Greek language

Flavius Ardabur Aspar (Greek: Ἄσπαρ, fl. 400 – 471) was an Eastern Roman patrician and magister militum ("master of soldiers") of Alanic-Gothic descent. As the general of a Germanic army in Roman service, Aspar exerted great influence on the Eastern Roman Emperors for half a century, from the 420s to his death in 471, through the reigns of Theodosius II, Marcian and Leo I, who, in the end, had him killed. His death led to the ending of the Germanic domination of Eastern Roman policy.

Isidore of Miletus (Greek: Ἰσίδωρος ὁ Μιλήσιος; Medieval Greek pronunciation: [iˈsiðoros o miˈlisios]; Latin: Isidorus Miletus) was one of the two main Byzantine Greek mathematician, physicist and architects (Anthemius of Tralles was the other) that Emperor Justinian I commissioned to design the cathedral Hagia Sophia in Constantinople from 532 to 537. He was born c. 475 AD. The creation of an important compilation of Archimedes' works has been attributed to him. The spurious Book XV from Euclid's Elements has been partly attributed to Isidore of Miletus.

The Nika riots (Greek: Στάσις τοῦ Νίκα, romanized: Stásis toû Níka), Nika revolt or Nika sedition took place against Byzantine emperor Justinian I in Constantinople over the course of a week in 532 AD. They are often regarded as the most violent riots in the city's history, with nearly half of Constantinople being burned or destroyed and tens of thousands of people killed.

In Christian theology, the Harrowing of Hell (Latin: Descensus Christi ad Inferos; Greek: Ἡ εἰς ᾍδου κάθοδος τοῦ Χριστοῦ – "the descent of Christ into Hell" or "Hades") is the period of time between the Crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection. In triumphant descent, Christ brought salvation to the souls held captive there since the beginning of the world.

Christ's descent into the world of the dead is referred to in the Apostles' Creed and the Athanasian Creed (Quicumque vult), which state that he "descended into the underworld" (descendit ad inferos), although neither mention that he liberated the dead. His descent to the underworld is alluded to in the New Testament in 1 Peter 4:6, which states that the "good tidings were proclaimed to the dead". The Catechism of the Catholic Church notes Ephesians 4:9, which states that "[Christ] descended into the lower parts of the earth", as also supporting this interpretation. These passages in the New Testament have given rise to differing interpretations. The Harrowing of Hell is commemorated in the liturgical calendar on Holy Saturday.

Kyrios or kurios (Greek: κύριος, romanized: kū́rios (ancient), kyrios (modern)) is a Greek word that is usually translated as "lord" or "master". It is used in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible (Christian Old Testament) about 7,000 times, in particular translating the name YHWH (the Tetragrammaton), and it appears in the Koine Greek New Testament about 740 times, usually referring to Jesus.

The Douay–Rheims Bible (/ˌduːeɪ ˈriːmz, ˌdaʊeɪ -/, US also /duːˌeɪ -/), also known as the Douay–Rheims Version, Rheims–Douai Bible or Douai Bible, and abbreviated as D–R, DRB, and DRV, is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into Early Modern English by members of the English College, Douai as a Counter-Reformation effort. The New Testament portion was published in Rheims, France, in 1582, in one volume with extensive commentary and notes. The Old Testament portion was published in two volumes in 1609 and 1610 by the University of Douai. The first volume, covering Genesis to Job, was published in 1609; the second, covering the Book of Psalms to 2 Maccabees (spelled "Maccabees") and the three apocryphal books of the Vulgate appendix following the Old Testament (Prayer of Manasseh, 3 Esdras, and 4 Esdras), was published in 1610. Marginal notes on translation and the Hebrew and Greek source texts of the Vulgate compose majority portions of the edition. In 1589, William Fulke collated the complete Rheims text and notes in parallel columns with those of the Bishops' Bible. This work sold widely in England, prompting re-issue in three further editions by 1633. Fulke's editions of the Rheims New Testament were of crucial significance to 17th-century English exegesis.

Much of the first edition employed Latin vocabulary, rendering it particularly difficult to read. Consequently, a revision of the translation was undertaken by Bishop Richard Challoner: the New Testament in three editions of 1749, 1750, and 1752; and the Old Testament (minus the Vulgate apocrypha) in 1750.

Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus trans- + liter-) in predictable ways, such as Greek ⟨α⟩ → ⟨a⟩ and ⟨χ⟩ → the digraph ⟨ch⟩, Cyrillic ⟨д⟩ → ⟨d⟩, Armenian ⟨ն⟩ → ⟨n⟩ or Latin ⟨æ⟩ → ⟨ae⟩.

For instance, for the Greek term ⟨Ελληνική Δημοκρατία⟩, which is usually translated as 'Hellenic Republic', the usual transliteration into the Latin script (romanization) is ⟨Hellēnikḗ Dēmokratía⟩; and the Russian term ⟨Российская Республика⟩, which is usually translated as 'Russian Republic', can be transliterated either as ⟨Rossiyskaya Respublika⟩ or alternatively as ⟨Rossijskaja Respublika⟩.

Thomas the Apostle (Greek: Θωμᾶς, romanized: Thōmâs; Classical Syriac: ܬܐܘܡܐ, romanized: Tʾōmā, meaning 'the Twin'), also known as Didymus (Greek: Δίδυμος, romanized: Dídymos 'twin'), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Thomas is commonly known as "doubting Thomas" because he initially doubted the resurrection of Jesus when he was told of it (as is related in the Gospel of John); he later confessed his faith ("The lord of me and the God of me") on seeing the places where the wounds appeared still fresh on the holy body of Jesus after the Crucifixion of Jesus.

According to traditional accounts of the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala, Thomas travelled outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel, traveling through southern India in the modern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and eventually reached Muziris (modern-day North Paravur and Kodungalloor) in 52 AD. He started the Church of the East in the region around the Van Province, Edessa, and Hakkari regions of Upper Mesopotamia (modern-day southeastern Turkey), presumably sometime between mid-late 30s and 45, and spent many years evangelizing both Jews and pagans in the area before heading further east in the late 40s. In 1258, some of the relics were brought to Ortona, in Abruzzo, Italy, where they have been held in the Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle. He is regarded as the patron saint of India among its Christian adherents, and the Feast of Saint Thomas on July 3 is celebrated as Indian Christians' Day. The name Thomas remains quite popular among the Saint Thomas Christians of the Indian subcontinent.

The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical wording. They stand in contrast to John, whose content is largely distinct. The term synoptic (Latin: synopticus; Greek: συνοπτικός, romanized: synoptikós) comes via Latin from the Greek σύνοψις, synopsis, i.e. "(a) seeing all together, synopsis". The modern sense of the word in English is of "giving an account of the events from the same point of view or under the same general aspect". It is in this sense that it is applied to the synoptic gospels.

This strong parallelism among the three gospels in content, arrangement, and specific language is widely attributed to literary interdependence, though the role of orality and memorization of sources has also been explored by scholars. The question of the precise nature of their literary relationship—the synoptic problem—has been a topic of debate for centuries and has been described as "the most fascinating literary enigma of all time". While no conclusive solution has been found yet, the longstanding majority view favors Marcan priority, in which both Matthew and Luke have made direct use of the Gospel of Mark as a source, and further holds that Matthew and Luke also drew from an additional hypothetical document, called Q, though alternative hypotheses that posit direct use of Matthew by Luke or vice versa without Q are increasing in popularity within scholarship.

The West Syriac Rite, also called the Syro-Antiochian Rite and the West Syrian Rite, is an Eastern Christian liturgical rite that employs the Divine Liturgy of Saint James in the West Syriac dialect. It is practiced in the Maronite Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Syriac Catholic Church and various Malankara Churches of India (see the section on usage below). It is one of two main liturgical rites of Syriac Christianity, the other being the East Syriac Rite.It originated in the ancient Patriarchate of Antioch. It has more anaphora than any other rite.

Although the West Syriac liturgical tradition had always included many texts translated from Greek, this new influx of materials of Greek origin led to the emergence of two slightly different Syriac Orthodox traditions, that of Antioch, incorporating these new elements, and that of Tikrit, which did not incorporate it. It was essentially the Tikrit rite that was introduced into South India in the 18th and 19th century.