1.
Martyrs of Japan
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The Martyrs of Japan were Christian missionaries and followers who were persecuted and executed for their faith in Japan, mostly during the Tokugawa shogunate period in the 17th century. Christian missionaries arrived with Francis Xavier and the Jesuits in the 1540s and briefly flourished, with over 100,000 converts, however, the Shogunate was also wary of colonialism, seeing that the Spanish had taken power in the Philippines, after converting the population. It soon met resistance from the highest office holders of Japan, emperor Ogimachi issued edicts to ban Catholicism in 1565 and 1568, but to little effect. Beginning in 1587 with imperial regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s ban on Jesuit missionaries, after the Tokugawa shogunate banned Christianity in 1620, it ceased to exist publicly. Many Catholics went underground, becoming hidden Christians, while others lost their lives, only after the Meiji Restoration, was Christianity re-established in Japan. The Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan refers to a group of Christians who were executed by crucifixion on February 5,1597 at Nagasaki, through the promulgation of decree on martyrdom, these first Martyrs of Japan were beatified on 14 September 1627 by Pope Urban VIII. These saints were canonized saints on 8 June 1862 by Pope Pius IX, persecution continued sporadically and over a period of 15 years, between 1617 and 1632,205 missionaries and native Christians were executed for their faith. Christian teaching disintegrated until the arrival of Western missionaries in the nineteenth century, through the promulgation of decree on martyrdom, these 205 Martyrs of Japan were venerated on 26 February 1866 and beatified on 7 May 1867, by Pope Pius IX. Two Spanish Augustinians arrived in Japan in the half of 1632 from Manila to evangelize the Japanese. Upon arrival, the Japanese authorities were notified by Chinese traders that gave them passage and they fled to mountains, where Dominican missionaries instructed them in the language of the country. As these two priests descended to the city, they were recognized and arrested during November 1632, on 11 December 1632, they were martyred for their faith. Through the promulgation of decree on martyrdom, these two Augustinian Martyrs of Japan were venerated on 28 November 1988 and beatified on 23 April 1989, by Pope John Paul II. The martyrdom continued on with a group of missionaries and natives that belonged to the Philippine Province of the Dominican Order, called the Holy Rosary Province. Through the promulgation of decree on martyrdom, these 16 Martyrs of Japan were venerated on 11 October 1980 and beatified on 18 February 1981 and they were later canonized saints on 18 October 1987, by Pope John Paul II. These martyrs are additional religious priests and laity murdered for their faith between the years 1603 and 1639, through the promulgation of decree on martyrdom, these 188 Martyrs of Japan were venerated on 1 June 2007 and beatified on 24 November 2008, by Pope Benedict XVI. Paul Convent, Tokyo, Japan, Prohibition of Christian religion by Hideyoshi and the 26 martyrs Herbermann, Charles, ed
2.
Language
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Language is the ability to acquire and use complex systems of communication, particularly the human ability to do so, and a language is any specific example of such a system. The scientific study of language is called linguistics, questions concerning the philosophy of language, such as whether words can represent experience, have been debated since Gorgias and Plato in Ancient Greece. Thinkers such as Rousseau have argued that language originated from emotions while others like Kant have held that it originated from rational and logical thought, 20th-century philosophers such as Wittgenstein argued that philosophy is really the study of language. Major figures in linguistics include Ferdinand de Saussure and Noam Chomsky, estimates of the number of languages in the world vary between 5,000 and 7,000. However, any precise estimate depends on an arbitrary distinction between languages and dialects. Natural languages are spoken or signed, but any language can be encoded into secondary media using auditory, visual, or tactile stimuli – for example, in whistling, signed and this is because human language is modality-independent. All languages rely on the process of semiosis to relate signs to particular meanings, human language has the properties of productivity and displacement, and relies entirely on social convention and learning. Its complex structure affords a wider range of expressions than any known system of animal communication. Language is processed in different locations in the human brain. Humans acquire language through interaction in early childhood, and children generally speak fluently when they are approximately three years old. The use of language is deeply entrenched in human culture, a group of languages that descend from a common ancestor is known as a language family. The languages of the Dravidian family that are mostly in Southern India include Tamil. Academic consensus holds that between 50% and 90% of languages spoken at the beginning of the 21st century will probably have become extinct by the year 2100. The English word language derives ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s tongue, speech, language through Latin lingua, language, tongue, and Old French language. The word is used to refer to codes, ciphers. Unlike conventional human languages, a language in this sense is a system of signs for encoding and decoding information. This article specifically concerns the properties of human language as it is studied in the discipline of linguistics. As an object of study, language has two primary meanings, an abstract concept, and a specific linguistic system, e. g. French
3.
Persecution
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Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, ethnic persecution and political persecution, the inflicting of suffering, harassment, imprisonment, internment, fear, or pain are all factors that may establish persecution, but not all suffering will necessarily establish persecution. The suffering experienced by the victim must be sufficiently severe, the threshold level of severity has been a source of much debate. As part of the Nuremberg Principles, crimes against humanity are part of international law, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which is binding on 111 states, defines crimes against humanity in Article 7.1. The article criminalises certain acts committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population and these include, Religious persecution is systematic mistreatment of an individual or group due to their religious affiliation. Not only theorists of secularization would willingly assume that religious persecution is a thing of the past, however, with the rise of fundamentalism and religiously related terrorism, this assumption has become even more controversial. Indeed, in countries of the world today, religious persecution is a Human Rights problem. Atheists have experienced persecution throughout history, Persecution may refer to unwarranted arrest, imprisonment, beating, torture, or execution. It also may refer to the confiscation or destruction of property, the persecution of Baháís refers to the religious persecution of Baháís in various countries, especially in Iran, which has one of the largest Baháí populations in the world. The Baháí Faith originated in Iran, and represents the largest religious minority in that country, the persecution of Christians is religious persecution that Christians may undergo as a consequence of professing their faith, both historically and in the current era. Early in the century, the religion was legalized by the Edict of Milan. Christian missionaries, as well as the people that they converted to Christianity, have been the target of persecution, in the 20th century, Christians have been persecuted by various groups, and by atheistic states such as the USSR and North Korea. During the Second World War members of many Christian churches were persecuted in Germany for resisting the Nazi ideology, in more recent times the Christian missionary organization Open Doors estimates 100 million Christians face persecution, particularly in Muslim-dominated countries such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. According to the International Society for Human Rights, up to 80% of acts of persecution are directed at people of the Christian faith, with the Missouri extermination order Mormons became the only religious group to have a state of the United States legalize the extermination of their religion. This was after a given by Sideny Rigdon called the July 4th Oration which while meant to state that Mormons would defend their lives. Their forcible expulsion from the state caused the death of over a hundred due to exposure, starvation, a government militia slaughtered Mormons in what is now known as the Hauns Mill massacre. Falun Gong was introduced to the public by Li Hongzhi in Changchun, China. For the next few years, Falun Gong was the fastest growing qigong practice in Chinese history and, by 1999, in late 1999, legislation was created to outlaw heterodox religions and retroactively applied to Falun Gong
4.
Socrates
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Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy. He is a figure known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon. Platos dialogues are among the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity, though it is unclear the degree to which Socrates himself is hidden behind his best disciple, nothing written by Socrates remains extant. As a result, information about him and his philosophies depends upon secondary sources, furthermore, close comparison between the contents of these sources reveals contradictions, thus creating concerns about the possibility of knowing in-depth the real Socrates. This issue is known as the Socratic problem, or the Socratic question, to understand Socrates and his thought, one must turn primarily to the works of Plato, whose dialogues are thought the most informative source about Socrates life and philosophy, and also Xenophon. These writings are the Sokratikoi logoi, or Socratic dialogues, which consist of reports of conversations apparently involving Socrates, as for discovering the real-life Socrates, the difficulty is that ancient sources are mostly philosophical or dramatic texts, apart from Xenophon. There are no straightforward histories, contemporary with Socrates, that dealt with his own time, a corollary of this is that sources that do mention Socrates do not necessarily claim to be historically accurate, and are often partisan. For instance, those who prosecuted and convicted Socrates have left no testament, historians therefore face the challenge of reconciling the various evidence from the extant texts in order to attempt an accurate and consistent account of Socrates life and work. The result of such an effort is not necessarily realistic, even if consistent, amid all the disagreement resulting from differences within sources, two factors emerge from all sources pertaining to Socrates. It would seem, therefore, that he was ugly, also, Xenophon, being an historian, is a more reliable witness to the historical Socrates. It is a matter of debate over which Socrates it is whom Plato is describing at any given point—the historical figure. As British philosopher Martin Cohen has put it, Plato, the idealist, offers an idol, a Saint, a prophet of the Sun-God, a teacher condemned for his teachings as a heretic. It is also clear from other writings and historical artefacts, that Socrates was not simply a character, nor an invention, the testimony of Xenophon and Aristotle, alongside some of Aristophanes work, is useful in fleshing out a perception of Socrates beyond Platos work. The problem with discerning Socrates philosophical views stems from the perception of contradictions in statements made by the Socrates in the different dialogues of Plato and these contradictions produce doubt as to the actual philosophical doctrines of Socrates, within his milieu and as recorded by other individuals. Aristotle, in his Magna Moralia, refers to Socrates in words which make it patent that the virtue is knowledge was held by Socrates. Within the Metaphysics, he states Socrates was occupied with the search for moral virtues, however, in The Clouds, Aristophanes portrays Socrates as accepting payment for teaching and running a sophist school with Chaerephon. Also, in Platos Apology and Symposium, as well as in Xenophons accounts, more specifically, in the Apology, Socrates cites his poverty as proof that he is not a teacher. Two fragments are extant of the writings by Timon of Phlius pertaining to Socrates, although Timon is known to have written to ridicule, details about the life of Socrates can be derived from three contemporary sources, the dialogues of Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of Aristophanes
5.
Witness
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A witness is someone who has, who claims to have, or is thought, by someone with authority to compel testimony, to have knowledge relevant to an event or other matter of interest. A percipient witness or eyewitness is one who testifies what they perceived through his or her senses, a hearsay witness is one who testifies what someone else said or wrote. In most court proceedings there are limitations on when hearsay evidence is admissible. Such limitations do not apply to grand jury investigations, many administrative proceedings, also some types of statements are not deemed to be hearsay and are not subject to such limitations. An expert witness may or may not also be a percipient witness, a reputation witness is one who testifies about the reputation of a person or business entity, when reputation is material to the dispute at issue. Sometimes the testimony is provided in public or in a confidential setting, although informally a witness includes whoever perceived the event, in law, a witness is different from an informant. A confidential informant is someone who claimed to have witnessed an event or have hearsay information, the information from the confidential informant may have been used by a police officer or other official acting as a hearsay witness to obtain a search warrant. A subpoena commands a person to appear and it is used to compel the testimony of a witness in a trial. Usually, it can be issued by a judge or by the representing the plaintiff or the defendant in a civil trial or by the prosecutor or the defense attorney in a criminal proceeding. In many jurisdictions, it is compulsory to comply, to take an oath, in a court proceeding, a witness may be called by either the prosecution or the defense. The side that calls the witness first asks questions, in what is called direct examination, the opposing side then may ask their own questions in what is called cross-examination. In some cases, redirect examination may then be used by the side called the witness. Recalling a witness means calling a witness, who has given testimony in a proceeding. Witness are usually permitted to testify to what they experienced first hand. In most cases, they may not testify about something they were told and this restriction does not apply to expert witnesses. Expert witnesses, however, may only testify in the area of their expertise, Eyewitness testimony is generally presumed to be more reliable than circumstantial evidence. Studies have shown, however, that individual, separate witness testimony is often flawed and this can occur because of flaws in Eyewitness identification, or because a witness is lying. One study involved an experiment, in which subjects acted as jurors in a criminal case, jurors heard a description of a robbery-murder, then a prosecution argument, and then an argument for the defense
6.
New Testament
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The New Testament is the second major part of the Christian biblical canon, the first part being the Old Testament, based on the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity, Christians regard both the Old and New Testaments together as sacred scripture. The New Testament has frequently accompanied the spread of Christianity around the world and it reflects and serves as a source for Christian theology and morality. Both extended readings and phrases directly from the New Testament are also incorporated into the various Christian liturgies, the New Testament has influenced religious, philosophical, and political movements in Christendom and left an indelible mark on literature, art, and music. In almost all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books, John A. T. Robinson, Dan Wallace, and William F. Albright dated all the books of the New Testament before 70 AD. Others give a date of 80 AD, or at 96 AD. Over time, some disputed books, such as the Book of Revelation, other works earlier held to be Scripture, such as 1 Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Diatessaron, were excluded from the New Testament. However, the canon of the New Testament, at least since Late Antiquity, has been almost universally recognized within Christianity. The term new testament, or new covenant first occurs in Jeremiah 31,31, the same Greek phrase for new covenant is found elsewhere in the New Testament. Modern English, like Latin, distinguishes testament and covenant as alternative translations, John Wycliffes 1395 version is a translation of the Latin Vulgate and so follows different terms in Jeremiah and Hebrews, Lo. Days shall come, saith the Lord, and I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel, for he reproving him saith, Lo. Days come, saith the Lord, when I shall establish a new testament on the house of Israel, use of the term New Testament to describe a collection of first and second-century Christian Greek Scriptures can be traced back to Tertullian. In Against Marcion, written circa 208 AD, he writes of the Divine Word, by the 4th century, the existence—even if not the exact contents—of both an Old and New Testament had been established. Lactantius, a 3rd–4th century Christian author wrote in his early-4th-century Latin Institutiones Divinae and that which preceded the advent and passion of Christ—that is, the law and the prophets—is called the Old, but those things which were written after His resurrection are named the New Testament. The canon of the New Testament is the collection of books that most Christians regard as divinely inspired, several of these writings sought to extend, interpret, and apply apostolic teaching to meet the needs of Christians in a given locality. The book order is the same in the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, the Slavonic, Armenian and Ethiopian traditions have different New Testament book orders. Each of the four gospels in the New Testament narrates the life, death, the word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell, meaning good news or glad tidings. The gospel was considered the good news of the coming Kingdom of Messiah, and the redemption through the life and death of Jesus, Gospel is a calque of the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον, euangelion
7.
Bible
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The Bible is a collection of sacred texts or scriptures that Jews and Christians consider to be a product of divine inspiration and a record of the relationship between God and humans. Many different authors contributed to the Bible, what is regarded as canonical text differs depending on traditions and groups, a number of Bible canons have evolved, with overlapping and diverging contents. The Christian Old Testament overlaps with the Hebrew Bible and the Greek Septuagint, the New Testament is a collection of writings by early Christians, believed to be mostly Jewish disciples of Christ, written in first-century Koine Greek. These early Christian Greek writings consist of narratives, letters, among Christian denominations there is some disagreement about the contents of the canon, primarily the Apocrypha, a list of works that are regarded with varying levels of respect. Attitudes towards the Bible also differ amongst Christian groups and this concept arose during the Protestant Reformation, and many denominations today support the use of the Bible as the only source of Christian teaching. With estimated total sales of over 5 billion copies, the Bible is widely considered to be the book of all time. It has estimated sales of 100 million copies, and has been a major influence on literature and history, especially in the West. The English word Bible is from the Latin biblia, from the word in Medieval Latin and Late Latin. Medieval Latin biblia is short for biblia sacra holy book, while biblia in Greek and it gradually came to be regarded as a feminine singular noun in medieval Latin, and so the word was loaned as a singular into the vernaculars of Western Europe. Latin biblia sacra holy books translates Greek τὰ βιβλία τὰ ἅγια ta biblia ta hagia, the word βιβλίον itself had the literal meaning of paper or scroll and came to be used as the ordinary word for book. It is the diminutive of βύβλος byblos, Egyptian papyrus, possibly so called from the name of the Phoenician sea port Byblos from whence Egyptian papyrus was exported to Greece, the Greek ta biblia was an expression Hellenistic Jews used to describe their sacred books. Christian use of the term can be traced to c.223 CE, bruce notes that Chrysostom appears to be the first writer to use the Greek phrase ta biblia to describe both the Old and New Testaments together. The division of the Hebrew Bible into verses is based on the sof passuk cantillation mark used by the 10th-century Masoretes to record the verse divisions used in oral traditions. The oldest extant copy of a complete Bible is an early 4th-century parchment book preserved in the Vatican Library, the oldest copy of the Tanakh in Hebrew and Aramaic dates from the 10th century CE. The oldest copy of a complete Latin Bible is the Codex Amiatinus and he states that it is not a magical book, nor was it literally written by God and passed to mankind. In Christian Bibles, the New Testament Gospels were derived from traditions in the second half of the first century CE. Riches says that, Scholars have attempted to reconstruct something of the history of the oral traditions behind the Gospels, the period of transmission is short, less than 40 years passed between the death of Jesus and the writing of Marks Gospel. This means that there was time for oral traditions to assume fixed form
8.
Josephus
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Josephus claimed the Jewish Messianic prophecies that initiated the First Roman-Jewish War made reference to Vespasian becoming Emperor of Rome. In response Vespasian decided to keep Josephus as a slave and interpreter, after Vespasian became Emperor in 69 CE, he granted Josephus his freedom, at which time Josephus assumed the emperors family name of Flavius. Flavius Josephus fully defected to the Roman side and was granted Roman citizenship and he became an advisor and friend of Vespasians son Titus, serving as his translator when Titus led the Siege of Jerusalem. Since the siege proved ineffective at stopping the Jewish revolt, the citys destruction, Josephus recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the first century CE and the First Jewish–Roman War, including the Siege of Masada. His most important works were The Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews, the Jewish War recounts the Jewish revolt against Roman occupation. Antiquities of the Jews recounts the history of the world from a Jewish perspective for an ostensibly Roman audience and these works provide valuable insight into first century Judaism and the background of Early Christianity. Josephus introduces himself in Greek as Iōsēpos, son of Matthias and he was the second-born son of Matthias. His older full-blooded brother was also called Matthias and their mother was an aristocratic woman who descended from the royal and formerly ruling Hasmonean dynasty. Josephuss paternal grandparents were Josephus and his wife—an unnamed Hebrew noblewoman, distant relatives of each other and he descended through his father from the priestly order of the Jehoiarib, which was the first of the 24 orders of priests in the Temple in Jerusalem. Josephus was a descendant of the high priest Jonathon, born and raised in Jerusalem, Josephus was educated alongside his brother. In his early twenties, he traveled to negotiate with Emperor Nero for the release of 12 Jewish priests, Josephus successfully fought the Roman army in Galilee, until he was captured by the Romans during the height of the war. After the Jewish garrison of Yodfat fell under siege, the Romans invaded, killing thousands, according to Josephus, he was trapped in a cave with 40 of his companions in July 67 CE. The Romans asked the group to surrender, but they refused, Josephus suggested a method of collective suicide, they drew lots and killed each other, one by one, counting to every third person. Two men were left, who surrendered to the Roman forces, in 69 CE, Josephus was released. According to his account, he acted as a negotiator with the defenders during the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE, in which his parents and first wife died. While being confined at Yodfat, Josephus claimed to have experienced a divine revelation, after the prediction came true, he was released by Vespasian, who considered his gift of prophecy to be divine. In 71 CE, he went to Rome in the entourage of Titus, becoming a Roman citizen, in addition to Roman citizenship, he was granted accommodation in conquered Judaea and a decent, if not extravagant, pension. While in Rome and under Flavian patronage, Josephus wrote all of his known works, although he uses Josephus, he appears to have taken the Roman praenomen Titus and nomen Flavius from his patrons
9.
Early Christianity
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Early Christianity is the period of Christianity preceding the First Council of Nicaea in 325. It is typically divided into the Apostolic Age and the Ante-Nicene Period, the early Gospel message was spread orally, probably in Aramaic, but almost immediately also in Greek. After the conversion of Paul the Apostle, he claimed the title of Apostle to the Gentiles, Pauls influence on Christian thinking is said to be more significant than that of any other New Testament author. As the New Testament canon developed, the Pauline epistles, the canonical gospels, Early Christians demonstrated a wide range of beliefs and practices, many of which were later denounced as heretical. The earliest followers of Jesus composed an apocalyptic, Second Temple Jewish sect, the first part of the period, during the lifetimes of the Twelve Apostles, is called the Apostolic Age. The relationship of Paul the Apostle and Judaism is still disputed although Pauls influence on Christian thinking is said to be more significant than any other New Testament author and they think the Christians the cause of every public disaster, of every affliction with which the people are visited. The first action taken against Christians by the order of an emperor occurred half a century earlier under Nero after the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD. During the Ante-Nicene Period following the Apostolic Age, a diversity of views emerged simultaneously with strong unifying characteristics lacking in the apostolic period. Part of the trend was an increasingly harsh anti-Judaism and rejection of Judaizers. Early Christianity gradually grew apart from Judaism during the first two centuries and established itself as a predominantly gentile religion in the Roman Empire. From the writings of early Christians, historians have tried to piece together an understanding of various early Christian practices including worship services, customs, Early Christian writers such as Justin Martyr described these practices. Early Christian beliefs regarding baptism probably predate the New Testament writings and it seems certain that numerous Jewish sects and certainly Jesuss disciples practised baptism, which became integral to nearly every manifestation of the religion of the Jews. John the Baptist had baptized many people, before took place in the name of Jesus Christ. Many of the interpretations that would later become Orthodox Christian beliefs concerning baptism can be traced to such as Paul. On the basis of this description, it was supposed by some modern theologians that the early Christians practised baptism by submersion and this interpretation is debated between those Christian denominations who advocate immersion baptism exclusively and those who practice baptism by affusion or aspersion as well as by immersion. Yet the Didache, one of the earliest Christian writings on liturgical practices, the Orthodox Church continues this practice, submerging the baptized and then pouring water on the head in that formula. Infant baptism was practised at least by the 3rd century. Others believe that infants were excluded from the baptism of households, citing verses of the Bible that describe the baptized households as believing, in the 2nd century, Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, may have referred to it
10.
Jesus
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In Christology, the Person of Christ refers to the study of the human and divine natures of Jesus Christ as they co-exist within one person. There is no discussion in the New Testament regarding the dual nature of the Person of Christ as both divine and human. Hence, since the days of Christianity theologians have debated various approaches to the understanding of these natures. In the period following the Apostolic Age, specific beliefs such as Arianism and Docetism were criticized. On the other end of the spectrum, Docetism argued that Jesus physical body was an illusion, docetic teachings were attacked by St. Ignatius of Antioch and were eventually abandoned by proto-orthodox Christians. However, after the First Council of Nicaea in 325 the Logos, historically in the Alexandrian school of christology, Jesus Christ is the eternal Logos paradoxically humanized in history, a divine Person who became enfleshed, uniting himself to the human nature. The views of these schools can be summarized as follows, Alexandria, Antioch, Logos assumes a specific human being The First Council of Ephesus in 431 debated a number of views regarding the Person of Christ. At the same gathering the council debated the doctrines of monophysitism or miaphysitism. The council rejected Nestorianism and adopted the term hypostatic union, referring to divine, the language used in the 431 declaration was further refined at the 451 Council of Chalcedon. However, the Chalcedon creed was not accepted by all Christians, because Saint Augustine died in 430 he did not participate in the Council of Ephesus in 431 or Chalcedon in 451, but his ideas had some impact on both councils. On the other hand, the major theological figure of the Middle Ages. The Third Council of Constantinople in 680 held that both divine and human wills exist in Jesus, with the divine will having precedence, leading and guiding the human will. John Calvin maintained that there was no element in the Person of Christ which could be separated from the person of The Word. Calvin also emphasized the importance of the Work of Christ in any attempt at understanding the Person of Christ, the study of the Person of Christ continued into the 20th century, with modern theologians such as Karl Rahner and Hans von Balthasar. Balthasar argued that the union of the human and divine natures of Christ was achieved not by the absorption of human attributes, thus in his view the divine nature of Christ was not affected by the human attributes and remained forever divine
11.
Crucifixion of Jesus
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The crucifixion of Jesus occurred in 1st century Judea, most probably between the years 30 and 33 AD. According to the gospels, Jesus, the Christ, was arrested, tried, and sentenced by Pontius Pilate to be scourged. Jesus was stripped of his clothing and offered wine mixed with gall to drink and he was then hung between two convicted thieves and according to Marks Gospel, died some six hours later. During this time, the soldiers affixed a sign to the top of the cross stating Jesus of Nazareth and they then divided his garments among them, but cast lots for his seamless robe. After Jesus death they pierced his side with a spear to be certain that he had died, the Bible describes seven statements that Jesus made while he was on the cross, as well as several supernatural events that occurred. Collectively referred to as the Passion, Jesus suffering and redemptive death by crucifixion are the aspects of Christian theology concerning the doctrines of salvation. The baptism of Jesus and his crucifixion are considered to be two historically certain facts about Jesus, bart Ehrman states that the crucifixion of Jesus on the orders of Pontius Pilate is the most certain element about him. John Dominic Crossan states that the crucifixion of Jesus is as certain as any historical fact can be, eddy and Boyd state that it is now firmly established that there is non-Christian confirmation of the crucifixion of Jesus. Craig Blomberg states that most scholars in the third quest for the historical Jesus consider the crucifixion indisputable. Christopher M. Tuckett states that, although the reasons for the death of Jesus are hard to determine, one of the indisputable facts about him is that he was crucified. While scholars agree on the historicity of the crucifixion, they differ on the reason, geza Vermes also views the crucifixion as a historical event but provides his own explanation and background for it. John P. Meier views the crucifixion of Jesus as historical fact and states that, based on the criterion of embarrassment, Christians would not have invented the painful death of their leader. Meier states that a number of criteria, e. g. the criterion of multiple attestation. The crucified man was identified as Yehohanan ben Hagkol and probably died about 70 AD, the analyses at the Hadassah Medical School estimated that he died in his late 20s. The earliest detailed accounts of the death of Jesus are contained in the four canonical gospels, there are other, more implicit references in the New Testament epistles. In the synoptic gospels, Jesus predicts his death in three separate episodes, all four Gospels conclude with an extended narrative of Jesus arrest, trial, crucifixion, burial, and accounts of resurrection. In each Gospel these five events in the life of Jesus are treated with more detail than any other portion of that Gospels narrative. Scholars note that the reader receives an almost hour-by-hour account of what is happening, after being flogged, Jesus was mocked by Roman soldiers as the King of the Jews, clothed in a purple robe, crowned with thorns, beaten and spat on
12.
Martyrdom in Chinese culture
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The concept of martyrdom in China was largely developed by the Tongmenghui and the Kuomintang party during the Xinhai Revolution, Northern Expedition, and Second Sino-Japanese War. Revolutionaries of the Tongmenghui who died in attempts to overthrow the Qing dynasty were recognized as martyrs by the Republic of China after the Xinhai Revolution, during the Xinhai Revolution itself, many Chinese revolutionaries became martyrs in battle. Dare to Die student corps were founded, for student revolutionaries wanting to fight against Qing dynasty rule, dr. Sun Yatsen and Huang Xing promoted the Dare to Die corps. Huang said, We must die, so let us die bravely, during the revolution, suicide squads were formed by Chinese students going into battle, knowing that they would be killed fighting against overwhelming odds. The 72 Martyrs of Huanghuagang died in the uprising began the Wuchang Uprising, and were recognized as heroes and martyrs by the Kuomintang party. Dare to Die student corps led by men like Chiang Kai-shek, the martyrs in the Dare to Die Corps who died in battle wrote letters to family members before heading off to certain death. The Huanghuakang was built as a monument to the 72 martyrs, the martyrdom of the revolutionaries helped the establishment of the Republic of China, overthrowing the Qing dynasty imperial system. Dare to Die corps continued to be used in the Chinese military, the Kuomintang used one to put down an insurrection in Canton. Many women joined them in addition to men to achieve martyrdom against Chinas opponents, Chiang Kai-shek believed that these martyrs witnessed events on earth from heaven and he called on them for help. Coolies against the Communist takeover formed Dare to Die Corps to fight for their organizations, during the Tianamen Square Incident of 1989, protesting students also formed Dare to Die Corps, to risk their lives defending the protest leaders. Two of the earliest revolutionary martyrs in Chinese culture were Liu Hulan, a 14-year-old school girl, both were immortalized in operas - Liu Hulan and Sister Jiang respectively. Islam has its own concept of martyrdom, which the Kuomintang promoted among Chinese Muslims through the Chinese Muslim Association, the Muslim General Ma Fuxiang stated on how Chinese Muslims were willing to die to accomplish tasks assigned to them. Imams sponsored by the Kuomintang called for Muslims to go on Jihad to become shaheed in battle, becoming a shaheed in the Jihad for the country was encouraged by the Kuomintang, which was called glorious death for the state and a hadith promoting nationalism was spread. A song written by Xue Wenbo at the Muslim Chengda school, the Muslim General Bai Chongxi himself was a member of a Dare to Die corps in the Xinhai revolution
13.
Tongmenghui
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It was formed from the merger of many Chinese revolutionary groups in the late Qing Dynasty. The Tongmenghui was created through the unification of Sun Yat-sens Xingzhonghui, among the Tongmenghuis members were Huang Xing, Li Zongren, Zhang Binglin, Chen Tianhua, Wang Jingwei, Hu Hanmin, Tao Chengzhang, Cai Yuanpei, Li Shizeng, Zhang Renjie, and Qiu Jin. In 1906, a branch of the Tongmenghui was formed in Singapore, following Suns visit there, the members of the branch included Wong Hong-kui, Tan Chor Lam and Teo Eng Hock. Tan Chor Lam, Teo Eng Hock and Chan Po-yin started the revolution-related Chong Shing Chinese Daily Newspaper, with the issue on 20 August 1907. The newspaper ended in 1910, presumably due to the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, working with other Cantonese people, Tan, Teo and Chan opened the revolution-related Kai Ming Bookstore in Singapore. In 1909, the headquarters of the Nanyang Tongmenghui was transferred to Penang, Sun Yat-Sen himself was based in Penang from July to December 1910. During this time, the 1910 Penang Conference was held to plan the Second Guangzhou Uprising, the Tongmenghui also started a newspaper the Kwong Wah Jit Poh, with the first issue published in December 1910 from 120 Armenian Street, Penang. In Henan, some Chinese Muslims were members of the Tongmenghui, after Shanghai was occupied by the revolutionaries in November 1911, the Tongmenghui moved its headquarters from Tokyo to Shanghai. After the Nanjing Provisional Government was established, the headquarters was moved to Nanjing, a general meeting was held in Nanking on 20 January 1912, with thousands of members attending. Wang Jingwei was elected as Chairman, succeeding Sun, Wang resigned the following month, and Sun resumed the chairmanship. It issued a new constitution with 34 articles,10 more than when it was a secret society, the leadership election was held on the same day, with Sun Yat-sen elected as Chairman, Huang Xing and Li Yuanhung as Vice-Chairmen. In May 1912, Tongmenghui moved its headquarters to Beijing, at that time, Tongmenghui was the largest party in China, with branches in Guangdong, Szechuan, Wuhan, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Anqing, Fuzhou and Tianjin. It had a membership of about 550 thousand, in August 1912, the Tongmenghui formed the nucleus of the Kuomintang, the governing political party of the republic. The Three Principles of the People were created around the time of the merging of Revive China Society, Revive China Society Gelaohui Kuomintang History of the Republic of China Huaxinghui Tongmenhui activities in the US
14.
Kuomintang
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The Kuomintang of China is a major political party in the Republic of China. It is currently the second-largest in the country, the predecessor of the KMT, the Revolutionary Alliance, was one of the major advocates of the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of a republic. The KMT was founded by Song Jiaoren and Sun Yat-sen shortly after the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, Sun was the provisional president but he did not have military power and ceded the first presidency to the military leader Yuan Shikai. After Yuans death, China was divided by warlords, while the KMT was able to only part of the south. Later led by Chiang Kai-shek, the KMT formed the National Revolutionary Army and it was the ruling party in mainland China from 1928 until its retreat to Taiwan in 1949 after being defeated by the Communist Party of China during the Chinese Civil War. In Taiwan, the KMT continued as the ruling party until the reforms in the late 1970s through the 1990s loosened its grip on power. Since 1987, the Republic of China is no longer a single-party state, however, the KMT is currently the main opposition party in the Legislative Yuan. The guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, advocated by Sun Yat-sen and its party headquarters are located in Taipei. The KMT is a member of the International Democrat Union, the previous president, Ma Ying-jeou, elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012, was the seventh KMT member to hold the office of the presidency. Together with the People First Party and New Party, the KMT forms what is known as the Taiwanese Pan-Blue Coalition, however, the KMT has been forced to moderate its stance by advocating the political and legal status quo of modern Taiwan. However, since 2008, in order to ease tensions with the PRC, the group planned and supported the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 and the founding of the Republic of China on 1 January 1912. However, Sun did not have power and ceded the provisional presidency of the republic to Yuan Shikai. On 25 August 1912, the Nationalist Party was established at the Huguang Guild Hall in Peking, Sun, the then-President of the ROC, was chosen as the party chairman with Huang Xing as his deputy. The party opposed constitutional monarchists and sought to check the power of Yuan, the Nationalists won an overwhelming majority of the first National Assembly election in December 1912. But Yuan soon began to ignore the parliament in making presidential decisions, Song Jiaoren was assassinated in Shanghai in 1913. Yuan, claiming subversiveness and betrayal, expelled adherents of the KMT from the parliament, Yuan dissolved the Nationalists in November and dismissed the parliament early in 1914. Yuan Shikai proclaimed himself emperor in December 1915, in order tonary Party, members must take an oath of personal loyalty to Sun, which many old revolutionaries regarded as undemocratic and contrary to the spirit of the revolution. Thus, many old revolutionaries did not join Suns new organisation, Sun returned to China in 1917 to establish a military junta at Canton, in order to against the Beiyang government, but was soon forced out of office and exiled to Shanghai
15.
Xinhai Revolution
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The Xinhai Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1911 or the Chinese Revolution, was a revolution that overthrew Chinas last imperial dynasty, and established the Republic of China. The revolution was named Xinhai because it occurred in 1911, the year of the Xinhai stem-branch in the cycle of the Chinese calendar. The revolution consisted of many revolts and uprisings, the turning point was the Wuchang Uprising on October 10,1911, which was the result of the mishandling of the Railway Protection Movement. The revolution arose mainly in response to the decline of the Qing state, many underground anti-Qing groups, with the support of Chinese revolutionaries in exile, tried to overthrow the Qing. The brief civil war that ensued was ended through a compromise between Yuan Shikai, the late Qing military strongman, and Sun Yat-sen, the leader of the Tongmenghui. After the Qing court transferred power to the newly founded republic, October 10 is commemorated in Taiwan as Double Ten Day, the National Day of the ROC. In mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, the day is usually celebrated as the Anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution. After suffering its first defeat to the West in the First Opium War in 1842, in the wars against the Taiping, Nian, Muslims of Yunnan and the Northwest, the traditional Manchu armies proved themselves incompetent and the court came to rely on local Han armies. Following defeat in the Second Opium War, the Qing tried to modernize by adopting certain Western technologies through the Self-Strengthening Movement from 1861, in 1895, China suffered a serious defeat during the First Sino-Japanese War. This demonstrated that traditional Chinese feudal society also needed to be modernized if the technological and commercial advancements were to succeed. In 1898 the Guangxu Emperor was guided by reformers like Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao for a reform in education, military. The reform was a failure, as it was ended prematurely by a coup led by Empress Dowager Cixi. The Guangxu Emperor, who had always been a dependent on Cixi, was put under house arrest in June 1898. Reformers Kang and Liang would be exiled, while in Canada, in June 1899, they tried to form the Emperor Protection Society in an attempt to restore the emperor. Empress Dowager Cixi mainly controlled the Qing dynasty from this point on, under internal and external pressure, the Qing court began to adopt some of the reforms. The Qing managed to maintain its monopoly on power by suppressing, often with great brutality. Dissidents could operate only in societies and underground organizations, in foreign concessions or in exile overseas. There were many revolutionaries and groups that wanted to overthrow the Qing government to re-establish a Han Chinese government, the earliest revolutionary organizations were founded outside of China, such as Yeung Ku-wans Furen Literary Society, created in Hong Kong in 1890
16.
Taiwan
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Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, is a state in East Asia. Neighbours include China to the west, Japan to the northeast, Taiwan is the most populous state that is not a member of the United Nations, and the one with the largest economy. The island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa, was inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before the 17th century. After a brief rule by the Kingdom of Tungning, the island was annexed by the Qing dynasty, the Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after the Sino-Japanese War. While Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the Republic of China was established on the mainland in 1912 after the fall of the Qing dynasty, following the Japanese surrender to the Allies in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan. However, the resumption of the Chinese Civil War led to the ROCs loss of the mainland to the Communists, and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. As a founding member of the United Nations, the ROC continued to represent China at the United Nations until 1971, in the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization, creating a stable industrial economy. In the 1980s and early 1990s, it changed from a one-party military dictatorship dominated by the Kuomintang to a multi-party democracy with universal suffrage, Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy. It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, health care, public education, economic freedom, the PRC has consistently claimed sovereignty over Taiwan and asserted the ROC is no longer in legitimate existence. Under its One-China Policy the PRC refused diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the ROC, the PRC has threatened the use of military force in response to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan or if PRC leaders decide that peaceful unification is no longer possible. There are various names for the island of Taiwan in use today, the former name Formosa dates from 1542, when Portuguese sailors sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa, which means beautiful island. The name Formosa eventually replaced all others in European literature and was in use in English in the early 20th century. This name was adopted into the Chinese vernacular as the name of the sandbar. The modern word Taiwan is derived from this usage, which is seen in forms in Chinese historical records. Use of the current Chinese name was formalized as early as 1684 with the establishment of Taiwan Prefecture, through its rapid development, the entire Formosan mainland eventually became known as Taiwan. The official name of the state is the Republic of China and it was a member of the United Nations representing China until 1971, when it lost its seat to the Peoples Republic of China. Over subsequent decades, the Republic of China has become known as Taiwan. In some contexts, especially ones from the ROC government
17.
Christian martyrs
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A Christian martyr is a person who is killed for following Jesus. In early church years, this occurred through stoning, crucifixion, burning at the stake or other forms of torture. The word martyr comes from the Greek word μάρτυς, mártys, at first, the term applied to Apostles. Once Christians started to undergo persecution, the term came to be applied to those who suffered hardships for their faith, finally, it was restricted to those who had been killed for their faith. The early Christian period before Constantine I was the Age of martyrs, Early Christians venerated martyrs as powerful intercessors, and their utterances were treasured as inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Greek word martus signifies a witness who testifies to a fact of which he has knowledge from personal observation and it is in this sense that the term first appears in Christian literature, the Apostles were witnesses of all that they had observed in the public life of Christ. The Apostles, from the beginning, faced grave dangers, until eventually almost all suffered death for their convictions. Thus, within the lifetime of the Apostles, the term came to be used in the sense of a witness who at any time might be called upon to deny what he testified to. St. John, at the end of the first century, the 2nd-century Church Father Tertullian wrote that the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church, implying that the martyrs willing sacrifice of their lives leads to the conversion of others. Relics of the saints are still revered in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, the lives of the martyrs became a source of inspiration for some Christians, and their relics were honored. Numerous crypts and chapels in the Roman catacombs bear witness to the veneration for those champions of freedom of conscience. Special commemoration services, at which the holy Sacrifice were offered over their tombs gave rise to the time honoured custom of consecrating altars by enclosing in them the relics of martyrs, some felt they should not, while others said they could. In the end, it was agreed to them in after a period of penance. The re-admittance of the “lapsed” became a moment in the Church because it allowed the sacrament of repentance. This issue caused the Donatist and Novatianist schisms, Martyrdom for the faith. became a central feature in the Christian experience. “Notions of persecution by the world. run deep in the Christian tradition, the doctrines of the apostles brought the Early Church into conflict with some Jewish religious leaders. This eventually led to their expulsion from the synagogues, Acts records the martyrdom of the Christian leaders, Stephen and James of Zebedee. The first known Christian martyr was St. Stephen as recorded in the Acts 6, Stephen was accused of blasphemy and denounced the Sanhedrin as stiff-necked people who, just as their ancestors had done, persecute prophets
18.
Westminster Abbey
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It is one of the United Kingdoms most notable religious buildings and the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English and, later, British monarchs. Between 1540 and 1556, the abbey had the status of a cathedral, since 1560, however, the building is no longer an abbey nor a cathedral, having instead the status of a Church of England Royal Peculiar—a church responsible directly to the sovereign. The building itself is the abbey church. According to a tradition first reported by Sulcard in about 1080, a church was founded at the site in the 7th century, at the time of Mellitus, construction of the present church began in 1245, on the orders of King Henry III. Since the coronation of William the Conqueror in 1066, all coronations of English and British monarchs have held in Westminster Abbey. There have been at least 16 royal weddings at the abbey since 1100, two were of reigning monarchs, although, before 1919, there had been none for some 500 years. The first reports of the abbey are based on a tradition claiming that a young fisherman called Aldrich on the River Thames saw a vision of Saint Peter near the site. This seems to be quoted to justify the gifts of salmon from Thames fishermen that the abbey received in later years, in the present was, the Fishmongers Company still gives a salmon every year. The proven origins are that in the 960s or early 970s, Saint Dunstan, assisted by King Edgar, between 1042 and 1052, King Edward the Confessor began rebuilding St Peters Abbey to provide himself with a royal burial church. It was the first church in England built in the Romanesque style, the building was completed around 1090 and was consecrated on 28 December 1065, only a week before Edwards death on 5 January 1066. A week later, he was buried in the church, and, nine years later and his successor, Harold II, was probably crowned in the abbey, although the first documented coronation is that of William the Conqueror later the same year. The only extant depiction of Edwards abbey, together with the adjacent Palace of Westminster, is in the Bayeux Tapestry, construction of the present church was begun in 1245 by Henry III who selected the site for his burial. The abbot and monks, in proximity to the royal Palace of Westminster, the abbot often was employed on royal service and in due course took his place in the House of Lords as of right. The abbey built shops and dwellings on the west side, encroaching upon the sanctuary, the abbey became the coronation site of Norman kings. The Confessors shrine subsequently played a part in his canonisation. The work continued between 1245 and 1517 and was finished by the architect Henry Yevele in the reign of Richard II. Henry III also commissioned the unique Cosmati pavement in front of the High Altar, Henry VII added a Perpendicular style chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1503. Much of the came from Caen, in France, the Isle of Portland
19.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor, theologian, spy, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianitys role in the world have become widely influential. He was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo and imprisoned at Tegel prison for one, later he was transferred to a Nazi concentration camp. Bonhoeffer was born on 4 February 1906 in Breslau, into a large family, in addition to his other siblings, Dietrich had a twin sister, Sabine Bonhoeffer Leibholz, he and Sabine were the sixth and seventh children out of eight. His oldest brother Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer became a chemist, and, along with Paul Harteck, walter Bonhoeffer, the second born of the Bonhoeffer family, was killed in action during World War I, when the twins were 12. The third Bonhoeffer child, Klaus, was involved in the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, along with Dietrich, he, both of Bonhoeffers older sisters, Ursula Bonhoeffer Schleicher and Christel Bonhoeffer von Dohnanyi, married men who were eventually executed by the Nazis. Christel was imprisoned by the Nazis but survived, Sabine and their youngest sister Susanne Bonhoeffer Dress each married men who survived Nazism. His cousin Karl-Günther von Hase was the German Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1977, Bonhoeffer completed his Staatsexamen, the equivalent of both a bachelors degree and a masters degree, at the Protestant Faculty of Theology of the University. He went on to complete his Doctor of Theology degree from in 1927, still too young to be ordained, at the age of 24 Bonhoeffer went to the United States in 1930 for postgraduate study and a teaching fellowship at New York Citys Union Theological Seminary. Although Bonhoeffer found the American seminary not up to his exacting German standards, he had life-changing experiences, Bonhoeffer began to see things from below—from the perspective of those who suffer oppression. He observed, Here one can speak and hear about sin and grace. Later Bonhoeffer referred to his impressions abroad as the point at which he turned from phraseology to reality and he also learned to drive an automobile, although he failed the driving test three times. He traveled by car through the United States to Mexico, where he had invited to speak on the subject of peace. His early visits to Italy, Libya, Spain, the United States, Mexico, after returning to Germany in 1931, Bonhoeffer became a lecturer in systematic theology at the University of Berlin. Deeply interested in ecumenism, he was appointed by the World Alliance for Promoting International Friendship through the Churches as one of its three European youth secretaries, on 15 November 1931—at the age of 25—he was ordained at the Old-Prussian United St. Matthews Church in Berlin. Bonhoeffers promising academic and ecclesiastical career was altered with Nazi ascension to power on 30 January 1933. He was an opponent of the regime from its first days. He was cut off the air in the middle of a sentence, in November 1932, two months before the Nazi takeover, there had been an election for presbyters and synodals of the German Landeskirche
20.
Christianity
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Christianity is a Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who serves as the focal point for the religion. It is the worlds largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers, or 33% of the global population, Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. Christian theology is summarized in creeds such as the Apostles Creed and his incarnation, earthly ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection are often referred to as the gospel, meaning good news. The term gospel also refers to accounts of Jesuss life and teaching, four of which—Matthew, Mark, Luke. Christianity is an Abrahamic religion that began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the mid-1st century, following the Age of Discovery, Christianity spread to the Americas, Australasia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the world through missionary work and colonization. Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization, throughout its history, Christianity has weathered schisms and theological disputes that have resulted in many distinct churches and denominations. Worldwide, the three largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the denominations of Protestantism. There are many important differences of interpretation and opinion of the Bible, concise doctrinal statements or confessions of religious beliefs are known as creeds. They began as baptismal formulae and were expanded during the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries to become statements of faith. Many evangelical Protestants reject creeds as definitive statements of faith, even agreeing with some or all of the substance of the creeds. The Baptists have been non-creedal in that they have not sought to establish binding authoritative confessions of faith on one another. Also rejecting creeds are groups with roots in the Restoration Movement, such as the Christian Church, the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada, the Apostles Creed is the most widely accepted statement of the articles of Christian faith. It is also used by Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists and this particular creed was developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries. Its central doctrines are those of the Trinity and God the Creator, each of the doctrines found in this creed can be traced to statements current in the apostolic period. The creed was used as a summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome. Most Christians accept the use of creeds, and subscribe to at least one of the mentioned above. The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God, Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by God as savior of humanity, and hold that Jesus coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of the Messiah differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept, Jesus, having become fully human, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, but did not sin
21.
Gospel
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A gospel is an account describing the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Christianity places a value on the four canonical gospels, which it considers to be revelations from God. This position however, requires a view of Biblical inerrancy. The word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell, meaning good news or glad tidings, the gospel was considered the good news of the coming Kingdom of Messiah, and of redemption through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, the central Christian message. The Greek word euangelion is also the source of the terms evangelist, the authors of the four canonical Christian gospels are known as the Four Evangelists. Paul the Apostle used the term εὐαγγέλιον when he reminded the people of the church at Corinth of the gospel I preached to you, the earliest extant use of gospel to denote a particular genre of literature dates to the 2nd century. Justin Martyr in the Apology wrote of. the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, more generally, gospels compose a genre of early Christian writings. Gospels that did not become canonical also circulated in Early Christianity, many, such as the work known today as Gospel of Thomas, lack the narrative framework typical of a gospel. Scholars hold a wide spectrum of views on the origins and composition of the gospels, for example, the vast majority of material in Mark is also present in either Luke or Matthew or both, suggesting that Mark was a source for Matthew and Luke. He writes that the four gospels were probably all written by the end of the first century. But they did not yet at that time have a consistent narrative, in 170 Tatian sought to find a solution by composing a single narrative out of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, with some additional oral material. Richies concludes that the gospel passages themselves can be unclear, and some of the messages within are straightforwardly ambiguous, the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are considered synoptic gospels on the basis of many similarities between them that are not shared by the Gospel of John. Synoptic means here that they can be seen or read together, the fourth gospel, the Gospel of John, presents a very different picture of Jesus and his ministry from the synoptics. Of the many gospels written in antiquity, only four came to be accepted as part of the New Testament. An insistence upon there being a canon of four gospels, and no others, was a theme of Irenaeus of Lyons. Irenaeus was ultimately successful in declaring that the four gospels collectively and he also supported reading each gospel in light of the others. This canon, which corresponds to the modern Catholic canon, was used in the Vulgate, Gospel of Matthew Gospel of John Gospel of Luke Gospel of Mark This order is found in the following manuscripts, Bezae, Monacensis, Washingtonianus, Tischendorfianus IV, Uncial 0234. Although there is no set order of the four gospels in patristic lists or discussions, moody Smith suggests that the standard order of Matthew-Mark-Luke-John projects a kind of intention that can scarcely be ignored
22.
Authorship of the Bible
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Few biblical books are regarded by scholars as the product of a single individual, and all have been edited to produce the works known today. The following article outlines the conclusions of the majority of scholars, along with the traditional views. Jews, Samaritans, and Christians have, in different ways, regarded the Bible as being the Word of God, in many Christian liturgies, the words This is the word of the Lord will follow a Scripture reading. As Saint Thomas Aquinas stated, The author of Holy Scripture is God, the Westminster Confession of Faith asserts that the Bibles authority depends wholly upon God, the Author thereof, and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God. A few of the books of the Minor Prophets claim divine origin, Hosea 1,1 has, The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri. While Joel, Micah and Zephaniah all commence in a similar fashion, James L. Mays suggests that it was the theological understanding of the final redactor that the book as a whole is the word of Yahweh. There is some debate as to how the word of God may have transmitted to the authors. Modern Christian theology usually sees the word as inspired by God, many evangelicals appeal to 2 Timothy 3,16 as indicating the Bibles divine authorship, All Scripture is breathed out by God. The Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, is the collection of scriptures making up the Bible used by Judaism, the order used here follows the divisions used in Jewish Bibles. The first division of the Jewish Bible is the Torah, meaning Instruction or Law, in literature it is frequently called by its Greek name. It is the group of five books made up of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, according to Rabbinic tradition the five books of the Torah were written by Moses, with the exception of the last eight verses of Deuteronomy which describe his death. Today, the majority of scholars agree that the Pentateuch does not have an author. At the same time there has been a tendency to bring the origins of the Pentateuch further forward in time, Deuteronomy is treated separately from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. Its place in the hypothesis is anomalous, as it, unlike the other four. The Former Prophets, make up the first part of the division of the Hebrew Bible, the Neviim. In Christian Bibles the Book of Ruth, which belongs in the section of the Hebrew Bible, is inserted between Judges and Samuel. Since 1943 most scholars have accepted Martin Noths argument that Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings make up a single work, noth believed that the history was the work of a single author writing in the time of the Babylonian exile. Still later scholars have discovered further layers and further author-editors, in the 1990s some scholars began to question the existence of a Deuteronomistic history and the question of the origin of these books continues to be debated
23.
Ranavalona I
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Ranavalona I, also known as Ramavo and Ranavalo-Manjaka I, was sovereign of the Kingdom of Madagascar from 1828 to 1861. The combination of warfare, disease, difficult forced labor and harsh measures of justice resulted in a high mortality rate among soldiers. Although greatly obstructed by Ranavalonas policies, French and British political interests in Madagascar remained undiminished and these plans were never successful, however, and Radama II was not to take the throne until 1861, when Ranavalona died aged 83. Ranavalonas European contemporaries generally condemned her policies and characterized her as a tyrant at best and these negative characterizations persisted in foreign scholarly literature until the mid-1970s. Princess Ramavo was born in 1778 at the residence at Ambatomanoina, about 16 kilometers east of Antananarivo, to Prince Andriantsalamanjaka. In return for saving his life, Andrianampoinimerina betrothed Ramavo to his son, Prince Radama and he furthermore declared that any child from this union would be first in the line of succession after Radama. Despite her elevated rank among the wives, Ramavo was not the preferred wife of Radama. These visits established a friendship between Ramavo and Griffiths that would endure for three decades. When Radama died without leaving any descendants on July 27,1828, according to custom, the rightful heir was Rakotobe. An intelligent and amiable man, Rakotobe was the first pupil to have studied at the first school established by the London Missionary Society in Antananarivo on the grounds of the royal palace. Radama died in the company of two trusted courtiers who were favorable to the succession of Rakotobe and these officers hid Ramavo and one of her friends in a safe location, then secured the support of several influential power brokers, including judges and the keepers of the sampy. Her coronation ceremony took place on June 12,1829, by succeeding her husband, Ranavalona became the first female sovereign of the Kingdom of Imerina since its founding in 1540. Her rise to power occurred in a milieu that favored men over women in the political sphere. In the traditional culture of Imerina, rulers were specially endowed with the power to innovate in circumvention of established norms and customs, sovereigns often mobilized innovation through the creation of new forms of kinship, the traditional basis of the political order. Women, however, were associated with the household, a rigid kinship unit in opposition to the role and power of the sovereign. These policies were enacted in a context of increasing European influence within her kingdom and competing French and these statistics have contributed to a strongly unfavorable view of Ranavalonas rule in historical accounts. In the tradition of many of her royal Merina predecessors, the queen ruled from the royal Rova compound in Antananarivo, between 1839 and 1842, Jean Laborde built the queen a new residence called Manjakamiadana, which became the largest structure on the Rova grounds. The residence was made entirely from wood and bore most of the features of a home of the Merina andriana
24.
Madagascar
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Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, and previously known as the Malagasy Republic, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Southeast Africa. The nation comprises the island of Madagascar, and numerous smaller peripheral islands, consequently, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot, over 90% of its wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth. The islands diverse ecosystems and unique wildlife are threatened by the encroachment of the growing human population. The first archaeological evidence for human foraging on Madagascar dates to 2000 BC, human settlement of Madagascar occurred between 350 BC and AD550 by Austronesian peoples arriving on outrigger canoes from Borneo. These were joined around AD1000 by Bantu migrants crossing the Mozambique Channel from East Africa, other groups continued to settle on Madagascar over time, each one making lasting contributions to Malagasy cultural life. The Malagasy ethnic group is divided into 18 or more sub-groups of which the largest are the Merina of the central highlands. Until the late 18th century, the island of Madagascar was ruled by an assortment of shifting sociopolitical alliances. Beginning in the early 19th century, most of the island was united and ruled as the Kingdom of Madagascar by a series of Merina nobles, the monarchy collapsed in 1897 when the island was absorbed into the French colonial empire, from which the island gained independence in 1960. The autonomous state of Madagascar has since undergone four major constitutional periods, since 1992, the nation has officially been governed as a constitutional democracy from its capital at Antananarivo. However, in an uprising in 2009, president Marc Ravalomanana was made to resign. Constitutional governance was restored in January 2014, when Hery Rajaonarimampianina was named president following a 2013 election deemed fair, Madagascar is a member of the United Nations, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie and the Southern African Development Community. Madagascar belongs to the group of least developed countries, according to the United Nations, Malagasy and French are both official languages of the state. The majority of the population adheres to traditional beliefs, Christianity, ecotourism and agriculture, paired with greater investments in education, health, and private enterprise, are key elements of Madagascars development strategy. As of 2017, the economy has been weakened by the 2009-2013 political crisis, in the Malagasy language, the island of Madagascar is called Madagasikara and its people are referred to as Malagasy. The islands appellation Madagascar is not of origin, but rather was popularized in the Middle Ages by Europeans. On St. Laurences Day in 1500, Portuguese explorer Diogo Dias landed on the island, polos name was preferred and popularized on Renaissance maps. At 592,800 square kilometres, Madagascar is the worlds 47th largest country, the country lies mostly between latitudes 12°S and 26°S, and longitudes 43°E and 51°E. Neighboring islands include the French territory of Réunion and the country of Mauritius to the east, as well as the state of Comoros, the nearest mainland state is Mozambique, located to the west
25.
Passion of Jesus
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Those parts of the four Gospels that describe these events, as well as the non-canonical Gospel of Peter, are known as the Passion narratives. In the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church, the Passion is commemorated in Holy Week, beginning on Friday of Sorrows, the Palm Sunday and culminating on his death on Good Friday. The word passion has taken on a more general application and now may also apply to accounts of the suffering and death of Christian martyrs. The accounts of the Passion are found in the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke. Three of these, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, known as the Synoptic Gospels, the Gospel of John accounts varies slightly. The events include, The conspiracy against Jesus by the Jewish Sanhedrin priests, triumphal entry into Jerusalem, his anger and outburst at the Cleansing of the Temple A meal a few days before Passover. He says that for this she always be remembered. In Jerusalem, the Last Supper shared by Jesus and his disciples, Jesus gives final instructions, predicts his betrayal, and tells them all to remember him. On the path to Gethsemane after the meal, Jesus tells them they will all fall away that night, after Peter protests he will not, Jesus says Peter will deny him three times before the cock crows. Gethsemane, later that night, Jesus prays, meanwhile, the disciples rest, during the arrest in Gethsemane, someone takes a sword and cuts off the ear of the high priests servant, Malchus. The high priests palace, later that night, According to Matthews Gospel, the court then spat in his face and struck him with their fists. They then send him to Pontius Pilate, According to the synoptic gospels, the high priest who examines Jesus is Caiaphas, in John, Jesus is also interrogated by Annas, Caiaiphas father-in-law. The courtyard outside the high palace, the same time. Peter has followed Jesus and joined the mob awaiting Jesus’ fate, they suspect he is a sympathizer, suddenly, the cock crows and Peter remembers what Jesus had said. Pilate, the Roman governor, examines Jesus, decides he is innocent, the Jewish leaders and the crowd demand Jesus’ death, Pilate gives them the choice of saving Barabbas, in response to the screaming mob Pilate sends Jesus out to be crucified. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Judas, the betrayer, is filled with remorse, when the high priests say that that is his affair, Judas throws the money into the temple, goes off, and hangs himself. Golgotha, a hill outside Jerusalem, later morning through mid afternoon, the Gospel of Luke states that Pilate sends Jesus to be judged by Herod Antipas because as a Galilean he is under his jurisdiction. Herod is excited at first to see Jesus and hopes Jesus will perform a miracle for him, he asks Jesus several questions, Herod then mocks him and sends him back to Pilate after giving him an elegant robe to wear
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Paul the Apostle
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Paul the Apostle, commonly known as Saint Paul, and also known by his native name Saul of Tarsus was an apostle who taught the gospel of the Christ to the first century world. He is generally considered one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age, in the mid-30s to the mid-50s AD, he founded several churches in Asia Minor and Europe. Paul took advantage of his status as both a Jew and a Roman citizen to minister to both Jewish and Roman audiences, according to writings in the New Testament, Paul was dedicated to the persecution of the early disciples of Jesus in the area of Jerusalem. He was struck blind but, after three days, his sight was restored by Ananias of Damascus, and Paul began to preach that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah, approximately half of the book of Acts deals with Pauls life and works. Fourteen of the books in the New Testament have traditionally been attributed to Paul. Seven of the epistles are undisputed by scholars as being authentic, Pauline authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews is not asserted in the Epistle itself and was already doubted in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. It was almost unquestioningly accepted from the 5th to the 16th centuries that Paul was the author of Hebrews, but that view is now almost universally rejected by scholars. The other six are believed by scholars to have come from followers writing in his name. Other scholars argue that the idea of an author for the disputed epistles raises many problems. Today, Pauls epistles continue to be roots of the theology, worship, and pastoral life in the Catholic and Protestant traditions of the West. Augustine of Hippo developed Pauls idea that salvation is based on faith, martin Luthers interpretation of Pauls writings influenced Luthers doctrine of sola fide. The main source for information about Pauls life is the material found in his epistles, however, the epistles contain little information about Pauls past. The book of Acts recounts more information but leaves several parts of Pauls life out of its narrative, such as his probable, some scholars believe Acts also contradicts Pauls epistles on multiple accounts, in particular concerning the frequency of Pauls visits to the church in Jerusalem. It has been assumed that Sauls name was changed when he converted from Judaism to Christianity. His Jewish name was Saul, perhaps after the biblical King Saul, a fellow Benjamite, according to the Book of Acts, he inherited Roman citizenship from his father. As a Roman citizen, he bore the Latin name of Paul—in biblical Greek, Παῦλος. It was quite usual for the Jews of that time to have two names, one Hebrew, the other Latin or Greek. Jesus called him Saul, Saul in the Hebrew tongue in the book of Acts, later, in a vision to Ananias of Damascus, the Lord referred to him as Saul, of Tarsus
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Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire
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The persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire was carried out by the state and also by local authorities on a sporadic, ad hoc basis, often at the whims of local communities. Starting in 250, empire-wide persecution took place by decree of the emperor Decius, the edict was in force for eighteen months, during which time some Christians were killed while others apostatised to escape execution. These persecutions heavily influenced the development of Christianity, shaping Christian theology, among other things, persecution gave rise to many saints cults which may have contributed to the rapid spread of Christianity and sparked written explanations and defenses of the Christian religion. Anti-Christian policies directed at the church had occurred sporadically and in localised areas since its beginning. The first persecution of Christians organised by the Roman government took place under the emperor Nero in 64 AD after the Great Fire of Rome, with the passage in 313 AD of the Edict of Milan, anti-Christian policies directed against Christians by the Roman government ceased. There was no persecution of Christians until the reign of Decius in the third century. Provincial governors had a deal of personal discretion in their jurisdictions and could choose themselves how to deal with local incidents of persecution. For most of the first three hundred years of Christian history, Christians were able to live in peace, practice their professions, only for approximately ten out of the first three hundred years of the churchs history were Christians executed due to orders from a Roman emperor. Without agitation from the public, the Roman government had little motivation to persecute local Christians, Christians refusal to participate in public religion was as problematic to the populace as it was to the elites, and contributed to the general hostility toward Christians. Much of the pagan populace maintained a sense that bad things would happen if the established pagan gods were not respected and worshiped properly, Edward Gibbon wrote, By embracing the faith of the Gospel the Christians incurred the supposed guilt of an unnatural and unpardonable offence. As Christianity became more widespread and better understood, however, these suspicions faded away, Roman law was largely concerned with property rights, leaving many gaps in criminal and public law. Thus the process cognitio extra ordinem filled the void left by both code and court. All provincial governors had the right to run trials in this way as part of their imperium in the province. In cognitio extra ordinem, an accuser called a delator brought before the governor an individual to be charged with a certain offense—in this case, that of being a Christian. If the governor agreed to hear the case—and he was free not to—he oversaw the trial from start to finish, he heard the arguments, decided on the verdict, and passed the sentence. Christians sometimes offered themselves up for punishment, and the hearings of such voluntary martyrs were conducted in the same way, more often than not, the outcome of the case was wholly subject to the governors personal opinion. While some tried to rely on precedent or imperial opinion where they could, as evidenced by Pliny the Youngers letter to Trajan concerning the Christians, such guidance was often unavailable. In many cases months and weeks travel away from Rome, these governors had to make decisions about running their provinces according to their own instincts and knowledge
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Religion
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Religions have sacred histories and narratives, which may be preserved in sacred scriptures, and symbols and holy places, that aim mostly to give a meaning to life. Religions may contain symbolic stories, which are said by followers to be true, that have the side purpose of explaining the origin of life. Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason, has considered a source of religious beliefs. There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide, about 84% of the worlds population is affiliated with one of the five largest religions, namely Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or forms of folk religion. With the onset of the modernisation of and the revolution in the western world. The religiously unaffiliated demographic include those who do not identify with any religion, atheists. While the religiously unaffiliated have grown globally, many of the religiously unaffiliated still have various religious beliefs, about 16% of the worlds population is religiously unaffiliated. The study of religion encompasses a variety of academic disciplines, including theology, comparative religion. Theories of religion offer various explanations for the origins and workings of religion, Religion is derived from the Latin religiō, the ultimate origins of which are obscure. One possible interpretation traced to Cicero, connects lego read, i. e. re with lego in the sense of choose, go over again or consider carefully. The medieval usage alternates with order in designating bonded communities like those of monastic orders, we hear of the religion of the Golden Fleece, of a knight of the religion of Avys. In the ancient and medieval world, the etymological Latin root religio was understood as a virtue of worship, never as doctrine, practice. In the Quran, the Arabic word din is often translated as religion in modern translations and it was in the 19th century that the terms Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Confucianism first emerged. Max Müller characterized many other cultures around the world, including Egypt, Persia, what is called ancient religion today, they would have only called law. Some languages have words that can be translated as religion, but they may use them in a different way. For example, the Sanskrit word dharma, sometimes translated as religion, throughout classical South Asia, the study of law consisted of concepts such as penance through piety and ceremonial as well as practical traditions. Medieval Japan at first had a union between imperial law and universal or Buddha law, but these later became independent sources of power. There is no equivalent of religion in Hebrew, and Judaism does not distinguish clearly between religious, national, racial, or ethnic identities
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Death
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Death is the cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Bodies of living organisms begin to decompose shortly after death, other concerns include fear of death, necrophobia, anxiety, sorrow, grief, emotional pain, depression, sympathy, compassion, solitude, or saudade. The potential for an afterlife is of concern for some humans, the word death comes from Old English deað, which in turn comes from Proto-Germanic *dauthuz. This comes from the Proto-Indo-European stem *dheu- meaning the Process, act, when a person has died, it is also said they have passed away, passed on, expired, or are gone, among numerous other socially accepted, religiously specific, slang, and irreverent terms. Bereft of life, the person is then a corpse, cadaver, a body, a set of remains, and when all flesh has rotted away. The terms carrion and carcass can also be used, though more often connote the remains of non-human animals. As a polite reference to a person, it has become common practice to use the participle form of decease, as in the deceased. The ashes left after a cremation are sometimes referred to by the neologism cremains, senescence refers to a scenario when a living being is able to survive all calamities, but eventually dies due to causes relating to old age. Almost all animals who survive external hazards to their biological functioning eventually die from biological aging, some organisms experience negligible senescence, even exhibiting biological immortality. These include the jellyfish Turritopsis dohrnii, the hydra, and the planarian, unnatural causes of death include suicide and homicide. From all causes, roughly 150,000 people die around the world each day, physiological death is now seen as a process, more than an event, conditions once considered indicative of death are now reversible. Where in the process a dividing line is drawn between life and death depends on factors beyond the presence or absence of vital signs, in general, clinical death is neither necessary nor sufficient for a determination of legal death. A patient with working heart and lungs determined to be dead can be pronounced legally dead without clinical death occurring. As scientific knowledge and medicine advance, formulating a precise definition of death becomes more difficult. The concept of death is a key to understanding of the phenomenon. There are many approaches to the concept. For example, brain death, as practiced in medical science, One of the challenges in defining death is in distinguishing it from life. As a point in time, death would seem to refer to the moment at which life ends, determining when death has occurred requires drawing precise conceptual boundaries between life and death
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Cain and Abel
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Cain and Abel were sons of Adam and Eve. Cain, the firstborn, tilled the soil, and his brother Abel was a shepherd, the brothers made sacrifices to God, each of his own produce, but God favored Abels sacrifice instead of that of Cain. God punished Cain to a life of wandering, but set a mark on him so that no man would kill him, Cain then wandered in the land of Nod, where he built a city and fathered the line of Cain. The story of Cains murder of Abel and its consequences is told in Genesis 4, 1-18, And the human knew Eve his woman and she conceived and bore Cain, and she said, I have got me a man with the Lord. And she bore as well his brother Abel, and Abel became a herder of sheep while Cain was a tiller of the soil, and it happened in the course of time that Cain brought from the fruit of the soil an offering to the Lord. And Abel too had brought from the choice firstlings of his flock, and Cain was very incensed, and his face fell. And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you incensed, for whether you offer well, or whether you do not, at the tent flap sin crouches and for you is its longing, but you will rule over it. And Cain said to Abel his brother, Let us go out to the field, and the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother. And he said, I do not know, am I my brothers keeper, the story continues with Gods punishment of Cain, the soil which received his brothers blood will reject him, and he will be a wanderer on the earth. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain so that whoever found him would not slay him, and Cain went out from the Lords presence and dwelled in the land of Nod east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife and she conceived and bore Enoch, then he became the builder of a city and he called the name of the city like his sons name, Enoch. Some scholars believe that Cain and Abel are symbolic rather than real, the following family tree of the line of Cain is compiled from a variety of biblical and extra-biblical texts. The story appears in the Quran, in Surah 5, verses 27 to 31, tell them the truth about the story of Adams two sons, each of them offered a sacrifice, and it was accepted from one and not the other. One said, I will kill you, but the other said, if you raise your hand to kill me, I will not raise mine to kill you. I fear God, the Lord of all worlds, and I would rather you were burdened with my sins as well as yours and became an inhabitant of the Fire, but his soul prompted him to kill his brother, he killed him and became one of the losers. God sent a raven to scratch up the ground and show him how to cover his brothers corpse and he said, could I not have been like this raven and covered up my brothers body. The story of Cain and Abel has always used as a deterrent from murder in Islamic tradition. Muslim scholars were divided on the motives behind Cains murder of Abel, some scholars believed that Cains motives were plain jealousy and lust
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Maccabees
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The Maccabees, also spelled Machabees, were the leaders of a Jewish rebel army that took control of Judea, which at the time had been a province of the Seleucid Empire. They founded the Hasmonean dynasty, which ruled from 164 BCE to 63 BCE and they reasserted the Jewish religion, partly by forced conversion, expanded the boundaries of Judea by conquest and reduced the influence of Hellenism and Hellenistic Judaism. In the 2nd century BCE, Judea lay between the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Seleucid empire, monarchies which had formed following the death of Alexander the Great, Judea had come under Ptolemaic rule, but fell to the Seleucids around 200 BCE. Judea at that time had been affected by the Hellenization begun by Alexander, some Jews, mainly those of the urban upper class, notably the Tobiad family, wished to dispense with Jewish law and to adopt a Greek lifestyle. According to the historian Victor Tcherikover, the motive for the Tobiads Hellenism was economic. The Hellenizing Jews built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, competed in international Greek games, removed their marks of circumcision, when Antiochus IV Epiphanes, became ruler of the Seleucid Empire in 175 BCE, Onias III held the office of High Priest in Jerusalem. Jason, the brother of Onias, bribed Antiochus to make him High Priest instead of Onias, Jason abolished the traditional theocracy and received from Antiochus permission to convert Jerusalem into a Greek polis called Antioch. In turn, Menelaus then bribed Antiochus and was appointed High Priest in place of Jason, Menelaus brother Lysimachus stole holy vessels from the Temple, the resulting riots led to the death of Lysimachus. Menelaus was arrested for Onias murder, and was arraigned before Antiochus, Jason subsequently drove out Menelaus and became High Priest again. Antiochus pillaged the Temple, attacked Jerusalem and led captive the women and children, from this point onwards, Antiochus pursued a zealous Hellenizing policy in the Seleucid satrapies of Coele Syria and Phoenicia. The author of the First Book of Maccabees regarded the Maccabean revolt as a rising of pious Jews against the Seleucid king, the author of the Second Book of Maccabees presented the conflict as a struggle between Judaism and Hellenism, concepts which he coined. In the conflict over the office of High Priest, traditionalists with Hebrew/Aramaic names like Onias contested with Hellenizers with Greek names like Jason, some scholars point to social and economic factors in the conflict. What began as a war took on the character of an invasion when the Hellenistic kingdom of Syria sided with the Hellenizing Jews against the traditionalists. As the conflict escalated, Antiochus prohibited the practices of the traditionalists, thereby, in a departure from usual Seleucid practice, other scholars argue that, while the rising began as a religious rebellion, it was gradually transformed into a war of national liberation. It is said that an idol of Olympian Zeus was placed on the altar of the Temple and this may, however, have represented an exaggerated view of Antiochus support for the Hellenizing party in Judaea. Mattathias killed a Hellenistic Jew who stepped forward to offer a sacrifice to an idol in Mattathias place and he and his five sons fled to the wilderness of Judah. The Maccabees destroyed pagan altars in the villages, circumcised boys, the term Maccabees as used to describe the Jewish army is taken from the Hebrew word for hammer. The revolt involved many battles, in which the Maccabean forces gained notoriety among the Seleucid army for their use of guerrilla tactics
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John the Baptist
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John the Baptist, also known as John the Baptizer, was a Jewish itinerant preacher in the early first century AD. John is revered as a religious figure in Christianity, Islam, the Baháí Faith. He is called a prophet by all of these traditions, and is honoured as a saint in many Christian traditions, John used baptism as the central symbol or sacrament of his messianic movement. Most scholars agree that John baptized Jesus, scholars generally believe Jesus was a follower or disciple of John and several New Testament accounts report that some of Jesus early followers had previously been followers of John. John the Baptist is also mentioned by the Jewish historian Josephus, according to the New Testament, John anticipated a messianic figure greater than himself. Christians commonly refer to John as the precursor or forerunner of Jesus, John is also identified with the prophet Elijah. John the Baptist is mentioned in all four canonical Gospels and the non-canonical Gospel of the Nazarenes, the Synoptic Gospels describe John baptising Jesus, in the Gospel of John it is implied in John 1, 32-34. The Gospel of Mark introduces John as a fulfilment of a prophecy from the Book of Isaiah about a messenger being sent ahead, John is described as wearing clothes of camels hair, living on locusts and wild honey. John proclaims baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin, and says another will come after him who will not baptize with water, Jesus comes to John, and is baptized by him in the river Jordan. The account describes how, as he emerges from the water, the heavens open, a voice from heaven then says, You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased. Later in the gospel there is an account of Johns death and it is introduced by an incident where the Tetrarch Herod Antipas, hearing stories about Jesus, imagines that this is John the Baptist raised from the dead. It then explains that John had rebuked Herod for marrying Herodias, Herodias demands his execution, but Herod, who liked to listen to John, is reluctant to do so because he fears him, knowing he is a righteous and holy man. The account then describes how Herods daughter Herodias dances before Herod, when the girl asks her mother what she should request, she is told to demand the head of John the Baptist. Reluctantly, Herod orders the beheading of John, and his head is delivered to her, at her request, Johns disciples take the body away and bury it in a tomb. There are a number of difficulties with this passage, the Gospel wrongly identifies Antipas as King and the ex-husband of Herodias is named as Philip, but he is known to have been called Herod. Although the wording clearly implies the girl was the daughter of Herodias, many texts describe her as Herods daughter, Herodias. Since these texts are early and significant and the reading is difficult, many see this as the original version, corrected in later versions and in Matthew. Josephus says that Herodias had a daughter by the name of Salome, scholars have speculated about the origins of the story
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Saint Stephen
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Accused of blasphemy, at his trial he made a long speech denouncing the Jewish authorities who were sitting in judgment on him and was then stoned to death. His martyrdom was witnessed by Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee who would himself become a follower of Jesus. The only primary source for information about Stephen is the New Testament book of the Acts of the Apostles, Stephen is mentioned in Acts 6 as one of the Greek-speaking Hellenistic Jews selected to participate in a fairer distribution of welfare to the Greek-speaking widows. The Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox Churches, Stephens name in the original Greek of the Acts of the Apostles is given as Stephanos, meaning crown. Traditionally, Stephen is invested with a crown of martyrdom, artistic representations often depict him with three stones and the palm frond. Eastern Christian iconography shows him as a young, beardless man with a tonsure, wearing a deacons vestments, according to Orthodox belief, he was the eldest and is therefore called archdeacon. As another deacon, Nicholas of Antioch, is stated to have been a convert to Judaism, it may be assumed that Stephen was born Jewish. Since the name Stephanos is Greek, it has assumed that he was one of these Hellenistic Jews. Stephen is stated to have full of faith and the Holy Spirit. Members of these synagogues had challenged Stephens teachings, but Stephen had bested them in debate, furious at this humiliation, they suborned false testimony that Stephen had preached blasphemy against Moses and God. They dragged him to appear before the Sanhedrin, the legal court of Jewish elders, accusing him of preaching against the Temple. Stephen is said to have been unperturbed, his face looking like that of an angel, robert Eisenman puts forward the theory that the stoning of Stephen is in fact an account of the stoning of James, first Bishop of Jerusalem, as recounted by Josephus, in 62CE. In a long speech to the Sanhedrin comprising almost the whole of Acts Chapter 7, Stephen presents his view of the history of Israel. The God of glory, he says, appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia, thus establishing at the beginning of the one of its major themes. Stephen recounts the stories of the patriarchs in some depth, God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and inspired Moses to lead his people out of Egypt. Nevertheless, the Israelites turned to other gods and this establishes the second main theme of Stephens speech, Israels disobedience to God. Stephen faced two accusations, that he had declared that Jesus would destroy the Temple in Jerusalem and that he had changed the customs of Moses. The Roman Catholic Church states that St. Stephen appealed to the Jewish scriptures to prove how the laws of Moses were not subverted by Jesus but and he denounces his listeners as stiff-necked people who, just as their ancestors had done, resist the Holy Spirit
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Constantine the Great
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Constantine the Great, also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was a Roman Emperor from 306 to 337 AD. Constantine was the son of Flavius Valerius Constantius, a Roman Army officer and his father became Caesar, the deputy emperor in the west, in 293 AD. Constantine was sent east, where he rose through the ranks to become a military tribune under the emperors Diocletian, in 305, Constantius was raised to the rank of Augustus, senior western emperor, and Constantine was recalled west to campaign under his father in Britannia. As emperor, Constantine enacted many administrative, financial, social, the government was restructured and civil and military authority separated. A new gold coin, the solidus, was introduced to combat inflation and it would become the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years. He called the First Council of Nicaea in 325, at which the Nicene Creed was adopted by Christians, in military matters, the Roman army was reorganised to consist of mobile field units and garrison soldiers capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions. The age of Constantine marked an epoch in the history of the Roman Empire. He built a new residence at Byzantium and renamed the city Constantinople after himself. It would later become the capital of the Empire for over one thousand years and his more immediate political legacy was that, in leaving the empire to his sons, he replaced Diocletians tetrarchy with the principle of dynastic succession. His reputation flourished during the lifetime of his children and centuries after his reign, the medieval church upheld him as a paragon of virtue while secular rulers invoked him as a prototype, a point of reference, and the symbol of imperial legitimacy and identity. Beginning with the Renaissance, there were more critical appraisals of his due to the rediscovery of anti-Constantinian sources. Critics portrayed him as a tyrant, trends in modern and recent scholarship attempted to balance the extremes of previous scholarship. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on his orders at the site of Jesus tomb in Jerusalem. The Papal claim to power in the High Middle Ages was based on the supposed Donation of Constantine. He is venerated as a saint by Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholics, though Constantine has historically often been referred to as the First Christian Emperor, scholars debate his actual beliefs or even his actual comprehension of the Christian faith itself. Constantine was a ruler of major importance, and he has always been a controversial figure, the fluctuations in Constantines reputation reflect the nature of the ancient sources for his reign. These are abundant and detailed, but have strongly influenced by the official propaganda of the period. There are no surviving histories or biographies dealing with Constantines life, the nearest replacement is Eusebius of Caesareas Vita Constantini, a work that is a mixture of eulogy and hagiography
35.
Theodosius I
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Theodosius I, also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from AD379 to AD395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. On accepting his elevation, he campaigned against Goths and other barbarians who had invaded the empire. He failed to kill, expel, or entirely subjugate them and he fought two destructive civil wars, in which he defeated the usurpers Magnus Maximus and Eugenius at great cost to the power of the empire. He also issued decrees that effectively made Orthodox Nicene Christianity the official church of the Roman Empire. He neither prevented nor punished the destruction of prominent Hellenistic temples of antiquity, including the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He dissolved the order of the Vestal Virgins in Rome, in 393, he banned the pagan rituals of the Olympics in Ancient Greece. Theodosius was born in Cauca, Gallaecia, Hispania or Italica, Baetica, Hispania, to a military officer. Theodosius learned his lessons by campaigning with his fathers staff in Britannia where he went to help quell the Great Conspiracy in 368. In about 373, he became governor of Upper Moesia and oversaw hostilities against the Sarmatians and he was military commander of Moesia, a Roman province on the lower Danube, in 374. However, shortly thereafter, and at about the time as the sudden disgrace and execution of his father. The reason for his retirement, and the relationship between it and his fathers death is unclear and it is possible that he was dismissed from his command by the emperor Valentinian I after the loss of two of Theodosius legions to the Sarmatians in late 374. The death of Valentinian I in 375 created political pandemonium, fearing further persecution on account of his family ties, Theodosius abruptly retired to his family estates in the province of Gallaecia where he adopted the life of a provincial aristocrat. In 378, after the disastrous Battle of Adrianople where Valens was killed, as Valens had no successor, Gratians appointment of Theodosius amounted to a de facto invitation for Theodosius to become co-Augustus of the East Roman Empire. After Gratian was killed in a rebellion in 383, Theodosius appointed his own son, Arcadius. By his first wife, the probably Spanish Aelia Flaccilla Augusta, he had two sons, Arcadius and Honorius and a daughter, Aelia Pulcheria, Arcadius was his heir in the East, both Aelia Flaccilla and Pulcheria died in 385. His second wife was Galla, daughter of the emperor Valentinian I, Theodosius and Galla had a son Gratian, born in 388 and who died young, and a daughter Aelia Galla Placidia. Placidia was the child who survived to adulthood and later became an Empress
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State church of the Roman Empire
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Nicene Christianity became the state church of the Roman Empire with the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 CE, when Emperor Theodosius I made it the Empires sole authorized religion. A series of ecumenical councils met during the 4th and 5th centuries, but Christianity continued to suffer rifts and schisms surrounding the issues of Arianism, Nestorianism, and Miaphysitism. However, apart from the aforementioned schisms, the church as an institution persisted in communion, if not without tension, in the 6th century the Byzantine armies of the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I recovered Italy and other sections of the western Mediterranean shore. The Eastern Roman Empire soon lost most of gains, but it held Rome, as part of the Exarchate of Ravenna, until 751. Pope Gregory III became the last Bishop of Rome to ask the Byzantine ruler to ratify his election, by then, the Roman Empires state church as originally conceived had ceased to exist. The Eastern Roman Empire finally collapsed with the Fall of Constantinople to the Islamic Ottoman Turks in 1453, Western missionary activities created a communion of churches that extended beyond the empire, the beginnings of which predated the establishment of the state church. The legacy of the idea of a universal church polity carries on, directly or indirectly, in todays Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as in others, before the end of the 1st century, the Roman authorities recognized Christianity as a separate religion from Judaism. Pliny the Younger, when propraetor in Bithynia in 103, assumes in his letters to Trajan that because Christians do not pay the tax and their refusal to worship the Roman gods or to pay homage to the emperor as divine resulted at times in persecution and martyrdom. Church Father Tertullian, for instance, attempted to argue that Christianity was not inherently treasonous, Christians accounted for approximately 10% of the Roman population by 300, according to some estimates. In 301, the Kingdom of Armenia, which Rome considered de jure a client kingdom though yielded de facto to the Parthians, Constantine began to utilize Christian symbols such as the Chi-Rho early in his reign but still encouraged traditional Roman religious practices including sun worship. In 330, Constantine established the city of Constantinople as the new capital of the Roman Empire, the city would gradually come to be seen as the intellectual and cultural center of the Christian world. Over the course of the 4th century the Christian body became consumed by debates surrounding orthodoxy, a church synod, or council, was held in Rome in 313, followed by another in Arles in 314, the latter presided over by Constantine while still a junior emperor. However, during the reign of Emperor Julian the Apostate, the Donatists, Christian scholars and populace within the Empire were increasingly embroiled in debates regarding christology. Opinions ranged from belief that Jesus was entirely human to belief that he was entirely divine, emperors thereby became ever more involved with the increasingly divided Church. Constantine was of divided opinions, but he backed the Athanasian side. His successor Constantius II supported a Semi-Arian position, Emperor Julian returned to the traditional Roman/Greek religion, quickly quashed by his successor Jovian, a supporter of the Athanasian side. A Council of Rimini in 359 supported the Arian view, a Council of Constantinople in 360 supported a compromise. The Council of Constantinople in 381, called by Emperor Theodosius I reasserted the Nicene or Athanasian view and this council further refined the definition of orthodoxy, issuing, according to tradition, the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed
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Asceticism
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Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Asceticism is classified into two types, Asceticism has been historically observed in many religious traditions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism and Judaism. Mainstream Islam has lacked asceticism, except for its minority Sufi sect whose long tradition has included strict asceticism, the practitioners of these religions eschewed worldly pleasures and led an abstinent lifestyle, in the pursuit of redemption, salvation or spirituality. Asceticism is seen in the ancient theologies as a journey towards spiritual transformation, where the simple is sufficient, the bliss is within, the adjective ascetic derives from the ancient Greek term askēsis, which means training or exercise. The original usage did not refer to self-denial, but to the training required for athletic events. Its usage later extended to rigorous practices that are used in all religious traditions, in varying degrees to attain redemption. Asceticism has been classified into natural and unnatural forms of asceticism, natural asceticism is defined as a lifestyle where material aspects of life are reduced to utmost simplicity and minimum. This may include minimal, simple clothing, sleeping on floor or caves, natural asceticism, state Wimbush and Valantasis, does not include maiming the body or harsher austerities that make the body suffer. Self-discipline and abstinence in some form and degree are parts of religious practice within many religious, ascetic lifestyle is associated particularly with monks, nuns, fakirs in Abrahamic religions, and bhikkhus, munis, sannyasis, yogis in Indian religions. Christian authors of antiquity such as Origen, St. Jerome, St. Ignatius, John Chrysostom. Scriptural examples of asceticism could be found in the lives of John the Baptist, Jesus, the twelve apostles, the Dead Sea Scrolls revealed ascetic practices of the ancient Jewish sect of Essenes who took vows of abstinence to prepare for a holy war. An emphasis on a religious life was evident in both early Christian writings and practices. Other Christian practitioners of asceticism include individuals such as Simeon Stylites, Saint David of Wales, according to Richard Finn, much of early Christian asceticism has been traced to Judaism, but not to traditions within Greek asceticism. Some of the thoughts in Christianity nevertheless, Finn states, have roots in Greek moral thought. Virtuous living is not possible when an individual is craving bodily pleasures with desire, the deserts of the Middle East were at one time inhabited by thousands of Christian hermits including St. Anthony the Great, St. Mary of Egypt, and St. Simeon Stylites. In 963 CE, an association of monasteries called Lavra was formed on Mount Athos and this became the most important center of orthodox Christian ascetic groups in the centuries that followed. In the modern era, Mount Athos and Meteora have remained a significant center, sexual abstinence such as those of the Encratites sect of Christians was only one aspect of ascetic renunciation, and both natural and unnatural asceticism have been part of Christian asceticism. The natural ascetic practices have included simple living, begging, fasting and ethical practices such as humility, compassion, patience, such ascetic practices were linked to the Christian concepts of sin and redemption
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Paul of Thebes
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Paul of Thebes, commonly known as Paul, the First Hermit or Paul the Anchorite is regarded as the first Christian hermit. He is not to be confused with Paul the Simple, who was a disciple of Anthony the Great, the Life of Saint Paul the First Hermit was composed in Latin by Saint Jerome, probably in 375–376. Paul of Thebes was born around 227 in the Thebaid of Egypt, Paul and his married sister lost their parents. In order to obtain Pauls inheritance, his brother-in-law sought to betray him to the persecutors, according to Jeromes Vitae Patrum, Paul fled to the Theban desert as a young man during the persecution of Decius and Valerianus around AD250. He would remain in that cave for the rest of his life, Paul of Thebes is known to posterity because around the year 342, Anthony the Great was told in a dream about the older hermits existence, and went to find him. Jerome related that Anthony the Great and Paul met when the latter was aged 113 and they conversed with each other for one day and one night. The Synaxarium shows each saint inviting the other to bless and break the bread, St. Paul held one side, putting the other side into the hands of Father Anthony, and soon the bread broke through the middle and each took his part. When Anthony next visited him, Paul was dead, Anthony clothed him in a tunic which was a present from Athanasius of Alexandria and buried him, with two lions helping to dig the grave. Father Anthony returned to his monastery taking him the robe woven with palm leaf. He honored the robe so much that he wore it twice a year, at the Feast of Easter. His feast day is celebrated on January 15 in the West, on January 5 or January 15 in the Eastern Orthodox Churches, Saint Anthony described him as the first monk. St. Pauls Monastery is traditionally believed to be on the site of the cave where the saint lived, the monastery is located in the eastern desert mountains of Egypt near the Red Sea. The Cave Church of St. Paul marks the spot where St. Anthony, the Father of Monasticism, and St. Paul, the First Hermit, are believed to have met. He is also the saint of the Diocese of San Pablo and is the titular of the Cathedral of the said Diocese in San Pablo, Laguna. The Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit was founded in Hungary in his honour in the 13th century and he is usually represented with a palm tree, two lions and a raven. Coptic Orthodox Church Monastery of Saint Paul the Anchorite Hermit Coptic Saints The Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit San Pablo, Laguna Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Coptic Synexarium Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John
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Anthony the Great
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Saint Anthony or Antony was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is distinguished from other saints named Anthony by various epithets, Anthony the Great, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, and Anthony of Thebes. For his importance among the Desert Fathers and to all later Christian monasticism and his feast day is celebrated on January 17 among the Orthodox and Catholic churches and on Tobi 22 in the Egyptian calendar used by the Coptic Church. The biography of Anthonys life by Athanasius of Alexandria helped to spread the concept of Christian monasticism and he is often erroneously considered the first Christian monk, but as his biography and other sources make clear, there were many ascetics before him. Anthony was, however, the first to go into the wilderness, Anthony is appealed to against infectious diseases, particularly skin diseases. In the past, many afflictions, including ergotism, erysipelas. Anthony was born in Coma in Lower Egypt in AD251 to wealthy landowner parents, when he was about 18 years old, his parents died and left him with the care of his unmarried sister. Shortly thereafter, he decided to follow the Evangelical counsel of Jesus which reads, If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven. Anthony gave away some of his familys lands to his neighbors, sold the remaining property and he then left to live an ascetic life, placing his sister with a group of Christian virgins, a sort of proto-convent. For the next fifteen years, Anthony remained in the area, there are various legends associating Anthony with pigs, one is that he worked as a swineherd during this period. Anthony is sometimes considered the first monk, and the first to initiate solitary desertification, philo opined that this class of persons may be met with in many places, for both Greece and barbarian countries want to enjoy whatever is perfectly good. Christian ascetics such as Thecla had likewise retreated to isolated locations at the outskirts of cities, Anthony is notable for having decided to surpass this tradition and headed out into the desert proper. He left for the alkaline Nitrian Desert on the edge of the Western Desert about 95 km west of Alexandria and he remained there for 13 years. According to Athanasius, the devil fought Anthony by afflicting him with boredom, laziness, and the phantoms of women, after that, he moved to a tomb, where he resided and closed the door on himself, depending on some local villagers who brought him food. When the devil perceived his ascetic life and his worship, he was envious and beat him mercilessly. When his friends from the village came to visit him and found him in this condition. After he recovered, he made an effort and went back into the desert to a farther mountain by the Nile called Pispir. There he lived strictly enclosed in an old abandoned Roman fort for some 20 years, according to Athanasius, the devil again resumed his war against Anthony, only this time the phantoms were in the form of wild beasts, wolves, lions, snakes, and scorpions
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