Apollonius of Rhodes' most reliable information is largely drawn from their own works. Once considered a mere imitator of Homer, his reputation has been enhanced by recent studies, with an emphasis on the special writing characteristics of Hellenistic poets as scholarly heirs of a long literary tradition at a unique time in history.
Apollonius was among the foremost Homeric scholars in the Alexandrian period. He wrote the period's 1st scholarly monograph on Homer, critical of the editions of the Illiad and Odyssey published by Zenodotus, his predecessor as head of the Library of Alexandria. Argonautica seems to have been written partly as an experimental means of communicating his own researches into Homer's poetry. He has been credited with scholarly prose works on Archilochus and on problems in Hesiod. He is also considered to be one of the period's most important authors on geography, though approaching the subject differently from Eratosthenes, his successor at the library and a radical critic of Homer's geography. It was a time when the accumulation of scientific knowledge was enabling advances in geographical studies, as represented by the activities of Timosthenes, a Ptolemaic admiral and a prolific author. Apollonius set out to integrate new understandings of the Physical World with the mythical geography of tradition and his Argonautica was, in that sense, a didactic epic on geography without detracting from its merits as poetry.
Apollonius was a student of the poet and scholar Callimachus. He instructed Apollonius in rhetoric.
Callimachus was a native of the Greek Colony of Cyrene, Libya, and was of Libyan Greek ancestry. He was born and raised in Cyrene, as a member of a distinguished family. His parents being Mesatme and Battus, descendants of the !st Greek King of Cyrene, Battus I. Calimachus claimed to be a descendant of the Battiad Dynasty, the Libyan Greek monarchs that ruled Cyrenaica for 8 generations and the 1st Greek Royal family to have reigned in Africa. He was named after his grandfather, an elder Callimachus, who was highly regarded by the Cyrenaean citizens and had served as a general.
Callimachus was a noted poet, critic, and scholar at the library of Alexandria and enjoyed the patronage of the Egyptian-Greek Pharaohs Ptolemy II Philadelphus, and Ptolemy III Euergetes. Elitist and erudite, claiming to "abhor all common things," he is best known for his short poems and epigrams. He was responsible for producing a bibliographic survey based upon the contents of the Library.
In the prologue Aetia ("Causes"), he claims that Apollo visited him and admonished him to "fatten his flocks, but to keep his muse slender," a clear indication of his choice of carefully crafted and allusive material. Another saying attributed to him is:"Big Book, Big Evil."He often attacked long, old-fashioned poetry. He urged poets to "drive their wagons on untrodden fields," rather than following in the well worn tracks of Homer, idealizing a brief form of poetry, yet carefully formed and worded, a style at which he excelled. Calimachus often wrote poems in praise of his royal patrons (Ptolemy II Philadelphus).
Callimachus married the daughter of a Greek man called Euphrates who came from Syracuse. It is unknown if they had children. He had a sister called Megatime. She married a Cyrenaean man called Stasenorus to whom she bore a son, Callimachus, the Younger as to distinguish him from his maternal uncle. This boy also became a poet, author of "The Island."
Due to Callimachus' strong stance against the epic, he and his younger student Apollonius of Rhodes, who favored epic and wrote the Argonautica, had a long and bitter feud, trading barbed comments, insults and attacks for over 30 years.
The epithet Rhodes indicates that Apollonius had some kind of association with the island of that name.
Monday, 29 February 2016
JASON AND MEDEA.
Aeetes, father of Medea, was a King of Colchis (Region in the Southern Caucasus, Eastern Coast of the Black Sea) in Greek mythology, son of the sun-god Helius and the Oceanid Perseis (Oceanus's daughter), brother of Circe and Pasiphae.
Chalciope, sister of Medea and wife of Phrixus, by whom she had 4 sons: Argus, Phrontis, Melas, and Cytisorus. Chalciope expressed great filial devotion and stayed by her father's side, even though he had killed her husband.
Absyrtus, brother of Medea. She took him with her when she fled with Jason and when she was nearly overtaken by her father, she murdered him, cut his body into pieces and strewed them on the road, so that her father might be delayed by gathering the limbs of his child. Tomi was the place where this occurred. Tomy was later renamed to Constant-Iana in honor of Constant-Ia, the half-sister of the Roman Emperor Constant-Ine the Great (247-337). The city was founded around 600 BC and is located in the Do-Bruja Region of Romania, the oldest continuously inhabited capital city in the region, on the Black Sea Coast.
Medea's role began after Jason came from Iol-Cus to Colchis, to claim his inheritance and throne by retrieving the Golden Fleece. Ancient Iol-Cus is believed to be located in modern-day nearby Dim-Ini, where a Mycen-Aean palace was excavated recently.
Aeson was rightful king of Iol-Cus, but his half-brother Pelias usurped the throne. Peleas sent Jason and his Argonauts to look for the Golden Fleece. The ship Argo sailed from Iol-Cus with 50 demigods and princes under Jason's leadership. Their mission was to reach Colchis in Aea at the Eastern Seaboard of the Black Sea and reclaim and bring back the Golden Fleece as a Symbol of the Opening of New Trade Routes.
Medea fell in love with him and promised to help him, but only on the "condition" that if he succeeded, he would take her with him and marry her. Jason "agreed." Aeetes, Medea's father, promised to give him the Fleece, but only if he could perform "certain tasks." First, Jason had to plough a field with fire-breathing oxen that he had to yoke himself. Medea gave him an unguent with which to "anoint himself" and "his weapons," to protect him from the Bulls' Fiery Breath. Next, Jason had to sow the teeth of a dragon in the ploughed field. The teeth sprouted into an army of warriors. Jason was forewarned by Medea, and knew that throwing a rock into the crowd they were not be able to determine who did it. The rock created a suspicious mind among them. The soldiers attacked and killed each other. Finally, Jason had to kill the sleepless dragon that guarded the Fleece. Medea put the beast to sleep with her narcotic herbs. Jason took the Fleece and sailed away with Medea, as he had promised. Medea distracted her father by killing her brother, knowing that her father would stop to retrieve the dismembered body for a proper burial. Medea and Jason stopped on her aunt Circe's Island so that she could be cleansed after the murder of her own brother, relieving her of blame for the deed.
Jason and Medea had 5 sons :Alcimedes, Thessalus, Tisander, Mermeros, and Pheres, and a daughter Eriopis. They were married happily for 10 years in Corinth.
Jason then abandoned Medea for the king's daughter Glauce. Medea took her revenge by sending Glauce a dress and golden coronet, covered in poison resulting in the death of both the princess and the king Creon when he went to save her. Two of her sons, Mermeros and Pheres, helped her and were murdered by Corinthians for their crime. Medea continued her revenge murdering her two children Tisander and Alcimenes. Only one son, Thessalus, survivied. She left Corinth and flew to Athens in a golden flying chariot driven by dragons sent by her grandfather Helious, god of the sun, to the Iranian Plateau and lived among the Aryans, who then changed their name to the Medes.
Chalciope, sister of Medea and wife of Phrixus, by whom she had 4 sons: Argus, Phrontis, Melas, and Cytisorus. Chalciope expressed great filial devotion and stayed by her father's side, even though he had killed her husband.
Absyrtus, brother of Medea. She took him with her when she fled with Jason and when she was nearly overtaken by her father, she murdered him, cut his body into pieces and strewed them on the road, so that her father might be delayed by gathering the limbs of his child. Tomi was the place where this occurred. Tomy was later renamed to Constant-Iana in honor of Constant-Ia, the half-sister of the Roman Emperor Constant-Ine the Great (247-337). The city was founded around 600 BC and is located in the Do-Bruja Region of Romania, the oldest continuously inhabited capital city in the region, on the Black Sea Coast.
Medea's role began after Jason came from Iol-Cus to Colchis, to claim his inheritance and throne by retrieving the Golden Fleece. Ancient Iol-Cus is believed to be located in modern-day nearby Dim-Ini, where a Mycen-Aean palace was excavated recently.
Aeson was rightful king of Iol-Cus, but his half-brother Pelias usurped the throne. Peleas sent Jason and his Argonauts to look for the Golden Fleece. The ship Argo sailed from Iol-Cus with 50 demigods and princes under Jason's leadership. Their mission was to reach Colchis in Aea at the Eastern Seaboard of the Black Sea and reclaim and bring back the Golden Fleece as a Symbol of the Opening of New Trade Routes.
Medea fell in love with him and promised to help him, but only on the "condition" that if he succeeded, he would take her with him and marry her. Jason "agreed." Aeetes, Medea's father, promised to give him the Fleece, but only if he could perform "certain tasks." First, Jason had to plough a field with fire-breathing oxen that he had to yoke himself. Medea gave him an unguent with which to "anoint himself" and "his weapons," to protect him from the Bulls' Fiery Breath. Next, Jason had to sow the teeth of a dragon in the ploughed field. The teeth sprouted into an army of warriors. Jason was forewarned by Medea, and knew that throwing a rock into the crowd they were not be able to determine who did it. The rock created a suspicious mind among them. The soldiers attacked and killed each other. Finally, Jason had to kill the sleepless dragon that guarded the Fleece. Medea put the beast to sleep with her narcotic herbs. Jason took the Fleece and sailed away with Medea, as he had promised. Medea distracted her father by killing her brother, knowing that her father would stop to retrieve the dismembered body for a proper burial. Medea and Jason stopped on her aunt Circe's Island so that she could be cleansed after the murder of her own brother, relieving her of blame for the deed.
Jason and Medea had 5 sons :Alcimedes, Thessalus, Tisander, Mermeros, and Pheres, and a daughter Eriopis. They were married happily for 10 years in Corinth.
Jason then abandoned Medea for the king's daughter Glauce. Medea took her revenge by sending Glauce a dress and golden coronet, covered in poison resulting in the death of both the princess and the king Creon when he went to save her. Two of her sons, Mermeros and Pheres, helped her and were murdered by Corinthians for their crime. Medea continued her revenge murdering her two children Tisander and Alcimenes. Only one son, Thessalus, survivied. She left Corinth and flew to Athens in a golden flying chariot driven by dragons sent by her grandfather Helious, god of the sun, to the Iranian Plateau and lived among the Aryans, who then changed their name to the Medes.
Sunday, 28 February 2016
THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE.
The Order of the Golden Fleece is a Roman Catholic Order of Chivalry founded in Bruges (Belgium) by Philip III, Duke of Burgundy in 1430, in celebration of the prosperous and wealthy domains in his person that ran from Flanders to Switzerland and his marriage to the Portuguese princess Infanta Isabella of Portugal, daughter of King John I of Portugal. It became one of the most prestigious Orders in Europe.
Philip III was a member of a "cadet line" of the Valois Dynasty (then Royal Family of France). During his reign Burgundy reached the apex of its prosperity and prestige and became a leading Center of Arts.
He is known for his administrative reforms, patronage of Flemish artists (Jan Van Eyck), of Franco-Flemish composers (Guilles Binchois), and the capture of Joan of Arc.
The Capetian Dynasty, also known as the House of France, is a dynasty of Frankish origin, founded by Hugh Capet. It is among the largest and oldest European Royal Houses, consisting of Hugh Capet's male-line descendants. It ruled in France as the House of Capet from the ascension of Hugh Capet in 987 until the death of Charles IV in 1328.
The Dynasty had a crucial role in the formation of the French state. Members of the Dynasty were traditionally Catholic. the early Capetians had an alliance with the Church. The French were also the most active participants in the Crusades, culminating in a series of 5 Crusader Kings -Louis VII, Philip Augustus, Louis VIII, Saint Louis, and Philip III.
The Capetians generally enjoyed a harmonious family relationship. By tradition, younger sons and brothers of the King of France were given a grant of an estate, a title, an office, or other thing of value in order to maintain their rank and to dissuade them from claiming the French Crown itself. When Capetian cadets did aspire for kingship, their ambitions were directed not at the French Throne, but a foreign Thrones. Through this, the Capetians spread widely over Europe.
In modern times, both King Felipe VI of Spain (born January 30,1968) and Grand Duke Henri of LuxemBourg (born April 16,1955) are members of this family, both through the Bourbon Branch of the Dynasty. Along with the House of HabsBurg, it is one of the 2 most powerful continental European Royal families, dominating European politics for nearly 5 centuries.
The choice of the Golden Fleece of Georgian Kingdom of Colchis as the symbol of the Order caused controversy because of the feats of Jason. Ancestors of the Colchians were established on the Black Sea Coast from as early as the 4th millennium BC. Colchis was an important land in Greco-Roman mythology, most notably as the Kingdom of Medea and the Golden Fleece, destination of the Argonauts. Medea is a sorceress who was the daughter of King Aeetes of Cochis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god helios and later wife to the hero Jason, with whom she had 2 children, Mermeros and Pheres. In Euripides's play Medea, Jason leaves Medea when Creon, King of Corinth, offers him his daughter, Glauce. The play tells that Medea took her revenge by sending Glauce a dress and a golden coronet, covered in poison resulting in the death of both the princes and the king, Creon, when he went to save her. The two sons that helped their mother's revenge were murdered by the Corinthians for their crime. Then she continue her revenge murdering the other two remaining sons, Mermeros and Pheres. Only one son survived, Thessalus. Afterward she left Corinth and flew to the Iranian Plateau, in a golden chariot driven by dragons sent by her grandfather Helios, god of the Sun, and lived among the Aryans, who then changed their name to the Medes.
Philip III was a member of a "cadet line" of the Valois Dynasty (then Royal Family of France). During his reign Burgundy reached the apex of its prosperity and prestige and became a leading Center of Arts.
He is known for his administrative reforms, patronage of Flemish artists (Jan Van Eyck), of Franco-Flemish composers (Guilles Binchois), and the capture of Joan of Arc.
The Capetian Dynasty, also known as the House of France, is a dynasty of Frankish origin, founded by Hugh Capet. It is among the largest and oldest European Royal Houses, consisting of Hugh Capet's male-line descendants. It ruled in France as the House of Capet from the ascension of Hugh Capet in 987 until the death of Charles IV in 1328.
The Dynasty had a crucial role in the formation of the French state. Members of the Dynasty were traditionally Catholic. the early Capetians had an alliance with the Church. The French were also the most active participants in the Crusades, culminating in a series of 5 Crusader Kings -Louis VII, Philip Augustus, Louis VIII, Saint Louis, and Philip III.
The Capetians generally enjoyed a harmonious family relationship. By tradition, younger sons and brothers of the King of France were given a grant of an estate, a title, an office, or other thing of value in order to maintain their rank and to dissuade them from claiming the French Crown itself. When Capetian cadets did aspire for kingship, their ambitions were directed not at the French Throne, but a foreign Thrones. Through this, the Capetians spread widely over Europe.
In modern times, both King Felipe VI of Spain (born January 30,1968) and Grand Duke Henri of LuxemBourg (born April 16,1955) are members of this family, both through the Bourbon Branch of the Dynasty. Along with the House of HabsBurg, it is one of the 2 most powerful continental European Royal families, dominating European politics for nearly 5 centuries.
The choice of the Golden Fleece of Georgian Kingdom of Colchis as the symbol of the Order caused controversy because of the feats of Jason. Ancestors of the Colchians were established on the Black Sea Coast from as early as the 4th millennium BC. Colchis was an important land in Greco-Roman mythology, most notably as the Kingdom of Medea and the Golden Fleece, destination of the Argonauts. Medea is a sorceress who was the daughter of King Aeetes of Cochis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god helios and later wife to the hero Jason, with whom she had 2 children, Mermeros and Pheres. In Euripides's play Medea, Jason leaves Medea when Creon, King of Corinth, offers him his daughter, Glauce. The play tells that Medea took her revenge by sending Glauce a dress and a golden coronet, covered in poison resulting in the death of both the princes and the king, Creon, when he went to save her. The two sons that helped their mother's revenge were murdered by the Corinthians for their crime. Then she continue her revenge murdering the other two remaining sons, Mermeros and Pheres. Only one son survived, Thessalus. Afterward she left Corinth and flew to the Iranian Plateau, in a golden chariot driven by dragons sent by her grandfather Helios, god of the Sun, and lived among the Aryans, who then changed their name to the Medes.
Saturday, 27 February 2016
THE HINDU SCRIPTURE.
It is a 700-verse Hindu Scripture written in the primary sacred language of Hinduism (Sanskrit) and is part of the Hindu Epic narrative of the War that arose from a dynastic succession struggle between two groups of cousins, for the throne in an Indian Kingdom. It involved a number of ancient kingdoms participating as allies of the rival groups.
Despite only referring to these 18 days, the narrative forms more than a quarter of the Book. The narrative describes individual battles and deaths of various heroes of both sides, military formations, war diplomacy, meetings and discussions among the characters, and the weapons used. The chapters dealing with the War are considered amongst the oldest in the entire narrative (chapters 6-10).
Hindus believe that human civilization degenerates spiritually during the Dark Age, which is referred to as the Cali-Yuga because in it people are as far away as possible from God.
Hinduism often represents Morality (Dharma) as a Bull. In the 1st stage of development (Satya Yuga), the Bull has 4 legs, but in each age Morality is reduced by one quarter. By the Dark Age (Cali-Yuga), Morality is reduced to only a quarter of that Golden Age, so that the Bull of Morality (Dharma) has only one leg.
The War and the decimation of the self- respected mythical descendants from Yadu, the king, happened at the point of transition from one Yuga to another.
The Hindu Scripture mentions the Sage Narada to have momentarily intercepted the demon Cali on his way to the Earth when DuryoDhana was about to be born in order to make him an embodiment of the 6 vices [Lust (kama), Anger (krodha), Greed (lobh), Delusory Emotional Attachment or Temptation (moha), Pride (mada or ahankar), and Envy, Jealousy (matsarya); the negative characteristics of which prevent man from attaining salvation (moksha)] in preparation of the era of decay in values and the consequent havoc.
The more each individual fights them, the longer will be the life of dying Morality (Dharma) in this Yuga. Lust and Anger are responsible for all kinds of difficult experiences which we have in our lives.
With Pride the false ego goes up and become active, all our acting in the world becomes selfish. The materially identified ego is now sided with the Materialistic Forces of Creation (Maya), called evil passions, and having the following faults: Lust, Anger, Greed, Delusory Emotional Attachment or Temptation, Pride, and Envy together with Jealousy. Man's Spiritual heritage constantly gets looted by these internal thieves (and their numerous variations), causing him to lose knowledge of his True Being.
If the person is a prisoner of the 6 internal enemies, then life is totally governed by Destiny. As the person moves ahead on the path of Self-Realization, the grip of Destiny over him loosens and the person gets more and more leverage to change Destiny. When a person identifies himself or herself with the Self, then, he/she becomes part of the Destiny Power. His/Her power is good enough to materialize and change any situation either for good or bad according to his/her will. Through constant knowledge and renunciation, these 6 vices can be overcome.
There is considerable controversy over the date for the start of the Cali-Yuga and its duration. According to the astronomer and mathematician AryaBhatta the Cali-Yuga started in 3102 BC. He finished his book in 499 CE in which he gives the exact year of the beginning of the cycle.
According to AbhYankar, the starting point of Cali-Yuga is an extremely rare planetary alignment. Going by this alignment the year 3102 BC is slightly off. The actual date for this alignment is February 7 of 3104 BC.
Most interpreters of the Scripture believe that Earth is currently in Cali-Yuga and it is commonly thought to last 6480 years.
In relation to Rulers the Scripture identifies some of the attributes of Cali-Yuga: -Rulers will become unreasonable: they will levy taxes unfairly. -Rulers will no longer see it as their duty to promote spirituality, or to protect their subjects: they will become a danger to the world. -People will start migrating, seeking countries where wheat and barley form the staple food source. -At the end of Cali-Yuga, when there exist no topics on the subject of God, even at the residences of so-called saints and respectable gentlemen and when nothing is known of the techniques of sacrifice, even by word, at that time the Lord will appear as the Supreme Chastiser.
With regard to human relationship: -Avarice and wrath will be common. Humans will openly display animosity towards each other. Ignorance of Morality will occur. -People will have thoughts of murder with no justification and will see nothing wrong in that. -Lust will be viewed as socially acceptable and sexual intercourse will be seen as the central requirement for life. - Sin will increase exponentially, while virtue will fade and cease to flourish. -People will take vows and break them soon after. People will become addicted to intoxicated drinks and drugs. -Teachers, Guides, or Masters will no longer be respected and their students will attempt to injure them. Their teachings will be insulted, and followers of Lust will wrest control of the mind from all human beings. -Rules of the social orders would not be followed.
Despite only referring to these 18 days, the narrative forms more than a quarter of the Book. The narrative describes individual battles and deaths of various heroes of both sides, military formations, war diplomacy, meetings and discussions among the characters, and the weapons used. The chapters dealing with the War are considered amongst the oldest in the entire narrative (chapters 6-10).
Hindus believe that human civilization degenerates spiritually during the Dark Age, which is referred to as the Cali-Yuga because in it people are as far away as possible from God.
Hinduism often represents Morality (Dharma) as a Bull. In the 1st stage of development (Satya Yuga), the Bull has 4 legs, but in each age Morality is reduced by one quarter. By the Dark Age (Cali-Yuga), Morality is reduced to only a quarter of that Golden Age, so that the Bull of Morality (Dharma) has only one leg.
The War and the decimation of the self- respected mythical descendants from Yadu, the king, happened at the point of transition from one Yuga to another.
The Hindu Scripture mentions the Sage Narada to have momentarily intercepted the demon Cali on his way to the Earth when DuryoDhana was about to be born in order to make him an embodiment of the 6 vices [Lust (kama), Anger (krodha), Greed (lobh), Delusory Emotional Attachment or Temptation (moha), Pride (mada or ahankar), and Envy, Jealousy (matsarya); the negative characteristics of which prevent man from attaining salvation (moksha)] in preparation of the era of decay in values and the consequent havoc.
The more each individual fights them, the longer will be the life of dying Morality (Dharma) in this Yuga. Lust and Anger are responsible for all kinds of difficult experiences which we have in our lives.
With Pride the false ego goes up and become active, all our acting in the world becomes selfish. The materially identified ego is now sided with the Materialistic Forces of Creation (Maya), called evil passions, and having the following faults: Lust, Anger, Greed, Delusory Emotional Attachment or Temptation, Pride, and Envy together with Jealousy. Man's Spiritual heritage constantly gets looted by these internal thieves (and their numerous variations), causing him to lose knowledge of his True Being.
If the person is a prisoner of the 6 internal enemies, then life is totally governed by Destiny. As the person moves ahead on the path of Self-Realization, the grip of Destiny over him loosens and the person gets more and more leverage to change Destiny. When a person identifies himself or herself with the Self, then, he/she becomes part of the Destiny Power. His/Her power is good enough to materialize and change any situation either for good or bad according to his/her will. Through constant knowledge and renunciation, these 6 vices can be overcome.
There is considerable controversy over the date for the start of the Cali-Yuga and its duration. According to the astronomer and mathematician AryaBhatta the Cali-Yuga started in 3102 BC. He finished his book in 499 CE in which he gives the exact year of the beginning of the cycle.
According to AbhYankar, the starting point of Cali-Yuga is an extremely rare planetary alignment. Going by this alignment the year 3102 BC is slightly off. The actual date for this alignment is February 7 of 3104 BC.
Most interpreters of the Scripture believe that Earth is currently in Cali-Yuga and it is commonly thought to last 6480 years.
In relation to Rulers the Scripture identifies some of the attributes of Cali-Yuga: -Rulers will become unreasonable: they will levy taxes unfairly. -Rulers will no longer see it as their duty to promote spirituality, or to protect their subjects: they will become a danger to the world. -People will start migrating, seeking countries where wheat and barley form the staple food source. -At the end of Cali-Yuga, when there exist no topics on the subject of God, even at the residences of so-called saints and respectable gentlemen and when nothing is known of the techniques of sacrifice, even by word, at that time the Lord will appear as the Supreme Chastiser.
With regard to human relationship: -Avarice and wrath will be common. Humans will openly display animosity towards each other. Ignorance of Morality will occur. -People will have thoughts of murder with no justification and will see nothing wrong in that. -Lust will be viewed as socially acceptable and sexual intercourse will be seen as the central requirement for life. - Sin will increase exponentially, while virtue will fade and cease to flourish. -People will take vows and break them soon after. People will become addicted to intoxicated drinks and drugs. -Teachers, Guides, or Masters will no longer be respected and their students will attempt to injure them. Their teachings will be insulted, and followers of Lust will wrest control of the mind from all human beings. -Rules of the social orders would not be followed.
ECHIDNA, HALF-WOMAN AND HALF SNAKE AND TYPHON.
In Greek mythology, according to Hesiod, Echidna was a monster who was born in a cave. She lived alone beneath the secret parts of the Earth, deep down under a hollow rock far from the deathless gods and mortal men. A place appointed by the gods, where she kept guard in Arima, the same place from where Zeus lashed with his thunderbolts the land of the Arimoi where men said was the couch bed of Tiphon. From the Cave Echidna used to carry off passers-by. Across the Gulf of Issus from Corycus, in ancient Syria was the Mount Hasios (modern Jebel Aqra in Turkey) and the Orontes River, said to be the site of the Battle of Typhon and Zeus. The historian Posidonius identified the Arimoi with the Arameans of Syria.
Echidna was the mate of the fearsome monster Typhon, and known primarily for being the monster of monsters. He was joined in love to Echidna, the maid with glancing eyes and she bore fierce offsprings.
First there was Orthrus, the two-headed dog, who guarded the Cattle of Geryon. Second Cerberus, the multiheaded dog who guarded the Gates of Hades. Third the Lernaean Hydra, the many-headed serpent who, when one of its heads was cut off, grew 2 more. She is also mentioned in Hesiod's Theogony as an entity "she" mothering the Chimera, a fire-breathing beast that was part lion, part goat, and had a snake-headed tail. Hesiod next named 2 more descendants of Echidna, the Sphinx, a monster with the head of a woman and a body of a winged lion, and the Nemean Lion, killed by Heracles as his first labor.
Hesiod described Echidna as an entity born to a "she" to be the Sea goddess Ceto, making Echidna's father the Sea god Phorcys, without naming the mother. She was half beautiful maiden and half fearsome snake. The "goddess fierce Echidna" was described as a fleshy eating "monster, irresistible," who was like neither "mortal men"nor "the undying gods," but was "half a nymph with glancing eyes and fair cheeks, and half again a huge snake, great and awful, with speckled skin," who "dies not nor grows old all her days." Aristophanes (late 5th century BC), who makes her a denizen of the underworld, gave Echidna a 100 heads, matching the 100 snake heads her mate Typhon had.
Typhon was the most fearsome monster of Greek mythology. The last son of Gaia, fathered by Tartarus. Typhos, with his mate Echidna, fathered many famous monsters.
When Zeus had driven the Titans from heaven, huge Earth bore her youngest child Typhon of the love of tartarus, by the aid of golden Aphrodite. Gaia bore Typhon in anger at the gods for their destruction of her offspring the Giants.
The Homeric Hymn to Apollo (6th century BC) says that Typhon was the child of Hera alone. She was the wife and one of the 3 sisters of Zeus. Her chief function was as the goddess of women and marriage. Hera, angry at Zeus for having given birth to Athena by himself, prayed to Gaia to give her a son as strong as Zeus, then slapped the ground, and became pregnant. Hera gave the infant to the serpent Python to raise, and Typhon grew up to become a great bane to mortals. He is described as "fell" and "cruel," and neither like gods nor men.
Typhon, according to Hesiod, was terrible, outrageous, and lawless. From his shoulders grew 100 snake heads, a fearful dragon with dark, flickering tongues, and under the brows of his eyes in his heads flashed fire, and fire burned from his heads as he glared. And there were voices in all his dreadful heads which uttered every kind of sound unspeakable. At one time they made sounds such that the gods understood, but at another, the noise of a bull bellowing aloud in proud ungovernable fury; and at another , the sound of a lion, relentless of heart; and at another, sounds like whelps, wonderful to hear; and again, at another, he would hiss, so that the high mountains re-echoed. Strength was in his hands in all he did and the feet were untiring.
ApolloDorus describes Typhon as a huge monster, whose head "brushed the stars," human in form above the waist, with snakes coils below, and fire flashing from his eyes. In size and strength Tiphon surpassed all the offspring of Earth. As far as the thighs he was of human shape and of such prodigious bulk that he out-topped all the mountains. One of his hands reached out to the West andthe other to the East, and from them projected a 100 dragon's heads. from the thighs downward he had huge coils of vipers, which when drawn out, reached to his very head and emitted a loud hissing. his body was all winged.
From the 5th century BC historian Herodotus, we learn of a creature half woman and half snake, that lived in a cave, and was known as a mother figure and the progenitor of the Scythians.
Greeks living in Pontus, a Region on the Southern Coast of the Black Sea, told a story of an encounter between Heracles and this snaky creature. Heracles was driving the cattle of GeryOnes through what would later become Scythia, when one morning he awoke and discovered that his horses had disappeared. While searching for them, he found in a cave a creature of double form that was half maiden and half serpent; above the buttocks she was a woman, below them a snake. She had the horses and promised to return them if Heracles would have sex with her. Heracles agreed and she had 3 sons by him : AgaThyRsus, Gelonus, and Scythes. She asked Heracles what she should do with his sons, either she would keep them or send them with him. Heracles gave her a Bow and a Belt and told her, that when the boys were grown, whichever draw the Bow and wear the Belt, keep him and vanish the others. The youngest son Scythes fulfilled the requirements and became the founder and eponym of the Scynthians.
Echidna was the mate of the fearsome monster Typhon, and known primarily for being the monster of monsters. He was joined in love to Echidna, the maid with glancing eyes and she bore fierce offsprings.
First there was Orthrus, the two-headed dog, who guarded the Cattle of Geryon. Second Cerberus, the multiheaded dog who guarded the Gates of Hades. Third the Lernaean Hydra, the many-headed serpent who, when one of its heads was cut off, grew 2 more. She is also mentioned in Hesiod's Theogony as an entity "she" mothering the Chimera, a fire-breathing beast that was part lion, part goat, and had a snake-headed tail. Hesiod next named 2 more descendants of Echidna, the Sphinx, a monster with the head of a woman and a body of a winged lion, and the Nemean Lion, killed by Heracles as his first labor.
Hesiod described Echidna as an entity born to a "she" to be the Sea goddess Ceto, making Echidna's father the Sea god Phorcys, without naming the mother. She was half beautiful maiden and half fearsome snake. The "goddess fierce Echidna" was described as a fleshy eating "monster, irresistible," who was like neither "mortal men"nor "the undying gods," but was "half a nymph with glancing eyes and fair cheeks, and half again a huge snake, great and awful, with speckled skin," who "dies not nor grows old all her days." Aristophanes (late 5th century BC), who makes her a denizen of the underworld, gave Echidna a 100 heads, matching the 100 snake heads her mate Typhon had.
Typhon was the most fearsome monster of Greek mythology. The last son of Gaia, fathered by Tartarus. Typhos, with his mate Echidna, fathered many famous monsters.
When Zeus had driven the Titans from heaven, huge Earth bore her youngest child Typhon of the love of tartarus, by the aid of golden Aphrodite. Gaia bore Typhon in anger at the gods for their destruction of her offspring the Giants.
The Homeric Hymn to Apollo (6th century BC) says that Typhon was the child of Hera alone. She was the wife and one of the 3 sisters of Zeus. Her chief function was as the goddess of women and marriage. Hera, angry at Zeus for having given birth to Athena by himself, prayed to Gaia to give her a son as strong as Zeus, then slapped the ground, and became pregnant. Hera gave the infant to the serpent Python to raise, and Typhon grew up to become a great bane to mortals. He is described as "fell" and "cruel," and neither like gods nor men.
Typhon, according to Hesiod, was terrible, outrageous, and lawless. From his shoulders grew 100 snake heads, a fearful dragon with dark, flickering tongues, and under the brows of his eyes in his heads flashed fire, and fire burned from his heads as he glared. And there were voices in all his dreadful heads which uttered every kind of sound unspeakable. At one time they made sounds such that the gods understood, but at another, the noise of a bull bellowing aloud in proud ungovernable fury; and at another , the sound of a lion, relentless of heart; and at another, sounds like whelps, wonderful to hear; and again, at another, he would hiss, so that the high mountains re-echoed. Strength was in his hands in all he did and the feet were untiring.
ApolloDorus describes Typhon as a huge monster, whose head "brushed the stars," human in form above the waist, with snakes coils below, and fire flashing from his eyes. In size and strength Tiphon surpassed all the offspring of Earth. As far as the thighs he was of human shape and of such prodigious bulk that he out-topped all the mountains. One of his hands reached out to the West andthe other to the East, and from them projected a 100 dragon's heads. from the thighs downward he had huge coils of vipers, which when drawn out, reached to his very head and emitted a loud hissing. his body was all winged.
From the 5th century BC historian Herodotus, we learn of a creature half woman and half snake, that lived in a cave, and was known as a mother figure and the progenitor of the Scythians.
Greeks living in Pontus, a Region on the Southern Coast of the Black Sea, told a story of an encounter between Heracles and this snaky creature. Heracles was driving the cattle of GeryOnes through what would later become Scythia, when one morning he awoke and discovered that his horses had disappeared. While searching for them, he found in a cave a creature of double form that was half maiden and half serpent; above the buttocks she was a woman, below them a snake. She had the horses and promised to return them if Heracles would have sex with her. Heracles agreed and she had 3 sons by him : AgaThyRsus, Gelonus, and Scythes. She asked Heracles what she should do with his sons, either she would keep them or send them with him. Heracles gave her a Bow and a Belt and told her, that when the boys were grown, whichever draw the Bow and wear the Belt, keep him and vanish the others. The youngest son Scythes fulfilled the requirements and became the founder and eponym of the Scynthians.
THE SLAVS AND THE SLAVIC MYTHOLOGY.
Slavs are the largest Indo-European group in Europe. They inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, SouthEast Europe, North Asia, and Central Asia. Presently over half of Europe's territory is inhabited by Slavic-speaking communities. Slavs speak Indo-European Slavic languages and share, to varying degrees, some cultural traits and historical backgrounds. They are classified as West Slavic (Poles, Czechs, and Slovaks), East Slavic (Russians, Bela-Russians, and Ukranians), South Slavic (Serbs, Bulgarians, Croats, Bosniaks, Macedonians, Slovenes, and Montenegrins), though sometimes the West Slavs and the East Slavs are combined into a single group known as North Slavs.
The meaning of the word "Slav" in the Old Slavic denotes "people who speak the same language," in contrast to the modern meaning as "foreign people" or as "mumbling, murmuring people."
From the early 6th century they spread to inhabit most of Central and Eastern Europe and SouthEast Europe, while Slavic Mercenaries fighting for the Byzantine and Arabs settled Asia Minor as far as Syria. The East Slavs colonized Siberia and Central Asia.
Slavic mythology is the religion practiced by the Slavs before Christianisation. Old Slavic religion evolved for a 1000 years and some part of it from 10,000 to 12,000 BC. All their original religious beliefs and traditions were passed down orally over the generations. An exception is a short note in Herodotus' Histoires, mentioning the Tribes of Bhudini and Neuri in the far North, whose men, supposedly transform themselves into wolves for several days each year.
The Bhudini (Greek: Boudino) were a large and numerous ancient people who lived in Scythia. Above the SarmaTians, possessing the Second Region, dwelt the Bhudini, whose territory was thickly wooded and planted with trees of all manner of kinds. In the very woodiest part was a broad deep Lake, surrounded by marshy ground with reeds growing on it. Otters were caught, and beavers, with another sort of animal which had a square face. With the skins of this last the aboriginals bordered their capotes. Also they got from them a remedy, which was a virtue in diseases of the womb. Beyond the Bhudini, going NorthWard, first there was a Desert, 7 days' journey across the land. Herodotus located them East of the Don River (Tan-Ais in his time), one of the major Rivers of Russia that flows for a distance of about 1950 km /1220mi to the Sea of Azov, beyond the Sarma-Tians, a large confederation of Iranian people that flourished from about the 5th BC to the 4th century CE.
Herodotus also made a description of the Bhudini, East of the Danube (Ister) River, thusly. A large, numerous and powerful nation where all had a "mighty deep blue eyes," and "bright red hair." A City-Town among them was built by a different kind of race. The Town was made of wood and was named Gelonus and was made the capital city of the Scythian Tribe of the Bhudini. The Gelonii were formerly Greeks, having settled away from the coastal emporia among the Bhudini, where they "used a tongue partly Scythian and partly Greek."
The Bhudini, however, did not speak the same language as the Gelonii, nor was their mode of life the same. They were the aboriginal people of the land, and were nomads. Their food was different that the ones of the neighboring races.
The Gelonii became increasingly settled and wealthy on their Western Frontier with Greco-Roman Civilization. Each side of its high outer Wall was 30 stades long (about 30 square km), entirely of wood, and its houses were also made of Wood. There were in every place Greek gods' shrines adorned in the Greek way with statues, altars and wooden shrines. Every 3rd Year they celebrated a Festival of DionYsus and became possessed by the god.
The fortified Wooden Settlement of Gelonus was reached by the Persian Army of Darius in his assault of Scythia (6th century BC), already burned to the ground, having been abandoned it before the persian advance. they sent a message to Darius:"We are as free as Wind and what you can catch in our ground is only the Wind." By employing a scorched earth strategy, they avoided battles, leaving "earth without grass" by burning the steppe in front of the advancing Army. The Persian Army returned without a single battle or any significant success. The city was strategically situated on the exact boundary between the steppe and forest-steppe.
The archaeological site around Belsk, including necropolis, comprises about 80 km2, and the fortifications enclose some 40 km2. The North-South axis, along the Vorskla River is 17 km long. The remains of walls up to 12 metres are visible today and stretch over the horizon. The total length of the ramparts is 33kms. Inside the fortification, lay 3 "keeps," 150,000m2, 650,000m2, and 720,000m2 in area, surrounded by eroded earth Walls still up to 16 meters high. Several burial mounds reminded the inhabitants of the ancient Scythian burial tradition.
In Greek mythology, Gelonus was the son of Echidna and Heracles. He had an older brother AgathYrsus and a younger Scythes. Hylea is pointed to be where the Echidna's Cave was between the people. The Greeks believed that this was somewhere in Scythia.
The first Christian conversion group began in Bulgaria in 864 CE and was largely complete by the late 11th century.
Unlike ancient Greek, Indian (Hindu), Chinese or Egyptian mythology, there are no first-hand records of it. Archaeological remains of Old Slavic cult images and shrines have been found, though little can be yielded from them without legitimate knowledge of their contexts. Fragments of the old beliefs and festivals survive up to this day in folk customs, songs, and stories.
The meaning of the word "Slav" in the Old Slavic denotes "people who speak the same language," in contrast to the modern meaning as "foreign people" or as "mumbling, murmuring people."
From the early 6th century they spread to inhabit most of Central and Eastern Europe and SouthEast Europe, while Slavic Mercenaries fighting for the Byzantine and Arabs settled Asia Minor as far as Syria. The East Slavs colonized Siberia and Central Asia.
Slavic mythology is the religion practiced by the Slavs before Christianisation. Old Slavic religion evolved for a 1000 years and some part of it from 10,000 to 12,000 BC. All their original religious beliefs and traditions were passed down orally over the generations. An exception is a short note in Herodotus' Histoires, mentioning the Tribes of Bhudini and Neuri in the far North, whose men, supposedly transform themselves into wolves for several days each year.
The Bhudini (Greek: Boudino) were a large and numerous ancient people who lived in Scythia. Above the SarmaTians, possessing the Second Region, dwelt the Bhudini, whose territory was thickly wooded and planted with trees of all manner of kinds. In the very woodiest part was a broad deep Lake, surrounded by marshy ground with reeds growing on it. Otters were caught, and beavers, with another sort of animal which had a square face. With the skins of this last the aboriginals bordered their capotes. Also they got from them a remedy, which was a virtue in diseases of the womb. Beyond the Bhudini, going NorthWard, first there was a Desert, 7 days' journey across the land. Herodotus located them East of the Don River (Tan-Ais in his time), one of the major Rivers of Russia that flows for a distance of about 1950 km /1220mi to the Sea of Azov, beyond the Sarma-Tians, a large confederation of Iranian people that flourished from about the 5th BC to the 4th century CE.
Herodotus also made a description of the Bhudini, East of the Danube (Ister) River, thusly. A large, numerous and powerful nation where all had a "mighty deep blue eyes," and "bright red hair." A City-Town among them was built by a different kind of race. The Town was made of wood and was named Gelonus and was made the capital city of the Scythian Tribe of the Bhudini. The Gelonii were formerly Greeks, having settled away from the coastal emporia among the Bhudini, where they "used a tongue partly Scythian and partly Greek."
The Bhudini, however, did not speak the same language as the Gelonii, nor was their mode of life the same. They were the aboriginal people of the land, and were nomads. Their food was different that the ones of the neighboring races.
The Gelonii became increasingly settled and wealthy on their Western Frontier with Greco-Roman Civilization. Each side of its high outer Wall was 30 stades long (about 30 square km), entirely of wood, and its houses were also made of Wood. There were in every place Greek gods' shrines adorned in the Greek way with statues, altars and wooden shrines. Every 3rd Year they celebrated a Festival of DionYsus and became possessed by the god.
The fortified Wooden Settlement of Gelonus was reached by the Persian Army of Darius in his assault of Scythia (6th century BC), already burned to the ground, having been abandoned it before the persian advance. they sent a message to Darius:"We are as free as Wind and what you can catch in our ground is only the Wind." By employing a scorched earth strategy, they avoided battles, leaving "earth without grass" by burning the steppe in front of the advancing Army. The Persian Army returned without a single battle or any significant success. The city was strategically situated on the exact boundary between the steppe and forest-steppe.
The archaeological site around Belsk, including necropolis, comprises about 80 km2, and the fortifications enclose some 40 km2. The North-South axis, along the Vorskla River is 17 km long. The remains of walls up to 12 metres are visible today and stretch over the horizon. The total length of the ramparts is 33kms. Inside the fortification, lay 3 "keeps," 150,000m2, 650,000m2, and 720,000m2 in area, surrounded by eroded earth Walls still up to 16 meters high. Several burial mounds reminded the inhabitants of the ancient Scythian burial tradition.
In Greek mythology, Gelonus was the son of Echidna and Heracles. He had an older brother AgathYrsus and a younger Scythes. Hylea is pointed to be where the Echidna's Cave was between the people. The Greeks believed that this was somewhere in Scythia.
The first Christian conversion group began in Bulgaria in 864 CE and was largely complete by the late 11th century.
Unlike ancient Greek, Indian (Hindu), Chinese or Egyptian mythology, there are no first-hand records of it. Archaeological remains of Old Slavic cult images and shrines have been found, though little can be yielded from them without legitimate knowledge of their contexts. Fragments of the old beliefs and festivals survive up to this day in folk customs, songs, and stories.
Thursday, 18 February 2016
PACT WITH THE DEVIL
According to traditional Christian belief, the Pact is between a person and Satan or a lesser demon. The person offers his or her soul in exchange for favors. Those favors vary and tend to include Youth, Knowledge, Wealth, Fame, or Power. The persons who make this type of Pact, first, they have to recognize Satan as his or her Master, in exchange for nothing. The person, also promise Satan or a lesser demon, to kill children (it is understood in a sense of a young soul in search of spirituality), or consecrate them to the devil at the moment of birth, or take part in religious ceremonies, or have sexual relationship with demons, and sometimes engender children in an unnatural way.
The Pact can be oral or written.
An oral Pact can be made by means of Invocations, Conjurations, or Rituals with the purpose of attract the demon; once the conjurer feels the presence of the demon spirit, he or she asks for the wanted favor and offers his or her soul in exchange, and no evidence is left of the Pact. In some cases the only evidence left by an oral Pact is an indelible mark left on the person when he or she was touched by the Devil.
A written Pact consists in the same forms of attracting the demon, but includes a written act, usually signed with the conjurer's blood. Forms of these include Contracts or simply signing the name of the person into Satan's Red Book.
The Devil is believed in many religions, myths and cultures to be a supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the archenemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly, ranging from being an opposite force to the Creator God, locked in the material World struggling its survival through the use of the human soul to lure mankind into disbelief and evil as an act of revenge toward God because of his expulsion from heaven.
He was a superior angel whom God elevated to the highest place as a reward for his righteousness. Since angels do not have free will, and have to obey God's command without questioning, he was created different. He had free will and humans were made with free will. Satan saw the humans as a challenging entities. Man as part of the Creation had to show homage and obedience to God by heart.
In the Book of Wisdom, the Devil is represented as the one who brought Death into the World. The 2nd Book of Enoch contains references to a Watcher Angel called Satan-ael, describing him as the Prince who was cast out of heaven and an evil spirit who knew the difference between what was "righteous" and what was "sinful."
In Christianity the Devil is usually named Satan. He is an angel who, along with one-third of the angelic host rebelled against God and were condemned to the Lake of Fire. He hates all humanity, opposing God, spreading lies and wreaking havoc on the souls of mankind. He is often identified as the crafty serpent who convinced the Woman to eat the forbidden fruit.
In the Bible, the Devil is identified with 'the Dragon" and "the old Serpent" in the Book of Revelation 12:9, 20:2. He has also been identified as "the Prince of this World" in the Gospel of John 12:31, 14:30; and "the Prince of the power of the Air" also called Meririm; and "the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of Disobedience" in the Epistle to the Ephesians 2:2; and "the God of this World" in 2 Cor.4:4. He is also identified as the Dragon in the Book of Revelation, and The Tempter of the Gospels." Sometimes he is called Lucifer, particularly when describing him as an angel before his fall, although the reference in Isaiah 14:12 to Lucifer, or the Son of the Morning, is a reference of him acting in the person of the Babylonian king. Beel-Zebub is originally the name of a Philistine entity, a certain type of spirit named Baal, from Ba'al-Zebub, meaning "Lord of Flies," but it is also used in the New Testament as a synonym for Satan.
The Pact can be oral or written.
An oral Pact can be made by means of Invocations, Conjurations, or Rituals with the purpose of attract the demon; once the conjurer feels the presence of the demon spirit, he or she asks for the wanted favor and offers his or her soul in exchange, and no evidence is left of the Pact. In some cases the only evidence left by an oral Pact is an indelible mark left on the person when he or she was touched by the Devil.
A written Pact consists in the same forms of attracting the demon, but includes a written act, usually signed with the conjurer's blood. Forms of these include Contracts or simply signing the name of the person into Satan's Red Book.
The Devil is believed in many religions, myths and cultures to be a supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the archenemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly, ranging from being an opposite force to the Creator God, locked in the material World struggling its survival through the use of the human soul to lure mankind into disbelief and evil as an act of revenge toward God because of his expulsion from heaven.
He was a superior angel whom God elevated to the highest place as a reward for his righteousness. Since angels do not have free will, and have to obey God's command without questioning, he was created different. He had free will and humans were made with free will. Satan saw the humans as a challenging entities. Man as part of the Creation had to show homage and obedience to God by heart.
In the Book of Wisdom, the Devil is represented as the one who brought Death into the World. The 2nd Book of Enoch contains references to a Watcher Angel called Satan-ael, describing him as the Prince who was cast out of heaven and an evil spirit who knew the difference between what was "righteous" and what was "sinful."
In Christianity the Devil is usually named Satan. He is an angel who, along with one-third of the angelic host rebelled against God and were condemned to the Lake of Fire. He hates all humanity, opposing God, spreading lies and wreaking havoc on the souls of mankind. He is often identified as the crafty serpent who convinced the Woman to eat the forbidden fruit.
In the Bible, the Devil is identified with 'the Dragon" and "the old Serpent" in the Book of Revelation 12:9, 20:2. He has also been identified as "the Prince of this World" in the Gospel of John 12:31, 14:30; and "the Prince of the power of the Air" also called Meririm; and "the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of Disobedience" in the Epistle to the Ephesians 2:2; and "the God of this World" in 2 Cor.4:4. He is also identified as the Dragon in the Book of Revelation, and The Tempter of the Gospels." Sometimes he is called Lucifer, particularly when describing him as an angel before his fall, although the reference in Isaiah 14:12 to Lucifer, or the Son of the Morning, is a reference of him acting in the person of the Babylonian king. Beel-Zebub is originally the name of a Philistine entity, a certain type of spirit named Baal, from Ba'al-Zebub, meaning "Lord of Flies," but it is also used in the New Testament as a synonym for Satan.
Wednesday, 17 February 2016
THE CURSE OF THE EVIL EYE.
Th Evil Eye is a curse believed to be cast by a malevolent glare, usually given to a person when they are unaware.
Many cultures believe that receiving the Evil Eye will cause misfortune or injury. The concept and its significance vary widely. The belief dates back to classical Antiquity. It is referenced by Hesiod, Callimachus, Plato, Diodorus, Siculus, Theocritus, Plutarch, Heliodorus, Pliny the Elder, and Aulus Gellius.
Plutarch's scientific explanation stated that the eyes were the Chief, if not sole, Source of the Deadly Rays that were suppose to spring up like poisoned darts from the inner recesses of a person possessing the evil eye.
In the Roman days not only were individuals considered to possess the power of the evil eye but whole tribes, especially those of Pontus and Scythia, were believed to be transmitters of the evil eye. The spreading of the belief towards the East is believed to have propagated by the Empire of Alexander the Great.
In present day, the belief is stronger in West Asia, Latin America, East and West Africa, Central America, South Asia, Central Asia, and Europe, especially the Mediterranean Region; it has also spread to areas, including Northern Europe, particularly in the Celtic regions, and the Americas, where it was brought by Europeans invaders and West Asian immigrants.
In Aegean Region and other areas where light colored eyes are relatively rare, people with green eyes, and especially blue eyes, are thought to bestow the curse, intentionally or unintentionally. Assyrians are strong believers in the evil eye. They usually wear a blue/turquoise bead around a necklace to be protected from it. They believe that people with green or blue eyes are more prone to the evil eye effect.
Among those who do not take the evil eye literally, either by reason of the culture in which they were raised or because they simply do not believe it, the words "to give someone the evil eye" usually means simply to glare at the person in anger or disgust. In India, the evil eye (Drishti=gaze; Buri Nazar; Chashme Baddoor), through time of historical myths, babies and newborn infants will have their eye adorned with an eyeliner (kajal). The color is black, as it is believed that black wards off any evil auras. To methods of removing the bad aura differs depending on the culture or the area. Items used to remove it can be Rock Salt, Red Chilies, or Oiled Cloth. Taking one of this items and rotating the item over the hand of the affected and around the whole body and then burning it as a way of destroying the bad spirit with fire. In Ethiopian folk religion, Buda is the power of the evil eye and the ability to change into a Hyena. It is generally believed to be a power held and wielded by those in a different social group. The alleged evil power of the group is similar to that of the Witches. The traditional belief is that the evil eye curses first the people who possess it because of the malevolent spirits which are rooted in Envy. It allows the bearer to change into a hyena, allowing him or her attack another person while concealing his or her true nature. They are believed to be empowered by evil spirits acquiring skills from an elemental source of evil via the paternal lineage. The belief is also present in Sudan, Tanzania, and among the Berbers in Morocco.
The idea appears several times in translations of the old Testament. It is also translated as "the eye of the envious." A simple and instant way of protection in Christian Countries is to make the Sign of the Cross with your hand and direct the index and the little finger pointing towards the supposed source of influence or supposed victim. The 10th commandment :"Do not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor" is a Law against bestowing the evil eye on another person.
Rabbi Eliezer says an evil eye is worse than a bad friend, a bad neighbor, or an evil heart. A man with an evil eye will not only feel no joy but experience actual distress when others prosper, and will rejoice when others suffer. A person of this character represents a danger to moral purity.
Many cultures believe that receiving the Evil Eye will cause misfortune or injury. The concept and its significance vary widely. The belief dates back to classical Antiquity. It is referenced by Hesiod, Callimachus, Plato, Diodorus, Siculus, Theocritus, Plutarch, Heliodorus, Pliny the Elder, and Aulus Gellius.
Plutarch's scientific explanation stated that the eyes were the Chief, if not sole, Source of the Deadly Rays that were suppose to spring up like poisoned darts from the inner recesses of a person possessing the evil eye.
In the Roman days not only were individuals considered to possess the power of the evil eye but whole tribes, especially those of Pontus and Scythia, were believed to be transmitters of the evil eye. The spreading of the belief towards the East is believed to have propagated by the Empire of Alexander the Great.
In present day, the belief is stronger in West Asia, Latin America, East and West Africa, Central America, South Asia, Central Asia, and Europe, especially the Mediterranean Region; it has also spread to areas, including Northern Europe, particularly in the Celtic regions, and the Americas, where it was brought by Europeans invaders and West Asian immigrants.
In Aegean Region and other areas where light colored eyes are relatively rare, people with green eyes, and especially blue eyes, are thought to bestow the curse, intentionally or unintentionally. Assyrians are strong believers in the evil eye. They usually wear a blue/turquoise bead around a necklace to be protected from it. They believe that people with green or blue eyes are more prone to the evil eye effect.
Among those who do not take the evil eye literally, either by reason of the culture in which they were raised or because they simply do not believe it, the words "to give someone the evil eye" usually means simply to glare at the person in anger or disgust. In India, the evil eye (Drishti=gaze; Buri Nazar; Chashme Baddoor), through time of historical myths, babies and newborn infants will have their eye adorned with an eyeliner (kajal). The color is black, as it is believed that black wards off any evil auras. To methods of removing the bad aura differs depending on the culture or the area. Items used to remove it can be Rock Salt, Red Chilies, or Oiled Cloth. Taking one of this items and rotating the item over the hand of the affected and around the whole body and then burning it as a way of destroying the bad spirit with fire. In Ethiopian folk religion, Buda is the power of the evil eye and the ability to change into a Hyena. It is generally believed to be a power held and wielded by those in a different social group. The alleged evil power of the group is similar to that of the Witches. The traditional belief is that the evil eye curses first the people who possess it because of the malevolent spirits which are rooted in Envy. It allows the bearer to change into a hyena, allowing him or her attack another person while concealing his or her true nature. They are believed to be empowered by evil spirits acquiring skills from an elemental source of evil via the paternal lineage. The belief is also present in Sudan, Tanzania, and among the Berbers in Morocco.
The idea appears several times in translations of the old Testament. It is also translated as "the eye of the envious." A simple and instant way of protection in Christian Countries is to make the Sign of the Cross with your hand and direct the index and the little finger pointing towards the supposed source of influence or supposed victim. The 10th commandment :"Do not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor" is a Law against bestowing the evil eye on another person.
Rabbi Eliezer says an evil eye is worse than a bad friend, a bad neighbor, or an evil heart. A man with an evil eye will not only feel no joy but experience actual distress when others prosper, and will rejoice when others suffer. A person of this character represents a danger to moral purity.
THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE TREE OF LIFE. Part 2
The Hebrew word for the tree of Life is "Etz Chaim." The expression, found in the Book of Proverbs, is figuratively to the Torah itself. Etz Chaim is also a common name for Yeshivas and synagogues as well as for works of Rabbinic Literature. It is also used to describe each of the wooden poles to which the Torah Scrolls is attached. The Tree of Life is mentioned in the Book of Genesis; it is distinct from the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. After the disobedience of the first couple by eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and evil, they were driven out of the Garden of Eden. Remaining in the Garden, however, was the Tree of Life. To prevent the man's access to this Tree in the future, Cherubim with a flaming sword were placed at the East of the garden. (Genesis 3:22-24).
In the Book of Proverbs, the Tree of Life is associated with Wisdom: "Wisdom is a Tree of Life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is every one that retaineth her." (Proverbs 3:13-18). In 15:4 the Tree of Life is associated with Calmness:"A soothing Tongue is a Tree of Life; but Perverseness therein is a Wound to the Spirit." In the non-canonical Book of Enoch it is stated that in the Time of the Great Judgment God will give to all those whose names are in the Book of Life, Fruit to Eat from the Tree of Life.
In Jewish mysticism the Tree of Life is depicted in the form of 10 interconnected Nodes, as the Central symbol of the Kabbalah. It comprises the 10 Sephirot Powers in the Divine Realm. The meaning
'all-in-God"and the subtle anthropomorphic analogies and metaphors to describe God, interpreted the Torah, Jewish Observance, and the Purpose of creation as the symbolic esoteric Drama of Unification in the Sephirot, restoring harmony to Creation. Kabbalists repeatedly warns and stress the need to divorce their notions from any corporeal, dualism, plurality, or spatial and temporal connotations. Once the analogy is described, its limitations are then related to, stripping the kernel of its husk, to arrive at a truer conception. This is the main reason why Kabbalists tradionally restricts Oral Transmition to close circles, with sincere motives, advanced learning and elite preparation. Understanding the learning through its unity with complete mainstream Talmudic, Halachic and Philosophical proficiency was a traditional prerequisite to avoid false dangers.
In pre-Columbian MesoAmerican Cosmologies and Iconography, the concept of World Trees embodies the 4 Cardinal Directions, which represented also the FourFold Nature of a central World Tree, a symbolic Axis Mundi connecting the planes of the UnderWorld and the Sky with that of the Terrestrial World. Depictions of World Trees are also associated with the 4 Year Bearers in MesoAmerican Calendars, and the directional colors and deities. MesoAmerican sites and ceremonial centers had actual Trees planted at each of the 4 Cardinal Directions, representing the Quadripartite Concept. The Trees are depicted with birds in their branches, and their roots extending into earth of water, sometimes atop a "water-monster," symbolic of the Underworld. The Central World tree has also been interpreted as a representation of the band of the Milky Way.
Turkic mythology embraces Tengriist and Shamanist traditions as well as all cultural and social subjects being a nomad folk. After Turkic migration some of their myths were decorated with Islamic symbols. It has many common points with Aegean (Greek) and Anatolian (Hittite) mythologies as well as Mongol mythology. The World Tree or Tree of Life is a Central symbol in its mythology. It is a common motif in carpets representing immortality.
In the Book of Proverbs, the Tree of Life is associated with Wisdom: "Wisdom is a Tree of Life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is every one that retaineth her." (Proverbs 3:13-18). In 15:4 the Tree of Life is associated with Calmness:"A soothing Tongue is a Tree of Life; but Perverseness therein is a Wound to the Spirit." In the non-canonical Book of Enoch it is stated that in the Time of the Great Judgment God will give to all those whose names are in the Book of Life, Fruit to Eat from the Tree of Life.
In Jewish mysticism the Tree of Life is depicted in the form of 10 interconnected Nodes, as the Central symbol of the Kabbalah. It comprises the 10 Sephirot Powers in the Divine Realm. The meaning
'all-in-God"and the subtle anthropomorphic analogies and metaphors to describe God, interpreted the Torah, Jewish Observance, and the Purpose of creation as the symbolic esoteric Drama of Unification in the Sephirot, restoring harmony to Creation. Kabbalists repeatedly warns and stress the need to divorce their notions from any corporeal, dualism, plurality, or spatial and temporal connotations. Once the analogy is described, its limitations are then related to, stripping the kernel of its husk, to arrive at a truer conception. This is the main reason why Kabbalists tradionally restricts Oral Transmition to close circles, with sincere motives, advanced learning and elite preparation. Understanding the learning through its unity with complete mainstream Talmudic, Halachic and Philosophical proficiency was a traditional prerequisite to avoid false dangers.
In pre-Columbian MesoAmerican Cosmologies and Iconography, the concept of World Trees embodies the 4 Cardinal Directions, which represented also the FourFold Nature of a central World Tree, a symbolic Axis Mundi connecting the planes of the UnderWorld and the Sky with that of the Terrestrial World. Depictions of World Trees are also associated with the 4 Year Bearers in MesoAmerican Calendars, and the directional colors and deities. MesoAmerican sites and ceremonial centers had actual Trees planted at each of the 4 Cardinal Directions, representing the Quadripartite Concept. The Trees are depicted with birds in their branches, and their roots extending into earth of water, sometimes atop a "water-monster," symbolic of the Underworld. The Central World tree has also been interpreted as a representation of the band of the Milky Way.
Turkic mythology embraces Tengriist and Shamanist traditions as well as all cultural and social subjects being a nomad folk. After Turkic migration some of their myths were decorated with Islamic symbols. It has many common points with Aegean (Greek) and Anatolian (Hittite) mythologies as well as Mongol mythology. The World Tree or Tree of Life is a Central symbol in its mythology. It is a common motif in carpets representing immortality.
Tuesday, 16 February 2016
THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE TREE OF LIFE. Part 1
The concept of a Tree of Life is a widespread myth in the World's mythologies, related to the concept of Sacred Tree, and in religious and philosophical tradition.
The Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life, connecting to heaven and the underworld, and all forms of creation, are both forms of the World Tree or Cosmic tree, and are portrayed in various religions and philosophies as the same tree.
In Pre-Islamic Persian Mythology, the mythic Gaokerena World Tree is a large, sacred tree which bears all seeds. Ahri-Man (Destructive Spirit) created a frog to invade the tree and destroy it, aiming to prevent all trees from growing on the earth. As a reaction, God (Ahura Mazda) created 2 Kar Fish that always would stare at the frog to guard the Tree. Because Ahri-Man is responsible for all evil including death, while Ahura Mazda is responsible for all good (including life) the concept of World Tree in Persian mythology is very closely related to the concept of Tree of Life.
In Ancient Egyptians, the Tree of Life represented the hierarchical chain of events that brought every thing into existence. The spheres of the Tree demostrate the Order, Process, and Method of creation.
In the Ennead System of heliopolis, the First Couple, apart from Shu and tefnut (moisture and dryness) and Geb and Nuit (Earth and Sky), are Isis and Osiris. They were said to have emerged from the Acacia Tree of LusaaSet, which was considered the Tree of Life, referring to it as the "Tree in which Life and Death are enclosed."Acacia Trees contain a chemical compound associated with spiritual experiences. A much later Myth relates how Set killed Osiris, putting him in a coffin, and throwing it into the Nile, the coffin becoming embedded in the base of a Tamarisk Tree.
In Ancient Armenia, the Tree of Life was a religious symbol and was drawn on walls of fortresses and carved on the armor of Warriors. The branches of the Tree were equally divided on the Right and left sides of the stem, with each Branch having One Leaf, and One Leaf on the Apex of the Tree. Servants stood on Each Side of the Tree with one of their hands up as if they are taking care of the Tree.
In Chinese Mythology, a carving of a Tree of Life depicts a Phoenix and a Dragon; the Dragon representing immortality. A Taoist story tells of a Tree that produces a Peach every 3000 years. The one who eats the fruit receives immortality. An archaeological discovery in the 1990s was of a sacrificial Pit at San-xing-dui in Sichuan, China. Dating from about 1200 BC, it contained 3 bronze trees, one of them 4 meters high. At the base was a Dragon, and fruit hanging from the lower branches. At the top is a strange Bird-Like (Phoenix) creature with claws. Also found in Sichuan, from the late Han Dynasty (25-220 CE), is another Tree of Life. The Ceramic Base is guarded by a Horned Beast with Wings. The Leaves of the tree are Coins and People. At the apex is a Bird with Coins and the Sun.
In Christianity, the Tree of Life represents the state of humanity free from corruption before the fall. After appearing in Genesis 2:9 and 3:22-24 as one of the two forbidden trees, the Tree of Life reappear
in the Book of Revelation, and most predominantly in the Last Chapter (22) of that Book as a part of the New Garden of Paradise. In contrast to its appearance in the Book of Genesis, the Tree of Life is no longer forbidden, for those who do Christ's commandments "have right to the Tree of Life."(v.14). A similar statement appears in Revelation 2:7. The last chapter begins with a reference to the "Pure River of Water of Life" which proceeds "Out of the Throne of God." The River seems to feed two Trees of Life, one "on either side of the River" which "bear 12 manner of fruits" and "the leaves of the Tree were for healing of the Nations." (v.1-2).
In Germanic Mythology, Trees played a prominent Role. The Tree of Life appears in Norse religion as Yggdrasil, the World Tree. It is an immense Mythical Ash Tree with extensive surrounding lore that is central in connecting the 9 Worlds in Norse Cosmology and is considered holy. The apples from the Ash Box belonging to the goddess Ydun, provide immortality to the gods.
The tree's common name, "ash," goes back to the Old English "aesc," while the generic name originated in Latin. Both words mean "spear" in their respective languages. The leaves are opposite (rarely in whorls of 3), and mostly pinnately compound. The seeds, popularly known as "keys" or "helicopter seeds," are a type of fruit known as a samara. It is a winged dry fruit in which a flattened wing of fibrous, papery tissue develops from the ovary wall. The shape of the fruit enables the Wind to carry the seed farther away than regular seeds from the parent tree.
The Ash Tree (European Ash) belongs to a species of Fraxinus, nature to most of Europe from Portugal to Russia, with the exception of Northern Scandinavia and Southern Iberia. It is also considered native in Southern Asia from Northern Turkey East of the Caucasus and Alborz Mountains. The Northern most location is in the Trond-Heim Sf-Jord Region of Norway. The species now is widely cultivated and reportedly naturalized in New Zea-Land, and in scattered places in the United States and Canada (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Ontario, Ohio, Kentucky, and British Columbia).
The Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life, connecting to heaven and the underworld, and all forms of creation, are both forms of the World Tree or Cosmic tree, and are portrayed in various religions and philosophies as the same tree.
In Pre-Islamic Persian Mythology, the mythic Gaokerena World Tree is a large, sacred tree which bears all seeds. Ahri-Man (Destructive Spirit) created a frog to invade the tree and destroy it, aiming to prevent all trees from growing on the earth. As a reaction, God (Ahura Mazda) created 2 Kar Fish that always would stare at the frog to guard the Tree. Because Ahri-Man is responsible for all evil including death, while Ahura Mazda is responsible for all good (including life) the concept of World Tree in Persian mythology is very closely related to the concept of Tree of Life.
In Ancient Egyptians, the Tree of Life represented the hierarchical chain of events that brought every thing into existence. The spheres of the Tree demostrate the Order, Process, and Method of creation.
In the Ennead System of heliopolis, the First Couple, apart from Shu and tefnut (moisture and dryness) and Geb and Nuit (Earth and Sky), are Isis and Osiris. They were said to have emerged from the Acacia Tree of LusaaSet, which was considered the Tree of Life, referring to it as the "Tree in which Life and Death are enclosed."Acacia Trees contain a chemical compound associated with spiritual experiences. A much later Myth relates how Set killed Osiris, putting him in a coffin, and throwing it into the Nile, the coffin becoming embedded in the base of a Tamarisk Tree.
In Ancient Armenia, the Tree of Life was a religious symbol and was drawn on walls of fortresses and carved on the armor of Warriors. The branches of the Tree were equally divided on the Right and left sides of the stem, with each Branch having One Leaf, and One Leaf on the Apex of the Tree. Servants stood on Each Side of the Tree with one of their hands up as if they are taking care of the Tree.
In Chinese Mythology, a carving of a Tree of Life depicts a Phoenix and a Dragon; the Dragon representing immortality. A Taoist story tells of a Tree that produces a Peach every 3000 years. The one who eats the fruit receives immortality. An archaeological discovery in the 1990s was of a sacrificial Pit at San-xing-dui in Sichuan, China. Dating from about 1200 BC, it contained 3 bronze trees, one of them 4 meters high. At the base was a Dragon, and fruit hanging from the lower branches. At the top is a strange Bird-Like (Phoenix) creature with claws. Also found in Sichuan, from the late Han Dynasty (25-220 CE), is another Tree of Life. The Ceramic Base is guarded by a Horned Beast with Wings. The Leaves of the tree are Coins and People. At the apex is a Bird with Coins and the Sun.
In Christianity, the Tree of Life represents the state of humanity free from corruption before the fall. After appearing in Genesis 2:9 and 3:22-24 as one of the two forbidden trees, the Tree of Life reappear
in the Book of Revelation, and most predominantly in the Last Chapter (22) of that Book as a part of the New Garden of Paradise. In contrast to its appearance in the Book of Genesis, the Tree of Life is no longer forbidden, for those who do Christ's commandments "have right to the Tree of Life."(v.14). A similar statement appears in Revelation 2:7. The last chapter begins with a reference to the "Pure River of Water of Life" which proceeds "Out of the Throne of God." The River seems to feed two Trees of Life, one "on either side of the River" which "bear 12 manner of fruits" and "the leaves of the Tree were for healing of the Nations." (v.1-2).
In Germanic Mythology, Trees played a prominent Role. The Tree of Life appears in Norse religion as Yggdrasil, the World Tree. It is an immense Mythical Ash Tree with extensive surrounding lore that is central in connecting the 9 Worlds in Norse Cosmology and is considered holy. The apples from the Ash Box belonging to the goddess Ydun, provide immortality to the gods.
The tree's common name, "ash," goes back to the Old English "aesc," while the generic name originated in Latin. Both words mean "spear" in their respective languages. The leaves are opposite (rarely in whorls of 3), and mostly pinnately compound. The seeds, popularly known as "keys" or "helicopter seeds," are a type of fruit known as a samara. It is a winged dry fruit in which a flattened wing of fibrous, papery tissue develops from the ovary wall. The shape of the fruit enables the Wind to carry the seed farther away than regular seeds from the parent tree.
The Ash Tree (European Ash) belongs to a species of Fraxinus, nature to most of Europe from Portugal to Russia, with the exception of Northern Scandinavia and Southern Iberia. It is also considered native in Southern Asia from Northern Turkey East of the Caucasus and Alborz Mountains. The Northern most location is in the Trond-Heim Sf-Jord Region of Norway. The species now is widely cultivated and reportedly naturalized in New Zea-Land, and in scattered places in the United States and Canada (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Ontario, Ohio, Kentucky, and British Columbia).
Monday, 15 February 2016
THE TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES RIVER SYSTEM.
The Tigris and Euphrates, with their tributaries, form a major River System in Western Asia, the Westernmost subregion of Asia.
From sources in the Taurus Mountains of Eastern Turkey they flow by/through Syria through Irak into the Persian Gulf.
The Tigris is 1850 km long and 30 km in distance from the headwaters of the Euphrates. Then it flows for 400 km through Turkish territory before becoming the border between Syria and Turkey. This stretch of 44 km is the only part of the Tigris that is located in Syria. Bagdad, the capital of Iraq, stands on the banks of the Tigris. In ancient times, many of the great cities of Mesopotamia stood on or near the River, drawing water from it to irrigate the civilization of the Sumerians. Notable Tigris-side cities included Nineveh, Ctesiphon and Seleucia, while the city of Lagash was irrigated by the Tigris via a canal dug around 2400 BC.
The Euphrates is the longest River. It emerges from the confluence of the Kara Su River and the Murat Su River. Both rivers rise NorthWest from Lake Van, the largest saline Lake in Turkey, at elevations of 3290 m (10,790ft) and 3,520 m (11,550ft), respectively. The River receives most of its water in the form of rainfall and melting snow. In Syria, 3 Rivers add their water to the Euphrates. Once the Euphrates enters Iraq, there are no more natural tributaries to the river, although canals connecting the Euphrates Basin with the Tigris Basin exist. From the source of the Murat River to the confluence with the Tigris the length is 3000 km (1900mi), of which 1230 km (760mi) falls in Turkey, 710 km (440mi) in Syria and 1060 km (660mi) in Irak. During 3600-3100 BC, Southern Mesopotamia grew in numbers and size of settlements. Sumero-Akkadian sites like Sippar, Uruk, Adab and Kish, were organized in competing City-States. Many of these cities were along the canals of the Euphrates and Tigris. Large parts of the Euphrates were for the 1st time united under a single ruler in the Akkadian Empire (2335-2154BC) and Ur III Empires. Following their collapse, the Old Assyrian Empire (1975-1750BC). Then absorved by the newly emerged state of Babylonia under Hammurabi in the early to mid 18th century BC. In centuries to come, control of the wider Euphrates Basin shifted from the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which collapsed between 612 and 599 BC to the short lived Median Empire (612 -546BC) and equally brief Neo-Babylonian Empire(612-539BC) in the last years of the 7th centuryBC, and eventually to the Achaemenid Empire(539-333BC). They in turn were overrun by Alexander the Great, who defeated the last king Darius III and died in Babylon in 323 BC. Subsequent to this came the Seleucid Empire (312-150BC), Parthian Empire(150-226BC), and was fought over by the Roman Empire, its succeeding Byzantine Empire and the Sassanid Empire(226-638CE), until the Arab invasion of the mid 7th century CE.
The small tributaries feed into the System from shallow freshwater Lakes, Swamps, and Marshes, all surrounded by Desert. Historically the area is known as Mesopotamia.
The Tigris-Euphrates Basin is shared by Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Kuwait. Many Tigris tributaries originate in Iran and a Tigris-Euphrates confluence forms part of the Kuwait-Iraq border.
The System is part of the PaleArctic (8th eco-zones constituting the Earth's surface, and the largest (Europe, Asia North of the Himalaya foothills, Northern Africa, and the Northern and Central parts of the Arabian Peninsula) Tigris-Euphrates ecoregion, which includes Iraq and parts of Turkey, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan.
From their sources and upper courses in the Mountains of Eastern Anatolia, the Rivers descend through Valleys and Gorges to the UpLands of Syria and Northern Iraq and then to the alluvial Plain of Central Iraq.
The Rivers flow in a South-Easterly direction through the Central Plain and the Rivers join in a small Town (Al-Qurnah) in Southern Irak to form the Shatt al-Arab and discharge into the Persian Gulf.
The marshlands were an extensive natural wetlands ecosystem which developed over Thousands of years in the Basin and once covered 15-20,000 square kms. Irak suffers now from desertification and soil salination due in large part to thousands of years of agricultural activity. Water and plant life now are sparse. Government Water-Control Projects drained the inhabited marsh areas by drying up or diverting streams and rivers. The destruction of the natural habitat poses serious threats to the area's wildlife populations. There are also inadequate supplies of potable water.
Local folklore holds Qurna to have been the site of the Garden of Eden. An ancient Jujube Tree (recently dead) is locally celebrated as the actual Tree of Knowledge of the Bible. The Jujuba is a small deciduous tree reaching a hight of 5-12 m (16-39ft), usually with thorny branches.
The concept Western Asia is in limited use, as it significantly overlaps with the Middle East (Near East), the main difference being the exclusion of Egypt (counted as part of North Africa). The total population of Western Asia is estimated at about 300 millions as of 2015.
In ancient history and archaeology the term is used to divide the Fertile Crescent into the Western Asia Cultures as opposed to Ancient Egypt.
From sources in the Taurus Mountains of Eastern Turkey they flow by/through Syria through Irak into the Persian Gulf.
The Tigris is 1850 km long and 30 km in distance from the headwaters of the Euphrates. Then it flows for 400 km through Turkish territory before becoming the border between Syria and Turkey. This stretch of 44 km is the only part of the Tigris that is located in Syria. Bagdad, the capital of Iraq, stands on the banks of the Tigris. In ancient times, many of the great cities of Mesopotamia stood on or near the River, drawing water from it to irrigate the civilization of the Sumerians. Notable Tigris-side cities included Nineveh, Ctesiphon and Seleucia, while the city of Lagash was irrigated by the Tigris via a canal dug around 2400 BC.
The Euphrates is the longest River. It emerges from the confluence of the Kara Su River and the Murat Su River. Both rivers rise NorthWest from Lake Van, the largest saline Lake in Turkey, at elevations of 3290 m (10,790ft) and 3,520 m (11,550ft), respectively. The River receives most of its water in the form of rainfall and melting snow. In Syria, 3 Rivers add their water to the Euphrates. Once the Euphrates enters Iraq, there are no more natural tributaries to the river, although canals connecting the Euphrates Basin with the Tigris Basin exist. From the source of the Murat River to the confluence with the Tigris the length is 3000 km (1900mi), of which 1230 km (760mi) falls in Turkey, 710 km (440mi) in Syria and 1060 km (660mi) in Irak. During 3600-3100 BC, Southern Mesopotamia grew in numbers and size of settlements. Sumero-Akkadian sites like Sippar, Uruk, Adab and Kish, were organized in competing City-States. Many of these cities were along the canals of the Euphrates and Tigris. Large parts of the Euphrates were for the 1st time united under a single ruler in the Akkadian Empire (2335-2154BC) and Ur III Empires. Following their collapse, the Old Assyrian Empire (1975-1750BC). Then absorved by the newly emerged state of Babylonia under Hammurabi in the early to mid 18th century BC. In centuries to come, control of the wider Euphrates Basin shifted from the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which collapsed between 612 and 599 BC to the short lived Median Empire (612 -546BC) and equally brief Neo-Babylonian Empire(612-539BC) in the last years of the 7th centuryBC, and eventually to the Achaemenid Empire(539-333BC). They in turn were overrun by Alexander the Great, who defeated the last king Darius III and died in Babylon in 323 BC. Subsequent to this came the Seleucid Empire (312-150BC), Parthian Empire(150-226BC), and was fought over by the Roman Empire, its succeeding Byzantine Empire and the Sassanid Empire(226-638CE), until the Arab invasion of the mid 7th century CE.
The small tributaries feed into the System from shallow freshwater Lakes, Swamps, and Marshes, all surrounded by Desert. Historically the area is known as Mesopotamia.
The Tigris-Euphrates Basin is shared by Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Kuwait. Many Tigris tributaries originate in Iran and a Tigris-Euphrates confluence forms part of the Kuwait-Iraq border.
The System is part of the PaleArctic (8th eco-zones constituting the Earth's surface, and the largest (Europe, Asia North of the Himalaya foothills, Northern Africa, and the Northern and Central parts of the Arabian Peninsula) Tigris-Euphrates ecoregion, which includes Iraq and parts of Turkey, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan.
From their sources and upper courses in the Mountains of Eastern Anatolia, the Rivers descend through Valleys and Gorges to the UpLands of Syria and Northern Iraq and then to the alluvial Plain of Central Iraq.
The Rivers flow in a South-Easterly direction through the Central Plain and the Rivers join in a small Town (Al-Qurnah) in Southern Irak to form the Shatt al-Arab and discharge into the Persian Gulf.
The marshlands were an extensive natural wetlands ecosystem which developed over Thousands of years in the Basin and once covered 15-20,000 square kms. Irak suffers now from desertification and soil salination due in large part to thousands of years of agricultural activity. Water and plant life now are sparse. Government Water-Control Projects drained the inhabited marsh areas by drying up or diverting streams and rivers. The destruction of the natural habitat poses serious threats to the area's wildlife populations. There are also inadequate supplies of potable water.
Local folklore holds Qurna to have been the site of the Garden of Eden. An ancient Jujube Tree (recently dead) is locally celebrated as the actual Tree of Knowledge of the Bible. The Jujuba is a small deciduous tree reaching a hight of 5-12 m (16-39ft), usually with thorny branches.
The concept Western Asia is in limited use, as it significantly overlaps with the Middle East (Near East), the main difference being the exclusion of Egypt (counted as part of North Africa). The total population of Western Asia is estimated at about 300 millions as of 2015.
In ancient history and archaeology the term is used to divide the Fertile Crescent into the Western Asia Cultures as opposed to Ancient Egypt.
MARK THE APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST.
Mark is the traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark. His symbol is the Winged Lion.
He founded the Church of Alexandria, and the 1st Alexandrian School of Christian Studies.
It was the 1st school of Christian Theologians and Priests. The teachers and students of the school were influential in many of the early theological controversies of the Christian Church. It is the oldest school in the World.
The earliest recorded dean was Athenagoras (176). He was succeded by Pantaenus (181) that during his leadership the School became an important institution of religious learning, where students were taught by scholars such as Athenagoras, Clement, Didymus the Blind and the great Origen, who was considered the father of theology and who was also active in the field of commentary and comparative Biblical Studies. Pantaenus was succeeded as head of the school by his student Clement of Alexandria (190). Other notable theologians with a connection to the School include Gregory Thaumaturgus, Heraclas, and Dionysus "the Great." Others, including Jerome and Basil, made trips to the School to interact with the scholars and exchanging ideas directly to them.
The scope of the School was not limited to Theological subjects. Apart from Christian Philosophy and the Bible; Science, Mathematics and Greek & Roman Literature, Logic and the Arts were also taught.
The question-and-answer method of commentary began there, and 15 centuries before Braile, blind students at the School were using Wood-carving Techniques to read and write.
HippoLytus of Rome, a leader of the Church of Rome under Pope ZephyRinus (199-217), and distinguished for his learning and eloquence (Origen, then a young man heard him preach), in "On the Seventy Apostles" distinguishes -Mark the Evangelist (2Tim 4:11), John Mark (Acts12:12, 25; 13:5,13; 15:37), and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (Col 4:10; Phlm 1:24). They all belonged to the 70 Disciples who were sent out by Jesus to saturate Judea with the Gospel (Luke10). However when Jesus explained that "his flesh was real food" and "his blood real drink," many disciples left Him (John 6:44 -6:66) including Mark. He was later restored to Faith by the apostle Peter; he then became Peter's interpreter, wrote the Gospel of Mark, founded the Church of Africa, and became the Bishop of Alexandria.
According to Eusebius of Caesarea [Roman historian, Scholar of the Biblical Canon, Bishop of Caesarea Maritima (314) and Christian polemicist of Greek descent], Herod Agrippa I in his 1st year of reign over the whole Judea (41CE) killed James, son of Zebedee and arrested Peter, planning to kill him after The PassOver. Peter was saved miraculously by angels, and escaped out of the Realm of Herod (Acts 12:1-19). Peter went to Antioch, then through Asia Minor (visiting Churches in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, mentioned in 1Pet1:1), and arrived in Rome in the 2nd year of Emperor Claudius (42CE). Somewhere on the way, Peter picked up Mark and took him as a travel companion and interpreter. Mark the Evangelist wrote down the Sermons of Peter, thus composing the Gospel according to Mark, before he left for Alexandria in the 3rd year of Claudius.
In 49CE, about 19 years after the Ascension of Jesus, Mark traveled to Alexandria (Acts15:36-41) and founded the Church of Alexandria. Today, both the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria claim to be successors to this original community. Mark became the the 1st Bishop of Alexandria. Mark was succeded by Annianus in the 8th year of Nero (62/63) due to his coming death. Later Coptic tradition says that Mark was martyred in 68 CE.
According to Coptic tradition, Mark was born in Cyrene, a city in the Pentapolis of North Africa (now Libya). Mark returned to Pentapolis later in life, after being sent by Paul to Colossae (Col.4:10; Phil24) and serving with him in Rome (2Tim 4:11); from Pentapolis he made his way to Alexandria. When Mark returned to Alexandria, the enemies to Christianity living in the city resented his efforts to turn the Alexandrians away from the worship of their traditional gods. In 68 CE, they placed a rope around his neck and dragged him through the streets until he was dead.
He founded the Church of Alexandria, and the 1st Alexandrian School of Christian Studies.
It was the 1st school of Christian Theologians and Priests. The teachers and students of the school were influential in many of the early theological controversies of the Christian Church. It is the oldest school in the World.
The earliest recorded dean was Athenagoras (176). He was succeded by Pantaenus (181) that during his leadership the School became an important institution of religious learning, where students were taught by scholars such as Athenagoras, Clement, Didymus the Blind and the great Origen, who was considered the father of theology and who was also active in the field of commentary and comparative Biblical Studies. Pantaenus was succeeded as head of the school by his student Clement of Alexandria (190). Other notable theologians with a connection to the School include Gregory Thaumaturgus, Heraclas, and Dionysus "the Great." Others, including Jerome and Basil, made trips to the School to interact with the scholars and exchanging ideas directly to them.
The scope of the School was not limited to Theological subjects. Apart from Christian Philosophy and the Bible; Science, Mathematics and Greek & Roman Literature, Logic and the Arts were also taught.
The question-and-answer method of commentary began there, and 15 centuries before Braile, blind students at the School were using Wood-carving Techniques to read and write.
HippoLytus of Rome, a leader of the Church of Rome under Pope ZephyRinus (199-217), and distinguished for his learning and eloquence (Origen, then a young man heard him preach), in "On the Seventy Apostles" distinguishes -Mark the Evangelist (2Tim 4:11), John Mark (Acts12:12, 25; 13:5,13; 15:37), and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (Col 4:10; Phlm 1:24). They all belonged to the 70 Disciples who were sent out by Jesus to saturate Judea with the Gospel (Luke10). However when Jesus explained that "his flesh was real food" and "his blood real drink," many disciples left Him (John 6:44 -6:66) including Mark. He was later restored to Faith by the apostle Peter; he then became Peter's interpreter, wrote the Gospel of Mark, founded the Church of Africa, and became the Bishop of Alexandria.
According to Eusebius of Caesarea [Roman historian, Scholar of the Biblical Canon, Bishop of Caesarea Maritima (314) and Christian polemicist of Greek descent], Herod Agrippa I in his 1st year of reign over the whole Judea (41CE) killed James, son of Zebedee and arrested Peter, planning to kill him after The PassOver. Peter was saved miraculously by angels, and escaped out of the Realm of Herod (Acts 12:1-19). Peter went to Antioch, then through Asia Minor (visiting Churches in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, mentioned in 1Pet1:1), and arrived in Rome in the 2nd year of Emperor Claudius (42CE). Somewhere on the way, Peter picked up Mark and took him as a travel companion and interpreter. Mark the Evangelist wrote down the Sermons of Peter, thus composing the Gospel according to Mark, before he left for Alexandria in the 3rd year of Claudius.
In 49CE, about 19 years after the Ascension of Jesus, Mark traveled to Alexandria (Acts15:36-41) and founded the Church of Alexandria. Today, both the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria claim to be successors to this original community. Mark became the the 1st Bishop of Alexandria. Mark was succeded by Annianus in the 8th year of Nero (62/63) due to his coming death. Later Coptic tradition says that Mark was martyred in 68 CE.
According to Coptic tradition, Mark was born in Cyrene, a city in the Pentapolis of North Africa (now Libya). Mark returned to Pentapolis later in life, after being sent by Paul to Colossae (Col.4:10; Phil24) and serving with him in Rome (2Tim 4:11); from Pentapolis he made his way to Alexandria. When Mark returned to Alexandria, the enemies to Christianity living in the city resented his efforts to turn the Alexandrians away from the worship of their traditional gods. In 68 CE, they placed a rope around his neck and dragged him through the streets until he was dead.
Sunday, 14 February 2016
THE 1st THEOLOGIAN OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH NAMED "ORIGEN." Part 2
Origen's conception of God the Father is: -a perfect unity, -invisible and incorporeal, -transcending all things material, -inconceivable and incomprehensible, -unchangeable, -transcends space and time. God's power is limited by his goodness, justice, and wisdom; entirely free from necessity. His goodness and omnipotence constrained him to reveal himself.
This revelation, the external self-emanation of God, is expressed by Origen in various ways, the Word being only one of many. Revelation was the first creation of God, in oreder to afford creative mediation between God and the World, such mediation being necessary, because God, as changeless unity, could not be the source of a multitudinous creation.
The Word is the rational creative principle that permeates the universe. Since God eternally manifests himself, the Word is likewise eternal. He forms a Bridge between the created and uncreated, and only through Him, as the visible representative of Divine Wisdom, can be inconceivable and incorporeal God, be known.
Creation came into existence only through the Word, and God's nearest approach to the World is the command to create. While the Word is substantially a Unity, He comprehends a multiplicity of concepts, so that Origen terms Him: -"essence of essences" and 'idea of ideas."
The defense of the Unity of God against the Gnostics led Origen to maintain the subordination of the Word to God, and the doctrine of the eternal generation is later. Origen distinctly emphasized the independence of the Word as well as the distinction from the being and substance of God. The term "of the same substance with the Father" was not employed. The Word (and the Holy Spirit also) however, does not share in the divinity of God. He is an image, a reflex of God, in which God communicates his divinity, as light radiating from the sun.
Origen taught that, though the Son was subordinate and less than the Father in power, substance, and rank, the relation of the Son to the Father had no beginning, and the Son was "eternally generated."
The activity of the Word was conceived by Origen as the World Soul, wherein God manifested His Omnipotence. His 1st creative act was the Divine Spirit, as an independent existence; and partial reflexes of the Word were the created rational beings, who, as they had to revert to the perfect God as their background, must likewise be perfect; yet their prefection, unlike in kind with that of God, and the Divine Spirit, had to be attained.
The freedom of the Will is an essential fact of the Reason, notwithstanding the foreknowledge of God.
The Word, eternally creative, forms and endless series of finite, comprehensible Worlds, which are mutually alternative.
The material World, which at first had no place in this eternal spiritual progression, was due to the fall of the Spirits from God, the first being the serpent, who was imprisoned in matter and body. The ultimate aim of God in the creation of matter out of nothing was not punishment, but the upraising of the fallen Spirits.
Man's accidental being is rooted in transitory matter, but his higher nature is formed in the image of the Creator. The Soul is divided into the Rational and the Irrational, the latter being material and transitory, while the former, incorporeal and immaterial, possesses Freedom of Will and the Power to Reascend to Purer Life.
The return to original being through Divine Reason is the object of the entire cosmic process. God so ordered the universe that all individual acts work together toward one Cosmic End which culminates in Himself.
Man conceived in the image of God is able by imitating God in good works to become like God, if he first recognizes his own weakness and trusts all to Divine Goodness. He is aided by Guardian Angels, but more especially by the Word.
To the multitude to whom instruction was beyond grasp, Origen left mediating images and symbols, as well as the final goal of attainment.
In Origen's time Christianity blended with the non Christian philosophy in which the desire for Truth and the longing for God was left.
Origen had many admirers and followers, one in particular, DionYsius of Alexandria, who caused controversy throughout Libya in 259 CE due to his theology in regards to the Unity of the Trinity.
Three centuries later his very name was stricken from the "Books of the Church;" yet in the monasteries of the Greeks his influence still lived on, as he spiritual father of Greek monasticism.
This revelation, the external self-emanation of God, is expressed by Origen in various ways, the Word being only one of many. Revelation was the first creation of God, in oreder to afford creative mediation between God and the World, such mediation being necessary, because God, as changeless unity, could not be the source of a multitudinous creation.
The Word is the rational creative principle that permeates the universe. Since God eternally manifests himself, the Word is likewise eternal. He forms a Bridge between the created and uncreated, and only through Him, as the visible representative of Divine Wisdom, can be inconceivable and incorporeal God, be known.
Creation came into existence only through the Word, and God's nearest approach to the World is the command to create. While the Word is substantially a Unity, He comprehends a multiplicity of concepts, so that Origen terms Him: -"essence of essences" and 'idea of ideas."
The defense of the Unity of God against the Gnostics led Origen to maintain the subordination of the Word to God, and the doctrine of the eternal generation is later. Origen distinctly emphasized the independence of the Word as well as the distinction from the being and substance of God. The term "of the same substance with the Father" was not employed. The Word (and the Holy Spirit also) however, does not share in the divinity of God. He is an image, a reflex of God, in which God communicates his divinity, as light radiating from the sun.
Origen taught that, though the Son was subordinate and less than the Father in power, substance, and rank, the relation of the Son to the Father had no beginning, and the Son was "eternally generated."
The activity of the Word was conceived by Origen as the World Soul, wherein God manifested His Omnipotence. His 1st creative act was the Divine Spirit, as an independent existence; and partial reflexes of the Word were the created rational beings, who, as they had to revert to the perfect God as their background, must likewise be perfect; yet their prefection, unlike in kind with that of God, and the Divine Spirit, had to be attained.
The freedom of the Will is an essential fact of the Reason, notwithstanding the foreknowledge of God.
The Word, eternally creative, forms and endless series of finite, comprehensible Worlds, which are mutually alternative.
The material World, which at first had no place in this eternal spiritual progression, was due to the fall of the Spirits from God, the first being the serpent, who was imprisoned in matter and body. The ultimate aim of God in the creation of matter out of nothing was not punishment, but the upraising of the fallen Spirits.
Man's accidental being is rooted in transitory matter, but his higher nature is formed in the image of the Creator. The Soul is divided into the Rational and the Irrational, the latter being material and transitory, while the former, incorporeal and immaterial, possesses Freedom of Will and the Power to Reascend to Purer Life.
The return to original being through Divine Reason is the object of the entire cosmic process. God so ordered the universe that all individual acts work together toward one Cosmic End which culminates in Himself.
Man conceived in the image of God is able by imitating God in good works to become like God, if he first recognizes his own weakness and trusts all to Divine Goodness. He is aided by Guardian Angels, but more especially by the Word.
To the multitude to whom instruction was beyond grasp, Origen left mediating images and symbols, as well as the final goal of attainment.
In Origen's time Christianity blended with the non Christian philosophy in which the desire for Truth and the longing for God was left.
Origen had many admirers and followers, one in particular, DionYsius of Alexandria, who caused controversy throughout Libya in 259 CE due to his theology in regards to the Unity of the Trinity.
Three centuries later his very name was stricken from the "Books of the Church;" yet in the monasteries of the Greeks his influence still lived on, as he spiritual father of Greek monasticism.
THE 1ST THEOLOGIAN OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH NAMED "ORIGEN." Part 1
Origen Adamantius was an scholar and an early Christian Theologian. In him the Christian Church had its first Theologian. His teaching was not merely theoretical, but was also imbued with an intense ethical power.
The etymology of his name came from the Greek name 'Origenes' meaning 'Born' and his nickname 'Adamantios' meaning 'adamant, unalterable, unbreakable, unconquerable, diamond,' because of his severe ascetic practices.
Origen was born in Alexandria to Christian parents. His mother bore 6 children after him. Origen was educated by his father, Leonides of Alexandria, who gave him a standard Hellenistic education, but also had him study the Christian Scriptures. The name of his mother is unknown. Leonides was martyred during the persecution of the Roman Emperor Septimus Severus in 202 CE. He was beheaded, and his property seized. Origen attempted to follow his father in martyrdom, but he was detained by his mother. She hid his clothes so that Origen couldn't leave the house.
The death of the father left the family of 9 impoverished. Origen, however, was taken under the protection of a woman of wealth but only for a short time. During that time the young teacher visited imprisoned Christians, attended Courts, and comforted the condemned. His fame and the number of his pupils increased rapidly, so that Bishop Demetrius of Alexandria, made him restricted to instruction in Christian doctrine only.
Demetrius was a farmer, and lived with his wife as brother and sister for 47 years until he was "chosen" a Patriarch. According to a historical collection of the Church's saints, the ailing Pope Julian had a "vision" in which he was told that his "successor" would visit him the next day with a cluster of grapes, which were out of season at that time of the year. The next day, a farmer named Demetrius found grapes and went to the Pope for his blessing, and shortly after became Pope Demetrius I, the 12th Bishop of Alexandria.
Origen sold his valuable library for a sum which netted him a daily income of 4 obols. Obols were used in his time. they were spits of copper or bronze traded by weight, 6 obols made a 'drachma' or a handful, since that was as many as the hand could grasp.
[The obolus, along with the mirror, was a symbol of new schismatic heretics in the short story "The Theologians" by Jorge Luis Borges. In the story's discussion of the circularity of time, eternity, and the transmigration of the soul through several bodies the writer uses Luke 12:59, "No one will be released from prison until he has paid the last obolus." Luke calls the coin a Lepton, a somewhat smaller denomination.]
Origen spent his time teaching throughout the day and devoting great part of the night to the study of the Bible and lived a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures.
Origen, reportedly trained in the school of Clement and by his father, has long been considered essentially a Platonist with occasional traces of Stoic philosophy. He was a pronounced idealist, regarding all things as temporal and considering materialism as insignificant and indifferent. The only real and eternal things were centered in God, the pure Reason, whose Creative Powers call into being the World with matter as the necessary substratum.
Origen's theory of the creation of the universe held the hypothesis of the preexistence of souls. According to him, before the known world was created by God, He created first a great number of spiritual intelligences. At first devoted to the service to God through the contemplation of all the rules given to them as part of its nature, all of these intelligences grew in knowledge and because of it somehow their love for their Creator diminished in power lowering its level of almost all of them, the least became Angels, the most became Demons. In the middle were those whose love diminished moderately and became the human souls, eventually to be incarnated in fleshy bodies. One, however, who remained perfectly devoted to God became, through Love, one with the Word of God. The Word eventually took flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary, becoming the God-Man Jesus Christ.
The diverse conditions in which Human Beings are born depended upon what their souls did in the pre-existent state. Thus, some being poor and others wealthy, some sick and others healthy, and so forth, is actually a test for the soul and the free will by-product of souls. The material bodies that every human assumes in this World will eventually be destroyed. Origen still insisted on a bodily resurrection in which a different type of body is going to be assigned to everyone surviving the Battle between Good and Evil.
Origen was a rigid adherent of Scripture, making no statement without adducing some scriptural basis.
To him the Scriptures were divinely inspired, as was proved both by the fulfillment of Prophecy and by the immediate impression which the Scriptures made on those who read them. Since the Divine Word spoke in the Scriptures, they were an organic whole and on every occasion he had to combat the Gnostic tenet of the inferiority of the Old Testament, he defended The Word strictly with the Word.
Origen sought to discover the deeper meaning implied in the Scriptures. One of his chief methods was the translation of proper Names, which enabled him to find a deeper meaning even in every event of history, but at the same time he insisted on an exact grammatical interpretation of the text. as the basis of all.
Origen distinguished sharply between the "ideal" and the "empirical" Chuch, representing "a double Church of men and angels," or "the lower" Church and "its celestial" ideal. The "ideal" Church alone was the Church of Christ," scattered over all the earth; the other provided also a shelter for sinners.
Holding that the Church of the Word, as being in possession of the Mysteries, affords the only means of Salvation, he was indifferent to her external organization, although he spoke sometimes of the office-bearers, and of their heavy duties and responsibilities.
More important to him was the idea of the grand division between the great human multitude, capable of sensual vision only, and those who know how to comprehend the hidden meaning of the Scripture and the diverse Mysteries. The Reason, illumined by the Divine Word, is able to search the secret depths of the Divine Nature, and the Divine Word remains as the only source of Knowledge.
The etymology of his name came from the Greek name 'Origenes' meaning 'Born' and his nickname 'Adamantios' meaning 'adamant, unalterable, unbreakable, unconquerable, diamond,' because of his severe ascetic practices.
Origen was born in Alexandria to Christian parents. His mother bore 6 children after him. Origen was educated by his father, Leonides of Alexandria, who gave him a standard Hellenistic education, but also had him study the Christian Scriptures. The name of his mother is unknown. Leonides was martyred during the persecution of the Roman Emperor Septimus Severus in 202 CE. He was beheaded, and his property seized. Origen attempted to follow his father in martyrdom, but he was detained by his mother. She hid his clothes so that Origen couldn't leave the house.
The death of the father left the family of 9 impoverished. Origen, however, was taken under the protection of a woman of wealth but only for a short time. During that time the young teacher visited imprisoned Christians, attended Courts, and comforted the condemned. His fame and the number of his pupils increased rapidly, so that Bishop Demetrius of Alexandria, made him restricted to instruction in Christian doctrine only.
Demetrius was a farmer, and lived with his wife as brother and sister for 47 years until he was "chosen" a Patriarch. According to a historical collection of the Church's saints, the ailing Pope Julian had a "vision" in which he was told that his "successor" would visit him the next day with a cluster of grapes, which were out of season at that time of the year. The next day, a farmer named Demetrius found grapes and went to the Pope for his blessing, and shortly after became Pope Demetrius I, the 12th Bishop of Alexandria.
Origen sold his valuable library for a sum which netted him a daily income of 4 obols. Obols were used in his time. they were spits of copper or bronze traded by weight, 6 obols made a 'drachma' or a handful, since that was as many as the hand could grasp.
[The obolus, along with the mirror, was a symbol of new schismatic heretics in the short story "The Theologians" by Jorge Luis Borges. In the story's discussion of the circularity of time, eternity, and the transmigration of the soul through several bodies the writer uses Luke 12:59, "No one will be released from prison until he has paid the last obolus." Luke calls the coin a Lepton, a somewhat smaller denomination.]
Origen spent his time teaching throughout the day and devoting great part of the night to the study of the Bible and lived a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures.
Origen, reportedly trained in the school of Clement and by his father, has long been considered essentially a Platonist with occasional traces of Stoic philosophy. He was a pronounced idealist, regarding all things as temporal and considering materialism as insignificant and indifferent. The only real and eternal things were centered in God, the pure Reason, whose Creative Powers call into being the World with matter as the necessary substratum.
Origen's theory of the creation of the universe held the hypothesis of the preexistence of souls. According to him, before the known world was created by God, He created first a great number of spiritual intelligences. At first devoted to the service to God through the contemplation of all the rules given to them as part of its nature, all of these intelligences grew in knowledge and because of it somehow their love for their Creator diminished in power lowering its level of almost all of them, the least became Angels, the most became Demons. In the middle were those whose love diminished moderately and became the human souls, eventually to be incarnated in fleshy bodies. One, however, who remained perfectly devoted to God became, through Love, one with the Word of God. The Word eventually took flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary, becoming the God-Man Jesus Christ.
The diverse conditions in which Human Beings are born depended upon what their souls did in the pre-existent state. Thus, some being poor and others wealthy, some sick and others healthy, and so forth, is actually a test for the soul and the free will by-product of souls. The material bodies that every human assumes in this World will eventually be destroyed. Origen still insisted on a bodily resurrection in which a different type of body is going to be assigned to everyone surviving the Battle between Good and Evil.
Origen was a rigid adherent of Scripture, making no statement without adducing some scriptural basis.
To him the Scriptures were divinely inspired, as was proved both by the fulfillment of Prophecy and by the immediate impression which the Scriptures made on those who read them. Since the Divine Word spoke in the Scriptures, they were an organic whole and on every occasion he had to combat the Gnostic tenet of the inferiority of the Old Testament, he defended The Word strictly with the Word.
Origen sought to discover the deeper meaning implied in the Scriptures. One of his chief methods was the translation of proper Names, which enabled him to find a deeper meaning even in every event of history, but at the same time he insisted on an exact grammatical interpretation of the text. as the basis of all.
Origen distinguished sharply between the "ideal" and the "empirical" Chuch, representing "a double Church of men and angels," or "the lower" Church and "its celestial" ideal. The "ideal" Church alone was the Church of Christ," scattered over all the earth; the other provided also a shelter for sinners.
Holding that the Church of the Word, as being in possession of the Mysteries, affords the only means of Salvation, he was indifferent to her external organization, although he spoke sometimes of the office-bearers, and of their heavy duties and responsibilities.
More important to him was the idea of the grand division between the great human multitude, capable of sensual vision only, and those who know how to comprehend the hidden meaning of the Scripture and the diverse Mysteries. The Reason, illumined by the Divine Word, is able to search the secret depths of the Divine Nature, and the Divine Word remains as the only source of Knowledge.
DIVINE READING OF GOD'S WORD.
In Christianity, the Divine Reading is a traditional practice of Scriptural Reading, meditation and prayer intended to promote Communion with the Living God and to increase the Knowledge of God's Word. It does not treat Scripture as texts to be studied, but as an Spiritual Energy embedded in the Living Word.
The Divine Reading has 4 separate steps: -Read; -Meditate; -Pray; -Contemplate. First a passage of Scripture is read, then its meaning is reflected upon. This is followed by prayer and contemplation on the Word of God.
The Divine Reading is not a theological analysis of biblical passages but viewing them with Christ as the key to their meaning. For example: In John 14:27, a Jesus 'statement is given, "Peace I leave with you; My Peace I give unto you." An analytical approach would focus on the reason for the statement during the Last Supper, the biblical context. In Divine Reading, however, the practitioner "enters" and shares The Peace of Christ rather than "dissecting" it. This form of meditative prayer leads to an increase knowledge of Christ.
The roots of Scriptural reflection and interpretation go back to Origen in the 3rd century.
Origen (184-253) was an early Christian theologian who was born and spent the 1st half of his career in Alexandria. He was a prolific writer in multiple branches of theology, including textual criticism, biblical critical explanation or interpretation of a particular religious text, philosophical theology, preaching, and spirituality written in Greek. His teachings on the pre-existence of souls, the final reconciliation of all creatures, and the subordination of God the Son to God the Father, were extremely controversial in his time.
The Divine Reading has 4 separate steps: -Read; -Meditate; -Pray; -Contemplate. First a passage of Scripture is read, then its meaning is reflected upon. This is followed by prayer and contemplation on the Word of God.
The Divine Reading is not a theological analysis of biblical passages but viewing them with Christ as the key to their meaning. For example: In John 14:27, a Jesus 'statement is given, "Peace I leave with you; My Peace I give unto you." An analytical approach would focus on the reason for the statement during the Last Supper, the biblical context. In Divine Reading, however, the practitioner "enters" and shares The Peace of Christ rather than "dissecting" it. This form of meditative prayer leads to an increase knowledge of Christ.
The roots of Scriptural reflection and interpretation go back to Origen in the 3rd century.
Origen (184-253) was an early Christian theologian who was born and spent the 1st half of his career in Alexandria. He was a prolific writer in multiple branches of theology, including textual criticism, biblical critical explanation or interpretation of a particular religious text, philosophical theology, preaching, and spirituality written in Greek. His teachings on the pre-existence of souls, the final reconciliation of all creatures, and the subordination of God the Son to God the Father, were extremely controversial in his time.
THE CISTERCIAN ORDER
A religious Order formed by Robert of Molesme (1028-1111), a member of the nobility in Champagne, France. He entered the Benedictine LuxEuil abbey of Montier-la-Celle, near Troyes, Northern France, at the age of 15 and later rose to the status of prior.
Robert of Molesme was made abbot of Saint Michel-de-Tonnerre around the year 1070. Unable to reform the abbey, he returned to Montier-la-Celle. In 1072 he was made prior of Saint-AiYoul. Then Robert founded a monastery at Molesme in the Valley of Langres in Burgundy at the close of 1075. The establishment consisted of only huts made of branches surrounding a chapel in the forest. Molesme Abbey quickly became known for its piety and sanctity. Robert's reputation as a saintly man grew.
In 1098 there were 35 depended priories of Molesme, and other annexes and some priories of nuns. Benefactors gave their children to educate, and the amount of land received required a large number of employees. When it grew increasingly wealthy, new and unsuitable monks came to the area and divided them, challenging Robert's severity. He tried to leave Molesme twice but was ordered back by the Pope. He escaped with 21 of his close "monks" leaving Molesme with the intention of never returning. The Viscount of Beaune owned a desolate Valley in a deep forest, which gave to Robert and his companions, and thus they founded CiteAux Abbey. Stephen Harding and Alberic -2 of Robert's monks from Moleme- were pivotal in founding the new house. The duke of Burgundy, Eudo, finished the building of the monastery they had began, at his own cost, erecting that new monastery into an abbey. In 1100, the monks of Molesme asked Robert to return and agreed to submit "entirely to his interpretation" of the Rule of St. Benedict. He did return and ran the monastery according to "his own interpretation" and example. Moleme became a major center for the Benedictines under his tutelage.
Meanwhile, the monastery at Citeaux, under the direction of Alberic, and Stephen Harding, became "the cornerstone for the New Cistercian Order," which grew to greater fame in the 12th century under Bernard of ClairVaux. Robert died on April 17, 1111. Pope Honorius III canonized him in1222. His feast day in Roman Catholic Church was fixed at first on April 17, but later on April 29. Robert's Day is celebrated in Washington DC at the Capital Lounge annually on the Sunday before Columbus Day.
This LuxEuil abbey, in which Robert was trained, was one of the oldest and best-known Monasteries in Burgundy. It had been founded about 585-590 by the Irish missionary Columbanus, notable for founding a number of monasteries in the Frankish and Lombard Kingdoms. The most notably were LuxEuil Abbey in present-day France and Bobbio Abbey in present-day Italy.
[Celtic Christianity refers to certain features of Christianity that were practiced across the Celtic-Speaking World during Early Middle Ages. This include a distinctive system for determining the dating of Easter, a style of monastic tonsure (cutting or shaving the hair), a unique system of penance, and the popularity of going into "exile" for Christ. Celtic-speaking areas were part of Latin Christendom as a whole at a time in which there was significant Regional variation of Liturgy and Structure with a general collective veneration of the Bishop of Rome that was no less intense in Celtic areas.
A mission initiated by Gaelic monks from Ireland and the Western Coast of modern-day ScotLand, spread Christianity and established monasteries in Great Britain and continental Europe during the Middle Ages.]
Columbanus and his companions first settled in cells at AnneGray, in the comune of VoiVre, Haute-Saone. Looking for a more permanent site for his community, Columbanus decided upon the Ruins of a well-fortified Gallo-Roman settlement, "LuxoVium." The Roman Town had been ravaged by Attila in 451, and was now buried in the dense overgrown Woodland that had filled the abandoned site over more than a century, but the place still had the advantage of the Thermal Bath down in the Valley, which still give the Town its name of LuxEuil-les Bains. The stone images honored in the past still crowded the nearby Woods.
With a grant from an officer of the Palace at ChildEbert's Court, an abbey Church was built with a sense of triumph within the abandoned site and its spectral haunts. Under the spiritual and intellectual stimulation of the Irish Monks, the abbey at LuxEuil, dedicated to Saint Peter, soon became the most important and flourishing Monastery in Gaul.
Most of the earliest rule that was observed in at LuxEuil derived from Celtic monastic traditions, supplemented increasingly by the more formalized Benedictine Rule that was followed through the West. As always happened in history, in 603, a synod accused Columbanus of keeping Easter by the Celtic date. It cause friction with the Burgundian Court. Columbanus was exiled from LuxEuil by Theuderic II of Austrasia and the dowager Queen BruneHaut. He was succeded as abbot by Eustace of Lux Euil, the head of the Monastic School, which under Eustace and his successor WaldeBert, established a high reputation without being the ones who founded it. Anyway the school and example of LuxEuil contributed significantly to the "conversion" of the Burgundians in their own way.
They are also called the Bernardines, after the highly influential Bernard of ClairVaux.
The term "Cistercian" derives from 'Cistercium,' the Latin name for the Village of CiteAux, near Dijon in Eastern France. It was in this Village that a group of Benedictine Monks from the Monastery of Molesme founded CiteAux Abbey in 1098, with the goal of following more closely the Rule of Saint Benedict.
The Rule of Saint Benedict is a Book of precepts written by Saint Benedict of Nursia (480-547) for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot. The title of an abbot had its origins in the monasteries of Egypt and Syria, spread through the Eastern Mediterranean, and soon became accepted generally in all languages as the designation of the head of a monastery. The word is derived from the Aramaic "Av" meaning 'father' or "Abba" meaning 'my father.' At first it was employed as a respectful title for any monk, but it was soon restricted by Canon Law to certain "priestly superiors."The best known of them were Robert of Molesme, Alberic of CiteAux, and the English monk Stephen Harding, who were the first 3 abbots. Bernard of ClairVaux entered the monastery in the early 1110s with 30 companions and helped the rapid proliferation of the Order. By the end of the 12th century, the Order had spread throughout France and into England, Wales, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Eastern Europe. in relation to fields such as agriculture, hydraulic engineering and metallurgy, the Cisternians became the main force of technological diffusion in Medieval Europe.
The Cisternians were adversely affected in England by the Protestant Reformation, the Disolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII, the French Revolution in continental Europe, and the Revolutions of the 18th century, but some survived and the Order recovered in the 19th century.
In 1891 certain abbeys formed a new Order called Trappist, which today exists as an Order distinct from the Common Observance.
The Rule of Saint Benedict provided a moderate path between individual zeal and formulaic institutional-ism; because of this middle ground it became popular. However, no evidence exists to suggests that Benedict intended to found a religious order. His rule was written as a guide for individual, autonomous communities in order to create models of tightly bonded unions and contemplative lifestyles.
Robert of Molesme was made abbot of Saint Michel-de-Tonnerre around the year 1070. Unable to reform the abbey, he returned to Montier-la-Celle. In 1072 he was made prior of Saint-AiYoul. Then Robert founded a monastery at Molesme in the Valley of Langres in Burgundy at the close of 1075. The establishment consisted of only huts made of branches surrounding a chapel in the forest. Molesme Abbey quickly became known for its piety and sanctity. Robert's reputation as a saintly man grew.
In 1098 there were 35 depended priories of Molesme, and other annexes and some priories of nuns. Benefactors gave their children to educate, and the amount of land received required a large number of employees. When it grew increasingly wealthy, new and unsuitable monks came to the area and divided them, challenging Robert's severity. He tried to leave Molesme twice but was ordered back by the Pope. He escaped with 21 of his close "monks" leaving Molesme with the intention of never returning. The Viscount of Beaune owned a desolate Valley in a deep forest, which gave to Robert and his companions, and thus they founded CiteAux Abbey. Stephen Harding and Alberic -2 of Robert's monks from Moleme- were pivotal in founding the new house. The duke of Burgundy, Eudo, finished the building of the monastery they had began, at his own cost, erecting that new monastery into an abbey. In 1100, the monks of Molesme asked Robert to return and agreed to submit "entirely to his interpretation" of the Rule of St. Benedict. He did return and ran the monastery according to "his own interpretation" and example. Moleme became a major center for the Benedictines under his tutelage.
Meanwhile, the monastery at Citeaux, under the direction of Alberic, and Stephen Harding, became "the cornerstone for the New Cistercian Order," which grew to greater fame in the 12th century under Bernard of ClairVaux. Robert died on April 17, 1111. Pope Honorius III canonized him in1222. His feast day in Roman Catholic Church was fixed at first on April 17, but later on April 29. Robert's Day is celebrated in Washington DC at the Capital Lounge annually on the Sunday before Columbus Day.
This LuxEuil abbey, in which Robert was trained, was one of the oldest and best-known Monasteries in Burgundy. It had been founded about 585-590 by the Irish missionary Columbanus, notable for founding a number of monasteries in the Frankish and Lombard Kingdoms. The most notably were LuxEuil Abbey in present-day France and Bobbio Abbey in present-day Italy.
[Celtic Christianity refers to certain features of Christianity that were practiced across the Celtic-Speaking World during Early Middle Ages. This include a distinctive system for determining the dating of Easter, a style of monastic tonsure (cutting or shaving the hair), a unique system of penance, and the popularity of going into "exile" for Christ. Celtic-speaking areas were part of Latin Christendom as a whole at a time in which there was significant Regional variation of Liturgy and Structure with a general collective veneration of the Bishop of Rome that was no less intense in Celtic areas.
A mission initiated by Gaelic monks from Ireland and the Western Coast of modern-day ScotLand, spread Christianity and established monasteries in Great Britain and continental Europe during the Middle Ages.]
Columbanus and his companions first settled in cells at AnneGray, in the comune of VoiVre, Haute-Saone. Looking for a more permanent site for his community, Columbanus decided upon the Ruins of a well-fortified Gallo-Roman settlement, "LuxoVium." The Roman Town had been ravaged by Attila in 451, and was now buried in the dense overgrown Woodland that had filled the abandoned site over more than a century, but the place still had the advantage of the Thermal Bath down in the Valley, which still give the Town its name of LuxEuil-les Bains. The stone images honored in the past still crowded the nearby Woods.
With a grant from an officer of the Palace at ChildEbert's Court, an abbey Church was built with a sense of triumph within the abandoned site and its spectral haunts. Under the spiritual and intellectual stimulation of the Irish Monks, the abbey at LuxEuil, dedicated to Saint Peter, soon became the most important and flourishing Monastery in Gaul.
Most of the earliest rule that was observed in at LuxEuil derived from Celtic monastic traditions, supplemented increasingly by the more formalized Benedictine Rule that was followed through the West. As always happened in history, in 603, a synod accused Columbanus of keeping Easter by the Celtic date. It cause friction with the Burgundian Court. Columbanus was exiled from LuxEuil by Theuderic II of Austrasia and the dowager Queen BruneHaut. He was succeded as abbot by Eustace of Lux Euil, the head of the Monastic School, which under Eustace and his successor WaldeBert, established a high reputation without being the ones who founded it. Anyway the school and example of LuxEuil contributed significantly to the "conversion" of the Burgundians in their own way.
They are also called the Bernardines, after the highly influential Bernard of ClairVaux.
The term "Cistercian" derives from 'Cistercium,' the Latin name for the Village of CiteAux, near Dijon in Eastern France. It was in this Village that a group of Benedictine Monks from the Monastery of Molesme founded CiteAux Abbey in 1098, with the goal of following more closely the Rule of Saint Benedict.
The Rule of Saint Benedict is a Book of precepts written by Saint Benedict of Nursia (480-547) for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot. The title of an abbot had its origins in the monasteries of Egypt and Syria, spread through the Eastern Mediterranean, and soon became accepted generally in all languages as the designation of the head of a monastery. The word is derived from the Aramaic "Av" meaning 'father' or "Abba" meaning 'my father.' At first it was employed as a respectful title for any monk, but it was soon restricted by Canon Law to certain "priestly superiors."The best known of them were Robert of Molesme, Alberic of CiteAux, and the English monk Stephen Harding, who were the first 3 abbots. Bernard of ClairVaux entered the monastery in the early 1110s with 30 companions and helped the rapid proliferation of the Order. By the end of the 12th century, the Order had spread throughout France and into England, Wales, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Eastern Europe. in relation to fields such as agriculture, hydraulic engineering and metallurgy, the Cisternians became the main force of technological diffusion in Medieval Europe.
The Cisternians were adversely affected in England by the Protestant Reformation, the Disolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII, the French Revolution in continental Europe, and the Revolutions of the 18th century, but some survived and the Order recovered in the 19th century.
In 1891 certain abbeys formed a new Order called Trappist, which today exists as an Order distinct from the Common Observance.
The Rule of Saint Benedict provided a moderate path between individual zeal and formulaic institutional-ism; because of this middle ground it became popular. However, no evidence exists to suggests that Benedict intended to found a religious order. His rule was written as a guide for individual, autonomous communities in order to create models of tightly bonded unions and contemplative lifestyles.
Saturday, 13 February 2016
THE THIRD DOMINICAN ORDER
The Order of Preachers, more commonly known after the 15th century as the Dominican Order, is a Roman Catholic Order founded by the Spanish Priest Saint Dominic de Guzman in France and approved by Pope Honorius III (1216-27) on December 22, 1216.
Pope Honorius III (1150-18March1227), born as Cencio Savelli, was Pope from July18,1216 to his death in 1227. Seventeen cardinals present at the death of innocent III assembled at Perugia (where Innocent III had died two days previously) with the purpose of electing the new Pope. The troubled state of affairs in Italy, the threatening attitude of the Tatars, and the fear of a schism induced the cardinals to agree to an election by compromise. He was born in Rome as son of Aimerico, a member of the Roman Savelli family.
The 12th century saw great changes in Western Europe. As commerce revived, urban centers arose and with them an urban middle class. New directions in spirituality were called for. Ecclesiastical reform became a major theme of the cultural revival of this era. There emerged the New Orders founded by Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) and Dominic Guzman (1170-1221). With deep insight the Franciscans and Dominicans put into practice a pastoral strategy suited to the social changes.
The Third Dominican Order is a Roman Catholic Order afiliated with the Dominican Order. This was one of the earliest developments of the ancient Ordo de Poenitentia (Order of Penance), a status which developed in the ancient Church representing those which came under Dominican influence. At first vaguely constituted and living without system or form, its members gradually grew more and more depended on their spiritual guides.
The climax was reached when Friar Munio of Zamora, the 7th Master General of the Friars Preachers, formulated a definite Rule in 1285. By this the Order of Penance was to be ruled in each local centre by a Dominican Priest and was to be subject to the obedience of the Dominican Priors Provincial and Masters General. Henceforward this branch was linked to the fortunes of the Friar Preachers, wore their habits of Black and White, and was to participate in all their "works." They were not called a Third Order until after the 13th century but continue to be known as "Brothers and Sisters of Penance" with the addition "of St. Dominic."
Simultaneously with them there came another merging into being from another very different institution which, amalgamated with the Order of Penance to form and give birth all together to the Dominican Third Order. This was a Military Order, called "The Militia Jesus Christ" (Soldiery of Jesus Christ). It owed its origin to Bishop Foulques of Toulouse, Simon de MontFort, and to St. Dominic. The truth of this merging borne out by other indications.
Folquet of Toulouse (1150-December25th 1231) came from a genoese merchant family who lived in Maeseille. Initially famed as a troubadour, he began composing songs in the 1170s and was known to Raymond GeoffreyII of Marseille, Richard Coeur de Lion, Raymond V of Toulouse, Raymond-Roger of Foix, Alfonso II of Aragon and William VIII of MontPellier. Folquet's life and career abruptly changed around 1195. He joined the strict Cistercian Order, entering the Monastery of Thoronet (Var, France) placing his wife and 2 sons in monastic institutions as well. He soon rose in prominence and was elected abbot of Thoronet which allowed him to help found the sister house of Gemenos to house women, including his wife. He was elected Bishop of Toulouse in 1205, after 2 Cistercian Papal legates had been sent to the Region to reform it. Pope Innocent III was particular concerned by the prevalence of both heresy and episcopal corruption in the Languedoc and used the Cistercians to combat both. As Bishop, Folquet took a very active role in combatting heresy.
Simon de MontFort (1175-June25th 1218) was a French WarLord who took part in the 4th Crusade (1202-1204) and was a prominent leader of the Albigensian Crusade. As early as 1235, Pope Gregory IX confided the Militia to the care of Friar Jordan of Saxony, 2nd Master General; and in the same year he decreed for the knights a habit of black and white. Further, when the Militia was brought across the Alps and established in Italy, they were always connected with the Dominican Order.
The MontFort line itself descended from the House of Reginar (later known as House of Brabant), a kin-group in LotHarIngia during the CarolIngian and OttOnian centuries. The main branch extinguished in 1355, leaving its duchies to the House of LuxemBourg which in turn left them to the House of Valois-Burgundy in 1383. A side Branch is the House of Hesse which ruled Hesse from 1264 until 1918 and is still existing today.
After the Plague of 1348, a great deal of laxity and disorganization crept into the Third Order. As it exist to-day it can be divided into two categories: regular and secular. By far the greatest portion consists of seculars. These are of every rank of society, and represent the old Order of Penance and the Old Militia.
Pope Honorius III (1150-18March1227), born as Cencio Savelli, was Pope from July18,1216 to his death in 1227. Seventeen cardinals present at the death of innocent III assembled at Perugia (where Innocent III had died two days previously) with the purpose of electing the new Pope. The troubled state of affairs in Italy, the threatening attitude of the Tatars, and the fear of a schism induced the cardinals to agree to an election by compromise. He was born in Rome as son of Aimerico, a member of the Roman Savelli family.
The 12th century saw great changes in Western Europe. As commerce revived, urban centers arose and with them an urban middle class. New directions in spirituality were called for. Ecclesiastical reform became a major theme of the cultural revival of this era. There emerged the New Orders founded by Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) and Dominic Guzman (1170-1221). With deep insight the Franciscans and Dominicans put into practice a pastoral strategy suited to the social changes.
The Third Dominican Order is a Roman Catholic Order afiliated with the Dominican Order. This was one of the earliest developments of the ancient Ordo de Poenitentia (Order of Penance), a status which developed in the ancient Church representing those which came under Dominican influence. At first vaguely constituted and living without system or form, its members gradually grew more and more depended on their spiritual guides.
The climax was reached when Friar Munio of Zamora, the 7th Master General of the Friars Preachers, formulated a definite Rule in 1285. By this the Order of Penance was to be ruled in each local centre by a Dominican Priest and was to be subject to the obedience of the Dominican Priors Provincial and Masters General. Henceforward this branch was linked to the fortunes of the Friar Preachers, wore their habits of Black and White, and was to participate in all their "works." They were not called a Third Order until after the 13th century but continue to be known as "Brothers and Sisters of Penance" with the addition "of St. Dominic."
Simultaneously with them there came another merging into being from another very different institution which, amalgamated with the Order of Penance to form and give birth all together to the Dominican Third Order. This was a Military Order, called "The Militia Jesus Christ" (Soldiery of Jesus Christ). It owed its origin to Bishop Foulques of Toulouse, Simon de MontFort, and to St. Dominic. The truth of this merging borne out by other indications.
Folquet of Toulouse (1150-December25th 1231) came from a genoese merchant family who lived in Maeseille. Initially famed as a troubadour, he began composing songs in the 1170s and was known to Raymond GeoffreyII of Marseille, Richard Coeur de Lion, Raymond V of Toulouse, Raymond-Roger of Foix, Alfonso II of Aragon and William VIII of MontPellier. Folquet's life and career abruptly changed around 1195. He joined the strict Cistercian Order, entering the Monastery of Thoronet (Var, France) placing his wife and 2 sons in monastic institutions as well. He soon rose in prominence and was elected abbot of Thoronet which allowed him to help found the sister house of Gemenos to house women, including his wife. He was elected Bishop of Toulouse in 1205, after 2 Cistercian Papal legates had been sent to the Region to reform it. Pope Innocent III was particular concerned by the prevalence of both heresy and episcopal corruption in the Languedoc and used the Cistercians to combat both. As Bishop, Folquet took a very active role in combatting heresy.
Simon de MontFort (1175-June25th 1218) was a French WarLord who took part in the 4th Crusade (1202-1204) and was a prominent leader of the Albigensian Crusade. As early as 1235, Pope Gregory IX confided the Militia to the care of Friar Jordan of Saxony, 2nd Master General; and in the same year he decreed for the knights a habit of black and white. Further, when the Militia was brought across the Alps and established in Italy, they were always connected with the Dominican Order.
The MontFort line itself descended from the House of Reginar (later known as House of Brabant), a kin-group in LotHarIngia during the CarolIngian and OttOnian centuries. The main branch extinguished in 1355, leaving its duchies to the House of LuxemBourg which in turn left them to the House of Valois-Burgundy in 1383. A side Branch is the House of Hesse which ruled Hesse from 1264 until 1918 and is still existing today.
After the Plague of 1348, a great deal of laxity and disorganization crept into the Third Order. As it exist to-day it can be divided into two categories: regular and secular. By far the greatest portion consists of seculars. These are of every rank of society, and represent the old Order of Penance and the Old Militia.
NICOLAUS COPERNICUS
Nicolaus Copernicus (Polish: Mikolaj Kopernik) was born on 19 February 1473 and died 24 May 1543, in the City of Torun (Thorn), in the province of Royal Prussia, in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland since 1466.
His father was a merchant from Krakow and and his family can be traced to a Village in Silesia near Nysa (Neibe). In the 14th century, they began moving to various other Silesian Cities, to the Polish capital, Kralow (1367) and Torun (1400). The father, Mikolaj the Elder came from the Krakow line.
Nicolaus was named after his father, who appears in records for the 1st time as a well-to-do merchant who dealt in copper, selling it mostly in Danzig (Gdansk). He moved from Krakow to Torun around 1458. Torun, situated on the Vistula River, the longest and largest River in Poland (1,047kms/651 mi in lenth), was at that time embroiled in the 13 Years' War, in which the Kingdom of Poland and the Prussian Confederation, an alliance of Prussian cities, gentry, and clergy, fought the Teutonic Order over control of the Region. In this War, Hanseatic Cities like Danzig and Torun, chose to support the Polish King, Casimir IV Jagiellon, who promised to respect the independence of the cities, which the Teutonic Order had challenged. Copernicus' father married Barbara Watzenrode, between 1461 and 1464. He died about 1483.
His mother was the daughter of a wealthy Torun (Thorn) patrician and city councillor, Lucas Watzenrode the Elder (deceased in 1462), and Katarzyna (widow of Jan Peckau). Lucas and Katarzyna had 3 children: Lucas Watzenrode the Younger (1447-1512), who would become Bishop of Warmia; Barbara, Copernicus' mother (deceased after 1495); and Christina (deceased before 1502), who in 1459 married the Torun merchant and mayor, Tiedeman Von Allen. Both families from father and mother had come from Silesia and after 1360 had settled in Torun. They soon became one of the wealthiest and most influential patrician (the only people allowed to exercise political functions) families. Through the Watzenrodes' extensive family relationships by marriage, Copernicus was related to wealthy families of Torun, Danzig and Elblag (Elbing), and to prominent noble families of Prussia.
Nicolaus was the younger of 4 children. His brother Andreas (Andrew) became an Agustinian Canon at Frombork (FrauenBurg). His sister Barbara, named after her mother, became a Benedictine Nun and, in her final years, Prioress of a Convent in Chelmno (Kulm); she died after 1517. His sister Katharina married the businessman and Toruh (Thorn) city councilor Barthel Gertner and left 5 children, whom Copernicus looked after to the end of his life. Copernicus never married or had children.
Upon his father's death, young Nicolaus' maternal uncle, Lucas Watzenrode the Younger (1447-1512), took the boy under his wing and saw to his education and career. He maintained contact with leading intellectual figures in Poland and was a friend of the influential Italian-born humanist and Krakow courtier, Filippo Buonaccorsi. In the winter semester of 1491-1492 copernicus was accepted at the Iniversity of Krakow (Jagiellonian) together with his brother Andrew. He acquired the foundations for his subsequent mathematical achievements from his teacher Albert BrudzewSki, who by then was a professor of Aristotelian philosophy but taught astronomy privately. Copernicus' 4 years in Krakow played an important role in the development of his critical faculties and initiated his analysis of the logical contradictions in the 2 most popular systems of astronomy -Aristotle's theory of homocentric spheres, and Ptolemy's mechanism of eccentrics and epicycles- the surmounting and discarding of which constituted the 1st step toward the creation of his own doctrine of the structure of the universe.
Without taking a degree, he left Krakow for the court of his uncle Watzenrode, who in 1489 had been elevated to Prince-Bishop of Warmia and soon sought to place his nephew in the Warmia canonry. Due to opposition from part of the chapter, it was delayed. Then Copernicus and his brother headed to Italy to study Canon Law.
In Copernicus' time, people were often called after the places where they lived. Like the Silesian village that inspired it, Copernicus' surname has been spelled variously. The surname had something to do with the local Silesian copper-minig industry, and also with the dill (kopernik) plant that grows wild in Silesia.
Upon his father's death, young Nicolaus' maternal uncle, Lucas Watzenrode the Younger (1447-1512), took the boy under his wing and saw to his education and career. He maintained contact with leading intellectual figures in Poland and was a friend of the influential Italian-born humanist and Krakow courtier, Filippo Buonaccorsi. In the winter semester of 1491-1492 copernicus was accepted at the Iniversity of Krakow (Jagiellonian) together with his brother Andrew. He acquired the foundations for his subsequent mathematical achievements from his teacher Albert BrudzewSki, who by then was a professor of Aristotelian philosophy but taught astronomy privately. Copernicus' 4 years in Krakow played an important role in the development of his critical faculties and initiated his analysis of the logical contradictions in the 2 most popular systems of astronomy -Aristotle's theory of homocentric spheres, and Ptolemy's mechanism of eccentrics and epicycles- the surmounting and discarding of which constituted the 1st step toward the creation of his own doctrine of the structure of the universe.
Without taking a degree, he left Krakow for the court of his uncle Watzenrode, who in 1489 had been elevated to Prince-Bishop of Warmia and soon sought to place his nephew in the Warmia canonry. Due to opposition from part of the chapter, it was delayed. Then Copernicus and his brother headed to Italy to study Canon Law.
In Copernicus' time, people were often called after the places where they lived. Like the Silesian village that inspired it, Copernicus' surname has been spelled variously. The surname had something to do with the local Silesian copper-minig industry, and also with the dill (kopernik) plant that grows wild in Silesia.
He was a mathematician and astronomer who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than the Earth at the center of the universe. He was also a polyglot and polymath who obtained a doctorate in Canon Law and also practiced as a Physician, Classics Scholar, Translator, Governor, Diplomat, and Economist. Copernicus is postulated to have spoken Latin and german with equal fluency. He also spoke Polish, Greek and Italian. The vast majority of his surviving works are in Latin, which in his lifetime was the language of Academia in Europe. Latin was also the official language of the Roman Catholic Church and of Poland's royal court, and thus all of Copernicus' correspondence with the Church and with Polish leaders was in Latin. Like the rest of his family, he was a 3rd Order Dominican.
The Canon Law was the body of Laws and Regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (Church leadership), for the government of a Christian organization of church and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church (both Latin Church and Eastern Catholic Churches), the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches and the individual national churches within the Anglican Communion.
The way that such Law is legislated, interpreted and a times adjudicated varies widely among these 3 bodies of Churches. In all 3 traditions, a Canon was originally a Rule adopted by a Church Council; these Canons formed the foundation of Canon Law.
Copernicus received his doctorate in Canon Law at the University of Padua, Italy, 1501. He remained there until summer 1503. In 1504-12 he made numerous journeys as part of his uncle's retinue. His administrative and economic duties did not distract Copernicus, in 1512-15, from intense observational activity. The results of his observations of Mars and Saturn in this period, and especially a series of 4 observations of the Sun made in 1515, led to the discovery of the variability of Earth's eccentricity and of the movement of the solar apogee in relation to the fixed stars, which in 1515-19 prompted his first revisions of certain assumptions of his system. During 1516-21, he lived at OlszTyn (AllenStein) Castle as an economic administrator. When Olsztyn was besieged by the Teutonic Knights during the Polish- Teutonic War, Copernicus directed the defense of OlszTyn and Warmia by Royal polish forces. He also represented the Polish side in the ensuing peace negotiations.
In his younger days, Copernicus as a Physician had treated his uncle, brother and other chapter members. In later years he was called upon to attend the elderly bishops.
In the spring of 1541, Duke Albert summoned Copernicus to KonigsBerg to attend thr Duke's counselor George Von KunHeim, who had fallen seriously ill, and from the Prussian doctors seemed unable to do anything. He went willingly. The Chapter gave Copernicus permission to go, as it wished to remain in good terms with the Duke, despite his Lutheran faith. In about a month the patient recovered. He returned to FromBork and for a time he continued to receive reports on Von KunHeim's condition, and to send him medical advice by letter. Throughout this period of his life, Copernicus continued making astronomical observations and calculations, but only as his other responsibilities permitted and never in a professional capacity.
Towards the close of 1542, Copernicus was seized with apoplexy and paralysis, and he died at age of 70. Legend says that he was presented with the final printed pages of his 'De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium' on the very day that he died, allowing him to take farewell of his life's work. He is reputed to have awoken from a stroke-induced coma, looked at his book, and then died peacefully.
Copernicus received his doctorate in Canon Law at the University of Padua, Italy, 1501. He remained there until summer 1503. In 1504-12 he made numerous journeys as part of his uncle's retinue. His administrative and economic duties did not distract Copernicus, in 1512-15, from intense observational activity. The results of his observations of Mars and Saturn in this period, and especially a series of 4 observations of the Sun made in 1515, led to the discovery of the variability of Earth's eccentricity and of the movement of the solar apogee in relation to the fixed stars, which in 1515-19 prompted his first revisions of certain assumptions of his system. During 1516-21, he lived at OlszTyn (AllenStein) Castle as an economic administrator. When Olsztyn was besieged by the Teutonic Knights during the Polish- Teutonic War, Copernicus directed the defense of OlszTyn and Warmia by Royal polish forces. He also represented the Polish side in the ensuing peace negotiations.
In his younger days, Copernicus as a Physician had treated his uncle, brother and other chapter members. In later years he was called upon to attend the elderly bishops.
In the spring of 1541, Duke Albert summoned Copernicus to KonigsBerg to attend thr Duke's counselor George Von KunHeim, who had fallen seriously ill, and from the Prussian doctors seemed unable to do anything. He went willingly. The Chapter gave Copernicus permission to go, as it wished to remain in good terms with the Duke, despite his Lutheran faith. In about a month the patient recovered. He returned to FromBork and for a time he continued to receive reports on Von KunHeim's condition, and to send him medical advice by letter. Throughout this period of his life, Copernicus continued making astronomical observations and calculations, but only as his other responsibilities permitted and never in a professional capacity.
Towards the close of 1542, Copernicus was seized with apoplexy and paralysis, and he died at age of 70. Legend says that he was presented with the final printed pages of his 'De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium' on the very day that he died, allowing him to take farewell of his life's work. He is reputed to have awoken from a stroke-induced coma, looked at his book, and then died peacefully.
CASIMIR III AND THE JAGIELLONIAN UNIVERSITY
The Jagiellonian University: Historical names of the university includes: Studium Generale, University of Krakow, Krakow Academy, The Main Crown School, and Main School of Krakow.
It is a research university founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Krakow. It is the oldest university in Poland, the 2nd oldest in Central Europe and one of the oldest in the World. It was positioned as the best Polish University among the World's top 500 and the best Polish higher-level institution.
Casimir III the Great (Polish:KaziMierz III Wielki; 30April 1310-5November1370) reigned as a King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He was the son of King Wladyslaw(The Elbow-High) and Duchess Hedwig of Kalisz, and the last Polish king of the Piast Dynasty, the 1st historical ruling dynasty.
The Piasts intermarried with several nobles lines of Europe, and possessed numerous titles, some with the Holy Roman Empire.
Casimir III was born in Kowal, and he married 4 times. His first wife was Anna, or Aldona Ona, the daughter of Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania. The marriage produced 2 daughters: Cunigunde (d.1357)who was married to Louis VI the Roman, the son of Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor, and Elisabeth, who was married to Duke Bogislaus V of Pomerania. His wife died in 1339, and Casimir then married Adelaide of Hesse. He divorced her in 1356, and married Christina. He divorced her and while Adelaide and Christine possibly were still alive, he married Hedwig of Glogow and Sagan in 1365. He had 3 daughters by his 4th wife, and they were still very young when he died, and regarded as of dubious legitimacy because of Casimir's bigamy.
The early Dukes and Kings of Poland regarded themselves as descendants of the semi-legendary Piast the WheelWright (Piast KolodzIej). In the Polish Chronicle of Gallus Anonymus, Piast makes his appearance along with his father ChosciSko and his wife Rzepka. The chronicle tells the story of an unexpected visit paid to Piast by 2 strangers. They ask to join Piast's family in celebration of the 7th birthday of Piast's son, Siemowit. To celebrate the birthday they had to perform the rite of passage for young boys. In return for the hospitality, the guests cast a spell making Piast's cellar ever full of plenty.
Seeing this, Piasts' compatriots declared him their New Prince, to replace the late Prince Popiel.
The Piasts were native of Gniezno, a well fortified Castle Town founded between the 8th and 9th century, within the tribal territory of the Lendians. He died in 861 aged 120 years.
Two theories explain the etymology of the word "Piast." The 1st gives the root as Piasta (Polish:"Hub")
a reference to his profession. The 2nd relates Piast to Piastun (Custodian or Keeper). This explain the initial position as a majordomo, or steward of the house, in the court of another ruler, and the subsequent takeover of power by Piast.
In 1305 King Wenceslaus II died and his son Wenceslaus III, the last PremySlid, was murdered in the following year. The Polish sovereignty turned again to the Piasts, when Wladyslaw I The Elbow-High became High Duke. Nevertheless Wenceslaus' successors in Bohemia, Henry of Carinthia and Rudolph of Austria also claimed the title of a Polish king but could not prevail.
The Bohemian aspirations to power rose again after in 1310. John The Blind, son of Henry VII of Germany of the mighty LuxemBourg Dynasty, had assumed the Crown and the claims to the Polish Throne. Though he failed to succeed his father as King of the Romans, he had several Silesian Dukes swore an oath of allegiance to him against the resistance of Wladyslaw I The Elbow-High.
The tensions intensified when King John campaigned and annexed the Duchy of Glogow in 1331 and began to interfere in the Polish-Teutonic War that broke out in Kuyavia and Dobrzyn Land.
In 1333 Wladyslaw was succeded by his son Casimir III, who was prepared for compromise. He resorted to sue The Teutonic Order at the Roman Curia and settled a rising conflict with Bohemia by the provisory TrentSchin Treaty: the king "in perpetuity" renounced all Polish claims to Silecia in favor of Bohemia. The split of Silesia off the Polish Crown was made. Upon the death of the Bohemian king Louis II, at the 1526 Battle of Mohacs, his crown lands were inherited by the HabsBurg king Ferdinand I and became a constituent of the HabsBurg Monarchy.
Casimir III inherited a kingdom weakened by War. It was depopulated and exhausted and the economy ruined. He made it prosperous and wealthy. He reformed the Polish Army and doubled the size of the kingdom through conquest. He reformed the Judicial System and introduced a Legal Code, gaining the title "the Polish Justinian." This was as an attempt to end the overwhelming superiority of the nobility.
He built extensively. In the mid-14th century realizing that the nation needed a class educated people, especially lawyers, who could codify the country's laws and administer the courts and offices his efforts to found an institution of higher learning in Poland were rewarded when Pope Urban V granted his permission to set up a University in Krakow. A royal charter of foundation was issued on May12,1364.
The king provided funding for 1chair in Liberal Arts, 2 in Medicine, 3 in Canon Law and 5 in Roman Law, funded by a quarterly payment taken from the proceeds of the royal monopoly on the Salts Mines at Wieliczka. It stalled upon Casimir's death and lectures weld held in various places across the city including the Professor's houses, Churches, and the Cathedral School on the Wawel Hill. The institution was restored in the 1390s by King WladySlaw and his wife Saint Jadwiga, the daughter of the King Louis of Hungary and Poland. The faculties of Astronomy, Law and Theology attracted eminent scholars : for example, John Cantius, StanIslaw of Skarbimierz, Pawel wlodkowic, Jan of Glogow, and Albert BrudzewSki, who from 1491 to 1495 was one of Nicolaus Copernicus' teachers.
For several centuries , the entire intellectual elite of Poland was educated at the university. Over its long history, the university have educated thousands of foreign students from countries such as Lithuania, Russia, Hungary, Bohemia, Germany and Spain. By 1520 Greek philology was introduced, Hebrew was also Taught. At this time , the Collegium Maius comprised 7 reading rooms, 6 of which were named for the great ancient scholars: Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Galen, Ptolemy and Pythagoras. The faculties of Law, Medicine, Theology and Philosophy were established in their own premises.
The golden era took place between 1500 and 1535, when it was attended by 3,215 students in the 1st decade of the 16th century and the foundations of the Jagliellonian Library were set.
Casimir III was favorably disposed toward Jews On 9 October 1334, he confirmed the privileges and protection previously granted to Jewish Poles in 1264 by BoleSlaw V the Chaste. Under the penalty of death , he prohibited the kidnapping of Jewish children for the purpose of enforcing Christian Baptism, and he infilcted heavy punishment for the desecration of Jewish cemeteries. While Jews had lived in Poland since before his reign, he encouraged and allowed them to settle in Poland in great numbers and protected them as People of the King.
It is a research university founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Krakow. It is the oldest university in Poland, the 2nd oldest in Central Europe and one of the oldest in the World. It was positioned as the best Polish University among the World's top 500 and the best Polish higher-level institution.
Casimir III the Great (Polish:KaziMierz III Wielki; 30April 1310-5November1370) reigned as a King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He was the son of King Wladyslaw(The Elbow-High) and Duchess Hedwig of Kalisz, and the last Polish king of the Piast Dynasty, the 1st historical ruling dynasty.
The Piasts intermarried with several nobles lines of Europe, and possessed numerous titles, some with the Holy Roman Empire.
Casimir III was born in Kowal, and he married 4 times. His first wife was Anna, or Aldona Ona, the daughter of Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania. The marriage produced 2 daughters: Cunigunde (d.1357)who was married to Louis VI the Roman, the son of Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor, and Elisabeth, who was married to Duke Bogislaus V of Pomerania. His wife died in 1339, and Casimir then married Adelaide of Hesse. He divorced her in 1356, and married Christina. He divorced her and while Adelaide and Christine possibly were still alive, he married Hedwig of Glogow and Sagan in 1365. He had 3 daughters by his 4th wife, and they were still very young when he died, and regarded as of dubious legitimacy because of Casimir's bigamy.
The early Dukes and Kings of Poland regarded themselves as descendants of the semi-legendary Piast the WheelWright (Piast KolodzIej). In the Polish Chronicle of Gallus Anonymus, Piast makes his appearance along with his father ChosciSko and his wife Rzepka. The chronicle tells the story of an unexpected visit paid to Piast by 2 strangers. They ask to join Piast's family in celebration of the 7th birthday of Piast's son, Siemowit. To celebrate the birthday they had to perform the rite of passage for young boys. In return for the hospitality, the guests cast a spell making Piast's cellar ever full of plenty.
Seeing this, Piasts' compatriots declared him their New Prince, to replace the late Prince Popiel.
The Piasts were native of Gniezno, a well fortified Castle Town founded between the 8th and 9th century, within the tribal territory of the Lendians. He died in 861 aged 120 years.
Two theories explain the etymology of the word "Piast." The 1st gives the root as Piasta (Polish:"Hub")
a reference to his profession. The 2nd relates Piast to Piastun (Custodian or Keeper). This explain the initial position as a majordomo, or steward of the house, in the court of another ruler, and the subsequent takeover of power by Piast.
In 1305 King Wenceslaus II died and his son Wenceslaus III, the last PremySlid, was murdered in the following year. The Polish sovereignty turned again to the Piasts, when Wladyslaw I The Elbow-High became High Duke. Nevertheless Wenceslaus' successors in Bohemia, Henry of Carinthia and Rudolph of Austria also claimed the title of a Polish king but could not prevail.
The Bohemian aspirations to power rose again after in 1310. John The Blind, son of Henry VII of Germany of the mighty LuxemBourg Dynasty, had assumed the Crown and the claims to the Polish Throne. Though he failed to succeed his father as King of the Romans, he had several Silesian Dukes swore an oath of allegiance to him against the resistance of Wladyslaw I The Elbow-High.
The tensions intensified when King John campaigned and annexed the Duchy of Glogow in 1331 and began to interfere in the Polish-Teutonic War that broke out in Kuyavia and Dobrzyn Land.
In 1333 Wladyslaw was succeded by his son Casimir III, who was prepared for compromise. He resorted to sue The Teutonic Order at the Roman Curia and settled a rising conflict with Bohemia by the provisory TrentSchin Treaty: the king "in perpetuity" renounced all Polish claims to Silecia in favor of Bohemia. The split of Silesia off the Polish Crown was made. Upon the death of the Bohemian king Louis II, at the 1526 Battle of Mohacs, his crown lands were inherited by the HabsBurg king Ferdinand I and became a constituent of the HabsBurg Monarchy.
Casimir III inherited a kingdom weakened by War. It was depopulated and exhausted and the economy ruined. He made it prosperous and wealthy. He reformed the Polish Army and doubled the size of the kingdom through conquest. He reformed the Judicial System and introduced a Legal Code, gaining the title "the Polish Justinian." This was as an attempt to end the overwhelming superiority of the nobility.
He built extensively. In the mid-14th century realizing that the nation needed a class educated people, especially lawyers, who could codify the country's laws and administer the courts and offices his efforts to found an institution of higher learning in Poland were rewarded when Pope Urban V granted his permission to set up a University in Krakow. A royal charter of foundation was issued on May12,1364.
The king provided funding for 1chair in Liberal Arts, 2 in Medicine, 3 in Canon Law and 5 in Roman Law, funded by a quarterly payment taken from the proceeds of the royal monopoly on the Salts Mines at Wieliczka. It stalled upon Casimir's death and lectures weld held in various places across the city including the Professor's houses, Churches, and the Cathedral School on the Wawel Hill. The institution was restored in the 1390s by King WladySlaw and his wife Saint Jadwiga, the daughter of the King Louis of Hungary and Poland. The faculties of Astronomy, Law and Theology attracted eminent scholars : for example, John Cantius, StanIslaw of Skarbimierz, Pawel wlodkowic, Jan of Glogow, and Albert BrudzewSki, who from 1491 to 1495 was one of Nicolaus Copernicus' teachers.
For several centuries , the entire intellectual elite of Poland was educated at the university. Over its long history, the university have educated thousands of foreign students from countries such as Lithuania, Russia, Hungary, Bohemia, Germany and Spain. By 1520 Greek philology was introduced, Hebrew was also Taught. At this time , the Collegium Maius comprised 7 reading rooms, 6 of which were named for the great ancient scholars: Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Galen, Ptolemy and Pythagoras. The faculties of Law, Medicine, Theology and Philosophy were established in their own premises.
The golden era took place between 1500 and 1535, when it was attended by 3,215 students in the 1st decade of the 16th century and the foundations of the Jagliellonian Library were set.
Casimir III was favorably disposed toward Jews On 9 October 1334, he confirmed the privileges and protection previously granted to Jewish Poles in 1264 by BoleSlaw V the Chaste. Under the penalty of death , he prohibited the kidnapping of Jewish children for the purpose of enforcing Christian Baptism, and he infilcted heavy punishment for the desecration of Jewish cemeteries. While Jews had lived in Poland since before his reign, he encouraged and allowed them to settle in Poland in great numbers and protected them as People of the King.
THE YOUNG HEGELIANS
The Young Hegelians, or Left Hegelians, were a group of German intellectuals who, in the decade or so after the death of Georg WilHeim FriedRich Hegel in 1831, wrote about his ambiguous legacy.
The Young Hegelians interpreted the entire state apparatus as ultimately claiming legitimacy based upon religious tenets. While this thought was clearly inspired by the function of LutherAnism in contemporary Prussia, the Young Hegelians held the theory to be applicable to any state backed by any religion. All laws were ultimately based on religious tenets. As such, their plan to undermine the corrupt and despotic state apparatus, was to attack the philosophical basis of religion.
Main Members: -David Strauss, he argued against both the supernatural elements of the Gospel and the idea that the Christian Church was the sole bearer of absolute Truth. He believed the Gospel were mythical responses to the situation the Jewish community at the time found themselves in. The idea that "Infinite Reason" or "The Absolute" could be incarnated within a finite human being was absurd. The original teachings of Jesus, amid at aiding the poor and downtrodden, he stated, had slowly been perverted and usurped by the established Church, only to manipulate and oppress the populaces of the world by promising them a reward in the afterlife, if they refrained from rebellion against the powers of the world that exist in this life.
-Bruno Bauer, went further, and claimed that the entire story of Jesus was a myth. He found no record of anyone named "Yeshua of Nazareth" in any then-extant Roman records. The Roman historian Tacitus and the Jewish historian Josephus, although were viewed as forgeries. Bauer argued that almost all prominent historical figures in antiquity are referenced in other works (e.g., Aristophanes mocking Socrates in his plays), but as he could not find any such references to Jesus, it was likely that the entire story of Jesus was fabricated.
-Ludwig FeuerBach wrote a philosophical profile of a believer, "The Essence of Chriatianity." He argues that the believer is presented with a Doctrine that encourages the projection of fantasies onto the World. Believers are encouraged to believe in miracles, and to idealize all their weakness by imagining an Omnipotent, Omniscient, Immortal God who represents the antithesis of all human flaws.
-Carl Nauwerck was a German orientalist, theologian and lecturer of Hegelian Philosophy in Berlin who lost his teaching license along with Bruno Bauer in 1842.
-Arnold Ruge shared Hegel's belief that history is a progressive advance towards the realization of freedom, and that freedom is attained in the State.
-Max Stirner would occasiopnally socialize with the Young Hegelians, but held views much to the contrary of these thinkers, all of whom he satirized and mocked in his "The Ego and its Own."
Young Members: -Karl Marx was at first sympathetic with the strategy of attack Christianity to undermine the Prussian establishment, but later formed divergent ideas and broke with the Young Hegelians, attacking their views in works such The German Ideology. Marx concluded that Religion is not the basis of the establishment of power, but rather Ownership of Capital - processes that employ technologies, land, money, and especially human labor-power to create surplus-value, and only that lie at the Heart of the World Power. Marx and Engels considered religion as a "component of the ideological superstructure" of societies, and a pre-rational mode of thought, which was wielded by Ruling Elites to obscure social relationships including the true basis of Political Power. He described religion as "the Opium of the People."
-Karl Schmidt in "The Realm of Understanding and the Individual" he examined the history of Hegelianism and derived the truth that, "I am only Myself."
-Edgar Bauer, (1820-1886), was the young brother of Bruno Bauer. He was the most anarchistic of the Young Hegelians. It is possible to discern in his early writings the theoretical justification of political terrorism.
The Young Hegelians interpreted the entire state apparatus as ultimately claiming legitimacy based upon religious tenets. While this thought was clearly inspired by the function of LutherAnism in contemporary Prussia, the Young Hegelians held the theory to be applicable to any state backed by any religion. All laws were ultimately based on religious tenets. As such, their plan to undermine the corrupt and despotic state apparatus, was to attack the philosophical basis of religion.
Main Members: -David Strauss, he argued against both the supernatural elements of the Gospel and the idea that the Christian Church was the sole bearer of absolute Truth. He believed the Gospel were mythical responses to the situation the Jewish community at the time found themselves in. The idea that "Infinite Reason" or "The Absolute" could be incarnated within a finite human being was absurd. The original teachings of Jesus, amid at aiding the poor and downtrodden, he stated, had slowly been perverted and usurped by the established Church, only to manipulate and oppress the populaces of the world by promising them a reward in the afterlife, if they refrained from rebellion against the powers of the world that exist in this life.
-Bruno Bauer, went further, and claimed that the entire story of Jesus was a myth. He found no record of anyone named "Yeshua of Nazareth" in any then-extant Roman records. The Roman historian Tacitus and the Jewish historian Josephus, although were viewed as forgeries. Bauer argued that almost all prominent historical figures in antiquity are referenced in other works (e.g., Aristophanes mocking Socrates in his plays), but as he could not find any such references to Jesus, it was likely that the entire story of Jesus was fabricated.
-Ludwig FeuerBach wrote a philosophical profile of a believer, "The Essence of Chriatianity." He argues that the believer is presented with a Doctrine that encourages the projection of fantasies onto the World. Believers are encouraged to believe in miracles, and to idealize all their weakness by imagining an Omnipotent, Omniscient, Immortal God who represents the antithesis of all human flaws.
-Carl Nauwerck was a German orientalist, theologian and lecturer of Hegelian Philosophy in Berlin who lost his teaching license along with Bruno Bauer in 1842.
-Arnold Ruge shared Hegel's belief that history is a progressive advance towards the realization of freedom, and that freedom is attained in the State.
-Max Stirner would occasiopnally socialize with the Young Hegelians, but held views much to the contrary of these thinkers, all of whom he satirized and mocked in his "The Ego and its Own."
Young Members: -Karl Marx was at first sympathetic with the strategy of attack Christianity to undermine the Prussian establishment, but later formed divergent ideas and broke with the Young Hegelians, attacking their views in works such The German Ideology. Marx concluded that Religion is not the basis of the establishment of power, but rather Ownership of Capital - processes that employ technologies, land, money, and especially human labor-power to create surplus-value, and only that lie at the Heart of the World Power. Marx and Engels considered religion as a "component of the ideological superstructure" of societies, and a pre-rational mode of thought, which was wielded by Ruling Elites to obscure social relationships including the true basis of Political Power. He described religion as "the Opium of the People."
-Karl Schmidt in "The Realm of Understanding and the Individual" he examined the history of Hegelianism and derived the truth that, "I am only Myself."
-Edgar Bauer, (1820-1886), was the young brother of Bruno Bauer. He was the most anarchistic of the Young Hegelians. It is possible to discern in his early writings the theoretical justification of political terrorism.
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