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Matagh
In Armenian Christian tradition, matagh ( hy, մատաղ ''mataġ'') is a lamb or a rooster slated for slaughter as thanksgiving to God, a practice which has continued from Armenia's past. In many regions of Armenia today, this practice is very much alive in the regular slaughter of chosen animals in front of churches. Matagh is done often to ask God for either forgiveness, health, or to give him something in return. People generally gather at the house where the Matagh was done, where they pray and eat the meat. Tradition holds that the meat must be eaten before sundown and for any salt to be used to be blessed. While commonly misinterpreted to be a sacrifice for the remission of sins, it does not derive from the practice of atonement through animal sacrifice as in the Old Testament of the Bible. As Fr. Vazken Movsesian states, Matagh is "not a magical incantation, and the Armenian Church does not condone that kind of thing. ... We don't sell protection." Most Armenians consi ...
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Matagh (Animal Sacrifice) - Armenia 2009
In Armenian Christian tradition, matagh ( hy, մատաղ ''mataġ'') is a lamb or a rooster slated for slaughter as thanksgiving to God, a practice which has continued from Armenia's past. In many regions of Armenia today, this practice is very much alive in the regular slaughter of chosen animals in front of churches. Matagh is done often to ask God for either forgiveness, health, or to give him something in return. People generally gather at the house where the Matagh was done, where they pray and eat the meat. Tradition holds that the meat must be eaten before sundown and for any salt to be used to be blessed. While commonly misinterpreted to be a sacrifice for the remission of sins, it does not derive from the practice of atonement through animal sacrifice as in the Old Testament of the Bible. As Fr. Vazken Movsesian states, Matagh is "not a magical incantation, and the Armenian Church does not condone that kind of thing. ... We don't sell protection." Most Armenians consi ...
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Animal Sacrifice
Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of one or more animals, usually as part of a religious ritual or to appease or maintain favour with a deity. Animal sacrifices were common throughout Europe and the Ancient Near East until the spread of Christianity in Late Antiquity, and continue in some cultures or religions today. Human sacrifice, where it existed, was always much rarer. All or only part of a sacrificial animal may be offered; some cultures, like the ancient and modern Greeks, eat most of the edible parts of the sacrifice in a feast, and burnt the rest as an offering. Others burnt the whole animal offering, called a holocaust. Usually, the best animal or best share of the animal is the one presented for offering. Animal sacrifice should generally be distinguished from the religiously prescribed methods of ritual slaughter of animals for normal consumption as food. During the Neolithic Revolution, early humans began to move from hunter-gatherer cultures toward ...
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Tradition
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes (like lawyers' wigs or military officers' spurs), but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings. Traditions can persist and evolve for thousands of years—the word ''tradition'' itself derives from the Latin ''tradere'' literally meaning to transmit, to hand over, to give for safekeeping. While it is commonly assumed that traditions have an ancient history, many traditions have been invented on purpose, whether that be political or cultural, over short periods of time. Various academic disciplines also use the word in a variety of ways. The phrase "according to tradition", or "by tradition", usually means that whatever information follows is known only by oral tradition, ...
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Madagh
''Madagh'' is an Armenian custom of commemorating victims through requiem services, most often associated with the annual remembrance of the Armenian genocide. ''Madagh'' is typically celebrated with community gatherings sponsored by churches, which include public offerings of food. Food offerings often include lamb stew with pilaf made from bulgur, and Armenian flat bread or ''katah'' bread. Historical origins Some religious scholars assert that ''madagh'' (or sometimes ''matal'') has its roots in ancient liturgical sacrifice. The legitimation of the ''madagh'' sacrifice within the early Armenian Christian church is particularly associated with Gregory the Illuminator. The ''madagh'' is still considered one of the most important religious blessings in the contemporary Armenian Church. Contemporary church leaders assert that the ritual today is imbued with a new set of religious significance within the canon of Orthodox Christian practice. Contemporary interpretations link the ''m ...
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Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a variety of forms originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. These texts include instructions, stories, poetry, and prophecies, among other genres. The collection of materials that are accepted as part of the Bible by a particular religious tradition or community is called a biblical canon. Believers in the Bible generally consider it to be a product of divine inspiration, but the way they understand what that means and interpret the text can vary. The religious texts were compiled by different religious communities into various official collections. The earliest contained the first five books of the Bible. It is called the Torah in Hebrew and the Pentateuch (meaning ''five books'') in Greek; the second oldest part was a coll ...
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Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The second division of Christian Bibles is the New Testament, written in the Koine Greek language. The Old Testament consists of many distinct books by various authors produced over a period of centuries. Christians traditionally divide the Old Testament into four sections: the first five books or Pentateuch (corresponds to the Jewish Torah); the history books telling the history of the Israelites, from their conquest of Canaan to their defeat and exile in Babylon; the poetic and " Wisdom books" dealing, in various forms, with questions of good and evil in the world; and the books of the biblical prophets, warning of the consequences of turning away from God. The books that compose the Old Testament canon and their order and names differ b ...
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Sacrifice
Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly existed before that. Evidence of ritual human sacrifice can also be found back to at least pre-Columbian civilizations of Mesoamerica as well as in European civilizations. Varieties of ritual non-human sacrifices are practiced by numerous religions today. Terminology The Latin term ''sacrificium'' (a sacrifice) derived from Latin ''sacrificus'' (performing priestly functions or sacrifices), which combined the concepts ''sacra'' (sacred things) and ''facere'' (to do or perform). The Latin word ''sacrificium'' came to apply to the Christian eucharist in particular, sometimes named a "bloodless sacrifice" to distinguish it from blood sacrifices. In individual non-Christian ethnic religions, terms translated as "sacrifice" include the Indic ' ...
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Atonement In Judaism
Atonement in Judaism is the process of causing a transgression to be forgiven or pardoned. In Rabbinic Judaism In Rabbinic Judaism, atonement is achieved through repentance, which can be followed by some combination of the following: * confession * restitution * the occurrence of Yom Kippur (the day itself, as distinct from the Temple service performed on it) * tribulations (unpleasant life experiences) * the experience of dying. * the carrying out of a sentence of lashes or execution imposed by an ordained court (not now in existence) * Temple service (not now in existence, e.g. bringing a sacrifice). Which of these additions are required varies according to the severity of the sin, whether it was done willfully, in error, or under duress, whether it was against God alone or also against a fellow person, and whether the Temple service and ordained law courts are in existence or not. Repentance is needed in all cases of willful sin, and restitution is always required in th ...
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Sunset
Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the spring and autumn equinoxes. As viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, the Sun sets to the northwest (or not at all) in the spring and summer, and to the southwest in the autumn and winter; these seasons are reversed for the Southern Hemisphere. The time of sunset is defined in astronomy as the moment when the upper limb of the Sun disappears below the horizon. Near the horizon, atmospheric refraction causes sunlight rays to be distorted to such an extent that geometrically the solar disk is already about one diameter below the horizon when a sunset is observed. Sunset is distinct from twilight, which is divided into three stages. The first one is ''civil twilight'', which begins once the Sun has disappeared below the horizon, and continues until ...
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Prayer
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified ancestor. More generally, prayer can also have the purpose of thanksgiving or praise, and in comparative religion is closely associated with more abstract forms of meditation and with charms or spells. Prayer can take a variety of forms: it can be part of a set liturgy or ritual, and it can be performed alone or in groups. Prayer may take the form of a hymn, incantation, formal creedal statement, or a spontaneous utterance in the praying person. The act of prayer is attested in written sources as early as 5000 years ago. Today, most major religions involve prayer in one way or another; some ritualize the act, requiring a strict sequence of actions or placing a restriction on who is permitted to pray, while others teach that prayer may b ...
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Armenian Apostolic Church
, native_name_lang = hy , icon = Armenian Apostolic Church logo.svg , icon_width = 100px , icon_alt = , image = Էջմիածնի_Մայր_Տաճար.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = , caption = Etchmiadzin Cathedral, the mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church , abbreviation = , type = , main_classification = Eastern Christian , orientation = Oriental Orthodox , scripture = Septuagint, New Testament, Armenian versions , theology = Miaphysitism , polity = Episcopal , governance = Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin , structure = , leader_title = Head , leader_name = Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II , leader_title1 = , leader_name1 = , leader_title2 = , leader_name2 = , leader_title3 = , leader_name3 = , associations ...
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Health
Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organization''– ''Basic Documents'', Forty-fifth edition, Supplement, October 2006. A variety of definitions have been used for different purposes over time. Health can be promoted by encouraging healthful activities, such as regular physical exercise and adequate sleep, and by reducing or avoiding unhealthful activities or situations, such as smoking or excessive stress. Some factors affecting health are due to individual choices, such as whether to engage in a high-risk behavior, while others are due to structural causes, such as whether the society is arranged in a way that makes it easier or harder for people to get necessary healthcare services. Still, other factors are beyond both individual and group choices, such as genetic disorders. ...
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