1.
Utrecht Psalter
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The Utrecht Psalter is a ninth-century illuminated psalter which is a key masterpiece of Carolingian art, it is probably the most valuable manuscript in the Netherlands. It is famous for its 166 lively pen illustrations, with one accompanying each psalm, the precise purpose of these illustrations, and the extent of their dependence on earlier models, have been matters of art historical controversy. The psalter spent the period between about 1000 to 1640 in England, where it had a influence on Anglo-Saxon art. It was copied at least three times in the Middle Ages, a complete facsimile edition of the psalter was made in 1875, and another in 1984. The other texts in the book include some canticles and hymns used in the office of the hours, including various canticles, the latter text was the subject of intense study by Thomas Duffus Hardy and others after scholarly interest in the psalter grew in the 19th century. The entire volume contains 108 vellum leaves, approximately 13 by 10 inches in size, the pages are formed by quires of 8 pages folded. There was probably at least an author portrait of David at the start, the psalter was at one time thought to be a 6th-century work largely because of the use of archaic conventions in the script. The Psalter is written in capitals, a script which by the 9th century had fallen out of favour in Carolingian manuscripts. These are now viewed as imitation rustic capitals, and the manuscript is dated no earlier than the 9th century. The psalter is believed to have made near Reims, as its style is similar to that of the Ebbo Gospels. It may have been sponsored by Ebbo, Archbishop of Reims, others have argued for a date c. 850, saying that the psalm illustrations draw from the travels of Gottschalk of Orbais, the manuscript had reached Canterbury Cathedral by c. 1000, at time a copy began to be made of it, this. The Psalter was copied in full three times in the Middle Ages, the copy being the Eadwine Psalter of 1155–60, with additions 1160–70. The last copy is a version in full colour with gold backgrounds that is known as the Anglo-Catalan Psalter or MS Lat.8846 in the BnF. This was half-illustrated by an English artist in about 1180-1200, and completed by a Catalan artist in 1340-50, the images are necessarily somewhat simplified, and the number of figures reduced. It reached Utrecht University in 1716, at which point it was incorporated into the University Library and it was rediscovered in the library in 1858. The Utrecht Psalter is lavishly illustrated with pen and ink drawings for each psalm
2.
Psalms
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The Book of Psalms, commonly referred to simply as Psalms or the Psalms, is the first book of the Ketuvim, the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. The title is derived from the Greek translation, ψαλμοί psalmoi, meaning instrumental music and, by extension, the book is an anthology of individual psalms, with 150 in the Jewish and Western Christian tradition and more in the Eastern Christian churches. Many of the psalms are linked to the name of David, over a third appear to be musical directions, addressed to the leader or choirmaster, including such statements as with stringed instruments and according to lilies. Others appear to be references to types of composition, such as A psalm and Song. Many superscriptions carry the names of individuals, the most common being of David, others named include Moses, Asaph, the Sons of Korah and Solomon. A natural way of understanding these attributions is as a claim to authorship, Psalms are usually identified by a sequence number, often preceded by the abbreviation Ps. Numbering of the Psalms differs—mostly by one digit, see table—between the Hebrew and it is generally admitted that Pss.9 and 10 were originally a single acrostic poem, they have been wrongly separated by Massorah, rightly united by the Septuagint and Vulgate. On the other hand, Ps.144 is made up of two songs — verses 1–11 and 12–15, Pss.42 and 43 are shown by identity of subject, of metrical structure and of refrain, to be three strophes of one and the same poem. The Hebrew text is correct in counting as one Ps.146, later liturgical usage would seem to have split up these and not a few other psalms. Zenner combines into what he deems were the original choral odes,1,2,3,4,6 +13,9 +10,19,20,21,56 +57,69 +70,114 +115,148,149,150. A choral ode would seem to have been the form of Pss.14 +70. The two strophes and the epode are Ps,14, the two antistrophes are Ps.70. It is noteworthy that, on the breaking up of the ode, each portion crept twice into the Psalter, Ps.14 =53, Ps.70 =40. Other such duplicated psalms are Ps and this loss of the original form of some of the psalms is allowed by the Biblical Commission to have been due to liturgical uses, neglect of copyists, or other causes. The Septuagint bible, present in Eastern Orthodox churches, includes a Psalm 151, Some versions of the Peshitta include Psalms 152–155. There are also the Psalms of Solomon, which are a further 18 psalms of Jewish origin, likely written in Hebrew. These and other indications suggest that the current Western Christian and Jewish collection of 150 psalms were selected from a wider set, gunkel divided the psalms into five primary types, Hymns, songs of praise for Gods work in creation or in history. They typically open with a call to praise, describe the motivation for praise, two sub-categories are enthronement psalms, celebrating the enthronement of Yahweh as king, and Zion psalms, glorifying Mount Zion, Gods dwelling-place in Jerusalem
3.
Liturgical year
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Distinct liturgical colours may appear in connection with different seasons of the liturgical year. The dates of the festivals vary somewhat between the different churches, though the sequence and logic is largely the same, in churches that follow the liturgical year, the scripture passages for each Sunday are specified in a lectionary. After the Protestant Reformation, Anglicans and Lutherans continued to follow the lectionary of the Roman Rite, following a decision of the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church revised that lectionary in 1969, adopting a three-year cycle of readings for Sundays and a two-year cycle for weekdays. This has led to an awareness of the traditional Christian year among Protestants. The first month of the year was called אביב, meaning the month of green ears of grain and it thus occurred in the spring. At about the time of the Babylonian captivity, the Jews adopted as the name for the month the term ניסן, thomas J Talley says that the adoption of the Babylonian term occurred even before the captivity. In the earlier calendar, most of the months were called by a number. On the historical life of Jesus Christ, the believers are led to the eschatological fulfilment, viz. the heavenly bliss, the liturgical year is divided into 9 seasons mostly having 7 weeks each in principle, but with necessary adjustments. The arrangement of the Seasons in the Liturgical Year is based on seven central events on celebrations of the Salvation History, various Seasons in the liturgical calendar of Syro Malabar Church and Chaldean Catholic Church are given below Weeks of Annunciation is the first season of the liturgical year. The liturgical year begins with the proclamation and celebration of the encounter between God and man in the person of Jesus Christ, the human appearance of the Divine Person. The season begins on the Sunday just before fist of December and this season is developed in the context of the mystery of incarnation completed in the fullness of time. The Church recalls during these days the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist, the predecessor of Jesus, during this season we also meditate on the role of Mary in the history of the plan of salvation. The whole importance of Mary, and hence her veneration in the Church, depends on her relation to Jesus, the most special being His mother. Her celebration is also underlined with two very solemn festivals of her, Immaculate Conception on December 8 and Congratulation to Mary as Mother of Jesus on the last Friday of this season, Church practice abstinence December 1–25 in preparation for Christmas, this period is called 25 days Lent. The word Denha in Syriac means sunrise, during the period the faithful meditates on the manifestation of Holy trinity and revelation of Christ the light of the world. Baptism in Jordan was the first historical event when the Holy Trinity is revealed to humans in the humanity of Jesus Christ, during the season church celebrate the feasts of Saints in connection with the manifestation of the Lord. The season begins 50 days before Easter on Peturta Sunday and comprises whole period of Great Lent, Word Peturta in Syriac means looking back or reconciliation. Faithful enter the weeks of Great Fast, celebrating the memory of all the Faithful Departed on the last Friday of Denha
4.
Litany of the Saints
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The Litany of the Saints is a formal prayer of the Roman Catholic Church and Western Rite Orthodox communities. Following the invocation of the saints, the Litany concludes with a series of supplications to God to hear the prayers of the worshippers and it is most prominently sung during the Easter Vigil, All Saints Day, and in the liturgy for conferring Holy Orders. The definitive version of the Roman Catholic Litany of the Saints is a Latin text published in the Roman Gradual, the current edition was published in 1979, and contains a statement of approval from the Congregation for Divine Worship issued 24 June 1972. The litany is published in five sections, the second section lists the saints who are to be included, given in the following order. Within each category, men are listed in order, followed by women. Distinctive names are given in brackets so the cantor knows which saint is intended, additional saints, such as the patron of a place or the founder of a religious order, may be inserted in the appropriate place. The official list of recognized saints can be found in the Roman Martyrology, patriarchs and Prophets, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, Joseph, all holy patriarchs and prophets. Apostles and disciples, Peter and Paul, Andrew, John and James, Thomas, Matthew, All Holy Apostles, Luke, Mark, Barnabas, Mary Magdalen, all holy disciples of the Lord. Bishops and Doctors of the Church, Leo and Gregory, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Athanasius, Basil and Gregory, John Chrysostom, Martin, Patrick, Cyril and Methodius, Charles, Francis, Pius. Note that certain names are grouped together by the litany itself, in the list above, note also that some priests and religious who are also Doctors of the Church are grouped with the Priests and Religious, rather than with the Bishops and Doctors. Strict chronological order is not followed in the case of the Jesuit, Francis Xavier, who is placed after the founder of the Jesuits, Ignatius Loyola, who died in 1556. Part three of the litany is a series of petitions to Christ, the first 15 having the response, free us O Lord, with a further 10 petitions ending Have Mercy on us. The rubrics printed before the litany indicate that other petitions “suitable to the occasion”, the final part of the litany consists of a brief invocation calling on Christ to hear the prayers, and a closing collect. The Litany of Saints is used prominently at the Easter Vigil, at this Mass, adults who have chosen to become Catholic receive the Sacraments of Initiation in the form of Baptism, or simple Reception, with Confirmation and Holy Communion. Following the readings from Scripture and just before the actual rite of baptism or confirmation, even if there is no-one to be baptized, the Litany may be sung for the blessing of holy water in the font. But if the font is not blessed, the Litany is not used, a severely abbreviated form of the litany is given in the official text for the Rite of Baptism of Children. In the rite the litany is immediately preceded by suggested or ad hoc prayers for the child being baptized and family members present, a similar rite together with a prayer of minor exorcism is used in the Catholic Church. An extended form of the litany is also permitted for baptisms, beginning with a Kyrie, the saints are followed by brief invocations of Christ and then petitions which include Give new life to these chosen ones by the grace of baptism
5.
Book of hours
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The book of hours is a Christian devotional book popular in the Middle Ages. It is the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscript, Books of hours were usually written in Latin, although there are many entirely or partially written in vernacular European languages, especially Dutch. The English term primer is usually now reserved for books written in English. Tens of thousands of books of hours have survived to the present day, in libraries, the typical book of hours is an abbreviated form of the breviary which contained the Divine Office recited in monasteries. It was developed for lay people who wished to incorporate elements of monasticism into their devotional life, reciting the hours typically centered upon the reading of a number of psalms and other prayers. The Marian prayers Obsecro te and O Intemerata were frequently added, as were devotions for use at Mass, the book of hours has its ultimate origin in the Psalter, which monks and nuns were required to recite. By the 12th century this had developed into the breviary, with cycles of psalms, prayers, hymns, antiphons. Eventually a selection of texts was produced in much shorter volumes, many books of hours were made for women. There is some evidence that they were given as a wedding present from a husband to his bride. Frequently they were passed down through the family, as recorded in wills, the earliest surviving English example was apparently written for a laywoman living in or near Oxford in about 1240. It is smaller than a modern paperback but heavily illuminated with major initials, by the 15th century, there are also examples of servants owning their own Books of Hours. In a court case from 1500, a woman is accused of stealing a domestic servants prayerbook. Very rarely the books included prayers specifically composed for their owners, some include images depicting their owners, and some their coats of arms. These, together with the choice of saints commemorated in the calendar, eamon Duffy explains how these books reflected the person who commissioned them. He claims that the character of these books was often signaled by the inclusion of prayers specially composed or adapted for their owners. Furthermore, he states that as many as half the surviving manuscript Books of Hours have annotations, such additions might amount to no more than the insertion of some regional or personal patron saint in the standardized calendar, but they often include devotional material added by the owner. By at least the 15th century, the Netherlands and Paris workshops were producing books of hours for stock or distribution and these were sometimes with spaces left for the addition of personalized elements such as local feasts or heraldry. The book’s goal was to help his devout patroness to structure her daily life in accordance with the eight canonical hours, Matins to Compline
6.
Old English
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Old English or Anglo-Saxon is the earliest historical form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers probably in the mid 5th century, Old English developed from a set of Anglo-Frisian or North Sea Germanic dialects originally spoken by Germanic tribes traditionally known as the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. As the Anglo-Saxons became dominant in England, their language replaced the languages of Roman Britain, Common Brittonic, a Celtic language, Old English had four main dialects, associated with particular Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Mercian, Northumbrian, Kentish and West Saxon. It was West Saxon that formed the basis for the standard of the later Old English period, although the dominant forms of Middle. The speech of eastern and northern parts of England was subject to strong Old Norse influence due to Scandinavian rule, Old English is one of the West Germanic languages, and its closest relatives are Old Frisian and Old Saxon. Like other old Germanic languages, it is different from Modern English. Old English grammar is similar to that of modern German, nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs have many inflectional endings and forms. The oldest Old English inscriptions were using a runic system. Old English was not static, and its usage covered a period of 700 years, from the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain in the 5th century to the late 11th century, some time after the Norman invasion. While indicating that the establishment of dates is a process, Albert Baugh dates Old English from 450 to 1150, a period of full inflections. Perhaps around 85 per cent of Old English words are no longer in use, Old English is a West Germanic language, developing out of Ingvaeonic dialects from the 5th century. It came to be spoken over most of the territory of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which became the Kingdom of England and this included most of present-day England, as well as part of what is now southeastern Scotland, which for several centuries belonged to the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. Other parts of the island – Wales and most of Scotland – continued to use Celtic languages, Norse was also widely spoken in the parts of England which fell under Danish law. Anglo-Saxon literacy developed after Christianisation in the late 7th century, the oldest surviving text of Old English literature is Cædmons Hymn, composed between 658 and 680. There is a corpus of runic inscriptions from the 5th to 7th centuries. The Old English Latin alphabet was introduced around the 9th century, with the unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms by Alfred the Great in the later 9th century, the language of government and literature became standardised around the West Saxon dialect. In Old English, typical of the development of literature, poetry arose before prose, a later literary standard, dating from the later 10th century, arose under the influence of Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester, and was followed by such writers as the prolific Ælfric of Eynsham. This form of the language is known as the Winchester standard and it is considered to represent the classical form of Old English
7.
Ecclesiastical Latin
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Ecclesiastical Latin is the form of the Latin language used in the Roman Rite of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church for liturgical and other purposes. It is distinguished from Classical Latin by some variations, a simplified syntax. Ecclesiastical Latin is the language of the Holy See and the only surviving sociolect of spoken Latin. During the Late Republic and Early Empire periods, educated Roman citizens were generally fluent in Greek, the Holy See has no obligation to use Latin as its official language and, in theory, could change its practice. As Latin is no longer in use, the meaning of words is less likely to change radically from century to century. Since Latin is spoken as a language by no modern community. Especially since the Second Vatican Council of 1962–1965, the Church no longer uses Latin as the language of the Roman and Ambrosian liturgies of the Latin rites of the Catholic Church. As early as 1913, the Catholic Encyclopedia commented that Latin was starting to be replaced by vernacular languages, however, the Church still produces its official liturgical texts in Latin, which provide a single clear point of reference for translations into all other languages. For example, the writers of the Catechism of the Catholic Church drafted it in French, but five years later, when the Latin text appeared in 1997, the French text underwent correction to stay in line with the Latin version. The Latin language department of the Vatican Secretariat of State is charged with the preparation in Latin of papal and curial documents. Occasionally, the texts are published in a modern language, including such well-known texts as the motu proprio Tra le sollecitudini by Pope Pius X. The written Latin of today, as used for Church purposes, does not differ radically from classical Latin, Study of the language of Cicero and Virgil suffices adequately for understanding Church Latin. AE and OE coalesce with E, and before these letters and the letter I, TI followed by a vowel is generally pronounced /tsi/. Such speakers pronounce consonantal V as in English, and double consonants are pronounced as such, the distinction in Classical Latin between long and short vowels is abandoned, and instead of the macron, a horizontal line marking the long vowel, an acute accent is used for stress. The first syllable of words is stressed, in longer words. Ecclesiastics in some countries follow different traditions. The complete text of the Bible in Latin appears at Nova Vulgata - Bibliorum Sacrorum Editio, another site gives the entire Bible, in the Douay version, verse by verse, accompanied by the Vulgate Latin of each verse. In 1976 the Latinitas Foundation was established by Pope Paul VI to promote the study and its headquarters are in Vatican City
8.
Ancient Greek
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Ancient Greek includes the forms of Greek used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BC to the 6th century AD. It is often divided into the Archaic period, Classical period. It is antedated in the second millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Hellenistic phase is known as Koine. Koine is regarded as a historical stage of its own, although in its earliest form it closely resembled Attic Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classic and earlier periods included several regional dialects, Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical phases of the language, Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language, divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, some dialects are found in standardized literary forms used in literature, while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms, homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek used in the epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic, the origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period and they have the same general outline, but differ in some of the detail. The invasion would not be Dorian unless the invaders had some relationship to the historical Dorians. The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, the Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people—Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians, each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Often non-west is called East Greek, Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric, Southern Peloponnesus Doric, and Northern Peloponnesus Doric. The Lesbian dialect was Aeolic Greek and this dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language, which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek, by about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek
9.
Liturgy of the Hours
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It consists primarily of psalms supplemented by hymns, readings and other prayers and antiphons. Together with the Mass, it constitutes the public prayer life of the Church. The Liturgy of the Hours also forms the basis of prayer within Christian monasticism, celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours is an obligation undertaken by priests and deacons intending to become priests, while deacons intending to remain deacons are obliged to recite only a part. The constitutions of religious institutes generally oblige their members to celebrate at least parts, the Liturgy of the Hours, along with the Eucharist, has formed part of the Churchs public worship from the earliest times. Christians of both Eastern and Western traditions celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours under various names, in Greek the corresponding services are found in the Ὡρολόγιον, meaning Book of Hours. Within Anglicanism, the Liturgy of the Hours is contained within the book of Daily Prayer of Common Worship and the Book of Common Prayer, as well as in the Anglican Breviary. Within Lutheranism, it is contained within the books used by the various Lutheran church bodies, such as the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. The primary worship resources in these churches include Lutheran Worship, the Lutheran Book of Worship, other names for the Liturgy of the Hours within the Latin liturgical rites include Diurnal and Nocturnal Office, Ecclesiastical Office, Cursus ecclesiasticus, or simply cursus. The early Christians continued the Jewish practice of reciting prayers at certain hours of the day or night, the Apostles observed the Jewish custom of praying at the third, sixth and ninth hour and at midnight. Other elements were added later in the course of the centuries, by the end of the 5th century, the Liturgy of the Hours was composed of seven offices. An eighth office, Prime, was added by Benedict of Nursia in the 6th century, however, it is found in Saint John Cassians Institutes and Conferences, which describe the monastic practices of the Desert Fathers of Egypt. After the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI promulgated a new Roman Breviary, the structure of the offices, the distribution of psalms, and the prayers themselves were modified. In short, the burden was lessened,2, V. Deus, in adiutorium meum intende. R. Domine, ad adiuvandum me festina, followed by the doxology, the verse is omitted if the hour begins with the Invitatory. The Invitatory is the introduction to the first hour said on the current day, the opening is followed by a hymn. The hymn is followed by psalmody, the psalmody is followed by a scripture reading. The reading is called a chapter if it is short, or a lesson if it is long, the reading is followed by a versicle. The hour is closed by an oration followed by a concluding versicle, other components are included depending on the exact type of hour being celebrated
10.
Lectionary
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A lectionary is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christian or Judaic worship on a given day or occasion. There are sub-types such as a gospel lectionary or evangeliary, in addition to these Torah readings, the later Gemara portion of the Talmud also knows of assigned annual readings from the prophets. By the Medieval era the Jewish community had a schedule of scripture readings both from the Torah and the prophets to be read in the synagogue. A sequential selection was read from the Torah, followed by the haftarah – a selection from the books or historical narratives closely linked to the selection from the Torah. Jesus may have read a providentially random reading when he read from Isaiah 61, 1-2, as recorded in Luke 4, 16-21, the early Christians adopted the Jewish custom of reading extracts from the Old Testament on the Sabbath. They soon added extracts from the writings of the Apostles and Evangelists, both Hebrew and Christian lectionaries developed over the centuries. The existence of both one-year and three-year cycles occurs in both Christianity and Judaism, within Christianity, the use of pre-assigned, scheduled readings from the scriptures can be traced back to the early church, and seems to have been inherited from Judaism. Not all of the Christian Church used the same lectionary, and throughout history, until the Second Vatican Council, most Western Christians used a lectionary that repeated on a one-year basis. This annual lectionary provided readings for Sundays and, in those Churches that celebrated the festivals of saints, the Eastern Orthodox Church and many of the Oriental Churches continue to use an annual lectionary. Within Lutheranism there remains a minority of pastors and congregations who use the old one-year lectionary. The Reformed churches divided the Heidelberg Catechism into 52 weekly sections, lectionaries from before the invention of the printing press contribute to understanding the textual history of the Bible. See also List of New Testament lectionaries, the lectionaries are organized into three-year cycles of readings. The years are designated A, B, or C, each yearly cycle begins on the first Sunday of Advent. Year B follows year A, year C follows year B, the Roman Catholic lectionary includes a two-year cycle for the weekday mass readings. Odd-numbered years are Cycle I, even-numbered ones are Cycle II, the weekday lectionary includes a reading from the Old Testament, Acts, Revelation, or the Epistles, a responsorial Psalm, and a reading from one of the Gospels. These readings are generally shorter than those appointed for use on Sundays, the pericopes for the first reading along with the psalms are arranged in a two-year cycle. The Gospels are arranged so that portions of all four are read every year and this weekday lectionary has also been adapted by some denominations with congregations that celebrate daily Eucharistic services. It has been published in the Episcopal Churchs Lesser Feasts and Fasts and this eucharistic lectionary should not be confused with the various Daily Office lectionaries in use in various denominations
11.
Antiphonary
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In current usage Antiphoner refers more narrowly to books containing the chants for the Divine Office in distinction to the Gradual, which contains the antiphons used for the Mass. The discussion below is almost entirely drawn from the 1908 article in the Catholic Encyclopedia, other English equivalents for antiphonary are antiphonar and antiphoner. In the Prioress Tale of Chaucer it occurs in the form antiphonere, the word Antiphonary had in the earlier Middle Ages sometimes a more general, sometimes a more restricted meaning. The so-called Ratisbon edition of the Roman antiphonary, entitled Antiphonarium et Psalterium juxta ordinem Breviarii Romani cum cantu sub auspicis Pii IX et Leonis XIII Pontif, the first of these volumes to be issued, entitled, Tomus II. Continens Horus Diurnus Breviarii Romani, contained the antiphons, psalms, hymns and versicles of the Canonical Hours styled Horæ Diurnæ, lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline. It comprised in one volume what in some editions had been distributed in several, such as the Antiphonarium, the Psalterium, the Hymnarium, the Responsoriale. It is suggested by some that this Ratisbon edition has lost its authentic and official character by virtue of the Motu proprio, the omitted chants, which are to be sung by the choir, are contained in a supplementary volume called the Graduale or Liber Gradualis. Into those of the Graduale we need not enter, the Antiphonarium has been issued in a compendious form for the large number of churches in which the Canonical Hours of the Divine Office are sung only on Sundays and Festivals. Another separate volume is the Vesperal, which also the Office of Compline. All the above volumes are in the Ratisbon edition, the text of all the psalms, the full melody of the hymns, and the new feasts were added to the official edition of the Directorium in 1888. It may be said, then, that these two books receive the names Antiphonarium and Graduale from the name of the most important chants included in them. Fundamentally all the chants, whether of the Mass or of the Divine Office, are sung antiphonally, the importance of the Gregorian Antiphonary is found in the enduring stamp it impressed on the Roman liturgy. Other popes gave, a medieval writer assures us, attention to the chants and it is true, also, that the chants used at Milan were styled, in honour of St. Ambrose, the Ambrosian Chant. The authentic antiphonary mentioned by the biographer has not as yet been found, the work, then, of St. Gregory was a musical cento, a compilation of pre-existing material into a coherent and well-ordered whole. But is it clear that the cento was one of melodies as well as of texts, and yet many say that it is scarcely credible that the developed melodies of St. Gregorys time had never possessed a musical notation, had never been committed to writing. We know that St. Augustine, sent to England by the great Pope, carried him a copy of the precious antiphonary. Gregory, whose labour comprised not merely the sacramentary, and the Antiphonarium Missæ, from the year 754 may be dated the change in favour of the Roman liturgy. St. Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz, on his return from an embassy to Rome, introduced the Roman liturgy into his diocese, subsequently, under Charlemagne, French monks went to Rome to study the Gregorian tradition there, and some Roman teachers visited France
12.
Responsory
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A responsory or respond is a type of chant in western Christian liturgies. However, this focuses on those chants of the western Christian tradition that have traditionally been designated by the term responsory. A responsory has two parts, a respond, and a verse, methods of performance vary, but typically the respond will be begun by the cantor then taken up by the entire choir. The verse is sung by a cantor or a small group, or the verse can be begun by the cantor. The chant concludes with a repetition of all or part of the respond, verse, Potestas eius, potestas aeterna, quae non auferetur, et regnum eius, quod non corrumpetur. Partial respond, Et omnis populus, tribus, et linguae servient ei, most responsories have a single verse, but a few have multiple verses. One of the most famous of the latter is the responsory Aspiciens a longe, the version that was sung in the medieval rite of Salisbury cathedral was worded as follows, Respond, Aspiciens a longe et ecce video Dei potentiam venientem et nebulam totam terram tegentem. Ite obviam ei et dicite, Nuntia nobis si tu es ipse qui regnaturus es in populo Israel. 1st verse Quique terrigenae et filii hominum simul in unum dives et pauper Partial respond Ite obviam ei et dicite, 2nd verse Qui regis Israel intende, qui deducis velut ovem Joseph Partial respond Nuntia nobis si tu es ipse qui regnaturus es in populo Israel. 3rd verse Excita Domine potentiam tuam et veni ut salvos facias nos Partial respond Qui regnaturus es in populo Israel, half-doxology Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto Partial respond In populo Israel. The three boys then sang Aspiciens a longe whereupon the choir took up the full respond, et ecce video Dei potentian venientem et nebulam totam terram tegentem, Ite obviam ei et dicite, Nuntia nobis si tu es ipse qui regnaturus es in populo Israel. The structure of the Willcocks/Rutter arrangement, however, differs somewhat from what is shown above since it does not repeat the refrain after each verse in the traditional English way. For example, in the traditional English form after the first verse, in the Willcocks/Rutter arrangement, on the other hand, after the first verse the choir sings only the portion of the refrain corresponding to the Latin words ite obviam ei et dicite. Traditionally responsories are sung in Gregorian chant, the verses are ordinarily sung to standard tones, though there are exceptions to this. Polyphonic settings of parts of responsories survive from the Middle Ages, the example of the Willcocks/Rutter setting of Aspiciens a longe shows that multi-voice settings of responsories have continued to be made in modern times also. Apel, Willi, Gregorian Chant, Indiana University Press, Bloomington,1958, harrison, Frank Lloyd, Music in Medieval Britain, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London,1958. Liber Responsorialis pro Festis I Classis et Communi Sanctorum juxta Ritum Monasticum, Music of the Sarum Office, web site at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Responsorial Psalmody, in J. A. Fuller-Maitland, ed. Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Macmillan, rutter, John, and Willcocks, David, eds
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Hymnary
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Hymnal or hymnary or hymnbook is a collection of hymns, i. e. religious songs, usually in the form of a book. The earliest hand-written hymnals are from the Middle Ages in the context of European Christianity, the first hymnal of the Reformation was Achtliederbuch, followed by the Erfurt Enchiridion. An important hymnal of the 17th century was Praxis pietatis melica, list of English-language hymnals by denomination SDA HYMNAL ONLINE Hymnary. org. — Extensive database of hymns and hymnology resources, incorporates the Dictionary of North American Hymnology, a comprehensive database of North American hymnals published before 1978
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Western Christianity
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Western Christianity consists of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, and a variety of Protestant denominations. The name has applied in order to distinguish these from Eastern Christianity. Today, the distinction between Western and Eastern Christianity is not nearly as absolute, due to the spread of missionary activities, migrations. The adjectives Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity are thus used to refer to historical origins rather than present geographical locations. For most of its history the church in Europe has been divided between the Latin-speaking west, whose centre was Rome, and the Greek-speaking east, whose centre was Constantinople. Cultural differences and political rivalry created tensions between the two churches, leading to disagreement over doctrine and ecclesiology and ultimately to schism, like Eastern Christianity, Western Christianity traces its roots, directly or indirectly, to the apostles and other early preachers of the religion. In Western Christianitys original area Latin was the principal language, Christian writers in Latin had more influence there than those who wrote in Greek, Syriac, or other Eastern languages. With the last-named form of Eastern Christianity, reunion agreements were signed at the Second Council of Lyon and the Council of Florence, but these proved ineffective. The rise of Protestantism led to divisions within Western Christianity, which still persist, and wars—for example. In and after the Age of Discovery, Europeans spread Western Christianity to the New World, Roman Catholicism came to the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific. Protestantism, including Anglicanism, came to North America, Australia-Pacific and this Western version also has the additional phrase God from God, which was in the Creed as adopted by the First Council of Nicaea, but which was dropped by the First Council of Constantinople. The date of Easter usually differs between Eastern and Western Christianity, because the calculations are based on the Julian calendar and Gregorian calendar respectively, for example, the Church of England continued to observe Easter on the same date as the Eastern Church until 1753. Even the dates of other Christian holidays differ between Eastern and Western Christianity, Western Christianity makes up about 90% of Christians worldwide, with the Roman Catholic Church accounting for over half and various Protestant denominations making up another 40%. Hussite movements of 15th century Bohemia preceded the main Protestant uprising by 100 years and evolved into several small Protestant churches, waldensians survived also, but blended into the Reformed tradition
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Celtic Christianity
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Celtic Christianity or Insular Christianity refers broadly to certain features of Christianity that were common, or held to be common, across the Celtic-speaking world during the Early Middle Ages. Scholars now reject the notion, but note that there were certain traditions. These include a system for determining the dating of Easter, a style of monastic tonsure, a unique system of penance. Additionally, there were other practices that developed in parts of Britain or Ireland. The term therefore denotes regional practices among the churches and their associates. The term Celtic Church is deprecated by many historians as it implies a unified, others prefer the term Insular Christianity. As Patrick Wormald explained, One of the common misconceptions is that there was a Roman Church to which the Celtic was nationally opposed, in German, the term Iroschottisch is used, with Lutz von Padberg placing the same caveat about a supposed dichotomy between Irish-Scottish and Roman Christianity. Nonetheless, some distinctive traditions developed and spread to both Ireland and Great Britain, especially in the sixth and seventh centuries. Some elements may have introduced to Ireland by the Briton St. Patrick. The histories of the Irish, Welsh, Scots, Breton, Cornish, later interest in the subject has led to a series of Celtic Christian revival movements, which have shaped popular perceptions of the Celts and their religious practices. Celtic Christianity has been conceived of in different ways at different times, One particularly prominent feature ascribed to Celtic Christianity is that it is supposedly inherently distinct from – and generally opposed to – the Catholic Church. Others have been content to speak of Celtic Christianity as consisting of certain traditions, however, modern scholars have identified problems with all of these claims, and find the term Celtic Christianity problematic in and of itself. The idea of a Celtic Church is roundly rejected by modern scholars due to the lack of substantiating evidence, indeed, there were distinct Irish and British church traditions, each with their own practices, and there was significant local variation even within the individual Irish and British spheres. While there were some known to have been common to both the Irish and British churches, these were relatively few. Even these commonalities did not exist due to the Celticity of the regions, additionally, the Christians of Ireland and Britain were not anti-Roman, the authority of Rome and the papacy were venerated as strongly in Celtic areas as they were in any other region of Europe. Caitlin Corning further notes that the Irish and British were no more pro-women, pro-environment, Corning notes that scholars have identified three major strands of thought that have influenced the popular conceptions of Celtic Christianity. The first arose in the English Reformation, when the Church of England declared itself separate from papal authority, Protestant writers of this time popularised the idea of an indigenous British Christianity that opposed the foreign Roman church and was purer in thought. The English church, they claimed, was not forming a new institution, ideas of Celtic Christianity were further influenced by the Romantic movement of the 18th century, in particular Romantic notions of the noble savage and the intrinsic qualities of the Celtic race
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Francia
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The kingdom was founded by Clovis I, crowned first King of the Franks in 496. The tradition of dividing patrimonies among brothers meant that the Frankish realm was ruled, nominally, even so, sometimes the term was used as well to encompass Neustria north of the Loire and west of the Seine. Most Frankish Kings were buried in the Basilica of Saint Denis, modern France is still named Francia in Spanish and Italian. The Franks emerged in the 3rd century as a confederation of smaller Germanic tribes, such as the Sicambri, Bructeri, Ampsivarii, Chamavi and Chattuarii, in the area north and east of the Rhine. Some of these peoples, such as the Sicambri and Salians, already had lands in the Roman Empire, in 357 the Salian king entered the Roman Empire and made a permanent foothold there by a treaty granted by Julian the Apostate, who forced back the Chamavi to Hamaland. As Frankish territory expanded, the meaning of Francia expanded with it, after the fall of Arbogastes, his son Arigius succeeded in establishing a hereditary countship at Trier and after the fall of the usurper Constantine III some Franks supported the usurper Jovinus. Jovinus was dead by 413, but the Romans found it difficult to manage the Franks within their borders. The Frankish king Theudemer was executed by the sword, in c, around 428 the Salian king Chlodio, whose kingdom included Toxandria and the civitatus Tungrorum, launched an attack on Roman territory and extended his realm as far as Camaracum and the Somme. The kingdom of Chlodio changed the borders and the meaning of the word Francia permanently, Francia was no longer barbaricum trans Rhenum, but a landed political power on both sides of the river, deeply involved in Roman politics. Chlodios family, the Merovingians, extended Francia even further south, the core territory of the Frankish kingdom later came to be known as Austrasia. Chlodios successors are obscure figures, but what can be certain is that Childeric I, possibly his grandson, Clovis converted to Christianity and put himself on good terms with the powerful Church and with his Gallo-Roman subjects. In a thirty-year reign Clovis defeated the Roman general Syagrius and conquered the Roman exclave of Soissons, defeated the Alemanni, Clovis defeated the Visigoths and conquered their entire kingdom with its capital at Toulouse, and conquered the Bretons and made them vassals of Francia. He conquered most or all of the neighbouring Frankish tribes along the Rhine, by the end of his life, Clovis ruled all of Gaul save the Gothic province of Septimania and the Burgundian kingdom in the southeast. The Merovingians were a hereditary monarchy, the Frankish kings adhered to the practice of partible inheritance, dividing their lands among their sons. Cloviss sons made their capitals near the Frankish heartland in northeastern Gaul, Theuderic I made his capital at Reims, Chlodomer at Orléans, Childebert I at Paris, and Chlothar I at Soissons. During their reigns, the Thuringii, Burgundes, and Saxons and Frisians were incorporated into the Frankish kingdom, the fraternal kings showed only intermittent signs of friendship and were often in rivalry. Theuderic died in 534, but his adult son Theudebert I was capable of defending his inheritance, which formed the largest of the Frankish subkingdoms and the kernel of the later kingdom of Austrasia. Theudebert interfered in the Gothic War on the side of the Gepids and Lombards against the Ostrogoths, receiving the provinces of Rhaetia, Noricum, and part of Venetia
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Anglo-Saxon art
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By the time of the Conquest the move to the Romanesque style is nearly complete. Anglo-Saxon art survives mostly in illuminated manuscripts, Anglo-Saxon architecture, a number of very fine ivory carvings, Anglo-Saxon taste favoured brightness and colour, and an effort of the imagination is often needed to see the excavated and worn remains that survive as they once were. Perhaps the best known piece of Anglo-Saxon art is the Bayeux Tapestry which was commissioned by a Norman patron from English artists working in the traditional Anglo-Saxon style and these two styles mixed and developed together and by the following century the resulting Anglo-Saxon style had reached maturity. The final phase of Anglo-Saxon art is known as the Winchester School or style, though it was produced in many centres in the south of England, elements of this begin to be seen from around 900, but the first major manuscripts only appear around the 930s. The following lines revert to a style more typical of Frankish manuscripts of the period. It is, in the chronology, the last English manuscript in which developed trumpet spiral patterns are found. The Anglo-Saxon metalwork produced in the Salzburg area of modern Austria has a counterpart in the Cutbercht Gospels in Vienna. By the 10th century Insular elements were relegated to decorative embellishments in England, the first plant ornament, with leaves and grapes, was already seen in an initial in the Leningrad Bede, which can probably be dated to 746. The other large initial in the manuscript is the first historiated initial in the whole of Europe, for some long time scrolls, especially in metal, bone or ivory, are prone to have an animal head at one end and a plant element at the other. Several ambitious projects of illumination are unfinished, such as the Old English Hexateuch, the illustrations give Old Testament scenes an entirely contemporary setting and are valuable images of Anglo-Saxon life. Æthelstan promoted Dunstan, an illuminator, eventually to Archbishop of Canterbury, and also Æthelwold. Illumination in a new style appears in a manuscript of the biographies by Bede of St Cuthbert given by Æthelstan to the monastery in Chester-le-Street about 937. There is a portrait of the king presenting his book to the saint. This is the first real portrait of an English king, and heavily influenced by Carolingian style, however the initials in the text combine Carolingian elements with animal forms in inventive fashion. Anglo-Saxon culture was coming into increasing contact with, and exchanging influences with, decoration included cloisonné, in gold and garnet for high-status pieces. It was probably his work which brought into contact with the royal family. Even the imprecise details given, mostly by Goscelin, are valuable evidence of what Anglo-Saxon metalwork was like. One 11th century lay goldsmith was even a thegn, like Spearhafoc, Mannigs biography, with some precise details, is given in the chronicle maintained by his abbey
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Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
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Illuminated manuscript
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An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented with such decoration as initials, borders and miniature illustrations. Comparable Far Eastern and Mesoamerican works are described as painted, islamic manuscripts may be referred to as illuminated, illustrated or painted, though using essentially the same techniques as Western works. This article covers the technical, social and economic history of the subject, for an art-historical account, the earliest surviving substantive illuminated manuscripts are from the period 400 to 600, produced in the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths and the Eastern Roman Empire. The significance of these works lies not only in their inherent artistic and historical value, had it not been for the monastic scribes of Late Antiquity, most literature of Greece and Rome would have perished in Europe. As it was, the patterns of textual survivals were shaped by their usefulness to the severely constricted literate group of Christians, the majority of surviving manuscripts are from the Middle Ages, although many survive from the Renaissance, along with a very limited number from Late Antiquity. The majority of manuscripts are of a religious nature. However, especially from the 13th century onward, a number of secular texts were illuminated. Most illuminated manuscripts were created as codices, which had superseded scrolls, a very few illuminated manuscript fragments survive on papyrus, which does not last nearly as long as vellum or parchment. Most medieval manuscripts, illuminated or not, were written on parchment, beginning in the late Middle Ages manuscripts began to be produced on paper. Illuminated manuscripts continued to be produced in the early 16th century, Manuscripts are among the most common items to survive from the Middle Ages, many thousands survive. They are also the best surviving specimens of medieval painting, indeed, for many areas and time periods, they are the only surviving examples of painting. There are a few examples from later periods, the type of book that was most often heavily and richly illuminated, sometimes known as a display book, varied between periods. In the first millennium, these were most likely to be Gospel Books, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Romanesque period saw the creation of many huge illuminated complete Bibles – one in Sweden requires three librarians to lift it. Many Psalters were also illuminated in both this and the Gothic period. Finally, the Book of Hours, very commonly the personal book of a wealthy layperson, was often richly illuminated in the Gothic period. Other books, both liturgical and not, continued to be illuminated at all periods, the Byzantine world also continued to produce manuscripts in its own style, versions of which spread to other Orthodox and Eastern Christian areas. See Medieval art for other regions, periods and types, reusing parchments by scraping the surface and reusing them was a common practice, the traces often left behind of the original text are known as palimpsests. The Gothic period, which saw an increase in the production of these beautiful artifacts, also saw more secular works such as chronicles
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Gospel Book
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The Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels is a codex or bound volume containing one or more of the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament — normally all four. Liturgical use in churches of a distinct Gospel book remains normal, often compulsory, in Eastern Christianity, protestant churches normally just use a complete Bible. In the early Middle Ages, the production of copies of the Bible in its entirety was rare, individual books or collections of books were produced for specific purposes. From the 4th century Gospel Books were produced for use, as well as private study. The Codex Washingtonianus is an example of a book containing only the four gospels, in Greek. By the 7th century particular gospel texts were allocated to days in the liturgical calendar, in the East they remained a significant subject for illumination until the arrival of printing. The Evangelist portrait was a feature of their decoration. Most of the masterpieces of both Insular and Ottonian illumination are Gospel Books, and there are very many Byzantine and Carolingian examples, but most Gospel Books were never illuminated at all, or only with decorated initials and other touches. They often contained, in addition to the text of the Gospels themselves, supporting texts including Canon Tables, summaries, glossaries, however, use of the Book of the Gospels is not mandatory, and the gospel readings are also included in the standard Lectionary. The Book of the Gospels, if used, is brought to the altar in the entrance procession, when carried in procession, the Book of the Gospels is held slightly elevated, though not over the head. It is particularly proper for the deacon to carry the Book of the Gospels in procession, when there is no deacon, the Book may be carried by a lector. Upon reaching the altar, the deacon or lector bows in veneration of the altar, then places the Book upon the altar, where it remains until the Alleluia. During the singing of the Alleluia, the deacon, or in his absence, if incense is used, the Book of the Gospels is censed by the deacon before the reading or chanting. An altar server or acolyte will swing the censer slowly during the reading or chanting, if the Rite of Dismissal of catechumens is celebrated, the Book of the Gospels is carried in procession in front of the catechumens as they leave the church. Following this several publishers have produced gospel books for use in the Episcopal Church, afterward, it may be returned to the altar or placed on a side table or a stand. Among Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics the Gospel Book is very important liturgically and it is considered to be an icon of Christ, and is venerated in the same manner as an icon. The Gospel Book contains the readings that are used at Matins, the Divine Liturgy, Molebens, occasionally it will contain pre-arranged texts of the more complex composite readings, such as the Twelve Gospels read at Matins on Good Friday. Traditionally, the Orthodox will never cover the Gospel Book in leather—the skin of a dead animal—because the words of Christ are considered to be life-giving, animal skins are also reminiscent of the Fall of Man, when God fashioned garments of skin for Adam and Eve after their disobedience
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Liturgy
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Liturgy is the customary public worship performed by a religious group, according to its beliefs, customs and traditions. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy is a response to and participation in. Ritualization may be associated with events such as birth, coming of age, marriage. It thus forms the basis for establishing a relationship with a divine agency, methods of dress, preparation of food, application of cosmetics or other hygienic practices are all considered liturgical activities. Technically speaking, liturgy is a subset of ritual, when ritual is undertaken to participate in a divine act or assist a divine action, it is liturgy. If the ritual does not have this purpose it is not liturgy, a daily activity such as the Muslim salah and Jewish synagogue services would be ritual but not liturgy. If the Temple were re-established, the ritual undertaken by the Judaic priesthood within the Temple would be liturgy, for a simple definition, liturgy is basically the pattern/way of worship the worshippers, worship. So you could use orthodox liturgy which would have different aspects to the Eucharistic liturgy or the catholic liturgy. The word liturgy, derived from the term in ancient Greek, leitourgia. In origin it signified the often expensive offerings wealthy Greeks made in service to the people, and thus to the polis, through the leitourgia, the rich carried a financial burden and were correspondingly rewarded with honours and prestige. The leitourgia were assigned by the polis, the State and Roman Empire, the performance of such supported the patrons standing among the elite and the popular at large. The holder of a Hellenic leitourgia was not taxed a specific sum, but was entrusted with a particular ritual, however groups of rich citizens were assigned to pay for expenses such as civic amenities and even payment of warships. Eventually, under the Roman Empire, such obligations, known as munera, devolved into a competitive, Buddhist liturgy is a formalized service of veneration and worship performed within a Buddhist Sangha community in nearly every traditional denomination and sect in the Buddhist world. It is often done once or more times a day and can vary among the Theravada, Mahayana, the liturgy mainly consists of chanting or reciting a sutra or passages from a sutras, a mantra, and several gathas. Depending on what practice the practitioner wishes to undertake, it can be done at a temple or at home, the liturgy is almost always performed in front of an object or objects of veneration and accompanied by offerings of light, incense, water and food. Jewish liturgy are the prayer recitations that form part of the observance of Rabbinic Judaism and these prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book. In general, Jewish men are obligated to pray three times a day within specific time ranges, while, according to the Talmud, women are only required to pray once daily, as they are generally exempted from obligations that are time dependent. Additional prayers, Musaf are recited by Orthodox and Conservative congregations on Shabbat, major Jewish holidays, a fifth prayer service, Neila, is recited only on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement
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Latin Psalters
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The Latin Psalters are the translations of the Book of Psalms into the Latin language. They are the premier liturgical resource used in the Liturgy of the Hours of the Latin Rites of the Roman Catholic Church. These translations are typically placed in a volume or a section of the breviary called the psalter. In the Middle Ages, psalters were often lavish illuminated manuscripts, the Latin Church has a diverse selection of more-or-less different translations of the psalms. Three of these translations, the Romana, Gallicana, and juxta Hebraicum, are ascribed to Jerome. Two of these translations, the Pian and New Vulgate versions, were made in the 20th century, many of these translations are actually quite similar to each other, especially in style, the Roman, Gallican, Ambrosian, and Mozarabic psalters have relatively few differences between them. The concord among these similar psalters is attributable to an original translation from the Greek Septuagint. The New Vulgate psalter, though similar to these, diverges rather more from these traditional psalters insofar as it more closely follows the Hebrew Masoretic text. Two of these psalters stand apart as independent translations from the Hebrew, Jeromes juxta Hebraicum, also called the Psalterium Vetus, the psalter of the Old Latin Bible was used in the earliest days of the Latin liturgy in Rome, under Pope Damasus I. A translation from the Septuagint, it provided the basis for Jeromes first revision of the psalter and this is the version used in the Ambrosian rite. It was made in the middle of the 4th century from the Septuagint and it is similar to the version used in the Ambrosian and Mozarabic rites. The Roman version is used in the Roman Missal, but in the Divine Office, however and it lived on in Britain where it continued to be used until the Norman Conquest in 1066 and in Saint Peters Basilica in Rome and in St. The Versio Gallicana or Psalterium Gallicanum has traditionally been considered Jeromes second revision and this became the psalter of the Vulgate bible, and the basis for Gregorian chant. It is still used today in some monasteries and churches and by traditionalist Catholics and this most influential psalter has a distinctive style which is attributable to its origins as a translation of the Septuagint. Following the Septuagint, it eschews anthropomorphisms, for instance, the term rock is applied to God numerous times in the Hebrew Psalter, but the Latin term petra does not occur as an epithet for God in the gallicana. Instead more abstract words like refugium, refuge, locus munitus, place of strength, or adiutor and this psalter retains many Hebraisms by way of the Greek, the most noticeable being the redundant demonstrative. The relative pronoun is indeclinable in Hebrew, and so is accompanied by a redundant demonstrative and this use is reproduced in the Latin, although Latin has no need for it. For instance, Ps 18,4, quorum non audiantur voces eorum, also Ps 32,12, Beata gens cujus est Dominus Deus ejus, blessed is the nation whose God, its God, is the Lord
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Old Testament
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Its counterpart is the New Testament, the second part of the Christian Bible. The books that comprise the Old Testament canon differ between Christian Churches as well as their order and names. The most common Protestant canon comprises 39 books, the Catholic canon comprises 46 books, the 39 books in common to all the Christian canons corresponds to 24 books of the Tanakh, with some differences of order, and there are some differences in text. The additional number reflects the split of texts in the Christian Bibles into separate books, for example, Kings, Samuel and Chronicles, Ezra–Nehemiah, the books which are part of a Christian Old Testament but which are not part of the Hebrew canon are sometimes described as deuterocanonical. In general, Protestant bibles do not include books in its canon. The Old Testament consists of translations of many books by various authors produced over a period of centuries. The canon formed in stages, first the Pentateuch by around 400 BC, then the Prophets during the Hasmonean dynasty, and finally the remaining books. The Old Testament contains 39 or 46 or more books, divided, very broadly, into the Pentateuch, the books, the wisdom books. For the Orthodox canon, Septuagint titles are provided in parentheses when these differ from those editions, for the Catholic canon, the Douaic titles are provided in parentheses when these differ from those editions. Likewise, the King James Version references some of these books by the spelling when referring to them in the New Testament. The Talmud in Bava Batra 14b gives a different order for the books in Neviim and Ketuvim and this order is also cited in Mishneh Torah Hilchot Sefer Torah 7,15. The order of the books of the Torah is universal through all denominations of Judaism and they are present in a few historic Protestant versions, the German Luther Bible included such books, as did the English 1611 King James Version. Empty table cells indicate that a book is absent from that canon, several of the books in the Eastern Orthodox canon are also found in the appendix to the Latin Vulgate, formerly the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church. The books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings follow, there is a broad consensus among scholars that these originated as a single work during the Babylonian exile of the 6th century BC. The two Books of Chronicles cover much the material as the Pentateuch and Deuteronomistic history and probably date from the 4th century BC. Chronicles, and Ezra–Nehemiah, were finished during the 3rd century BC. Catholic and Orthodox Old Testaments contain two to four Books of Maccabees, written in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC and these history books make up around half the total content of the Old Testament. God is consistently depicted as the one who created or put into order the world, the Old Testament stresses the special relationship between God and his chosen people, Israel, but includes instructions for proselytes as well
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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
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Beatus vir
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Beatus vir, Blessed is the man. In Latin, are the first words in the Vulgate Bible of both Psalm 1 and Psalm 112. Altogether the phrase occurs 14 times in the Vulgate text, eight times in the Book of Psalms, Psalm 1 naturally begins the text of the Book of Psalms. In illuminated manuscript psalters this start was traditionally marked by a large Beatus initial for the B of Beatus, between them these often take up a whole page. Beatus initials have been significant in the development of manuscript painting, as the initial par excellence it stimulated the ornamentalizing impulse of the medieval artist to ever-increasing heights of fantasy. The 10th-century Anglo-Saxon Ramsey Psalter initial illustrated here is the first known to use the mask on the bar of the B. In psalters of the Early and High Middle Ages there were often similarly large initials at the start of Psalm 51 and Psalm 102, other divisions of text produced different groupings, of eight or ten groups, but all had a group beginning at Psalm 1. Often these initials were the only illumination in the manuscript. In bibles the first letter of each book was enlarged and illuminated in grand manuscripts. Greatly enlarged beautus initials go back as least as far as the Corbie Psalter, there were probably Insular examples but none have survived. Figures returned during the 11th century, in some elaborate later initials more scenes were shown, allowing typological comparisons between the Old and New Testaments. In some psalters after about 1200, especially English ones including both the Gorleston Psalter and Windmill Psalter, very large Bs allowed room for a Tree of Jesse, which included David. Authorized Version, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. The Vulgate text actually begins alleluia reversionis Aggei et Zacchariae beatus vir qui timet Dominum, translated as Praise the Lord. /Blessed is the man who fears the Lord in the Revised Standard Version, but settings normally ignore the first words, beginning at Beatus vir. Remarkably, a database of psalm settings by Italian composers of the 17th and 18th centuries lists 81 settings of Psalm 111, but none of Psalm 1. Today probably the best known is Claudio Monteverdis setting of 1640, SV268, from his Selva morale e spirituale, other examples include, Antonio Vivaldi, Beatus vir, the better known of his three settings, one now lost, RV598 is the other. Mozarts Vesperae de Dominica, third movement, Vulgate Psalm 111, alleluia reversionis Aggei et Zacchariae beatus vir qui timet Dominum in mandatis eius volet nimis potens in terra erit semen eius generatio rectorum benedicetur. Authorized Version Psalm 112, Praise ye the Lord, Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments
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Historiated initial
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A historiated initial is an initial, an enlarged letter at the beginning of a paragraph or other section of text, that contains a picture. Strictly speaking, a historiated initial depicts a figure or a specific scene, while an inhabited initial contains figures that are decorative only. Both sorts became very common and elaborate in luxury illuminated manuscripts and these illustrated initials were first seen in the Insular art of the early 8th century. The earliest known example is in the Saint Petersburg Bede, an Insular manuscript of 731-46, the size and decoration of the initial further gives clues to both its importance and location. Letters that began a new section of a text or a particularly noteworthy section might receive more flourishes, in luxury manuscripts an entire page might be devoted to a historiated initial. Both the size and the ostentatiousness of a manuscript reflect both on the status of the manuscript and on its owner, manuscripts meant for everyday use, typically by friars or university students, often had little illumination, and hardly any elaborate historiated initials or flourishes. Manuscripts commissioned by patrons or for a wealthy monastery were often illuminated. Calligraphy Insular script Insular illumination List of Irish manuscripts Miniature Brown, Michelle P
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Horologion
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The Horologion or Book of hours provides the fixed portions of the Divine Service or the daily cycle of services as used by the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches. Into this fixed framework, numerous parts of the services are inserted. In its original sense, a horologion or Latin horologium was any device or structure for keeping time, the Horologion is primarily a book for the use of the Reader and Chanters. Several varieties of Horologia exist, the most complete of which is the Great Horologion and it contains the fixed portions of the Daily Office. The parts for the Reader and Chanters are given in full, the Great Horologion will also contain a list of Saints commemorated throughout the year, selected propers for Sundays, and moveable Feasts, and various Canons and other devotional services. The Great Horologion is most commonly used in Greek-speaking churches, various editions of the Horologion are usually shorter, still giving the fixed portions of the Daily Office in full, but with the other texts much more abbreviated. In addition, such texts often also contain Morning and Evening Prayers, the Order of Preparation for Holy Communion, and Prayers to be said after receiving Holy Communion
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Coptic versions of the Bible
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There have been many Coptic versions of the Bible, including some of the earliest translations into any language. Biblical books were translated from the Alexandrian Greek version, the Sahidic was the leading dialect in the pre-Islamic period, after the 11th century Bohairic became dominant and only used dialect of the Coptic language. Partial copies of a number of Coptic Bibles survive, a considerable number of apocryphal texts also survive in Coptic, most notably the Gnostic Nag Hammadi library. Coptic remains the language of the Coptic Church and Coptic editions of the Bible are central to that faith. Portions of the Old Testament exist in each Egyptian dialect, in Sahidic, some Biblical books survived with complete text, there is a large number of extant fragments representing most of the canonical books and certain of the deutero-canonical. Schøyen Ms 114 — Psalms, Sahidic, ca, the two main dialects, Sahidic and Bohairic, are the most important for the study of early versions of the New Testament. The Sahidic was the dialect in the pre-Islamic period. The earliest Bohairic manuscripts date to the 4th century, but most texts come from the 9th century, the collection of manuscripts of Sahidic translations is often designated by copsa in academic writing and critical apparatus. The first translation into the Sahidic dialect was made at the end of the 2nd century in Upper Egypt, so the Sahidic is famous for being the first major literary development of the Coptic language, though literary work in the other dialects soon followed. By the ninth century, Sahidic was gradually replaced by neighbouring Bohairic, knowledge of the Sahidic manuscripts was lost until they were rediscovered in the 18th century. Another fragments were published in 1884 by Émile Amélineau, Amélineau also edited other fragments in 1886-1888. Several years later Horner produced an edition of the Sahidic New Testament over the period 1911–1924. Horners edition containing almost every verse of the entire New Testament, the Sahidic translation is a representative of the Alexandrian text-type. The order of books, Gospels, Pauline epistles, Catholic epistles, Acts, Apocalypse. Omitted verses, Matthew 12,47, Matthew 16, 2b-3,17,21,18,11,23,14, Mark 9,44.46,11,26,15,28, Luke 17,36,22, 43-44, John 5,4,7, 53-8,11, Acts 8,37,15,34,24,7,28,29, Romans 16,24. Omitted or not included phrases, Matthew 15,6 or mother not included, Luke 11,4 phrase but deliver us from evil is omitted. This omission is supported by the Greek manuscripts, Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, Codex Regius, f1,700, in John 10,7 it reads ο ποιμην for η θυρα. The reading is supported by P75 and copac, in Acts 27,37 it reads seventy six for two hundred seventy six
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Kathisma
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A Kathisma, literally, seat, is a division of the Psalter, used by Eastern Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics who follow the Byzantine Rite. The word may also describe a hymn sung at Matins, a used in monastic churches. According to ancient practice, monastics recite all 150 psalms on a regular basis, originally, the hermits in the desert would recite the entire Psalter every day. The custom grew of reciting all 150 psalms each week during the course of the services, to facilitate this, the 150 psalms were divided into 20 sections, called kathismata, meaning literally, sittings. The name is derived from the fact that, in the Office as it developed in Jerusalem and Constantinople, the psalms would be read by one of the brethren while the others sat and listened attentively. Each kathisma is further subdivided into three staseis, literally, standings, because at the end of each stasis the reader says, Glory to the Father, and to the Son, at which all stand in honor of the Holy Trinity. The Orthodox Church uses as its official version of the Old Testament, for this reason, the numbering of the psalms follows the Greek rather than the Hebrew. The difference in numbering can be determined from the following table
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Coptic Museum
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The Coptic Museum is a museum in Coptic Cairo, Egypt with the largest collection of Egyptian Christian artifacts in the world. It was founded by Marcus Simaika in 1908 to house Coptic antiquities, the museum traces the history of Egypt from its beginnings to the present day. It was erected on 8,000 square meter land offered by the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Coptic museum houses the worlds most important examples of Coptic art. The Coptic community was generous in their support of the museum, donating many vestments, frescoes, and icons. In 1931 the Coptic Museum became a museum, under the jurisdiction of the Department of Antiquities. These were housed in the New Wing, completed in 1944, because of damage, the Old Wing was closed in 1966, and the entire museum was renovated between 1983 and 1984. The foundations of the museum were strengthened and reinforced between 1986 and 1988, which helped the museum survive the 1992 earthquake, further renovations took place in 2005-06. Marcus Simaika Pasha was followed by Dr Togo Mina and then by Dr Pahor Labib, besides the museum buildings, there are gardens and courtyards and the area is surrounded by old Coptic churches. There are six churches, some which have origins as early as the 5th century AD and these old edifices include the of the Virgin Mary and the church of St. Sergius. The Coptic Museums grounds are a peaceful and tranquil place and its airy building is paved with mosaics and decorated with old mashrabiya screens. The museum houses a collection of objects from the Christian era. The museum was renovated in the early 1980 with two new annexes, which with the aisles, houses the collection of 16,000 artefacts arranged in chronological order through twelve sections. The Coptic Museum contains the worlds largest collection of Coptic artifacts, Coptic monuments display a rich mixture of Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman traditions, linking ancient and Islamic Egypt. The objects are grouped into different mediums, such as stonework, woodwork, metalwork, textiles, the total number of objects on display is around 15,000 objects. The Coptic Museum also houses a corpus of 1,200 Nag Hammadi manuscripts in an open to specialist researchers only. Coptic Cairo Coptic art Coptic Orthodox Church Coptic history Coptology Coptic Museum website Kamil, Coptic Egypt, History and a Guide. Two Thousand Years of Coptic Christianity, Simaika, Samir M. Markus Pasha Simaika
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Coptic Cairo
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Coptic Cairo is a part of Old Cairo which encompasses the Babylon Fortress, the Coptic Museum, the Hanging Church, the Greek Church of St. George and many other Coptic churches and historical sites. It is believed in Christian tradition that the Holy Family visited this area, there is evidence of settlement in the area as early as the 6th century BC, when Persians built a fort on the Nile, north of Memphis. The Persians also built a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea, the Persian settlement was called Babylon, reminiscent of the ancient city along the Euphrates, and it gained importance while the nearby city of Memphis declined, as did Heliopolis. During the Ptolemaic period, Babylon and its people were mostly forgotten and it is traditionally held that the Holy Family visited the area during the Flight into Egypt, seeking refuge from Herod. Further it is held that Christianity began to spread in Egypt when St. Mark arrived in Alexandria, becoming the first Patriarch, though the religion remained underground during the rule of the Romans. As the local population began to organize towards a revolt, the Romans, recognising the importance of the region, took over the fort. Trajan reopened the canal to the Red Sea, bringing increased trade, under the Romans, St. Mark and his successors were able to convert a substantial portion of the population, from pagan beliefs to Christianity. The Coptic Church later separated from the church of the Romans, under the rule of Arcadius, a number of churches were built in Old Cairo. In the early years of Arab rule, the Copts were allowed to build several churches within the old area of Old Cairo. The Ben Ezra Synagogue was established in Coptic Cairo in 1115, the Copts needed to sell it, in order to raise funds to pay taxes to Ibn Tulun. In the 11th Century AD, Coptic Cairo hosted the Seat of the Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria, the Coptic Museum was established in 1910, and it houses the worlds most important examples of Coptic art. George Monastery and Church of St
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Codex
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A codex is a book constructed of a number of sheets of paper, vellum, papyrus, or similar materials, with hand-written contents. The book is bound by stacking the pages and fixing one edge. Some codices are continuously folded like a concertina, the alternative to paged codex format for a long document is the continuous scroll. Examples of folded codices include the Maya codices, sometimes people use the term for a book-style format, including modern printed books but excluding folded books. The Romans developed the form from wooden writing tablets, the codexs gradual replacement of the scroll—the dominant book form in the ancient world—has been called the most important advance in book making before the invention of printing. The codex transformed the shape of the book itself, and offered a form that lasted for centuries, the spread of the codex is often associated with the rise of Christianity, which adopted the format for use with the Bible early on. In fact, any combination of codices and scrolls with papyrus and parchment is technically feasible, the codex began to replace the scroll almost as soon as it was invented. In Egypt, by the century, the codex outnumbered the scroll by ten to one based on surviving examples. By the sixth century, the scroll had almost vanished as a medium for literature, technically, even modern paperbacks are codices, but publishers and scholars reserve the term for manuscript books produced from Late antiquity until the Middle Ages. The scholarly study of manuscripts from the point of view of the bookbinding craft is called codicology. The study of ancient documents in general is called paleography, the Romans used precursors made of reusable wax-covered tablets of wood for taking notes and other informal writings. Two ancient polyptychs, a pentatych and octotych, excavated at Herculaneum used a connecting system that presages later sewing on of thongs or cords. Julius Caesar may have been the first Roman to reduce scrolls to pages in the form of a note-book. At the turn of the 1st century AD, a kind of folded parchment notebook called pugillares membranei in Latin became commonly used for writing in the Roman Empire, theodore Cressy Skeat theorized that this form of notebook was invented in Rome and then spread rapidly to the Near East. Codices are described in works by the Classical Latin poet. He wrote a series of five couplets meant to accompany gifts of literature that Romans exchanged during the festival of Saturnalia. ”Early codices of parchment or papyrus appear to have widely used as personal notebooks. The parchment notebook pages were commonly washed or scraped for re-use and consequently, writings in a codex were often considered informal, as early as the early 2nd century, there is evidence that a codex—usually of papyrus—was the preferred format among Christians. In the library of the Villa of the Papyri, Herculaneum, however, in the Nag Hammadi library, hidden about AD390, all texts are codices
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Beni Suef
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Beni Suef, is the capital city of the Beni Suef Governorate in Egypt. Beni Suef is an important agricultural center, which grew from a village at the turn of the century. It was famous for its manufacturing in the Middle Ages. It is also known for its alabaster, quarried in the nearby hills, Beni Suef is located about 115 km south of Cairo. The Meidum Pyramid and Fayum Oasis are nearby, Beni Suef is known for its large mansions, including the Ismail Mansion, owned by General Ahmed Mamdouh Ismail. Beni Suef University and the private Al Nahda University are located in Beni Suef, Beni Suef has a hot desert climate in Köppen-Geiger classification, as does all of Egypt. It has very hot summers and warm winters with cool nights, a train accident in 1995 near Beni Suef left 75 people dead. The Beni Suef Cultural Palace Fire, on September 5,2005, berlenti Abdul Hamid, actress Telephonat Bani Sweif football team has been promoted for the first time in the Egyptian Premier League for the 2011/2012 season. Sannur Cave national park Bishop Athanasius The Daughters of St. Mary Falling Rain Genomics, Inc
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Egypt
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Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is a Mediterranean country bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, the Red Sea to the east and south, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. Across the Gulf of Aqaba lies Jordan, and across from the Sinai Peninsula lies Saudi Arabia, although Jordan and it is the worlds only contiguous Afrasian nation. Egypt has among the longest histories of any country, emerging as one of the worlds first nation states in the tenth millennium BC. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt experienced some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government. One of the earliest centres of Christianity, Egypt was Islamised in the century and remains a predominantly Muslim country. With over 92 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa and the Arab world, the third-most populous in Africa, and the fifteenth-most populous in the world. The great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometres, the large regions of the Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypts territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypts residents live in areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria. Modern Egypt is considered to be a regional and middle power, with significant cultural, political, and military influence in North Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Egypts economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Middle East, Egypt is a member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Arab League, African Union, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Miṣr is the Classical Quranic Arabic and modern name of Egypt. The name is of Semitic origin, directly cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the Hebrew מִצְרַיִם, the oldest attestation of this name for Egypt is the Akkadian
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Ancient Egypt
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Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. It is one of six civilizations to arise independently, Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh Narmer. In the aftermath of Alexander the Greats death, one of his generals, Ptolemy Soter and this Greek Ptolemaic Kingdom ruled Egypt until 30 BC, when, under Cleopatra, it fell to the Roman Empire and became a Roman province. The success of ancient Egyptian civilization came partly from its ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nile River valley for agriculture, the predictable flooding and controlled irrigation of the fertile valley produced surplus crops, which supported a more dense population, and social development and culture. Its art and architecture were widely copied, and its antiquities carried off to far corners of the world and its monumental ruins have inspired the imaginations of travelers and writers for centuries. The Nile has been the lifeline of its region for much of human history, nomadic modern human hunter-gatherers began living in the Nile valley through the end of the Middle Pleistocene some 120,000 years ago. By the late Paleolithic period, the climate of Northern Africa became increasingly hot and dry. In Predynastic and Early Dynastic times, the Egyptian climate was less arid than it is today. Large regions of Egypt were covered in treed savanna and traversed by herds of grazing ungulates, foliage and fauna were far more prolific in all environs and the Nile region supported large populations of waterfowl. Hunting would have been common for Egyptians, and this is also the period when many animals were first domesticated. The largest of these cultures in upper Egypt was the Badari, which probably originated in the Western Desert, it was known for its high quality ceramics, stone tools. The Badari was followed by the Amratian and Gerzeh cultures, which brought a number of technological improvements, as early as the Naqada I Period, predynastic Egyptians imported obsidian from Ethiopia, used to shape blades and other objects from flakes. In Naqada II times, early evidence exists of contact with the Near East, particularly Canaan, establishing a power center at Hierakonpolis, and later at Abydos, Naqada III leaders expanded their control of Egypt northwards along the Nile. They also traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the desert to the west. Royal Nubian burials at Qustul produced artifacts bearing the oldest-known examples of Egyptian dynastic symbols, such as the crown of Egypt. They also developed a ceramic glaze known as faience, which was used well into the Roman Period to decorate cups, amulets, and figurines. During the last predynastic phase, the Naqada culture began using written symbols that eventually were developed into a system of hieroglyphs for writing the ancient Egyptian language. The Early Dynastic Period was approximately contemporary to the early Sumerian-Akkadian civilisation of Mesopotamia, the third-century BC Egyptian priest Manetho grouped the long line of pharaohs from Menes to his own time into 30 dynasties, a system still used today
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Book of the Dead
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The Book of the Dead is an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom to around 50 BCE. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated rw nw prt m hrw is translated as Book of Coming Forth by Day, another translation would be Book of Emerging Forth into the Light. The Book of the Dead was part of a tradition of texts which includes the earlier Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts. Some of the spells included were drawn from older works. Other spells were composed later in Egyptian history, dating to the Third Intermediate Period, a number of the spells which made up the Book continued to be inscribed on tomb walls and sarcophagi, as had always been the spells from which they originated. The Book of the Dead was placed in the coffin or burial chamber of the deceased, there was no single or canonical Book of the Dead. The surviving papyri contain a selection of religious and magical texts. Some people seem to have commissioned their own copies of the Book of the Dead, the Book of the Dead developed from a tradition of funerary manuscripts dating back to the Egyptian Old Kingdom. The first funerary texts were the Pyramid Texts, first used in the Pyramid of King Unas of the 5th dynasty and these texts were written on the walls of the burial chambers within pyramids, and were exclusively for the use of the Pharaoh. Towards the end of the Old Kingdom, the Pyramid Texts ceased to be a royal privilege. In the Middle Kingdom, a new funerary text emerged, the Coffin Texts, the Coffin Texts used a newer version of the language, new spells, and included illustrations for the first time. The Coffin Texts were most commonly written on the surfaces of coffins. The Book of the Dead first developed in Thebes towards the beginning of the Second Intermediate Period, by the 17th dynasty, the Book of the Dead had become widespread not only for members of the royal family, but courtiers and other officials as well. At this stage, the spells were typically inscribed on linen shrouds wrapped around the dead, the New Kingdom saw the Book of the Dead develop and spread further. The famous Spell 125, the Weighing of the Heart, is first known from the reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, from this period onward the Book of the Dead was typically written on a papyrus scroll, and the text illustrated with vignettes. During the 19th dynasty in particular, the vignettes tended to be lavish, in the Third Intermediate Period, the Book of the Dead started to appear in hieratic script, as well as in the traditional hieroglyphics. The hieratic scrolls were a version, lacking illustration apart from a single vignette at the beginning. At the same time, many burials used additional funerary texts, during the 25th and 26th dynasties, the Book of the Dead was updated, revised and standardised
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Sarcophagus
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A sarcophagus is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word sarcophagus comes from the Greek σάρξ sarx meaning flesh, since lithos is Greek for stone, lithos sarcophagos means, flesh-eating stone. The word also came to refer to a kind of limestone that was thought to decompose the flesh of corpses trapped within it. Sarcophagi were most often designed to remain above ground, in Ancient Egypt, a sarcophagus acted like an outer shell. They are made of clay in shades of brown to pink. Added to the basin-like main sarcophagus is a broad, rectangular frame, often covered with a white slip and then painted. The huge Lycian Tomb of Payava, now in the British Museum, is a tomb monument of about 360 BC designed for an open-air placing. However, there are many important Early Christian sarcophagi from the 3rd to 4th centuries, most Roman examples were designed to be placed against a wall and are decorated on three of the sides only. More plain sarcophagi were placed in crypts, of which the most famous include the Habsburg Imperial Crypt in Vienna. The term tends to be often used to describe Medieval, Renaissance. They continued to be popular into the 1950s, at time the popularity of flat memorials made them obsolete. Nonetheless, a 1952 catalog from the industry still included 8 pages of them, broken down into Georgian and Classical detail, a Gothic and Renaissance adaptation. Shown on the right are sarcophagi from the late 19th century located in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the one in the back, the Warner Monument created by Alexander Milne Calder, features the spirit or soul of the deceased being released. In Sulawesi, Indonesia, waruga are a form of sarcophagus. Mont Allen, Sarcophagus, in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, edited by Michael Gagarin, R. R. R. Smith, Sculptured for Eternity, Treasures of Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Art from Istanbul Archaeological Museum. Ewald, Living with Myths, The Imagery of Roman Sarcophagi, egyptian sarcophagi sarcaphagi in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Sarcophagus
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Syriac language
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Syriac /ˈsɪri. æk/, also known as Syriac Aramaic, is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent and Eastern Arabia. Indeed, Syriac literature comprises roughly 90% of the extant Aramaic literature, Old Aramaic was adopted by the Neo-Assyrian Empire when they conquered the various Aramean city-kingdoms to its west. The Achaemenid Empire, which rose after the fall of the Assyrian Empire, also adopted Old Aramaic as its official language, during the course of the third and fourth centuries AD, the inhabitants of the region began to embrace Christianity. Along with Latin and Greek, Syriac became one of the three most important Christian languages in the centuries of the Christian Era. Primarily a Christian medium of expression, Syriac had a cultural and literary influence on the development of Arabic. Syriac remains the language of Syriac Christianity to this day. Syriac is a Middle Aramaic language and, as such, a language of the Northwestern branch of the Semitic family and it is written in the Syriac alphabet, a derivation of the Aramaic alphabet. Syriac was the local accent of Aramaic in Edessa, that evolved under the influence of Church of the East and it has been found as far afield as Hadrians Wall in Ancient Britain, with inscriptions written by Assyrian and Aramean soldiers of the Roman Empire. Modern Syriac/Modern Syriac Aramaic is an occasionally used to refer to the modern Eastern Aramaic languages. In this terminology, Modern Syriac is divided into, Modern Western Syriac Aramaic, note however that these are sometimes excluded from the category of Modern Syriac. The modern varieties are, therefore, not discussed in this article, in 132 BC, the kingdom of Osroene was founded in Edessa and Proto-Syriac evolved in that kingdom. Many Syriac-speakers still look to Edessa as the cradle of their language, there are about eighty extant early Syriac inscriptions, dated to the first three centuries AD. All of these examples of the language are non-Christian. As an official language, Syriac was given a relatively coherent form, style, in the 3rd century, churches in Edessa began to use Syriac as the language of worship. There is evidence that the adoption of Syriac, the language of the Assyrian people, was to effect mission, much literary effort was put into the production of an authoritative translation of the Bible into Syriac, the Peshitta. At the same time, Ephrem the Syrian was producing the most treasured collection of poetry, in 489, many Syriac-speaking Christians living in the eastern reaches of the Roman Empire fled to the Sassanid Empire to escape persecution and growing animosity with Greek-speaking Christians. The Christological differences with the Church of the East led to the bitter Nestorian schism in the Syriac-speaking world, as a result, Syriac developed distinctive western and eastern varieties. Syriac literature is by far the most prodigious of the various Aramaic languages and its corpus covers poetry, prose, theology, liturgy, hymnody, history, philosophy, science, medicine and natural history
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Eastern Christianity
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Eastern Christianity consists of four main church families, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Assyrian Church of the East, as well as the Eastern Catholic Churches. The term is used in contrast with Western Christianity, the term does not describe a single communion or religious denomination. Some Eastern churches have more in common historically and theologically with Western Christianity than with one another, the various Eastern churches do not normally refer to themselves as Eastern, with the exception of the Assyrian Church of the East and its offshoots. Eastern Christians do not share the religious traditions, but do share many cultural traditions. Christianity divided itself in the East during its early centuries both within and outside of the Roman Empire in disputes about Christology and fundamental theology, as well as national divisions and it would be many centuries later that Western Christianity fully split from these traditions as its own communion. The Eastern churches differences from Western Christianity have as much, if not more, to do with culture, language, for the non-Catholic Eastern churches, a definitive date for the commencement of schism cannot usually be given. Oriental Orthodoxy separated after the Council of Chalcedon in 451, since the time of the historian Edward Gibbon, the split between the Church of Rome and the Orthodox Church has been conveniently dated to 1054, though the reality is more complex. This split is referred to as the Great Schism. Eastern Orthodox Christians accept the decisions of the First seven Ecumenical Councils, the Eastern Orthodox Church is organized into self-governing jurisdictions along geographical, national, ethnic, and/or linguistic lines. Eastern Orthodoxy is thus made up of 15 or 16 autocephalous bodies, smaller churches are autonomous and each have a mother church that is autocephalous. This is in contrast to the Catholic Church and its various Churches, members of the latter are all in communion with each other, parts of a top-down hierarchy. The majority of Catholics accept both the Filioque clause and, since 1950, the Assumption of Mary and this puts them in sharp contrast with the Eastern Orthodox. Yet some Catholics who are not in communion with the Catholic Church side with the Eastern Orthodox here and reject these teachings and it is estimated that there are approximately 240 million Eastern Orthodox Christians in the world. Today, many adherents shun the term Eastern as denying the universal character. They refer to Eastern Orthodoxy simply as the Orthodox Church, hence, these churches are also called Old Oriental churches. Oriental Orthodoxy developed in reaction to Chalcedon on the limit of the Byzantine Empire and in Egypt. In those locations, there are also Eastern Orthodox patriarchs, thereafter it was often known, possibly inaccurately, as the Nestorian Church in the West. Surviving a period of persecution within Persia, the Church of the East flourished under the caliphate and branched out, in the 16th century dynastic struggles sent the church into schism, resulting in the formation of two rival churches
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Eastern Orthodox Church
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The Eastern Orthodox Church teaches that it is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church established by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission to the apostles. It practices what it understands to be the original Christian faith, the Eastern Orthodox Church is a communion of autocephalous churches, each typically governed by a Holy Synod. It teaches that all bishops are equal by virtue of their ordination, prior to the Council of Chalcedon in AD451, the Eastern Orthodox had also shared communion with the Oriental Orthodox churches, separating primarily over differences in Christology. Eastern Orthodoxy spread throughout the Roman and later Eastern Roman Empires and beyond, playing a prominent role in European, Near Eastern, Slavic, and some African cultures. As a result, the term Greek Orthodox has sometimes used to describe all of Eastern Orthodoxy in general. However, the appellation Greek was never in use and was gradually abandoned by the non-Greek-speaking Eastern Orthodox churches. Its most prominent episcopal see is Constantinople, there are also many in other parts of the world, formed through immigration, conversion and missionary activity. The official name of the Eastern Orthodox Church is the Orthodox Catholic Church and it is the name by which the church refers to itself in its liturgical or canonical texts, in official publications, and in official contexts or administrative documents. Orthodox teachers refer to the Church as Catholic and this name and longer variants containing Catholic are also recognized and referenced in other books and publications by secular or non-Orthodox writers. The common name of the Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, is a shortened practicality that helps to avoid confusions in casual use, for this reason, the eastern churches were sometimes identified as Greek, even before the great schism. After 1054, Greek Orthodox or Greek Catholic marked a church as being in communion with Constantinople and this identification with Greek, however, became increasingly confusing with time. Missionaries brought Orthodoxy to many regions without ethnic Greeks, where the Greek language was not spoken. Today, many of those same Roman churches remain, while a large number of Orthodox are not of Greek national origin. Eastern, then, indicates the element in the Churchs origin and development, while Orthodox indicates the faith. While the Church continues officially to call itself Catholic, for reasons of universality, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in a letter written about 110 AD from one Greek church to another. Quote of St Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans, Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, even as where Jesus may be, thus, almost from the very beginning, Christians referred to the Church as the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The Orthodox Church claims that it is today the continuation and preservation of that same Church, a number of other Christian churches also make a similar claim, the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Assyrian Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. The Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church, not directly from the Orthodox Church, the depth of this meaning in the Orthodox Church is registered first in its use of the word Orthodox itself, a union of Greek orthos and doxa
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Byzantine Catholic
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The Melkite and Italo-Greek churches also have claims of perpetual communion. Full communion constitutes mutual sacramental sharing between the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Latin Church, including Eucharistic intercommunion, notably, Eastern Catholic churches have different traditions concerning clerical celibacy than the Latin Church, in general, Eastern Catholic Churches allow the ordination of married men as priests. Eastern Catholic churches have their origins in the Middle East, East Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin Catholics in the Middle East, on the other hand, are traditionally served by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The Eastern Catholic churches are instead distinct particular churches sui iuris, although maintain full, there are different meanings of the word rite. Apart from its reference to the patrimony of a particular church. The rites treated in CCEO, unless stated, are those that arise from the Alexandrian, Antiochene. The Second Vatican Council spoke of Eastern Catholic Churches as particular Churches or rites, in 1999, the United States National Conference of Catholic Bishops stated, We have been accustomed to speaking of the Latin Rite or the Eastern Rites to designate these different Churches. Canon 112 of the Code of Canon Law uses the phrase autonomous ritual Churches to designate the various Churches, and a writer in a periodical of January 2006 declared, The Eastern Churches are still mistakenly called Eastern-rite Churches, a reference to their various liturgical histories. They are most properly called Eastern Churches, or Eastern Catholic Churches, however, the term rite continues to be used. The 1983 CIC forbids a Latin bishop to ordain, without permission of the Holy See, Pope Benedict XVI wrote, in his 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, that any Catholic priest of the Latin rite, under certain conditions, may use either edition of the Roman Missal. The term Uniat or Uniate applies to Eastern Catholic churches previously part of Eastern or Oriental Orthodox churches or of the Assyrian Church of the East. The term is considered to have a derogatory connotation, though it was occasionally used by Latin. Official Catholic documents no longer use the due to its perceived negative overtones. According to John Erickson of Saint Vladimirs Orthodox Theological Seminary, The term uniate itself, Eastern Rite Catholic also was no longer in vogue because it might suggest that the Catholics in question differed from Latins only in the externals of worship. The Second Vatican Council affirmed rather that Eastern Catholics constituted churches whose vocation was to provide a bridge to the churches of the East. Communion between Christian churches has been broken over matters of faith, whereby each side accused the other of heresy or departure from the true faith, communion has been broken also because of disagreement about questions of authority or the legitimacy of the election of a particular bishop. In these latter cases each side accused the other of schism, Major breaches of communion, In 431 the Churches that accepted the teaching of the Council of Ephesus classified as heretics those who rejected the Councils statements. The Church of the East, which was mainly under the Sassanid Empire and it later experienced a period of great expansion in Asia before collapsing after the Mongol invasion of the Middle East in the 14th century
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Psalterium". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "
