Wulfila

Wulfila or Ulfilas
Born	c. 311 in
Died	383 in Constantinople
Writings	translated the Bible into Gothic
Offices held	Bishop of the Goths
Children	(adopted) Auxentius of Durostorum

apostle of the Goths, missionary, translator of the Bible, and inventor of an alphabet, Wulfila (meaning "little wolf") (ca. 310 – 383; or Latin: Ulfilas/Ulphilas), bishop, missionary, and bible translator, was a Goth or half-Goth who had spent time inside the Roman Empire at the peak of the Arian controversy. Ulfilas was ordained a bishop by Eusebius of Nicomedia and returned to his people to work as a missionary. In 348, to escape religious persecution by a Gothic chief, probably Athanaric he obtained permission from Constantius II to immigrate with his flock of converts to Moesia and settle near Nicopolis ad Istrum, in what is now northern Bulgaria. There, Ulfilas translated the Bible from Greek into the Gothic language. For this he devised the Gothic alphabet. Fragments of his translation have survived, including the Codex Argenteus, in the University Library of Uppsala in Sweden.

His parents were of non-Gothic Anatolian origin but had been enslaved by Goths on horseback. Ulfilas converted many among the Goths, preaching an Arian Christianity, which, when they reached the western Mediterranean, set them apart from their overwhelmingly^{[citation needed]} "orthodox" (i.e. Trinitarian) neighbors and subjects.

Biography

Born probably in 311 Ulfilas was descended from Cappadocians captured, during raids in Asia Minor by the Goths from the north of the Danube. Though not from Teutonic ancestors, in speech and sympathies was thoroughly Gothic. Ulfilas seems to have been born into a Christian family, and as a young man he was sent by the Goths to Constantinople city either as a hostage or an ambassador. There, he held the position of lector in the church of Constantinople and was consecrated as a bishop at the age of 30 the celebrated Eusebius of Nicomedia, a celebrated Arian leader with high connections in the imperial court.

Shortly after his consecration he returned to Dacia as a missionary. During the remaining 40 years of his life he labored among his fellow-countrymen, teaching them the Christian faith, though not adhering to the Nicene Creed. The first eight or ten years of his missionary life were spent in Dacia, after which, because of the persecution of certain of his pagan countrymen he was compelled to seek refuge in Moesia, along with many of his Christian converts.

There, he conceived the idea of translating the Bible into the language of the Goths. The task demanded as a preliminary that he should invent a special alphabet. His familiarity with Greek made the task comparatively simple, with only a few letters being borrowed from other sources, either Runic or Latin.

Despite his many other activities, Ulfilas succeeded in translating "all the books of Scripture with the exception of the Books of Kings, which he omitted because they are a mere narrative of military exploits, and the Gothic tribes were especially fond of war, and were in more need of restraints to check their military passions than of spurs to urge them on to deeds of war" (Philostorgius, "Hist. eccl.", II, 5). He translated the books of the Old Testament from the Septuagint Greek version, and those of the New Testament from the original Greek.

Ulfilas was one of the bishops in attendance at the major church council at Constantinople in 360, where Bishop Acacius of Caesarea triumphed and the council issued its compromise creed as a substitute for the formulas of both the Nicene and the Arian parties. In an effort to end the bitter acrimony between the conflicting sects, the council decreed that neither the word "substance" (ousia) nor hypostasis (translated as "persona" in Latin) be used in theological creeds henceforth. The policy failed to win over the extreme partisans of either camp and was especially offensive to the Nicene party since it abrogated the canons of a previous ecumenical party. From this point on, Ulfilas would be considered by "orthodox" Christianity to be either an Arian or semi-Arianism Semi-Arian heretic.

The church historian Socrates Scholasticus attributes to Ulfilas the conversion of many of the Goths under the leadership of both Fritigernes and Athanaric. The latter, says Socrates, regarded this as "a violation of the privileges of the religion of his ancestors." Socrates is thus forced to admit that, under Ulfilas' influence "many of Arian Goths of that period became martyrs." (Church History Book IV)

Auxentius of Milan portrays Ulfilas not as an Arian per se, but probably as a semi-Arian who supported the council of Constantinople's view that neither homousios (same substance: the Nicene word) nor homoiousos (like substanc: the Arian word) should be used to describe the relationship between God the Father and God the Son.

Auxentius declared Ulfilas to be "verily a confessor of Christ, a teacher of piety and a preacher of truth," who never hesitated to preach the Gospel to people of all ranks. Auxentius credits Ulfilas with "scatter(ing) the sect of the Homousians (Nicene Christianity), because he believed not in confused and concrete persons, but in discrete and distinct ones." On the other, Ulfilas also put put the Homoiousians (Arians) to flight, "since they defended the assumption that they (the Son and the Father) were not of comparable but different substance."

Other heretics which Auxentius credits Ulfilas with opposing include: Manichaeans, Marcionists, Montanists, Novatianists, and Donatists, among others.

Auxentius further testifies that "by the kindness of God and the grace of Christ he reared me bodily and spiritually as a son in the faith."

Conflicting sources

There are five primary sources for the study of Ulfilas's life. Two are by Arian authors, three by Trinitarians.

• Arian sources
  • Life of Ulphilas in the Letter of Auxentius
  • Remaining fragments of Historia Ecclesiastica by Philostorgius
• Trinitarian sources
  • Historia Ecclesiastica by Sozomen
  • Historia Ecclesiastica by Socrates Scholasticus
  • Historia Ecclesiastica by Theodoret

There are significant differences between the stories presented by the two camps. The Arian sources depict Ulfilas as an Arian from childhood. He was then consecrated as a bishop around 340 and evangelized among the Goths for 7 years during the 340s. He then moved to Moesia (within the Roman Empire) under the protection of the Arian Emperor Constantius II. He later attended several councils and engaged in continuing religious debate. They date his death in 383.

The accounts by the Trinitarian historians differ in several details, but the general picture is similar. According to them, Ulfilas was an orthodox Christian for most of his early life. He was only converted to Arianism somewhere around 360, and then only because of political pressure from the pro-Arian ecclesiastical and governmental powers. The sources differ in how much they credit Ulfilas with the conversion of the Goths. Socrates Scholasticus gives Ulfilas a minor role, and instead attributes the mass conversion to the Gothic chieftain Fritigern, who adopted Arianism out of gratitude for the military support of the Arian emperor. Sozomen attributes the mass conversion primarily to Ulfilas, though he also acknowledges the role of Fritigern.

For several reasons, modern scholars depend more heavily on the Arian accounts than the Trinitarian accounts. Auxentius was clearly the closest to Ulfilas, and so presumably had access to more reliable information. The Trinitarian accounts differ too widely among themselves to present a unified case. Debate continues as to the best reconstruction of Ulfilas's life.

Legacy

It is unfortunate that the career of Ulfilas was marred by his adherence to the Arian heresy. It may be said in extenuation of this fault that he was a victim of circumstances in coming under none but Arian and semi-Arian influences during his residence at Constantinople; but he persisted in the error until the end of his life. The lack of orthodoxy deprived the work of Ulfilas of permanent influence and wrought havoc among some of his Teutonic converts. His labours were impressed not only on the Goths, but on other Teutonic peoples, and because of the heretical views they entertained they were unable to maintain themselves in the kingdoms which they established. Only a few chapters of Ulfilas's translation of the Old Testament are in existence. Of the New Testament we have the greater portion of the Gospels in the beautiful Silver Codex (a purple parchment with silver and gold letters) now at Upsala, and dating from the fifth century perhaps; nearly all of St. Paul's Epistles in a Milanese Codex edited by Cardinal Mai, and a large fragment of the Epistles to the Romans on a Wofenbüttel palimpsest.

Honours

Wulfila Glacier on Greenwich Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named for Bishop Ulfilas.

See also

• Attila
• Gothic Christianity
• Germanic Christianity

External links

• Jim Marchand's translation on Auxentius' letter on Ulfilas' career and beliefs, with Latin text
• Project Wulfila

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