1.
Hebrew language
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Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
2.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
3.
Cyprus
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Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean and the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel and Palestine, north of Egypt, the earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in two waves in the 2nd millennium BC, Cyprus was placed under British administration based on Cyprus Convention in 1878 and formally annexed by Britain in 1914. While Turkish Cypriots made up 18% of the population, the partition of Cyprus and creation of a Turkish state in the north became a policy of Turkish Cypriot leaders, following nationalist violence in the 1950s, Cyprus was granted independence in 1960. On 15 July 1974, a coup détat was staged by Greek Cypriot nationalists and elements of the Greek military junta in an attempt at enosis and these events and the resulting political situation are matters of a continuing dispute. The Cyprus Republic has de jure sovereignty over the island of Cyprus, as well as its territorial sea and exclusive economic area, another nearly 4% of the islands area is covered by the UN buffer zone. The international community considers the part of the island as territory of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by Turkish forces. The occupation is viewed as illegal under law, amounting to illegal occupation of EU territory since Cyprus became a member of the European Union. Cyprus is a major tourist destination in the Mediterranean, on 1 January 2008, the Republic of Cyprus joined the eurozone. The earliest attested reference to Cyprus is the 15th century BC Mycenaean Greek
4.
Israel
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Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. The country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Israels economy and technology center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, in 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, next year, the Jewish Agency declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and it extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories is the worlds longest military occupation in modern times, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed, the population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2017 to be 8,671,100 people. It is the worlds only Jewish-majority state, with 74. 8% being designated as Jewish, the countrys second largest group of citizens are Arabs, at 20. 8%. The great majority of Israeli Arabs are Sunni Muslims, including significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins, other minorities include Arameans, Armenians, Assyrians, Black Hebrew Israelites, Circassians, Maronites and Samaritans. Israel also hosts a significant population of foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia, including illegal migrants from Sudan, Eritrea. In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish, Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. The prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature, Israel is a developed country and an OECD member, with the 35th-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2016. The country benefits from a skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. The country has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the third highest in Asia, in the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term Israeli to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The name Israel in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, jacobs twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. The earliest known artifact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt. The area is known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam
5.
Jordan
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Jordan, officially The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is an Arab kingdom in Western Asia, on the East Bank of the Jordan River. Jordan is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the east and south, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north, Israel, Palestine and the Dead Sea to the west, Jordan is strategically located at the crossroads of Asia, Africa and Europe. The capital, Amman, is Jordans most populous city as well as the countrys economic, what is now Jordan has been inhabited by humans since the Paleolithic period. Three stable kingdoms emerged there at the end of the Bronze Age, Ammon, Moab, later rulers include the Nabataean Kingdom, the Roman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. After the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottomans in 1916 during World War I, the Emirate of Transjordan was established in 1921 by the then Emir Abdullah I and became a British protectorate. In 1946, Jordan became an independent state known as The Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. Jordan captured the West Bank, which it later lost in 1967, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Jordan is a founding member of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and is one of two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel. The country is a monarchy, but the king holds wide executive and legislative powers. Jordan is a relatively-small, semi-arid, almost-landlocked country with a population numbering at 9.5 million, Sunni Islam, practiced by around 92% of the population, is the dominant religion in Jordan. It coexists with an indigenous Christian minority, Jordan is considered to be among the safest of Arab countries in the Middle East, and has avoided long-term terrorism and instability. The kingdom is also a refuge to thousands of Iraqi Christians fleeing the Islamic State, while Jordan continues to accept refugees, the recent large influx from Syria placed substantial strain on national resources and infrastructure. Jordan is classified as a country of high human development with a middle income economy. The Jordanian economy, one of the smallest economies in the region, is attractive to foreign investors based upon a skilled workforce, the country is a major tourist destination, and also attracts medical tourism due to its well developed health sector. Nonetheless, a lack of resources, large flow of refugees. Jordan is named after the Jordan River, where Jesus is said to have been baptized, the origin of the rivers name is debated, but the most common explanation is that it derives from the word yarad, found in Hebrew, Aramaic, and other Semitic languages. Others regard the name as having an Indo-Aryan origin, combining the words yor and don, another theory is that it is from the Arabic root word wrd, as in people coming to a major source of water. The name Jordan appears in an ancient Egyptian papyrus called Papyrus Anastasi I, the lands of modern-day Jordan were historically called Transjordan, meaning beyond the Jordan River. The name was Arabized into Al-Urdunn during the Muslim conquest of the Levant, during crusader rule, it was called Oultrejordain
6.
State of Palestine
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The State of Palestine claims the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as the designated capital. Most of the areas claimed by the State of Palestine have been occupied by Israel since 1967 in the aftermath of the Six-Day War and its independence was declared on 15 November 1988 by the Palestine Liberation Organization in Algiers as a government-in-exile. Since the British Mandate, the term Palestine has been associated with the area that currently covers the State of Israel, the West Bank. In 1947, the UN adopted a plan for a two-state solution in the remaining territory of the mandate. The plan was accepted by the Jewish leadership but rejected by the Arab leaders, on the eve of final British withdrawal, the Jewish Agency for Israel declared the establishment of the State of Israel according to the proposed UN plan. During the war, Israel gained additional territories that were designated to be part of the Arab state under the UN plan, Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip and Transjordan occupied the West Bank. Egypt initially supported the creation of an All-Palestine Government, but disbanded it in 1959, Transjordan never recognized it and instead decided to incorporate the West Bank with its own territory to form Jordan. The annexation was ratified in 1950 but was rejected by the international community, the Six-Day War in 1967, when Egypt, Jordan, and Syria fought against Israel, ended with Israel being in occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, besides other territories. In 1964, when the West Bank was controlled by Jordan, the Palestinian National Charter of the PLO defines the boundaries of Palestine as the whole remaining territory of the mandate, including Israel. Following the Six-Day War, the PLO moved to Jordan, the October 1974 Arab League summit designated the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and reaffirmed their right to establish an independent state of urgency. In November 1974, the PLO was recognized as competent on all matters concerning the question of Palestine by the UN General Assembly granting them observer status as an entity at the UN. In spite of this decision, the PLO did not participate at the UN in its capacity of the State of Palestines government, in 1979, through the Camp David Accords, Egypt signaled an end to any claim of its own over the Gaza Strip. In July 1988, Jordan ceded its claims to the West Bank—with the exception of guardianship over Haram al-Sharif—to the PLO, in November 1988, the PLO legislature, while in exile, declared the establishment of the State of Palestine. In the month following, it was recognised by many states, including Egypt. In the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, the State of Palestine is described as being established on the Palestinian territory, the UN membership application submitted by the State of Palestine also specified that it is based on the 1967 borders. During the negotiations of the Oslo Accords, the PLO recognised Israels right to exist, after Israel took control of the West Bank from Jordan and Gaza Strip from Egypt, it began to establish Israeli settlements there. These were organised into Judea and Samaria district and Hof Aza Regional Council in the Southern District, in 1980, Israel decided to freeze elections for these councils and to establish instead Village Leagues, whose officials were under Israeli influence. Later this model became ineffective for both Israel and the Palestinians, and the Village Leagues began to break up, with the last being the Hebron League, dissolved in February 1988
7.
Holy See
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The Holy See, also referred to as the See of Rome, is the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, the episcopal see of the Pope, and an independent sovereign entity. It serves as the point of reference for the Catholic Church everywhere. Today, it is responsible for the governance of all Catholics, organised in their Particular Churches, Patriarchates, as an independent sovereign entity, holding the Vatican City enclave in Rome as sovereign territory, it maintains diplomatic relations with other states. Diplomatically, the Holy See acts and speaks for the whole church and it is also recognised by other subjects of international law as a sovereign entity, headed by the Pope, with which diplomatic relations can be maintained. The creation of the Vatican City state was meant to ensure the diplomatic, in Greek, the adjective holy or sacred is constantly applied to all such sees as a matter of course. The word see comes from the Latin word sedes, meaning seat, while Saint Peters basilica in Vatican City is perhaps the church most associated with the Papacy, the actual cathedral of the Holy See is the church of Saint John Lateran within the city of Rome. The Pope governs the Catholic Church through the Roman Curia, the Secretariat of State, under the Cardinal Secretary of State, directs and coordinates the Curia. The incumbent, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, is the Sees equivalent of a prime minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State, acts as the Holy Sees minister of foreign affairs. Parolin was named in his role by Pope Francis On 31 August 2013, mamberti was named in his role by Pope Benedict XVI in September 2006. The Secretariat of State is the body of the Curia that is situated within Vatican City. The others are in buildings in different parts of Rome that have rights similar to those of embassies. The Roman Rota handles normal judicial appeals, the most numerous being those that concern alleged nullity of marriage and it also oversees the work of other ecclesiastical tribunals at all levels. The most important of these is the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, the Prefecture of the Papal Household is responsible for the organization of the papal household, audiences, and ceremonies. The Holy See does not dissolve upon a Popes death or resignation and it instead operates under a different set of laws sede vacante. The government of the See, and therefore of the Catholic Church, canon law prohibits the College and the Camerlengo from introducing any innovations or novelties in the government of the Church during this period. In 2001, the Holy See had a revenue of 422.098 billion Italian lire, the Guardian newspaper described Mennini and his role in the following manner. Paolo Mennini, who is in effect the popes merchant banker, Mennini heads a special unit inside the Vatican called the extraordinary division of APSA – Amministrazione del Patrimonio della Sede Apostolica – which handles the patrimony of the Holy See. The Holy See has been recognized, both in practice and in the writing of modern legal scholars, as a subject of public international law, with rights
8.
Latin Church
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The Latin Church, commonly called Roman Catholic Church, sometimes Western Church, is the largest autonomous particular church sui iuris within the Catholic Church, applying Latin liturgical rites. There are 24 such sui iuris particular churches within the Catholic Church, all the other particular churches sui iuris, of which there are 23, originated farther east and are, therefore, collectively known as the Eastern Catholic Churches. Because of the migrations, members of all of these particular churches sui iuris are no longer confined to their areas of origin. A person is a member of or belongs to a particular church, a person also inherits or is of, a particular patrimony or rite. Since the rite has liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary elements, Particular churches that inherit and perpetuate a particular patrimony are identified by metonymy with that patrimony. Accordingly, rite has been defined as a division of the Christian church using a distinctive liturgy, is considered equal to the Latin rite within the Church. It thus used the rite as a technical designation of what may now be called a particular church. Church or rite is used as a single heading in the United States Library of Congress classification of works. The last known use was Pope Pius XII in Humani generis who taught that the Mystical Body of Christ and the Roman Catholic Church are one. Most ecclesiologists - experts in the theology of the Church itself - instead use Roman Catholic to refer exclusively to the Latin Church. The reasons for this are that each of the 24 Catholic Churches sui iuris have a modifier - Maronite, Ukrainian, Roman, etc. - and that Latin and Roman are virtually interchangeable. Further, as Adrian Fortescue noted in his article in the 1910 Catholic Encyclopedia, today, the most common Latin liturgical rites are the Roman Rite, the Ambrosian Rite, the Mozarabic Rite, and variations of the Roman Rite. The 23 Eastern Catholic Churches share five families of liturgical rites, the Latin liturgical rites, like the Armenian, are used only in a single sui iuris particular church. In the Eastern Churches these sacraments are usually administered immediately after baptism, celibacy, as a consequence of the duty to observe perfect continence, is obligatory for priests in the Latin Church. Rare exceptions are permitted for men who, after ministering as clergy in other churches and this contrasts with the discipline in most Eastern Catholic Churches. In the Latin Church, a man may not be admitted even to the diaconate unless he is legitimately destined to remain a deacon. Marriage after ordination is not possible, and attempting it can result in canonical penalties, Latin Mass Church of Rome Particular church General Roman Calendar Eastern Catholic Churches Catholic Encyclopedia, Latin Church
9.
Roman Rite
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The Roman Rite is the most widespread liturgical rite in the Catholic Church and is one of the Latin rites used in the Western or Latin Church. The Roman Rite has been adapted over the centuries and its Eucharistic liturgy can be divided into three stages, the Pre-Tridentine Mass, Tridentine Mass and Mass of Paul VI. The 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum specifies the circumstances in which priests of the Latin Church may continue to use the form of the Roman Rite in the 1962 Roman Missal. While other rites use more poetic language, the Roman Rite is noted for its sobriety of expression, as each is shown, a bell is rung and, if incense is used, the host and chalice are incensed. Sometimes the external bells of the church are rung as well, other characteristics that distinguish the Roman Rite from the rites of the Eastern Catholic Churches are frequent genuflections, kneeling for long periods, and keeping both hands joined together. We find the prayers of our Canon in the treatise de Sacramentis, so our Mass goes back, without essential change, to the age when it first developed out of the oldest liturgy of all. The final result of our inquiry is that, in spite of unsolved problems, in spite of later changes, in a footnote he added, The prejudice that imagines that everything Eastern must be old is a mistake. Eastern rites have been modified too, some of them quite late. No Eastern Rite now used is as archaic as the Roman Mass, in the same book, Fortescue acknowledged that the Roman Rite underwent profound changes in the course of its development. In the interval, there was what Fortescue called a radical change and he quoted the theory of A. Leo, I began to make these changes, Gregory I finished the process and finally recast the Canon in the form it still has. We must then admit that between the years 400 and 500 a great transformation was made in the Roman Canon and this infusion Fortescue called the last change since Gregory the Great. The Eucharistic Prayer normally used in the Byzantine Rite is attributed to Saint John Chrysostom, the East Syrian Eucharistic Prayer of Addai and Mari, which is still in use, is certainly much older. However, by about 1800 the Roman Rite had quite abandoned rood screens, however, when Western Europe adopted polyphony, the music of the Roman Rite did become very elaborate and lengthy. Latin liturgical rites List of Catholic rites and churches Liturgical books of the Roman rite Pre-Tridentine Mass Mass of Paul VI Mass Tridentine Mass Baldovin, John F. Reforming the Liturgy, A Response to the Critics. The Reform of the Liturgy 1948-1975, a Short History of the Roman Mass. By Michael Davies, said to be based on Adrian Fortescues The Mass, A Study of the Roman Liturgy Metzger, History of the Liturgy, The Major Stages. Bodies of Worship, Explorations in Theory and Practice, a Challenging Reform, Realizing the Vision of the Liturgical Renewal. Johnson, Lawrence, J. Worship in the Early Church, foley, Edward, Mitchell, Nathan D. and Pierce, Joanne M
10.
Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre
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The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, a few steps away from the Muristan. The tomb is enclosed by the 18th-century shrine, called the Aedicule, within the church proper are the last four Stations of the Via Dolorosa, representing the final episodes of Jesus Passion. The main denominations sharing property over parts of the church are the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Roman Catholic, and to a lesser degree the Egyptian Copts, Syriacs and Ethiopians. According to Eusebius of Caesarea, the Roman emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD built a dedicated to the goddess Venus in order to bury the cave in which Jesus had been buried. The first Christian emperor, Constantine the Great, ordered in about 325/326 that the temple be replaced by a church, during the building of the Church, Constantines mother, Helena, is believed to have rediscovered the tomb. Socrates Scholasticus, in his Ecclesiastical History, gives a description of the discovery. The remains are enveloped by a marble sheath placed some 500 years before to protect the ledge from Ottoman attacks. However, there are several thick window wells extending through the marble sheath and they appear to reveal an underlying limestone rock, which may be part of the original living rock of the tomb. The church was starting in 325/326, and was consecrated on 13 September 335. From pilgrim reports it seems that the housing the tomb of Jesus was freestanding at first. Each year, the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the anniversary of the consecration of the Church of the Resurrection on 13 September and this building was damaged by fire in May of 614 when the Sassanid Empire, under Khosrau II, invaded Jerusalem and captured the True Cross. In 630, the Emperor Heraclius restored it and rebuilt the church after recapturing the city, after Jerusalem came under Arab rule, it remained a Christian church, with the early Muslim rulers protecting the citys Christian sites. A story reports that the Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab visited the church and stopped to pray on the balcony and he feared that future generations would misinterpret this gesture, taking it as a pretext to turn the church into a mosque. Eutychius added that Umar wrote a decree prohibiting Muslims from praying at this location, the building suffered severe damage due to an earthquake in 746. Early in the century, another earthquake damaged the dome of the Anastasis. The damage was repaired in 810 by Patriarch Thomas, in the year 841, the church suffered a fire. In 935, the Orthodox Christians prevented the construction of a Muslim mosque adjacent the Church, in 938, a new fire damaged the inside of the basilica and came close to the rotunda. In 966, due to a defeat of Muslim armies in the region of Syria, the doors and roof were burnt, and the Patriarch John VII was murdered
11.
Co-Cathedral of the Most Holy Name of Jesus
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The Co-Cathedral of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, also known as the Holy Name of Jesus Concathedral, is the co-cathedral, or technical cathedra, of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. It is located in the Christian quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, in 1847 the Ottoman Empire allowed to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church to build a new cathedral in Palestine. The Co-Cathedral, completed in 1872, is part of the complex of the Latin Patriarchate. For historical reasons, however, the Catholic Church has the Church of the Holy Sepulchre officially being the cathedral, in neo-Gothic style, the church has a floor plan of a Greek cross with a length of 28 meters and a width of 24 meters. The three-aisled nave of the church has a width of 8.5 meters, the side aisles a width of 4.5 meters, the church has four decorated stained glass windows, marking the ends of the cross. The rear window over the entrance is a rose window. The church has five altars, three in the nave and the two aisles and two smaller ones on the ends of the transverse axis
12.
Pope Francis
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Pope Francis is the 266th and current Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, a title he holds ex officio as Bishop of Rome, and sovereign of Vatican City. He chose Francis as his name in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bergoglio worked briefly as a chemical technologist and he was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979 was Argentinas provincial superior of the Society of Jesus. He became the Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II and he led the Argentine Church during the December 2001 riots in Argentina, and the administrations of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner considered him a political rival. Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, throughout his public life, Pope Francis has been noted for his humility, emphasis on Gods mercy, concern for the poor, populist causes and commitment to interfaith dialogue. He maintains that the church should be open and welcoming. He does not support unbridled capitalism, Marxism, or Marxist versions of liberation theology, Francis maintains the traditional views of the church regarding abortion, euthanasia, contraception, homosexuality, ordination of women, and priestly celibacy. He opposes consumerism, irresponsible development, and supports taking action on climate change, in international diplomacy, he helped to restore full diplomatic relations between the U. S. and Cuba. Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on 17 December 1936 in Flores and he was the eldest of five children of Mario José Bergoglio and Regina María Sívori. Mario Bergoglio was an Italian immigrant accountant born in Portacomaro in Italys Piedmont region, Regina Sívori was a housewife born in Buenos Aires to a family of northern Italian origin. Mario Josés family left Italy in 1929, to escape the fascist rule of Benito Mussolini, María Elena Bergoglio, the Popes only living sibling, confirmed that their emigration was not for economic reasons. His other siblings were Alberto Horacio, Oscar Adrián and Marta Regina, two great-nephews, Antonio and Joseph, died in a traffic collision. In the sixth grade, Bergoglio attended Wilfrid Barón de los Santos Ángeles and he attended the technical secondary school Escuela Técnica Industrial N°27 Hipólito Yrigoyen, named after a past President of Argentina, and graduated with a chemical technicians diploma. He worked for a few years in that capacity in the section at Hickethier-Bachmann Laboratory where his boss was Esther Ballestrino. Before joining the Jesuits, Bergoglio worked as a bar bouncer and as a janitor sweeping floors, in the only known health crisis of his youth, at the age of 21 he suffered from life-threatening pneumonia and three cysts. He had part of a lung excised shortly afterwards, Bergoglio has been a lifelong supporter of San Lorenzo de Almagro football club. Bergoglio is also a fan of the films of Tita Merello, neorealism, Bergoglio found his vocation to the priesthood while he was on his way to celebrate the Spring Day. He passed by a church to go to confession, and was inspired by the priest
13.
Sede vacante
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Sede vacante in the canon law of the Catholic Church is the vacancy of the episcopal see of a particular church and especially that of the papacy. It is Latin for the seat being vacant, the seat in question being the throne of the particular church. After the death or resignation of a pope, the Holy See enters a period of sede vacante, in this case the particular church is the Diocese of Rome and the vacant seat is the cathedra of Saint John Lateran, the cathedral church of the Bishop of Rome. During this period, the Holy See is administered by a regency of the College of Cardinals, at the same time, all the heads of the departments of the Roman Curia cease to exercise their offices. The exceptions are the Cardinal Camerlengo, who is charged with managing the property of the Holy See, and the Major Penitentiary, if either has to do something which normally requires the assent of the Pope, he has to submit it to the College of Cardinals. The postal administration of the Vatican City State prepares and issues special postage stamps for use during this particular period, the coat of arms of the Holy See also changes during this period. The papal tiara over the keys is replaced with the umbraculum or ombrellino in Italian and this symbolizes both the lack of a Pope and the governance of the Camerlengo over the temporalities of the Holy See. As further indication, the Camerlengo ornaments his arms with this symbol during this period, previously during this period the arms of the Camerlengo appeared on commemorative Vatican lira coinage. It now makes its appearance on Vatican euro coins, which are legal tender in all Eurozone states, once a new pope has been elected the sede vacante period officially ends, even before the papal inauguration. Cardinals present in Rome are required to wait at least fifteen days after the start of the vacancy before they hold the conclave to elect the new Pope, after twenty days have elapsed, they must hold the conclave, even if some cardinals are missing. With the next conclave in 1939, cardinals began to travel by air, days before his resignation in February 2013, Benedict XVI amended the rules to allow the cardinals to begin the conclave sooner, if all voting cardinals are present. Historically, sede vacante periods have often been quite lengthy, lasting months, or even years. The longest period without a Pope in the last 250 years was the half year from the death in prison of Pius VI in 1799. Whilst conclaves and papal elections are generally completed in short order, the following is a table of sede vacante periods in excess of a year, The term sede vacante can be applied to other Catholic dioceses outside of Rome. In such cases, this means that the diocesan bishop has either died, resigned, transferred to a different diocese, or lost his office. If there is a bishop for the diocese, then this period does not take place. Within eight days after the see is known to be vacant. The administrator they choose must be a priest or bishop who is at least 35 years old, the diocesan administrator has greater powers, essentially those of a bishop except for matters excepted by the nature of the matter or expressly by law
14.
Maroun Elias Nimeh Lahham
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Maroun Elias Nimeh Lahham, is the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tunis from 2010, after having been bishop for more than four years. Since 2012 Lahham is the Patriarchal Vicar to Jordan of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, on June 24,1972, Lahham was ordained Catholic priest in Jerusalem. He later became Fidei donum in Dubai and vicar and priest in Jordan, in 1992, he received his PhD in pastoral theology and catechesis in the Pontifical Lateran University. In 1994, he was appointed rector of the Latin Seminary in Beit Jala, on May 22,2010, Pope Benedict XVI raised the Diocese of Tunis to Archdiocese, and gave to Maroun Lahham the title of Archbishop of Tunis. Less than two years later, on January 19,2012, Lahham was recalled to the Middle East where he became Auxiliary Bishop and he received the title of Titular bishop of Madaba and maintained, as an individual, the dignity of archbishop. On February 6,2017, His Holiness Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Maroun Lahham as Auxiliary Bishop of Jordan
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Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo
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Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo is a Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, resident in Nazareth. Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo studied philosophy and theology at the Major Patriarchal Seminary in Beit Jala and he was ordained a priest on June 22,1969 in the Church of All Nations. Then he worked as a chaplain in Beit Jala in the West Bank, in Ramallah and in Malakal in southern Sudan, Marcuzzo was also teacher at the Minor Seminary of the Latin Patriarchate in Beit Jala. In the years 1977-1980 he studied Dogmatic theology at the Pontifical Lateran University, after obtained a doctorate Marcuzzo became a lecturer at the Major Seminary in Beit Jala, being for a time its rector. He also lectured Patrology and Arabic Christian literature at the Bethlehem University, in 1993 Marcuzzo was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem as Titular bishop of Siminina. He was consecrated bishop on the hands of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah on 3 July 1993 in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, from 29 October 1994 he became titular bishop of Emmaus-Nicopolis. He resides in Nazareth as patriarchal vicar for Israel, Bishop Marcuzzo is fluent in Arabic, French, English, German and Hebrew
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William Hanna Shomali
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William Hanna Shomali is an auxiliary bishop of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. William Hanna Shomali entered in 1961 in the Minor Seminary of Beit Jala, after completing his studies in philosophy and theology he received on 24 June 1972 his ordination to priesthood. Shomali was then chaplain in Zarqa, Jordan and pastor in Shatana, in 1980 he completed a postgraduate degree in English Literature from Yarmouk University and was a lecturer and later director of the Minor Seminary of Beit Jala. In 1998 he became General Administrator and Economist of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Shomali in 2005 was appointed rector of the Latin Patriarchate Seminary in Beit Jala. In 2009 he was appointed chancellor of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Shomali became responsible as Patriarchal Vicar for Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Cyprus
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Michel Sabbah
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Michel Sabbah was the Archbishop and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1987 to 2008, the first non-Italian to hold this position in more than five centuries. Sabbah began his studies at the Latin Patriarchal Seminary of Beit Jala in October 1949 and was ordained a priest for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in June 1955. He was a parish priest for a few years before being sent to the University of St. Joseph in Beirut to study Arabic language, shortly thereafter, he became director of schools for the Latin Patriarchate. He served in that position until the Arab-Israeli war in 1967, Sabbah then moved to Djibouti to teach Arabic and Islamic studies until 1973, when he began doctoral studies in Arabic philology at the Sorbonne. In 1980, he was named President of the Bethlehem University, in 1987, Pope John Paul II appointed him Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, making him the first native Palestinian to hold the office in centuries. From 1999-2007, Sabbah was the International President of Pax Christi, Sabbah has also spoken in support of Palestinian rights, the two-state solution and the Palestinian refugees right of return. He has criticized the West Bank barrier and called for an end to the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip, in 2006, Sabbah was one of the signatories of the Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism, which repudiates Christian Zionism as inconsistent with Christian teaching. Sabbah resigned as Patriarch on 19 March 2008, after reaching the age of 75, Sabbah is currently the Grand Prior of the chivalric Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, one of the knightly orders founded in 1099. On 11 December 2009, Sabbah together with other prominent Palestinian Christian leaders launched the Kairos Palestine Document against Israeli occupation
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Fouad Twal
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Fouad Twal is the emeritus Archbishop and Patriarch of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, having been its ordinary from 2008 to 2016. He has also served as the Grand Prior of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, fouad Twal was ordained to the priesthood on 29 June 1966. After his ordination he was the vicar of Ramallah, in 1972 he entered the Pontifical Lateran University where he studied for a doctorate in canon law, which he was awarded in 1975. He was appointed the prelate of the prelature of Tunis by Pope John Paul II on 30 May 1992. He was consecrated to the episcopate on 22 July later that year by principal consecrator Patriarch Michel Sabbah. On 31 May 1995, Pope John Paul II gave the Tunis territorial prelature diocesan status, creating the Diocese of Tunis, a week later, he received the pallium from the hands of Pope Benedict XVI at a Mass in Romes Basilica of Saint Peter. We don’t only want to be a begging Church, we dont want to be beggars with a licence. We need a political horizon, its time to put an end to the Wall, on 19 February 2014 he was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. In June 2016 Pope Francis accepted Twals resignation as patriarch
