FRITZSCHE, OTTO FRIDOLIN: German theologian, youngest son of Christian Friedrich Fritzsche; b. at Dobrilugk (66 m. s.s.w. of Frankfort), Prussia, Sept. 23, 1812; d. at Zurich Mar. 9, 1896. He studied at Halle and became privat-docent there in 1836, but in 1837 was called as professor of theology to the University of Zurich, where he was active in his official capacity until 1893. In 1837 he was also made librarian in the theological department of the library of the canton and in 1844 chief librarian of the same library. He lectured on New Testament exegesis and church history and wrote valuable books in these fields. His exegesis is based on the new principles in linguistic research advocated by Gottfried Hermann, his older brother Karl Friedrich August Fritzsche (q.v.) and Winer. His text editions contain extensive collections of different readings and critical introductions; his edition of the Apocrypha of the Old Testament (Leipsic, 1871) is the most comprehensive and important. Notwithstanding some objections that may be raised, it is the best edition now in existence. Its chief merit lies in the collection and systematic utilization of the material collected by Holmes and Parsons for the "Oxford Septuagint" (5 vols., 1789-1827; see BIBLE VERSIONS, A, I.), to which Fritzsche added the Codex Sinaiticus and the fragments of the Codex Ephraemi, while for Sirach, Baruch, the Epistle of Jeremiah, and the additions in Daniel he unfortunately did not compare the Codex Vaticanus. At the end of this text edition there are to be found some of the so-called Pseudepigrapha--the Psalms of Solomon, the Fourth and Fifth Books of Ezra, the Apocalypse of Baruch, and the Ascension of Moses. The Pseudepigrapha were also published separately (1871). Fritzsche also edited the double text of the Greek translation of the Book of Esther with the Greek additions (1848-49), the Greek translation of the Book of Ruth (1864) and of the Book of Judges (1866-67). Other publications belonging in the same category are--Probe einer kritischen Ausgabe der alten lateinischen Uehersetzung des Neuen Testamentes (1867), which consists of the text of the first five chapters of the Gospel of Luke; and the edition of the fragments of the old Latin translation of the Book of Judges as an appendix to the above-mentioned edition of the Greek translation of the Book of Judges. Of text editions belonging to the sphere of church history may be mentioned--Der Brief des Clemens an Jakobus in der lateinischen Uebersetzung des Rufinus (1873); Die Werke des Lactantius (1842); Theodors von Mopsuestia exegetische Schriften zum Neuen Testament samt den Fragmenten seiner Schrift: “De incarnation filii Dei” (1847); Anselm of Canterbury's Cur deus homo (3d. ed., 1893); Confessio Helvetica posterior (1839). He also prepared a biography of the Zurich theologian Johann Jakob Zimmermann (1841) and Glareanus, sein Leben and seine Schriften (1890). His principal work in exegesis is the Kurzgefasstes exegetisches Handbuch zu den Apokryphen des Alten Testamentes (6 vols., 1851-60), which he wrote with Willibald Grimm. It is still the best commentary on the Old Testament apocrypha. The first, second and fifth volumes are the work of Fritzsche; they comprise the third book of Ezra, the additions to Esther and Daniel, the Prayer of Manasseh, the Book of Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah in the first volume, the books of Tobit and Judith in the second and the book of Jesus Sirach in the fifth volume.

(VICTOR RYSSEL†.)