Nilus (3)
Nilus
the great river of Egypt, which even in the most ancient times received divine honors from the inhabitants of that country. This deity was more especially worshipped at Niopolis, where he had a temple. Herodotus mentions the priests of the Nile. Lucian says that its water was a common divinity to all of the Egyptians. From the monuments it appears that even the kings paid divine honors to the Nile. Champollion refers to a painting of the time of the reign of Rameses II. which exhibits this king offering wine to the gods of the Nile, who in the hieroglyphic inscription is called Hapi-Mun, the life-giving father of all existences. The passage which contains the praise of the god of the Nile represents him at the same time as the heavenly Nile, the primitive water, the great Nilus whom Cicero, in his De Natura Deorum, declares to be the father of the highest deities, even of Ammon. The sacredness which attached to the Nile among the ancient Egyptians is still preserved among the Arabs who have settled in Egypt, and who are accustomed to speak of the river as most holy. Mr. Bruce, in his travels in Abyssinia, mentions that it is called by the Agows Gzeir, Geesa, or Seir, the first of which terms signifies a god. It is also called Ab, father, and has many other names, all implying the most profound veneration. The idolatrous worship may have led to the question which the prophet Jeremiah asks: What hast thou to do in Egypt to drink of the waters of Sihor? or the waters profaned by idolatrous rites. See Hardwick, Christ and other Masters, 2:274, 298; Baur, Symbolik u. . Mythol. 1:171; 2:2, 419; Edinb. Rev. 1863, 2:104 sq.; Nichols, Brit. Museun, p. 97; Trevor, Anc. Egypt, p. 147. SEE NILOA.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Nilus (2)
(), ST., OF CONSTANTINOPLE, surnamed the ascetic and the monk, was a religious writer of the 5th century. He belonged to one of the most distinguished families in Constantinople, and rose to be governor of that city. He subsequently resigned his office, and with his son Theodulus retired into a monastery on Mount Sinai, while his wife and daughter went into an Egyptian nunnery. His son was killed in an attack of the Arabs against the convent, while St. Nilus escaped and lived until 450 or 451. He wrote a number of theological works, some of which are lost, and only known to us by some extracts from Photius, others were published separately at various times, but it is, only of late that what we possess of them has been published as a whole. The best edition is that of Suares, entitled Sancti Patris nostri Nili abbatis Tractatus seu opudla ex codicibus manuscriptis Vaticanis, Cassinentibus, Barberinis et Altcempsianis eruta J. M. Suaresius Greece nunc primum edidit, Latine vertit ac notis illustravit (Rome, 1673, fol.). The most important of Nilus’s works are advice on the manner of leading a Christian life: it is a compendium of practical theology; and , arranged for the use of Christians. Schweighauser gives this manual in the fifth volume of his edition of Epictetus. The letters of Nilus, one of his most important works, and treating generally of the same subjects as his, , were published by Possinus (Paris, 1657, 4to); a better edition, with a Latin translation by Leo Allatius, appeared at Rome (1668, fol.). The latest edition of Nilus’s complete works was published by Migne (Paris, 1860, roy. 8vo), under the title of S. P. N. Nili abbatis Opera qua reperiri potuerunt omnia, variorum curis olim, nemnpe Leonis Allatii, Petri Passini, etc., seorsim, edita, nuncprimum in unum collecta et ordinata. See Photius, Cod. p. 276; Nicephorus, Hist. Eccl. 14:54; Leo Allatius, Diatribe de Nilis et eorum scriptis, in his edition of the letters of Nilus, and in Fabricius, Bibl. Graeca, 10:3 sq. ed. Harless; Cave, Hist. Liter.; Tillemont, Mem. pour servir a 1’hist. ecclesiastique, xiv; Ceillier, list. des auteurs sacrss, 8:205 sq.; Richard and Giraud, Ribl. Sacroe, s.v.; Neander, Ch. Hist. 2:238, 241; 250-253 292, 670, 671. (J.N.P.)
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Nilus (3)
ST., Jun., an Italian monastic, sometimes called St. Nilus of Grotta Ferrata, was a Greek by birth, and came from the vicinity of Tarentum. He flourished near the close of the 10th century. He was engaged in secular pursuits when the loss of his wife turned his thoughts to God, and he became a Greek monk of the Order of St. Basil. He was soon made the superior of his community on account of his worth and learning. The chances of war drove him to the west of Italy, and he fled to the convent of Monte Cassino at Capua, which was of the Benedictine order. He was received with great kindness, and a small convent assigned to him and his followers by the abbot. At this time Capua was governed by Aloare, who was the widow of the prince of Capua, and reigned in the name and right of her two sons. This wicked mother had influenced her children to murder their cousin, who was a powerful and worthy nobleman. Now she was seized with the agony of remorse, and sought St. Nilus to confess her crime, and entreated absolution at his hands. He refused this, except upon condition that she should give up one of her sons to the family of the murdered man, to be dealt with as they saw fit. This she would not consent to do. Then St. Nilus pronounced her unforgiven, and told her that what she would not give, Heaven would soon exact of her. She offered him large sums of money, and begged him to pray for her; but he threw down her money in scorn and left her. Not long after this the younger son killed the elder in a church, and for this double crime of fratricide and sacrilege he was put to death by command of Hugh Capet.
Nilus afterwards went to Rome, and lived in a convent on the Aventine, where large numbers of sick people visited him, he working many and great miracles. Among others, his cure of an epileptic boy forms a subject for art. Crescentius was consul at this time, and John XVI, who was a Greek like St. Nilus, was pope. Then Otho III came to Rome and made a new pope, with the title of Gregory V. He put out the eyes of pope John, and laid siege to the castle of St. Angelo, to which Crescentius had retired. After a short siege the castle was given up on honorable terms; but not heeding these Otho ordered that Crescentius should be thrown headlong from the walls, and Stephania, his wife, given up to the outrages of the soldiers. So great was the influence of Nilus in Rome at this time that the emperor and the new pope endeavored to conciliate him, but he fearlessly rebuked them, and declared that the time would soon come when they should both seek mercy without finding it. He then left Rome. and went first to a cell near Gaeta, but soon after to a cave near Frascati, called the Crypta, or Grotta Ferrata. Pope Gregory died a miserable death soon after. Otho went on a pilgrimage to Monte Galgano. When returning he visited Nilus, and on his knees besought his prayers. He offered to erect a convent and endow it with lands, but this Nilus refused; and when Otho demanded what boon he could grant him, the saint stretched out his hand, and replied, I ask of thee but this: that thou wouldst make reparation of thy crimes before God, and save thine own soul! Soon after Otho returned to Rome he was obliged to fly from the fury of the people, and was poisoned by Stephania, the widow of Crescentius. When St. Nilus died, Sept. 26, A.D. 1002, he desired his brethren to bury him immediately, and to keel secret the place where they laid him. This they did but his disciple, Bartolomeo, built the convent which Nilus had not wished to do, and received the gifts he had refused. The magnificent convent and church of San Basilio of Grotta Ferrata was built, and St. Nilus is regarded as its founder. Their rule is that of St. Basil and their mass is recited in Greek, but they wear the Benedictine habit as a dependency of Monte Cassino. The finest Greek library in all Italy was here, and is now in the Vatican, and Julius II changed the convent to a fortress. In 1610, Domenichino was employed by cardinal Odoardo Farnese to decorate the chapel of-St. Nilus, which he did with paintings from the life of the saint.