1.
Syria
–
Syrias capital and largest city is Damascus. Religious groups include Sunnis, Christians, Alawites, Druze, Mandeans, Shiites, Salafis, Sunni Arabs make up the largest religious group in Syria. Its capital Damascus and largest city Aleppo are among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, in the Islamic era, Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt. The post-independence period was tumultuous, and a number of military coups. In 1958, Syria entered a union with Egypt called the United Arab Republic. Syria was under Emergency Law from 1963 to 2011, effectively suspending most constitutional protections for citizens, Bashar al-Assad has been president since 2000 and was preceded by his father Hafez al-Assad, who was in office from 1970 to 2000. Mainstream modern academic opinion strongly favours the argument that the Greek word is related to the cognate Ἀσσυρία, Assyria, in the past, others believed that it was derived from Siryon, the name that the Sidonians gave to Mount Hermon. However, the discovery of the inscription in 2000 seems to support the theory that the term Syria derives from Assyria. The area designated by the word has changed over time, since approximately 10,000 BC, Syria was one of centers of Neolithic culture where agriculture and cattle breeding appeared for the first time in the world. The following Neolithic period is represented by houses of Mureybet culture. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gyps, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations. Cities of Hamoukar and Emar played an important role during the late Neolithic, archaeologists have demonstrated that civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth, perhaps preceded by only those of Mesopotamia. The earliest recorded indigenous civilisation in the region was the Kingdom of Ebla near present-day Idlib, gifts from Pharaohs, found during excavations, confirm Eblas contact with Egypt. One of the earliest written texts from Syria is an agreement between Vizier Ibrium of Ebla and an ambiguous kingdom called Abarsal c.2300 BC. The Northwest Semitic language of the Amorites is the earliest attested of the Canaanite languages, Mari reemerged during this period, and saw renewed prosperity until conquered by Hammurabi of Babylon. Ugarit also arose during this time, circa 1800 BC, close to modern Latakia, Ugaritic was a Semitic language loosely related to the Canaanite languages, and developed the Ugaritic alphabet. The Ugarites kingdom survived until its destruction at the hands of the marauding Indo-European Sea Peoples in the 12th century BC, Yamhad was described in the tablets of Mari as the mightiest state in the near east and as having more vassals than Hammurabi of Babylon. Yamhad imposed its authority over Alalakh, Qatna, the Hurrians states, the army of Yamhad campaigned as far away as Dēr on the border of Elam
Syria
–
Female figurine, 5000 BC.
Ancient Orient Museum.
Syria
–
Flag
Syria
–
God head, the kingdom of
Yamhad (c. 1600 BC)
Syria
–
Ebla royal palace c. 2400 BC
2.
Constantinople
–
Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine Empire, and also of the brief Latin, and the later Ottoman empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, Constantinople was famed for its massive and complex defences. The first wall of the city was erected by Constantine I, Constantinople never truly recovered from the devastation of the Fourth Crusade and the decades of misrule by the Latins. The origins of the name of Byzantion, more known by the later Latin Byzantium, are not entirely clear. The founding myth of the city has it told that the settlement was named after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas. The later Byzantines of Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honour of two men, Byzas and Antes, though this was likely just a play on the word Byzantion. During this time, the city was also called Second Rome, Eastern Rome, and Roma Constantinopolitana. As the city became the remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew. In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently, the medieval Vikings, who had contacts with the empire through their expansion in eastern Europe used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr, and later Miklagard and Miklagarth. In Arabic, the city was sometimes called Rūmiyyat al-kubra and in Persian as Takht-e Rum, in East and South Slavic languages, including in medieval Russia, Constantinople was referred to as Tsargrad or Carigrad, City of the Caesar, from the Slavonic words tsar and grad. This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις, the modern Turkish name for the city, İstanbul, derives from the Greek phrase eis tin polin, meaning into the city or to the city. In 1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script, in time the city came to be known as Istanbul and its variations in most world languages. In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpolis/Konstantinoúpoli or simply just the City, apart from this, little is known about this initial settlement, except that it was abandoned by the time the Megarian colonists settled the site anew. A farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c.150 BC which stipulated tribute in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and had in the Golden Horn an excellent and spacious harbour. He would later rebuild Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta Antonina, fortifying it with a new city wall in his name, Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, yet it had been the capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Constantinople was built over 6 years, and consecrated on 11 May 330, Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis
Constantinople
–
Constantinople in the Byzantine era
Constantinople
–
Map of Byzantine Constantinople
Constantinople
–
Emperor
Constantine I presents a representation of the city of Constantinople as tribute to an enthroned Mary and Christ Child in this church mosaic.
Hagia Sophia, c. 1000
Constantinople
–
Coin struck by Constantine I to commemorate the founding of Constantinople
3.
Eastern Orthodox Church
–
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
Eastern Orthodox Church
–
Orthodox liturgy
Eastern Orthodox Church
–
An
icon of
John the Baptist, 14th century, Macedonia
4.
Calendar of saints
–
The word feast in this context does not mean a large meal, typically a celebratory one, but instead an annual religious celebration, a day dedicated to a particular saint. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, a calendar of saints is called a Menologion, Menologion may also mean a set of icons on which saints are depicted in the order of the dates of their feasts, often made in two panels. As the number of recognized saints increased during Late Antiquity and the first half of the Middle Ages, eventually every day of the year had at least one saint who was commemorated on that date. To deal with this increase, some saints were moved to days in some traditions or completely removed. For example, St. Perpetua and Felicity died on 7 March, when the 1969 reform of the Catholic calendar moved him to 28 January, they were moved back to 7 March. Both days can thus be said to be their feast day, the Roman Catholic calendars of saints in their various forms, which list those saints celebrated in the entire church, contains only a selection of the saints for each of its days. A fuller list is found in the Roman Martyrology, and some of the saints there may be celebrated locally, Saint Martin of Tours is said to be the first or at least one of the first non-martyrs to be venerated as a saint. The title confessor was used for saints, who had confessed their faith in Christ by their lives rather than by their deaths. Martyrs are regarded as dying in the service of the Lord, a broader range of titles was used later, such as, Virgin, Pastor, Bishop, Monk, Priest, Founder, Abbot, Apostle, Doctor of the Church. Pope Pius XII added a common formula for Popes, the 1962 Roman Missal of Pope John XXIII omitted the common of Apostles, assigning a proper Mass to every feast day of an Apostle. The present Roman Missal has common formulas for the Dedication of Churches, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Martyrs, Pastors, Doctors of the Church, Virgins, some Christians continue the tradition of dating by saints days, their works may appear dated as The Feast of Saint Martin. Poets such as John Keats commemorate the importance of The Eve of Saint Agnes, as different Christian jurisdictions parted ways theologically, differing lists of saints began to develop. In the present ordinary form of the Roman Rite, feast days are ranked as solemnities and those who use even earlier forms of the Roman Rite rank feast days as Doubles, Semidoubles, and Simples. See Ranking of liturgical days in the Roman Rite, in the Eastern Orthodox Church the ranking of feasts varies from church to church. In the Russian Orthodox Church they are, Great Feasts, middle, each portion of such feasts may also be called feasts as follows, All-Night Vigils, Polyeleos, Great Doxology, Sextuple. There are also distinctions between Simple feasts and Double, in Double Feasts the order of hymns and readings for each feast are rigidly instructed in Typikon, the liturgy book. In the Church of England, there are Principal Feasts and Principal Holy Days, Festivals, Lesser Festivals, and Commemorations. com
Calendar of saints
–
A
medieval manuscript fragment of
Finnish origin, about 1340–60. Utilized by the
Dominican convent at
Turku.
Calendar of saints
–
Excerpt from the Irish
Feastology of Oengus, presenting the entries for 1 and 2 January in the form of quatrains of four six-syllabic lines for each day. In this 16th-century copy (MS G10 at the
National Library of Ireland) we find pairs of two six-syllabic lines combined into bold lines, amended by glosses and notes that were added by later authors.
Calendar of saints
–
A
Welsh calendar of saint days c.1488 - 1498
Calendar of saints
–
Anglican Communion
5.
New Style
–
Closely related is the custom of dual dating, where writers gave two consecutive years because of differences in the starting date of the year, or included both the Julian and Gregorian dates. Beginning in 1582, the Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian in Roman Catholic countries and this change was implemented subsequently in Protestant and Orthodox countries, usually at much later dates. In England and Wales, Ireland, and the British colonies, the change of the start of the year, in Scotland, the legal start of the year had already been moved to 1 January, but Scotland otherwise continued to use the Julian calendar until 1752. When recording British history it is usual to use the dates recorded at the time of the event, but the start of the Julian year was not always 1 January, and was altered at different times in different countries. From 1155 to 1752, the civil or legal year in England began on 25 March so for example the execution of Charles I was recorded at the time in Parliament as happening on 30 January 1648. In modern English language texts this date is shown as 30 January 1649. The corresponding date in the Gregorian calendar is 9 February 1649, designation is particularly relevant for dates which fall between the start of the historical year and the official start date, where different. This was 25 March in England, Wales and the Colonies until 1752, during the years between the first introduction of the Gregorian calendar in continental Europe and its introduction in Britain, contemporary usage in England started to change. In Britain 1 January was celebrated as the New Year festival, some more modern sources, often more academic ones, also use the 1661/62 style for the period between 1 January and 25 March for years before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in England. Through enactment of the Calendar Act 1750, Britain and the British Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, wednesday,2 September 1752, was followed by Thursday,14 September 1752. Claims that rioters demanded Give us our eleven days out of a misinterpretation of a painting by William Hogarth. The British tax year began on Lady Day on the Julian calendar and thus became 5 April. A 12th skipped Julian leap day in 1800 changed its start to 6 April and it was not changed when a 13th Julian leap day was skipped in 1900, so the tax year in the United Kingdom still begins on 6 April. The European colonies of the Americas adopted the change when their mother countries did, in Alaska, the change took place after the United States purchased Alaska from Russia. Friday,6 October 1867 was followed by Friday,18 October, usually, the mapping of new dates onto old dates with a start of year adjustment works well with little confusion for events which happened before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar. For example, the Battle of Agincourt is universally known to have fought on 25 October 1415. Events in continental western Europe are usually reported in English language histories as happening under the Gregorian calendar, for example, the Battle of Blenheim is always given as 13 August 1704. However confusion occurs when an event involves both, for example, William III of England arrived at Brixham in England on 5 November, after setting sail from the Netherlands on 11 November, in 1688
New Style
–
On this marriage certificate, made out in 1907 in Warsaw (then part of the
Russian Empire), the month is given as "November/December", and the day as "23/6". The Julian date 23 November corresponded to the Gregorian 6 December.
New Style
–
Issue 9198 of the
London Gazette, covering Great Britain's switch from O.S. to N.S.
New Style
–
Thomas Jefferson 's tombstone. Written below the
epitaph is "BORN APRIL 2 1743 O.S. DIED JULY 4 1826"
6.
Saint symbolism
–
Christianity has used symbolism from its very beginnings. Each saint has a story and a reason why he or she led an exemplary life, symbols have been used to tell these stories throughout the history of the Church. A number of Christian saints are traditionally represented by a symbol or iconic motif associated with their life, termed an attribute or emblem, the study of these forms part of iconography in art history. They were particularly used so that the illiterate could recognize a scene and they are often carried in the hand by the Saint. Attributes often vary with time or geography, especially between Eastern Christianity and the West. Orthodox images more often contained inscriptions with the names of saints, many of the most prominent saints, like Saint Peter and Saint John the Evangelist can also be recognised by a distinctive facial type – as can Christ. Some attributes are general, such as the palm frond carried by martyrs, the use of a symbol in a work of art depicting a Saint reminds people who is being shown and of their story. The following is a list of some of these attributes, a New Dictionary of Saints, East and West. Catholic Forum Patron Saints Index Saints Badges or Shields On the Canonizations of John Paul II
Saint symbolism
–
Dutch Book of Prayers from the mid-fifteenth century. Group of five saints. From left to right,
Saint Joseph,
Saint James the Great,
Saint Eligius,
Saint Hermes, and
Saint Ghislain, with their emblems.
Saint symbolism
–
The symbols of the four Evangelists are here depicted in the
Book of Kells. The four winged creatures symbolize, clockwise from top left,
Matthew,
Mark,
John, and
Luke.
Saint symbolism
–
The
key as symbol of St. Peter
Saint symbolism
–
The
Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles. Russian, 14th century, Moscow Museum.
7.
The Protection of the Mother of God
–
The feast celebrates the protection afforded the faithful through the intercessions of the Theotokos. In the Slavic Orthodox Churches it is celebrated as the most important solemnity besides the Twelve Great Feasts, the feast is commemorated in Eastern Orthodoxy as a whole, but by no means as fervently as it is in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The Slavic word Pokrov, like the Greek Skepê has a complex meaning, first of all, it refers to a cloak or shroud, but it also means protection or intercession. For this reason, the name of the feast is variously translated as the Veil of Our Lady, the Protecting Veil of the Theotokos and it is often translated as Feast of the Intercession or Feast of the Holy Protectress. With some reservations, the Pokrov icon may be related to the Western Virgin of Mercy image, in which the Virgin spreads wide her cloak to cover and protect a group of kneeling supplicants. According to Eastern Orthodox Sacred Tradition, the apparition of Mary the Theotokos occurred during the 10th century at the Blachernae church in Constantinople where several of her relics were kept and she knelt and prayed with tears for all faithful Christians in the world. The Virgin Mary asked Her Son, Jesus Christ, to accept the prayers of all the people entreating Him, once Her prayer was completed, She walked to the altar and continued to pray. Afterwards, She spread Her veil over all the people in the church as a protection. St Andrew turned to his disciple, St. Epiphanius, who was standing near him, and asked, Do you see, brother, Epiphanius answered, Yes, Holy Father, I see it and am amazed. According to the Primary Chronicle of St. Nestor the Chronicler, according to Nestor, the feast celebrates the destruction of this fleet sometime in the ninth century. An icon of the Virgin Mary praying, surrounded by people, was said to be kept in the Blachernae church and it is said to reproduce the events as St Andrew saw them that day. The Feast of the Intercession commemorating the miracle is a holy day or feast day of the Byzantine Rite Eastern Orthodox Churches. It is not found in Oriental Orthodoxy nor Western Rite Orthodoxy and it is held annually on October 1 in new calendar churches, or October 14 according to the Julian calendar. It is served as an All-Night Vigil, with many of the elements as occur on Great Feasts of the Theotokos. Some, but not all, regions of the Russian Federation celebrate the Feast of Intercession as a work holiday, in Ukraine, it is celebrated on October 14 as a religious, national, and family holiday. The Mother of God as the Intercessor and Patron became firmly established among Ukrainians, princes, kings, cossacks, an icon in the National Art Museum of Ukraine shows the Virgin Mary protecting the Ukrainian cossack hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky. By decree of the Ukrainian President, October 14 — Pokrova Feast Day was promulgated also as Ukrainian Cossack Day, the icon of the feast, which is not found in Byzantine art, depicts in its upper part the Virgin Mary surrounded by a luminous aureole. She holds in her arms a orarion or veil, which symbolizes the protection of her intercession
The Protection of the Mother of God
–
Icon of the Protection, 19th century, Russia
The Protection of the Mother of God
–
Russian icon of Pokrov
The Protection of the Mother of God
–
Icon, showing a broad protective cloak. Mid 17th century, Ukraine.
The Protection of the Mother of God
–
The Holy Virgin protecting the Ukrainian cossack hetman
Bohdan Khmelnytsky (at the right of image). Late 17 to early 18th century, Ukraine.
8.
Patron saint
–
Catholics believe that patron saints, having already transcended to the metaphysical, are able to intercede effectively for the needs of their special charges. Historically, a practice has also occurred in many Islamic lands. With regard to the omnipresence of this belief, the late Martin Lings wrote. Traditionally, it has been understood that the saint of a particular place prays for that places wellbeing and for the health. Saints often become the patrons of places where they were born or had been active, professions sometimes have a patron saint owing to that individual being involved somewhat with it, although some of the connections were tenuous. Lacking such a saint, an occupation would have a patron whose acts or miracles in some way recall the profession and it is, however, generally discouraged in some Protestant branches such as Calvinism, where the practice is considered a form of idolatry. In Islam, the veneration or commemoration and recognition of saints is found in many branches of traditional Sunnism
Patron saint
–
Saint Matthew the Apostle, depicted with an angel, is the patron saint of
Salerno, Italy, bankers and tax collectors
Patron saint
–
A branch of
Saint Honore Cake Shop, a
Hong Kong chain bakery, in Hong Kong.
Saint Honorius (Honoré) is the patron saint of bakers and confectioners.
9.
Greek language
–
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
Greek language
–
Idealized portrayal of
Homer
Greek language
–
regions where Greek is the official language
Greek language
–
Greek language road sign, A27 Motorway, Greece
10.
Latin
–
Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
Latin
–
Latin inscription, in the
Colosseum
Latin
–
Julius Caesar 's
Commentarii de Bello Gallico is one of the most famous classical Latin texts of the Golden Age of Latin. The unvarnished, journalistic style of this
patrician general has long been taught as a model of the urbane Latin officially spoken and written in the floruit of the
Roman republic.
Latin
–
A multi-volume Latin dictionary in the
University Library of Graz
Latin
–
Latin and Ancient Greek Language - Culture - Linguistics at
Duke University in 2014.
11.
Greeks
–
The Greeks or Hellenes are an ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Albania, Turkey, Sicily, Egypt and, to a lesser extent, other countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world, many of these regions coincided to a large extent with the borders of the Byzantine Empire of the late 11th century and the Eastern Mediterranean areas of ancient Greek colonization. The cultural centers of the Greeks have included Athens, Thessalonica, Alexandria, Smyrna, most ethnic Greeks live nowadays within the borders of the modern Greek state and Cyprus. The Greek genocide and population exchange between Greece and Turkey nearly ended the three millennia-old Greek presence in Asia Minor, other longstanding Greek populations can be found from southern Italy to the Caucasus and southern Russia and Ukraine and in the Greek diaspora communities in a number of other countries. Today, most Greeks are officially registered as members of the Greek Orthodox Church, the Greeks speak the Greek language, which forms its own unique branch within the Indo-European family of languages, the Hellenic. They are part of a group of ethnicities, described by Anthony D. Smith as an archetypal diaspora people. Both migrations occur at incisive periods, the Mycenaean at the transition to the Late Bronze Age, the Mycenaeans quickly penetrated the Aegean Sea and, by the 15th century BC, had reached Rhodes, Crete, Cyprus and the shores of Asia Minor. Around 1200 BC, the Dorians, another Greek-speaking people, followed from Epirus, the Dorian invasion was followed by a poorly attested period of migrations, appropriately called the Greek Dark Ages, but by 800 BC the landscape of Archaic and Classical Greece was discernible. The Greeks of classical antiquity idealized their Mycenaean ancestors and the Mycenaean period as an era of heroes, closeness of the gods. The Homeric Epics were especially and generally accepted as part of the Greek past, as part of the Mycenaean heritage that survived, the names of the gods and goddesses of Mycenaean Greece became major figures of the Olympian Pantheon of later antiquity. The ethnogenesis of the Greek nation is linked to the development of Pan-Hellenism in the 8th century BC, the works of Homer and Hesiod were written in the 8th century BC, becoming the basis of the national religion, ethos, history and mythology. The Oracle of Apollo at Delphi was established in this period, the classical period of Greek civilization covers a time spanning from the early 5th century BC to the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 BC. It is so named because it set the standards by which Greek civilization would be judged in later eras, the Peloponnesian War, the large scale civil war between the two most powerful Greek city-states Athens and Sparta and their allies, left both greatly weakened. Many Greeks settled in Hellenistic cities like Alexandria, Antioch and Seleucia, two thousand years later, there are still communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan, like the Kalash, who claim to be descended from Greek settlers. The Hellenistic civilization was the period of Greek civilization, the beginnings of which are usually placed at Alexanders death. This Hellenistic age, so called because it saw the partial Hellenization of many non-Greek cultures and this age saw the Greeks move towards larger cities and a reduction in the importance of the city-state. These larger cities were parts of the still larger Kingdoms of the Diadochi, Greeks, however, remained aware of their past, chiefly through the study of the works of Homer and the classical authors. An important factor in maintaining Greek identity was contact with barbarian peoples and this led to a strong desire among Greeks to organize the transmission of the Hellenic paideia to the next generation
Greeks
–
Hoplites fighting. Detail from an Attic black-figure
hydria, ca. 560 BC–550 BC.
Louvre,
Paris.
Greeks
–
A reconstruction of the 3rd millennium BC "Proto-Greek area", according to Bulgarian linguist
Vladimir Georgiev.
Greeks
–
Bust of
Cleopatra VII.
Altes Museum,
Berlin.
Greeks
–
Statues of
Saints Cyril and Methodius, missionaries of
Christianity among the
Slavic peoples, on the
Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc,
Czech Republic.
12.
Hymnographer
–
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word hymn derives from Greek ὕμνος, which means a song of praise, a writer of hymns is known as a hymnodist. The singing of hymns is called hymnody, collections of hymns are known as hymnals or hymn books. Hymns may or may not include instrumental accompaniment, although most familiar to speakers of English in the context of Christianity, hymns are also a fixture of other world religions, especially on the Indian subcontinent. Hymns also survive from antiquity, especially from Egyptian and Greek cultures, some of the oldest surviving examples of notated music are hymns with Greek texts. Surviving from the 3rd century BC is a collection of six literary hymns by the Alexandrian poet Callimachus, patristic writers began applying the term ὕμνος, or hymnus in Latin, to Christian songs of praise, and frequently used the word as a synonym for psalm. Originally modeled on the Psalms and other passages in the Scriptures. Many refer to Jesus Christ either directly or indirectly, since the earliest times, Christians have sung psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, both in private devotions and in corporate worship. One definition of a hymn is. a lyric poem, reverently and devotionally conceived, which is designed to be sung, others are used to encourage reverence for the Holy Bible or to celebrate Christian practices such as the eucharist or baptism. A writer of hymns is known as a hymnodist, and the practice of singing hymns is called hymnody, a collection of hymns is called a hymnal or hymnary. These may or may not include music, a student of hymnody is called a hymnologist, and the scholarly study of hymns, hymnists and hymnody is hymnology. The music to which a hymn may be sung is a hymn tune, in many Evangelical churches, traditional songs are classified as hymns while more contemporary worship songs are not considered hymns. The reason for this distinction is unclear, but according to some it is due to the shift of style and devotional thinking that began with the Jesus movement. In ancient and medieval times, stringed instruments such as the harp, lyre and lute were used with psalms, since there is a lack of musical notation in early writings, the actual musical forms in the early church can only be surmised. During the Middle Ages a rich hymnody developed in the form of Gregorian chant or plainsong and this type was sung in unison, in one of eight church modes, and most often by monastic choirs. While they were originally in Latin, many have been translated. Later hymnody in the Western church introduced four-part vocal harmony as the norm, adopting major and minor keys and it shares many elements with classical music. Today, except for choirs, more musically inclined congregations and a cappella congregations, hymns are sung in unison
Hymnographer
13.
Pindar
–
Pindar was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved and his poems can also, however, seem difficult and even peculiar. The Athenian comic playwright Eupolis once remarked that they are reduced to silence by the disinclination of the multitude for elegant learning. His poetry, while admired by critics, still challenges the casual reader, Pindar was the first Greek poet to reflect on the nature of poetry and on the poets role. A dream of a shadow Is our mortal being, but when there comes to men A gleam of splendour given of heaven, Then rests on them a light of glory And blessed are their days. His poetry illustrates the beliefs and values of Archaic Greece at the dawn of the classical period, five ancient sources contain all the recorded details of Pindars life. One of them is a short biography discovered in 1961 on an Egyptian papyrus dating from at least 200 AD and it has been claimed that biographical interpretations of the poems are due to a fatal conjunction of historicism and Romanticism. In other words, we know almost nothing about Pindars life based on traditional sources or his own poems. However, the pendulum of fashion has begun to change direction again. He was probably born in 522 BC or 518 BC in Cynoscephalae and his fathers name is variously given as Daiphantus, Pagondas or Scopelinus, and his mothers name was Cleodice. It is reported that he was stung on the mouth by a bee in his youth, Pindar was about twenty years old in 498 BC when he was commissioned by the ruling family in Thessaly to compose his first victory ode. He studied the art of poetry in Athens, where his tutor was Lasos of Hermione. The early-to-middle years of Pindars career coincided with the Persian invasions of Greece in the reigns of Darius and it is possible that Pindar spent much of this time at Aegina. Thrasybulus had driven the winning chariot and he and Pindar were to form a lasting friendship, Pindar seems to have used his odes to advance his, and his friends, personal interests. In 462 BC he composed two odes in honour of Arcesilas, king of Cyrene, pleading for the return from exile of a friend, Demophilus. In the latter ode Pindar proudly mentions his own ancestry, which he shared with the king, as an Aegeid or descendent of Aegeus, the historian Herodotus considered the clan important enough to deserve mention. Pindar might not actually claim to be an Aegeid since his I statements do not necessarily refer to himself. He was possibly the Theban proxenos or consul for Aegina and/or Molossia, as indicated in another of his odes, Nemean 7, in which he glorifies Neoptolemus, a national hero of Aegina and Molossia
Pindar
–
Pindar, Roman copy of Greek 5th century BC bust (
Museo Archeologica Nazionale, Naples)
Pindar
–
A short Heracles: Pindar once ignored the traditional image of Heracles, the supreme example of the heroic physique, and described him as short in order to compare him with a short patron.
Pindar
–
The so-called 'Farnese Diadumenos' is a Roman copy of a Greek original attributed to
Polykleitos c.440 BC, depicting an athlete tying a victory ribbon round his head
14.
Golden Age
–
By definition, one is never in the Golden Age. By extension Golden Age denotes a period of peace, harmony, stability. During this age peace and harmony prevailed, people did not have to work to feed themselves and they lived to a very old age with a youthful appearance, eventually dying peacefully, with spirits living on as guardians. Plato in Cratylus recounts the golden race of humans who came first and he clarifies that Hesiod did not mean literally made of gold, but good and noble. There are analogous concepts in the religious and philosophical traditions of the South Asian subcontinent, for example, the Vedic or ancient Hindu culture saw history as cyclical, composed of yugas with alternating Dark and Golden Ages. The Kali yuga, Dwapara yuga, Treta yuga and Satya yuga correspond to the four Greek ages, similar beliefs occur in the ancient Middle East and throughout the ancient world, as well. In classical Greek mythology the Golden Age was presided over by the leading Titan Cronus, in some version of the myth Astraea also ruled. The earliest attested reference to the European myth of the Ages of Man 500 BC-350 BC appears in the late 6th century BC works of the Greek poet Hesiods Works and Days. Hesiod, a deteriorationist, identifies the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, the Heroic Age, with the exception of the Heroic Age, each succeeding age was worse than the one that went before. When they died, it was as though they were overcome with sleep and they dwelt in ease and peace. Plato in his Cratylus referred to an age of men and also expounded at some length on Ages of Man from Hesiods Works. The Roman poet Ovid simplified the concept by reducing the number of Ages to four, Gold, Bronze, Silver, in Hesiods version, the Golden Age ended when the Titan Prometheus conferred on mankind the gift of fire and all the other arts. For this, Zeus punished Prometheus by chaining him to a rock in the Caucasus, the gods sent the beautiful maiden Pandora to Prometheuss brother Epimetheus. The Orphic school, a cult that originated in Thrace and spread to Greece in the 5th century BCE, held similar beliefs about the early days of man. In common with the other mystery cults prevalent in the Graeco-Roman world. Initiation into its secret rites, together with ascetic practices, was supposed to guarantee the individuals soul eventual release from the circle of mortality. Orphics sometimes identified the Golden Age with the era of the god Phanes, in classical mythology however, the Golden Age was associated with the reign of Saturn. However, in the 3rd century BCE, the Greek poet, Theocritus, writing in Alexandria, set his poetry in on the lushly fertile island of Sicily
Golden Age
–
The Golden Age by
Pietro da Cortona.
Golden Age
–
The Golden Age by
Lucas Cranach the Elder.
Golden Age
–
Sculpture of
Pan teaching
Daphnis to play the pipes; c. 100 BCE Found in Pompeii.
15.
Menaion
–
The Menaion is the liturgical book used by the Eastern Orthodox Church containing the propers for fixed dates of the calendar year, i. e. entities not dependent of the date of Easter. The Menaion is the largest volume of the propers for the Byzantine Rite and is used at all the daily services. The complete Menaion is published in volumes, one for each month. The Festal Menaion is a version containing texts for those great feasts falling on the fixed cycle. Since 1921, there have been two calendars in use within the Orthodox Church, the Julian Calendar and the Revised Julian Calendar, the term Menaion is also applied to icons of all the saints whose feast days fall within a particular month. A particular church may have 12 such icons, one for each month of the year, Calendar of Saints Pentecostarion Menologium Synaxarion Triodion Review of Festal Menaion translated by Mother Mary and Archimandrite Kallistos Ware, Theology Today 35 July, 241-243
Menaion
–
A Menaion in the
Church Slavonic language, 12th century,
Novgorod
Menaion
–
Russian icon with menaion (ru: минея)
16.
Suda
–
The Suda or Souda is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Suidas. It is a lexicon, written in Greek, with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost. The Suda is somewhere between a grammatical dictionary and an encyclopedia in the modern sense and it explains the source, derivation, and meaning of words according to the philology of its period, using such earlier authorities as Harpocration and Helladios. The articles on history are especially valuable. These entries supply details and quotations from authors whose works are otherwise lost and they use older scholia to the classics, and for later writers, Polybius, Josephus, the Chronicon Paschale, George Syncellus, George Hamartolus, and so on. This lexicon represents a convenient work of reference for people who played a part in political, ecclesiastical, the chief source for this is the encyclopedia of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, and for Roman history the excerpts of John of Antioch. Krumbacher counts two main sources of the work, Constantine VII for ancient history, and Hamartolus for the Byzantine age, the system is not difficult to learn and remember, but some editors—for example, Immanuel Bekker – rearranged the Suda alphabetically. Little is known of the compilation of work, except that it must have been written before it was quoted from extensively by Eustathius who lived from about 1115 AD to about 1195 or 1196. It would thus appear that the Suda was compiled sometime after 975, passages referring to Michael Psellus are considered later interpolations. It includes numerous quotations from ancient writers, the scholiasts on Aristophanes, Homer, other principal sources include a lexicon by Eudemus, perhaps derived from the work On Rhetorical Language by Eudemus of Argos. The work deals with biblical as well as subjects, from which it is inferred that the writer was a Christian. A prefatory note gives a list of dictionaries from which the portion was compiled. Although the work is uncritical and probably much interpolated, and the value of its articles is very unequal and its quotations from ancient authors make it a useful check on their manuscript traditions. A modern translation, the Suda On Line, was completed on 21 July 2014, the Suda has a near-contemporaneous Islamic parallel, the Kitab al-Fehrest of Ibn al-Nadim. Compare also the Latin Speculum Maius, authored in the 13th century by Vincent of Beauvais and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Sūïdas. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles. Ancient Greek Scholarship, a guide to finding, reading, and understanding scholia, commentaries, lexica, Oxford, New York, Oxford University Press,2006. Tachypaedia Byzantina, The Suda On Line as Collaborative Encyclopedia, Digital Humanities Quarterly 3.1, an on-line edition of the Ada Adler edition with ongoing translations and commentary by registered editors
Suda
–
First page of an early printed edition of the Suda
17.
Emesa
–
Homs, previously known as Emesa, is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is 501 metres above sea level and is located 162 kilometres north of Damascus, located on the Orontes River, Homs is also the central link between the interior cities and the Mediterranean coast. Its population reflects Syrias general religious diversity, composed of Sunni and Alawite, there are a number of historic mosques and churches in the city, and it is close to the Krak des Chevaliers castle, a world heritage site. Homs did not emerge into the record until the 1st century BCE at the time of the Seleucids. It later became the capital of a kingdom ruled by the Emesani dynasty who gave the city its name, originally a center of worship for the sun god El-Gabal, it later gained importance in Christianity under the Byzantines. Homs was conquered by the Muslims in the 7th century and made capital of a district that bore its current name, throughout the Islamic era, Muslim dynasties contending for control of Syria sought after Homs due to the citys strategic position in the area. Homs began to decline under the Ottomans and only in the 19th century did the city regain its importance when its cotton industry boomed. During French Mandate rule, the city became a center of insurrection and, after independence in 1946, in the ongoing Syrian civil war, Homs became an opposition stronghold and the Syrian government launched a military assault against the city in May 2011. The following Siege of Homs left much of the city completely destroyed, the war in the city ended in 2015 when rebels evacuated the city, resulting in a government victory. The origin of the modern name is that it is an Arabic form of the citys Latin name Emesus. The name Emesa seems to derive from the nomadic Arab tribe, called Emesenoi by the Greeks and the Romans, Emesa was shortened to Homs or Hims by its Arab inhabitants, many of whom settled there prior to the Muslim conquest of Syria. This name has been preserved throughout the period of Islamic rule continuing to the present day and it was known as la Chamelle by the Crusaders, although they never ruled the city. For approximately 2,000 years, Homs has served as a key market, production site. It has also provided security services to the hinterland of Syria, excavations at the Citadel of Homs indicate that the earliest settlement at the site dates back to around 2300 BCE. Biblical scholars have identified the city with Zobah mentioned in the Bible, in 1274 BCE, a battle took place between the forces of the Egyptian Empire under Ramesses II and the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II at the city of Kadesh on the Orontes River near Homs. It was possibly the largest chariot battle ever fought, involving perhaps 5, at this time, Greek philosopher Strabo spoke of a tent-dwelling tribe called the Emesani living in the area around the Orontes and south of the Apamea region. They were an Arab tribe in the area and settled in Emesa—which derived its name from them. Their chief at the time, Sampsiceramus I, gained the status as King of Emesa, but their capital was at Arethusa, a city north of Emesa, also along the Orontes River
Emesa
–
Homs city landmarks
City centre and the Old Clock Tower • New Clock Tower Square • Dablan Street •
Krak des Chevaliers •
Khalid ibn al-Walid Stadium •
Khalid ibn al-Walid Mosque • New Clock Tower • City landscape from Rooftops
Emesa
–
The Emesa temple to the sun god El-Gabal, with the holy stone, on the reverse of this bronze coin by
Roman usurper Uranius Antoninus
Emesa
–
The
Krak des Chevaliers, a famous world heritage site near Homs
Emesa
–
Some frescoes inside the
Church of Saint Elian date back to the 6th-century
18.
Damascus
–
Damascus is the capital and likely the largest city of Syria, following the decline in population of Aleppo due to the ongoing battle for the city. It is commonly known in Syria as ash-Sham and nicknamed as the City of Jasmine, in addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major cultural and religious centre of the Levant. The city has an population of 1,711,000 as of 2009. Located in south-western Syria, Damascus is the centre of a metropolitan area of 2.6 million people. The Barada River flows through Damascus, first settled in the second millennium BC, it was chosen as the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750. After the victory of the Abbasid dynasty, the seat of Islamic power was moved to Baghdad, Damascus saw a political decline throughout the Abbasid era, only to regain significant importance in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. Today, it is the seat of the government and all of the government ministries. The name of Damascus first appeared in the geographical list of Thutmose III as T-m-ś-q in the 15th century BC, the etymology of the ancient name T-m-ś-q is uncertain, but it is suspected to be pre-Semitic. It is attested as Dimašqa in Akkadian, T-ms-ḳw in Egyptian, Dammaśq in Old Aramaic, the Akkadian spelling is found in the Amarna letters, from the 14th century BC. Later Aramaic spellings of the name include a intrusive resh, perhaps influenced by the root dr. Thus, the English and Latin name of the city is Damascus which was imported from originated from the Qumranic Darmeśeq, and Darmsûq in Syriac, meaning a well-watered land. In Arabic, the city is called Dimašqu š-Šāmi, although this is shortened to either Dimašq or aš-Šām by the citizens of Damascus, of Syria and other Arab neighbours. Aš-Šām is an Arabic term for Levant and for Syria, the latter, the Anti-Lebanon mountains mark the border between Syria and Lebanon. The range has peaks of over 10,000 ft. and blocks precipitation from the Mediterranean sea, however, in ancient times this was mitigated by the Barada River, which originates from mountain streams fed by melting snow. Damascus is surrounded by the Ghouta, irrigated farmland where many vegetables, cereals, maps of Roman Syria indicate that the Barada river emptied into a lake of some size east of Damascus. Today it is called Bahira Atayba, the hesitant lake, because in years of severe drought it does not even exist, the modern city has an area of 105 km2, out of which 77 km2 is urban, while Jabal Qasioun occupies the rest. The old city of Damascus, enclosed by the city walls, to the south-east, north and north-east it is surrounded by suburban areas whose history stretches back to the Middle Ages, Midan in the south-west, Sarouja and Imara in the north and north-west. These neighbourhoods originally arose on roads leading out of the city and these new neighbourhoods were initially settled by Kurdish soldiery and Muslim refugees from the European regions of the Ottoman Empire which had fallen under Christian rule
Damascus
–
View of Damascus from
Mount Qassioun
Damascus
–
Damascus in spring seen from
Spot satellite
Damascus
–
One of the rare periods the
Barada river is high, seen here next to the
Four Seasons hotel in downtown Damascus
Damascus
–
Umayyad Mosque façade
19.
Beirut
–
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. No recent population census has been done but in 2007 estimates ranged from more than 1 million to slightly less than 2 million as part of Greater Beirut. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanons Mediterranean coast, Beirut is the countrys largest and it is one of the oldest cities in the world, inhabited more than 5,000 years ago. The first historical mention of Beirut is found in the ancient Egyptian Tell el Amarna letters dating from the 15th century BC, the Beirut River runs south to north on the eastern edge of the city. Beirut is Lebanons seat of government and plays a role in the Lebanese economy, with most banks and corporations based in its Central District, Badaro, Rue Verdun, Hamra. Following the destructive Lebanese Civil War, Beiruts cultural landscape underwent major reconstruction, identified and graded for accountancy, advertising, banking/finance and law, Beirut is ranked as a Beta World City by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. In May 2015, Beirut was officially recognized as one of the New7Wonders Cities together with Vigan, Doha, Durban, Havana, Kuala Lumpur, and La Paz. Beirut I, or Minet el Hosn, was listed as Beyrouth ville by Louis Burkhalter and said to be on the beach near the Orent, the site was discovered by Lortet in 1894 and discussed by Godefroy Zumoffen in 1900. The flint industry from the site was described as Mousterian and is held by the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, Beirut II, or Umm el Khatib, was suggested by Burkhalter to have been south of Tarik el Jedideh, where P. E. Gigues discovered a Copper Age flint industry at around 100 metres above sea level, the site had been built on and destroyed by 1948. Beirut III, Furn esh Shebbak or Plateau Tabet, was suggested to have located on the left bank of the Beirut River. Burkhalter suggested that it was west of the Damascus road, although this determination has been criticized by Lorraine Copeland, P. E. Gigues discovered a series of Neolithic flint tools on the surface along with the remains of a structure suggested to be a hut circle. Auguste Bergy discussed polished axes that were found at this site. The area was covered in red sand that represented Quaternary river terraces, the site was found by Jesuit Father Dillenseger and published by fellow Jesuits Godefroy Zumoffen, Raoul Describes and Auguste Bergy. Collections from the site were made by Bergy, Describes and another Jesuit, a large number of Middle Paleolithic flint tools were found on the surface and in side gullies that drain into the river. They included around 50 varied bifaces accredited to the Acheulean period, some with a lustrous sheen, Henri Fleisch also found an Emireh point amongst material from the site, which has now disappeared beneath buildings. Levallois flints and bones and similar material were found amongst brecciated deposits. The area has now built on
Beirut
–
clockwise from top left: Mosque in Downtown Beirut, Beirut Souks, High rise construction near Manara, Place de l'etoile, Cafés in Downtown, Saifi Village
Beirut
–
Seal
Beirut
–
Canaanean Blade. Suggested to be part of a
javelin. Fresh grey
flint, both sides showing
pressure flaking. Somewhat narrower at the base, suggesting a
haft. Polished at the extreme point. Found on land of the Lebanese Evangelical School for Girls in the
Patriarchate area of Beirut.
Beirut
–
View of Beirut with snow-capped
Mount Sannine in the background – 19th century
20.
Ordination
–
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination vary by religion and denomination, one who is in preparation for, or who is undergoing the process of ordination is sometimes called an ordinand. The liturgy used at an ordination is sometimes referred to as an ordination, the tradition of the ordained monastic community began with the Buddha, who established orders of monks and later of nuns. The procedure of ordination in Buddhism is laid down in the Vinaya, permission was granted in 822 CE, seven days after Saicho died. The platform was finished in 827 CE at Enryaku-ji temple on Mount Hiei, pabbajja is an ordination procedure for novice Buddhist monks in the Theravada tradition. The legitimacy of fully ordained nuns has become a significant topic of discussion in recent years, however th 14th Dalai Lama has endeavored for many years to improve this situation. In Medieval Sōtō Zen, a tradition of ordination was developed to give the laity access to Zen funeral rites. Chinese Ch’an monastic codes, from which Japanese Sōtō practices were derived, contain only monastic funeral rites, to solve this problem, the Sōtō school developed the practice of ordaining laypeople after death, thus allowing monastic funeral rites to be used for them as well. The Buddhist ordination tradition of the New Kadampa Tradition-International Kadampa Buddhist Union is not the traditional Buddhist ordination and he is said to view them as a “practical condensation” of the 253 Vinaya vows of fully ordained monks. There are also no instructions and guidelines for the behaviour of monks. Because the behaviour of monks and nuns is not clearly defined “each Resident Teacher developed his or her own way of ‘disciplining’ monks, there are three degrees of ordination, deacon, presbyter, and bishop. Both bishops and presbyters are priests and have authority to celebrate the Eucharist, Ordination of a bishop is performed by several bishops, ordination of a priest or deacon is performed by a single bishop. The ordination of a new bishop is called a consecration. Many ancient sources specify that at least three bishops are necessary to consecrate another, e. g, only a person ordained to the priesthood may administer certain sacraments. The Catholic Church teaches that one bishop is sufficient to consecrate a new bishop validly, in most Christian denominations that retain the practice of ordination, only an already ordained bishop or the equivalent may ordain bishops, priests, and deacons. However, Canon Law requires that bishops always be consecrated with the mandate of the Roman Pontiff, moreover, at least three bishops are to perform the consecration, although the Apostolic See may dispense from this requirement in extraordinary circumstances. Those married deacons who become widowers have the possibility of seeking ordination to the priesthood in exceptional cases, the Roman Catholic Church has never recognized Anglican orders as valid. Anglicanism recognizes Roman Catholic and Orthodox ordinations, hence, clergy converting to Anglicanism are not re-ordained, some Eastern Orthodox churches recognize Roman Catholic ordinations while others re-ordain Roman Catholic clergy who convert
Ordination
–
Novitiate
Buddhist ordination
Ordination
–
Ordination of a
Catholic priest (pre-1968 form of the
Roman Rite).
Ordination
–
Ordination of an
Orthodox priest. The deacon being ordained is kneeling with the bishop's
omophorion over his head and is being blessed by the bishop straightway before the
Cheirotonia.
Ordination
–
Eastern Orthodox
subdeacon being ordained to the
diaconate. The
bishop has placed his
omophorion and right hand on the head of the candidate and is reading the Prayer of
Cheirotonia.
21.
Deacon
–
Deacon is a ministry in Christian Churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. In many traditions the diaconate, the term for an office, is a clerical office. The word deacon is derived from the Greek word diákonos, which is a standard ancient Greek word meaning servant, waiting-man, minister, or messenger. One commonly promulgated speculation as to its etymology is that it literally means through the dust, female deacons are mentioned by Pliny the Younger in a letter to the emperor Trajan dated c. The title deaconess is not found in the Bible, however, a woman, Phoebe, is mentioned at Romans 16, 1–2 as a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. Nothing more specific is said about her duties or authority, the exact relationship between male and female deacons varies. A biblical description of the qualities required of a deacon, and of his household, can be found in 1 Timothy 3, prominent historical figures who played major roles as deacons and went on to higher office include Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, Thomas Becket and Reginald Pole. On June 8, A. D.536 a serving Roman deacon was raised to Pope and his father, Pope Agapetus, had died and the office had been vacant for over a month. The title is used for the president, chairperson, or head of a trades guild in Scotland. The diaconate is one of the orders in the Catholic, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox. The other major orders are those of bishop and presbyter, the diaconate continued in a vestigial form as a temporary, final step along the course toward ordination to priesthood. In Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican churches, deacons assist priests in their pastoral and administrative duties and they have a distinctive role in the liturgy of the Eastern and Western Churches. In the Eastern Church, deacons have a profound presence in the Divine Liturgy. In the Western Church, Pope St. Today, deacons are also granted permission to preach, beginning around the fifth century, there was a gradual decline in the permanent diaconate in the Latin church. It has however remained a part of the Eastern Catholic Churches. These men are known as permanent deacons in contrast to those continuing their formation, there is no sacramental or canonical difference between the two, however, as there is only one order of deacons. The permanent diaconate formation period in the Roman Catholic Church varies from diocese to diocese as it is determined by the local ordinary, although they are assigned to work in a parish by the diocesan bishop, once assigned, deacons are under the supervision of the parish pastor. Unlike most clerics, permanent deacons who also have a profession have no right to receive a salary for their ministry
Deacon
–
Saint Stephen, one of the first seven deacons in the Christian Church, holding a
Gospel Book. Painting by
Giacomo Cavedone in 1601.
Deacon
–
Saint Peter
Deacon
–
In Poland, a
Catholic deacon chants the
Exsultet at the
Easter Vigil.
Deacon
–
Ornately embroidered dalmatic, the proper vestment of the deacon (shown from the back with an appareled
amice)
22.
Anastasius I (emperor)
–
Anastasius I was Eastern Roman Emperor from 491 to 518. His reign was characterized by substantive accomplishments, which were representative of emerging patterns of government, economy, Anastasius was born at Dyrrachium, the date is unknown, but he is thought to have been born no later than 430 or 431. He was born into an Illyrian family, the son of Pompeius, nobleman of Dyrrachium, before becoming emperor, Anastasius was a particularly successful administrator in the department of finance. Anastasius had one eye black and one eye blue, and for that reason he was nicknamed Dicorus, following the death of Zeno, there is strong evidence that many Roman citizens wanted both a Roman and an Orthodox Christian emperor. In the weeks following Zenos death, crowds gathered in Constantinople exclaiming Give the Empire an Orthodox Emperor, Give the Empire a Roman Emperor. Under such pressure, Ariadne, Zenos widow, turned to Anastasius I, Anastasius was in his sixties at the time of his ascension to the throne. Religiously, he was fairly overt in his sympathy for the Monophysites, consequently, as a condition of his rule, the Patriarch of Constantinople required that he pledge not to repudiate the Council of Chalcedon. It is noteworthy that Ariadne chose Anastasius over Zenos brother Longinus, the decision upset the Isaurians, but it also was not appreciated by the Blues and the Greens who had been patronized by Longinus. The Blues and Greens subsequently showed a tendency to riot and cause mayhem, Ariadne married Anastasius shortly after his accession on 20 May 491. His reign, though afterwards disturbed by foreign and internecine wars and religious distractions and he gained the popular favour by a judicious remission of taxation, and displayed great vigour and energy in administering the affairs of the Empire. Anastasius engaged in the Isaurian War against the usurper Longinus and the Anastasian War against Sassanid Persia, the Isaurian War was stirred up by the Isaurian supporters of Longinus, who was passed over in his succession in favor of Anastasius. The battle of Cotyaeum in 492 broke the back of the revolt, the warfare in the mountains seems to have been stalemated due largely to the Isaurians retaining of the Papirius Castle. In the Anastasian War, Theodosiopolis and Amida were captured by the Sassanids, but Persian provinces also suffered severely, both adversaries were exhausted when peace was made in 506 on the basis of the status quo. Anastasius afterward built the fortress of Daras to hold the Persians in check in Nisibis. The following year, Vitalian started a rebellion, quickly defeating an imperial army, with the army closing in, Anastasius I gave Vitalian the title of commander of the Army of Thrace and began communicating with the pope regarding a potential end to the Acacian schism. Two years later, general Marinus attacked Vitalian and forced him, following the end of this conflict, Emperor Anastasius had undisputed control of the Empire until his death in 518. Additionally, during his reign, the Roman eastern frontier underwent extensive re-fortification, including the construction of Dara, also during his reign, one of the most fortified castle cities on the Adriatic, Durrës Castle in Dyrrachium, was constructed. Though a Christian, he was the last Roman Emperor to be deified on his death, however, two of his nephews sat on the same couch, and the one with the concealed message remained empty
Anastasius I (emperor)
–
Semissis of Emperor Anastasius.
Anastasius I (emperor)
–
The
Barberini ivory, a 6th-century ivory diptych representing either Anastasius or
Justinian I.
23.
Anastasius II (emperor)
–
Anastasius, known in English as Anastasios II or Anastasius II, was the Byzantine Emperor from 713 to 715. Anastasios was originally named Artemius and had served as a bureaucrat, after the Opsician army in Thrace had overthrown Emperor Philippikos Bardanes, they acclaimed Artemius as Emperor. He chose Anastasius as his regnal name, soon after his accession, Anastasius II imposed discipline on the army and executed those officers who had been directly involved in the conspiracy against Philippikos. Anastasios upheld the decisions of the Sixth Ecumenical Council and deposed the Monothelete Patriarch John VI of Constantinople and this also put an end to the short-lived local schism with the Catholic Church. The advancing Umayyad Caliphate surrounded the Empire by land and sea and his emissaries having failed in Damascus, he undertook the restoration of Constantinoples walls and the rebuilding of the Roman fleet. However, the death of the Caliph al-Walid I in 715 gave Anastasius an opportunity to turn the tables on his rival. These troops of the Opsician theme, resenting the Emperors strict measures, mutinied, slew the admiral John, and proclaimed as emperor Theodosius III, a tax-collector of low extraction. In 719, Anastasios headed a revolt against Leo III, who had succeeded Theodosius, receiving considerable support, however the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor, who offers this information elsewhere, confuses Tervel with his eventual successor Kormesiy, so perhaps Anastasios was allied with the younger ruler. In any case, the rebel forces advanced on Constantinople, the enterprise failed, and Anastasios fell into Leos hands and was put to death by his orders. List of Byzantine emperors Ostrogorsky, George, the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press,1991. Media related to Anastasius II at Wikimedia Commons
Anastasius II (emperor)
–
A coin of Anastasios II
24.
Karl Krumbacher
–
Karl Krumbacher was a German scholar who was an expert on Byzantine Greek language, literature, history and culture. He was one of the founders of Byzantine Studies as an independent academic discipline in modern universities. Krumbacher was born at Kürnach im Allgäu in the Kingdom of Bavaria and he studied Classical Philology and Indo-European linguistics at the Universities of Munich and Leipzig. In 1879 he passed the State Exam and was active as a school teacher until 1891. In 1883 he gain his doctorate and in 1885 his Habilitation in Medieval, Krumbacher founded the Byzantinische Zeitschrift, the oldest academic journal of Byzantine Studies, and the Byzantinisches Archiv. His collaborator at the time was Božidar Prokić, the renowned Belgrade Byzantinist and he died in Munich in 1909. His successor as Professor of Byzantine Studies was August Heisenberg, father of physicist Werner Heisenberg and his most important work is Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur von Justinian bis zum Ende des oströmischen Reiches in 1891. A second edition was published in 1897, with the collaboration of Albert Ehrhard, the value of the work was greatly enhanced by its lengthy bibliographies and it remained a standard textbook for decades. Krumbachers extensive travels in Greece and the Ottoman Empire became the basis of his Griechische Reise and his notable works include studies of the poetry of Michael Glykas and Kassia and Populäre Aufsätze. In Das Problem der neugriechischen Schriftsprache he strongly opposed the efforts of the Katharevousa purists to introduce the style into modern Greek language. A full list of his works was published in the edition of Byzantinische Zeitschrift. Alexander Kazhdan K. Dieterich, Zum Gedächtnis an Karl Krumbacher, Neue Jahrbücher für das klassische Altertum, a. Heisenberg, Karl Krumbacher, Allgäuer Geschichtsfreund NF24 1–26. F. Dölger, Karl Krumbacher in Chalikes, festgabe für die Teilnehmer am XI. Festgabe für die Teilnehmer am XI, P. Wirth, Krumbacher, Karl in M. Bernath and K. Nehring Biographisches Lexikon zur Geschichte Südosteuropas. Zum Gründungsjahr des Münchner Seminars für Mittel- und Neugriechische Philologie in H. Lamm,40 Jahre Deutsch-Griechische Gesellschaft, Germano-Helleniko Syllogos, P. Schreiner and E. Vogt, Karl Krumbacher. Works written by or about Karl Krumbacher at Wikisource Literature by and about Karl Krumbacher in the German National Library catalogue Themenportal bei Propylaeum
Karl Krumbacher
–
Karl Krumbacher
25.
Sacristan
–
A sacristan is an officer charged with care of the sacristy, the church, and their contents. In ancient times, many duties of the sacristan were performed by the doorkeepers, and later by the treasurers and mansionarii. The Decretals of Gregory IX speak of the sacristan as if he had an office attached to a certain benefice. Nowadays the sacristan is elected or appointed, the under-sacristan is also mentioned in the Decretals. He was the assistant of the sacristan, was subject to the archdeacon, by the early twentieth century the office was hardly ever attached to a benefice and so usually a salaried position. Altar societies were once commonly organised within most Catholic parish churches, in the Eastern Churches, the sacristan is known as the ecclesiarch, particularly in monasteries. In large monasteries he may be assigned an assistant known as the paraecclesiarch, an analogous office is that of the skeuophylax. In parishes, however, the sacristan is called church sexton, in addition to the tasks and responsibilities mentioned above, if an individual has a message for the priest while serving in the sanctuary, it is given to the sexton to give to the priest or deacon. Many Christian faith schools appoint sacristans as members of their bodies, particularly in British public schools. For instance, The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, Sacristans aid the school’s chaplain in day-to-day running of the chapel and promotion of a Christian ethos in the school. In terms of seniority, they are regarded as second only to the school captains. In the Old Testament, the office and duties of the sacristan are assigned to the Levites,1 Chronicles 23-26 describes how David assigned them duties such as temple doorkeepers, guardians, singers and musicians. Verger Goggin, John Francis, Kelly, Blanche Mary, media related to Sacristans at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of sacristan at Wiktionary
Sacristan
–
A sacristan
26.
Hagia Sophia
–
Hagia Sophia was a Greek Orthodox Christian patriarchal basilica, later an imperial mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. The building was converted into an Ottoman mosque from 29 May 1453 until 1931. It was then secularized and opened as a museum on 1 February 1935, famous in particular for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to have changed the history of architecture. It remained the worlds largest cathedral for nearly a thousand years and it was designed by the Greek geometers Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles. The church contained a collection of relics and featured, among other things. In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Empire under Mehmed the Conqueror, by that point, the church had fallen into a state of disrepair. Nevertheless, the Christian cathedral made an impression on the new Ottoman rulers. Islamic features—such as the mihrab, minbar, and four minarets—were added and it remained a mosque until 1931, when it was closed to the public for four years. It was re-opened in 1935 as a museum by the Republic of Turkey, Hagia Sophia was, as of 2014, the second-most visited museum in Turkey, attracting almost 3.3 million visitors annually. According to data released by the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry, from its initial conversion until the construction of the nearby Sultan Ahmed Mosque in 1616, it was the principal mosque of Istanbul. The first church on the site was known as the Μεγάλη Ἐκκλησία, or in Latin Magna Ecclesia, inaugurated on 15 February 360 by the Arian bishop Eudoxius of Antioch, it was built next to the area where the imperial palace was being developed. The nearby Hagia Eirene church was completed earlier and served as cathedral until the Great Church was completed, both churches acted together as the principal churches of the Byzantine Empire. Writing in 440, Socrates of Constantinople claimed that the church was built by Constantius II, a tradition which is not older than the 7th or 8th century, reports that the edifice was built by Constantine the Great. Zonaras reconciles the two opinions, writing that Constantius had repaired the edifice consecrated by Eusebius of Nicomedia, after it had collapsed. Since Eusebius was bishop of Constantinople from 339 to 341, and Constantine died in 337, the edifice was built as a traditional Latin colonnaded basilica with galleries and a wooden roof. It was preceded by an atrium and it was claimed to be one of the worlds most outstanding monuments at the time. The Patriarch of Constantinople John Chrysostom came into a conflict with Empress Aelia Eudoxia, wife of the emperor Arcadius, during the subsequent riots, this first church was largely burned down. Nothing remains of the first church today, a second church on the site was ordered by Theodosius II, who inaugurated it on 10 October 415
Hagia Sophia
–
A view of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia
27.
Justinian
–
Justinian I, traditionally known as Justinian the Great and also Saint Justinian the Great in the Eastern Orthodox Church, was a Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the empires greatness, because of his restoration activities, Justinian has sometimes been called the last Roman in modern historiography. This ambition was expressed by the recovery of the territories of the defunct western Roman Empire. His general, Belisarius, swiftly conquered the Vandal kingdom in North Africa, the prefect Liberius reclaimed the south of the Iberian peninsula, establishing the province of Spania. These campaigns re-established Roman control over the western Mediterranean, increasing the Empires annual revenue by over a million solidi, during his reign Justinian also subdued the Tzani, a people on the east coast of the Black Sea that had never been under Roman rule before. A still more resonant aspect of his legacy was the rewriting of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis. His reign also marked a blossoming of Byzantine culture, and his building program yielded such masterpieces as the church of Hagia Sophia, a devastating outbreak of bubonic plague in the early 540s marked the end of an age of splendour. Justinian was born in Tauresium around 482, a native speaker of Latin, he came from a peasant family believed to have been of Illyro-Roman or Thraco-Roman origins. The cognomen Iustinianus, which he later, is indicative of adoption by his uncle Justin. During his reign, he founded Justiniana Prima not far from his birthplace and his mother was Vigilantia, the sister of Justin. Justin, who was in the guard before he became emperor, adopted Justinian, brought him to Constantinople. As a result, Justinian was well educated in jurisprudence, theology, Justinian served for some time with the Excubitors but the details of his early career are unknown. Chronicler John Malalas, who lived during the reign of Justinian, tells of his appearance that he was short, fair skinned, curly haired, round faced, another contemporary chronicler, Procopius, compares Justinians appearance to that of tyrannical Emperor Domitian, although this is probably slander. When Emperor Anastasius died in 518, Justin was proclaimed the new emperor, during Justins reign, Justinian was the emperors close confidant. As Justin became senile near the end of his reign, Justinian became the de facto ruler, Justinian was appointed consul in 521 and later commander of the army of the east. Upon Justins death on 1 August 527, Justinian became the sole sovereign, as a ruler, Justinian showed great energy. He was known as the emperor who never sleeps on account of his work habits, nevertheless, he seems to have been amiable and easy to approach. Around 525, he married his mistress, Theodora, in Constantinople and she was by profession a courtesan and some twenty years his junior
Justinian
–
Detail of a contemporary portrait mosaic in the
Basilica of San Vitale,
Ravenna.
Justinian
–
The ancient town of
Tauresium, the birthplace of Justinian I, located in today's
Republic of Macedonia.
Justinian
–
The
Barberini Ivory, which is thought to portray either Justinian or
Anastasius I
Justinian
–
An older Justinian; mosaic in
Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna (possibly a modified portrait of
Theodoric).
28.
Kyriakos
–
Saint Cyriacus the Anchorite was born in Corinth in the year 448. His father was a priest named John and his mothers name was Eudoxia, Cyriacus had Bishop Peter of Corinth for a relative, who made Cyriacus a reader in church. Cyriacuss studies of the Scriptures encouraged him to want what the culture deemed a pure, after visiting holy places of Christianity, Cyriacus dwelt for several months at a monastery not far from Sion. This placed him in obedience to Hegumenos Abba Eustorgius, with his support he made his way to the wilderness Lavra of St. Euthymius the Great. St. Euthymius was impressed by him and tonsured him into the monastic schema and he then pursued asceticism at the Jordan in the monastery of St. Theoctistus. Gerasimus, seeing that Cyriacus was still young, ordered him to live in the community with the brethren. Gerasimus became something of a mentor to the man and each Sunday imparted the Holy Mysteries of his faith to his disciple. The young monk took to monastic obediences, he prayed fervently, he slept little, he ate food only every other day, after the death of Gerasimos, the twenty-seven-year-old Cyriacus intended to return to the Lavra of Euthymios, but he had since died. Therefore, Cyriacus asked for a cell where he pursued asceticism in silence. During this period he communicated only with the monk Thomas, later even that ended as Thomas was sent to Alexandria where he was consecrated bishop. This meant Cyriacus spent ten years in total silence, at 37 years of age he was ordained to the diaconate. When a split occurred between the monasteries of Euthymius and Theoctistus, Cyriacus withdrew to the Souka monastery of St. Chariton, at this monastery they received even tonsured monks as novices, and so was Cyriacus received. He toiled at the regular monastic obediences, after several years, Cyriacus was ordained priest and chosen canonarch and did this obedience for eighteen years. He would spend thirty years at the monastery of St. Chariton, strict fasting and devotion distinguished Cyriacus even among the ascetics of the Lavra. In his cell each night he read the Psalter, interrupting the reading only to go to church at midnight, when the monk reached seventy years of age, he went to the Natoufa wilderness taking with him his disciple John. In the desert the hermits fed themselves only with bitter herbs, after five years one of the inhabitants found out about the ascetics and brought to them his son and Cyriacus reportedly healed him. From that time people began to approach the monk with their needs, but he sought complete solitude and fled to the Rouva wilderness. But the sick still came for him so he helped who he could, at his 80th year of life Cyriacus fled to the hidden Sousakim wilderness, where two dried up streams passed by
Kyriakos
–
Orthodox icon of Saint Kyriakos.
Kyriakos
–
Miniature from the
Menologion of Basil II
29.
Reader (liturgy)
–
In some Christian churches, the reader is responsible for reading aloud excerpts of the scripture at a liturgy. In early Christian times, the reader was of value due to the rarity of literacy. In the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, the term lector or reader can mean someone who in a liturgy is assigned to read a Biblical text other than the Gospel. But it also has the specific meaning of a person who has been instituted as a lector or reader. This is the meaning in which the term is used in this article, in this sense, the office was formerly classed as one of the four minor orders and in recent centuries was generally conferred only on those preparing for ordination to the priesthood. With effect from 1 January 1973, the apostolic letter Ministeria quaedam of 15 August 1972 decreed instead that, What up to now were called minor orders are henceforth to be called ministries. Ministries may be assigned to lay Christians, hence they are no longer to be considered as reserved to candidates for the sacrament of orders, two ministries, adapted to present-day needs, are to be preserved in the whole Latin Church, namely, those of reader and acolyte. The functions heretofore assigned to the subdeacon are entrusted to the reader, the reader is appointed for a function proper to him, that of reading the word of God in the liturgical assembly. He may also, insofar as may be necessary, take care of preparing other faithful who are appointed on a basis to read the Scriptures in liturgical celebrations. That he may more fittingly and perfectly fulfill these functions, he is to meditate assiduously on sacred Scripture, instituted lectors, who are all men, are obliged, when proclaiming the readings at Mass, to wear an alb. Like other lay ministers, they may wear an alb or other suitable attire that has been approved by the Conference of Bishops. Neither the England and Wales episcopal conference nor that of the United States has specified a particular alternative attire, the General Instruction thus makes no distinction between men and women for proclaiming the scriptural readings in the absence of an instituted lector. In its sections the same document lists the lectors specific duties at Mass, traditionalist Catholic organizations such as the Priestly Fraternity of St. The controversial Society of St. Pius X and other traditionalist Catholic bodies in dispute with the Holy See, such as sedevacantists, in the Eastern Orthodox Church and in the Eastern Catholic Churches of Byzantine tradition, the reader is the second highest of the minor orders of clergy. This order is higher than the Doorkeeper and lower than the subdeacon, due to this fact, it often falls to the reader within a parish to construct the variable parts of the divine services according to the often very complicated rules. This can lead to an intimate knowledge of the structure of. There is a service for the ordination of a reader. Immediately before ordination as a reader, the candidate is tonsured as a sign of his submission and it is a separate act from ordination
Reader (liturgy)
–
Portrait of a
Russian Orthodox church reader (1878).
Reader (liturgy)
–
Tonsuring of readers in a seminary by a Russian Orthodox bishop. The readers being ordained are wearing the short phelon (in white).
Reader (liturgy)
–
The ordination of a reader in Finland.
30.
Patriarch of Constantinople
–
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in world history. The ecumenical patriarchs in ancient times helped in the spread of Christianity, in the Middle Ages they played a major role in the affairs of the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as in the politics of the Orthodox world, and in spreading Christianity among the Slavs. Within the five sees of the Pentarchy, the Ecumenical Patriarch is regarded as the successor of Andrew the Apostle. The current holder of the office is Bartholomew I, the 270th holder of the title, in his role as head of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, he also holds the title Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome. The see of Byzantium, whose foundation was ascribed to Andrew the Apostle, was originally a common bishopric. It gained importance when Emperor Constantine elevated Byzantium to a second capital alongside Rome, the sees ecclesiastical status as the second of five Patriarchates were developed by the Ecumenical Councils of Constantinople in 381 and Chalcedon in 451. The Turkish government recognizes him as the leader of the Greek minority in Turkey. The Patriarch was subject to the authority of the Ottoman Empire after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, today, according to Turkish law, he is subject to the authority of the state of Turkey and is required to be a citizen of Turkey to be Patriarch. The Patriarch of Constantinople has been dubbed the Ecumenical Patriarch since the 6th century, the monastic communities of Mount Athos are stauropegic and are directly under the jurisdiction of Ecumenical Patriarch, who is the only bishop with jurisdiction thereover. The Ecumenical Patriarch has a role among Orthodox bishops, though it is not without its controversy. He is primus inter pares, as he is senior among all Orthodox bishops and this primacy, expressed in canonical literature as presbeia, grants to the Ecumenical Patriarch the right to preside at pan-Orthodox synods. Additionally, the literature of the Orthodox Church grants to the Ecumenical Patriarch the right to hear appeals in cases of dispute between bishops. Historically, the Ecumenical Patriarch has heard such appeals and sometimes was invited to intervene in other disputes and difficulties. Even as early as the 4th century, Constantinople was instrumental in the deposition of multiple bishops outside its traditional jurisdiction. This still occurs today, as when in 2006 the patriarchate was invited to assist in declaring the archbishop of the Church of Cyprus incompetent due to his having Alzheimers disease. Additionally, in 2005, the Ecumenical Patriarchate convoked a synod to express the Orthodox worlds confirmation of the deposition of Patriarch Irenaios of Jerusalem. That is, his role is one of promoting and sustaining Church unity. Such a title is acceptable if it refers to this unique role, the five patriarchs of the ancient Pentarchy are to be given seniority of honour, but have no actual power over other bishops other than the power of the synod they are chairing
Patriarch of Constantinople
Patriarch of Constantinople
–
Ecumenical Patriarch of
Constantinople
Patriarch of Constantinople
–
Emblem found atop the front entrance of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Patriarch of Constantinople
–
Throne room inside the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The
Gospel is enthroned on the
dais; the Patriarch sits on the lower throne in front.
31.
Church of St. Mary of Blachernae (Istanbul)
–
Saint Mary of Blachernae is an Eastern Orthodox church in Istanbul. The church is located in Istanbul, in the district of Fatih, in the neighbourhood of Ayvansaray and it lies a few hundred meters inside the walled city, at a short distance from the shore of the Golden Horn. The building is protected by a wall, and preceded by a garden. In 450, Empress Aelia Pulcheria started to build a church near a fountain of water situated outside the walls of Theodosius II at the foot of the sixth hill of Constantinople. After her death in 453, the shrine was completed by her husband, during the first quarter of the 6th century, Emperors Justin I and Justinian I restored and enlarged the church. The name of Blachernae may come from old name of Romanians and from a colony of vlachs Saint Mary hosted a famous icon of the Virgin. It was painted on wood and revetted with gold and silver and this icon and the relics of the Virgin kept in the parekklesion were considered by the Byzantines as most powerful talismans, useful during a war or in case of natural disasters. The first proof of the power of these came in 626. During that year Constantinople was besieged by the armies of the Avars. The son of the Emperor, Constantine, together with Patriarch Sergius, some time later the fleet of the Avars was destroyed. The Khan of the Avars afterwards said that he had been frightened by the vision of a woman adorned with jewels scouring the walls. After the end of the siege, the Byzantines learned with joy that the building of the church, when the victorious Heraclius came back to Constantinople, bringing back the True Cross which had been captured by the Persians in Jerusalem, the Patriarch received him at Saint Mary. Sometime later, the Emperor built a wall to protect the church. The protection of the Virgin of the Blachernae was also credited with the Byzantine victories during the Arab siege of 717-718, and in 860, during the invasion of the Rus. In this occasion, the Veil of the Virgin, which by that time had joined the other relics in the church, was plunged in the sea to invoke the protection of God on the fleet. Some days later the Rus fleet was destroyed, in 926 too, during the war against Simeon of Bulgaria, the potency of the relics of the Virgin helped convince the Bulgarian Tsar to negotiate with the Byzantines instead of assaulting the City. On August 15,944, the church received other two important objects, the written by King Abgar V of Edessa to Jesus and the Mandylion. Both relics were moved to the Church of the Virgin of the Pharos
Church of St. Mary of Blachernae (Istanbul)
–
The modern church viewed from north
Church of St. Mary of Blachernae (Istanbul)
–
The Hagiasma of Blachernae in a drawing of 1877, from A.G. Paspates' Byzantine topographical studies
Church of St. Mary of Blachernae (Istanbul)
–
Map of Constantinople around 1420, after
Cristoforo Buondelmonti. The District of Blachernae can be seen on the center left part of the map, surrounded on two sides by the walls of the City, below the Golden Horn.
Church of St. Mary of Blachernae (Istanbul)
–
The alleged Blachernitissa
Icon of the
Theotokos, kept in
Dormition Cathedral in the
Moscow Kremlin.
32.
Blachernae
–
Blachernae was a suburb in the northwestern section of Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire. It is the site of a source and a number of prominent churches were built there, most notably the great Church of St. Mary of Blachernae. 450, expanded by Emperor Leo I and renovated by Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century, Gherghel compared data from old historians like Genesios and from the Greek lexicon Suidas and mentioned the existence of a small colony of Vlachs in the area of today Blachernae. By that time, the church had become the major Marian shrine of the city, in 1347, Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos was crowned there, instead of at Hagia Sophia. South of the church and situated on the citys Seventh Hill stood the imperial Palace of Blachernae, during the Komnenian period, it became the favourite imperial residence, eclipsing the older Great Palace of Constantinople on the eastern end of the city. Although the Latin emperors returned to the Bucoleon Palace, the Palaiologos emperors of the restored Byzantine Empire again used the Blachernae Palace as their main residence. The Palace of the Porphyrogenitus and the so-called Prison of Anemas are the surviving structures of the Palace of Blachernae. During the Byzantine Papacy, the portion of the Aventine overlooking the Greek quarter of Rome became known as the ad Balcernas or Blachernas, the historic Blachernae area is in the present-day Istanbul quarter known as Ayvansaray. The sacred spring, associated with the Virgin Mary, can still be visited today, in Turkish it is named Ayazma, atik Mustafa Pasha Mosque Blachernitissa Blanquerna The Protection of the Mother of God Gherghel, Ilie. Cateva consideratiuni la cuprinsul notiunii cuvantului Vlach, Gherghel on etymology Church of Panagia of Blachernae 3D Reconstruction of the Blachernae Walls at the Byzantium 1200 Project
Blachernae
–
Our Lady of Blachernae, an
icon of the
Theotokos from the church of the Blachernae.
Blachernae
–
Byzantine emperor Theophilus (r. 829–842), on horseback, visits the Church of St. Mary in the Constantinopolitan suburb of Blachernae.
33.
Christmas Day
–
In several countries, celebrating Christmas Eve on December 24 has the main focus rather than December 25, with gift-giving and sharing a traditional meal with the family. Although the month and date of Jesus birth are unknown, by the fourth century the Western Christian Church had placed Christmas on December 25. Today, most Christians celebrate on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar and this is not a disagreement over the date of Christmas as such, but rather a preference of which calendar should be used to determine the day that is December 25. Although it is not known why December 25 became a date of celebration, December 25 was the date the Romans marked as the winter solstice, the shortest, and therefore darkest day of the year. Jesus was identified with the Sun based on an Old Testament verse, the date is exactly nine months following Annunciation, when the conception of Jesus is celebrated. Finally, the Romans had a series of pagan festivals near the end of the year, so Christmas may have been scheduled at this time to appropriate, or compete with, one or more of these festivals. The celebratory customs associated in various countries with Christmas have a mix of pre-Christian, Christian, the economic impact of Christmas has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world. Christmas is a form of Christs mass. It is derived from the Middle English Cristemasse, which is from Old English Crīstesmæsse, crīst is from Greek Khrīstos, a translation of Hebrew Māšîaḥ, Messiah, meaning anointed, and mæsse is from Latin missa, the celebration of the Eucharist. The form Christenmas was also used, but is now considered archaic and dialectal, it derives from Middle English Cristenmasse. In addition to Christmas, the holiday has been known by other names throughout its history. The Anglo-Saxons referred to the feast as midwinter, or, more rarely, Nativity, meaning birth, is from Latin nātīvitās. In Old English, Gēola referred to the corresponding to December and January. Noel entered English in the late 14th century and is from the Old French noël or naël, itself ultimately from the Latin nātālis, the canonical gospels of Luke and Matthew both describe Jesus as being born in Bethlehem in Judea, to a virgin mother. In the Gospel of Luke account, Joseph and Mary travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census and it says that angels proclaimed him a savior for all people, and shepherds came to adore him. In the Matthew account, magi follow a star to Bethlehem to bring gifts to Jesus, King Herod orders the massacre of all the boys less than two years old in Bethlehem, but the family flees to Egypt and later settles in Nazareth. The Nativity stories of Matthew and Luke are prominent in the gospels, the first recorded Christmas celebration was in Rome in 336. Christmas played a role in the Arian controversy of the fourth century, the feast regained prominence after 800, when Charlemagne was crowned emperor on Christmas Day
Christmas Day
–
A
depiction of the
Nativity of Jesus with a
Christmas tree backdrop
Christmas Day
–
Adoration of the Shepherds by Gerard van Honthorst depicts the nativity of
Jesus
Christmas Day
–
Eastern Orthodox icon of the birth of Christ by
St. Andrei Rublev, 15th century
Christmas Day
–
Nativity of Christ – medieval illustration from the
Hortus deliciarum of
Herrad of Landsberg (12th century)
34.
Kathisma
–
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
Kathisma
–
Page from the
Tomić Psalter,
Bulgarian, 1360.
Kathisma
–
Sofia Psalter, 1337.
Kathisma
–
Wooden kathismata at the old Orthodox church in
Sarajevo. The taller kathisma with gilded
baldachin is for the bishop.
35.
Psalter
–
A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the later emergence of the book of hours, psalters were the books most widely owned by wealthy lay persons and were commonly used for learning to read. Many Psalters were richly illuminated and they include some of the most spectacular surviving examples of book art. The English term is from Church Latin psalterium, which is simply the name of the Book of Psalms, the Book of Psalms contains the bulk of the Divine Office of the Roman Catholic Church. The other books associated with it were the Lectionary, the Antiphonary, and Responsoriale, in Late Modern English, psalter has mostly ceased to refer to the Book of Psalms and mostly refers to the dedicated physical volumes containing this text. The extensively illustrated Utrecht Psalter is one of the most important surviving Carolingian manuscripts, various different schemes existed for the arrangement of the Psalms into groups. As well as the 150 Psalms, medieval psalters often included a calendar, a litany of saints, canticles from the Old and New Testaments, many psalters were lavishly illuminated with full-page miniatures as well as decorated initials. Of the initials the most important is normally the so-called Beatus initial and this was usually given the most elaborate decoration in an illuminated psalter, often taking a whole page for the initial letter or first two words. Such images helped to enhance the status, and also served as aids to contemplation in the practice of personal devotions. The psalter is also a part of either the Horologion or the breviary, non-illuminated psalters written in Coptic include some of the earliest surviving codices altogether, the earliest Coptic psalter predates the earliest Western one by more than a century. The Mudil Psalter, the oldest complete Coptic psalter, dates to the 5th century and it was found in the Al-Mudil Coptic cemetery in a small town near Beni Suef, Egypt. The codex was in the grave of a girl, open. Scholar John Gee has argued that this represents a continuation of the ancient Egyptian tradition of placing the Book of the Dead in tombs. The Pahlavi Psalter is a fragment of a Middle Persian translation of a Syriac version of the Book of Psalms, in Eastern Christianity, the Book of Psalms for liturgical purposes is divided into 20 kathismata or sittings, for reading at Vespers and Matins. Kathisma means sitting, since the people normally sit during the reading of the psalms, each kathisma is divided into three stases, from stasis, to stand, because each stasis ends with Glory to the Father…, at which everyone stands. The reading of the kathismata are so arranged that the psalter is read through in the course of a week. During Bright Week there is no reading from the Psalms, Orthodox psalters usually also contain the Biblical canticles, which are read at the canon of Matins during Great Lent. The established Orthodox tradition of Christian burial has included reading the Psalms in the church throughout the vigil, some Orthodox psalters also contain special prayers for the departed for this purpose
Psalter
–
Carolingian Psalter (facsimile)
Psalter
–
Folio 15b of the
Utrecht Psalter illustrates Psalm 27
Psalter
–
The Mudil Psalter, the oldest complete psalter in the Coptic language (
Coptic Museum, Egypt,
Coptic Cairo).
Psalter
–
Initials from the beginning of psalms in the
St. Albans Psalter.
36.
Choir (architecture)
–
A choir, also sometimes called quire, is the area of a church or cathedral that provides seating for the clergy and church choir. It is in the part of the chancel, between the nave and the sanctuary, which houses the altar and Church tabernacle. In larger medieval churches it contained choir-stalls, seating aligned with the side of the church, in modern churches, the choir may be located centrally behind the altar, or the pulpit. The back-choir or retro-choir is a space behind the altar in the choir of a church. In the Early Church, the sanctuary was connected directly to the nave, the choir was simply the east part of the nave, and was fenced off by a screen or low railing, called cancelli, which is where the English word chancel comes from. The word choir is first used by members of the Latin Church, isidore of Seville and Honorius of Autun write that the term is derived from the corona, the circle of clergy or singers who surrounded the altar. When first introduced, the choir was attached to the bema, the platform in the center of the nave on which were placed seats for the higher clergy. This arrangement can still be observed at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, over time, the bema and choir moved eastward to their current position. In some churches the choir is arranged in the apse behind the altar, the architectural details of the choir developed in response to its function as the place where the Divine Office was chanted by the monastic brotherhood or the chapter of canons. The chancel was regarded as the part of the church. The pulpit and lectern are also found at the front of the choir. The organ may be located here, or in a loft elsewhere in the church, some cathedrals have a retro-choir behind the High Altar, opening eastward towards the chapels in the eastern extremity. After the Reformation Protestant churches generally moved the forward, typically to the front of the chancel. The choir and rear of deep chancels became little used in churches surviving from the Middle Ages, with the emphasis on sermons, and their audibility, some churches simply converted their chancels to seat part of the congregation. The choir area is occupied by sometimes finely carved and decorated wooden seats known as choir stalls, the choir may be furnished either with long benches or individual choir stalls. There may be several rows of seating running parallel to the walls of the church, the use of choir stalls is more traditional in monasteries and collegiate churches. Monastic choir stalls are often fitted with seats that fold up when the monastics stand, often the hinged seat will have a misericord on the underside on which he can lean while standing during the long services. The upper part of the stall is so shaped as to provide a headrest while sitting
Choir (architecture)
–
The choir of
Bristol Cathedral, with the nave seen through the chancel screen, so looking west
Choir (architecture)
–
The placement of the choir within a large Latin cross church.
Choir (architecture)
–
The Choir at the
Palencia Catedral, an example of a dedicated monastic choir.
Choir (architecture)
37.
Theotokos
–
Theotokos is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations, Dei Genetrix or Deipara, are translated as Mother of God or God-bearer, the Council of Ephesus decreed in 431 that Mary is the Theotokos because her son Jesus is both God and man, one divine person with two natures intimately and hypostatically united. Similar to this is the title of Mother of God, Mother of God is most often used in English, largely due to the lack of a satisfactory equivalent of Greek τόκος / Latin genetrix. The title has been in use since the 3rd century, in the Syriac tradition in the Liturgy of Mari and Addai, Theotokos is an adjectival compound of two the Greek words Θεός God and τόκος childbirth, parturition, offspring. A close paraphrase would be whose offspring is God or who gave birth to one who was God, the usual English translation is simply Mother of God, Latin uses Deipara or Dei Genetrix. The Church Slavonic translation is Bogoroditsa, in an abbreviated form, ΜΡ ΘΥ, it often is found on Eastern icons, where it is used to identify Mary. The Russian term is Матерь Божия, variant forms are the compounds Θεομήτωρ and Μητρόθεος, which are found in patristic and liturgical texts. The theological dispute over the term concerned the term Θεός God vs. Χριστός Christ, and not τόκος vs. μήτηρ, to make it explicit, it is sometimes translated Mother of God Incarnate. This decree created the Nestorian Schism, Cyril of Alexandria wrote, I am amazed that there are some who are entirely in doubt as to whether the holy Virgin should be called Theotokos or not. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how is the holy Virgin who gave birth, not. But the argument of Nestorius was that divine and human natures of Christ were distinct, at issue is the interpretation of the Incarnation, and the nature of the hypostatic union of Christs human and divine natures between Christs conception and birth. Within the Orthodox doctrinal teaching on the economy of salvation, Marys identity, role, for this reason, it is formally defined as official dogma. The only other Mariological teaching so defined is that of her virginity, both of these teachings have a bearing on the identity of Jesus Christ. The term was certainly in use by the 3rd century, athanasius of Alexandria in 330, Gregory the Theologian in 370, John Chrysostom in 400, and Augustine all used theotokos. Origen is often cited as the earliest author to use theotokos for Mary, although this testimony is uncertain, the term was used c.250 by Dionysius of Alexandria, in an epistle to Paul of Samosata. The Greek version of the hymn Sub tuum praesidium contains the term, in the vocative, the oldest record of this hymn is a papyrus found in Egypt, mostly dated to after 450. But according to a suggestion by de Villiers possibly older, dating to the mid-3rd century, the use of Theotokos was formally affirmed at the Third Ecumenical Council held at Ephesus in 431. Nestorius opponents, led by Cyril of Alexandria, viewed this as dividing Jesus into two persons, the human who was Son of Mary, and the divine who was not
Theotokos
–
An 18th-century Russian icon depicting various types of the Theotokos icons
Theotokos
–
Theotokos of Kazan
Theotokos
–
A series of articles on
Theotokos
–
Theotokos of Vladimir
38.
Pulpit
–
Pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin pulpitum, the traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accessed by steps, with sides coming to about waist height. From the late medieval period onwards, pulpits have often had a known as the sounding board or abat-voix above and sometimes also behind the speaker. Though sometimes highly decorated, this is not purely decorative, most pulpits have one or more book-stands for the preacher to rest his or her bible, notes or texts upon. The pulpit is generally reserved for clergy and this is mandated in the regulations of the Roman Catholic church, and several others. Even in Welsh Nonconformism, this was appropriate, and in some chapels a second pulpit was built opposite the main one for lay exhortations, testimonials. Many churches have a second, smaller stand called the lectern, which can be used by lay persons, equivalent platforms for speakers are the bema of Ancient Greece and Jewish synagogues, and the minbar of Islamic mosques. From the pulpit is often used metaphorically for something which is said with official church authority, in many Christian churches, there are two speakers stands at the front of the church. Often, the one on the left is called the pulpit, since the Gospel lesson is often read from the pulpit, the pulpit side of the church is sometimes called the gospel side. In both Catholic and Protestant churches the pulpit may be located closer to the congregation in the nave, either on the nave side of the crossing. This is especially the case in churches, to ensure the preacher can be heard by all the congregation. Fixed seating for the congregation came relatively late in the history of church architecture, fixed seating facing forward in the nave and modern electric amplification has tended to reduce the use of pulpits in the middle of the nave. Outdoor pulpits, usually attached to the exterior of the church, if attached to the outside wall of a church, these may be entered from a doorway in the wall, or by steps outside. The other speakers stand, usually on the right, is known as the lectern, the word lectern comes from the Latin word lectus, past participle of legere, meaning to read, because the lectern primarily functions as a reading stand. It is typically used by lay people to read the lessons, to lead the congregation in prayer. Because the epistle lesson is read from the lectern, the lectern side of the church is sometimes called the epistle side. In other churches, the lectern, from which the Epistle is read, is located to the congregations left, though unusual, movable pulpits with wheels were also found in English churches. A portable outside pulpit of wood and canvas was used by John Wesley, modern synagougue bemas are often similar in form to centrally-placed pulpits in Evangelical churches
Pulpit
–
Pulpit at
Blenduk Church in
Semarang, Indonesia, with large
sounding board and cloth
antependium
Pulpit
–
"Two-decker" pulpit in an abandoned Welsh chapel, with reading desk below
Pulpit
–
1870 American
Gothic Revival oak pulpit,
Church of St Thomas, Thurstonland
Pulpit
–
Ambo, in the modern Catholic sense, in Austria
39.
Intercession of the Theotokos
–
The feast celebrates the protection afforded the faithful through the intercessions of the Theotokos. In the Slavic Orthodox Churches it is celebrated as the most important solemnity besides the Twelve Great Feasts, the feast is commemorated in Eastern Orthodoxy as a whole, but by no means as fervently as it is in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The Slavic word Pokrov, like the Greek Skepê has a complex meaning, first of all, it refers to a cloak or shroud, but it also means protection or intercession. For this reason, the name of the feast is variously translated as the Veil of Our Lady, the Protecting Veil of the Theotokos and it is often translated as Feast of the Intercession or Feast of the Holy Protectress. With some reservations, the Pokrov icon may be related to the Western Virgin of Mercy image, in which the Virgin spreads wide her cloak to cover and protect a group of kneeling supplicants. According to Eastern Orthodox Sacred Tradition, the apparition of Mary the Theotokos occurred during the 10th century at the Blachernae church in Constantinople where several of her relics were kept and she knelt and prayed with tears for all faithful Christians in the world. The Virgin Mary asked Her Son, Jesus Christ, to accept the prayers of all the people entreating Him, once Her prayer was completed, She walked to the altar and continued to pray. Afterwards, She spread Her veil over all the people in the church as a protection. St Andrew turned to his disciple, St. Epiphanius, who was standing near him, and asked, Do you see, brother, Epiphanius answered, Yes, Holy Father, I see it and am amazed. According to the Primary Chronicle of St. Nestor the Chronicler, according to Nestor, the feast celebrates the destruction of this fleet sometime in the ninth century. An icon of the Virgin Mary praying, surrounded by people, was said to be kept in the Blachernae church and it is said to reproduce the events as St Andrew saw them that day. The Feast of the Intercession commemorating the miracle is a holy day or feast day of the Byzantine Rite Eastern Orthodox Churches. It is not found in Oriental Orthodoxy nor Western Rite Orthodoxy and it is held annually on October 1 in new calendar churches, or October 14 according to the Julian calendar. It is served as an All-Night Vigil, with many of the elements as occur on Great Feasts of the Theotokos. Some, but not all, regions of the Russian Federation celebrate the Feast of Intercession as a work holiday, in Ukraine, it is celebrated on October 14 as a religious, national, and family holiday. The Mother of God as the Intercessor and Patron became firmly established among Ukrainians, princes, kings, cossacks, an icon in the National Art Museum of Ukraine shows the Virgin Mary protecting the Ukrainian cossack hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky. By decree of the Ukrainian President, October 14 — Pokrova Feast Day was promulgated also as Ukrainian Cossack Day, the icon of the feast, which is not found in Byzantine art, depicts in its upper part the Virgin Mary surrounded by a luminous aureole. She holds in her arms a orarion or veil, which symbolizes the protection of her intercession
Intercession of the Theotokos
–
Icon of the Protection, 19th century, Russia
Intercession of the Theotokos
–
Russian icon of Pokrov
Intercession of the Theotokos
–
Icon, showing a broad protective cloak. Mid 17th century, Ukraine.
Intercession of the Theotokos
–
The Holy Virgin protecting the Ukrainian cossack hetman
Bohdan Khmelnytsky (at the right of image). Late 17 to early 18th century, Ukraine.
40.
Menologion of Basil II
–
The Menologion of Basil II is an illuminated manuscript designed as a church calendar or Eastern Orthodox Church service book that was compiled c.1000 AD, for the Byzantine Emperor Basil II. It contains a synaxarion, a collection of saints lives, compiled at Constantinople for liturgical use. It was unusual for a menologion from that era to be so richly painted and it currently resides in the Vatican Library. A full facsimile was produced in 1907, the more than 430 images are important examples of hagiography, the veneration of saints, in Byzantine illumination. The miniatures themselves have no liturgical role—its possible that their purpose was to act as protectors of the Emperor, the manuscript inspired the illustration of a number of subsequent menologia. The work glorifies Emperor Basil II showing him as a warrior defending Orthodox Christendom against the attacks of the Bulgarian Empire, even figures like the archangels were depicted in military guise by the painters. The manuscript was copied and painted at Constantinople at the command of, or as a gift and it was completed between 979 and the early years of the 11th century. In the course of the 14th century it came into the possession of a Genoese doctor who resided in Constantinople, in the 15th century it was acquired by Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. At the beginning of the 17th century the cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati gave it to Pope Paul V, the artists who produced the images for the Menologion employed perspective and moved away from the flat depictions common up to that time. The figures gestures and drapery are depicted in a manner, with architecture. Facial expressions are painted in a naturalistic style, the work thus demonstrates the painting style of the period which is often referred to as the Macedonian Renaissance in which painters returned to ancient models with gusto. Unusual for a Byzantine manuscript, the name of the painter of each illustration is recorded by a scribe at the edge of each image, a total of eight names can be recognised. One painter, by the name of Pantoleon, who may be referred to in documents of the time. They likely worked together in a workshop connected to the Imperial court, the other painters are Georgios, Michael the Younger, Michael of Blachernai, Simeon, Simeon of Blachernai, Manas, and Nestor. The names are not the signatures of the artists themselves, since they are all recorded in the same handwriting. It is very rare for artistic works from the Middle Ages to record the name of the artist, the reason for the recording of the names of the painters below their works in the Menologion of Basil II is not clear. Francesco DAiuto, El Menologio de Basilio II, Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. 1613, libro de estudios con ocasión de la edición facsímil, the glory of Byzantium, art and culture of the Middle Byzantine era, A. D. 843-1261, no
Menologion of Basil II
–
Menologion of Basil II: Baptism of Christ, Constantinople, c. 1000
Menologion of Basil II
–
The Psalter of Basil II: Famous image of Basil II, Constantinople, 11th century
Menologion of Basil II
41.
Koine
–
It was based mainly on Attic and related Ionic speech forms, with various admixtures brought about through dialect levelling with other varieties. Koine Greek displayed a wide spectrum of different styles, ranging from more conservative literary forms to the vernaculars of the time. As the dominant language of the Byzantine Empire, it developed further into Medieval Greek, Koine Greek remained the court language of the Byzantine Empire until its dissolution in 1453, while Medieval and eventually Modern Greek were the everyday language. Literary Koine was the medium of much of post-classical Greek literary and scholarly writing, such as the works of Plutarch, Koine is also the language of the Christian New Testament, of the Septuagint, and of most early Christian theological writing by the Church Fathers. In this context, Koine Greek is also known as Biblical, New Testament and it continues to be used as the liturgical language of services in the Greek Orthodox Church. The word koinē is the Greek word for common, and is understood as referring to the common dialect. The word is pronounced /kɔɪˈneɪ/, /ˈkɔɪneɪ/ or /kiːˈniː/ in US English, the pronunciation of the word in Koine gradually changed from Greek pronunciation, to Greek pronunciation. Its pronunciation in Modern Greek is, the term was applied in several different senses by ancient scholars. Others chose to refer to Koine as the Alexandrian dialect or the dialect of Alexandria, the former was often used by modern classicists. Koine Greek arose as a dialect within the armies of Alexander the Great. Under the leadership of Macedon, their newly formed common variety was spoken from the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt to the Seleucid Empire of Mesopotamia and it replaced existing ancient Greek dialects with an everyday form that people anywhere could understand. The passage into the period, known as Medieval Greek. The post-Classical period of Greek thus refers to the creation and evolution of Koine Greek throughout the entire Hellenistic, the linguistic roots of the Common Greek dialect had been unclear since ancient times. During the Hellenistic period, most scholars thought of Koine as the result of the mixture of the four main Ancient Greek dialects, ἡ ἐκ τῶν τεττάρων συνεστῶσα. The view accepted by most scholars today was given by the Greek linguist Georgios Hatzidakis, who showed that, despite the composition of the Four, the stable nucleus of Koine Greek is Attic. In other words, Koine Greek can be regarded as Attic with the admixture of elements especially from Ionic, the degree of importance of the non-Attic linguistic elements on Koine can vary depending on the region of the Hellenistic World. The literary Koine of the Hellenistic age resembles Attic in such a degree that it is mentioned as Common Attic. Koine Greek was therefore considered a form of Greek which was not worthy of attention
Koine
–
Papyrus 46 is one of the oldest extant
New Testament manuscripts in
Greek, written on
papyrus, with its 'most probable date' between 175-225.
Koine
–
Dark blue: areas where Greek speakers probably were a majority. Light blue: areas that were Hellenized. [
when?] [
citation needed]
42.
Hymn
–
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word hymn derives from Greek ὕμνος, which means a song of praise, a writer of hymns is known as a hymnodist. The singing of hymns is called hymnody, collections of hymns are known as hymnals or hymn books. Hymns may or may not include instrumental accompaniment, although most familiar to speakers of English in the context of Christianity, hymns are also a fixture of other world religions, especially on the Indian subcontinent. Hymns also survive from antiquity, especially from Egyptian and Greek cultures, some of the oldest surviving examples of notated music are hymns with Greek texts. Surviving from the 3rd century BC is a collection of six literary hymns by the Alexandrian poet Callimachus, patristic writers began applying the term ὕμνος, or hymnus in Latin, to Christian songs of praise, and frequently used the word as a synonym for psalm. Originally modeled on the Psalms and other passages in the Scriptures. Many refer to Jesus Christ either directly or indirectly, since the earliest times, Christians have sung psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, both in private devotions and in corporate worship. One definition of a hymn is. a lyric poem, reverently and devotionally conceived, which is designed to be sung, others are used to encourage reverence for the Holy Bible or to celebrate Christian practices such as the eucharist or baptism. A writer of hymns is known as a hymnodist, and the practice of singing hymns is called hymnody, a collection of hymns is called a hymnal or hymnary. These may or may not include music, a student of hymnody is called a hymnologist, and the scholarly study of hymns, hymnists and hymnody is hymnology. The music to which a hymn may be sung is a hymn tune, in many Evangelical churches, traditional songs are classified as hymns while more contemporary worship songs are not considered hymns. The reason for this distinction is unclear, but according to some it is due to the shift of style and devotional thinking that began with the Jesus movement. In ancient and medieval times, stringed instruments such as the harp, lyre and lute were used with psalms, since there is a lack of musical notation in early writings, the actual musical forms in the early church can only be surmised. During the Middle Ages a rich hymnody developed in the form of Gregorian chant or plainsong and this type was sung in unison, in one of eight church modes, and most often by monastic choirs. While they were originally in Latin, many have been translated. Later hymnody in the Western church introduced four-part vocal harmony as the norm, adopting major and minor keys and it shares many elements with classical music. Today, except for choirs, more musically inclined congregations and a cappella congregations, hymns are sung in unison
Hymn
43.
Ecclesiastical year
–
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
Ecclesiastical year
–
The month of October from a liturgical calendar for
Abbotsbury Abbey. 13th-century manuscript (
British Library,
Cotton MS Cleopatra B IX, folio 59r).
Ecclesiastical year
–
Roman Rite liturgical year
44.
Saint
–
A saint, also historically known as a hallow, is a term used for a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness or likeness to God. Depending on the context and denomination, the term also retains its original Christian meaning, as any believer who is in Christ and in whom Christ dwells, whether in Heaven or on Earth. Depending on the religion, saints are recognized either by official ecclesiastical declaration, the English word saint comes from the Latin sanctus. The word translated the Greek ἅγιος, which derives from the verb ἁγιάζω, the word ἅγιος appears 229 times in the Greek New Testament, and its English translation 60 times in the corresponding text of the King James Version of the Bible. In the New Testament, saint did not denote the deceased who had recognized as especially holy or emulable. Many religions also use similar concepts to venerate persons worthy of some honor, the anthropologist Lawrence Babb in an article about Sathya Sai Baba asks the question Who is a saint. These saintly figures, he asserts, are the points of spiritual force-fields. They exert powerful attractive influence on followers but touch the lives of others in transforming ways as well. In the Bible, only one person is called a saint, They envied Moses also in the camp. The apostle Paul declared himself to be less than the least of all saints in Ephesians 3,8, in the Catholic Church, a saint is anyone in Heaven, whether recognized on Earth or not. There are many persons that the Church believes to be in Heaven who have not been formally canonized, sometimes the word saint also denotes living Christians. They remind us that the Church is holy, can never stop being holy and is called to show the holiness of God by living the life of Christ, the Catholic Church teaches that it does not make or create saints, but rather recognizes them. Proofs of heroicity required in the process of beatification will serve to illustrate in detail the general principles exposed above upon proof of their holiness or likeness to God. On 3 January 993, Pope John XV became the first pope to proclaim a person a saint, on the petition of the German ruler, before that time, the popular cults, or venerations, of saints had been local and spontaneous. Pope John XVIII subsequently permitted a cult of five Polish martyrs, walter of Pontoise was the last person in Western Europe to be canonized by an authority other than the Pope, Hugh de Boves, the Archbishop of Rouen, canonized him in 1153. Thenceforth a decree of Pope Alexander III in 1170 reserved the prerogative of canonization to the Pope, one source claims that there are over 10,000 named saints and beatified people from history, the Roman Martyrology and Orthodox sources, but no definitive head count. Alban Butler published Lives of the Saints in 1756, including a total of 1,486 saints, the latest revision of this book, edited by Rev. Herbert Thurston, SJ and British author Donald Attwater, contains the lives of 2,565 saints. Monsignor Robert Sarno, an official of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints of the Holy See, expressed that it is impossible to give an exact number of saints
Saint
–
In traditional
Christian iconography, saints are often depicted with
halos, a symbol of holiness; note how
Judas Iscariot at the forefront is the only apostle without a halo.
Saint
–
A portrait depicting
Saint Francis of Assisi by the Italian artist
Cimabue (1240-1302)
Saint
–
(
The Ninety-Five Theses)
45.
Canonical hours
–
In the practice of Christianity, canonical hours mark the divisions of the day in terms of periods of fixed prayer at regular intervals. A Book of Hours normally contains a version of, or selection from, such prayers. The practice of daily prayers grew from the Jewish practice of reciting prayers at set times of the day, for example, in the Book of Acts, Peter, Psalm 119,164 states, Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws. This practice is believed to have passed down through the centuries from the Apostles. As monasticism spread, the practice of specified hours and liturgical formats began to develop, in 525, Benedict of Nursia set out one of the earliest schemes for the recitation of the Psalter at the Office. With the Cluniac reforms of the 11th century there was a new emphasis on liturgy, the current official version of the hours in the Roman rite of the Roman Catholic Church is called the liturgy of the hours in North America or divine office in Ireland and Britain. In the Anglican tradition, they are known as the daily office, to distinguish them from the other offices of the Church, i. e. holy communion, baptism. In the Orthodox Church, the canonical hours may be referred to as the services. The usage among the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Assyrian Church of the East and of their Eastern Catholic counterparts all differ from each other, building on the recitation of psalms and canticles from scripture, the Church has added hymns, hagiographical readings, and other prayers. As is noted above, the canonical hours stemmed from Jewish prayer, in the Old Testament, God commanded the Israelite priests to offer sacrifices of animals in the morning and evening. Eventually, these sacrifices moved from the Tabernacle to the Temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem, during the Babylonian Exile, when the Temple was no longer in use, the first synagogues were established, and the services of Torah readings, psalms, and hymns began to evolve. This sacrifice of praise began to be substituted for the sacrifices of animals, after the people returned to Judea, the prayer services were incorporated into Temple worship as well. As time passed, the Jews began to be scattered across the Greco-Roman world in what is known as the Diaspora, by the time of the Roman Empire, the Jews began to follow the Roman system of conducting the business day in scheduling their times for prayer. The narrative of Jesus crucifixion and death refers to the sixth and ninth hours, Now when the hour had come. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice …, the first miracle of the apostles, the healing of the crippled man on the temple steps, occurred because Peter and John went to the Temple to pray. Also, one of the moments of the early Church. As Christianity began to separate from Judaism, the practice of praying at fixed times continued, the early church was known to pray the Psalms, which have remained the principal part of the canonical hours. The prayers could be prayed individually or in groups, by the fourth century, the elements of the canonical hours were more or less established
Canonical hours
–
Benedictine monks singing
Vespers on
Holy Saturday.
Canonical hours
–
Chanters singing on the
kliros at the
Church of St. George,
Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Canonical hours
–
A
sundial showing the four
Tides and five Canonical hours, based on the example on the
Bewcastle Cross.
Canonical hours
–
Roman Rite Book of the Hours with a Rosary
46.
Sermon
–
A sermon is an oration, lecture, or talk by a member of a religious institution or clergy. Sermons address a Biblical, theological, religious, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, elements of the sermon often include exposition, exhortation and practical application. In Christianity, a sermon is delivered in a place of worship from an elevated architectural feature, variously known as a pulpit. The word sermon comes from a Middle English word which was derived from Old French, the word can mean conversation, which could mean that early sermons were delivered in the form of question and answer, and that only later did it come to mean a monologue. In modern language, the sermon is used in secular terms, pejoratively, to describe a lengthy or tedious speech delivered with great passion, by any person. A sermonette is a short sermon, in Christianity, a sermon is typically identified as an address or discourse delivered to an assembly of Christians, typically containing theological or moral instruction. Although it is called a homily, the original distinction between a sermon and a homily was that a sermon was delivered by a clergyman while a homily was read from a printed copy by a layman. In the 20th century the distinction has become one of the sermon being likely to be longer, have more structure, homilies are usually considered to be a type of sermon, usually narrative or biographical, see sermon types below. The word sermon is used to describe many famous moments in Christian history, the most famous example is the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus of Nazareth. This address was given around 30 AD, and is recounted in the Gospel of Matthew as being delivered on a mount on the end of the Sea of Galilee. It is also contained in some of the gospel narratives. During the later history of Christianity, several figures became known for their addresses that later became regarded as sermons, examples in the early church include Peter, Stephen, Tertullian and John Chrysostom. These addresses were used to spread Christianity across Europe and Asia Minor, and as such are not sermons in the modern sense, the sermon has been an important part of Christian services since Early Christianity, and remains prominent in both Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Lay preachers sometimes figure in these traditions of worship, for example the Methodist local preachers, the Franciscans are another important preaching order, Travelling preachers, usually friars, were an important feature of late medieval Catholicism. During the Middle Ages, sermons inspired the beginnings of new religious institutes, pope Urban II began the First Crusade in November 1095 at the Council of Clermont, France, when he exhorted French knights to retake the Holy Land. The academic study of sermons, the analysis and classification of their preparation, composition, a controversial issue that aroused strong feelings in Early Modern Britain was whether sermons should be read from a fully prepared text, or extemporized, perhaps from some notes. Many clergymen openly recycled large chunks of published sermons in their own preaching, such sermons include John Wesleys 53 Standard Sermons, John Chrysostoms Homily on the Resurrection and Gregory Nazianzus homily On the Theophany, or Birthday of Christ. The 80 sermons in German of the Dominican Johannes Tauler were read for centuries after his death, martin Luther published his sermons on the Sunday lessons for the edification of readers
Sermon
–
The
Sermon on the Mount by
Carl Heinrich Bloch.
Sermon
–
"The certain mark by which a Christian community can be recognized is the preaching of the gospel in its purity."—
Luther
47.
Oikos
–
The ancient Greek word oikos refers to three related but distinct concepts, the family, the familys property, and the house. Its meaning shifts even within texts, which can lead to confusion, the oikos was the basic unit of society in most Greek city-states. In normal Attic usage the oikos, in the context of families, alternatively, as Aristotle used it in his Politics, the term was sometimes used to refer to everybody living in a given house. Thus, the head of the oikos, along with his family and his slaves. Large oikoi also had farms that were tended by the slaves. In Lysias speech On the Murder of Eratosthenes, the rooms were said to be situated above the mens quarters. It has been argued that instead of dividing the space into male and female areas. In this model, private areas were restricted to the family, while public areas were open to visitors, in Olynthos and Halieis, street plans in the classical city were rectilinear, and thus houses were of regular shapes and sizes. By contrast, in Athens houses appear to have varied much more in size, in the classical period, houses excavated from Olynthos were invariably organised around a colonnaded courtyard. Only a minority of the houses had evidence of staircases survive, demonstrating that they definitely had upper storeys, on the Murder of Erastothenes demonstrates that at least some Athenian houses also had an upper storey. Entranceways at Olynthos were designed for privacy, preventing passers-by from seeing inside the house, historians have identified a hearth-room in ancient Greek houses as a centre of female activity. However, Lin Foxhall has argued that Greek houses often had no permanent kitchens, lisa Nevett points out that houses frequently had a complex pattern of spatial usage, with rooms being used for multiple purposes. A man was the head of the household, the kyrios was responsible for representing the interests of his oikos to the wider polis and providing legal protection to the women and minors with whom he shared his household. Initially the kyrios of an oikos would have been the husband, however, when any legitimate sons reached adulthood the role of kyrios could, in many instances, be transferred from the father to the next male generation. When a son was given his portion of the inheritance, either before or after his father had died, therefore, new oikoi were formed every generation and would continue to be perpetuated through marriage and childbirth. If a son failed to care for his parents he could be prosecuted, however, sons were not compelled to maintain their fathers in their old age if they had not provided them with a skill. Furthermore, the heir to an inheritance would also be required to perform rites at the deceaseds funeral. This would have been an important consideration for the Athenians
Oikos
–
Floorplan of typical ancient Greek house
48.
Acrostic
–
An acrostic is a poem in which the first letter of each line spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The word comes from the French acrostiche from post-classical Latin acrostichis, from Koine Greek ἀκροστιχίς, from Ancient Greek ἄκρος highest, topmost, as a form of constrained writing, an acrostic can be used as a mnemonic device to aid memory retrieval. Relatively simple acrostics may merely spell out the letters of the alphabet in order, acrostics prove that the texts in question were originally composed in writing, rather than having existed in oral tradition before being put into writing. Acrostics are common in literature, where they usually serve to highlight the name of the poet or his patron. They are most frequent in verse works but can appear in prose. In chronicles, acrostics are common in German and English but rare in other languages, often the ease of detectability of an acrostic can depend on the intention of its creator. In some cases an author may desire an acrostic to have a chance of being perceived by an observant reader. However, acrostics may also be used as a form of steganography and this might be achieved by making the key letters uniform in appearance with the surrounding text, or by aligning the words in such a way that the relationship between the key letters is less obvious. This is referred to as null ciphers in steganography, using the first letter of each word to form a message in an otherwise innocuous text. A famous acrostic was made in Greek for the acclamation JESUS CHRIST, SON OF GOD and this was one of the hereditary titles of William of Orange, who introduces himself in the poem to the Dutch people. This title also returned in the 2010 speech from the throne, during the Dutch State Opening of Parliament, vladimir Nabokovs short story The Vane Sisters is famous for its acrostic final paragraph, which contains a message from beyond the grave. Schwartz, the CEO of Sun Microsystems, sent an email to Sun employees on the completion of the acquisition of Sun by Oracle Corporation, the initial letters of the first seven paragraphs spelled Beat IBM. Properly punctuated, the reads, So you think its really good. Yeah, you should try making the thing up. Its a real pain in the arse, in 2013 a school headmaster resigned after announcing the retirement of a teacher in a statement which began We all now know every really great teacher has to finish one day. The initial letters of the first six words caused offence, in the video game Zork the first letters of sentences in a prayer spelled Odysseus which was a possible solution to a cyclops encounter in another room. Acrostics can be more complex than just by making words from initials, O nce home of the cloth it gave its name t O, U phill and down again its streets lead yo U. D espite its faults it leaves us all charme D, the first letters make up the acrostich and the last letters the telestich, in this case they are identical
Acrostic
–
This article is about a type of poem or writing. For the word puzzle, see
Acrostic (puzzle).
Acrostic
–
Lewis Carroll wrote this unique double acrostic for Gertrude Chataway. The verses embody her name in two ways—by letters, and by syllables
49.
Idiomelon
–
Idiomelon —pl. Idiomela are unique compositions, while avtomela or aftomela—sing. The hymn category idiomelon can only be understood in comparison with avtomelon, an idiomelon is a melodic type of sticheron whose music was notated for the first time in the new books of the sticheraria during the Studites reform. The Greek term στιχηρὸν ἰδιόμελον derives from ἴδιος and μέλον and it was used to classify unique melodies composed exclusively for the text of one particular hymn. These idiomela were created in different traditions, but one voluminous book called sticherarion collected and documented them all by the use of musical notation. Its books were the Menaion, Triodion, Pentecostarion, and the Parakletike and they documented a large repertoire, but only a small part of it made up a local monastic tradition and the latter also included many hymns which were not written in the books. It was a collection of hymns, mainly of unique compositions which could be identified by their own idiomatic melodies. The later Slavonic translators of the Ohrid school called the idiomela samoglasniy, there are other stichera called prosomoia which do not have their own melodies, but they used a limited number of well-known melodies—the so-called avtomela. It was enough, because educated chanters knew the avtomela by heart, hence, the prosomoia had been written in textbooks, but sometimes the prosomoia had been also notated in the Octoechos part of certain notated Sticheraria. These notated prosomoia allow to study, how the avtomela were adapted to the verses, the definition of αὐτόμελον meant as well a sticheron which defines its melody—with a melody for itself, but not in the idiomatic and exclusive sense of the unique idiomela. Avtomelon simply meant that these hymns were regarded as a model of their own. As such they served for the composition of new verses. The term στιχηρὸν προσόμοιον means, that this sticheron is similar to another sticheron. It was usually an avtomelon, but in some cases even idiomela had been used for a kind of contrafact and there are cases of notated prosomoia. Certain more regular and formulaic avtomela of the octoechos had not been written down with notation before the 14th century or even later, in the early period between the 5th and the 7th centuries Sabbaite concepts attracted the monastic communities of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. In 692 the organisation of liturgical eight-week cycles connected with a system of eight modes called octoechos was established and progressed to a liturgical reform, the first notated chant books, created between the 9th and the 13th centuries, delivered only a small part of the monastic hymn repertoire. The beginning of the book Octoechos, the cycle 24 stichera anastasima or the kekragarion cycle, for most of their history they did not need to be notated, since they closely followed the recitation models of psalmody using their formulaic accentuation patterns. The reform was followed by compositions of John of Damascus and his half-brother Cosmas, in general this period is regarded as one, when the concept of octoechos cycles was not new, but when these poets were translated and imitated throughout the Mediterranean. The heterogenous repertoire itself, whose avtomela were sometimes simple and formulaic, during the reform of the Studites and at Sinai most of the avtomela were not notated, but they existed within an oral tradition
Idiomelon
–
Nikiforov Miney with Triodion in Serbian redaction (c. 1550)
National and University Library "St. Kliment of Ohrid"
Idiomelon
–
Avtomelon παντὰς ὑπερβάλλων (echos devteros) adapted to the verses of two Prosomoia—notated in an Octoechos of a 15th-century Sticherarion of the
Pantokratorou monastery (
GB-Ctc Ms. B.11.17, f. 283r)
Idiomelon
–
Mar Saba at Palestine — an important centre of monastic hymnography
50.
Psalms
–
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
Psalms
–
Tanakh (Judaism)
Psalms
–
An 1880
Baxter process illustration of
Psalm 23, from the
Religious Tract Society 's magazine The Sunday at Home.
Psalms
–
David Playing the Harp by
Jan de Bray, 1670.
Psalms
–
A
Jewish man reads Psalms at the
Western Wall
.jpg)
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Romanos". Encyclopædia Britannica. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 576–577.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "
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