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Meletios The Younger
Meletios the Younger (c. 1035 – c. 1105), also called Meletios of Myoupolis, was a Byzantine Greek monk, pilgrim and priest. He is venerated as a saint in Eastern Orthodoxy and his feast is celebrated on 1 September. Meletios was born in the Cappadocian village of Moutalaske, which was also the birthplace of Sabbas the Sanctified. At fifteen or sixteen years of age, he ran away from home to Constantinople, the capital of Byzantine Empire, where he became a monk. He lived there for three years, before setting out on a pilgrimage.Johannes Pahlitzsch (2019), "Byzantine Monasticism and the Holy Land: Palestine in Byzantine Hagiography of the 11th and 12th Centuries", in D. Bertaina et al. (eds.), ''Heirs of the Apostles: Studies on Arabic Christianity in Honor of Sidney H. Griffith'' (Leiden: Brill), pp. 231–255, at 243–245. He quickly halted his pilgrimage, however, to join the ''eukterion'' (oratory) of Saint George near Thebes. After ten years and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Byzantine Greeks
The Byzantine Greeks were the Greek-speaking Eastern Romans of Orthodox Christianity throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. They were the main inhabitants of the lands of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire), of Constantinople and Asia Minor (modern Turkey), the Greek islands, Cyprus, and portions of the southern Balkans, and formed large minorities, or pluralities, in the coastal urban centres of the Levant and northern Egypt. Throughout their history, the Byzantine Greeks self-identified as ''Romans'' ( gr, Ῥωμαῖοι, Rhōmaîoi), but are referred to as "Byzantine Greeks" in modern historiography. Latin speakers identified them simply as Greeks or with the term Romei. The social structure of the Byzantine Greeks was primarily supported by a rural, agrarian base that consisted of the peasantry, and a small fraction of the poor. These peasants lived within three kinds of settlements: the ''chorion'' or village, the ''agridion'' or hamlet, and the ''proast ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Myoupolis
Cithaeron or Kithairon (Κιθαιρών, -ῶνος) is a mountain and mountain range about sixteen kilometres (ten miles) long in Central Greece. The range is the physical boundary between Boeotia in the north and Attica in the south. It is mainly composed of limestone and rises to . The north-east side of the range is formed by the mountain Pastra. The range was the scene of many events in Greek mythology and was especially sacred to Dionysus. In Euripides' ''Bacchae'', Dionysus carries out his dances and rites with his bacchants, his priestesses, on Cithaeron. Oedipus was exposed on the mountain, while Actaeon and Pentheus were both dismembered on its slopes. It was also the place where Heracles or Alcathous hunted and killed the Lion of Cithaeron. In historic times, the mountain acted as a backdrop to the Battle of Plataea of 479 BC and was the scene of much skirmishing before the battle itself. In later times, fortifications were built both at Plataea and Erythrai as the mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vasily Vasilievsky
Vasily Grigorievich Vasilievsky (also spelled ''Vasiljevskij'' and ''Wasiliewski''; russian: Васи́лий Григо́рьевич Василье́вский) was a Russian historian who founded the St. Petersburg school of medieval studies and was a major force in Byzantine studies during the second half of the 19th century. The son of a rural priest, Vasilievsky was born on 2 February 1838. Graduating with honours from the University of St. Petersburg in 1860, he was appointed professor there and was elected into the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1890. Vasilievsky edited the Journal of the Ministry of Education before founding, in 1894, the '' Vizantiyskiy Vremennik'', which remains the chief organ for Byzantine studies in Russia to this day. He was the first to publish many medieval Greek sources relating to Russian history (''Byzantium and the Pechenegs'', 1872). He was also the first to research the agrarian history of Byzantium and its tax system (''Iconoclast Legislatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca
The ''Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca'' is a catalogue of Greek hagiographic materials, including ancient literary works on the saints' lives, the translations of their relics, and their miracles, arranged alphabetically by saint. It is usually abbreviated as BHG in scholarly literature. The listings include MSS, incipits, and printed editions. The first two editions (1895, 1909) were edited by the Bollandists, which included the Jesuit scholar Hippolyte Delehaye. The most recent editions have been the product of a single editor François Halkin. The ''BHG'' along with the ''Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina'' and '' Bibliotheca Hagiographica Orientalis'' are the most useful tools in the research of literary documents concerning the saints.Sergei Hackel, ed.''The Byzantine Saint (San Bernardino: Borgo Press, 1983), 161'' Editions * ''Bibliotheca hagiographica graeca; seu, Elenchus vitarum sanctorum,'' ed. Société des Bollandistes (Bruxelles: Apud editories, 1895). ''Bib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christian Arab
Arab Christians ( ar, ﺍَﻟْﻤَﺴِﻴﺤِﻴُّﻮﻥ ﺍﻟْﻌَﺮَﺏ, translit=al-Masīḥīyyūn al-ʿArab) are ethnic Arabs, Arab nationals, or Arabic language, Arabic-speakers who adhere to Christianity. The number of Arab Christians who live in the Middle East is estimated to be between 10 and 15 million. Arab Christian communities can be found throughout the Arab world, but are concentrated in the Eastern Mediterranean region of the Levant and Egypt, with smaller communities present throughout the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa. The history of Arab Christians coincides with the history of Eastern Christianity and the Arabic#History, history of the Arabic language; Arab Christian communities either result from pre-existing Christian communities adopting the Arabic language, or from pre-existing Arabic-speaking communities adopting Christianity. The jurisdictions of three of the five patriarchates of the Pentarchy primarily became Arabic-speaking after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hagarenes
Hagarenes ( grc, Ἀγαρηνοί , syc, ܗܓܪܝܐ or , arm, Հագարացի), is a term widely used by early Syriac, Greek, Coptic language, Coptic and Armenian sources to describe the early Arab conquerors of Mesopotamia, Syria and Egypt. The name was used in Christianity, Christian literature and Byzantine Empire, Byzantine chronicles for "Hanif" Arabs, and later for Islamic forces as a synonym of the term ''Saracens''. The Syriac term can be roughly translated as "the followers or descendants of Hagar", while the other frequent name, , is thought to have connections with the Arabic , other scholars assume that the terms may not be of Christian origin. Patricia Crone and Michael Cook (historian), Michael Cook claim in their book ''Hagarism, Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World'' was introduced by the Muslims themselves who described their military advance into the Levant and Jerusalem in particular as a Hijra (Islam), Hijra. The name, used interchangeably with Ishm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theodore Prodromos
Theodore Prodromos or Prodromus ( el, Θεόδωρος Πρόδρομος; c. 1100 – c. 1165/70), probably also the same person as the so-called Ptochoprodromos (Πτωχοπρόδρομος "Poor Prodromos"), was a Byzantine Greek writer, well known for his prose and poetry. Biography Very little is known about his life. Further developing a genre begun by Nicholas Kallikles, he wrote many occasional poems for a widespread circle of patrons at the Byzantine court. Some of the literary pieces attributed to him are unpublished, while still others may be wrongly attributed to him. Even so, there does emerge from these writings the figure of an author in reduced circumstances, with a marked inclination towards begging, who was in close touch with the court circles during the reigns of John II Komnenos (1118–1143) and Manuel I Komnenos (1143–1180). He was given a prebend by Manuel I, and he ended his life as a monk. Despite the panegyric and conventional treatment, his writings ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicholas Of Methone
Nicholas of Methone (died 1160/1166) was a Byzantine theologian and philosopher who served as the bishop of Methone from around 1150. Nicholas wrote hagiography, hymnody, theology, biblical exegesis and panegyric. His most widely read works were his treatises against the practices and doctrines of the Latin Church, but modern scholarship regards his ''Refutation'' of the neoplatonist philosopher Proclus as his greatest work. Nicholas was close to the Emperor Manuel I Komnenos and served him as an advisor. He was involved in the major controversies over Bogomilism (1140s) and the writings of Soterichos Panteugenos (1155–1157). Life Nicholas's life is poorly known. He was born early in the 12th century and served as a theological adviser to the Emperor Manuel I (). He sought to end the East–West Schism to bring unity between the churches and between church and state. He opposed the ''filioque'' clause and doctrine and took part in debates with the Latins. His main concern in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hagiography
A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might consist of a biography or ', a description of the saint's deeds or miracles (from Latin ''vita'', life, which begins the title of most medieval biographies), an account of the saint's martyrdom (called a ), or be a combination of these. Christian hagiographies focus on the lives, and notably the miracles, ascribed to men and women canonized by the Roman Catholic church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Church of the East. Other religious traditions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Islam, Sikhism and Jainism also create and maintain hagiographical texts (such as the Sikh Janamsakhis) concerning saints, gurus and other individuals believed to be imbued with sacred power. Hagiographic works, especi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός, 1057 – 15 August 1118; Latinized Alexius I Comnenus) was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power and initiated a hereditary succession to the throne. Inheriting a collapsing empire and faced with constant warfare during his reign against both the Seljuq Turks in Asia Minor and the Normans in the western Balkans, Alexios was able to curb the Byzantine decline and begin the military, financial, and territorial recovery known as the Komnenian restoration. His appeals to Western Europe for help against the Turks was the catalyst that sparked the First Crusade. Biography Alexios was the son of John Komnenos and Anna Dalassene,Kazhdan 1991, p. 63 and the nephew of Isaac I Komnenos (emperor 1057–1059). Alexios' father declined the throne on the abdication of Isaac, who was thu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyperpyra
The ''hyperpyron'' ( ''nómisma hypérpyron'') was a Byzantine coin in use during the late Middle Ages, replacing the ''solidus'' as the Byzantine Empire's gold coinage. History The traditional gold currency of the Byzantine Empire had been the ''solidus'' or ''nomisma'', whose gold content had remained steady at 24 carats for seven centuries and was consequently highly prized. From the 1030s, however, the coin was increasingly debased, until in the 1080s, following the military disasters and civil wars of the previous decade, its gold content was reduced to almost zero. Consequently, in 1092, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos ( 1081–1118) undertook a drastic overhaul of the Byzantine coinage system and introduced a new gold coin, the ''hyperpyron'' (meaning "super-refined"). This was of the same standard weight (4.45 grams) as the ''solidus'', but only 20.5 carat purity instead of 24, resulting in a reduced gold content of only 4.1 grams instead of 4.8 grams. The lower purity was due ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lavra
A lavra or laura ( el, Λαύρα; Cyrillic: Ла́вра) is a type of monastery consisting of a cluster of cells or caves for hermits, with a church and sometimes a refectory at the center. It is erected within the Orthodox and other Eastern Christian traditions. The term is also used by some Roman Catholic communities. The term in Greek initially meant a narrow lane or an alley in a city.. History Byzantine laura/lavra From the fifth century the Greek term ''laura'' could refer specifically to the semi-eremitical monastic settlements of the Judaean Desert, where lauras were very numerous. The first lauras of Palestine were founded by Chariton the Confessor (born 3rd century, died ca. 350): the Laura of Pharan (now Wadi Qelt) northeast of Jerusalem, the Laura of Douka on the Mount of Temptation west of Jericho, and Souka Laura or Old Laura in the area of Tuqu' in Wadi Khureitun. Saint Euthymius the Great (377–473) founded one of the early lauras in fifth-century Palestine. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
