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NEOPHYTE (Gr. veb4vros , from aios, n...

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 372 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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NEOPHYTE (Gr. veb4vros , from aios, new, 4vT6v, a plant, " newly planted ")  , a word used in the Eleusinian and other mysteries to designate the newly initiated, and in the See also:early See also:church applied to newly baptized persons . These usually wore the See also:white garments which they received at their See also:admission to the church (see See also:BAPTISM) for eight days, from See also:Easter See also:eve till the See also:Sunday after Easter (hence called See also:Dominica in albis), but they were subject to strict supervision for some See also:time longer and, on the authority of r Tim. iii . 6, were generally held ineligible for See also:election as bishops, a See also:rule to which, however, See also:history shows some notable exceptions, as in the cases of St See also:Ambrose at See also:Milan in 374 and See also:Synesius of See also:Cyrene at Ptolemais in 409, who were chosen bishops before they were even baptized . By the See also:council of See also:Nicaea (325) this rule was extended to the See also:priest-See also:hood . The See also:ancient discipline is still maintained in the See also:Roman Church, and applies to converts from See also:Christian sects as well as to those from heathenism . The See also:period, however, is deter-See also:mined by circumstances . The See also:term " See also:neophyte " is also some-times applied in the Roman Church to newly ordained priests, and even—though rarely—to novices of a religious See also:order . In a transferred sense the word is also given to one beginning to learn any new subject . See Bergier, Dict. de theologie, &v.; Martigny, Dict. See also:des antiquites, pp . 433–435; Siegel, Christliche Alterthumer, iii . 17 seq . ; Riddle, See also:Christ .

Antiquities, pp . 313, 522 ; See also:

Walcott, Sacred See also:Archaeology, s.v .

End of Article: NEOPHYTE (Gr. veb4vros , from aios, new, 4vT6v, a plant, " newly planted ")
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