1.
Etchmiadzin Cathedral
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Etchmiadzin Cathedral is the mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church, located in the city of Vagharshapat, Armenia. According to scholars it was the first cathedral built in ancient Armenia and it replaced a preexisting temple, symbolizing the conversion from paganism to Christianity. The core of the current building was built in 483/4 by Vahan Mamikonian after the cathedral was damaged in a Persian invasion. From its foundation until the half of the fifth century, Etchmiadzin was the seat of the Catholicos. Although never losing its significance, the cathedral subsequently suffered centuries of virtual neglect, in 1441 it was restored as catholicosate and remains as such to this day. Since then the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin has been the headquarters of the Armenian Church. Etchmiadzin was plundered by the Safavids in 1604, when relics, since then the cathedral has undergone a number of renovations. Belfries were added in the half of the seventeenth century. Today, it incorporates styles of different periods of Armenian architecture, diminished during the early Soviet period, Etchmiadzin revived again in the second half of the twentieth century, and under independent Armenia. As the main shrine of religious Christian Armenians worldwide, Etchmiadzin has been an important location in Armenia not only religiously, a major pilgrimage site, it is one of the most visited places in the country. Along with several important early churches located nearby, the cathedral was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000. According to tradition, the cathedral was built between 301 and 303 near the palace in then Armenian capital city of Vagharshapat, on the location of a pagan temple. The Kingdom of Armenia under Tiridates III became the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as a religion in 301. Hence, the patriarch gave the church the name of Etchmiadzin, however, the name Etchmiadzin did not come into use until the 15th century, while earlier sources call it Cathedral of Vagharshapat or simply Katoghike. Gregorys vision and the Cathedrals construction, based on these findings, Sahinian asserted that the original church had been a three-naved vaulted basilica, similar to the basilicas of Tekor, Ashtarak and Aparan. However, other scholars, have rejected Sahinians view, among them, Suren Yeremian and Armen Khatchatrian held that the original church had been in the form of a rectangle with a dome supported by four pillars. According to Faustus of Byzantium, the cathedral and the city of Vagharshapat were almost completely destroyed during the invasion of Persian King Shapur II in the 360s. Due to Armenias bad economic conditions, the cathedral was renovated by Catholicoi Nerses the Great, in 387, Armenia was partitioned between the Roman Empire and the Sasanian Empire
2.
Oriental Orthodox
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Oriental Orthodoxy has approximately 84 million adherents worldwide. Oriental Orthodox Churches uphold their own ancient ecclesiastic traditions of apostolic succession and these Churches rejected the definition of the two natures of Christ, known as the Chalcedonian Definition, which was issued by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The Eastern Orthodox maintain numerous theological and ecclesiological similarities with the Oriental Orthodox, the Oriental Orthodox Churches are in full communion with each other, but not with the Eastern Orthodox Church, despite the similar name. The schism between Oriental Orthodoxy and the Great Church was based on differences in Christology, the First Council of Nicaea, in 325, declared that Jesus Christ is God, that is to say, consubstantial with the Father. Later, the ecumenical council, the Council of Ephesus, declared that Jesus Christ, though divine as well as human, is only one being. Thus, the Council of Ephesus explicitly rejected Nestorianism, the Christological doctrine that Christ was two distinct beings, one divine and one human, who happened to inhabit the same body. The Churches that later became Oriental Orthodoxy were firmly anti-Nestorian, and those who opposed Chalcedon saw this as a concession to Nestorianism, or even as a conspiracy to convert the Church to Nestorianism by stealth. As a result, over the decades, they gradually separated from communion with the Great Church. Monophysitism was condemned as heretical alongside Nestorianism, and to accuse a church of being Monophysite is to accuse it of falling into the opposite extreme from Nestorianism, however, the Oriental Orthodox themselves reject this description as inaccurate, having officially condemned the teachings of both Nestorius and Eutyches. They define themselves as Miaphysite instead, holding that Christ has one nature, the schism between the Oriental Orthodox and the rest of Christendom occurred in the 5th century. They would accept only of or from two natures but not in two natures and it is not entirely clear that Nestorius himself was a Nestorian. The Oriental Orthodox churches were often called Monophysite, although they reject this label, as it is associated with Eutychian Monophysitism. It was not until 518 that the new Byzantine Emperor, Justin I, Justin ordered the replacement of all non-Chalcedonian bishops, including the patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria. The extent of the influence of the Bishop of Rome in this demand has been a matter of debate, Justinian I also attempted to bring those monks who still rejected the decision of the Council of Chalcedon into communion with the greater church. The exact time of event is unknown, but it is believed to have been between 535 and 548. St Abraham of Farshut was summoned to Constantinople and he chose to bring with him four monks, upon arrival, Justinian summoned them and informed them that they would either accept the decision of the Council or lose their positions. Abraham refused to entertain the idea, theodora tried to persuade Justinian to change his mind, seemingly to no avail. Abraham himself stated in a letter to his monks that he preferred to remain in exile rather than subscribe to a faith which he believed to be contrary to that of Athanasius of Alexandria
3.
Episcopal polity
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An episcopal polity is a hierarchical form of church governance in which the chief local authorities are called bishops. Churches with an episcopal polity are governed by bishops, practicing their authorities in the dioceses and conferences or synods, bishops are considered to derive their authority from an unbroken, personal apostolic succession from the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Bishops with such authority are said to represent the historical episcopate or historic episcopate, Churches with this type of government usually believe that the Church requires episcopal government as described in the New Testament. In some systems, bishops may be subject to higher-ranking bishops and they also meet in councils or synods. These gatherings, subject to presidency by higher ranking bishops, usually make important decisions, for much of the written history of institutional Christianity, episcopal government was the only known form of church organization. The definition of the word episcopal has variation among Christian traditions, there are subtle differences in governmental principles among episcopal churches at the present time. To some extent the separation of episcopal churches can be traced to these differences in ecclesiology, for some, episcopal churches are churches that use a hierarchy of bishops that regard themselves as being in an unbroken, personal apostolic succession. Episcopal is also used to distinguish between the various organizational structures of denominations. For instance, the word presbyterian is used to describe a church governed by a hierarchy of assemblies of elected elders, similarly, episcopal is used to describe a church governed by bishops. Self-governed local congregations, governed neither by elders nor bishops, are referred to as Congregational. More specifically, the title Episcopal is applied to several churches historically based within Anglicanism including those still in communion with the Church of England, many Methodist churches retain the form and function of episcopal polity, although in a modified form, called connexionalism. All orthodox Christians were in churches with a government, that is, one Church under local bishops. Writing between ca.85 and 110, St. Ignatius of Antioch, Patriarch of Antioch, was the earliest of the Church fathers to define the importance of episcopal government. Assuming Ignatius view was the Apostolic teaching and practice, the line of succession was unbroken and passed through the four ancient Patriarchal sees, Rome, Jerusalem, Antioch, some organizations, though aloof from the political wranglings of imperial Christianity, nevertheless also practiced episcopal polity. The single Roman Empire was divided between two autonomous administrative centers, Roman and Constantinopolitan, West and East, Latin speaking and Greek speaking. This remained the status quo through the fourth century, a deep chasm developed between the East and West, becoming critical around 350, known as the Aryan, or Nicene controversy. The Eastern Christian Churches were thought by Constantine to believe against the Trinity, Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, France, believed that the Eastern Church should be given the opportunity to, at least, be educated on the subject. Constantine, in his wisdom, and upset by disagreement, banished Hilary to the East and this truth became known in the West, though some differences lingered
4.
Catholicos of All Armenians
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The Catholicos of All Armenians is the chief bishop and spiritual leader of Armenias national church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, and the worldwide Armenian diaspora. According to tradition, the apostles Saint Thaddeus and Saint Bartholomew brought Christianity to Armenia in the first century, Saint Gregory the Illuminator became the first Catholicos of All Armenians following the nations adoption of Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD. The seat of the Catholicos, and the spiritual and administrative headquarters of the Armenian Church, is the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the Armenian Apostolic Church is part of the Oriental Orthodox communion that do not subscribe to the Christological formulas of the Council of Chalcedon. The current Catholicos is Karekin II, seats of the Catholicos of Armenians List of Catholicoi of Armenia Holy See of Cilicia List of Armenian Catholicoi of Cilicia Official site of The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin
5.
Karekin II
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Catholicos Karekin II is the current Catholicos of All Armenians, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. In 2013 he was elected the head of the World Council of Churches for the next eight years. Karekin II was born as Ktrij Nersessian in Voskehat, Armenia and he entered the Gevorkian Theological Seminary at Echmiadzin in 1965 and graduated with honors in 1971. He was ordained to the diaconate in 1970, later he became a monk and was ordained a priest in 1972. In the late 1970s the Catholicos of that encouraged him to study outside of Armenia. This led to him continuing his studies in Vienna, Bonn University, on October 23,1983, he was consecrated bishop at Echmiadzin. He became an archbishop in 1992, Karekin II speaks fluent German from his time in Germany and Austria. In 1975 during his time in Cologne he was the representative of nine Armenian congregations in Germany. In 1988 Karekin took a role in helping his people overcome the Armenian earthquake. He oversaw the construction of a number of churches and schools in Armenia and he also showed an interest in using modern technology and telecommunications to help the life of his churches as well as dealing with the legacies of the Soviet era. On 27 October 1999 he was elected the 132nd Catholicos of All Armenians at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and his relations with Pope John Paul II were generally positive. When the Pope visited Armenia in 2001, he stayed with the Catholicos, in 2006 Karekin made a week-long visit to Istanbul, Turkey, to meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and to visit the citys Armenian community. During his visit he caused controversy by speaking out about the Armenian Genocide, which Turkey vehemently denies, in October 2007, he began a second visit to the United States. On October 10,2007, he offered the prayer for the days session of the United States House of Representatives. His ecumenical trip to India to meet Baselios Thoma Didymos I, Catholicos of the East in November 2008, on 26 June 2016, Catholicos Karekin and Pope Francis signed a joint declaration on the family. The declaration also took note of various positive steps taken towards unity between the two churches, and acknowledged the successful new phase in relations between them. It also lamented immense tragedy of the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, the Pope
6.
Armenia
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Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a sovereign state in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. The Republic of Armenia constitutes only one-tenth of historical Armenia, Armenia is a unitary, multi-party, democratic nation-state with an ancient cultural heritage. Urartu was established in 860 BC and by the 6th century BC it was replaced by the Satrapy of Armenia, in the 1st century BC the Kingdom of Armenia reached its height under Tigranes the Great. Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion, in between the late 3rd century to early years of the 4th century, the state became the first Christian nation. The official date of adoption of Christianity is 301 AD. The ancient Armenian kingdom was split between the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires around the early 5th century, under the Bagratuni dynasty, the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia was restored in the 9th century. Declining due to the wars against the Byzantines, the fell in 1045. An Armenian principality and later a kingdom Cilician Armenia was located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea between the 11th and 14th centuries. By the 19th century, Eastern Armenia had been conquered by the Russian Empire, during World War I, Armenians living in their ancestral lands in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated in the Armenian Genocide. By 1920, the state was incorporated into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, in 1936, the Transcaucasian state was dissolved, transforming its constituent states, including the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, into full Union republics. The modern Republic of Armenia became independent in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Armenia recognises the Armenian Apostolic Church, the worlds oldest national church, as the countrys primary religious establishment. The unique Armenian alphabet was invented by Mesrop Mashtots in 405 AD, Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Council of Europe and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Armenia supports the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which was proclaimed in 1991, the native Armenian name for the country is Հայք. The name in the Middle Ages was extended to Հայաստան, by addition of the Persian suffix -stan, the further origin of the name is uncertain. It is also postulated that the name Hay comes from one of the two confederated, Hittite vassal states—the Ḫayaša-Azzi. The exonym Armenia is attested in the Old Persian Behistun Inscription as Armina, the ancient Greek terms Ἀρμενία and Ἀρμένιοι are first mentioned by Hecataeus of Miletus. Xenophon, a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and he relates that the people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians. According to the histories of both Moses of Chorene and Michael Chamchian, Armenia derives from the name of Aram, a descendant of Hayk
7.
Armenian diaspora
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The Armenian diaspora refers to the communities of Armenians outside the Republic of Armenia including the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Since antiquity, Armenians have established communities in regions throughout the world. In Armenian, the diaspora is referred to as spyurk, spelled սփիւռք in classical orthography, in the past, the word gaghut was used mostly to refer to the Armenian communities outside the Armenian homeland. It is borrowed from the Aramaic cognate of Hebrew galut, the Armenian diaspora has been present for over seventeen hundred years. The modern Armenian diaspora was formed largely after World War I as a result of the Armenian Genocide, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish nationalists led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk took the region of Western Armenia. As a result of the Armenian Genocide, Armenians were forced to flee to different parts of the world, through marriage and procreation, the number of Armenians in the diaspora who trace their lineage to those Armenians who survived and fled Western Armenia is now several million. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, approximately one million Armenians have joined the diaspora largely as a result of economic conditions in Armenia. Jivan Tabibian, an Armenian scholar and former diplomat in Armenia said, Armenians are not place bound, in the fourth century, Armenian communities already existed outside of Greater Armenia. Diasporic Armenian communities emerged in the Sassanid and Persian empires, in order to populate the less populated areas of Byzantium, Armenians were relocated to those regions. Some Armenians converted to Greek Orthodoxy while retaining Armenian as their language, a growing number of Armenians voluntarily migrated or were compelled to move to Cilicia during the course of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. After the fall of the kingdom to the Mamelukes and loss of Armenian statehood in 1375, up to 150,000 went to Cyprus, the Balkans, and Italy. Although an Armenian diaspora existed during Antiquity and the Middle Ages, it grew in size due to emigration from the Ottoman Empire, Iran, Russia, and the Caucasus. The Armenian diaspora is divided into two communities – those from Ottoman Armenia and those who are from the former Soviet Union, the independent Republic of Armenia and Iran. Armenians of the modern Republic of Turkey do not consider themselves as part of the Armenian Diaspora, the Armenian diaspora grew considerably during and after the First World War due to dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Although many Armenians perished during the Armenian Genocide, some of the Armenians managed to escape, the total Armenian population living worldwide is estimated to be 11,000,000. Of those, approximately 3 million live in Armenia,130,000 in the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and 120,000 in the region of Javakhk in neighboring Georgia and this leaves approximately 7,000,000 in diaspora. Less than one third of the worlds Armenian population lives in Armenia, the table below lists countries and territories where at least a few Armenians live, with their number according to official data and estimates by various organizations and media. Estimates may vary greatly, because no data are available for some countries
8.
Classical Armenian
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Classical Armenian is the oldest attested form of the Armenian language. It was first written down at the beginning of the 5th century, many ancient manuscripts originally written in Ancient Greek, Persian, Hebrew, Syriac and Latin survive only in Armenian translation. Classical Armenian continues to be the language of the Armenian Apostolic Church and is often learned by Biblical, Intertestamental. Classical Armenian is also important for the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European language, there are seven monophthongs, /a/, /i/, /ə/ or schwa, /ɛ/ or open e, /e/ or closed e, /o/, and /u/. The vowel transcribed u is spelled using the Armenian letters for ow, there are also traditionally six diphthongs, ay, aw, ea, ew, iw, oy. In the following table is the Classical Armenian consonantal system, each phoneme has three symbols in the table. The letter f was introduced in the Medieval Period to represent the foreign sound /f/, list of Armenian writers Proto-Armenian language Armenian alphabet Adjarian, Hrachia. Etymological Root Dictionary of the Armenian Language, esquisse d’une grammaire comparée de l’arménien classique. An Introduction to the Study of Classical Armenian, wiesbaden, Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag,1975 Classical Armenian Online New Dictionary of the Armenian Language, Venice 1836-1837. The seminal dictionary of Classical Armenian, includes Armenian to Latin, and Armenian to Greek. Pocket Dictionary of the Armenian Language, Venice 1865, grabar Dictionary, Ruben Ghazarian, Yerevan,2000. Grabar Thesaurus, Ruben Ghazarian, Yerevan,2006, a grammar, Armenian and English by Paschal Aucher and Lord Byron
9.
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin
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Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, is the administrative headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Pontifical Residence of the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians. Covering an area of around 150,000 m², the complex includes the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin was built by Saint Gregory the Illuminator in 301–303. The Etchmiadzin Cathedral is the oldest church built by a state in the world, according to the 5th-century Armenian annals, Saint Gregory had a vision of Christ descending from heaven and striking the earth with a golden hammer to show where the cathedral should be built. Hence, the patriarch gave the church and the city the new name of Echmiadzin, in 480, Vahan Mamikonian, the Sassanian governor of Armenia, ordered the dilapidated basilica to be replaced with a new cruciform church. In 618, the dome was replaced with a stone one. This was the church much as it is today, murals in the interior and extravagant rotundas surmounting the apses appeared in the early 18th century. Between 1654 and 1658, the main three-tier belfry at the entrance of the cathedral was erected, saints Vartan and Hovhannes Baptistery, a chapel located north of the Mother Cathedral and designated for baptism ceremonies. The three-domed chapel was designed by architects Jim Torosyan and Romeo Julhakyan, the chapel was consecrated on 26 September 2008 and the construction was funded by the British-Armenian philanthropist Armen Sarkissian. Church of the Holy Archangels, built between 2009 and 2011, located in the yard of Gevorkian Seminary building, the single-domed church was consecrated on 5 November 2011. It was designed by architect Jim Torosyan, the construction work was funded by the Armenian philanthropist Gagik Galstyan. Veharan Pontifical Residence, the construction of the building started on 6 June 1910 and it consists of the administrative offices of the Catholicos, the pontifical residence quarters, meeting rooms and a treasury-museum. After World War I, it was used by the Soviets as a base until 1956. Ghazarapat Deacons residence, built in mid 18th century and located to the south of the Cathedral, yeremian cells monastic residence, constructed in 1889 through the efforts of bishop Yeremia Galustian. The building serves as residence of the members of the Brotherhood of Holy Etchmiadzin. Vanatoon monastic guest house, three-storied building opened in 1978 designated to serve the visiting clergymen, Seminary Dormitories, adjacent to the Gevorkian Seminary, opened in 1997. New Monastic Residence, consecrated on 31 August 2002, an L-shaped structure connected to the old Monastic Residence, Gevorkian Theological Seminary, built in 1874 by Catholicos Gevork IV. A new extension designed by architect Jim Torosyan was connected to the old building in 2013, karekin I Centre of Theology and Armenology, functioning since 26 June 2000. The new building was opened on 28 September 2015
10.
Vagharshapat
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Between 1945 and 1995, the city was officially known as Ejmiatsin which is still commonly used colloquially and in official bureaucracy. It is thus known as a holy city. The 1989 census counted the population of the city as 61,000, the number has declined somewhat since, showing 58,388 in the 2001 census, and 46,540 in 2011. According to Movses Khorenatsi, the area of Vagharshapat was known as Artimed, derived from the ancient Greek deity Artemis. Later, it was renamed Avan Vardgesi or Vardgesavan by prince Vardges Manouk who rebuilt the settlement near the shores of Kasagh River, during the reign of king Orontes I Sakavakyats of Armenia. However, in his first book Wars of Justinian, the Byzantine historian Procopius has cited to the city as Valashabad, the name evolved into its later form by the shift in the medial L into a Gh, which is common in the Armenian language. Movses Khorenatsi mentioned that the Town of Vardges was entirely rebuilt and fenced by king Vagharsh I to become known as Noarakaghak, the territory of ancient Vagharshapat was inhabited since the 3rd millennium BC. Many sites, such as Metsamor Castle, Shresh hill and Mokhrablur hill date back to the neolithic period, the first written records about Vagharshapat were found in the inscriptions left by the Urartian king Rusa II, where it was mentioned as Kuarlini. The inscription found in the site of ancient Vagharshapat cites to a water canal opened by king Rusa II. According to Movses Khorenatsi, the oldest name of Vagharshapat was Artimed, derived from the ancient Greek deity Artemis. Later, it was renamed Avan Vardgesi or Vardgesavan after being rebuilt by prince Vardges Manouk near the shores of Kasagh River, under the reign of king Tigranes the Great, the town was partly inhabited by Jewish captives. In the first half of the 1st century AD, under the reign of the Armenian Arsacid king Vagharsh I of Armenia, in his first book Wars of Justinian, the Byzantine historian Procopius has cited to the city as Valashabad, named after king Valash of Armenia. The name evolved into its form by the shift in the medial L into a Gh. Movses Khorenatsi mentioned that the Town of Vardges was entirely rebuilt and fenced by king Vagharsh I to become known as Noarakaghak, Vagharshapat has served as the capital of the Arsacid Kingdom of Armenia between 120 AD and 330 AD. As a spiritual centre of the entire Armenian nation, Vagharshapat has grown up rapidly and developed as an important centre of education, the city was home to one of the oldest educational institutions in Armenia founded by Mesrop Mashtots. The political capital of the Armenian kingdom was transferred to the city of Dvin in 336, Vagharshapat maintained its status as the countrys most important city until the fall of the Arsacid Kingdom in 428. The city has gradually lost its importance under the Persian rule, however, the first manuscript library in Armenia was founded in 480 in Vagharshapat. In 491, Catholicos Babken I of Armenia, along with the Albanian and Iberian bishops met in Vagharshapat, in 658 AD, Vagharshapat, along with the rest of the Ancient Armenian Highland, was conquered by the Arabs
11.
Gregory the Illuminator
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Saint Gregory the Illuminator is the patron saint and first official head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He was a leader who is credited with converting Armenia from paganism to Christianity in 301. Armenia thus became the first nation to adopt Christianity as its official religion, Gregory was the son of the Armenian Parthian nobles Anak the Parthian and Okohe. His father Anak, was a Prince said to be related to the Arsacid Kings of Armenia or was from the House of Suren, Anak was charged with assassinating Khosrov II, one of the kings of the Arsacid dynasty and was put to death. Gregory narrowly escaped execution with the help of Sopia and Yevtagh and he was taken to Caesarea in Cappadocia where Sopia and Yevtagh hoped to raise him. Gregory was given to the Christian Holy Father Phirmilianos to be educated and was brought up as a devout Christian, upon coming of age, Gregory married a woman called Miriam, a devout Christian who was the daughter of a Christian Armenian Prince in Cappadocia. From their union, Miriam bore Gregory two children, their sons Vrtanes and Aristaces, through Vrtanes, Gregory and Miriam would have further descendants and when Gregory died, Aristaces succeeded him. At some point Miriam and Gregory separated in order that Gregory might take up a monastic life, Gregory left Cappadocia and went to Armenia in the hope of atoning for his fathers crime by evangelizing his homeland. At that time Tiridates III, son of the late King Khosrov II, Gregory was eventually called forth from his pit in c.297 to restore to sanity Tiridates III, who had lost all reason after he was betrayed by Roman emperor Diocletian. Diocletian invaded and vast amounts of territory from western provinces of Greater Armenia became protectorates of Rome, in 301 Gregory baptized Tiridates III along with members of the royal court and upper class as Christians. Tiridates III issued a decree by which he granted Gregory full rights to begin carrying out the conversion of the nation to the Christian faith. The same year Armenia became the first country to adopt Christianity as its state religion, the newly built cathedral, the Mother Church in Etchmiadzin became and remains the spiritual and cultural center of Armenian Christianity and center of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Most Armenians were baptized in Aratsani and Yeraskh rivers, two princes from Ujjain, India had founded a large kingdom in Armenia in 165 BCE and they established 22 cities covering most of modern Armenia. According to Zenob Glak, one of the first disciples of Gregory the Illuminator, the saint of Armenia. In 302, Gregory received consecration as Patriarch of Armenia from Leontius of Caesarea, in his later years, Gregory withdrew to a small sanctuary near Mount Sebuh in the Daranali province with a small convent of monks, where he remained until his death. After his death his corpse was removed to the village of Thodanum and his remains were scattered near and far in the reign of the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno. His head is believed to be now in Armenia, his hand at Echmiadzin. In the 8th century, the iconoclast decrees in Greece caused a number of orders to flee the Byzantine Empire
12.
Apostles
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In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles, were the primary historical disciples of Jesus, the central figure in Christianity. During the life and ministry of Jesus in the 1st century AD, the word disciple is sometimes used interchangeably with apostle, for instance, the Gospel of John makes no distinction between the two terms. In modern usage, prominent missionaries are often called apostles, a practice which stems from the Latin equivalent of apostle, i. e. missio, for example, Saint Patrick was the Apostle of Ireland, and Saint Boniface was the Apostle to the Germans. The commissioning of the Twelve Apostles during the ministry of Jesus is recorded in the Synoptic Gospels, after his resurrection, Jesus sent 11 of them by the Great Commission to spread his teachings to all nations. This event is called the Dispersion of the Apostles. There is also an Eastern Christian tradition derived from the Gospel of Luke of there having been as many as 70 apostles during the time of Jesus ministry. Prominent figures in early Christianity, notably Paul, were called apostles. The period of early Christianity during the lifetimes of the apostles is called the Apostolic Age, during the 1st century AD, the apostles established churches throughout the territories of the Roman Empire and, according to tradition, through the Middle East, Africa, and India. In his writings, the epistles to Christian churches throughout the Levant, Paul did not restrict the term apostle to the Twelve, the restricted usage appears in the Revelation to John. By the 2nd century AD, association with the apostles was esteemed as an evidence of authority, Churches which are believed to have been founded by one of the apostles are known as apostolic sees. Pauls epistles were accepted as scripture, and two of the four gospels were associated with apostles, as were other New Testament works. Various Christian texts, such as the Didache and the Apostolic Constitutions, were attributed to the apostles, bishops traced their lines of succession back to individual apostles, who were said to have dispersed from Jerusalem and established churches across great territories. Christian bishops have traditionally claimed authority deriving, by apostolic succession, early Church Fathers who came to be associated with apostles, such as Pope Clement I with St. Peter, are referred to as the Apostolic Fathers. The Apostles Creed, popular in the West, was said to have composed by the apostles themselves. The word apostle comes from the Greek word ἀπόστολος, formed from the prefix ἀπό- and root στέλλω and originally meaning messenger and it has, however, a stronger sense than the word messenger, and is closer to a delegate. The Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament argues that its Christian use translated a Jewish position known in Hebrew as the sheliach and this ecclesiastical meaning of the word was later translated into Latin as missio, the source of the English missionary. In the New Testament, the names of the majority of the apostles are Hebrew names, Mark 6, 7-13 states that Jesus initially sent out these twelve in pairs to towns in Galilee. The text states that their initial instructions were to heal the sick and their carrying of just a staff is sometimes given as the reason for the use by Christian bishops of a staff of office in those denominations that believe they maintain an apostolic succession
13.
Bartholomew the Apostle
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Bartholomew was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. According to the Synaxarium of the Coptic Orthodox Church, his martyrdom is commemorated on the first day of the Coptic Calendar, which currently falls on September 11. His feast is June 11 in Eastern Christianity and August 24 in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, Anglican Communion, Bartholomew comes from the Aramaic meaning son of Talmai or son of the furrows. Nathanael is mentioned only in the Gospel according to John, giuseppe Simone Assemani specifically remarks, the Chaldeans confound Bartholomew with Nathaniel. Some Biblical scholars reject this identification, however, Eusebius of Caesareas Ecclesiastical History states that after the Ascension, Bartholomew went on a missionary tour to India, where he left behind a copy of the Gospel of Matthew. Other traditions record him as serving as a missionary in Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, Parthia, popular traditions and legends say that Bartholomew preached the Gospel in India, then went to Greater Armenia. Two ancient testimonies exist about the mission of Saint Bartholomew in India and these are of Eusebius of Caesarea and of Saint Jerome. Both of these refer to this tradition while speaking of the visit of Pantaenus to India in the 2nd century. Along with his fellow apostle Jude Thaddeus, Bartholomew is reputed to have brought Christianity to Armenia in the 1st century, thus, both saints are considered the patron saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He is said to have been martyred in Albanopolis in Armenia, according to one account, he was beheaded, but a more popular tradition holds that he was flayed alive and crucified, head downward. He is said to have converted Polymius, the king of Armenia, astyages, Polymius brother, consequently ordered Bartholomews execution. The 13th century Saint Bartholomew Monastery was a prominent Armenian monastery constructed at the site of the martyrdom of Apostle Bartholomew in the Vaspurakan Province of Greater Armenia. The 6th-century writer in Constantinople, Theodorus Lector, averred that in about 507 Emperor Anastasius gave the body of Bartholomew to the city of Dura-Europos, which he had recently re-founded. A small part of the relics was given in 983 by Holy Roman Emperor Otto II to Rome where it is conserved at the basilica of San Bartolomeo allIsola, in time, the church there inherited an old pagan medical centre. This association with medicine in course of time caused Bartholomews name to become associated with medicine, some of Bartholomews alleged skull was transferred to the Frankfurt Cathedral, while an arm was venerated in Canterbury Cathedral. Of the many miracles performed by Bartholomew before and after his death, the people of Lipari celebrated his feast day annually. The tradition of the people was to take the silver and gold statue from inside the Cathedral of St Bartholomew. On one occasion, when taking the statue down the hill towards the town, when the men carrying the statue regained their strength, they lifted it a second time
14.
Jude the Apostle
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Jude, also known as Judas Thaddaeus, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is generally identified with Thaddeus, and is variously called Jude of James, Jude Thaddaeus. He is sometimes identified with Jude, the brother of Jesus, but is distinguished from Judas Iscariot. Judas Thaddaeus became known as Jude after early translators of the New Testament from Greek into English sought to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot, most versions of the New Testament in languages other than English and French refer to Judas and Jude by the same name. The Armenian Apostolic Church honors Thaddeus along with Saint Bartholomew as its patron saints, in the Roman Catholic Church, he is the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes. Saint Judes attribute is a club and he is also often shown in icons with a flame around his head. This represents his presence at Pentecost, when he received the Holy Spirit with the other apostles, another common attribute is Jude holding an image of Jesus Christ, in the Image of Edessa. In some instances, he may be shown with a scroll or a book or holding a carpenters rule, Jude is clearly distinguished from Judas Iscariot, another apostle and later the betrayer of Jesus. Both Jude and Judas are translations of the name Ὶούδας in the Greek original New Testament, which in turn is a Greek variant of Judah, in most Bibles in languages other than English and French, Jude and Judas are referred to by the same name. Jude of James is only mentioned twice in the New Testament, in the lists of apostles in Luke 6,16, the Epistle of Jude states that it was written by Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. The name by which Luke calls the Apostle, Jude of James, is ambiguous as to the relationship of Jude to this James, though such a construction sometimes connoted a relationship of father and son, it has been traditionally interpreted as Jude, brother of James. Although some modern Protestants identify him as Jude, son of James, in the King James Version and Revised Standard Version he is Judas the brother of James. The Gospel of John also once mentions a disciple called Judas, not the Iscariot, who asks Jesus, Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world. This is often accepted to be the person as the apostle Jude. In some Latin manuscripts of Matthew 10,3, he is called Judas the Zealot, in the apostolic lists at Matthew 10,3 and Mark 3,18, Jude is omitted, but there is a Thaddeus listed in his place. This has led many Christians since early times to harmonize the lists by positing a Jude Thaddeus and this is made plausible by the fact that Thaddeus seems to be a nickname. A further complication is the fact that the name Judas was tarnished by Judas Iscariot and it has been argued that for this reason it is unsurprising that Mark and Matthew refer to him by an alternate name. Some Biblical scholars reject this theory, however, holding that Jude, Thaddeus, one of the twelve apostles, is often indistinguishable from Thaddeus of Edessa, one of the Seventy Disciples
15.
Apostolic succession
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This series was seen originally as that of the bishops of a particular see founded by one or more of the apostles. Those who hold for the importance of apostolic succession via episcopal laying on of hands appeal to the New Testament and they appeal as well to other documents of the early Church, especially the Epistle of Clement. Each of these groups does not necessarily consider consecration of the groups as valid. However, some Protestants deny the need for this type of continuity, and these denominations, instead, hold that apostolic succession is understood as a continuity in doctrinal teaching from the time of the apostles to the present. The bishops were also successors of the apostles in that the functions they performed of preaching, governing and ordaining were the same as the Apostles had performed. It is also used to signify that grace is transmitted from the Apostles by each generation of bishops through the imposition of hands. Some Anglicans, in addition to other Protestants, held that apostolic succession may also be understood as a continuity in teaching from the time of the apostles to the present. To fulfil this mission, Christ. Promised the Holy Spirit to the apostles, enriched by Christ the Lord with a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This spiritual gift has been transmitted down to us by episcopal consecration, how the development of apostolic government is difficult to say accurately because of the absence of certain documents. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop and he uses both bishop and presbyter to refer to these men. That this succession depended on the fact of ordination to a vacant see, on the contrary, other sources clearly state that Mark the Evangelist is the first bishop of Alexandria, then he ordained Annianus as his successor bishop as told by Eusebius. He warns that this is open to the objection that it makes grace a material commodity. He adds that the idea cannot be squeezed out of Irenaeus words, cyprian also laid great emphasis on the fact that any minister who broke with the Church lost ipso facto the gift of the Spirit which had validated his orders. This meant that the minister would had no power or authority to celebrate an efficacious sacrament and they hold that this lineage of ordination derives from the Twelve Apostles, thus making the Church the continuation of the early Apostolic Christian community. Cyprian also asserts that if any one is not with the bishop and we must necessarily consider none to be really ordained who have not thus been ordained. Raymond E. Brown says that in the stage there were plural bishops or overseers in an individual community. Brown asserts that the ministry was not ordained by the Church to act on its own authority, but as an important part to continue the ministry of Jesus Christ and helps to make the Church what it is
16.
Schism
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A schism is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a religious body. It is also used of a split within an organization or movement or, more broadly. A schismatic is a person who creates or incites schism in an organization or who is a member of a splinter group. Schismatic as an adjective pertaining to a schism or schisms, or to those ideas, policies. In religion, the charge of schism is distinguished from that of heresy, since the offence of schism concerns not differences of belief or doctrine but promotion of, or the state of, however, schisms frequently involve mutual accusations of heresy. In Roman Catholic teaching, every heresy is a schism, while there may be some free of the added guilt of heresy. Liberal Protestantism, however, has often preferred heresy over schism, mcCord drew a distinction between them, teaching, If you must make a choice between heresy and schism, always choose heresy. As a schismatic, you have torn and divided the body of Christ, in Buddhism, the first schism was set up by Devadatta, during Buddhas life. This schism lasted only a short time, later, the early Buddhist schools came into being, but were not schismatic, only focusing on different interpretations for the same monastic community. In the old texts,18 or 20 early schools are mentioned, later, there were the Mahayana and Vajrayana movements, which can be regarded as being schismatic in origin. Each school has various subgroups, which often are schismatic in origin, for example, in Thai Theravadin Buddhism there are two groups, of which the Dhammayut has its origin partly in the Mahanikaya, and is the new and schismatic group. Both Mahanikaya and Dhammayut have many subgroups, which usually do not have schismatic origins, Tibetan Buddhism has seen schisms in the past, of which most were healed, although the Drukpa school centred in Bhutan perhaps remains in a state of schism from the other Tibetan schools. The words schism and schismatic have found their heaviest usage in the history of Christianity, to denote splits within a church and these words have been used to denote both the phenomenon of Christian group splintering in general, and certain significant historical splits in particular. A distinction is made between heresy and schism, heresy is rejection of a doctrine that a Church considered to be essential. But, when for any reason people withdraw from communion, two distinct ecclesiastical entities may result, each of which then, or at least some of its members, may accuse the other of heresy. In Roman Catholic Church canon law, an act of schism, like an act of apostasy or heresy, as stated in canon 1312 §1 1° of the Code of Canon Law, this penalty is intended to be medicinal, so as to lead to restoration of unity. This nuanced view applies especially to the Churches of Eastern Christianity, the First Council of Nicaea distinguished between schism and heresy
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Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
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The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is one of the fourteen autocephalous churches that together compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is headed by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, currently Bartholomew I, from that time, the importance of the church there grew, along with the influence of its bishop. With the development of the structure of the Church, the bishop of Constantinople came to be styled as exarch. Constantinople was recognized as the patriarchate at the First Council of Constantinople in 381, after Antioch, Alexandria. The patriarch was usually appointed by Antioch, in turn, the affairs of the Constantinopolitan church were overseen not just by the patriarch, but also by synods held including visiting bishops. This pan-Orthodox synod came to be referred to as the ενδημουσα συνοδος, the resident synod not only governed the business of the patriarchate but also examined questions pertinent to the whole Church as well as the eastern half of the old empire. As the Roman Empire stabilized and grew, so did the influence of the patriarchate at its capital, the council resulted in a schism with the Patriarchate of Alexandria. The cathedral church of Constantinople, Hagia Sophia, was the center of life in the eastern Christian world. In history and in literature, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has been granted certain prerogatives which other autocephalous Orthodox churches do not have. Not all of these prerogatives are today universally acknowledged, though all do have precedents in history and canonical references. The emperor Leo III issued a decree in 726 against images, and ordered the destruction of an image of Christ over one of the doors of the Chalke, an act which was fiercely resisted by the citizens. Following the death of his son Leo IV in 780, the empress Irene restored the veneration of images through the agency of the Second Council of Nicaea in 787. The iconoclast controversy returned in the early 9th century, only to be resolved once more in 843 during the regency of Empress Theodora and these controversies contributed to the deterioration of relations between the Western and the Eastern Churches. Most of the causes of the Great Schism, however, are far less grandiose than the famous Filioque. The relations between the papacy and the Byzantine court were good in the leading up to 1054. The emperor Constantine IX and the Pope Leo IX were allied through the mediation of the Lombard catepan of Italy, Argyrus, who had spent years in Constantinople, originally as a political prisoner. Patriarch Michael I ordered a letter to be written to the bishop of Trani in which he attacked the Judaistic practices of the West, the letter was to be sent by John to all the bishops of the West, including the Pope. Although he was hot-headed, Michael was convinced to cool the debate, however, Humbert and the pope made no concessions and the former was sent with legatine powers to the imperial capital to solve the questions raised once and for all
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Oriental Orthodoxy
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Oriental Orthodoxy has approximately 84 million adherents worldwide. Oriental Orthodox Churches uphold their own ancient ecclesiastic traditions of apostolic succession and these Churches rejected the definition of the two natures of Christ, known as the Chalcedonian Definition, which was issued by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The Eastern Orthodox maintain numerous theological and ecclesiological similarities with the Oriental Orthodox, the Oriental Orthodox Churches are in full communion with each other, but not with the Eastern Orthodox Church, despite the similar name. The schism between Oriental Orthodoxy and the Great Church was based on differences in Christology, the First Council of Nicaea, in 325, declared that Jesus Christ is God, that is to say, consubstantial with the Father. Later, the ecumenical council, the Council of Ephesus, declared that Jesus Christ, though divine as well as human, is only one being. Thus, the Council of Ephesus explicitly rejected Nestorianism, the Christological doctrine that Christ was two distinct beings, one divine and one human, who happened to inhabit the same body. The Churches that later became Oriental Orthodoxy were firmly anti-Nestorian, and those who opposed Chalcedon saw this as a concession to Nestorianism, or even as a conspiracy to convert the Church to Nestorianism by stealth. As a result, over the decades, they gradually separated from communion with the Great Church. Monophysitism was condemned as heretical alongside Nestorianism, and to accuse a church of being Monophysite is to accuse it of falling into the opposite extreme from Nestorianism, however, the Oriental Orthodox themselves reject this description as inaccurate, having officially condemned the teachings of both Nestorius and Eutyches. They define themselves as Miaphysite instead, holding that Christ has one nature, the schism between the Oriental Orthodox and the rest of Christendom occurred in the 5th century. They would accept only of or from two natures but not in two natures and it is not entirely clear that Nestorius himself was a Nestorian. The Oriental Orthodox churches were often called Monophysite, although they reject this label, as it is associated with Eutychian Monophysitism. It was not until 518 that the new Byzantine Emperor, Justin I, Justin ordered the replacement of all non-Chalcedonian bishops, including the patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria. The extent of the influence of the Bishop of Rome in this demand has been a matter of debate, Justinian I also attempted to bring those monks who still rejected the decision of the Council of Chalcedon into communion with the greater church. The exact time of event is unknown, but it is believed to have been between 535 and 548. St Abraham of Farshut was summoned to Constantinople and he chose to bring with him four monks, upon arrival, Justinian summoned them and informed them that they would either accept the decision of the Council or lose their positions. Abraham refused to entertain the idea, theodora tried to persuade Justinian to change his mind, seemingly to no avail. Abraham himself stated in a letter to his monks that he preferred to remain in exile rather than subscribe to a faith which he believed to be contrary to that of Athanasius of Alexandria
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Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria
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The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria is the largest Christian Church in Egypt, Northeast Africa and the Middle East. According to tradition, the Church was established by Saint Mark, the head of the Church and the See of Alexandria is the Patriarch of Alexandria on the Holy See of Saint Mark, who also carries the title of Coptic Pope. The See of Alexandria is titular, and today the Coptic Pope presides from Saint Marks Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in the Abbassia District in Cairo. The precise Christological differences that caused the split with the Coptic Christians are still disputed, highly technical, the foundational roots of the Coptic Church are based in Egypt, but it has a worldwide following. Isaiah the prophet, in Chapter 19, Verse 19 says In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, the first Christians in Egypt were common people who spoke Egyptian Coptic. There were also Alexandrian Jews such as Theophilus, whom Saint Luke the Evangelist addresses in the chapter of his gospel. When the church was founded by Saint Mark during the reign of the Roman emperor Nero, in the 2nd century, Christianity began to spread to the rural areas, and scriptures were translated into the local languages, namely Coptic. The Catechetical School of Alexandria is the oldest catechetical school in the world, St. Jerome records that the Christian School of Alexandria was founded by Saint Mark himself. Origen wrote over 6,000 commentaries of the Bible in addition to his famous Hexapla, many scholars such as Jerome visited the school of Alexandria to exchange ideas and to communicate directly with its scholars. The scope of this school was not limited to subjects, science, mathematics. The question-and-answer method of commentary began there, and 15 centuries before Braille, wood-carving techniques were in use there by blind scholars to read, the Theological college of the catechetical school was re-established in 1893. Many Egyptian Christians went to the desert during the 3rd century, by the end of the 5th century, there were hundreds of monasteries, and thousands of cells and caves scattered throughout the Egyptian desert. A great number of these monasteries are still flourishing and have new vocations to this day, countless pilgrims have visited the Desert Fathers to emulate their spiritual, disciplined lives. In the 4th century, an Alexandrian presbyter named Arius began a dispute about the nature of Christ that spread throughout the Christian world and is now known as Arianism. We confess one Baptism for the remission of sins and we look for the resurrection of the dead, as a consequence of this, he denied the title Mother of God to the Virgin Mary, declaring her instead to be Mother of Christ Christotokos. When reports of this reached the Apostolic Throne of Saint Mark, Pope Saint Cyril I of Alexandria acted quickly to correct this breach with orthodoxy, when he would not, the Synod of Alexandria met in an emergency session and a unanimous agreement was reached. Pope Cyril I of Alexandria, supported by the entire See and this epistle drew heavily on the established Patristic Constitutions and contained the most famous article of Alexandrian Orthodoxy, The Twelve Anathemas of Saint Cyril. In these anathemas, Cyril excommunicated anyone who followed the teachings of Nestorius, for example, Anyone who dares to deny the Holy Virgin the title Theotokos is Anathema
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Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
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The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Christian Churches. Ethiopia is the country only after Armenia to have officially proclaimed Christianity as state religion though some argue it may even be the first. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is a member of the World Council of Churches. Tewahedo is a Geez word meaning being made one and this word refers to the Oriental Orthodox belief in the one perfectly unified Nature of Christ, i. e. The Oriental Orthodox Churches adhere to a Miaphysitic Christological view followed by Cyril of Alexandria, according to these, both natures in Christ are perfectly preserved after the union in mia physis - One Nature, yet, not resulting in a distinct third Nature. Many traditions claim that Christian teachings were introduced to the immediately after Pentecost. John Chrysostom speaks of the Ethiopians present in Jerusalem as being able to understand the preaching of Saint Peter in Acts,2,38, possible missions of some of the Apostles in the lands now called Ethiopia is also reported as early as the 4th century. Ethiopian Church tradition tells that Bartholomew accompanied Matthew in a mission which lasted for at least 3 months, paintings depicting these missions are available in the Church of St. Matthew found in the Province of Pisa, in northern Italy portrayed by Francesco Trevisan and Marco Benefial. The earliest account of an Ethiopian converted to the faith in the New Testament books is a royal official baptized by Philip the Evangelist, then the angel of the Lord said to Philip, Start out and go south to the road that leads down from Jerusalem to Gaza. So he set out and was on his way when he caught sight of an Ethiopian and this man was a eunuch, a high official of the Kandake Queen of Ethiopia in charge of all her treasure. The passage continues by describing how Philip helped the Ethiopian treasurer understand a passage from Isaiah that the Ethiopian was reading, after Philip interpreted the passage as prophecy referring to Jesus Christ, the Ethiopian requested that Philip baptize him, and Philip did so. The Ethiopic version of this verse reads Hendeke, Queen Gersamot Hendeke VII was the Queen of Ethiopia from c.42 to 52, the same kind of witness is shared by 3rd and 4th century writers such as Eusebius of Caesarea and Origen of Alexandria. As a youth, Frumentius had been shipwrecked with his brother Aedesius on the Eritrean coast, the brothers managed to be brought to the royal court, where they rose to positions of influence and baptized Emperor Ezana. Ezana sent Frumentius to Alexandria to ask the Patriarch, St. Athanasius, Athanasius appointed Frumentius, who returned to Ethiopia as Bishop with the name of Abune Selama. From then on, until 1959, the Pope of Alexandria, as Patriarch of All Africa, union with the Coptic Orthodox Church continued after the Arab conquest of Egypt. Abu Saleh records in the 12th century that the patriarch sent letters twice a year to the kings of Abyssinia and Nubia. Cyril, 67th patriarch, sent Severus as bishop, with orders to put down polygamy and these examples show the close relations of the two churches throughout the Middle Ages. In 1439, in the reign of Zara Yaqob, a discussion between Abba Giyorgis and a French visitor led to the dispatch of an embassy from Ethiopia to the Vatican
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Syriac Orthodox Church
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The Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, or Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean. Employing the Divine Liturgy of Saint James with Syriac as its official and liturgical language, the church is led by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius Aphrem II since 2014, seated in Bab Tuma, Damascus, Syria. The Syriac Orthodox Church belongs to the Oriental Orthodoxy, a full communion of churches since the schism following the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Around 825, many Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala, India, affirmed allegiance to the Syriac Orthodox Church, however, another part of clergy gained permission from the Ottoman authorities in Istanbul to reestablish the Syriac Orthodox Church soon after. The churchs present circa 5 million members are divided in 26 archdioceses and its original area is present-day Syria, Turkey, or Iraq. The churchs Levantine ethno-religious identity has been a matter of controversy since the 20th century, many refer to these as ethnic Syriacs or Assyrians, while other advocate the term Arameans. The Syriac Orthodox Church participates in discussions, being a member of the World Council of Churches since 1960. Due mainly to persecution throughout the centuries, a diaspora has spread from the Levant throughout the world, notably in Sweden, Germany, United States, Canada, Guatemala, Brazil, and Australia. The Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch claims the status as the most ancient Christian church in the world, according to Saint Luke, The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. As Jewish Christianity originated at Jerusalem, so gentile Christianity started at Antioch, then the center of the Hellenistic East, with Peter. 70 and 130, were out from Jerusalem and Palestine into Syria. When Saint Peter left Antioch, Evodios and Ignatius presided over the Patriarchate of Antioch, because of the significance attributed to Saint Ignatius in the Syriac Orthodox Church, almost all of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchs since 1293 have been named Ignatius. Until 498, this church accepted the authority of the Patriarch of Antioch. The church also maintained a smaller church under a Catholicos, known by the title Maphryono. The Christological controversies that followed the Council of Chalcedon in 451 resulted in a struggle for the Patriarchate between those who accepted and those who rejected the Council. In 518, Patriarch Severus of Antioch was exiled from the city of Antioch, on account of many historical upheavals and consequent hardships which the church had to undergo, the Patriarchate was transferred to different monasteries in Mesopotamia for centuries. In about 1160 its seat was transferred from Antioch to the Mor Hananyo Monastery, in southeastern Turkey near Mardin and they reestablished themselves in Homs, Syria due to an adverse political situation in Turkey. In 1959 it was transferred to Damascus, where it currently resides
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Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church
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The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church is an Oriental Orthodox church with its headquarters in Asmara, Eritrea. Its autocephaly was recognised by Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria after Eritrea gained its independence in 1993, tewaḥido is a Geez word meaning being made one, cognate to Arabic tawhid. This separate Christian communion came to be known as Oriental Orthodoxy and these Churches themselves describe their Christology as miaphysite, but outsiders often incorrectly describe them as monophysite. Tewahedo Orthodoxy is an ethnoreligious group in Eritrea and the largest Christian group there. Christianity has been the majority religion since the 4th century and remains still the largest population, historically, they spoke Geez, which belongs to the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic family. However, the language is now almost extinct, and has been limited to liturgical use since the 10th century. Most also adhere to the Tewahdo Orthodox Church, Tewahdo is an identity and a religion as well for the adherent of Eritrean Tewahdos. The Eritrean Orthodox Church claims its origins from Philip the Evangelist and it became the state church of the Kingdom of Aksum under Ezana in the 4th century through the efforts of a Syrian Greek named Frumentius, known in the church as Abba Selama, Kesate Birhan. As a boy, Frumentius had been shipwrecked with his brother Aedesius on the Eritrean coast, the brothers managed to be brought to the royal court, where they rose to positions of influence and converted Emperor Ezana to Christianity, causing him to be baptised. Ezana sent Frumentius to Alexandria to ask the Patriarch, Athanasius of Alexandria, Athanasius appointed Frumentius himself, who returned to Axum as Bishop with the name of Abune Selama. For fifteen centuries afterward, the pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria always named a Copt to be Abuna metropolitan bishop of the Ethiopian Church, little else is known of church history down to the period of Jesuit influence, which broke the connection with Egypt. Union with the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria continued even after Arab conquests in Egypt, abu Saleh records in the 12th century that the patriarch sent letters twice a year to the kings of Abyssinia and Nubia, until Al Hakim stopped the practice. Coptic patriarch Cyril II sent Severus as bishop, with orders to suppress the practice of polygamy and these examples show the close relations of the two churches concurrent with the Middle Ages. Early in the 16th century the church was brought under the influence of a Portuguese mission, in 1507 Matthew, an Armenian, had been sent as Ethiopian envoy to Portugal to ask aid against the Adal Sultanate. In 1520 an embassy under Rodrigo de Lima landed in Ethiopia, an account of the Portuguese mission, which remained for several years, was written by the chaplain, Francisco Álvares. Later, Ignatius of Loyola wished to essay the task of conversion, instead, the pope sent out João Nunes Barreto as Patriarch of the East Indies, with Andrés de Oviedo as bishop, and from Goa envoys went to Ethiopia. After repeated failures, some measure of success was achieved under Susenyos I and he then expelled the Society of Jesus in 1633, and in 1665 Fasilides ordered all Jesuit books be burned. In the 1920s the Italian colonial power in Eritrea started the first attempts to found a separate Eritrean Orthodox Church
23.
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
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The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church also known as Indian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church centered in the Indian state of Kerala. It is one of the churches of Indias Saint Thomas Christian community, the church is headed by the autocephalous Catholicos of the East and the Malankara Metropolitan, presently Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II. It is believed that Saint Thomas Christians of Malabar were in communion with the Church of the East from 496 to 1599. They got episcopal support from Persian bishops, who traveled to Kerala in merchant ships through spice route and ruled by a hereditary local chief called an Archdeacon from Pakalomattam family. Saint Thomas Christians were administratively under the single native dynastic leadership of an Archdeacon and were in communion with the Church of the East, centered in Persia, the indigenous Church of Malabar/Malankara followed the faith and traditions handed over by the Apostle St. Thomas. During 16th century, the Portuguese Jesuits began deliberate attempts to annex the native Christians to the Catholic Church, and in 1599 they succeeded through the Synod of Diamper. Resentment against these measures led the majority of the community under the Archdeacon Thomas to swear an oath never to submit to the Portuguese, known as the Coonan Cross Oath. The Malankara Church consolidated under Mar Thoma I welcomed Gregorios Abdal Jaleel, meanwhile, the Dutch East India Company defeated the Portuguese in supremacy of the spice trade in Malabar in 1663. The Malankara church used this opportunity to escape from Catholic persecution with the Dutch East India Companys help, at the request of the Malankara Church, the Dutch brought Gregorios Abdal Jaleel of Jerusalem, a Syrian Orthodox Church Bishop, in their trading vessel in 1665. Mar Thoma I forged a relationship with the Syriac Orthodox Church and gradually adopted West Syrian liturgy, while the spread of Christianity around the Mediterranean was led by apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, St. Thomas spread its message in the East. He preached in south India to a community of Jewish diaspora, native Dravidian majority, small groups of Jains, Buddhists. This Nasrani faith it is claimed had many similarities to ancient Judaism, Malankara Nazranies formulated a script to write Syriac-Malayalam after making certain changes in Syriac script. Despite many competing faiths, St. Thomas Christians held to their creed until the arrival of Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century, in 1601, Menezes consecrated Fr. Francis Roz as bishop of Angamaly, which marked the beginning of Roman Catholic hierarchy in Malankara. In 1652 Mar Ahatallah, a prelate from Syria, reached Mylapore near present-day Chennai, in 1653, under the leadership of, Nazranis gathered at Mattancherry church in Mattancherry, Cochin on 3 January 1653, and swore an oath known as the Coonen Cross Oath. As large number people were holding the rope, the cross bent a little and they wanted to combat the aggressive Portuguese padroado rule and regain spiritual and administrative autonomy for the Church. Hence later on 22 May 1653 at St Marys Church Alangad,12 elderly priests laid hands on Archdeacon Thomas and they appealed to several eastern Christian churches to defend their faith from Latin intrusion. Mar Gregorios of Jerusalem regularized Mar Thoma I as the Metropolitan, due to widespread complaints against Jesuits in Malankara, Rome sent Carmelites in two groups from the Propagation of the Faith to Malabar headed by Fr. They gradually gained support, especially with the help of Palliveettil Mar Chandy Kathanar, according to Jesuit reports they succeeded in wooing three of the four advisors of Mar Thoma I
24.
Holy See of Cilicia
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The Armenian Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia is a hierarchal see of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Since 1930, the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia has been headquartered in Antelias, aram I is the Catholicos of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church since 1995. First Sis era, 267-301, According to the order of Catholicoi, in 485 AD, the Catholicosate was transferred to the new capital of Armenia Dvin. The origin of the Armenian Church dates back to the Apostolic age and according to the ancient tradition was established by St. Thaddeus, in 301 AD, Christianity was officially accepted by the Armenians as the state religion. St. St. Gregory the Illuminator became the organizer of the Armenian Church hierarchy, from that time, the heads of the Armenian Church have been called Catholicos and still hold the same title. St. Gregory chose as the site of the Catholicosate then the city of Vagharshapat. He built the residence next to the church called Holy Mother of God. In 485 AD, the Catholicosate was transferred to the new capital Dvin, in the 10th century it moved from Dvin to Dzoravank and then to Aghtamar, to Arghina and to Ani. After the fall of Ani and the Armenian Kingdom of Bagradits in 1045, the Catholicosate, together with the people, settled there. The seat of the church was first established in Sivas moving to Tavbloor, then to Dzamendav, Dzovk, Hromgla, and finally in Sis, the capital of the Cilician Kingdom. After the fall of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, in 1375, the Church also assumed the role of leadership. This national responsibility considerably broadened the scope of the Churchs mission, in 1441, a new Catholicos of All Armenians was elected in Holy Etchmiadzin in the person of Kirakos I Virapetsi of Armenia. At the same time the retiring Catholicos in Sis Gregory IX Mousabegian remained as the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians resides in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. The city of Sis was the center of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia for more than six centuries, the monastery of St. Sophia of Sis, home of the Catholicosate, dominates the town in early 20th-century photographs. During the Armenian Genocide, in 1915, the Armenian population in Cilicia was mostly destroyed, the last Catholicos to reside in Sis was Sahak II. In 1921, after renewed massacres of Armenians in Cilicia by Kemalist Turkey, Sahak II, with the surviving Armenian population, Sahak II after leaving the premises of the Catholicosate in Sis stayed at various locations in Northern Syria and in Lebanon, running the affairs of the Catholicosate. In 1922 the American Committee for Relief in the Near East established an orphanage in Antilias for survivors of the genocide, the foundation also agreed to contribute $6000-$7000 yearly towards running costs. The first mass in the Catholicosates seminary at Antelias took place on Sunday, using donations from Simon and Mathilde Kayekjian, the Catholicosate eventually purchased the property and land that housed the Catholicosate in Antelias
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Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople
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The Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople is an autonomous See which recognizes the primacy of the Catholicos of All Armenians, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The seat of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople is the Surp Asdvadzadzin Patriarchal Church in the Kumkapı neighborhood of Istanbul, the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople also known as Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul is today head of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople. During the Byzantine period, the Armenian Apostolic Church had not been allowed to operate in Constantinople because the two churches mutually regarded each other as heretical, after conquering Constantinople, the Ottoman Empire allowed the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople to stay in the city. But Sultan Mehmed II asked the Armenians to establish their own church in the new Ottoman capital, from then on the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople acted as superior religious institution in the Ottoman Empire, even standing over the Armenian Catholicos. For a short period, the Syriac Orthodox Church was also placed under the jurisdiction of the Armenian Patriarchate, the first Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople was Hovakim I, who was at the time the Metropolitan of Bursa. In 1461, he was brought to Constantinople by Sultan Mehmed II, Hovakim I was recognized as the religious and secular leader of all Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, and carried the title of milletbaşı or ethnarch as well as patriarch. However like the Greek Patriarchate, the Armenians suffered severely from intervention by the state in their internal affairs, although there have been 115 pontificates since 1461, there have only been 84 individual Patriarchs. In 1861, a constitution was granted to Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Abdülaziz. In 1896 Patriarch Madteos III was deposed and exiled to Jerusalem by Sultan Abdülhamid II for boldly denouncing the 1896 massacre, the constitution governing the Armenians was suspended by the Sultan. The Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Madteos III was permitted to return to Istanbul in 1908 when Sultan Abdulhamid II was deposed by the Young Turks, the new Turkish administration also restored the constitution. In the initial period of the reign of the Young Turks, the Armenian community of Turkey in 1915 was accordingly decimated by mass deportations and killings. The inability of Turkey to acknowledge these events has been a source of significant angst among Armenians worldwide for the past hundred years, prior to 1915, almost two million Armenians lived in Turkey, today less than 100,000 reside there. With this backdrop of turmoil for Armenians, the post of the Patriarch remained vacant from 1915 to 1919 and it was restored for a brief period from 1919 to 1922 with Patriarch Zaven I Der Yeghiayan residing. Four Armenian Patriarchs served under the rule of the Young Turks, despite a huge diminution in the number of its faithful during the Armenian Genocide, the patriarchate remains the spiritual head of the largest Christian community presently living in Turkey. Today, the Armenian Patriarchs are recognized as the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Turkey, five Armenian Patriarchs have served after the establishment of the Republic of Turkey. The synod of the Patriarchate has designated, with the votes of 25 of its 26 members, some members of the Armenian community of Turkey criticised this move and asked for the election of a new Patriarch by universal suffrage instead. At last, the decided to retire the Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafyan on October 26,2016. The Patriarchate publishes a review in Armenian called Shoghagat, containing theological, liturgical, historical and cultural articles
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Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem
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The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem also known as the Armenian Patriarchate of Sts. James is located in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem, the Armenian Apostolic Church is officially recognised under Israels confessional system, for the self-regulation of status issues, such as marriage and divorce. Manougian succeeded Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, who died on October 12,2012 after serving 22 years in the office, the Patriarch, along with a Synod of seven clergymen elected by the St. James Brotherhood, oversees the Patriarchates operations. As a result of the Genocide on Armenians by Turkey during World War I, the Armenian population of Jerusalem reached at that time 25,000 people. But political and economic instability in the region have reduced the Armenian population, most Armenians in Jerusalem live in and around the Patriarchate at the Sts. James Monastery, which occupies most of the Armenian Quarter of the Old City, apart from Jerusalem, there are Armenian Communities in Jaffa, Haifa and Nazareth, and in the Palestinian Territories. The Jerusalem Armenian community uses the Julian calendar, unlike the rest of the Armenian Church which use the Gregorian calendar, in 638, after Saint Sophronius died and the Greeks did not appoint another bishop for Jerusalem, the Armenian Apostolic Church began appointing its own bishops for Jerusalem. The office has continued, with interruptions, down to this day. The Bishops were later elevated in stature and became Patriarchs, the Armenian Patriarch is independent and self-governing. The Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem is therefore not under the authority of the Catholicos of Armenia. After the end of the Crusader period, the Armenian Patriarchs sought to establish relations with the Muslim rulers. The Armenian Patriarch Sarkis I met the Mamluk governor in Egypt and subsequently returned to his community in Jerusalem, in the 1340s the Armenians were permitted to build a wall around their quarter. The Mamluk government also engraved a protective declaration in Arabic on the entrance to the quarter. The Armenian quarter in this period kept creating facts on the ground by the constant small expansions and consolidations, in the 1380s Patriarch Krikor IV built a priests dining room across from the St. James Cathedral. Around 1415 the olive grove near the Garden of Gethsemane was purchased, in 1439, Armenians were removed from the Golgotha chapel, but the Patriarch Mardiros I purchased the “opposite area” and named it second Golgotha. This remains in the Patriarchs possession to this day, at times, the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem became politicized by struggles within the Armenian Church. Significantly Bishop Eghiazar assumed the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem and in 1644 declared himself for a period of time as Catholicos of all the Armenian church. In the 17th century, the Armenians were allowed after much pleading to enlarge the St. James Monastery, at the same time the Armenian Patriarch Hovhannes VII purchased a large parcel of land south of the St. James Cathedral, called “Cham Tagh”
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Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church
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The Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, officially known as Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, is an integral branch of the Syriac Orthodox Church centered in Kerala, India. It recognizes the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch, currently Ignatius Aphrem II and it functions as a largely autonomous unit within the church, under the authority of the Catholicos of India, currently Baselios Thomas I. Its members are part of the Saint Thomas Christian community, which traces its origins to the activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. Thomas the Apostle reached India in AD52 and got followers from prominent families in Kerala, in AD345 Knai Thoma along with 72 Syrian Families and Clergymen arrived Kerala and mark the beginning of Knanaya Syrian Ethnicity in Kerala. In AD825 arrival of two bishops Mar Sabor and Mar Aproth enhanced the relationship between Saint Thomas Christians and the Church of the East, the local administration of the early Saint Thomas Christians in Kerala was done by archdeacons in the absence of a bishop. Archdeacons used to request for prelates from the Church of the East, from the 16th century the Portuguese Jesuits attempted to forcefully bring the community into the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church. In 1653, Mar Ahatallah came to Malankara and he was a Syrian Bishop who had converted to Catholicism. He was captured by the Portuguese enroute and was taken to Madras, resentment of these measures lead a part of the community to join the Archdeacon, Thomas, in swearing never to submit to the Portuguese in the Coonan Cross Oath in 1653. The part of the church that resists the Latin power is known as the Malankara Syrian Church, the decisions taken by the Synod of Mulamthuruthy known as Mulanthuruthy Padiyola, is the most important historical document and the early constitution of the Malankara Syrian Church. In 1934 after the death of Mar Divanyasious VI Syriac Orthodox Patriarchs Ignatius Elias III consecrated Paulose Mar Athanasius as the Malankara Metropolitan. At the same time Mar Themothiose Augen I left that faction, the headquarters of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church in India is situated near the St. Peters and St. Pauls Jacobite Syrian church Puthencruz. As part of the Syriac Orthodox communion, the uses the West Syrian liturgy and is part of the Oriental Orthodox group of churches. It has dioceses in most parts of India as well as in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Western Europe, in 2003 it was estimated that the church has 1,200,000 members globally. The Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church has been known by several names during its existence, other variants include Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church, and Jacobite Syrian Church. Puthencruz is the headquarters of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church in India, the headquarters is situated near the St. Peters and St. Pauls Jacobite Syrian church. Its headquarters is named after the illustrious Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, the Catholicossate chapel is named after Poulose Mar Athanasius of Aluva and under the chapel is situated the space for tombs for the use of future Catholicos of the church. An Arts and Science college named after Mar Athanasius of Aluva is also run in the premises of the Zakka centre. It is the place where Akhila Malankara Suvisesha Yogam, the official gospel convention of the community, Thomas the Apostle is credited by tradition for founding the Indian Church in 52 AD
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History of Oriental Orthodoxy
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They reject the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon. Hence, these Churches are also called Old Oriental Churches or Non-Chalcedonian Churches, the history of all Oriental Orthodox Churches goes back to the very beginnings of Christianity. They were founded by the apostles or by their earliest disciples, the Oriental Orthodox Churches had a great missionary role during the early stages of Christianity and played a great role in the history of Egypt. The schism between Oriental Orthodoxy and the rest of the Church occurred in the 5th century and this was not because Chalcedon stated that Christ has two natures, but because the councils declaration did not confess the two natures as inseparable and united. Pope Dioscorus would accept only of or from two natures but not in two natures, to the hierarchs who would lead the Oriental Orthodox, this was tantamount to accepting Nestorianism, which expressed itself in a terminology incompatible with their understanding of Christology. Founded in the Alexandrine School of Theology it advocated a formula stressing the unity of the Incarnation over all other considerations, Oriental Orthodox Churches reject what they consider to be the heretical Monophysite teachings of Eutyches and of Nestorius as well as the Dyophysite definition of the Council of Chalcedon. It was not until 518 that the new Byzantine Emperor, Justin I, Justin ordered the replacement of all non-Chalcedonian bishops, including the patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria. The extent of the influence of the Bishop of Rome in this has been a matter of debate, one of the most salient features of the history of Oriental Orthodoxy has been the ceaseless persecution and massacres suffered under Byzantine, Persian, Muslim and Ottoman powers. The Oriental Orthodox communion comprises six groups, Coptic Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Eritrean Orthodox, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and Armenian Apostolic churches
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Coptic history
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Many of the historic items related to Coptic Christianity are on display in many museums around the world and a large number is in the Coptic Museum in Coptic Cairo. The Egyptian Church, which is now more than nineteen centuries old, regards itself as the subject of many prophecies in the Old Testament. Isaiah the prophet, in Chapter 19, Verse 19 says In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border. The first Christians in Egypt were mainly Alexandrian Jews such as Theophilus, when the Church of Alexandria was founded by Saint Mark during the reign of the Roman emperor Nero, a great multitude of native Egyptians embraced the Christian faith. In the 2nd century, Christianity began to spread to the rural areas, the Catechetical School of Alexandria is the oldest catechetical school in the world. St. Jerome records that the Christian School of Alexandria was founded by St. Mark himself, origen wrote over 6,000 commentaries of the Bible in addition to his famous Hexapla. Many scholars such as Jerome visited the school of Alexandria to exchange ideas, the scope of this school was not limited to theological subjects, science, mathematics and humanities were also taught there. The question-and-answer method of commentary began there, and 15 centuries before Braille, wood-carving techniques were in use there by blind scholars to read and write. Many Egyptian Christians went to the desert during the 3rd century, by the end of the 5th century, there were hundreds of monasteries, and thousands of cells and caves scattered throughout the Egyptian desert. A great number of these monasteries are still flourishing and have new vocations to this day, countless pilgrims have visited the Desert Fathers to emulate their spiritual, disciplined lives. In the 4th century, an Alexandrian presbyter named Arius began a dispute about the nature of Christ that spread throughout the Christian world and is now known as Arianism. We confess one Baptism for the remission of sins and we look for the resurrection of the dead, as a consequence of this, he denied the title Mother of God to the Virgin Mary, declaring her instead to be Mother of Christ Christotokos. When reports of this reached the Apostolic Throne of Saint Mark, Pope Saint Cyril I of Alexandria acted quickly to correct this breach with orthodoxy, when he would not, the Synod of Alexandria met in an emergency session and a unanimous agreement was reached. Pope Cyril I of Alexandria, supported by the entire See and this epistle drew heavily on the established Patristic Constitutions and contained the most famous article of Alexandrian Orthodoxy, The Twelve Anathemas of Saint Cyril. In these anathemas, Cyril excommunicated anyone who followed the teachings of Nestorius, for example, Anyone who dares to deny the Holy Virgin the title Theotokos is Anathema. Nestorius however, still would not repent and so led to the convening of the First Ecumenical Council of Ephesus. The First Ecumenical Council of Ephesus confirmed the teachings of Saint Athanasius and it also clearly stated that anyone who separated Christ into two hypostases was anathema, as Cyril had said that there is One Nature for God the Word Incarnate. Glory to you O our Master and King, Christ, the pride of the Apostles, the crown of the martyrs, the rejoicing of the righteous, firmness of the churches and the forgiveness of sins
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Orthodox Tewahedo
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Orthodox Tewahedo is the common and historical name of two Oriental Orthodox churches within the Christian Church. These are the predominant Orthodox denominations in Eritrea and Ethiopia, until 1959, the Orthodox Tewahedo churches were administratively part of the Coptic Church. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church was granted autocephaly and its own Patriarch that year by Coptic Orthodox Pope Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria, Tewahedo is a Geez word meaning being made one or unified. This is in contrast to the two Natures of Christ belief which is held by the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church and it is known as non-Chalcedonian, and, sometimes by outsiders as monophysite. However, these Churches themselves describe their Christology as miaphysite, so he set out and was on his way when he caught sight of an Ethiopian. This man was a eunuch, an official of the Kandake Queen of Ethiopia in charge of all her treasure. The passage continues by describing how Philip helped the Ethiopian treasurer understand a passage from Isaiah that the Ethiopian was reading, after the Ethiopian received an explanation of the passage, he requested that Philip baptize him, and Philip did so. The Ethiopic version of this verse reads Hendeke, Queen Gersamot Hendeke VII was the Queen of Ethiopia from ca.42 to 52, as a youth, Frumentius had been shipwrecked with his brother Aedesius on the Eritrean coast. The brothers managed to be brought to the court, where they rose to positions of influence and converted Emperor Ezana to Christianity. Ezana sent Frumentius to Alexandria to ask the Patriarch, Athanasius of Alexandria, Athanasius appointed Frumentius himself, who returned to Ethiopia as Bishop with the name Abune Selama. From then on, until 1959, the Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria, as Patriarch of All Africa, union with the Coptic Church continued after the Arab conquest of Egypt. Patriarch Cyril II of Alexandria, the 67th patriarch, sent Severus as bishop, with orders to put down polygamy and these examples show the close relations of the two churches concurrent with the Middle Ages. In 1439, in the reign of Zara Yaqob, a discussion between Abba Giyorgis and a French visitor had led to the dispatch of an embassy from Ethiopia to the Vatican. The period of Jesuit influence, which broke the connection with Egypt, in 1507 Mateus, an Armenian, had been sent as an Ethiopian envoy to Portugal to ask for aid against the Adal Sultanate. In 1520 an embassy under Dom Rodrigo de Lima landed in Ethiopia, an interesting account of the Portuguese mission, which lasted for several years, was written by Francisco Álvares, the chaplain. Later, Ignatius of Loyola wished to take up the task of conversion, after repeated failures some measure of success was achieved under Emperor Susenyos I, but not until 1624 did the Emperor make formal submission to the pope. He then expelled the Jesuits in 1633, and in 1665, in the 1920s the Italian colonial power in Eritrea started the first attempts to found a separate Eritrean Orthodox Church. Until then, the Orthodox Church in Eritrea was practically part of the Ethiopian Church, the separate Eritrean Church was short-lived
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Syriac Christianity
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With a history going back to the 1st century AD, Syriac Christianity is, in modern times, represented by denominations primarily in the Middle East, Asia Minor and in Kerala, India. Christianity began in the Middle East in Jerusalem among Jewish Aramaic-speaking Semitic peoples of Judah and it quickly spread, initially to other Semitic peoples, in Parthian-ruled Assyria and Mesopotamia, Roman-ruled Syria, Phoenicia, southern and eastern Asia Minor, and northwestern Persia and Malta. Adherents sometimes identify as Syriacs or Syrians, Syriac Christian heritage is transmitted through various Neo Aramaic dialects of old Aramaic. Unlike the Greek Christian culture, Assyrian Christian culture borrowed much from early Rabbinic Judaism, Antioch was the political capital of this culture, and was the seat of the Patriarchs of the church. However, Antioch was heavily Hellenized, and the Assyrian cities of Edessa, Nisibis and this split owed just as much to the politics of the day as it did to theological orthodoxy. Ctesiphon, which was at the also the Sassanid capital. After the Council of Chalcedon in 451, many Syriac Christians within the Roman Empire rebelled against its decisions, the Patriarchate of Antioch was then divided between a Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian communion. The Chalcedonians were often labelled Melkites, while their opponents were labelled as Monophysites and Jacobites, the Maronite Church found itself caught between the two, but claims to have always remained faithful to the Catholic Church and in communion with the bishop of Rome, the Pope. The church has persisted as an entity under Islamic rule. The community was one of those granted autonomy in governing itself in religious, in the 19th century many left for other parts of Christendom, creating a substantial diaspora. Over time, some groups within each of these branches have entered into communion with the Church of Rome, when they lost Assyria itself to the Parthian Empire, they retained the name Syria but only applied it to what had been Aramea, which they still retained. The Neo-Assyrian kingdom of Osroene was the first Christian kingdom in history, in 431 A. D. the Council of Ephesus declared Nestorianism to be a heresy. The Nestorian priests, who were persecuted in the Byzantine Empire, sought refuge in Mesopotamia where the Church of the East was dominant, there was a synthesis between the Assyrian Church and Nestorian doctrine. From there they spread Christianity to Persia, India, China and this was the beginning of the Nestorian Church, the eastern branch of Syrian Christianity. The western branch, the Jacobite Church, appeared after the Council of Chalcedon condemned Monophysitism in 451 A. D and these people are in fact ethnic Assyrians originating from the Assyrian homeland in northern Iraq. The older Assyrian designation has almost completely replaced the word Nestorian, however, the word Nestorian continues to be used in some Western academic literature. The word Syrian has become ambiguous in English since it can refer now to a citizen of Syria regardless of ethnicity, in Arabic, however, the word for a citizen of Syria has a different form from the traditional word for an ethnic Assyrian/Syrian. The Maronites in Lebanon are divided between those who claim Lebanese-Phoenician national identity and those who claim Arab national identity, the Maronite Church, a West Syrian Rite Eastern Catholic Church
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Saint Thomas Christians
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Historically, the Saint Thomas Christian community was part of the Church of the East, centered in Persia. They were organised as the Province of India in the 8th century, served by Nestorian bishops, Saint Thomas Christians represent a multi ethnic group. Their language is Malayalam, the language of Kerala, and Syriac is used for liturgical purposes, the Saint Thomas Christians are so called due to their reverence for Saint Thomas the Apostle, who is said to have brought Christianity to India. The name dates to the period of Portuguese colonization and they are also known, especially locally, as the Nasrani or Nasrani Mappila. Nasrani is a term meaning Christian, it appears to be derived from Nazareth, Mappila is an honorific applied to members of non-Indian faiths, including Muslims and Jews. Some Syrian Christians of Travancore continue to attach this honorific title to their names, the term Syrian relates not to their ethnicity but to their historical, religious and liturgical connection to the Church of the East, or East Syrian Church. According to tradition, St. Thomas, one of the 12 apostles, came to Muziris on the Kerala coast in AD52 which is in the present day Pattanam, Kerala. The Cochin Jews are known to have existed in Kerala in the 1st century AD, the earliest known source connecting the apostle to India is the Acts of Thomas, likely written in the early 3rd century, perhaps in Edessa. The tradition of origin of the Christians in Kerala is found in a version of the Songs of Thomas or Thomma Parvam, written in 1601 believed to be a summary of a larger and older work. As per legend, the community began with Thomass conversion of Brahmin Gramams or families, the four clans Pakalomattam, Sankarapuri, Pattamukkil at Niranam Church, Kalli, and Kaliyankal were considered the most preeminent. Claims of descent from the various legendary gramams were used as a basis of a system within the community in the Middle Ages. After the 9th century A. D. such as the wearing of the sacred thread, the medieval historian Pius Malekandathil believes these were customs adopted and privileges won during the beginning of the Brahmin dominance of medieval Kerala. An organised Christian presence in India dates to the arrival of East Syrian settlers and missionaries from Persia, members of what would become the Church of the East, in around the 3rd century. As the community grew and immigration by East Syrians increased, the connection with the Church of the East, centred in the Persian capital of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, strengthened. In the 8th century Patriarch Timothy I organised the community as the Ecclesiastical Province of India, after this point the Province of India was headed by a metropolitan bishop, dispatched from Persia, the Metropolitan-Bishop of the Seat of Saint Thomas and the Whole Christian Church of India. His metropolitan see was probably in Cranganore, or in Mylapore, under him were a varying number of bishops, as well as a native Archdeacon, who had authority over the clergy and who wielded a great amount of secular power. Some contact and transmission of knowledge of the Saint Thomas Christians managed to reach the Christian West, byzantine traveller Cosmas Indicopleustes wrote of East Syrian Christians he met in India and Sri Lanka in the 6th century. In 883 the English king Alfred the Great reportedly sent a mission, during the Crusades, distorted accounts of the Saint Thomas Christians and the Nestorian Church gave rise to the European legend of Prester John
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First Council of Nicaea
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The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD325. Constantine I organized the Council along the lines of the Roman Senate and presided over it and this ecumenical council was the first effort to attain consensus in the Church through an assembly representing all of Christendom. Hosius of Cordoba, who was one of the Papal legates. The First Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical council of the Church, St. Alexander of Alexandria and Athanasius took the first position, the popular presbyter Arius, from whom the term Arianism comes, took the second. The council decided against the Arians overwhelmingly, through it a precedent was set for subsequent general councils to adopt creeds and canons. This council is considered the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils in the History of Christianity. The First Council of Nicaea was convened by Emperor Constantine the Great upon the recommendations of a synod led by Hosius of Córdoba in the Eastertide of 325 and this synod had been charged with investigation of the trouble brought about by the Arian controversy in the Greek-speaking east. To most bishops, the teachings of Arius were heretical and dangerous to the salvation of souls and this was the first general council in the history of the Church summoned by emperor Constantine I. In the Council of Nicaea, The Church had taken her first great step to define revealed doctrine more precisely in response to a challenge from a heretical theology. Constantine had invited all 1,800 bishops of the Christian church within the Roman Empire, Eusebius of Caesarea counted more than 250, Athanasius of Alexandria counted 318, and Eustathius of Antioch estimated about 270. Later, Socrates Scholasticus recorded more than 300, and Evagrius, Hilary of Poitiers, Jerome, Dionysius Exiguus and this number 318 is preserved in the liturgies of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. Delegates came from every region of the Roman Empire, including Britain, the participating bishops were given free travel to and from their episcopal sees to the council, as well as lodging. These bishops did not travel alone, each one had permission to bring him two priests and three deacons, so the total number of attendees could have been above 1,800. Eusebius speaks of an almost innumerable host of accompanying priests, deacons, the Eastern bishops formed the great majority. Of these, the first rank was held by the three patriarchs, Alexander of Alexandria, Eustathius of Antioch, and Macarius of Jerusalem and this position is supported by patristic scholar Timothy Barnes in his book Constantine and Eusebius. Historically, the influence of these marred confessors has been seen as substantial, Athanasius of Alexandria, a young deacon and companion of Bishop Alexander of Alexandria, was among the assistants. Athanasius eventually spent most of his life battling against Arianism, Alexander of Constantinople, then a presbyter, was also present as representative of his aged bishop. The supporters of Arius included Secundus of Ptolemais, Theonus of Marmarica, Zphyrius, other supporters included Eusebius of Nicomedia, Paulinus of Tyrus, Actius of Lydda, Menophantus of Ephesus, and Theognus of Nicaea
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First Council of Constantinople
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The First Council of Constantinople was a council of Christian bishops convened in Constantinople in AD381 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I. It met from May to July 381 in the Church of Hagia Irene and was affirmed as ecumenical in 451 at the Council of Chalcedon, when Theodosius ascended to the imperial throne in 380, he began on a campaign to bring the Eastern Church back to Nicene Christianity. Theodosius wanted to unify the entire empire behind the orthodox position and decided to convene a church council to resolve matters of faith. Gregory Nazianzus was of similar mind, wishing to unify Christianity, in the spring of 381 they convened the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople. The Council of Nicaea in 325 had not ended the Arian controversy which it had called to clarify. Arius and his sympathizers, e. g. Eusebius of Nicomedia were admitted back into the church after ostensibly accepting the Nicene creed, Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, the most vocal opponent of Arianism, was ultimately exiled through the machinations of Eusebius of Nicomedia. After the death of Constantine I in 337 and the accession of his Arian-leaning son Constantius II, up until about 360, theological debates mainly dealt with the divinity of the Son, the second person of the Trinity. However, because the Council of Nicaea had not clarified the divinity of the Holy Spirit, the Macedonians denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit. This was also known as Pneumatomachianism, Nicene Christianity also had its defenders, apart from Athanasius, the Cappadocian Fathers Trinitarian discourse was influential in the council at Constantinople. Apollinaris of Laodicea, another theologian, proved controversial. Possibly in an over-reaction to Arianism and its teaching that Christ was not God, he taught that Christ consisted of a human body and he was charged with confounding the persons of the Godhead, and with giving into the heretical ways of Sabellius. Basil of Caesarea accused him of abandoning the literal sense of the scripture, Theodosius strong commitment to Nicene Christianity involved a calculated risk because Constantinople, the imperial capital of the Eastern Empire, was solidly Arian. To complicate matters, the two leading factions of Nicene Christianity in the East, the Alexandrians and the supporters of Meletius in Antioch, were bitterly divided, almost to the point of complete animosity. The bishops of Alexandria and Rome had worked over a number of years to keep the see of Constantinople from stabilizing, thus, when Gregory was selected as a candidate for the bishopric of Constantinople, both Alexandria and Rome opposed him because of his Antiochene background. The incumbent bishop of Constantinople was Demophilus, a Homoian Arian, there ensued a contest to control the newly recovered see. A group led by Maximus the Cynic gained the support of Patriarch Peter of Alexandria by playing on his jealousy of the newly created see of Constantinople. They conceived a plan to install a cleric subservient to Peter as bishop of Constantinople so that Alexandria would retain the leadership of the Eastern Churches, many commentators characterize Maximus as having been proud, arrogant and ambitious. However, it is not clear the extent to which Maximus sought this position due to his own ambition or if he was merely a pawn in the power struggle
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Council of Ephesus
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The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus in AD431 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. It met in June and July 431 at the Church of Mary in Ephesus in Anatolia, Nestorius himself had requested the Emperor to convene the council, hoping that it would prove his orthodoxy, the council in fact condemned his teachings as heresy. The council declared Mary as Theotokos, Nestorius dispute with Cyril had led the latter to seek validation from Pope Celestine I, who authorized Cyril to request that Nestorius recant his position or face excommunication. Nestorius pleaded with the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II to call a council in which all grievances could be aired, hoping that he would be vindicated, the proceedings were conducted in a heated atmosphere of confrontation and recriminations and created severe tensions between Cyril and Theodosius II. Nestorius was decisively outplayed by Cyril and removed from his see, Nestorius himself retired to a monastery, always asserting his orthodoxy. McGuckin cites the innate rivalry between Alexandria and Constantinople as an important factor in the controversy between Cyril of Alexandria and Nestorius, according to McGuckin, Cyril viewed the elevated intellectual argument about christology as ultimately one and the same as the validity and security of the simple Christian life. Even within Constantinople, some supported the Roman-Alexandrian and others supported the Nestorian factions, for example, Pulcheria supported the Roman-Alexandrian popes while the emperor and his wife supported Nestorius. Contention over Nestorius teachings, which he developed during his studies at the School of Antioch, shortly after his arrival in Constantinople, Nestorius became involved in the disputes of two theological factions, which differed in their Christology. Nestorius was greatly surprised that what he had taught in Antioch without any controversy whatsoever should prove to be so objectionable to the Christians of Constantinople. Nestorius suggested the title Christotokos, but this proposal did not gain acceptance on either side. Nestorius tried to answer a question considered unsolved, How can Jesus Christ, being part man, not be partially a sinner as well, since man is by definition a sinner since the Fall. To solve that he taught that Mary, the mother of Jesus gave birth to the incarnate Christ, not the divine Logos who existed before Mary, the Logos occupied the part of the human soul. But wouldnt the absence of a human soul make Jesus less human, consequently, Nestorius argued that the Virgin Mary should be called Christotokos, Greek for Birth Giver of Christ, and not Theotokos, Greek for Birth Giver of God. Nestorius believed that no union between the human and divine was possible, nestoriuss opponents charged him with detaching Christs divinity and humanity into two persons existing in one body, thereby denying the reality of the Incarnation. Eusebius, a layman who later became the bishop of the neighbouring Dorylaeum was the first to accuse Nestorius of heresy, Cyril argued that Nestorianism split Jesus in half and denied that he was both human and divine. Cyril appealed to Pope Celestine I, charging Nestorius with heresy, the Pope agreed and gave Cyril his authority to serve a notice to Nestorius to recant his views within ten days or else be excommunicated. Before acting on the Popes commission, Cyril convened a synod of Egyptian bishops which condemned Nestorius as well, Cyril then sent four suffragan bishops to deliver both the Popes commission as well as the synodal letter of the Egyptian bishops. Cyril sent a letter to Nestorius known as The Third Epistle of Saint Cyril to Nestorius and this epistle drew heavily on the established Patristic Constitutions and contained the most famous article of Alexandrian Orthodoxy, The Twelve Anathemas of Saint Cyril
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Tur Abdin
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Tur Abdin is a hilly region situated in southeast Turkey, including the eastern half of the Mardin Province, and Şırnak Province west of the Tigris, on the border with Syria. The name Tur Abdin is derived from Syriac, meaning mountain of the servants, Tur Abdin is of great importance to Syriac Orthodox Christians, for whom the region used to be a monastic and cultural heartland. Hah has the ancient Idto dYoldath-Aloho, the Church of the Mother of God, in the 9th century BCE the Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal II described crossing the plateau of Tur Abdin on his way to attack the region of Nairi. Assyrian source from the 9th century BC, where it is called Kashyari, in 586 B. C. the prophet Ezekiel mentions the famed wine of Izlo, on the southern edge of the plateau of Tur Abdin, in his prophecy against Tyre. The Mor Gabriel Monastery, the oldest Syriac church in the world, was founded in 397 by the ascetic Mor Shmuel and his student Mor Shemun. According to tradition, Shemun had a dream in which an Angel commanded him to build a House of Prayer in a located marked with three stone blocks. When they Shemun awoke, he took his teacher to the place, at this spot Mor Gabriel Monastery built. During World War I,500,000 Assyrian Christians were killed in the Ottoman Empires Assyrian Genocide, in the last few decades, caught between Turkish assimilation policies against Kurds, and Kurdish resistance, many Assyrians have fled the region or been killed. Today there are only 5,000, a quarter of the Christian population thirty years ago, most have fled to Syria, Europe, Australia and the United States. In the past few years, a few families have returned to Tur Abdin, on 10 February 2006 and the following day, large demonstrations took place in the city of Midyat in Tur Abdin. Muslims angry about the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons gathered in Estel, the new part of the city, and started to march towards the old part of Midyat, the mob was stopped by the police before reaching old Midyat. In 2008 a series of challenges were made against the monastery of Mor Gabriel. Some local Kurdish villages sought to land on which the monastery had paid taxes since the 1930s as belonging to the villages. This led to diplomatic and Human Rights action throughout Europe. The most important Syriac Orthodox centre in Tur Abdin is the monastery of Dayro d-Mor Hananyo,6 km south east of Mardin, in the west of the region. Built from yellow rock, the monastery is known as Dayro d Kurkmo in Syriac, Dayr al-Zafaran in Arabic, or Deyrülzafarân in Turkish. Founded in AD493, the monastery was the residence of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch from 1160 to 1932, although the patriarch now lives in Damascus the monastery still contains the patriarchal throne and tombs of seven patriarchs and metropolitans. Today the monastery is led by a bishop and a monk and some lay assistants, the bishop of Mor Hananyo is also the patriarchal vicar of Mardin
37.
First Council of Dvin
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The First Council of Dvin was a church council held in 506 in the Armenian city of Dvin. It convened to discuss the Henotikon, a document issued by Byzantine emperor Zeno in an attempt to resolve theological disputes that had arisen from the Council of Chalcedon. The Council was convoked by the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church Babgen I Umtsetsi, besides the Armenians, delegates from the Georgian and Albanian churches were present. According to the Book of Epistles,20 bishops,14 laymen and this was the doctrine of the Armenian Church among others. The Henotikon, Emperor Zenos attempt at conciliation, was published in 482 and it reminded bishops of the condemnation of Nestorian doctrine, which emphasized the human nature of Christ, and did not mention the Chalcedonian diaphysitic creed. The Council stopped short of formally rejecting the Chalcedonian Definition of the nature of Christ. Such a step, which formalized the Armenian break from the Roman church, the Acts of the Council were discovered by Karapet Ter Mkrtchian and published by him in 1901
38.
Coonan Cross Oath
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The Saint Thomas Christians remain in communion with the Church of the East. It is believed that Malabar Church was in communion with the Church of the East from CE496 to CE1599. With the establishment of Portuguese power in parts of India, clergy of that empire, in members of the Society of Jesus. A series of synods, including the 1585 Synod of Goa, were held, in 1599 Aleixo de Menezes, Archbishop of Goa, led the Synod of Diamper, which finally brought the Saint Thomas Christians fully under the authority of the Latin Archdiocese of Goa. The independence of the ancient Church of Malankara was rescinded, in 1653, Ahatallah of Antioch visited Malankara and was captured by the Portuguese. He was taken on board a Portuguese ship at Madras bound for Goa and en route, the Syrian Christians heard of the arrival of the ship at Cochin. Due to the staunch and intransigent opposition of the Archbishop Garcia, the Archbishop even refused to meet the Christians, who wanted to discuss the matter with him. What happened to Mar Ahatallah in the midst of Arabian Sea is still a mystery, further resentment of these measures led a part of the community to take the Coonan Cross Oath in 1653 swearing never to submit to the Portuguese. Ahatallah claimed to be the Patriarch of Antioch and hence was often called himself Ignatius Aloho which was the name of the Patriarch Ignatius Hidayat Aloho. According to some writing on 1980s, Metropolitan Mar Ahatalla is said to have landed at Surat in 1652 and thence came to Mylapore, when you have read this letter diligently send me two priests and forty men. If however, you wish to send them from your place, send them cautiously, quickly and soon, I came to the city of Mylapore thinking that many people come here, and that priests would get me to your place of the Indias. In the year 1652 of our Lord, in the month of August, on Monday, in the same monastery I stay, and they help me very much, may their reward increase here and there. Peace be with them, with you, and with us now, I, Ignatius, Patriarch of All India and China. Later when the ship carrying Mar Ahatallah reached Goa, he was handed over to the inquisition and he was sent to Portugal on the ship Nosa Senhora da Graca from Goa and reached Lisbon on 14 July 1653. The king of Portugal decided to send him to Rome, accordingly, while he was on his way to Rome, he died at Paris on 26 March 1654 and is buried at the Jerusalem Chapel of the Cordeliena Church. They say he is the Patriarch of Antioch, be that it may, he is alone and has no mark of prelacy. Seeing that the Archbishop thus turned an ear to their insistent pleas. A rumor also was spread at this time that Mar Ahatallah was drowned by the Portuguese, therefore, they held on to ropes tied to the Cross in all directions
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Coptic calendar
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The Coptic calendar, also called the Alexandrian calendar, is used by the Coptic Orthodox Church and still used in Egypt. This calendar is based on the ancient Egyptian calendar, to distinguish it from the Ancient Egyptian calendar, which remained in use by some astronomers until medieval times, this reformed calendar is known as the Coptic calendar. Its years and months coincide with those of the Ethiopian calendar but have different numbers, the Coptic year is the extension of the ancient Egyptian civil year, retaining its subdivision into the three seasons, four months each. The three seasons are commemorated by special prayers in the Coptic Liturgy and this calendar is still in use all over Egypt by farmers to keep track of the various agricultural seasons. The Coptic calendar has 13 months,12 of 30 days each and one month at the end of the year of 5 days in length. The year starts on 11 September in the Julian Calendar or on the 12th in the year before Leap Years, the Coptic Leap Year follows the same rules as the Julian Calendar so that the extra month always has six days in the year before a Julian Leap Year. The Feast of Neyrouz marks the first day of the Coptic year, ignorant of the Egyptian language for the most part, the Arabs confused the Egyptian new years celebrations, which the Egyptians called the feast of Ni-Yarouou, with the Persian feast of Nowruz. The misnomer remains today, and the celebrations of the Egyptian new year on the first day of the month of Thout are known as the Neyrouz. Coptic years are counted from 284, the year Diocletian became Roman Emperor, whose reign was marked by tortures and mass executions of Christians, hence, the Coptic year is identified by the abbreviation A. M. Note that A. M. abbreviation is used for unrelated calendar eras which start at the putative creation of the world. Every fourth Coptic year is a year without exception, as in the Julian calendar. In the Julian Calendar, the new year is always 29 August, Easter is reckoned by the Julian Calendar in the Old Calendarist way. To obtain the Coptic year number, subtract from the Julian year number either 283 or 284, Coptic Christmas is observed on what the Julian Calendar labels the 25th day of December, a date that currently corresponds with January 7 on the more widely used Gregorian Calendar. Another early source is Theophilus Bishop of Caesarea, We ought to celebrate the birth-day of our Lord on what day soever the 25th of December shall happen, however, it was not until 367 that December 25 was begun to be universally accepted. Before that, the Eastern Church had kept January 6 as the Nativity under the name Epiphany, john Chrysostom, in a sermon preached in Antioch in 387, relates how the correct date of the Nativity was brought to the East ten years earlier. Dionysius of Alexandria emphatically quoted mystical justifications for this very choice,25 March was considered to be the anniversary of Creation itself. It was the first day of the year in the medieval Julian calendar, there may have been more practical considerations for choosing 25 December. The choice would help substitute a major Christian holiday for the popular Pagan celebrations surrounding the Winter Solstice, in AD274, Emperor Aurelian had declared a civil holiday on 25 December to celebrate the deity Sol Invictus
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