Via Crucis to the Cruz del Campo

The Via Crucis to the Cruz del Campo () in Seville, Andalusia, Spain is believed to be Spain's only Via Crucis that runs through the streets of a city. (The term "Via Crucis" is of Latin origin; it is used in Spanish, although Spanish orthography places an accent mark on the "i", hence "Vía Crucis"; in English, literally "Way of the Cross", but "Stations of the Cross" is also common.) It is the basis of the famous traditions of Holy Week in Seville. Since the Via Crucis was first laid out in 1521, both the starting and ending points have changed, as has the number of stations.
History.
The tradition of the Via Crucis in Spain began with the Dominican Friar Álvaro of Córdoba in 1421, but was popularized mainly by Franciscans. It is a local recreation of what is now called the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, by then an established feature of a pilgrimage there, though various routes have been used.
With reference to the Via Crucis in Seville, and especially with reference to the "Templete" (see below) for events of the 15th and 16th century, a great deal of historical caution is in order. Evidence is incomplete and sometimes contradictory. It is difficult to be confident of the continuity between entities with the same name mentioned centuries apart. The difficulties are compounded by the tendency of most sources to give only one version of events, even when the facts are in doubt.
On 20 October 1520, Don Fadrique Enríquez de Rivera, First Marquis of Tarifa, returned from a trip through Europe and the Holy Land. During Lent in 1521, he inaugurated the observance in Seville of the Holy Via Crucis. The route began in the Chapel of the Flagellations of his palace and ended at a pillar located in what some sources say was known as the "Huerta de los Ángeles" (Orchard of the Angels), but more likely it was called "Huerta de la Hermandad de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles", not far from the Cruz del Campo, the terminus of the route since 1630. This route ran the same distance of or 1321 paces supposed to have separated the praetorium of Pontius Pilate from Calvary. The Marquis's palace, the Palacio de San Andrés, was then still partly under construction; it later became known as the Casa de Pilatos through its association with the Via Crucis, and, much altered over the next few centuries, is now property of the dukes of Medinaceli. It was declared a National Monument in 1931. The oldest documentation of the name Casa de Pilatos is from 1754.
In keeping with the theme of Christ's Passion, the procession became strongly associated with penitence through self-flagellation. In 1604, Cardinal Fernando Niño de Guevara issued a series of reforms intended to rein in the tendency of the processions of flagellants to take on the character of a carnival. The brotherhoods and confraternities were formally recognized, but also brought under a set of rules. Schedules were established; nocturnal processions were banned (although that particular provision would soon lapse);) the Cathedral of Seville in the city proper and the Church of Santa Ana across the river in Triana as Stations of Penitence, rather than each group beginning its route at a location of its own choosing.
Processions of flagellants were banned in Spain in 1777, as were most midnight processions; the processions of Holy Week in Seville were excepted from the latter prohibition.
With an alteration of the route in 1630, the observance continued until 1873, when it ceased at the time of the First Spanish Republic.
On 8 March 1957 the descendants of the Marquis of Tarifa reestablished the Via Crucis. Fourteen penitential confraternities from Seville walked the route of fourteen stations during Holy Week, culminating on Easter Sunday, April 21. The reestablished stations were blessed by Archbishop (and future Cardinal) Bueno Monreal, (as is now recorded on a commemorative marble memorial). (Bueno Monreal had been Coadjutor Archbishop since 1954, due to a struggle between Archbishop Pedro Segura y Sáenz—extremely conservative even by Spanish standards of the time—with the Holy See. Bueno Monreal became Archbishop on Segura's death 8 April 1957, and would become a cardinal in 1958.) This revived Via Crucis continued only for a few years.
In 1976 the council of Brotherhoods and Confraternities of Seville again reestablished the tradition.
Route.
The original Via Crucis initiated by the Marquis of Tarifa began inside the Casa de Pilatos in the Chapel of the Flagellations and ended at a pillar near the current "Templete" (small temple). Beginning in 1630, both the beginning and end of the route changed, beginning at the current shrine with its marble altarpiece erected that year on the façade of the Casa de Pilatos, and ending at the "Templete". The simple wooden "Cruz de las Toallas" (literally "Cross of the Towels") that previously marked the first station passed into the possession of the Hermandad de los Negritos (for whom see below).
The practice of the time would have meant that the original Via Crucis of 1521 would have had seven stations, quite different from the current ones: the garden of Gethsemane; the house of the Sanhedrin, Annas; the house of Sanhedrin Caiaphas; the house of Pontius Pilate; the palace of Herod; a return to Pilate's house; and finally the hill of Calvary. Another difference from the current Via Crucis would have been that it would not initially have had such a character of an urban procession: by the fourth station, the procession would have left the walled city and would have been walking through orchards, countryside, and the scattered building on the fringes of the city. It is unclear whether the wooden crosses that initially marked the stations were permanently installed or put in place only for the Lenten season.
Eventually, this changed to a configuration more like the present one. In 1720 the last two stations were added, for a total of 14, resulting in the current route followed by each of the various confraternities who process through the city during Holy Week, which runs roughly along streets in central Seville. Each station corresponds to a scene from the day of Jesus' crucifixion ("see Passion"). While the stations marked in centuries past by crosses on brick pedestals, originally all wooden but some eventually made of iron, scenes corresponding to the fourteen stations are now represented in "azulejos" (a style of ceramic tile typical of the Iberian Peninsula), some of which date from 1957, but most from near the end of the 20th century, when they were replaced because of deterioration. The "azulejos" at each station include both a picture and a written caption.
The "Templete".
Everything about the origin and early years of the original "humilladero" (a type of roadside shrine, often at the entrance to a town) that later became the "Templete" is uncertain; similarly for the religious order believed to have first built it.
The "Templete" is traditionally dated from 1380, although some sources give a date as late as 1460. It was almost certainly constructed by the "cofradía" (confraternity) or "hermandad" (brotherhood) "de negros" or "de negritos" of Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles; it was in any case closely associated with them. That confraternity was very probably founded in the 14th century by archbishop Gonzalo de Mena; although their current Rule dates only from 1554, it is certain that they existed before that. "Negros" or "negritos" in their common name refers to the fact that they were originally an order operating a hospital that cared for Black people and, indeed, the members of the Hermandad in its early centuries were primarily (possibly exclusively) Black. In the interior of the original "humilladero" was a wooden cross. In that period, the modest structure was known as the Cruz del Campo ("Country Cross" or "Cross of the Field") because it stood outside the city walls. By the early 16th century, the site had already become associated with Lent and penitence.
Sources indicate that it was in 1482 that the "corregidor" or "asistente" of Seville, Don Diego de Merlo, substituted a stone cross and covered it with a "Templete" in the Mudéjar style, in height. That date seems particularly probable because that year the archdiocese received an ostensible relic of the True Cross. However, the words written inside the dome of the "Templete" giving that date only date from 1881.
Fadrique Enríquez de Rivera, first Marquis of Tarifa, restored the "Templete" when he initiated the Via Crucis in 1521. In 1536, the Marquis bought the "Templete" (previously owned by the brothers of the Monastery of San Benito Abad), and moved it to its current location. The current marble cross carved with images of Jesus and Mary (which replaced the earlier wooden cross) is attributed to Juan Bautista Vázquez “The Elder”, and dates from 1571. In either 1624 or 1648 there was a further restoration by Pedro Caballero de Illescas. In 1630 it became the endpoint of the Via Crucis. In 1880 municipal architect Aurelio Alvarez did work to improve its structural integrity, and the following year Juaquín Guichot did some work, writing inside the dome that the structure dates from 1482. Metal strapping was added for structural purposes in 1888; further work was done in 1899, 1912, and 1963, but in general the structure continued to deteriorate.
In 1996, the union of confraternities involved in the Holy Week observances suggested moving the "Templete" to the intersection of the Avenida de Andalucía and the Ronda de Tamarguillo, but the city government rejected the idea. In 2000, José L. García of "ABC Sevilla" wrote of the "sad aspect" of a monument on a busy street "practically asphyxiated by modern buildings", much vandalized, with its interior turned into a filthy nest of pigeons.
In 1904 a brewery had been built nearby and took the name Cervezas Cruzcampo; it is now Heineken España. After innumerable years of promises by many entities to restore the deteriorating structure of the "Templete" (which has been owned by the city of Seville since at least the 19th century,) work finally began in 2007, paid for by the Fundación Cruzcampo (founded by the brewery company), and was completed 29 February 2008 with a benediction by Carlos Amigo Vallejo of Seville.


Claude Bernard (priest)

Father Claude Bernard (December 23, 1588 – March 23, 1641) was a French Roman Catholic priest who was active in ministry to prisoners and criminals, especially those condemned to death. Known as "le pauvre prêtre" ("the poor priest"), he is primarily remembered as the popularizer of the "Memorare", over 200,000 copies of which he distributed by leaflets printed in various languages.
Life.
Claude Bernard was born at Dijon 23 December, 1588. His father was a distinguished lawyer, and filled successively offices of honour and responsibility. Young Bernard was educated at the Jesuit College of Dole and was remarked for his brilliant imagination and wit. Pierre Le Camus, Bishop of Belley, urged him to enter the priesthood, but he declined, saying that he preferred the life of a poor gentleman to that of a poor priest. Shortly afterwards he went to Paris as a protégé of M. de Bellegarde, Governor of Bourgogne. For a while the social life of the capital attracted him; gradually, however, some disappointments together with the death of an intimate friend who was killed in a duel, brought about a decided change in his mode of life and led up to his entrance into the priesthood. By one account, he had a dream of his late father warning him against the worldliness to which he was addicted.
He was ordained by the above-mentioned Bishop Le Camus and invited to his first Mass the poor of the city, distributing to them all his possessions, and, later on, an inheritance of 400,000 livres, or about eighty thousand dollars. The poor, the sick and the prisoners were his special care. Wealthy and distinguished persons sought his company, and contributed to his charities. He was friends with Jean-Jacques Olier and Vincent de Paul. He founded at Paris, for the education of the poor candidates for the priesthood, the seminary of Trent-Trois.
He contributed much to popularize the beautiful prayer to the Blessed Virgin known as the Memorare, and claimed in a letter to Queen Anne of Austria, wife of King Louis XIII of France, that he had himself been miraculously cured of illness through intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a result of his reciting the prayer.
Father Bernard died in Paris, 23 March, 1641.
He was the subject of a 1913 biography in French, "Claude Bernard dit le pauvre prêtre" by Commandeur de Broqua, who was the postulator for the cause of Fr. Bernard's canonization.


Latvian Orthodox Church

The Latvian Orthodox Church (, ) is a self-governing, i.e. autonomous, Eastern Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Moscow. The primate of the church carries the title of "Metropolitan of Riga and all Latvia" (; , "Mitropolit Rizhskiy i vseya Latvii"). This position has been occupied since October 27, 1990 by metropolitan Aleksandrs Kudrjašovs.
History.
Orthodoxy was planted in Latvia in the 11th century, when it became a mission field of the diocese of Polotsk. The country remained mostly pagan until it was conquered in the 13th century by the Catholic Teutonic Order. Prior to this, however, part of prominent Latgalian noblemen (e. g., Visvaldis, Vetseke) and a large part of Latgalian people, in general, had converted to Orthodoxy voluntarily. There were Orthodox churches in Jersika from the evidence of the Livonian Chronicle; many church-related words came into pre-Latvian languages in that time. An Orthodox presence continued after the Teutonic Order conquest at least officially, in the form of churches for Russian merchants and others, but these were small communities among a majority of Catholics before 1525 and Lutherans afterwards.
After Latvia was annexed to the Russian Empire in the 18th century (most of Latvia, a result of the Great Northern War by the Treaty of Nystad, the Latgale region after the First Partition of Poland in 1772), Russian and Orthodox presence increased substantially, but the Orthodox Church remained foreign to the Latvians. The Latvian Orthodox Church as a body including ethnic Latvians as well as Russians dates back to the 1840s, when native Latvians (who were at that time subjects of the Russian Empire) petitioned Nicholas I of Russia to be allowed to conduct services in their native tongue. The Orthodox Church enjoyed some success in its missions among the Latvians due to its use of the Latvian language and by personal appeal of local Orthodox bishops who sought to support native Latvian inhabitants whose rights were limited by Baltic Germans. In the 1880s the Orthodox Nativity Cathedral was built in Riga. However, it was always regarded suspiciously by the Lutheran Germanic nobles of the area; conversely the predominantly German character of the Lutheran Church in Latvia was a factor in the movement of some 40,000 Latvians from the Lutheran to the Orthodox Church. When religious freedom was proclaimed in 1905, about 12,000 Latvians moved from Orthodoxy to Lutheranism; in most cases, this seems to have occurred because of mixed marriages and the difficulties of maintaining a religiously divided family.
During World War I, the property of the Orthodox Church in Latvia was confiscated by occupying German forces, and in the early years of independent Latvia the government was not eager to recognize the church, suspecting it of being a hotbed of pro-Russian monarchism.
Autonomy.
In this difficult situation, Jānis (John) Pommers, a native Latvian, was appointed Archbishop of Riga in 1921.
On July 6, 1921, the Russian Orthodox Church granted (limited self-governance) to the Orthodox Church in Latvia, thus creating the Latvian Orthodox Church (named "Archidiocese of Riga and all Latvia").
Pommers succeeded in winning recognition from the government by 1926 and, against much opposition from leftists and others, in stabilizing the situation of the church. While opposing the Bolsheviks, he maintained the Latvian Orthodox Church within the Moscow Patriarchate. In 1934, he was assassinated by Soviet agents (some believe these were agents of the nationalist dictator of Latvia, Kārlis Ulmanis).
Latvian Orthodox Church joins the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
After the murder of the church's primate Archbishop John (Pommers) on 21 October 1934 and because of the political situation at that time, the Latvian Orthodox Church asked to come under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In February 1936, the Ecumenical Patriarchate accepted the request of the Latvian Orthodox Church: the Latvian Orthodox Church became an autonomous church under the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate elevated the LOC from the rank of archidiocese to that of Metropolitanate; the LOC was then named "Metropolitanate of Riga and all Latvia". The subsequent five years were good years for the Latvian Orthodox Church, led by Metropolitan Augustin (Pētersons). Nevertheless, no churches were built during these years.
Soviet occupation period.
The autonomy of the Latvian Orthodox Church was ended abruptly by the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940, which was followed by the German Nazi occupation from 1941 to 1944, and a second Soviet annexation lasting from 1944 to 1991. The church suffered oppression during this period, as did organized religion throughout the Soviet Union, though this was partly mitigated from 1943 to 1948 (due to the support of the Church during World War II) and in the last years of the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev.
On 24 February 1941, after the Soviet invasion of Latvia, the Russian Orthodox Church turned the territory of the Latvian Orthodox Church into an exarchate of the ROC which comprised the territories of Estonia and Latvia. Metropolitan Augustine of Riga and all Latvia, primate of the LOC, was summoned to Moscow where he was forced, on March 28, 1941, to sign a decree recognizing the situation. On 31 March 1941, the ROC officially abolished the autonomy of the Orthodox church of Latvia.
German occupation period.
During the occupation of Latvia by Germany, Metropolitan Augustine on 20 July 1941 declared the reestablishment of the LOC. However, many parishes did not join Augustine, and the Germans were supporting the Russian exarchate.
Second Soviet occupation, exile and deactivation.
In 1944, after the Soviet re-occupation of Latvia, Metropolitan Augustine and numerous members of the LOC were forced to go in exile in West Germany. There, a Synod in exile was created. The Ecumenical Patriarchate continued to recognize the LOC, even after Augustine's death.
In April 1978, as result of pressures by the Russian Orthodox Church upon the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the latter declared the LOC of the Ecumenical Patriarchate inactive.
1990s and after.
The church also suffered oppression in the last years of the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev. In December 1992, the Latvian Orthodox Church was again proclaimed autonomous, preserving canonical ties with the Russian Orthodox Church.
In 2001, a council of the Latvian Orthodox Church canonised Archbishop Jānis in recognition of his martyrdom in 1934. In 2006, the "Order of the holy martyr Jānis" was instituted to reward those who have served the Orthodox Church and its aims.
In modern Latvia, there are 350,000 Orthodox Church members. The services are in Church Slavonic and the members are predominantly Russian speakers. Ethnic Latvians are a minority among church members; there are parishes with services in Latvian in Riga, Ainaži, Kolka, Veclaicene and in other places.
Other Orthodox Christian groups in Latvia.
Besides the Patriarchate-affiliated church, Latvia has a number of Old Believer Orthodox Christian communities as well. The priestless congregation of the Grebenstchikov House of Prayer in Riga, affiliated with the Pomorian Old-Orthodox Church, is considered the oldest extant Old Believer congregation in the world. The Latvian Orthodox Autonomous Church, a part of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church (True Orthodox), is also present in Latvia.


Amand-Joseph Fava

Amand-Joseph Fava (1826–1899) was a French bishop.


Paul Tep Im Sotha

Paul Tep Im Sotha Samath (; 1934–May 1975) was a Cambodian Roman Catholic priest and the first apostolic prefect of Battambang. Ordained in 1959, he was the second native Cambodian to become a Catholic priest after Simon Chhem Yen.
Tep Im was raised by his mother to be a Catholic, and at a young age began to be sent to various schools abroad, such as in Vietnam, France, and Italy. After his ordination at the Notre-Dame de Paris, Tep Im took further theological studies in Rome. However, growing concerns for his country's problems as well as a decisive conversation with American bishop Fulton Sheen would lead him to decide against a monastic life and return to Cambodia by August 1962. Upon the establishment of the Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang, Tep Im was installed as its apostolic prefect on September 26, 1968, a position he remained in up to his death under the Khmer Rouge regime in early May 1975.
Tep Im has been described by historian Milton Osborne as a priest with remarkable understanding of both the Catholic faith and Cambodian society. A boarding house for secondary and tertiary-level students in Battambang was named after him. In June 2015, the Catholic Church officially opened an inquiry into Tep Im's presumed martyrdom, alongside others such as Joseph Chhmar Salas who died during the Cambodian genocide.


Garluark

Garluark (fl. 1922–1935) was a leader of the Nuer people of Sudan. Described as a powerful prophet, he led his people in revolt against the Anglo-Egyptian authorities in 1923. He was captured in 1925 but after swearing allegiance to the British was freed and placed in position as indirect ruler of his former territory. After the British district commissioner was murdered in 1927 a force led by Major Lionel Bostock captured Garluark once again. He was freed once more in 1935 and reinstated as ruler.
Life.
Garluark has been described as a "powerful and influential prophet" of the Nuer people. Sudan was at the time under the control of an Anglo-Egyptian condominium and the British administrator for Garluark's territory was district commissioner Captain V. Fergusson. Initially, in 1922, Garluark refused to communicate with Fergusson however later that year he agreed to meet for negotiations which seemed to be proceeding well until Garluark left abruptly.
In 1923 Garluark led the Nuer in the eastern portion of Bahr-al-Ghazal in rebellion against the Anglo-Egyptian authorities. British troops led by Fergusson were initially unable to put down the revolt, but in January 1925 he led a strong force through the Nyuong region which killed the Nuer and burnt their villages. Garluark was captured but, after swearing his allegiance, Fergusson set him free to rule the region on behalf of Britain. He was said to be much feared by the chiefs and sub-chiefs of the region owing to his links with the British.
Fergusson was murdered in December 1927, allegedly on the orders of a local chief, but Garluark was blamed. A simultaneous uprising occurred by the Nuer of the Sobat River region. Two expeditions were launched against the Nuer, one to the Sobat River under Captain JR Chidlaw-Robert and one against Garluark under Major Lionel Bostock. Garluark's men were surrounded by ground troops and attacked by Royal Air Force aircraft. The campaign ended on 7 February 1928 and Garluark was captured and imprisoned at Malakal. Garluark was reinstated as an indirect ruler in 1935 after Fergusson's murderers had been brought to justice.


Jordan Stratford

Jordan Stratford is a Canadian author of children's fiction.
Life.
In 2005, Stratford was ordained a gnostic priest in the Apostolic Johannite Church, having received a Licentiate of Sacred Theology from St. Raphael the Archangel Theological Seminary. He has written extensively on gnosticism as a modern spiritual practice and on the history of alchemy.
Stratford has worked as an advertising creative director, filmmaker, screenwriter, instructor at Vancouver Film School and writer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Stratford cites poet Robin Skelton as an influence.
Steampunk and Wollstonecraft.
Jordan Stratford has been involved in steampunk for many years. He co-founded the Victoria Steam Expo, the first steampunk art exhibition in Canada. "Vintage Tomorrows", a documentary about the movement, interviewed him at the 2012 event, which he described as "an interactive art experience" The film quotes him encouraging people to engage with technology, make it, break it, and reinvent it. CNET described his children's series, the Wollstonecraft Detective Agency novels, as steampunk plus Jane Austen.
He is the author of the Wollstonecraft Detective Agency series (Knopf / Random House), a pro-math and science adventure series for girls 8-12. The first book was funded by a Kickstarter campaign that reached multiples of its target $4000, being promoted on Wired and io9. The first book in the series, "The Case of the Missing Moonstone", has sold 40,000 copies worldwide, and was translated into Russian, German and Turkish; it was a finalist for the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize (part of the British Columbia Book Prizes) and the Silver Birch Award (part of the Forest of Reading, created by the Ontario Library Association). The second novel in the series, "The Case of the Girl In Grey", was released in 2016, followed by "The Case of the Counterfeit Criminals" in 2017.
Books.
Children's books.
All of the Wollstonecraft Detective Agency books are illustrated by Kelly Murphy. The overall title refers to Mary Wollstonecraft, and the protagonists are based on Mary Shelley and Ada Lovelace.
Personal life.
Stratford is married and has two children.


Yogaville

Yogaville, or Satchidananda Ashram, was founded in 1980 by Yogiraj Sri Swami Satchidananda, whose western notability stems from his opening of the Woodstock festival. The ashram is the international organizational headquarters of Swami Satchidananda's documented teachings and is located in Buckingham County, Virginia. The primary goal of guru Yogiraj Sri Swami Satchidananda (1914-2002) was interfaith understanding as a vehicle to world peace. To this end, the LOTUS (Light Of Truth Universal Shrine) was constructed and inaugurated in 1986. Swami Satchidananda was living in Yogaville at the time of his death, though he was visiting Madras (city now known as Chennai), in South India at the time.
The property in rural Virginia, along the James River, was identified for the community from the air as the swami flew over, looking for land farther south than his ashram in Pomfret, Connecticut. Swami Satchidananda acquired 600 acres in 1979 to form his town, financing it by selling property in Falls Village, Connecticut that had been given to him by Carole King. As of 1986, when the LOTUS was dedicated, around 120 people were living on a total of 750 acres. Reports cited plans to eventually house a population between 600 and 1,000. The ashram in Yogaville maintains a large kitchen and dining room for residents and guests. In 1996 a book of favorite ashram recipes was published and is now in its 9th printing. According to the official website, there are around 200 residents as of 2015. In May 2016 Yogaville received Landmark Status.
In addition to the Virginia and Connecticut ashrams, Yogaville-West was founded in Seigler Springs, California in 1972.
LOTUS.
Costing $2 million (financed through donations and tithes) and dedicated on July 20, 1986, the shrine is the centerpiece of Yogaville. The structure is shaped like a lotus flower, features a gold-leaf dome, and houses 12 altars representing Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Shinto, Tao, Buddhist, Islam, Sikh, Native American, and African religions. Blue neon tubes extend from each altar up along the spines of the vaulted ceiling.


Molenbeek-Saint-Jean

' (French, ) or ' (Dutch, ), often simply called Molenbeek, is one of 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region (Belgium). Located in the western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, from which it is separated by the Brussels–Charleroi Canal, as well as by the municipalities of Anderlecht, Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Dilbeek, Jette and Koekelberg. The "Molenbeek" brook, from which it takes its name, flows through the municipality. In common with all of Brussels’ municipalities, it is legally bilingual (French–Dutch).
, Molenbeek had a population of 94,854 inhabitants. It is densely populated, at , twice the average of Brussels. Its upper area is greener and less densely populated.
In 2015, Molenbeek gained international attention as the base of Islamist terrorists, who carried out attacks in both France and Belgium. The municipality's then-mayor described it as "a breeding ground for violence". In early 2016, Molenbeek held a reputation as a safe haven for jihadists in relation to the support shown by some residents towards the bombers who carried out the Paris and Brussels attacks.
Etymology.
The name "Molenbeek" derives from two Dutch words: ', meaning "mill", and ', meaning "brook". Although first applied to the brook that ran through the village, the name eventually came to be used to designate the village itself, around the year 985. The suffix in French or in Dutch refers to the parish's patron saint: Saint John the Baptist.
History.
Rural beginnings.
As early as the 9th century, Molenbeek was the site of a church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. In the early Middle Ages, Molenbeek was known for its miraculous well of Saint Gertrude of Nivelles, which attracted thousands of pilgrims.
The village was made part of Brussels in the 13th century. As a result, Molenbeek lost a lot of its land to its more powerful neighbour. In addition, its main church was dismantled in 1578, leading to further decline. The town's character remained mostly rural until the 18th century.
Industrialisation.
At the end of the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution and the building of the Brussels–Charleroi Canal brought prosperity back to Molenbeek through commerce and manufacturing. In 1785, the town regained its status as an independent municipality. Attracted by the industrial opportunities, many workers moved in, first from other Belgian provinces and France, then from South European, and more recently from East European and African countries.
The growth of the community continued unabated throughout the 19th century, leading to cramped living conditions, especially near the canal. The town became known as "Little Manchester" or the "Belgian Manchester". On 5 May 1835, Molenbeek was the departure site of the first passenger train in continental Europe. At the end of the 19th century, Brussels reintegrated the canal area within its new port, which was thus lost to Molenbeek.
20th century.
Until the early 20th century, Molenbeek was a booming suburb which attracted a large working-class population. The industrial decline, which had already started before World War I, accelerated after the Great Depression.
Following the industrial decline after the war, the districts bordering the City of Brussels began to decrease in population. This was not addressed until the 1960s through the construction of new residential areas in the then-rural west of the town. In 1990, this expansion was halted, leaving some woods and meadows in Molenbeek: the Scheutbos.
Where Molenbeek was once a centre of intense industrial activity, concentrated around the canal and the railway, most of those industries have disappeared to make way for large-scale urban renewal following the modernist Athens Charter. The industrial past is remembered in a museum of social and industrial history built on the site of the former foundry of the .
21st century.
In some areas of the town, the ensuing poverty left its mark on the urban landscape and scarred the social life of the community, leading to rising crime rates and pervading cultural intolerance. Various local revitalisation programmes are currently under way, aiming at relieving the most impoverished districts of the municipality.
Attempts at revitalising the municipality have, however, not been successful. In June 2011, the multinational company BBDO, citing over 150 attacks on their staff by locals, posted an open letter to then-mayor Philippe Moureaux, announcing its withdrawal from the town. As a result, serious questions were raised about governance, security and the administration of Moureaux.
Terrorism.
According to "", the assassins who killed anti-Taliban commander Ahmed Shah Massoud both came from Molenbeek. Hassan el-Haski, one of the 2004 Madrid terror bombers, came from Molenbeek. The perpetrator of the Jewish Museum of Belgium shooting, Mehdi Nemmouche, lived in Molenbeek for a time. Ayoub El Khazzani, the perpetrator of the 2015 Thalys train attack, stayed with his sister in Molenbeek. French police believe the weapons used in the Porte de Vincennes siege two days after the "Charlie Hebdo" shooting were sourced from Molenbeek. The bombers of the November 2015 Paris attacks were also traced to Molenbeek; during the Molenbeek capture of Salah Abdeslam, an accomplice of the Paris bombers, protesters "threw stones and bottles at police and press during the arrest", stated the then-Interior Minister of Belgium, Jan Jambon. Oussama Zariouh, the bomber of Brussels Central Station in June 2017, lived in Molenbeek.
November 2015 Paris attacks.
At least four of the terrorists in the November 2015 Paris attacks — the brothers Brahim and Salah Abdeslam, alleged accomplice Mohamed Abrini, and the alleged mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud — grew up and lived in Molenbeek. According to former French President François Hollande, that was also where they organised the attacks. On 18 March 2016, Salah Abdeslam, a suspected accomplice in those attacks, was captured in two anti-terrorist raids in Molenbeek that killed another suspect and injured two others. At least one other suspect remains at large. Ibrahim (born 9 October 1986 in Brussels) was involved in the attempted robbery of a currency exchange office in January 2010, where he shot at police with a Kalashnikov rifle. The then-mayor of Brussels, Freddy Thielemans, and the then-mayor of Molenbeek, Philippe Moureaux, described the shooting as a "" (a small daily news item) and "normal in a large city", causing controversy.
Police investigation.
Since several of the attackers in the Brussels and Paris terrorist attacks had connections to the area, Belgian police started door-to-door checks in which a quarter of Molenbeek's inhabitants were investigated, a total of 22,668. This operation resulted in that of the 1,600 organisations investigated, 102 were found to be involved with crime and a further 52 were involved with terrorism. 72 individuals were found to have a terrorist connection and were subject to future surveillance.
Districts.
There are two distinct areas in Molenbeek: a lower area and a higher area. The lower area, next to the canal, consists of working-class, mainly migrant, communities, mostly of Moroccan and Turkish descent, with many being second- and third-generation. The higher area, close to Brussels' second ring road, features newer construction and is mostly middle-class and residential.
Molenbeek has seven large districts:
The area along the canal is currently experiencing a large revitalisation programme, as part of the of the Brussels-Capital Region.
Demographics.
The population, as of 1 January 2015, was 95,576. The area is , making the density . The population has been described as "mainly Muslim" in the media; however, actual figures range between 25% and 40%, depending on the catchment area. The population of Molenbeek itself, while already impoverished and overcrowded, has further increased by 24.5% in the last decade.
, there is one main minority group in Molenbeek, Belgian Moroccans. That year, Françoise Schepmans, then-mayor of Molenbeek, stated that the lack of diversity in the foreign population of Molenbeek and the fact they are all clustered in the same area is a problem. Nearly 40% of young people in Molenbeek are unemployed. The municipality lies in a semi-circle of neighbourhoods in Brussels often referred to as the "poor croissant".
Politics.
Molenbeek is governed by an elected municipal council and an executive college of the mayor and aldermen. The longtime mayor from 1992 to 2012 was Philippe Moureaux (PS). Following the Belgian local elections, 2012, an alternative majority was formed headed by then-mayor Françoise Schepmans (MR) and consisting of MR (15 seats), CDH-CD&V (6 seats) and Ecolo-Groen (4 seats). The Socialist Party (16 seats) became the opposition next to the Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB), Democratic Federalist Independent (DéFI), the ISLAM party and the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), each having one seat.
Mayor.
Historical list of mayors or burgomasters of Molenbeek:
Sports.
Football.
The Molenbeek football team Racing White Daring Molenbeek, often referred to as RWDM, was a very popular football club until its dissolution in 2002. Its successor, R.W.D.M. Brussels F.C., used to play in the Belgian first division. It folded at the end of 2012–13 as a member of the Belgian Second Division. Since 2015, its reincarnation RWDM47 is back playing in the fourth division.
Education.
There are 17 French-language and six Dutch-language primary schools in Molenbeek.
Secondary schools:
Points of interest.
Several rundown industrial buildings have been renovated and converted into prime real estate and other community functions. Examples include:
Other points of interest include:
Transportation.
Road network.
The main roads that cross Molenbeek are /, / and / running east-west, as well as / running north-south.
Public transport.
Molenbeek is served by Brussels' metro lines 1, 2, 5 and 6. Brussels-West and Beekkant metro stations are connected to all of Brussels' metro lines and are multi-modal transport hubs in western Brussels. The former will also gain importance in the framework of the Brussels RER/GEN development. Additionally, a comprehensive bus a tram service links Molenbeek to other parts of the region. The municipality also has a number "Villo!" public bicycle stations on its territory.
Parks and green spaces.
Green spaces in the municipality include:


Nikos Filis

Nikos Filis () is a Greek politician and journalist. He held the office of the Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs of Greece from 23 September 2015 to 5 November 2016.
Early life and education.
Filis was born in Athens in 1960. He studied law at the University of Athens and was heavily involved in protests at the time. He was a member of both the Central Committee and Senate of the national students union, EFEE, and was secretary of the youth of the Communist Party of Greece (Interior).
Journalism.
Since 2008, Filis has been the director of the Greek newspaper "Dawn". He has been a member of the board of the Greek journalists union, ESIEA. He has worked as an editor at various radio stations, including FLASH, Polis, VimaFm and EPA 4. He has written a number of articles on politics for newspapers "Ta Nea", "Epochi" and the magazines "Anti" and "Politis'. He also contributed to the "Encyclopedia of the Greek Press".
Political career.
Filis is a member of the Central Committee of Syriza. In March 2015, Filis was one of only five Syriza MPs to turn down the offer of a state car. In an interview with Mega TV in May 2015, Filis stated that: "A state must be ready for every eventuality. A Greek default is a concern of the whole of Europe. There is a systemic risk there. The chosen strategy is to negotiate an agreement but we are ready for every possible outcome."
Genocide denial.
Filis denied the Pontic Greek Genocide, an illegal act in Greece. Many calls were made for him to step down and have his parliamentary immunity stripped so he can be prosecuted. Filis has yet to face prosecution for his Genocide denial. He has also removed the Pontic Genocide from the high school curriculum.


Yom-e Bab ul-Islam

Yom-e Bab ul-Islam () is observed on 10th Ramadan to commemorate the establishment of Muslim rule by Muhammad bin Qasim in modern Pakistan in 711 AD. Muhammad bin Qasim Al-Thaqafi was an Umayyad general who, at the age of 17, began the conquest of the Balochistan, Sindh and southwestern Punjab regions along the Indus River (now a part of Pakistan) for the Umayyad Caliphate. He was born and raised in the city of Taif (in modern-day Saudi Arabia). Qasim's conquest of Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab laid the foundations of Islamic rule in the South Asia.


Buhran

Buhran is a location in Saudi Arabia. During the Islamic prophet Muhammad's era the Nakhla raid took place here.


Anbariya Sunni Community

Anbariya Sunni Community is an independent Islamic religious and cultural organization. It was founded by Yusuf Soalih Ajura and has its headquarters in Tamale, Ghana. It is headed by Saeed Abubakr Zakaria.


Munira al-Qubaysi

Munira al-Qubaysi (also spelt Qubeysi; born 1933, in Damascus) is the founder of "Al-qubaysiat", a female only movement that originated in Syria. She is considered the 24th most influential Muslim in the world, and the most influential Muslim woman, according to the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in 2011.
"Al-qubaysiat", which focuses on learning the Quran and Hadith by heart, is the largest women-only Islamic movement in the world, and offers Islamic education exclusively to girls and women. Qubaysi directs about 80 schools in Damascus alone, which enroll 75,000 students.


Baba Dharam Dass

Baba Dharam Dass was a holy man during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar. He is worshiped as an ancestor by all Jains from the village of Pasrur in Sialkot District in the Punjab province of Pakistan.


Vidya Dhar Shukla

Vidyadhar Shukla is the Chief Hindu priest of Thailand. He is of Indian ancestry.


Jacob ben Moses Bachrach

Jacob ben Moses Bachrach (born in Seiny, in the governorate of Suwalki, which is now in Poland, May 9, 1824; died in Bialystok December 29, 1896) was a noted apologist of Rabbinic Judaism. He was descended from Rabbi Yair Chayim Bacharach, and in turn from the Maharal of Prague.
He received his earliest instruction from his grandfather, Judah Bachrach. For years he was superintendent of a Hebrew printing-establishment in Königsberg, where he edited, among other works, the "Ṭurim" of Jacob ben Asher, and added notes to the same. Later on he became manager of a distillery in Sevastopol, where he had the opportunity to develop into an assiduous student of Karaitic literature, and where he engaged in controversies with the representatives of the local Karaitic community. His works are chiefly devoted to a defense of rabbinical tradition against Karaism. In 1882 he went to Palestine in the interest of colonization.


Jean-Baptiste Languet de Gergy

Jean-Baptiste Languet de Gergy (1674–1750) was parish priest at Eglise Saint-Sulpice in Paris from 1714 to 1748. He was the initiator of the construction of the Gnomon of Saint-Sulpice.
Biography.
Languet de Gergy initially wished to establish the exact astrological time in order to ring the bells at the most appropriate time of day. For this, he commissioned the English clockmaker Henry Sully to build the gnomon.
A staunch moralist, Languet is famous for denying the sacraments to Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, Duchess of Berry, eldest daughter of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans. At the end of March 1719, the young widow became critically "ill", shut up in a little chamber of her Luxembourg Palace. In fact, she was deep in the pangs of childbirth and as she seemed close to dying, Languet was called upon to administer her the sacraments. He refused unless the royal princess would part with her lover, the count of Riom, captain of her guard. The Regent tried to intervene on behalf of his suffering daughter but the inflexible curé did not yield. At last, the Duchess was delivered, ending the crisis but not the scandal provoked by Languet's refusal to turn a blind eye to her clandestine childbearing.


Cistercian Abbey of Oliwa


Donatien de Bruyne

Donatien de Bruyne (1871–1935) was a French biblical scholar, textual critic, and Benedictine.
He was born on 7 October 1871 in Neuf-Église, ordained in 1895. De Bruyne examined Latin manuscripts of the Vulgate, and he collated some of the manuscripts (e.g. Codex Frisingensis, Codex Carinthianus).
De Bruyne questioned Jerome's authorship of the Pauline epistles of Vulgate. According to him Pelagius prepared the Pauline epistles.
De Bruyne discovered and published in 1930 an anti-Marcionist Prologue to the "Gospel of John".


Zamindawar

Zamindawar is a historical region of Afghanistan. It is a very large and fertile valley the main sources for irrigation is the Helmand River. Zamindawar is located in the greater territory of the northern stretch of Helmand Province and encompasses the approximate area of modern-day Baghran, Musa Qala, Naw Zad, Kajaki and Sangin. It was a district of hills, and of wide, well populated, and fertile valleys watered by important tributaries of the Helmand. The principal town was Musa Qala, which stands on the banks of a river of the same name, about 60 km north of the city of Grishk in eastern Helmand.
This region was headquarters to the Durrani Pashtun tribe of the Alizai. The region is also home to Nurzai, Barakzai and Alakozai tribes, as well as other Durrani tribes and Kuchis. It was from Zamindawar that much of the strength of the force which besieged Kandahar under Mohammad Ayub Khan in 1880 was derived; and it was the Zamindawar contingent of tribesmen who so nearly defeated Sir Donald Stewart's force at the Battle of Ahmed Khel previously. The control of Zamindawar was regarded by the British-Indian forces as the key to the position for safeguarding the route between Herat and Kandahar during the Second Anglo-Afghan War.
Zunbils ruled Zamindawar before Islamization of the area. The title Zunbil can be traced back to the Middle-Persian original Zūn-dātbar, "Zun the Justice-giver". The geographical name Zamindawar would also reflect this, from Middle-Persian "Zamin-i dātbar" (Land of the Justice-giver).
The temple of Zun.
According to author André Wink,
South of the Hindu Kush was ruled by the Zunbils, offspring of the southern-Hephthalite. The north was controlled by the Kabul Shahis. The Zunbil and Kabul Shahis were connected by culture with the neighboring Indian subcontinent. The Zunbil kings worshipped a sun god by the name of "Zun" from which they derived their name. For example, André Wink writes that "the cult of Zun was primarily Hindu, not Buddhist or Zoroastrian."
In 643 AD the non-Muslim Zunbils assembled a large army and attempted to invade Persia, which had just been Islamized, but were defeated by the Muslims. About ten years later, in 653-4 AD, an Arab general along with 6,000 Arab Muslims penetrated the Zunbil territory and made their way to the shrine of "Zun" in Zamindawar, which was believed to be located about three miles south of Musa Qala in today's northern part of Helmand Province of Afghanistan. The General of the Arab army "broke of a hand of the idol and plucked out the rubies which were its eyes in order to persuade the Marzbān of Sīstān of the god's worthlessness."
Willem Vogelsang states in his book that between the eighth and ninth centuries AD the eastern parts of modern Afghanistan were still in the hands of non-Muslim rulers of apparently Hunnic or Turkic descent; they were connected to Indian Subcontinent in terms of culture as most of them were either Hindus or Buddhists. In 870 AD the Saffarids from Zaranj, a city in the south-east of modern Afghanistan, conquered most of what is now Afghanistan, and established Muslim governors throughout the land. However, Muslims and non-Muslims continued to live side by side until the rise of the Ghaznavids in the 10th century.
If the Hepthalites were basically Indo- European, politically and culturally the realms of Zabul and Kabul were considered as a part of Al- Hind on the eve of Muslim conquest. The Chachnama for example contains numerous references to Zabul under the corrupt form of ‘Ramal’ or ‘Ranmal’ showing close contacts and marriage relationships between the rulers and subordinate chiefs of Sind and Kashmir and the King of Zabul in the seventh century. The relationships between these Indian rulers on the north- western frontier appear to have been in constant flux but it seems a safe conclusion that the King of Kashmir had established a claim of suzerainty over Zabul -as he had over other Indian Kings.


William Bell (clergyman)

William Bell (May 28, 1780 August 16, 1857) was a Presbyterian minister, born in Scotland and an immigrant to Upper Canada.
Bell and his family settled in Perth, Upper Canada, in 1817. He was a significant figure in promoting and expanding
the Presbyterian faith among the settlers in his region. He assisted in starting congregations in Beckwith Township, Lanark, Smiths Falls and Richmond.
His carefully constructed diaries and other writings provide an important insight into the interactions between the United Synod of Upper Canada and the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Canada.
His son William Bell was a businessman and militia officer who gained some notability in Canadian history. Another son, Robert Bell, was a notable politician in Lanark County.


Ichiro Nakamura

Ichiro Nakamura (died 1999), was the late director of the Society of Johrei, Kyoto, Japan.
Nakamura inherited and developed Rev. Mokichi Okada's (1882–1955) teaching on the religious school of Church of World Messianity. Okada claimed to have received a special revelation from God in 1926, leading him to found a new religion in 1935 to spread the teachings.
The Mokichi Okada Association (MOA) was established in 1980 to continue his work "toward the creation of a new civilization to be undertaken without confining Okada's principles and their implementation within a religious framework". Much of Okada's extensive art collection is now housed in the MOA Museum of Art in Atami, Japan.
In 1984, the book "Johrei: Divine Light of Salvation" co-edited by Ichiro Nakamura and Teruyuki Tada was published and proved to a success in introducing the Meishusama's teachings to a broader audience. The book has been translated into several languages spoken by large populations, for example, Chinese, Urdu, Portuguese, etc.
The aim of Church of World Messianity is to help to establish the conditions for a Paradise on Earth by eliminating the three great tragedies: illness, poverty and conflict. The principal activities are the Johrei, appreciation of the Beauty and natural farming.


Muharram in Bahrain

The Islamic month of Muharram is a period of mourning in Shia Islam and commemorates the death of Imam Hussain, the third Imam, and his companions at the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD. Processions called Azadari () are held to commemorate and remember the events that took place, these are often organised by congregation halls known as "Hussainia". Mourning climaxes on the tenth day of Muharram, Ashura. The mourning is sometimes referred to as the "Remembrance of Muharram" ().
The mourning that takes place during Muharram in Bahrain has a long history in the country, having been practiced for centuries, and the month sees a massive influx of visitors from neighbouring Persian Gulf countries, who spectate or participate in the mourning processions.
What makes Bahrain special in the Persian Gulf area is that Hussaini processions are allowed openly on the streets; a reason why Shia Muslims in the region to travel to Bahrain during Muharram.
Background.
The event marks the anniversary of the Battle of Karbala when Imam Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and a Shia Imam, was killed by the forces of the second Umayyad caliph Yazid I. The month-long occasion is marked by arranging a series of daily gatherings, where a cleric would to deliver sermons on Islamic teachings and Imam Hussain's life. The mourning itself reaches its climax on the tenth day of Muharram, known as Ashura, on which the Umayyad army killed the 72 combatants who fought, including Imam Hussain, his family and close supporters. The women and children left living were made prisoners and transported to Yazid's court in Damascus.
Commemoration in Bahrain.
History.
The first outdoor Muharram procession in Bahrain is reported to have taken place in Manama in 1891, led by Mirza Muhammad Ismail, the local agent for the British-India Steam Navigation Company. Historian Nelida Fuccaro describes the event as:
This was a momentuous even for Manama's Shi'is. People flocked behind a heavily armed Mirza Isma'il who proudly made his way through Manama's streets in defiance of the veto imposed by the rulers on public manifestations of Shi'i devotion.
In the 1950s, when Bahrain saw the rise of a nationalist movement, the procession of the ma'tam (Hussainia) of Ras Rumman marched chanting nationalist slogans preceded by the banner of Gamal Abdel Nasser's Egypt.
The oldest and most distinguished of the mawatim (sing. ma'tam) in Bahrain are located in the Fareej el-Makharqa quarter of central Manama and were constructed at the turn of the 19th Century. This includes Matam al-Ajam al-Kabeer, Matam Bin Rajab, Bin Zabar, Madan, Sallum, Al Mudaifa, Al Arrayed, Al Qassab, and al Hajj Khalaf.
Practices and rituals.
Muharram in Bahrain is unique, as it is the only Arab country in the Persian Gulf region that has a Shia Muslim majority. It has been estimated that thousands of Gulf nationals visit Bahrain during Ashura to participate in the religious processions. Although official statistics in 2009 show that only 1,100 matams (مأتم) are officially registered in the country, it is believed that there are up to 5,000 matams, including both registered and unregistered.
Processions (Azadari) occur on an almost-daily basis during the month. Different varieties of the processions exist: Some processions consist of participants beating the chests, others with self-flagellations with chains and hitting oneself with swords or knives (called "Haidar"). Passion plays and reenactments of the Day of Ashura are also performed.
Ashura is a two-day public holiday in Bahrain, occurring on the ninth and tenth days of Muharram, respectively (though dates vary on the Gregorian calendar). According to the government sources, the Bahraini government "actively donates food and funds" to matams during the month-long event.
Notable Matams.
A matam is a Shia congregation hall, also called as a Hussainia. As matams number in the thousands, notable ones are listed below:


Rehber (Alevism)

In Alevism, a Rehber also known as Murshid is one of the 12 ranks of Imam in Alevism. A Rehber assists the Pir, provides information to the newcomers and prepares them for commitment to the Alevi path or Tariqat.


List of Hindu temples in the United States

This is a list of Hindu temples, centers, and ashrams in the United States, which number as of 2021.
History.
Following his famous speech at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago, Swami Vivekananda established Vedanta Societies in New York and San Francisco in the 1890s. The Vedanta Society built the first Hindu temple in North America in San Francisco in 1905. Through the 1930s and 1940s, Vedanta Societies were also established in Boston, Los Angeles, Portland, Providence, Chicago, St. Louis, and Seattle. Although the Society's membership was relatively small, it paved the way for the later rise in popularity of yoga in the United States.
Paramahansa Yogananda also came to the United States to attend a conference in 1920 and establish the Self Realization Fellowship. Promoting yoga through his book Autobiography of a Yogi, he opened centers throughout the country. By the 1950s, the Self Realization Fellowship had become the most prominent Hindu organization in America. Its international headquarters Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine opened in California in 1950.
The rise of counterculture of the 1960s in the United States saw the arrival of many gurus and swamis from India. The most prominent of these were Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Swami Satchidananda, Swami Rama, and Swami Muktananda. In the 1960s and 1970s, these and other teachers established centers, temples, and ashrams, many of which continue to the present day.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 opened the floodgates to Indian immigration. The Hindu students and professionals who immigrated in the late 1960s and 1970s often kept small altars and puja rooms in their homes. These altars became the first makeshift temples of the early immigrants. As these immigrants started raising families, they began taking active steps to preserve their culture and heritage. They formed religious communities such as the Swaminarayan Sampradaya and cultural organizations such as Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Odisha, Tamil, Telugu, and India Associations. Many of these associations rented halls, churches, and school auditoriums to celebrate Hindu festivals such as Diwali, Holi, and Navaratri. The religious groups often met in members' homes to study the scriptures, conduct pujas, or sing bhajans.
By the 1970s, the religious groups and cultural associations started working together to create Hindu "temple societies." These societies formed in metropolitan areas with large Indian American populations such as Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington D.C. The goal of the societies was to create permanent temples by purchasing existing properties such as private homes, former churches, warehouses, and office buildings, or by buying land and constructing new temples "from scratch." The Sri Venkateswara Temple, Pittsburgh, consecrated on June 8, 1977, and the Hindu Temple Society of North America in New York, consecrated on July 4, 1977, became the first Hindu temples built by Indian immigrants. In the 1980s and 1990s, temples were built in all the other aforementioned cities.


San Pedro Cutud Lenten Rites

The San Pedro Cutud Lenten Rites is a Holy Week re-enactment of Christ's Passion and Death which takes place in Barangay San Pedro Cutud, City of San Fernando, Pampanga in the Philippines.
It includes a passion play culminating with the actual nailing of at least three penitents to a wooden cross atop the makeshift Calvary.
Events.
Every year on Good Friday or the Friday before Easter a dozen or so penitents - mostly men but with the occasional woman - are taken to a rice field in the barrio of San Pedro Cutud, 3 km (2 miles) from the proper of City of San Fernando, Pampanga and nailed to a cross using two-inch (5 cm) stainless steel nails that have been soaked in alcohol to disinfect them. The penitents are taken down when they feel cleansed of their sin. Other penitents flagellate themselves using bamboo sticks tied to a rope.
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The "Cutud Lenten Rites" has been registered in the Intangible Cultural Heritage Inventory of the Philippines called 'Pinagmulan.' The move was initiated by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the main cultural agency of the Republic of the Philippines. The rites may be nominated for inclusion in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists, where 3 other Philippine intangible heritages have already been inscribed.


Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada (UOCC; ) is an Eastern Orthodox church in Canada, primarily consisting of Orthodox Ukrainian Canadians. Its former name (before 1990) was the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church of Canada (UGOCC). The Church, currently a metropolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, is part of the wider Eastern Orthodox communion, however was created independently in 1918.
It has cathedrals in many Canadian cities including Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, and Montreal. The Metropolitan Cathedral, seminary (St. Andrew's College), and central administrative office are all based in Winnipeg. Also the church is affiliated with four residences for university students: St. Vladimir Institute in Toronto, Ontario; St. Petro Mohyla Institute in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; St. John's Institute in Edmonton, Alberta; and one operating at St. Andrew's College. The church's membership is about ten thousand. The current Primate of the church is Metropolitan Yurij (Kalistchuk).
History.
Most ethnic Ukrainians moving to Canada from Galicia (Western Ukraine) in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were Greek Catholics, and were tended early on by the local Roman Catholic hierarchy until the creation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Exarchate in 1912. This was because the North American Roman Catholic bishops believed that the presence of married Eastern Catholic priests would create a scandal at the time. The other major group of Ukrainians which were coming to Canada were from Bukovina, and they were mostly Orthodox. At first these Orthodox Christians were served by the Russian Orthodox Mission in North America (which at that time was part of the Russian Orthodox Church), but these services were not conducted in their native Ukrainian language. Catholics and the Orthodox who wanted to establish their own church met in the summer of 1918 in the city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and established the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church in Canada. Also at these meetings, the delegates (mostly from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) had established a Brotherhood to try to help the young church.
The settlers had just created a new church, but they were very conscious of Church Canon Law that states that a church cannot exist without a bishop. The church's brotherhood tried to have Archbishop Alexander of the Russian Orthodox Mission to take the church under his temporary care as bishop. At first Archbishop Alexander agreed, but later declined; however, the UGOC's First Sobor (Church Council) still took place as planned on December 28, 1918 in Saskatoon. This Sobor led to the establishment of the church's first seminary in Saskatoon. The Brotherhood still searched for a temporary bishop, and eventually found one: Metropolitan Germanos (Shehadi), who was the Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. He led the church for the next 5 years (1919-1924). Under his supervision, Sobor II took place in Saskatoon on November 27, 1919.
Archbishop John (Theodorovich).
Following Metropolitan Germanos' leadership, Archbishop John (Theodorovich) became the church's orimate. Archbishop John had just arrived in the United States from the non-canonical Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, and he began to serve the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA to become their Primate and Metropolitan. The young church had chosen the Ukrainian bishop as their bishop, hoping that the church would further grow under his leadership. During the summers from 1924 to 1946 Archbishop John would make an annual trip to Canada to visit the parishes throughout the country. When Archbishop John was in the USA during the winter months, a Fr. Semen Sawchuk would act as an administrator at the Consistory in Canada.
After a few years as acting Primate of the UOCC, certain controversies laid around Archbishop John, due to his uncanonical ordination to bishop. Archbishop John was "ordained" by the "bishops" of Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, who were not ordained according to the canon laws and traditions of the Orthodox Church, but were ordained by priests and lay people. The 1st Canon of the Holy Apostles states that new bishops should be ordained by at least 2 or 3 bishops. As a result of this, Archbishop John resigned his position as ruling bishop in 1946.
At a special Sobor in 1947, Bishop Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) was accepted as the new "Archbishop of Winnipeg and all Canada". However, due to some misunderstandings, and arguments about how the church should be governed (mostly between himself and Semen Sawchuk), he resigned as Primate in 1950 at X Sobor in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In response the UOCC contacted Metropolitan Polycarp (Sikorski) (who was the head of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church Abroad, composed of refugee bishops formerly affiliated with the Polish Orthodox Church in German-occupied Ukraine) for assistance, and he agreed to send some bishops over to help the faithful in Canada.
Formation of the Metropolia.
At a special sobor in 1947 the UGOCC accepted Bishop Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) of Pereyaslav of the UAOC, consecrated during World War II with the blessing of Metropolitan Dionysius (Waledyński) of Warsaw, as its ruling bishop with the title "Archbishop of Winnipeg and All Canada". Due to conflicts between Archbishop Mstyslav and members of the UGOCC Consistory, however, the former resigned as diocesan bishop at the tenth sobor of the Church in 1950, once again leaving the UGOCC without a bishop.
After the resignation of Archbishop Mstyslav the Consistory appealed to Metropolitan Polycarp of the UAOC for assistance in finding bishops for the UGOCC. By the time another special sobor was called in 1951 four potential bishops, all consecrated in German-occupied Ukraine during World War II, had been found. One, Metropolitan Hilarion (Ohienko) of Kholm, had been resident in Winnipeg since 1947. Two others, Archbishop Michael (Khoroshy) and Bishop Platon (Artemiuk), came to Canada at the invitation of the Consistory and with the blessing of Metropolitan Polycarp.
At the 1951 sobor it was decided that the UGOCC, which had grown to include some 300 parishes, would be organized as a metropolia. Metropolitan Ilarion was elected Metropolitan of Winnipeg and All Canada and primate of the UGOCC, while Archbishop Michael was elected Archbishop of Toronto and Eastern Canada. (Bishop Platon had died shortly after his arrival in Canada.) The size of the UGOCC necessitated the appointment of more bishops, and so in 1959 Archimandrite Andrew (Metiuk) was elected Bishop of Edmonton and Western Canada and in 1963 Archimandrite Boris (Yakovkevych) was elected Bishop of Saskatoon and auxiliary or assistant bishop of the Central Eparchy under Metropolitan Ilarion.
After 21 years as primate of the UGOCC, Metropolitan Ilarion died on March 29, 1972, and was succeeded by Archbishop Michael of Toronto as Metropolitan of Winnipeg and All Canada. After Metropolitan Michael’s retirement in 1975 Archbishop Andrew (Metiuk) was elected metropolitan, serving until his death on February 2, 1985. Under Metropolitan Andrew new bishops, Bishops Mikolaj (Debryn), Basil (Fedak), and John (Stinka), were elected to serve the UGOCC, and after Metropolitan Andrew’s death Bishop Wasyly was elected Metropolitan of Winnipeg and All Canada. Four years after his enthronement as primate of the UGOCC Metropolitan Wasyly consecrated Archimandrite Yurij (Kalistchuk) as Bishop of Saskatoon.
Recent history.
After dialoguing with the Church of Constantinople the UGOCC was received into its jurisdiction as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada in 1990, bringing it into the full communion of the canonical Orthodox Church. (Several years later its sister church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Diaspora, also joined the Patriarchate of Constantinople.) The decree of Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrius (Papadopoulos) uniting the UOCC with the Church of Constantinople recognized the Church’s internal autonomy under its metropolitan, justifying the reception of the UOCC into the Patriarchate’s jurisdiction on the basis of the historic jurisdiction of the Church of Constantinople in Ukraine.
Following the death of Metropolitan Wasyly in early 2005 the twenty-first sobor of the UOCC elected Archbishop John as Metropolitan of Winnipeg and Canada. In August 2008 an extraordinary sobor was held in Saskatoon to elect new bishops, amend the UOCC’s bylaws, and mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the UOCC in the city. The sobor elected Bishops Ilarion (Rudnyk) of Telmessos as Bishop of Edmonton and Andriy (Peshko) of Krateia as auxiliary Bishop of Saskatoon.
In July 2010 another special sobor of the UOCC was held to nominate a successor to the newly retired Metropolitan John. The sobor nominated Archbishop Yurij (Kalistchuk) of Toronto for the metropolitanate, and consequently on August 30, 2010, the Holy Synod in Constantinople elected Archbishop Yurij as Archbishop of Winnipeg and Metropolitan of Canada.
Structure.
The UOCC is divided into three eparchies or dioceses, the Eastern Eparchy, with its cathedral in Toronto, Ontario; the Central Eparchy, with its cathedral in Winnipeg, Manitoba; and the Western Eparchy, with its cathedral in Edmonton, Alberta. According to the custom of the UOCC the Church's primate is the titled the "Archbishop of Winnipeg and Metropolitan of Canada" and serves as the diocesan or ruling bishop of the Central Eparchy.
The Eastern Eparchy currently does not have a ruling bishop, but is administered by Bishop Andriy (Peshko) of Krateia. The Western Eparchy is led by Bishop Ilarion (Rudnyk) of Edmonton and Western Canada. All of the UOCC's dioceses may have auxiliary bishops (titled 'Bishop of Vancouver' in the Western Eparchy, 'Bishop of Saskatoon' in the Central Eparchy and 'Bishop of Montreal' in the Eastern Eparchy), but none of the Eparchies have an auxiliary bishop at this time.
Past bishops.
List of bishops who have served in the UOCC historically, and the years served:
Metropolitans/Primates.
List of primates, and years of primatial rule:


Alastair Campbell (bioethicist)

Professor Alastair Vincent Campbell MA, BD, Th.D., FRSE (born 16 April 1938) is a British theologian and bioethicist. He was the founding editor of the Journal of Medical Ethics and received the Henry K. Beecher award from the Hastings Centre in 1999.
Early life.
Campbell was born in Motherwell, Scotland. He obtained an MA, philosophy (1st class hons), bachelor of divinity BD from the University of Edinburgh. He was awarded Harkness Fellowship of the Commonwealth Fund of New York and completed a doctorate in theology jointly awarded by the San Francisco Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union, San Francisco.
Academic career.
Alastair V. Campbell worked as an Associate Chaplain to the University of Edinburgh from 1964 to 1969 and was a part-time lecturer in ethics at the Royal College of Nursing, Scotland from 1966 to 1972. With Kenneth Boyd, Campbell was joint secretary of the Edinburgh Medical Group, which is one of the medical groups that were forerunners of the Society for the Study of Medical Ethics, founded in 1975. This society later became the Institute of Medical Ethics, of which he is Honorary Vice-President since 2006. From 1975 until 1980, Campbell was the founding editor of the Journal of Medical Ethics.
From 1987 to 1990, he was Associate Dean at the University of Edinburgh School of Divinity. He was a Visiting Professor at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire (1986) and Otago Medical School (1986/87), where he was later appointed Professor of Biomedical Ethics and Director of the Bioethics Research Centre (1990-1996). From 1996 until 2006, Campbell was Professor of Ethics in Medicine at the University of Bristol, becoming emeritus on retirement.
In August 2006, he became Chen Su Lan Centennial Professor of Medical Ethics and Founding Director of the Centre for Biomedical Ethics (CBmE) at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, where the Asian Bioethics Review was established under his purview. After retiring, he remained Emeritus Director and Visiting Professor.
He has served as the President of the International Association of Bioethics; as a member of the Medical Ethics Committee of the British Medical Association; as Vice-Chairman of the UK Retained Organs Commission from 2001 to 2004; as chair of the Ethics and Governance Council of UK Biobank from 2005 to 2006; and as President of the Bristol Medico-Chirurgical Society (2003).
Awards and honours.
In 1999 Campbell was awarded the Henry K Beecher Award by The Hastings Center, where he is also an elected fellow. In 2011, Campbell was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 2018, the Singaporean Government awarded him the Public Service Medal (Friends of Singapore) as part of its National Day Awards.


Diyos at Bayan

Diyos at Bayan () is a Philippine television public affairs show broadcast by Light TV. Hosted by Eddie Villanueva, it premiered on August 21, 1998.
The show was broadcast by RPN from 1998 to 2001 and 2002 to 2005 and by NBN from 2001 to 2002.
The show concluded on June 3, 2019 on GMA Network (from 2006) and GMA News TV (from 2011; formerly QTV from 2005–2011), due to the termination of the blocktime agreement between GMA Network/Citynet Network Marketing and Productions and ZOE Broadcasting Network on April 24, 2019, which took effect on June 4.


Murshid (Alevism)

A Murshid is one of the 12 ranks of Imam in Alevism.


Maronite Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Jordan

Maronite Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Jordan is an patriarchal exarchate of the Maronite Church immediately subject to the Patriarchate of Antioch of the Maronites. In 2010 there were 1,000 members. It is currently governed by Archeparch Moussa El-Hage, O.A.M.
Territory and statistics.
The Exarchate extended its jurisdiction over the Maronite Catholic faithful of Jordan, and it is seated in Amman. It includes one parish and had 1,000 members in 2010.
History.
On May 5, 1985, two years after the International Eucharistic Congress held in Jerusalem, was inaugurated in the Holy Land a Patriarchal Vicariate to meet Lebanese Maronites that lived there until then directly dependent on the Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre.
The patriarchal exarchate of Jordan was erected on October 5, 1996.
Since its erection it was entrusted to the pastoral care of Archeparch of the Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Haifa and the Holy Land, who is its in persona episcopi.


Cochabamba Bolivia Temple

The Cochabamba Bolivia Temple is the 82nd operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
Bolivia's first convert to the LDS Church was baptized in December 1964, a month after missionaries first arrived. Forty-four years later there were over 158,000 members across the country.
History.
In 1995, the church announced that a temple would be built in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba. The next year, church president Gordon B. Hinckley presided over the groundbreaking. He addressed the 4,000 people gathered during one of the heaviest rainstorms the area had seen in ten years. He addressed the gathering, "My beloved and wet brothers and sisters".
Before the temple was dedicated it was open for one week to allow the public to tour the temple. Originally the temple open house had been scheduled for two weeks, but because of civil unrest in the city of Cochabamba, due to an ill-fated attempt to privatize the municipal water supply (Cochabamba protests of 2000), the first week was cancelled. LDS Church leaders were pleased when nearly 65,000 people toured the temple, coming close to the goal of 75,000. Because of the open house, over 2,200 people requested to be visited by the Mormon missionaries.
Hinckley dedicated the Cochabamba Bolivia Temple in four sessions on April 30, 2000. In the dedicatory prayer, Hinckley recognized the founder of Bolivia, Simón Bolívar, who died the year the church was organized.
The Cochabama Bolivia Temple is of classic modern design reflecting the Bolivian culture. The exterior is finished with a blend of hand-hewn granite and plaster. A statue of the angel Moroni tops the single tower. It has a total of , two ordinance rooms, and three sealing rooms.
In 2020, the Cochabamba Bolivia Temple was closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic.


Hinduism in Manipur

Hinduism is one of the religions practiced in the state of Manipur, India. Hinduism is concentrated in the valley districts of Manipur located in the regions neighbouring Assam state. Hinduism is practiced mostly among the Meitei people, Nepali people, and Bengali people.
Whilst the proportion of Manipur's population that practices Hinduism is roughly 41%, in the Manipur valley region Hindus constitute as much as 67-74% of the population.
History.
The state Manipur was known as Kangleipak () before adoption of Hindu religion.
Manipura (lang-sa:मणिपूर) is mentioned in Mahabharata's third parva (Vana Parva).
"Arjuna travelled the length and breadth of India during his term of exile. His wanderings took him to ancient Manipura, an almost mystic kingdom renowned for its natural beauty. The location of Manipura is highly debated. It is considered as the location of Manipura mentioned in this passage of Mahabharata". Chitrāngadā (, citrāṅgadā), in the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, is the Princess of Manipura, the Daughter of king Chitravahana and one of Arjuna's consorts. She had a son named Babhruvahana with him."
A copper plate excavated from Phayeng dating back to AD 763 (reign of King Khongtekcha) was found to contain inscriptions about the Hindu deities in Sanskrit words.
During the 13th century, King Meidingu Khumomba constructed a Lord Hanuman temple. suited much according Mahabharat mythology.Also the term Manipur for Kangleipak was in used only after the rule of King Pamheiba there are many hard facts and historical evidence of Pamheiba of burning ancient written records of Kangleipak which were found recently and verified by National archive of India in 1989.
In 1704, King Charairongba accepted Vaishnavism and changed his name to Pitambar Singh. However, the first Hindu temples were constructed much earlier. The Vishnu temple at Lamangdong was constructed in AD 1474 (during the reign of King Kiyamba), by Brahmins from the Shan State. As per the legends, the temple was constructed to house the Vishnu emblem given to King Kiyamba by King Khekhomba of Shan. Phurailatpam Shubhi Narayan was the first Brahmin priest of this temple.
Impact of Gaudiya Vaishnavism.
The Bisnupriya Manipuri were initiated to the religion of Chaitanya during the middle of 18th century AD. But even before that time, they followed some other form of Vaishnavism as is known from the "Khumal Purana". It seems that early form of Vaishnavism followed by Bishnupriya Manipuri had some relation with the Vaishnavism of Sri Sankardeva; and the religio-cultural affinities between the Assamese and the Bishnupriya Manipuries are due to that religious impact. Thus we may say that Manipuri were traditionally Vaisnavites but, there is a fact of conversion during the 18th century was only from Sankara school of thought to Chaitanya school of thought.
Historical Legend.
According to mythological lore related to Bhagya Chandra, the King of Manipur who ruled in 1759, the Hindu god Krishna appeared to him in a dream and directed him to carve images of His from a particular jackfruit tree in Kaina.
In 1765 Chandra was defeated by King Alaungpaya of Konbaung Burma (now Myanmar), and as a result he escaped to Cachar in Assam and took asylum with King Swagadeva Rajeshwer Singh of Tekhau. However, Chandra's uncle, who had plotted with the Burmese king to oust him from Manipur, complained to Rajeshwer Singh that Chandra was an "impostor". The Assamese king became suspicious and ordered that Chandra should fight a rogue elephant to prove his bravery and innocence.
As King Chandra was a highly religious person, dedicated to the worship of Krishna, he appealed for help. Acceding to Chandra's prayers, Krishna appeared to him in a vision the night before the fight with the elephant. He told the king to face the elephant in front of a jackfruit tree in which he would be present, holding a rosary of Tulsi. Krishna commanded that after the fight he should carve images of His out of that particular jackfruit tree, and to deify and worship them in temples built for the purpose.
The next day when the encounter took place in front of the jackfruit tree in Kaina, the wild elephant, instead of attacking Bhagya Chandra, bowed before him with reverence. After this, the king of Assam decided to help Bhagya Chandra. With his help, Chandra led an army to Manipur and won back his kingdom.
Once back home, Chandra forgot about his promise to Krishna. One day Krishna appeared in the garb of a boy before a woman at Kaina, and asked her to give Him food. He told her about the commitment made to Him by King Chandra. The boy then disappeared. When this incident was conveyed to the King, he realized his lapse and immediately came to Kaina to find the jackfruit tree to make the images of Krishna. However, with the first strike of an axe the tree started bleeding, forcing him to stop cutting. He appeased the tree by offering worship, following which he uprooted the tree without trouble and had it carried away to make the images. In another version it is said that in 1778, after the tree was cut it was moved along the Iril River but after a short distance of travel the tree got bogged down in water; this place is known as "Urup". Even with the help of elephants it could not be pulled out of water. Then the king himself started helping people in pulling it when it surfaced out of water. Then an aarti was performed in reverence of Govindajee; this place is known as "Arapti".
The Puranas as to account of the pre-historic forms of Vaishnavism or Bhagavatism in the area of present state, the modern history of Vaishnava practices in Manipur started with a king of the Shan kingdom of Pong gifting a murti of Vishnu chakra (the symbolic disc of Vishnu or Krishna) to Kyamaba, king of Manipur, so since the 1470s the kings of Manipur started worshiping Vishnu. Many brahmana priests from the west, main areas of India, came to Manipur and settled there. The account of the arrival of the members of brahmanas is found in the records of the book Bamon Khunthoklon. King Kyamba (1467–1523) built a Vishnu mandir in Vishnupur, a notable architectural monument. In 1704 King Charai Rongba was initiated into Vaishnava tradition and since then Vaishnavism became the state religion. This consolidated the cultural contact with India even further. King Gareeb Nivaz was ruling from 1709 to 1748 and he was initiated into Vaishnavism of Chaitanya tradition, by followers of Narottama Dasa Thakura, who worshiped Krishna as the supreme deity, "Svayam bhagavan". He practiced this religion for nearly twenty years. Preachers and pilgrims used to arrive in large numbers and cultural contact with Assam was maintained. It is believed that the wave of devotion that turned the entire kingdom Krishna conscious took place during the reign of Gareeb Nivaz's grandson Bhagyachandra.
The Manipuri Vaishnavas do not worship Krishna alone, but Radha-Krishna. With the spread of Vaishnavism the worship of Krishna and Radha became the dominant form in the Manipur region.
Tradition.
Hinduism is popular mostly among Meiteis, Nepalis, Bengalis. Krishna is popular deity among Meitei people. Durga is popular goddess among Bengali people. Shiva is popular deity among Nepali people. Vishnu is popular deity among Bishnupriya Manipuri people.
Demographics.
According to census of 2011,six districts of Manipur which are Bishnupur (97.76%), Thoubal (73.21%), Imphal East District (60.27%), Jiribam (48%), Kakching and Imphal West District (89.68%) have Hindu majority. Kangpokpi district (15%) and Senapati district (17.29%) have Hindu population between 15-20%. Other Christian dominated districts have small Hindu populations (3-6%).


Delta Beta Tau

Delta Beta Tau (ΔΒΤ), is an American co-ed Buddhist college fraternity founded at San Diego State University (SDSU). The fraternity was founded on September 9, 2015 by ten SDSU students as the first Buddhist college fraternity in the United States. Although the fraternity was founded on Buddhist principles, the fraternity accepts people of any religious background and also accepts members who are already members of other college fraternities. The fraternity is run almost entirely on voluntary donations and has a membership due for pledges of just one dollar per semester.
As of August 20, 2019 the fraternity has initiated 223 active members at its founding chapter at SDSU.
History.
The fraternity was founded and organized by Dharma Bum Temple, an American Buddhist temple near SDSU for which the fraternity based the letters of its name off of. The co-founder of the temple, Jeffrey Zlotnik, was in Beta Theta Pi in college and suggested creating a Buddhist fraternity as a way to find a way to instill college students with Buddhist principles that would follow them throughout college and for the rest of their lives. Dharma Bum Temple chose SDSU to build the first chapter of the fraternity because it already had a strong presence on the campus from running an SDSU meditation club called "The Aztec Dharma Bums".
There was originally plans to create one Buddhist fraternity and one Buddhist sorority, but it was eventually decided to create one co-ed fraternity.
In 2017, the fraternity announced plans to start another chapter at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) as well.
Principles.
The co-ed fraternity takes the Six Paramitas of Mahayana Buddhism as the founding principles of the fraternity. The rules for the fraternity are based on Buddhist principles and to join pledges do community service and attend meditation retreats. Activities the fraternity offers include meditation retreats, guest speakers and community service events, with social gatherings incorporating mindfulness into them.
As of January 2018, there are no official Greek houses for Delta Beta Tau members to live together in, instead meetings are held at locations near the campuses until Greek housing for the fraternity can be established. Once Greek housing is set up, the fraternity plans on having house rules based on Buddhist principles and for the fraternity to hold normal Greek events such as formals and dating dashes, but with Buddhist values and mindfulness elements incorporated.
Service.
Delta Beta Tau's service programs are largely entwined with the outreach programs of Dharma Bum Temple, the temple that helped organize the founding of the fraternity. The fraternity focuses on community service, taking the principles of Buddhism as the basis for its values. Fraternity members are trained in guiding meditation so they can teach meditation to the community as a form of community service. Other outreach programs the fraternity hosts include volunteer work at local animal shelters, as well as participating in the existing prison outreach and homeless feeding programs that are hosted by Dharma Bum Temple.


Kanzan Egen

 (1277–1360) was a Japanese Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk, founder of Myōshin-ji Temple and a principal member of the extant Ōtōkan lineage, from which all modern Rinzai Zen derives. Centuries later, Emperor Meiji conferred the posthumous name to Kanzan.
Biography.
Kanzan Egen was born in Shinano Province on January 7, 1277. He initially studied Rinzai Zen Buddhism under Nanpo Jōmyō, who received dharma-transmission from China and later under Nanpo Jōmyō's student, Shūhō Myōchō. After Shūhō Myōchō confirmed Kanzan Egen's enlightenment, Kanzan went to Mino Province and dwelt in the Ibuki Mountains for intensive training.
During this time, Emperor Hanazono recalled Kanzan to the capitol to help found a new temple which became Myōshin-ji Temple.


Auguste Lecerf

Auguste Lecerf (1872–1943) was a French Reformed pastor of the Église réformée de France ("Reformed Church of France") and a partly autodidact neo-Calvinist theologian. From 1927 onwards, he was dogmatics professor at the Protestant Faculty of Theology in Paris. As a specialist in Jean Calvin, he authored several books and articles on Reformed dogmatics.
Early life.
Auguste Lecerf was born in London on September 18, 1872, to communards anti-clerical and agnostic parents who had sought refuge in England at the end of the Paris Commune in 1871. At the age of 12, He was religiously awakened in an Evangelical Sunday School in London. Later he converted to Protestantism at age 17 after reading Romans and Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. He was then baptized at 17.
Influence.
One of the first traces of reformational scholarship [in France] can be found in the writings of Auguste Lecerf. The third chapter of his famous Introduction à la dogmatique réformée (Lecerf, 1938) deals with "Calvinism and philosophy". There the reader may be surprised to discover that long before Dooyeweerd lectured in France, Lecerf (1938: 41) mentions "les philosophes réformés Dooyeweerd et Vollenhoven" and shows familiarity with their ideas. Even more surprising is the fact that he discussed the two reformational philosophers before 1938, in a series of scattered articles which were published posthumous with the title Calvinist studies (Lecerf, 1949). Those studies were the object of intense dialogue with the famous French philosopher Étienne Gilson (1884-1978) who argued with Lecerf from a Roman Catholic point of view, in his Christianity and philosophy (Gilson, 1936). With this, reformational thinking was brought to the attention of the "top level" philosophers of France. He was a major influence on two other key French Reformed theologians Pierre-Charles Marcel and Pierre Courthial. It was Lecerf who encouraged Pierre Marcel to study Herman Dooyeweerd.
In France and French-speaking Switzerland, Auguste Lecerf's teaching and writing succeed in creating a whole new Calvinist movement within Protestantism. With his friend pastor Jacques Pannier, Auguste Lecerf launched the "Calvinistic Society of France" and he was the first editor of its Bulletin. He studied at the Faculty of Protestant Theology in Paris. His thesis was on determinism and responsibility in Calvin's system. He was involved in pastoral ministry for almost twenty years in Normandy and for four years was a military chaplain. In 1932 he returned to Paris to become a professor in the Protestant Faculty of Theology, University of Paris. He remained there until his death in 1943.
Lecerf was strongly influenced by Jonathan Edwards. He studied under Auguste Sabatier but turned away from that teacher's vague spirituality to write a thesis of his own on entitled: Determinism and Responsibility in Calvin's System, (1895).
His subsequent theological work is much influenced by Herman Bavinck and Dutch Neo-Calvinism.
Among his most influential followers are:
Theological Works.
Auguste Lecerf's work was translated into other languages, chiefly in English and didn't go unnoticed in American Reformed circles.
Among his chief works are:
Auguste Lecerf's Introduction to Reformed Dogmatics deals with the formal principle of the Reformation "the authority of scripture alone" in six chapters.


Central Waqf Council

Central Waqf Council, India is an Indian statutory body established in 1964 by the Government of India under the Waqf Act, 1954 (now a subsection of the Waqf Act, 1995) for the purpose of advising it on matters pertaining to the working of the State Waqf Boards and proper administration of the Waqfs in the country. Waqf is a permanent dedication of movable or immovable properties for religious, pious or charitable purposes as recognized by Muslim Law, given by philanthropists. The grant is known as "mushrut-ul-khidmat", while a person making such dedication is known as "Wakif".
The Council.
The Council is headed by a Chairperson, who is the Union Minister in charge of Wakfs and there are maximum 20 other members, appointed by Government of India as stipulated in the Wakf Act.
State Waqf Boards.
The State Waqf Boards are established by the State Governments in view of the provisions of Section 9(1) the Waqf Act, 1954. These work towards management, regulation and protect the Waqf properties by constituting District Waqf Committees, Mandal Waqf Committees and Committees for the individual Waqf Institutions. The Waqf Boards shall be body corporate having perpetual succession and common seal with power to acquire and hold property. In case more than fifteen percent of total number of waqf property is Shia waqf or income thereof is more than fifteen percent the Act envisages about separate Shia Waqf Board.
Presently there are thirty Wakf Boards across the country in twenty-eight states/Union territories. The State like Goa, Arunachal pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim and the UT Daman & Dieu have no wakf Board at present. the Waqf Act 1995 is not applicable to J&K.
Justice Shashvat Kumar, who headed the Shashvat Committee has prepared a status report on Muslims in India in 2011 and the finding of this report were that Nationwide, wakf properties constitute a land bank worth Rs. 1.2 lakh crore and could have generated annual returns of Rs. 12,000 crore but yield only Rs. 163 crore and have found out "a severe shortage of senior government officers who are Muslim to manage wakf affairs. A separate cadre would mean officers who are not only permanent but also qualified enough".
In 2011, Haryana Wakf Board (HWB) has registered an all-time high income of Rs 17.03 crore during 2010–11, which is Rs 3.33 crore higher than the previous year. During 2010–11, the Board spent Rs 3.32 crore on various educational and welfare activities. The Board had earmarked Rs 6.47 crore in the budget for 2011–12 to meet the main objects of wakfs and various educational and welfare activities, he said.
The central as well as state Wakf Boards have been involved in corruption, land encroachment, and misappropriation of funds. The Karnataka Wakf Board Land Scam is one such case.


The Mosaic Parish in Karlskrona

The Mosaic Parish in Karlskrona, "", founded in 1785, was the fourth Jewish parish in Sweden.
In 1994 it was placed in a resting mode.
Background.
Jews were not allowed to reside in Sweden prior to 1779 and when, in the reign of Gustav III, the first Jews from Swedish Pomerania were encouraged to come in order to stimulate trade in the reign of Gustav III, the Parliamentary Constitutional Committee ("Konstitutionsutskottet") sent off to the German states of Saxony and Prussia for copies of the codices regulating protected Jews ("German: schutzjude Swedish: skyddsjude pl. skyddsjudar") and drew up a Swedish version: Regulations for Jews: "Judereglementet" where similar restrictions and disabilities were imposed on Jews as in the German states. Among these was a disability concerning residence that was to be restricted to three towns only: Stockholm, the capital city; Gothenburg the busiest naval and trading port and the largest market town: Norrköping.
Other provisions in the "Juderegelemente" were that Jews were not permitted to intermarry with Christians; to work with or trade in gold (because of pressure from Guilds); may sell food to other Jews, but not to Christians; may not convert Christians and because previous laws had prohibited Jews who were itinerant pedlars, had banished them from the country along with gypsies and circus folk - "tight rope walkers and sellers of barometers", only rich Jews were admitted who had a minimum capital of two thousand riksdalers. These Jews were prohibited from enabling poor Jews to obtain residence.
Foundation.
The Mosaic Parish in Karlskrona, "", was founded in 1785 by the Jewish merchant and factory owner Fabian Philip. He arrived in Karlskrona in 1780 via Stockholm from his native town of Bützow in Germany.
Fabian Philip lived in Karlskrona, the principal naval base and Sweden's second largest city. He made an offer to
Henric af Trolle, Admiral of the Fleet to build a sail cloth mill to undercut the price of sails the navy bought in Gothenburg.
Trolle liked the proposition and presented it to King Gustav III, who gave his permission for the Jew Fabian Philip to reside in Karlskrona even though the "Judereglementet" did not permit it. Henric af Trolle died in 1784 and the merchants in Karlskrona tried to get rid of the mill called Fabian Philip by writing to the king, but af Trolle's successor, Fleet Admiral Carl August Ehrensvärd, were of the same opinion as his late predecessor.
From 1785 thanks to that Fabian Philip had fulfilled his agreement with the Navy and founded and built the sail factory in Karlskrona, more exactly in Lyckeby 10 kilometers north of the city, there was a public exception for Fabian Philip and his family to stay in Karlskrona from Commercial Colleges statement of where Jews were allowed to stay in Sweden.
The Mosaic Parish of Karlskrona was the fourth Jewish parish in Sweden after three first approved settlement cities. The first name of the parish was the Jewish parish, but when the Jews living in Sweden were made Swedish citizens of the Mosaic faith, they were not considered as Jews by the government any more, all the Jewish parishes in Sweden were renamed Mosaic Parishes. 1951 when it was allowed in Sweden by law to be unorganised according to faith, most Mosaic Parishes in Sweden were by own will renamed Jewish Parishes, but not the parish in Karlskrona, which kept the old name of the Mosaic Parish in Karlskrona.
Present.
In 1994 it was decided that the Mosaic Parish in Karlskrona should not be closed but placed in a resting mode. The members had become old and it was hard gather a Minyan. In the early 1900s, the Parish was made up of around 50 members.
Literature.
Svensson, Harry R:son. 2001. "Mosaiska församlingen i Karlskrona under senare delen av 1800-talet - en församling i förändring". Master thesus, Blekinge Institute of Technology. Karlskrona.
Svensson, Harry R:son. 2007. "Familjen har aldrig assimilerats, den har alltid varit en del av Karlskrona' - Det karlskronitiska samhället och dess invånare av judisk härkomst 1779-1945 - en annan assimilationshistoria". Bachelor thesus, Theological Institution at University of Lund. Lund.
Valentin, Hugo. 1924. "Judarnas historia i Sverige". Stockholm.


Arthur Willink

Arthur Willink (1850-1913) was a nineteenth-century British theologian and clergyman.
Biography.
His most notable work is "The World of the Unseen", a piece in which he argues that the universe consists of three parallel planes: the earth, heaven, and hell. God, Willink argues, exists on a complete separate, infinite-dimensional space completely removed from these three planes.
In "The World of the Unseen", he wrote:

Willink was one of the earliest philosophers to postulate that the world exists in more than the three dimensions we are used to, thus setting the stage for the development of hyperspace theories.