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Patriarch Cyrus Of Alexandria
Cyrus of Alexandria ( ar, المقوقس ''al-Muqawqis'', el, Κῦρος Ἀλεξανδρείας) was a Melchite patriarch of the see of Alexandria in the 7th century, one of the originators of monothelitism and the last Byzantine prefect of Egypt. He died in Alexandria on March 21, 642. Bishop of Phasis In 620 he was appointed Bishop of Phasis in Colchis. In 626 the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, in the course of his Persian campaign, consulted him about a plan for bringing the Miaphysites of Egypt back to the Church, and to the support, of the empire. The monoenergist plan, suggested by Sergius, Patriarch of Constantinople, consisted of agreeing on the Chalcedonian principle that there were two natures of Christ, while practically nullifying it by saying he had only one energy, grc-x-medieval, script=Latn, hèn thélema kaì mía enérgeia, label=none (ἓν θέλημα καὶ μία ἐνέργεια). Cyrus supported this formula after being reassured by Sergius that i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melchite
The term Melkite (), also written Melchite, refers to various Eastern Christian churches of the Byzantine Rite and their members originating in the Middle East. The term comes from the common Central Semitic root ''m-l-k'', meaning "royal", and by extension "imperial" or loyal to the Byzantine Emperor. The term acquired religious connotations as denominational designation for those Christians who accepted imperial religious policies, based on Christological resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon (451). Originally, during the Early Middle Ages, Melkites used both Greek and Aramaic language in their religious life, and initially employed the Antiochian rite in their liturgy, but later (10th-11th century) accepted Constantinopolitan rite, and incorporated Arabic in parts of their liturgical practices. When used in denominational terminology, ''Melkite'' designations can have two distinctive meanings. The term ''Orthodox Melkites'' thus refers to the Greek Orthodox Christians of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria grew rapidly and became a major centre of Hellenic civilisation, eventually replacing Memphis, in present-day Greater Cairo, as Egypt's capital. During the Hellenistic period, it was home to the Lighthouse of Alexandria, which ranked among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, as well as the storied Library of Alexandria. Today, the library is reincarnated in the disc-shaped, ultramodern Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Its 15th-century seafront Qaitbay Citadel is now a museum. Called the "Bride of the Mediterranean" by locals, Alexandria is a popular tourist destination and an important industrial centre due to its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez. The city extends about along the northern coast of Egypt, and is the largest city on t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muslim Conquest Of Egypt
The Muslim conquest of Egypt, led by the army of 'Amr ibn al-'As, took place between 639 and 646 AD and was overseen by the Rashidun Caliphate. It ended the seven-century-long period of Roman Egypt, Roman reign over Egypt that began in 30 BC. Byzantine rule in the country had been shaken, as Egypt had been Sasanian conquest of Egypt, conquered and occupied for a decade by the Sasanian Empire in 618–629, before being recovered by the Byzantine emperor Heraclius. The caliphate took advantage of Byzantines' exhaustion and captured Egypt ten years after its reconquest by Heraclius. During the mid-630s, the Romans had already lost the Levant and its Ghassanid allies in Arabia to the Caliphate. The loss of the prosperous province of Egypt and the defeat of the Byzantine armies severely weakened the empire, resulting in further territorial losses in the centuries to come. Background With the death of Muhammad in 632 AD, the Muslim world began a period of rapid expansion. Under the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pope Agatho Of Alexandria
Saint Agathon of Alexandria, was the 39th Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark. St. Agathon was a disciple of Pope Benjamin I, the 38th Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church so when Pope Benjamin had to flee to avoid persecution by the Chalcedonians, Agathon remained and led the church. Agathon served like this until Pope Benjamin returned and died, at which time Agathon was officially named the pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church. This happened during the time of the Muslim conquest of Egypt and when Muawiyah I was ruling. Unlike most popes who first serve as monks, Agathon had never been a monk prior to becoming pope- yet he was successful. During his time as pope, the building of St. Macarius Church in the monastery at Wadi El Natrun was completed. Like many others before and after, according to the Coptic Orthodox Church, he was harassed. Sometime during his papacy, he was persecuted by a Melkite Byzantine Patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in East ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nitrian Desert
The Nitrian Desert is a desert region in northwestern Egypt, lying between Alexandria and Cairo west of the Nile Delta. It is known for its history of Christian monasticism."Nitrian Desert", in F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone, eds., ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'', 3rd rev. ed. (Oxford University Press, 2005, online 2009). There were three monastic centres in the Nitrian Desert in Late Antiquity. Around 330, Macarius the Egyptian established a monastic colony in the Wadi El Natrun (Scetis), far from cultivable land. In the 330s, Saint Amun founded Nitria, only southeast of Alexandria, using the rules of Saint Anthony. He founded a second centre, Kellia, on Anthony's suggestion, deeper into the desert. Kellia has been the object of scientific excavations.Janet Timbie, "Egypt", in William M. Johnston and Christopher Kleinhenz, eds., ''Encyclopedia of Monasticism'' (Routledge, 2015), pp. 432–435. Only Scetis in the Wadi El Natrun remains a monastic site today ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel The Confessor
Samuel the Confessor (referred to in academic literature as Samuel of Kalamoun or Samuel of Qalamun) is a Coptic Orthodox saint, venerated in all Oriental Orthodox Churches. He is most famous for his torture at the hands of the Chalcedonian Byzantines, for his witness of the Arab invasion of Egypt, and for having built the monastery that carries his name in Mount Qalamoun. He carries the label "confessor" because he endured torture for his Christian faith, but was not a martyr. The manuscripts of the Coptic text known as the Apocalypse of Samuel of Kalamoun give his name as the author. Early life Samuel was born in 597 AD in the city of Daklube, Egypt, to a non-Chalcedonian priest called Arselaos. He spent most of his early years as a disciple of Agathon. While at the Monastery of Saint Macarius, a Byzantine imperial envoy attempted to convince the desert monks to confess the Chalcedonian faith. Samuel became zealous and seized the imperial letter and rent it into pieces say ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Severus Ibn Al-Muqaffa
Severus ibn al-Muqaffaʿ ( ar, ساويرس بن المقفع) or Severus of El Ashmunein () (died 987) was a Coptic Orthodox Bishop, author and historian. In Arabic, his name is spelled Sawires ساويرس. Severus is sometimes confused with the Persian author Abdullah ibn al-Muqaffa' (d. 759). He was bishop of Hermopolis Magna in Upper Egypt around the end of the tenth century. In this period, Egypt was ruled by the Isma'ili Fatimid Caliphate, which had taken Egypt from the Abbasid Caliphate in 969. Fatimid rule slowly but surely changed Coptic Christian culture, especially in the realm of language. Complaining that the Coptic Orthodox Christians of Egypt no longer knew the Coptic language, Severus composed a theological text in Arabic—the first Coptic text written in that language. He is best known as the traditional initial author of the ''History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria''. One of the stories in it relates how Bishop Severus was asked by the Muslim Chief Justic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pope Benjamin I
Pope Benjamin I of Alexandria, 38th Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark. He is regarded as one of the greatest patriarchs of the Coptic Church. Benjamin guided the Coptic church through a period of turmoil in Egyptian history Atiya, Aziz S. ''The Coptic Encyclopedia''. New York:Macmillan Publishing Company, 1991. . that included the fall of Egypt to the Sassanid Empire, followed by Egypt's reconquest under the Byzantines, and finally the Arab Islamic Conquest in 642. After the Arab conquest Pope Benjamin, who was in exile, was allowed to return to Alexandria and resume the patriarchate. Early life He was born around 590 in Barshüt, in the Beheira region of the western Nile Delta area. Comparatively little is known about his early life, other than that he came from a Coptic family of comfortable means. The proximity of his home to the capital city of Alexandria has led some to assume that he received some education there. No details on his family life are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lateran Council Of 649
The Lateran Council of 649 was a synod held in the Basilica of St. John Lateran to condemn Monothelitism, a Christology espoused by many Eastern Christians. The Council did not achieve ecumenical status in either East or West, but represented the first attempt of a pope to convene an ecumenical council independent of the Roman emperor. According to Andrew Ekonomou, the irony of the council was that the denunciation of the theology of Constantinople came from the "collaboration of a Greco-Palestinian pope and a Constantinopolitan monk employing a style of theological discourse whose tradition was purely Eastern." Although Pope Martin I and Maximus the Confessor were abducted by Constans II and tried in Constantinople for their role in the council (Martin I being replaced as pope before dying in exile), their position was ultimately endorsed by the Third Council of Constantinople in 680. Planning Most members of the contemporary Roman clergy would have been too uneducated in theol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecthesis
The Ecthesis ( el, Ἔκθεσις) is a letter published in 638 CE by the Byzantine emperor Heraclius which defined monotheletism as the official imperial form of Christianity. Background The ''Ecthesis'' was another attempt by the Byzantine emperors to heal the divisions in the Christian Church over the disputes over the nature of Jesus Christ. In 451 the Council of Chalcedon had ruled that Christ did not possess one divine nature, but instead possessed two distinct natures, one fully divine and one fully human, with both acting in harmony together. This ruling was consistently rejected by the Non-Chalcedonians, who were against the idea of the two natures, maintaining that the humanity and divinity of Christ were united in one nature.Bury 2005, p. 249 Throughout the 6th century, the Byzantine Emperors either covertly encouraged this group ( Anastasius I), or actively persecuted them (Justin II). By the beginning of the 7th century, the court and the religious hierarchy at Consta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arkadios II
Archbishop Arkadios II ( el, Ἀρκάδιος Β'; died 643) was the head of the Church of Cyprus during the 630s. He was a supporter of the Monoenergism formula also propounded by Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople, and Emperor Heraclius. Arkadios wrote an epistle supporting Monoenergism and disparaging its opponents, of which the chief then was Sophronius of Jerusalem. When Sophronius became Patriarch in 634, Sophronius sent a letter to Arkadios requesting him to call a synod. Arkadios invited Cyrus of Alexandria, as well as Sergius and Honorius. Kyros arrived himself, and so did representatives of Constantinople and Rome. Then Arkadios invited Sophronius. Sophronius and his protégé Maximus the Confessor each sent representatives of his own. When the Jerusalmite delegation arrived, Arkadios received the guests with honor. The next morning, all 46 of the dignitaries haggled over the details. The anti-Monoenergists agreed upon a common letter, but Arkadios declared its sugges ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
