1.
Soissons
–
Soissons is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France, located on the Aisne River, about 100 kilometres northeast of Paris. It is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital of the Suessiones, Soissons is also the see of an ancient Roman Catholic diocese, whose establishment dates from about 300. Soissons enters written history under its Celtic name, Noviodunum, meaning new hillfort, at Roman contact, it was a town of the Suessiones, mentioned by Julius Caesar. Caesar, after leaving the Axona, entered the territory of the Suessiones, and making one days march, reached Noviodunum, which was surrounded by a high wall. From 457 to 486, under Aegidius and his son Syagrius, Noviodunum was the capital of the Kingdom of Soissons, until it fell to the Frankish king Clovis I in the Battle of Soissons. Part of the Frankish territory of Neustria, the Soissons region, after the death of Clovis I in 511, Soissons was made the capital of one of the four kingdoms into which his states were divided. Eventually, the kingdom of Soissons disappeared in 613 when the Frankish lands were amalgamated under Clotaire II. During the Hundred Years War, French forces committed a massacre of English archers stationed at the towns garrison. The Congress was largely successful and led to the signing of a treaty between them. During the First World War The city came under heavy bombardment, there was mutiny after the disastrous Chemin des Dames offensive. A statue erected with images of French soldiers killed in action in 1917 is behind the St Peters Church, the town was on the main path of totality for the Solar eclipse of August 11,1999. Today, Soissons is a commercial and manufacturing centre with the 12th century Soissons Cathedral, the nearby Espace Pierres Folles contains a museum, geological trail, and botanical garden. The Cathédrale Saint-Gervais-et-Saint-Protais de Soissons is constructed in the style of Gothic architecture, the building of the south transept was begun about 1177, and the lowest courses of the choir in 1182. The choir with its original elevation and extremely tall clerestory was completed in 1211. This was earlier than Chartres, on which the design was supposed to have been based, work then continued into the nave until the late 13th century. The former abbey of Notre Dame, former royal abbey, founded in the Merovingian era, famous for its treasure of relics. The abbey was prestigious abbesses like Gisèle, sister of Charlemagne, or Catherine de Bourbon, the Saint-Médard Abbey was a Benedictine monastery of Soissons whose foundation went back to the sixth century. The city hall built by architect Jean-François Advyné, between 1772 and 1775, at the request of the Intendant Pelletier Mortefontaine on the site of the old counts of Soissons
Soissons
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Town hall
Soissons
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Panoramic view from the top of the cathedral
Soissons
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Panoramic view of the Cathedral
2.
Picardy
–
Picardy is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is now part of the new region of Hauts-de-France and it is located in the northern part of France. The historical province of Picardy stretched from north of Noyon to Calais, via the whole of the Somme department, the province of Artois separated Picardy from French Flanders. From the 5th century the area was part of the Frankish Empire, and in the period it encompassed the six countships of Boulogne, Montreuil, Ponthieu, Amiénois, Vermandois. According to the 843 Treaty of Verdun the region part of West Francia. The name Picardy was not used until the 12th or 13th century, during this time, the name applied to all lands where the Picard language was spoken, which included all the territories from Paris to the Netherlands. In the Latin Quarter of Paris, people identified a Picard Nation of students at Sorbonne University, during the Hundred Years War, Picardy was the centre of the Jacquerie peasant revolt in 1358. From 1419 onwards, the Picardy counties were gradually acquired by the Burgundian duke Philip the Good, in 1477, King Louis XI of France led an army and occupied key towns in Picardy. By the end of 1477, Louis would control all of Picardy, in the 16th century, the government of Picardy was created. This became a new region of France, separate from what was historically defined as Picardy. The new Picardy included the Somme département, the half of the Aisne département. In 1557, Picardy was invaded by Habsburg forces under the command of Emmanuel Philibert, after a seventeen-day siege, St. Quentin would be ransacked, while Noyon would be burned by the Habsburg army. In the 17th century, a disease similar to English sweat originated from the region. It was called Suette des picards or Picardy sweat, the sugar industry has continued to play a prominent role in the economy of the region. One of the most significant historical events to occur in Picardy was the series of battles fought along the Somme during World War I. From September 1914 to August 1918, four major battles, including the Battle of the Somme, were fought by British, French, and German forces in the fields of Northern Picardy. In 2009, the Regional Committee for local government reform proposed to reduce the number of French regions, Picardy would have disappeared, and each department would have joined a nearby region. The Oise would have incorporated in the Île-de-France, the Somme would have been incorporated in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Picardy
–
This painting by
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes recalls the "Golden Age" in the history of the province of Picardy. The Walters Art Museum.
Picardy
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Flag
Picardy
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Landscape in Picardy
Picardy
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Distinctive brick building style demonstrated on a monument in the
Somme, Picardy
3.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
France
–
One of the
Lascaux paintings: a horse –
Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC
France
–
Flag
France
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The
Maison Carrée was a temple of the
Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day
Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the
Roman Empire.
France
–
With
Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the
Frankish monarchy,
elective and
secular until then, became
hereditary and of
divine right.
4.
Holy Helper
–
The Fourteen Holy Helpers are a group of saints venerated together in Roman Catholicism because their intercession is believed to be particularly effective, especially against various diseases. This group of Nothelfer originated in the 14th century at first in the Rhineland, devotion to the fourteen Auxiliary Saints began in Rhineland, now part of Germany, in the time of the Black Death. At the heart of the fourteen were three virgin martyrs, As the other began to be invoked along with these three virgin martyrs, they were represented together in works of art. Popular veneration of these saints often began in a monastery that held their relics, all of the saints except Giles were accounted martyrs. Saint Christopher and Saint Giles were invoked against the plague itself, Saint Denis was prayed to for relief from headache, Saint Blaise for ills of the throat, Saint Elmo, for abdominal maladies, Saint Barbara for fever, and Saint Vitus against epilepsy. Saint Giles was prayed to for a confession, and Saint Eustace as healer of family troubles. Domestic animals were also attacked by the plague, and so Saints George, Elmo, Pantaleon, Saint Margaret of Antioch is the patron of safe childbirth. As the saints joint cultus spread in the century, Pope Nicholas V attached indulgences to devotion of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. The individual celebrations of all fourteen are included in the General Roman Calendar as in 1954, the General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII and the General Roman Calendar of 1960. Comparable to the cult of the Fourteen Holy Helpers was that of the Four Holy Marshals and these were Quirinus of Neuss, Saint Anthony the Great, Pope Cornelius, and Saint Hubert. The fourteen saints are, Half the saints are regarded as historical figures while the other may only be legends, in France an extra helper is added, the Virgin Mary. The Fourteen Holy Helpers are honored in Bavaria as the vierzehn Heiligen, the Rococo pilgrimage church in the town of Bad Staffelstein was designed by Balthasar Neumann and built between 1743 and 1772. As he bent down to pick up the child, it abruptly disappeared, a short time later, the child reappeared in the same spot. This time, two candles were burning next to it, in June 1446, Leicht saw the child a third time. This time, the bore a red cross on its chest and was accompanied by thirteen other children. The child said, We are the fourteen helpers and wish to erect a chapel here, if you will be our servant, we will be yours. Shortly after, Leicht saw two burning candles descending to this spot and it is alleged that miraculous healings soon began, through the intervention of the fourteen saints. The Cistercian brothers to whom the land belonged erected a chapel, an altar was consecrated as early as 1448
Holy Helper
–
Fourteen Holy Helpers
Holy Helper
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Painting of the Fourteen Holy Helpers
Holy Helper
–
Basilika Vierzehnheiligen
Holy Helper
–
The first panel of the Grünewald altarpiece
5.
Sivas
–
Sivas is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province. According to a 2011 estimate, its population is 425,297. Rail repair shops and a manufacturing industry of rugs, bricks, cement. The surrounding region is an area with large deposits of iron ore which are worked at Divriği. Sivas is also a hub for the north-south and east-west trade routes to Iraq and Iran. With the development of railways, the city gained new importance as junction of important rail lines linking the cities of Ankara, Kayseri, Samsun. The city is linked by air to Istanbul, the popular name Sebastian derives from the Latin Sebastianus, meaning someone from the city. Excavations at a known as Topraktepe indicate Hittite settlement in the area as early as 2600 BC. In 64 BC as part of his reorganization of Asia Minor after the Third Mithridatic War, numismatic evidence suggests that Megalopolis changed its name in the last years of the 1st century BC to Sebaste, which is the feminine form of the Greek name corresponding to Augustus. The name Sivas is the Turkish version deriving from the name Sebasteia and it was also the place of martyrdom of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, also 4th century. Justinian I had a wall around it rebuilt in the 6th century. Sebasteia was the first important city to be plundered by Turkish tribes in 1059, in the August of that year the troops of various emirs gathered before the unwalled city. Initially they hesitated to sack it, mistaking that the domes of the several Christian churches were tends of military camps, as soon as they realized that the city was defenceless they burned it for eight days, slaughtered large part of its population and took many prisoners. The city came under the domain of Turkmen Danishmend dynasty after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, after the death of Danişmend Gazi, Sivas passed to Nizamettin Yağıbasan who won it after a struggle with Danişmend Gazis successors. In 1174, the city was captured by Seljuk ruler Kilij Arslan II, then it passed to the Ilkhanids, Eretna and Kadı Burhanettin. The city was acquired by Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I, in 1398, Tamerlane swept into the area and his forces destroyed the city in 1400, after which it was recaptured by the Ottomans in 1408. Under the Ottomans, Sivas served as the center of the province of Rum until about the late 19th century. The Armenian Catholic Church and the Latins also had one church, two Protestant churches and eight, mostly German- and American-staffed, schools
Sivas
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Sivas Sebastea
Sivas
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Former Sivas (1927)
Sivas
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Gök Medrese, built by the Seljuk Turks
Sivas
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Paşa-Mosque at Atatürk-boulevard
6.
Armenia
–
Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a sovereign state in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. The Republic of Armenia constitutes only one-tenth of historical Armenia, Armenia is a unitary, multi-party, democratic nation-state with an ancient cultural heritage. Urartu was established in 860 BC and by the 6th century BC it was replaced by the Satrapy of Armenia, in the 1st century BC the Kingdom of Armenia reached its height under Tigranes the Great. Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion, in between the late 3rd century to early years of the 4th century, the state became the first Christian nation. The official date of adoption of Christianity is 301 AD. The ancient Armenian kingdom was split between the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires around the early 5th century, under the Bagratuni dynasty, the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia was restored in the 9th century. Declining due to the wars against the Byzantines, the fell in 1045. An Armenian principality and later a kingdom Cilician Armenia was located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea between the 11th and 14th centuries. By the 19th century, Eastern Armenia had been conquered by the Russian Empire, during World War I, Armenians living in their ancestral lands in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated in the Armenian Genocide. By 1920, the state was incorporated into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, in 1936, the Transcaucasian state was dissolved, transforming its constituent states, including the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, into full Union republics. The modern Republic of Armenia became independent in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Armenia recognises the Armenian Apostolic Church, the worlds oldest national church, as the countrys primary religious establishment. The unique Armenian alphabet was invented by Mesrop Mashtots in 405 AD, Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Council of Europe and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Armenia supports the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which was proclaimed in 1991, the native Armenian name for the country is Հայք. The name in the Middle Ages was extended to Հայաստան, by addition of the Persian suffix -stan, the further origin of the name is uncertain. It is also postulated that the name Hay comes from one of the two confederated, Hittite vassal states—the Ḫayaša-Azzi. The exonym Armenia is attested in the Old Persian Behistun Inscription as Armina, the ancient Greek terms Ἀρμενία and Ἀρμένιοι are first mentioned by Hecataeus of Miletus. Xenophon, a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and he relates that the people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians. According to the histories of both Moses of Chorene and Michael Chamchian, Armenia derives from the name of Aram, a descendant of Hayk
Armenia
–
Reconstruction of
Herodotus ' world map c. 450 BC, with Armenia shown in the center
Armenia
–
Flag
Armenia
–
The Armenian pagan
Temple of Garni, probably built 1st century AD, is the only "Greco-Roman
colonnaded building" in Armenia and the entire
former Soviet Union.
Armenia
–
The
Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Armenia's Mother Church traditionally dated 303 AD, is considered the oldest cathedral in the world.
7.
Eastern Orthodox Churches
–
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 Churches
–
Orthodox liturgy
Eastern Orthodox Churches
–
An
icon of
John the Baptist, 14th century, Macedonia
8.
Oriental Orthodox Church
–
Oriental Orthodoxy has approximately 84 million adherents worldwide. Oriental Orthodox Churches uphold their own ancient ecclesiastic traditions of apostolic succession and these Churches rejected the definition of the two natures of Christ, known as the Chalcedonian Definition, which was issued by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The Eastern Orthodox maintain numerous theological and ecclesiological similarities with the Oriental Orthodox, the Oriental Orthodox Churches are in full communion with each other, but not with the Eastern Orthodox Church, despite the similar name. The schism between Oriental Orthodoxy and the Great Church was based on differences in Christology, the First Council of Nicaea, in 325, declared that Jesus Christ is God, that is to say, consubstantial with the Father. Later, the ecumenical council, the Council of Ephesus, declared that Jesus Christ, though divine as well as human, is only one being. Thus, the Council of Ephesus explicitly rejected Nestorianism, the Christological doctrine that Christ was two distinct beings, one divine and one human, who happened to inhabit the same body. The Churches that later became Oriental Orthodoxy were firmly anti-Nestorian, and those who opposed Chalcedon saw this as a concession to Nestorianism, or even as a conspiracy to convert the Church to Nestorianism by stealth. As a result, over the decades, they gradually separated from communion with the Great Church. Monophysitism was condemned as heretical alongside Nestorianism, and to accuse a church of being Monophysite is to accuse it of falling into the opposite extreme from Nestorianism, however, the Oriental Orthodox themselves reject this description as inaccurate, having officially condemned the teachings of both Nestorius and Eutyches. They define themselves as Miaphysite instead, holding that Christ has one nature, the schism between the Oriental Orthodox and the rest of Christendom occurred in the 5th century. They would accept only of or from two natures but not in two natures and it is not entirely clear that Nestorius himself was a Nestorian. The Oriental Orthodox churches were often called Monophysite, although they reject this label, as it is associated with Eutychian Monophysitism. It was not until 518 that the new Byzantine Emperor, Justin I, Justin ordered the replacement of all non-Chalcedonian bishops, including the patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria. The extent of the influence of the Bishop of Rome in this demand has been a matter of debate, Justinian I also attempted to bring those monks who still rejected the decision of the Council of Chalcedon into communion with the greater church. The exact time of event is unknown, but it is believed to have been between 535 and 548. St Abraham of Farshut was summoned to Constantinople and he chose to bring with him four monks, upon arrival, Justinian summoned them and informed them that they would either accept the decision of the Council or lose their positions. Abraham refused to entertain the idea, theodora tried to persuade Justinian to change his mind, seemingly to no avail. Abraham himself stated in a letter to his monks that he preferred to remain in exile rather than subscribe to a faith which he believed to be contrary to that of Athanasius of Alexandria
Oriental Orthodox Church
–
Christ feeding the multitude, a Coptic icon
Oriental Orthodox Church
–
Coptic icon of
St. Anthony the Great
Oriental Orthodox Church
–
Etchmiadzin Armenian Apostolic Cathedral in
Armenia
9.
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
10.
Armenian Apostolic
–
The Armenian Apostolic Church is the national church of the Armenian people. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christian communities, Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion, in the early 4th century. The church claims to have originated in the missions of Apostles Bartholomew and it is sometimes referred to as the Armenian Orthodox Church or Gregorian Church. It is also known as the Armenian Church. The Armenian Church believes apostolic succession through the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus, according to legend, the latter of the two apostles is said to have cured Abgar V of Edessa of leprosy with the Image of Edessa, leading to his conversion in 30 AD. After this, Bartholomew came to Armenia, bringing a portrait of the virgin Mary, Bartholomew then converted the sister of Sanatruk, who once again martyred a female relative and the apostle who converted her. Both apostles ordained native bishops before their execution, and some other Armenians had been ordained outside of Armenia by James the Just. According to Eusebius and Tertullian, Armenian Christians were persecuted by kings Axidares, Khosrov I, and Tiridates III, ancient Armenias adoption of Christianity as a state religion has been referred to by Nina Garsoïan as probably the most crucial step in its history. This conversion distinguished it from its Iranian and Mazdean roots and protected it from further Parthian influence, other scholars as well have stated that the acceptance of Christianity by the Arsacid-Armenian rulers was partly in defiance of the Sassanids. When King Trdat IV made Christianity the state religion of Armenia between 301 and 314, it was not a new religion there. It had penetrated the country from at least the third century, Tiridates declared Gregory to be the first Catholicos of the Armenian Church and sent him to Caesarea to be consecrated. Upon his return, Gregory tore down shrines to idols, built churches and monasteries, while meditating in the old capital city of Vagharshapat, Gregory had a vision of Christ descending to the earth and striking it with a hammer. From that spot arose a great Christian temple with a huge cross and he was convinced that God intended him to build the main Armenian church there. With the kings help he did so in accord with his vision and he renamed the city Etchmiadzin, which means the place of the descent of the only-begotten. Initially the Armenian church participated in the church world. Its Catholicos was represented at the First Council of Nicea and the First Council of Constantinople, although unable to attend the Council of Ephesus, the Catholicos Isaac Parthiev sent a message agreeing with its decisions. Christianity was strengthened in Armenia in the 5th century by the translation of the Bible into the Armenian language by the theologian, monk. Before the 5th century, Armenians had a language
Armenian Apostolic
–
Etchmiadzin Cathedral, the mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church
Armenian Apostolic
–
Baptism of
Tiridates III.
Armenian Apostolic
–
Procession of Armenian Priests.
11.
Roman Catholic
–
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church or the Universal Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.28 billion members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history, headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, the churchs doctrines are summarised in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Its central administration is located in Vatican City, enclaved within Rome, the Catholic Church is notable within Western Christianity for its sacred tradition and seven sacraments. It teaches that it is the one church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christs apostles. The Catholic Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it declares as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as such as mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders. Among the sacraments, the one is the Eucharist, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body, the Catholic Church practises closed communion, with only baptised members in a state of grace ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Queen of Heaven and is honoured in numerous Marian devotions. The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture, Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world, from the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines on sexuality, its refusal to ordain women and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in the letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name Catholic Church was used to distinguish it from other groups that call themselves the church. The use of the adjective Roman to describe the Church as governed especially by the Bishop of Rome became more widespread after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages. Catholic Church is the name used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, in parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both, additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services
Roman Catholic
–
Saint Peter's Basilica,
Vatican City
Roman Catholic
–
St. Peter's Basilica,
Vatican City
Roman Catholic
–
Pope Francis, elected in the
papal conclave, 2013
Roman Catholic
–
Traditional graphic representation of the Trinity: The earliest attested version of the diagram, from a manuscript of
Peter of Poitiers ' writings, c. 1210
12.
Eastern Orthodox
–
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
–
Orthodox liturgy
Eastern Orthodox
–
An
icon of
John the Baptist, 14th century, Macedonia
13.
Greek Catholic
–
The Melkite and Italo-Greek churches also have claims of perpetual communion. Full communion constitutes mutual sacramental sharing between the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Latin Church, including Eucharistic intercommunion, notably, Eastern Catholic churches have different traditions concerning clerical celibacy than the Latin Church, in general, Eastern Catholic Churches allow the ordination of married men as priests. Eastern Catholic churches have their origins in the Middle East, East Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin Catholics in the Middle East, on the other hand, are traditionally served by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The Eastern Catholic churches are instead distinct particular churches sui iuris, although maintain full, there are different meanings of the word rite. Apart from its reference to the patrimony of a particular church. The rites treated in CCEO, unless stated, are those that arise from the Alexandrian, Antiochene. The Second Vatican Council spoke of Eastern Catholic Churches as particular Churches or rites, in 1999, the United States National Conference of Catholic Bishops stated, We have been accustomed to speaking of the Latin Rite or the Eastern Rites to designate these different Churches. Canon 112 of the Code of Canon Law uses the phrase autonomous ritual Churches to designate the various Churches, and a writer in a periodical of January 2006 declared, The Eastern Churches are still mistakenly called Eastern-rite Churches, a reference to their various liturgical histories. They are most properly called Eastern Churches, or Eastern Catholic Churches, however, the term rite continues to be used. The 1983 CIC forbids a Latin bishop to ordain, without permission of the Holy See, Pope Benedict XVI wrote, in his 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, that any Catholic priest of the Latin rite, under certain conditions, may use either edition of the Roman Missal. The term Uniat or Uniate applies to Eastern Catholic churches previously part of Eastern or Oriental Orthodox churches or of the Assyrian Church of the East. The term is considered to have a derogatory connotation, though it was occasionally used by Latin. Official Catholic documents no longer use the due to its perceived negative overtones. According to John Erickson of Saint Vladimirs Orthodox Theological Seminary, The term uniate itself, Eastern Rite Catholic also was no longer in vogue because it might suggest that the Catholics in question differed from Latins only in the externals of worship. The Second Vatican Council affirmed rather that Eastern Catholics constituted churches whose vocation was to provide a bridge to the churches of the East. Communion between Christian churches has been broken over matters of faith, whereby each side accused the other of heresy or departure from the true faith, communion has been broken also because of disagreement about questions of authority or the legitimacy of the election of a particular bishop. In these latter cases each side accused the other of schism, Major breaches of communion, In 431 the Churches that accepted the teaching of the Council of Ephesus classified as heretics those who rejected the Councils statements. The Church of the East, which was mainly under the Sassanid Empire and it later experienced a period of great expansion in Asia before collapsing after the Mongol invasion of the Middle East in the 14th century
Greek Catholic
–
An Eastern Catholic Bishop of the
Syro-Malabar Catholic Church holding the Mar Thoma Cross, which symbolizes the heritage and identity of the
Saint Thomas Christians in India
Greek Catholic
–
An Eastern Catholic
Cardinal of the
Syro-Malankara Catholic Church celebrating
Qurbono Qadisho in
West Syriac
14.
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.
15.
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.
16.
Maratea
–
Maratea is a town and comune of Basilicata, in the province of Potenza. It is the town of the region on the Tyrrhenian coast and because of its beautiful scenery. Owing to the number of its churches and chapels it has also been described as the town with 44 churches. Maratea is the town of Basilicata on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It has approximately 32 kilometres of coastline, with more than twenty beaches. The Grotta di Maratea, or the Cave of Wonders, was discovered in 1929 by men building the Highway 18 from Calabria, the principal vegetation comprises oaks, pines, rosemary, holm oaks, carob trees and wild fennel. Maratea has a harbour, which can accommodate up to 200 boats. Maratea probably derives from the plant, which is called Marathéa/Μαραθέα in Medieval Greek. Based on archeological findings, the first settlements in the Maratea region date back to the Paleolithic era, in the 15th–14th century BC a village grew up on top of the little headland called La Timpa. This was a trading center, and its existence is documented until the 2nd century BC. During the Roman era, the continued to be a trade center, on the seabed near Santo Janni island dozens of ancient anchors have been found. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, southern Italy became part of the Byzantine Empire, from the 7th century, the Tyrrhenian Sea came under the control of the Saracens, who sacked numerous towns. So, for safety reasons, the inhabitants moved to the high ground of Mount San Biagio, where they built the so-called Castello. In 732 a ship, fleeing the persecution of Leo III the Isaurian, brought the sacred remains of Saint Blaise to Maratea. The remains of the saint are kept in the Marateas Basilica. In 1077 Maratea, together with the rest of Southern Italy, was conquered by the Normans. In the 11th-12th century, since the Castello could no longer accommodate the population, some of the people of Maratea decided to found a new urban centre. Today the ancient Borgo is the urban centre of Maratea
Maratea
–
Maratea
Maratea
–
The Tyrrhenian coast as seen from Maratea.
Maratea
–
The Statue of Christ can be seen at the top of Mount San Biagio
Maratea
–
The basilica of
Saint Blaise
17.
Dubrovnik
–
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea, in the region of Dalmatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, a seaport, in 1979, the city of Dubrovnik joined the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. After repair and restoration works in the 1990s and early 2000s, the names Dubrovnik and Ragusa co-existed for several centuries. The name Dubrovnik of the Adriatic city is first recorded in the Charter of Ban Kulin. It is mostly explained as a Slavic name of the type, referring to an oak grove or oak forest. The historical name Ragusa is recorded in the Greek form Ῥαούσιν in the 10th century and it was recorded in various forms in the medieval period, Rausia, Lavusa, Labusa, Raugia, Rachusa. Various attempts have been made to etymologize the name, a connection to the name of Sicilian Ragusa has also been proposed. The classical explanation of the name is due to Constantine Porphyrogenituss De Administrando Imperio, the name is explained as a corruption of Lausa, the name of the rocky island on which the city was built. Excavations in 2007 revealed a Byzantine basilica from the 8th century, the size of the old basilica clearly indicates that there was quite a large settlement at the time. There is also evidence for the presence of a settlement in the pre-Christian era, after the fall of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, the town came under the protection of the Byzantine Empire. Dubrovnik in those medieval centuries had a Roman population, after the Crusades, Dubrovnik came under the sovereignty of Venice, which would give its institutions to the Dalmatian city. After a fire destroyed almost the whole city in the night of August 16,1296, by the Peace Treaty of Zadar in 1358, Dubrovnik achieved relative independence as a vassal-state of the Kingdom of Hungary. Between the 14th century and 1808, Dubrovnik ruled itself as a state, although it was a vassal from 1382 to 1804 of the Ottoman Empire. The Republic reached its peak in the 15th and 16th centuries, for centuries, Dubrovnik was an ally of Ancona, the other Adriatic maritime republic rival of Venice, which was the Ottoman Empires chief rival for control of the Adriatic. Ancona and Dubrovnik developed a trade route to the Venetian, starting in Dubrovnik it went on to Ancona, through Florence. The Republic of Ragusa received its own Statutes as early as 1272, statutes which, among other things, codified Roman practice, the Statutes included prescriptions for town planning and the regulation of quarantine. An almshouse was opened in 1347, and the first quarantine hospital was established in 1377, slave trading was abolished in 1418, and an orphanage opened in 1432. A20 km water supply system, instead of a cistern, was constructed in 1438 by the Neapolitan architect and he completed the aqueduct with two public fountains
Dubrovnik
–
The
walled city of Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
–
1995 map of Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
–
Stradun, Dubrovnik's main street.
18.
Ciudad del Este
–
Ciudad del Este initialed CDE is the second largest city in Paraguay and capital of the Alto Paraná Department, situated on the Paraná River. As of 2008 its population was of 320,782, the city consists of a large population of Lebanese immigrants, as well as Taiwanese. Guaraní International Airport, located in neighboring city Minga Guazú, serves Ciudad del Este, the city annually attracts thousands of tourists for Black Friday. On a daily basis, many tourists from Brazil cross the border to enter Ciudad del Este, the city is home to Club Atlético 3 de Febrero, counting with the Estadio Antonio Oddone Sarubbi which was used for the 1999 Copa América and is Paraguays third biggest football stadium. Founded in 1957, it was originally called Puerto Flor de Lis, the city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ciudad del Este. The city, coextensive with the district, is located in south-eastern Paraguay. Part of a known as the Triple Frontier, Ciudad del Este lies in front of the Brazilian city of Foz do Iguaçu. Separated from it by Paraná River, it is linked by the Friendship Bridge, the Argentine border is located between the neighbouring town of Presidente Franco and Puerto Iguazú. Ciudad del Este, along with the towns and districts of Hernandarias, Minga Guazú and Presidente Franco, because of this negative reputation, many Argentine and Brazilian tourists visiting Lake Itaipú and the Iguazú Falls, both on the Paraná River, avoid Ciudad del Este. Ciudad del Este is a multicultural and diverse city and it is home to a large Asian-born population, specifically of Taiwanese, Korean, Lebanese, and Iranian origin, evident in the citys mosques and pagodas. The Taiwanese government paid for the construction of the town hall in exchange for Paraguayan support in the United Nations. From the 1970s, Sunni Muslim Arabs moved to the city and this changed in the 1980s to Shia Muslim Arabs from South Lebanon. CDE was, according to Forbes, the third largest commercial city in the world between 1990 and 2002, the city is the headquarters of the company that operates the nearby Itaipu Dam. Smuggling is an occupation in the city, with some estimates putting the value of this black market at five times the national economy. Some military and intelligence agencies state that there are terrorist organizations in the area, guarani International Airport, located in the suburb city of Minga Guazú, connects the city with other South American destinations. Banco Unión, 3º piso, Oficina 20 Peru – Honorary Consulate, Km 4 ½, Monday, B° Bernardino Caballero Slovakia – Honorary Consulate, Calle Boquerón 310, Edif. 11 de Septiembre 399 Republic of China – Consulate General, Avda. de Lago s/n Barrio Boquerón CP131 Turkey – Honorary Consulate, ubicated near the Estadio Antonio Oddone Sarubbi of the Club Atlético 3 de Febrero, Avda. Bernardino Caballero e/ Cerro León INTERPOL – The city counts with an office of Interpol
Ciudad del Este
–
Ciudad del Este
Ciudad del Este
–
Skyline view and the Friendship Bridge
Ciudad del Este
–
Lago de la República
Ciudad del Este
–
Crossing Adrian Jara/Boqueron
19.
Paraguay
–
Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the country from north to south. Due to its location in South America, it is sometimes referred to as Corazón de Sudamérica. Paraguay is one of the two landlocked countries that lie outside Afro-Eurasia, Paraguay is the smallest landlocked country in the Americas. The indigenous Guaraní had been living in Paraguay for at least a millennium before the Spanish conquered the territory in the 16th century, Spanish settlers and Jesuit missions introduced Christianity and Spanish culture to the region. Paraguay was a colony of the Spanish Empire, with few urban centers and settlers. Following independence from Spain in 1811, Paraguay was ruled by a series of dictators who generally implemented isolationist and protectionist policies and he was toppled in an internal military coup, and free multi-party elections were organized and held for the first time in 1993. A year later, Paraguay joined Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay to found Mercosur, as of 2009, Paraguays population was estimated to be at around 6.5 million, most of whom are concentrated in the southeast region of the country. The capital and largest city is Asunción, of which the area is home to nearly a third of Paraguays population. In contrast to most Latin American nations, Paraguays indigenous language and culture, Guaraní, in each census, residents predominantly identify as mestizo, reflecting years of intermarriage among the different ethnic groups. Guaraní is recognized as an official language alongside Spanish, and both languages are spoken in the country. There is no consensus for the derivation or meaning of the name Paraguay, the most common interpretations include, Born from water Riverine of many varieties River which originates a sea Fray Antonio Ruiz de Montoya said that it meant river crowned. The Spanish officer and scientist Félix de Azara suggests two derivations, the Payaguas, referring to the tribe who lived along the river. The French-Argentine historian and writer Paul Groussac argued that it meant river that flows through the sea, Paraguayan poet and ex-president Juan Natalicio González said it meant river of the inhabitants of the sea. Indigenous peoples have inhabited this area for thousands of years, pre-Columbian society in the region which is now Paraguay consisted of semi-nomadic tribes that were known for their warrior traditions. These indigenous tribes belonged to five language families, which was the basis of their major divisions. Differing language groups were generally competitive over resources and territories and they were further divided into tribes by speaking languages in branches of these families. Today 17 separate ethnolinguistic groups remain, the first Europeans in the area were Spanish explorers in 1516. The Spanish explorer Juan de Salazar de Espinosa founded the settlement of Asunción on 15 August 1537, the city eventually became the center of a Spanish colonial province of Paraguay
Paraguay
–
José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, Paraguay's first president.
Paraguay
–
Flag (obverse)
Paraguay
–
Francisco Solano López
Paraguay
–
The
Battle of Tuyutí, May 1866.
20.
Armenian language
–
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenians. Like Hellenic Greek, it has its own branch in the language tree. It is the language of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. It has historically been spoken throughout the Armenian Highlands and today is spoken in the Armenian diaspora. Armenian has its own script, the Armenian alphabet, introduced in 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots. Armenian is an independent branch of the Indo-European languages and it is of interest to linguists for its distinctive phonological developments within that family. Armenian exhibits more satemization than centumization, although it is not classified as belonging to either of these subgroups, Armenia was a monolingual country by the 2nd century BC at the latest. Its language has a literary history, with a 5th-century Bible translation as its oldest surviving text. Its vocabulary has been influenced by Western Middle Iranian languages, particularly Parthian, and to an extent by Greek, Persian. There are two standardized modern literary forms, Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian, with which most contemporary dialects are mutually intelligible and he is also credited by some with the creation of the Caucasian Albanian alphabet. In The Anabasis, Xenophon describes many aspects of Armenian village life and he relates that the Armenian people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians. W. M. However, unlike shared innovations, the retention of archaisms is not considered conclusive evidence of a period of common isolated development. Some of the terms he gives admittedly have an Akkadian or Sumerian provenance, loan words from Iranian languages, along with the other ancient accounts such as that of Xenophon above, initially led linguists to erroneously classify Armenian as an Iranian language. Scholars such as Paul de Lagarde and F. Müller believed that the similarities between the two meant that Iranian and Armenian were the same language. The distinctness of Armenian was recognized when philologist Heinrich Hübschmann used the method to distinguish two layers of Iranian loans from the older Armenian vocabulary. Meillets hypothesis became popular in the wake of his Esquisse, eric P. Hamp supports the Graeco-Armenian thesis, anticipating even a time when we should speak of Helleno-Armenian. Nevertheless, as Fortson comments, by the time we reach our earliest Armenian records in the 5th century AD, graeco--Aryan is a hypothetical clade within the Indo-European family, ancestral to the Greek language, the Armenian language, and the Indo-Iranian languages. Graeco-Aryan unity would have divided into Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian by the mid-third millennium BC
Armenian language
–
Armenian manuscript, 5th–6th century.
Armenian language
–
regions where Armenian is the language of the majority
Armenian language
–
The Four Gospels, 1495, Portrait of St Mark Wellcome with Armenian inscriptions
Armenian language
–
First Armenian language Bible.
21.
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
22.
Bishop
–
A bishop is an ordained, consecrated, or appointed member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within these churches, bishops are seen as those who possess the full priesthood, Some Protestant churches including the Lutheran and Methodist churches have bishops serving similar functions as well, though not always understood to be within apostolic succession in the same way. Priests, deacons and lay ministers cooperate and assist their bishop in shepherding a flock, the earliest organization of the Church in Jerusalem was, according to most scholars, similar to that of Jewish synagogues, but it had a council or college of ordained presbyters. In, we see a system of government in Jerusalem chaired by James the Just. In, the Apostle Paul ordains presbyters in churches in Anatolia, in Timothy and Titus in the New Testament a more clearly defined episcopate can be seen. We are told that Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus and Titus in Crete to oversee the local church, Paul commands Titus to ordain presbyters/bishops and to exercise general oversight, telling him to rebuke with all authority. Early sources are unclear but various groups of Christian communities may have had the bishop surrounded by a group or college functioning as leaders of the local churches, eventually, as Christendom grew, bishops no longer directly served individual congregations. Instead, the Metropolitan bishop appointed priests to each congregation. Around the end of the 1st century, the organization became clearer in historical documents. While Ignatius of Antioch offers the earliest clear description of monarchial bishops he is an advocate of monepiscopal structure rather than describing an accepted reality. To the bishops and house churches to which he writes, he offers strategies on how to pressure house churches who dont recognize the bishop into compliance. Other contemporary Christian writers do not describe monarchial bishops, either continuing to equate them with the presbyters or speaking of episkopoi in a city, plainly therefore we ought to regard the bishop as the Lord Himself — Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians 6,1. Your godly bishop — Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 2,1, therefore as the Lord did nothing without the Father, either by Himself or by the Apostles, so neither do ye anything without the bishop and the presbyters. — Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 7,1. Be obedient to the bishop and to one another, as Jesus Christ was to the Father, and as the Apostles were to Christ and to the Father, — Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 13,2. Apart from these there is not even the name of a church, — Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallesians 3,1. Follow your bishop, as Jesus Christ followed the Father, and the presbytery as the Apostles, and to the deacons pay respect, as to Gods commandment — Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnans 8,1. He that honoureth the bishop is honoured of God, he that doeth aught without the knowledge of the bishop rendereth service to the devil — Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnans 9,1
Bishop
–
A 6th-century image of
Saint Augustine, bishop of
Hippo Regius.
Bishop
–
Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, student of
John the Apostle
Bishop
–
A bishop with other officials on an 11th-century grave in
Sweden.
Bishop
–
Johann Otto von Gemmingen,
Prince-Bishop of Augsburg
23.
Lesser Armenia
–
Lesser Armenia, also known as Armenia Minor and Armenia Inferior, comprised the Armenian–populated regions primarily to the west and northwest of the ancient Kingdom of Armenia. The region was reorganized into the Armeniac Theme under the Byzantine Empire. Lesser Armenia was the portion of historic Armenia and the Armenian Highlands lying west and northwest of the river Euphrates and it received its name to distinguish it from the much larger eastern portion of historic Armenia—Greater Armenia. From the 6th century BC, the territory of Lesser Armenia was ruled by Orontid Dynasty, the early Armenian kingdom was named the Satrapy of Armenia. Some time after the death of Alexander the Great, Mithridates, as the kingdom grew in strength, it included Lesser Armenia well. Armenia was disputed kingdom between Rome and Parthia during the Roman-Persian Wars from 66 BC to the 2nd century AD. All of Armenia became a Roman province in AD114 under Roman emperor Trajan, romans lost Armenia again to Vologases IV of Parthia in AD161. But a few later, at the end of the 3rd century, Rome was again in control of Armenia. Lesser Armenia was reunited with the kingdom of Greater Armenia under the Arshakuni king Tiridates III in AD287, then it was formed into a regular province under Diocletian, and in the 4th century, was divided in two provinces, First Armenia and Second Armenia. Its population remained Armenian, but was being gradually Romanized, since the 3rd century many Armenian soldiers were in the Roman army, later–in the 4th century–they made up two Roman legions, the Legio I Armeniaca and the Legio II Armeniaca. After this, the part of Lesser Armenia remaining under Byzantine control became part of the theme of Armeniakon, between the 11th and 14th centuries the term Lesser Armenia was applied to the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, until the formation of Turkey in 1923. The Christian Armenian population of Lesser Armenia continued its existence in the area until the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23, some Armenians still live in the area, albeit converted to Islam under Ottoman influence, mainly in the 17th century. Hemshinli Bert Vaux, Hemshinli, The Forgotten Black Sea Armenians, mack Chahin, The Kingdom of Armenia, A History, Routledge, London,2001. Robert H. Hewsen, Armenia, A Historical Atlas, University Of Chicago Press,2000
Lesser Armenia
Lesser Armenia
–
Lesser Armenia (in greenish yellow, near the Black Sea) at the end of the 2nd century BC, just before the Roman conquest
24.
Sivas, Turkey
–
Sivas is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province. According to a 2011 estimate, its population is 425,297. Rail repair shops and a manufacturing industry of rugs, bricks, cement. The surrounding region is an area with large deposits of iron ore which are worked at Divriği. Sivas is also a hub for the north-south and east-west trade routes to Iraq and Iran. With the development of railways, the city gained new importance as junction of important rail lines linking the cities of Ankara, Kayseri, Samsun. The city is linked by air to Istanbul, the popular name Sebastian derives from the Latin Sebastianus, meaning someone from the city. Excavations at a known as Topraktepe indicate Hittite settlement in the area as early as 2600 BC. In 64 BC as part of his reorganization of Asia Minor after the Third Mithridatic War, numismatic evidence suggests that Megalopolis changed its name in the last years of the 1st century BC to Sebaste, which is the feminine form of the Greek name corresponding to Augustus. The name Sivas is the Turkish version deriving from the name Sebasteia and it was also the place of martyrdom of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, also 4th century. Justinian I had a wall around it rebuilt in the 6th century. Sebasteia was the first important city to be plundered by Turkish tribes in 1059, in the August of that year the troops of various emirs gathered before the unwalled city. Initially they hesitated to sack it, mistaking that the domes of the several Christian churches were tends of military camps, as soon as they realized that the city was defenceless they burned it for eight days, slaughtered large part of its population and took many prisoners. The city came under the domain of Turkmen Danishmend dynasty after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, after the death of Danişmend Gazi, Sivas passed to Nizamettin Yağıbasan who won it after a struggle with Danişmend Gazis successors. In 1174, the city was captured by Seljuk ruler Kilij Arslan II, then it passed to the Ilkhanids, Eretna and Kadı Burhanettin. The city was acquired by Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I, in 1398, Tamerlane swept into the area and his forces destroyed the city in 1400, after which it was recaptured by the Ottomans in 1408. Under the Ottomans, Sivas served as the center of the province of Rum until about the late 19th century. The Armenian Catholic Church and the Latins also had one church, two Protestant churches and eight, mostly German- and American-staffed, schools
Sivas, Turkey
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Sivas Sebastea
Sivas, Turkey
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Former Sivas (1927)
Sivas, Turkey
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Gök Medrese, built by the Seljuk Turks
Sivas, Turkey
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Paşa-Mosque at Atatürk-boulevard
25.
Acta Sanctorum
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The project was conceived and begun by Jesuit Heribert Rosweyde. After his death in 1629, the Jesuit scholar Jean Bolland continued the work, which was finished over the centuries by the Bollandists. The Acta Sanctorum began with two January volumes, published in 1643, from 1643 to 1794,53 folio volumes of Acta Sanctorum had been published, covering the saints from January 1 to October 14. The main work ended with the Propylaeum to December published in 1940, the Bollandists oversaw the project, first in Antwerp and then in Brussels. After the creation of the Kingdom of Belgium, the Bollandists were permitted to reassemble, when the Jesuits were suppressed by the Habsburg governor of the Low Countries in 1788, the Bollandists continued their work in the Tongerlo Abbey. In addition to the amount of biographical material, extensively researched. Acta Sanctorum at the Digital Library@Villanova University Societé des Bollandistes website, Acta Sanctorum Database Acta Sanctorum volumes online in PDF
Acta Sanctorum
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Acta Sanctorum, January volume, published in 1643
26.
Wool
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Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other animals, including cashmere and mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, angora from rabbits, and other types of wool from camelids. Wool has several qualities that distinguish it from hair or fur, it is crimped, Wool is produced by follicles which are small cells located in the skin. These follicles are located in the layer of the skin called the epidermis. Follicles can be classed as primary or secondary follicles. Primary follicles produce three types of fiber, Kemp, medullated fibers and true wool fibers, secondary follicles only produce true wool fibers. Medullated fibers share nearly identical characteristics to hair and are long but lack crimp, Kemp fibers are very coarse and shed out. Wools scaling and crimp make it easier to spin the fleece by helping the individual fibers attach to each other, because of the crimp, wool fabrics have greater bulk than other textiles, and they hold air, which causes the fabric to retain heat. Wool has a specific heat coefficient, so it impedes heat transfer in general. This effect has benefited desert peoples, as Bedouins and Tuaregs use wool clothes for insulation, felting of wool occurs upon hammering or other mechanical agitation as the microscopic barbs on the surface of wool fibers hook together. The amount of crimp corresponds to the fineness of the wool fibers, a fine wool like Merino may have up to 100 crimps per inch, while coarser wool like karakul may have as few as one or two. In contrast, hair has little if any scale and no crimp, on sheep, the hair part of the fleece is called kemp. Wool fibers readily absorb moisture, but are not hollow, Wool can absorb almost one-third of its own weight in water. Wool absorbs sound like many other fabrics and it is generally a creamy white color, although some breeds of sheep produce natural colors, such as black, brown, silver, and random mixes. Wool ignites at a higher temperature than cotton and some synthetic fibers, Wool carpets are specified for high safety environments, such as trains and aircraft. Wool is usually specified for garments for firefighters, soldiers, Wool is considered by the medical profession to be allergenic. Sheep shearing is the process by which the fleece of a sheep is cut off. After shearing, the wool is separated into four categories, fleece, broken, bellies. In Australia before being auctioned, all Merino fleece wool is objectively measured for micron, yield, staple length, staple strength, the sheep is given a dip in antiseptic solution after shearing, so as to cure the wounds caused during shearing
Wool
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Wool just before processing
Wool
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Sheep before shearing
Wool
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Merino sheep
Wool
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Champion
hogget fleece,
Walcha Show
27.
Marco Polo
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He learned the mercantile trade from his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, who travelled through Asia and met Kublai Khan. In 1269, they returned to Venice to meet Marco for the first time, the three of them embarked on an epic journey to Asia, returning after 24 years to find Venice at war with Genoa, Marco was imprisoned and dictated his stories to a cellmate. He was released in 1299, became a merchant, married. He died in 1324 and was buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Venice, Marco Polo was not the first European to reach China, but he was the first to leave a detailed chronicle of his experience. This book inspired Christopher Columbus and many other travellers, there is a substantial literature based on Polos writings, he also influenced European cartography, leading to the introduction of the Fra Mauro map. Marco Polo was born in 1254 in Venice Republic and his exact date and place of birth are archivally unknown. Some historians mentioned that he was born on September 15 but that date is not endorsed by mainstream scholarship, Marco Polos birthplace is generally considered Venice, but also varies between Constantinople, and the island of Korčula. There is dispute as to whether the Polo family is of Venetian origin, the first recorded Polo is Venetian Domenico Polo who was mentioned in 971 regarding the prohibition of trade with the Arabs. Later other Polos were also mentioned in the service of the realm, whether they were related with the family of Marco Polo is uncertain, but this could indicate that his ancestors travelled between Venice and Dalmatia. Some of the first indications of where his family originated and were resident come from Venetian documents and manuscripts. Some scholars argued that this account could go along with the note from Il Milione that his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, the non-Venetian i. e. Sanuto also mentioned a captain from Korčula, Antonio di Polo. Moule cited two early 17th century Venetian manuscripts questi ueneno de dalmatia, Polo questi uene de Dalmatia, scholars etymologically argued that his family name derives from Latin Paulus, the name of a certain bird species, or like Albert tSerstevens considered - from Eastern origin. However, the habitat of the shorebird is non-existent on Korčula, the surname Polo seems related with other widespread Dalmatian surnames. The lack of evidence makes the Korčula theory as a specific birthplace strongly disputed, in 1168, his great-uncle, Marco Polo, borrowed money and commanded a ship in Constantinople. His grandfather, Andrea Polo of the parish of San Felice, had three sons, Maffeo, yet another Marco, and the travellers father Niccolò and this genealogy, described by Ramusio, is not universally accepted as there is no additional evidence to support it. His father, Niccolò Polo, a merchant, traded with the Near East, becoming wealthy, Niccolò and his brother Maffeo set off on a trading voyage before Marcos birth. In 1260, Niccolò and Maffeo, while residing in Constantinople, then the capital of the Latin Empire, foresaw a political change, they liquidated their assets into jewels and moved away. According to The Travels of Marco Polo, they passed through much of Asia, and met with Kublai Khan and their decision to leave Constantinople proved timely
Marco Polo
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Polo wearing a
Tatar outfit, date of print unknown
Marco Polo
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Corte del Milion is still called after the nickname of Polo, "Il Milione"
Marco Polo
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San Lorenzo church in the
sestiere of
Castello (
Venice), where Polo was buried. The photo shows the church as is today, after the 1592 rebuilding.
Marco Polo
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A
miniature from Il Milione.
28.
William of Rubruck
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William of Rubruck was a Flemish Franciscan missionary and explorer. His account is one of the masterpieces of medieval geographical literature comparable to that of Marco Polo, born in Rubrouck, Flanders, he is known also as William of Rubruk, Willem van Ruysbroeck, Guillaume de Rubrouck or Willielmus de Rubruquis. He travelled to places of the Mongol Empire in Asia before his return to Europe. William accompanied King Louis IX of France on the Seventh Crusade in 1248, on May 7,1253, on Louis orders, he set out from Constantinople on a missionary journey to convert the Tatars to Christianity. He actually followed the route of the first journey of the Hungarian Friar Julian, after reaching the Crimean town of Sudak, William continued his trek with oxen and carts. Nine days after crossing the Don he met Sartaq Khan, ruler of the Kipchak Khanate, the Khan sent William on to his father, Batu Khan, at Sarai near the Volga. Five weeks later, after the departure from Sudak, he reached the encampment of Batu Khan, Batu refused conversion but sent the ambassadors on to the Great Khan of the Mongols, Möngke Khan. He and his companions set off on horseback on September 16,1253 on a 9,000 km journey to the court of the Great Khan at Karakorum. Upon arrival they were received courteously, and he was given an audience on January 4,1254, Williams account provided an extensive description of the citys walls, markets and temples, and the separate quarters for Muslim and Chinese craftsmen among a surprisingly cosmopolitan population. He stayed at the Khans camp until July 10,1254, William and his companions reached the Crusader State of Tripoli on August 15,1255. William of Rubrucks was the fourth European mission to the Mongols, previous ones were led by Giovanni da Pian del Carpine and Ascelin of Lombardia in 1245, the King was encouraged to send another mission by reports of the presence of Nestorian Christians at the Mongolian court. In this report, he described the peculiarities of Mongolia as well as many geographical observations, there were also anthropological observations, such as his surprise at the presence of Islam in Inner Asia. Williams report is divided into 40 chapters, chapters 1-10 relate general observations about the Mongols and their customs. Chapters from 11 to 40 give an account of the course, the report of William of Rubruck is one of the great masterpieces of medieval geographical literature, comparable to that of Marco Polo, although they are very different. William was an observer, and an excellent writer. He asked many questions along the way and did not take folk tale and fable as truth, a Chinese participated with William in the competition. Rubrucks account was edited and translated into English by Richard Hakluyt in 1598-1600. The full account was published by the Société de Géographie in the Recueil de voyages et de mémoires, an English translation by William Woodville Rockhill, The Journey of William of Rubruk to the Eastern Parts, was published by the Hakluyt Society in 1900
William of Rubruck
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Voyage of William of Rubruck in 1253–1255.
