Greek and Latin and Hebrew there is some consonance with modius in the words from which St. derives it. Father. On the one hand there is a word here: - a measure, although this measurement relates more to extension than to capacity; and on the other - - know) - acquaintance (compare γνώμων of St. Epiphanius), - affirm, testify, openly admit) - testimony. That the name of the first Greek letter: alpha was transferred from the Hebrew: aleph, this is certain; but the Hebrew name itself means: bull (by the similarity of the letter א with the figure of a bull’s head), and not to seek, to explore. , see 4 (Heb. 2) Sam. 6:25. Kav contained 4 xestas. Khinik contains 4 xestas, according to the interpretation of some scientists; about 1/3 osmina to our measure. Here it became St. Epiphanius speaks of another khinike, equal to the Jewish epha. But the efa also had a capacity of more than two xests. As a matter of fact, the name of this measure is Persian, not Egyptian, and only later passed to Egypt, after the latter was conquered by the Persians. It contained about 2 quadrangles. Μέροπες. The name is not found in the Greek translation of the LXX, but is found among pagan poets (Homer, Hesiod, Aeschylus, etc.). St. Epiphanius derives this word from μέρος - part, μερίξω - divide and ὤφ - voice, word, speech. Others derive it from μερμαιρω - I think and therefore connect it with the word: μέροφ meaning: thinking, or from the root μερ, which appears in βροτός, μβροτός - mortal (Latin mortuus, our dead, etc. of the same root). In the Hebrew original Gen. 18:6 does not mean omer, but sat ( ), and from the previous we know that Sat and Gomor are not the same thing. Sat was a third of an ephah and a thirtieth of a kor, and Omer (not homer) was a hundredth of a kor. Here again we have to remind readers of what was said above about the meaning of the measures that are indicated. Compare as stated above in the notes about sat. Actually, alabaster was a vessel made of a special transparent stone, intended for storing fragrant compositions, about which see Pliny in Natural. East. III, 3. The name of the substance from which it was made came to us under the name of alabaster. , which means: flask. And why exactly for Elijah the prepared swagger of water should have contained only four xestas, and not 12, this is not clear from the Holy Scriptures. Κόπτεσθαι. Strictly speaking, κοτόλη in general is something deepened, hollowed out, and not cut. See about this in the note to pp. 41–43 of Part V of the works of St. Epiphany. Sauce boat, dish. Compare Matt. 23:25. Aporrima actually means: waste liquid, a vessel containing such liquid. Strictly speaking, in contains 12 xests. The name is Jewish. Compare Lion. 23:13; Number 15:4, etc. An ordinary khus and contains no more than 6 xests. The name is Greek, coming from χέω - pour. Compare Lion. 19:36; Job. 31:24. Here, of course, the Jewish sacred talent ( ), containing 3000 sacred shekels. See Ref. 25:39 ; Esther. 3:9, etc. Talent was considered worth its weight in gold and silver. The talent of gold was equal to our 20-30 thousand rubles, and the talent of silver was 2-3 thousand, since a shekel cost from 80 k. to 1 r. with our money. A mite is generally a small coin (Mark 12:42; Luke 12:59); but in the present case it probably means a small part of some coin, and not a specific coin constituting the 8th part of an ace. Shouldn't it read: from 10 or 12 Assarii? It is more consistent with what follows to assume 2 didrachms or 4 drachms. It is very possible that instead of: δίδραχμα it was written δ᾽ δραχμάς (– 4 drachmas). Shekel is a Hebrew word ( ) and in LXX it is constantly conveyed by the word: δίδραχμον. And since a drachma was from 20 to 25 kopecks in our money, then, apparently, a shekel was 40–50 kopecks. However, the sacred shekel is a different matter, which, according to the above, cost with our money from 80 k. to 1 r. and another thing is the common, popular shekel, which was cheaper than that. A drachma could not have the same weight as a shekel simply because the shekel contained more than one drachma. It is clear that there is either a misunderstanding or an error in the designation of the scales. The ovol was also copper: it had the measure of one ounce, by weight; if such an ovol had a monetary value, then it was the 48th part of an ounce and the 6th part of a drachma. But then the silver ovol had the same relation to the ounce and drachma. Explanation of St. Epiphanius, that at that time it was the 80th part of an ounce, is based on a text quoted from the book of Leviticus. The Hebrew shekel, which in the LXX is designated by a didrachm, was, as we noted above, almost twice as large as a didrachm. And the Hebrew: gerah, which was transferred to LXX by ovol (penyaz), is 1/5 part larger than ovol. LXX conveyed Jewish coin values ​​in this way so as not to complicate readers with accurate calculations of them using the commonly used Greek measures; and St. Epiphanius took them precisely as precise indications of these values. A copper ovol was equal to our 4–6 kopecks. Khalk or halkus (actually means: copper) constituted the 8th part of the ovol. See Pollux, X, 6. - Ezek. 45:12. The Jewish ordinary mina was made up of 60 shekels; and the sacred (compare 1 Kings 10:17 and 2 Chronicles 9:16) - from 100 shekels. Numm was a coin equal to 3 ovols and was used by the Dorians in Sicily and Magna Graecia. See Pollux, IX, 6. It was called Dichris because it was equal to two (δύο) gold (χρύσεος). Kedrin believes that the miliarisium was first minted by Scipio; but this guess has no historical basis. It was minted much later. The denarius was a small coin that had different values ​​at different times, so much so that later it was worth twice as much as before. Approximately it was the 10th part of a drachma and therefore 2–5 kopecks for our money. From this we can roughly judge the value of the follis. The capacity of the maris also varied at different times and in different places. In the last words, judging by the flow of speech, instead of: cyprus, you need to read: maris. But sat, with which collaf is compared in size, is a measure for granular, not liquid, substances. Congiary is by no means a word of Jewish origin, but a Latin one (from congius - congius, a measure for bulk substances), only entering the Jewish rabbinical language in the Christian period, like many other words. St. himself Epiphanius, with his last words, indicates that he derives the name: congiary from the Latin root; but precisely (not exactly) from congerere - to collect, connect, according to some similarity.