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John Xenos
John Xenos ( gr, Ἰωάννης Ξένος; 970? – after 1027), also known as John the Hermit, was an itinerant ascetic, Christian saint and founder of churches and monasteries on Byzantine Crete. He wrote an autobiography in Greek, ''Bios kai politeia''. John's life is known primarily through his autobiography, which survives in a 15th-century manuscript now in the Bodleian Library and the manuscript known as the Codex Cisamensis, copied in Crete in 1703. The Codex Cisamensis also contains a copy of John's will and testament. Life John was born to wealthy family at Siba, probably the modern village of Sivas on the Messara Plain. The scribe of the Codex Cisamensis places his birth in the year 970. For a time he travelled alone throughout western Crete, "from mountain to mountain" in his words. He founded his first church at Rethymno in obedience to a vision he received from the Cretan saints Eutychios and Eutychianos. It was the first of several churches he built ...
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Ascetic
Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their practices or continue to be part of their society, but typically adopt a frugal lifestyle, characterised by the renunciation of material possessions and physical pleasures, and also spend time fasting while concentrating on the practice of religion or reflection upon spiritual matters. Various individuals have also attempted an ascetic lifestyle to free themselves from addictions, some of them particular to modern life, such as money, alcohol, tobacco, drugs, entertainment, sex, food, etc. Asceticism has been historically observed in many religious traditions, including Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Stoicism and Pythagoreanism and contemporary practices continue amongst some religious followers. The practition ...
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Stauropegion
A stauropegion, also spelled stavropegion (from el, σταυροπήγιον from σταυρός ''stauros'' "cross" and πήγνυμι ''pegnumi'' "to affirm"), is a monastery or a parish which depends directly on the primate or on the Holy Synod of a particular Church, and which is not under the jurisdiction of the local bishop. The name comes from the Byzantine tradition of summoning the Patriarch to place a cross at the foundation of stauropegic monasteries or parochial churches. Such exempt jurisdictions, both monastic and parochial, are common in Eastern Christianity, mainly in Eastern Orthodox Churches, but also in some Eastern Catholic Churches. Their institutional counterparts in the Latin-rite ecclesiastical order of the Catholic Church are various exempt jurisdictions, such as monasteries that are directly subjected to the Holy See of Rome. Stauropegic monasteries A stauropegic monastery, also rendered "stavropegic", "stauropegial" or "stavropegial", is an Eas ...
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Stichera
A sticheron (Greek: "set in verses"; plural: stichera; Greek: ) is a hymn of a particular genre sung during the daily evening (Hesperinos/Vespers) and morning (Orthros) offices, and some other services, of the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches. ''Stichera'' are usually sung in alternation with or immediately after psalm or other scriptural verses. These verses are known as ''stichoi'' (sing: ''stichos''), but ''sticheraric'' poetry usually follows the hexameter and is collected in a book called sticherarion (Greek: ). A sticherarion is a book containing the stichera for the morning and evening services throughout the year, but chant compositions in the ''sticheraric melos'' can also be found in other liturgical books like the Octoechos or the ''Anastasimatarion'', or in the Anthology for the Divine Liturgy. The sticheraric melos and the troparion In the current traditions of Orthodox Chant, the ''sticherarion'' as a hymn book was also used to call a chant genre ...
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Canon (hymnography)
A canon ( el, κανών, kanōn) is a structured hymn used in a number of Eastern Orthodox services. It consists of nine ''odes'', based on the Biblical canticles. Most of these are found in the Old Testament, but the final ode is taken from the Magnificat and Song of Zechariah from the New Testament. The canon dates from the 7th century and was either devised or introduced into the Greek language by St. Andrew of Crete, whose penitential ''Great Canon'' is still used on certain occasions during Great Lent. It was further developed in the 8th century by Sts. John of Damascus and Cosmas of Jerusalem, and in the 9th century by Sts. Joseph the Hymnographer and Theophanes the Branded. Over time the canon came to replace the , a vestigial form of which is still used on several occasions and which has been incorporated into the performance of the canon. Each canon develops a specific theme, such as repentance or honouring a particular saint. Sometimes more than one canon can be ...
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Gospel Of Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and forms a community of disciples, of how he taught the people through such events as the Sermon on the Mount and its Beatitudes, and how Israel becomes divided and how Jesus condemns this hostile Israel. This culminates in his departure from the Temple and his execution. At this point many people reject Jesus, and on his resurrection he sends the disciples to the gentiles. Matthew seems to emphasize that the Jewish tradition should not be lost in a church that was increasingly becoming gentile. The gospel reflects the struggles and conflicts between the evangelist's community and the other Jews, particularly with its sharp criticism of the scribes and Pharisees with the position that through their rejection of Christ, the Kingdom of God h ...
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Basil II
Basil II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Βασίλειος Πορφυρογέννητος ;) and, most often, the Purple-born ( gr, ὁ πορφυρογέννητος, translit=ho porphyrogennetos).. 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar Slayer ( gr, ὁ Βουλγαροκτόνος, ),). and believe the epithet to have entered common usage among the Byzantines at the end of the 12th century, when the Second Bulgarian Empire broke away from Byzantine rule and Basil's martial exploits became a theme of Imperial propaganda. It was used by the historian Niketas Choniates and the writer Nicholas Mesarites, and consciously inverted by the Bulgarian ruler Kaloyan, who called himself "Roman-slayer" ( gr, Ρωμαιοκτόνος, translit=Rhomaioktonos). was the senior Byzantine emperor from 976 to 1025. He and his brother Constantine VIII were crowned before their father Romanos II died in 963, but they were too young to rule. The throne thus went to two generals, Nikephoros ...
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Gouverneto Monastery
Gouverneto Monastery ( ''Μονή Γουβερνέτου'') or Our Lady of the Angels is a Greek Orthodox monastery on the Akrotiri peninsula of the Chania regional unit of Crete, Greece. It is located about 30 kilometres from Chania, and is about 5 kilometres north of the Agia Triada Monastery. History Dated to 1537 (although other sources say 1548), Gouverneto Monastery is reputed to be one of the oldest monasteries in Crete, and a 1637 census, recorded shortly before the Turkish invasion, revealed that at the time there were 60 monks living there, making it one of the largest in Crete at the time. During World War II, the Germans established a guardhouse in the monastery to control the area. Since 2005 it has undergone restoration work by the monks. Features The monastery is a Venetian style fortress with towers at each end, and some Baroque influences added later. It measures roughly 40 metres by 50 metres and contains some 50 monks’ cells on two floors. Its ...
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Kissamos
Kissamos ( el, Κίσσαμος) is a town and a municipality in the west of the island of Crete, Greece. It is part of the Chania regional unit and of the former Kissamos Province which covers the northwest corner of the island. The town of Kissamos is also known as Kastelli Kissamou and often known simply as Kastelli after the Venetian castle that was there. It is now a port and fishing harbour, with a regular ferry from the Peloponnese via Kythira. A town museum is located in the old Venetian governor's palace and there have been important archaeological finds in the town, including fine mosaics, dating from the Roman city of Kisamos (, Latinized as Cisamus). The head town of the municipality () is Kastelli-Kissamos itself. History Strabo said that ancient Cisamus was dependent on Aptera and was its naval arsenal. The Peutinger Table distinguishes two port towns in Crete called Cisamus, Modern Kissamos (at 35°29′38″N 23°39′25″E) is much further west than where Ap ...
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