Podcasts about Copts

TRADCAST EXPRESS - Episode 216 Topics covered: Leo XIV weighs in on 'Cardinal' Cupich's lifetime achievement award for a pro-abortion and pro-LGBT 'Catholic' senator. Leo XIV's message to an interreligious conference in Bangladesh. Leo XIV's message to a an interreligious conference in Astana, Kazakhstan. In video message to people of Lampedusa, Leo XIV claims "enemies do not exist." Leo XIV presides over ceremony honoring ecumenical 'martyrs', omits line in Creed. Leo XIV releases Apostolic Letter Dilexi Te on love for the poor. Links: Video: "Pope Leo XIV comments on Cupich's plan to bestow award on Senator Durbin", EWTN News (Sep. 30, 2025) "USA: Pro-abortion politician declines Cardinal Cupich award: Pope Leo intervenes and Archbishop of Chicago issues this statement", Zenit (Oct. 1, 2025) Leo XIV, Message to Participants in the Interreligious Meeting in Bangladesh, Vatican.va (Aug. 28, 2025) Leo XIV, Message to Participants in the 8th Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana, Kazakhstan, Vatican.va (Sep. 14, 2025) "Leo XIV Backs 1986 Assisi Prayer Meeting, Abu Dhabi Declaration in Message to Interreligious Conference", Novus Ordo Wire (Sep. 17, 2025) "Francis to Interreligious Youth in Mozambique: 'Our Differences are Necessary'", Novus Ordo Wire (Sep. 7, 2019) Leo XIV, Video message on the occasion of the presentation of the candidacy of the ‘Gestures of Welcome' project to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in Lampedusa, Italy, Vatican.va (Sep. 12, 2025) John XXIII, Address Gaudet Mater Ecclesia (Oct. 11, 1962) Pope St. Pius X, Encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis (Sep. 8, 1907) Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Divini Redemptoris (Mar. 19, 1937) Book: Henri Fesquet, The Drama of Vatican II (New York, NY: Random House, 1967). See page 813. "Commemoration of the Martyrs and Witnesses of the Faith of the 21st century", Vatican.va (Sep. 14, 2025); booklet for ceremony HERE Video: "Commemoration New Martyrs and Witnesses to the Faith - 21st Century 14 September 2025 Pope Leo XIV", Vatican News (Sep. 14, 2025) Cindy Wooden, "Modern Christian martyrs show power of love in face of hatred, pope says", OSV News (not dated) Video: "Leo XIV and the Omission of the 'Filioque' from the Creed", Novus Ordo Watch (Sep. 17, 2025) "Knowing When to Swallow: Leo XIV Omits Controversial Line in Common Recitation of ‘Ecumenical' Creed", Novus Ordo Wire (Sep. 23, 2025) Pope Leo XIII, Apostolic Letter Testem Benevolentiae (Jan. 22, 1899) "Non-Catholic ‘Martyrs': Francis adds 21 murdered Copts as ‘Saints' to Roman Martyrology", Novus Ordo Wire (May 17, 2023) Leo XIV, Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te (Oct. 4, 2025) Sign up to be notified of new episode releases automatically at tradcast.org. Produced by NOVUSORDOWATCH.org Support us by making a tax-deductible contribution at NovusOrdoWatch.org/donate/

May is the month of Mary. In this week's episode we visit the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to learn about the history of the month of Mary and popular Marian devotions, such as praying the rosary. The Rosary is a Scripture-based prayer. It begins with the Apostles' Creed, which summarizes the great mysteries of the Catholic faith. The Our Father, which introduces each mystery, is from the Gospels. The first part of the Hail Mary is the angel's words announcing Christ's birth and Elizabeth's greeting to Mary. St. Pius V officially added the second part of the Hail Mary. The Mysteries of the Rosary center on the events of Christ's life. There are four sets of Mysteries: Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and––added by Saint John Paul II in 2002––the Luminous. Learn more about how to pray rosary. https://www.usccb.org/how-to-pray-the-rosary May is also Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. In this week's episode we highlight a story out of the Diocese of Tulsa which reflects the diversity and richness of our faith! Fr. Samuel Perez, Pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Miami, Oklahoma celebrates mass every weekend in Chuukese for local Micronesian Catholics in addition to five other masses in English and Spanish. People in the pews wear brightly colored traditional clothing and hairstyles. One Micronesian family from southwest Missouri makes the almost two-hour drive to hear Scriptures, prayers and songs in Chuukese. Adding a weekly Mass in Chuukese has improved not just Mass attendance but religious education enrollment at Sacred Heart, from 30 students to 120. Baptisms are up too: Father Perez's calendar in May had 11 baptisms for members of the Micronesian community. Farming jobs attracted many of Oklahoma's Micronesian natives from the island of Chuuk in the South Pacific. For their part, the community members are grateful that Father Perez has worked to learn their language and integrate their culture into the worship experience. “It shows that he really cares,” one altar server said. Father Perez points out that he made a lot of pronunciation mistakes early on, and he's still learning. There was no textbook; he caught on by repeating words his parishioners taught him. “They were very patient with me,” he said. “My accent is thick. I don't know how much they understand me, but it looks like they're OK with it.” Father Perez wants every Catholic to feel welcome and included in their Church home. “When God calls you to be a priest, you are called to serve all people.” The Diocese of Tulsa is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary jubilee year. Click here learn more about the Diocese and the Chuukese Catholic Community at Sacred Heart Church: https://dioceseoftulsa.org/ Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II, patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt, was at the Vatican to mark the 50th anniversary of a joint declaration signed by St. Paul VI and Pope Shenouda III in 1973 outlining the beliefs shared by their churches. Pope Tawadros II called for unity between Catholics and Copts during Pope Francis' general audience. Read the CNS Rome story: https://www.usccb.org/news/2023/pope-pope-let-our-churches-be-united-christs-love Watch the video of this historic meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCTAC7dE_uI

GUEST: Third Rail with Omar on a supposed "Epstein list," Trump, Israel's war in Gaza, Christian white Americans — and speaks Arabic to Copts in Egypt!The Hake Report, Thursday, July 24, 2025 ADLINKS: Third Rail with Omar https://youtube.com/@third_rail - https://x.com/thecomforter_1 - https://tiktok.com/@thirdrailomarTIMESTAMPS* (0:00:00) Start* (0:01:55) Disclaimer / Hulk Hogan RIP / Macron* (0:04:57) GUEST: Third_Rail Omar* (0:07:18) Hey, guys! I love boomers Hake tee* (0:08:43) Epstein list, Pam Bondi* (0:18:20) J people, scandals, Lewinsky, Bibi, Palestinians* (0:23:10) Hannibal Doctrine, Christians, Israel, war crimes* (0:30:30) LUCAS, CA: Why Trump say move on from Epstein?* (0:34:40) LUCAS' joke: Believe in God, and yet fight?* (0:36:28) Trump feeding suspicion? Men and women, Cheating* (0:40:37) Dan Bongino, blocked, dividing, Epstein hype, Young women* (0:48:01) Sion Coffee: Schools, wisdom. Omar a white ally.* (0:56:39) Coffee: Old Man Trump by Woodie Guthrie* (1:00:49) Super: Greggatron, shoutout Omar* (1:02:09) MARK, L.A.: Coverup; white groups, Islam* (1:08:15) MARK: Omar, WWII* (1:09:57) MARK: Omar, Mamdani, Communism vs Islam, Mahmoud Khalil* (1:15:16) MARK: How Omar people are white, history: Arabs* (1:16:30) MARK: Moon landing denial, willful ignorance, Space program* (1:18:52) WILLIAM III, CA: "genocide," babies* (1:25:31) WILLIAM III, WHM: Chesty Puller tip* (1:27:30) Red Sea, Houthis, Trump ceasefire* (1:29:09) Cesar Coffee: BASED guest* (1:29:48) ANTHONY, SoCal: Maxwell* (1:32:50) ANTHONY: Inbreeding issue* (1:33:59) ANTHONY: Tips, Arabs, Coptic Christians, going off* (1:36:03) ANTHONY: Speaking Arabic* (1:38:28) ANTHONY: Omar Sunni, Al-Baghdadi was Jewish?!* (1:41:28) ANTHONY: Anti-Copt Arabic* (1:42:47) ANTHONY: White ally until…* (1:43:47) ANTHONY: More Arabic* (1:44:17) You lost, it's over* (1:45:20) Super: "Kalergi plan" per Wikipedia* (1:50:38) Closing with Omar, greeting chat…BLOG https://www.thehakereport.com/blog/2025/7/24/the-hake-report-thu-7-24-25PODCAST / Substack HAKE NEWS from JLP https://www.thehakereport.com/jlp-news/2025/7/24/jlp-thu-7-24-25–Hake is live M-F 9-11a PT (11-1CT/12-2ET) Call-in 1-888-775-3773 https://www.thehakereport.com/showVIDEO: YT - Rumble* - Pilled - FB - X - BitChute (Live) - Odysee*PODCAST: Substack - Apple - Spotify - Castbox - Podcast Addict*SUPER CHAT https://buymeacoffee.com/thehakereportSHOP - Printify (new!) - Cameo | All My LinksJLP Network: JLP - Church - TFS - Nick - PunchieThe views expressed on this show do not represent BOND, Jesse Lee Peterson, the Network, this Host, or this platform. No endorsement or opposition implied!The show is for general information and entertainment, and everything should be taken with a grain of salt! Get full access to HAKE at thehakereport.substack.com/subscribe

Coptic Orthodox Christians comprise the largest Christian community in the Middle East and are among the oldest Christian communities in the world. While once the objects of American missionary efforts, in recent years Copts have been in the spotlight for their Christianity. A spate of ISIS-related bombings and attacks have garnered worldwide attention, leading to a series of efforts from US politicians, think tanks, and NGOs to re-channel their efforts into “saving” these Middle Eastern Christians from Muslims. The increased targeting of Copts has also contributed to the moral imaginary of the “Persecuted Church,” particularly among American evangelicals, which embraces the idea that Christians around the globe are currently being persecuted more than any other time in history.  Drawing on years of extensive fieldwork among Coptic migrants between Egypt and the United States, Martyrs and Migrants: Coptic Christians and the Persecution Politics of US Empire (NYU Press, 2025) examines how American religious imaginaries of global Christian persecution have remapped Coptic collective memory of martyrdom. Transnational Copts have navigated the sociopolitical conditions in Egypt and the global consequences of the US “war on terror” by translating their suffering into the ambiguous forms of religious and political visibility. Candace Lukasik argues that the commingling of American conservatives and Copts has shaped a new kind of Christian kinship in blood, operating through a double movement between glorification and racialization. Occupying a position between threat and victim, Copts from the Middle East have been subject to anti-terror surveillance in the US even as they have leveraged their roles as “persecuted Christians.” Through Lukasik's careful examination of the everyday processes shaping Coptic communal formation, Martyrs and Migrants broadly reveals how ideologies of spiritual kinship are forged through theological histories of martyrdom and of blood, demonstrating the global dynamics and imperial politics of contemporary Christianity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Coptic Orthodox Christians comprise the largest Christian community in the Middle East and are among the oldest Christian communities in the world. While once the objects of American missionary efforts, in recent years Copts have been in the spotlight for their Christianity. A spate of ISIS-related bombings and attacks have garnered worldwide attention, leading to a series of efforts from US politicians, think tanks, and NGOs to re-channel their efforts into “saving” these Middle Eastern Christians from Muslims. The increased targeting of Copts has also contributed to the moral imaginary of the “Persecuted Church,” particularly among American evangelicals, which embraces the idea that Christians around the globe are currently being persecuted more than any other time in history.  Drawing on years of extensive fieldwork among Coptic migrants between Egypt and the United States, Martyrs and Migrants: Coptic Christians and the Persecution Politics of US Empire (NYU Press, 2025) examines how American religious imaginaries of global Christian persecution have remapped Coptic collective memory of martyrdom. Transnational Copts have navigated the sociopolitical conditions in Egypt and the global consequences of the US “war on terror” by translating their suffering into the ambiguous forms of religious and political visibility. Candace Lukasik argues that the commingling of American conservatives and Copts has shaped a new kind of Christian kinship in blood, operating through a double movement between glorification and racialization. Occupying a position between threat and victim, Copts from the Middle East have been subject to anti-terror surveillance in the US even as they have leveraged their roles as “persecuted Christians.” Through Lukasik's careful examination of the everyday processes shaping Coptic communal formation, Martyrs and Migrants broadly reveals how ideologies of spiritual kinship are forged through theological histories of martyrdom and of blood, demonstrating the global dynamics and imperial politics of contemporary Christianity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-studies

Coptic Orthodox Christians comprise the largest Christian community in the Middle East and are among the oldest Christian communities in the world. While once the objects of American missionary efforts, in recent years Copts have been in the spotlight for their Christianity. A spate of ISIS-related bombings and attacks have garnered worldwide attention, leading to a series of efforts from US politicians, think tanks, and NGOs to re-channel their efforts into “saving” these Middle Eastern Christians from Muslims. The increased targeting of Copts has also contributed to the moral imaginary of the “Persecuted Church,” particularly among American evangelicals, which embraces the idea that Christians around the globe are currently being persecuted more than any other time in history.  Drawing on years of extensive fieldwork among Coptic migrants between Egypt and the United States, Martyrs and Migrants: Coptic Christians and the Persecution Politics of US Empire (NYU Press, 2025) examines how American religious imaginaries of global Christian persecution have remapped Coptic collective memory of martyrdom. Transnational Copts have navigated the sociopolitical conditions in Egypt and the global consequences of the US “war on terror” by translating their suffering into the ambiguous forms of religious and political visibility. Candace Lukasik argues that the commingling of American conservatives and Copts has shaped a new kind of Christian kinship in blood, operating through a double movement between glorification and racialization. Occupying a position between threat and victim, Copts from the Middle East have been subject to anti-terror surveillance in the US even as they have leveraged their roles as “persecuted Christians.” Through Lukasik's careful examination of the everyday processes shaping Coptic communal formation, Martyrs and Migrants broadly reveals how ideologies of spiritual kinship are forged through theological histories of martyrdom and of blood, demonstrating the global dynamics and imperial politics of contemporary Christianity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

Coptic Orthodox Christians comprise the largest Christian community in the Middle East and are among the oldest Christian communities in the world. While once the objects of American missionary efforts, in recent years Copts have been in the spotlight for their Christianity. A spate of ISIS-related bombings and attacks have garnered worldwide attention, leading to a series of efforts from US politicians, think tanks, and NGOs to re-channel their efforts into “saving” these Middle Eastern Christians from Muslims. The increased targeting of Copts has also contributed to the moral imaginary of the “Persecuted Church,” particularly among American evangelicals, which embraces the idea that Christians around the globe are currently being persecuted more than any other time in history.  Drawing on years of extensive fieldwork among Coptic migrants between Egypt and the United States, Martyrs and Migrants: Coptic Christians and the Persecution Politics of US Empire (NYU Press, 2025) examines how American religious imaginaries of global Christian persecution have remapped Coptic collective memory of martyrdom. Transnational Copts have navigated the sociopolitical conditions in Egypt and the global consequences of the US “war on terror” by translating their suffering into the ambiguous forms of religious and political visibility. Candace Lukasik argues that the commingling of American conservatives and Copts has shaped a new kind of Christian kinship in blood, operating through a double movement between glorification and racialization. Occupying a position between threat and victim, Copts from the Middle East have been subject to anti-terror surveillance in the US even as they have leveraged their roles as “persecuted Christians.” Through Lukasik's careful examination of the everyday processes shaping Coptic communal formation, Martyrs and Migrants broadly reveals how ideologies of spiritual kinship are forged through theological histories of martyrdom and of blood, demonstrating the global dynamics and imperial politics of contemporary Christianity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

Coptic Orthodox Christians comprise the largest Christian community in the Middle East and are among the oldest Christian communities in the world. While once the objects of American missionary efforts, in recent years Copts have been in the spotlight for their Christianity. A spate of ISIS-related bombings and attacks have garnered worldwide attention, leading to a series of efforts from US politicians, think tanks, and NGOs to re-channel their efforts into “saving” these Middle Eastern Christians from Muslims. The increased targeting of Copts has also contributed to the moral imaginary of the “Persecuted Church,” particularly among American evangelicals, which embraces the idea that Christians around the globe are currently being persecuted more than any other time in history.  Drawing on years of extensive fieldwork among Coptic migrants between Egypt and the United States, Martyrs and Migrants: Coptic Christians and the Persecution Politics of US Empire (NYU Press, 2025) examines how American religious imaginaries of global Christian persecution have remapped Coptic collective memory of martyrdom. Transnational Copts have navigated the sociopolitical conditions in Egypt and the global consequences of the US “war on terror” by translating their suffering into the ambiguous forms of religious and political visibility. Candace Lukasik argues that the commingling of American conservatives and Copts has shaped a new kind of Christian kinship in blood, operating through a double movement between glorification and racialization. Occupying a position between threat and victim, Copts from the Middle East have been subject to anti-terror surveillance in the US even as they have leveraged their roles as “persecuted Christians.” Through Lukasik's careful examination of the everyday processes shaping Coptic communal formation, Martyrs and Migrants broadly reveals how ideologies of spiritual kinship are forged through theological histories of martyrdom and of blood, demonstrating the global dynamics and imperial politics of contemporary Christianity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coptic Orthodox Christians comprise the largest Christian community in the Middle East and are among the oldest Christian communities in the world. While once the objects of American missionary efforts, in recent years Copts have been in the spotlight for their Christianity. A spate of ISIS-related bombings and attacks have garnered worldwide attention, leading to a series of efforts from US politicians, think tanks, and NGOs to re-channel their efforts into “saving” these Middle Eastern Christians from Muslims. The increased targeting of Copts has also contributed to the moral imaginary of the “Persecuted Church,” particularly among American evangelicals, which embraces the idea that Christians around the globe are currently being persecuted more than any other time in history.  Drawing on years of extensive fieldwork among Coptic migrants between Egypt and the United States, Martyrs and Migrants: Coptic Christians and the Persecution Politics of US Empire (NYU Press, 2025) examines how American religious imaginaries of global Christian persecution have remapped Coptic collective memory of martyrdom. Transnational Copts have navigated the sociopolitical conditions in Egypt and the global consequences of the US “war on terror” by translating their suffering into the ambiguous forms of religious and political visibility. Candace Lukasik argues that the commingling of American conservatives and Copts has shaped a new kind of Christian kinship in blood, operating through a double movement between glorification and racialization. Occupying a position between threat and victim, Copts from the Middle East have been subject to anti-terror surveillance in the US even as they have leveraged their roles as “persecuted Christians.” Through Lukasik's careful examination of the everyday processes shaping Coptic communal formation, Martyrs and Migrants broadly reveals how ideologies of spiritual kinship are forged through theological histories of martyrdom and of blood, demonstrating the global dynamics and imperial politics of contemporary Christianity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies

In this episode we host Dr. Candace Lukasik, an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion. In March 2025, she published her book titled “Martyrs and Migrants: Coptic Christians and the Persecution Politics of US Empire.” We discuss her book as well as her research as a whole.

The method by which the Orthodox Church receives converts is a very controversial topic, and one which has provoked much online discussion. Should a convert be received by baptism, by chrismation alone, or perhaps simply after a recantation of previously-held errors? All three methods have been used in the past. And which groups should be received in which ways? Should the Oriental Orthodox (such as Copts and Armenians) be received in the same way as Pentecostals? What about Roman Catholics? The issue is far from clear, and has usually generated much more heat than light.

The method by which the Orthodox Church receives converts is a very controversial topic, and one which has provoked much online discussion. Should a convert be received by baptism, by chrismation alone, or perhaps simply after a recantation of previously-held errors? All three methods have been used in the past. And which groups should be received in which ways? Should the Oriental Orthodox (such as Copts and Armenians) be received in the same way as Pentecostals? What about Roman Catholics? The issue is far from clear, and has usually generated much more heat than light.

Amr ibn Al-Aas (ra), Session 59 The Fox of The Arabs  Tears in Palestine. Umar's (ra) mention of Khalid ibn Al Waleed (ra), 'If Khalid (ra) was alive, I would have made him the Caliph... ' (Siyar). 21 AH, Khalid (ra) departs the world, Amr (ra) is 75 years old. The nephew of our Mother Maymoona (raa), cousin of Umar (ra).... The scribe of The Messenger  The Land of Egypt 'When you conquer Egypt be kind to the Copts for they owe us an obligation and they have blood ties with us. Ismaeel (as) mother was from them (Haakim). Amr (ra) enters Egypt via Raffa.

Amr ibn Al-Aas (ra), Session 60 The Fox of The Arabs  Sayyidaa Hajar (raa), The Kings Daughter Alyoon, the ancient name of Egypt The Battle of Al Faramaa A fierce battle that lasted for 1 month. The Battle of Bilbees and The End of Arthaboon Amr (ra) enters peace talks with the Primates of The Egyptian Church... The Priests state, 'No other than the known Prophets (as) have regard for such relations.... Sayyidaa Hajar (raa) was the daughter of our king and belonged to Ahlul Manf who were the ruling family. However, The Ahlul Aynush Shams Kingdom attacked them, killed many of them, seized the kingdom and the rest of them were forced into exile. Manf was the name of the City of the Egyptian Pharaoh, originally the Copts called it Manaafah, Surah 28 v15. Then Sayyidaa Hajar (raa) became the wife of Ibraheem (as) indeed his coming was most welcome...(Taareekh).

Amr ibn Al-Aas (ra), Session 62 The Fox of The Arabs  The End of Emperor Heraclius. Amr (ra) shows the Copts a spectacle, he orders his men to eat & drink as they normally would, like nomads. The second day, the same men dress and eat just like the Egyptians  Amr (ra) reminds the Copts that his men defeated them whilst in the first state. Umar (ra), 'Amr (ra) is cunning and his war is subtle, not violent like that of others.'(Tabree). The Conquest of Alexandria, the foremost trading centre of the World. Heraculis, 'If the Arabs seize Alexandria then that will signal the end of Byzantine rule.' The End of Emperor Heraclius. All the efforts of The Romans are exhausted & So God Works in a Mysterious Way.

Dr. v. Oefele states of pharmacy before the time of Hippocrates, that although the practice of medicine was not separated from pharmacy among the Greeks and Romans, there was such a separation among the ancient Egyptians, from whom the distinction was handed down to the Copts, and by them to the Arabians; and, in fact,...

Sunday December 10, 2023 Jumada al-Ula 26, 1445   This episode ushers the discussion of Sira into the seventh year after the Hijra in the post-Hudaybiyya environment, and looks at the Prophet's many letters sent to various rulers outside of Arabia, focusing on his letters to the Negus of Abyssinia, the Kaisar of the Byzantines, the Kisra of the Persians, and Muqawqis of the Copts.

Part 3 of our 3 part series on the Abrahamic religions. The Eleventh Hour presents the religion that is and always has been at war with the dark forces that dominate our world. Christendom, the inheritance of Western Man, is the primary target of the (((globalists))) because it stands in opposition to their master. Listen to Phalanxman and Ricky Bobby deliver a full-spectrum special covering the story of our religion all the way to the present existential danger to our way of life as the West. CORRECTION: Phalanxman mistakenly attributed the Nestorian heresy to the Copts rather than the Monophysite heresy. We, at the Eleventh Hour, always seek to give an honest presentation of the facts and sometimes mistakes are made. Here are the translated lyrics for the break music used in this special: Intro Music: Selah by Kanye followed by The Terrifying Judgement sung by the Children's Choir of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Terrifying Judgement: Here comes the Lord with His armies! Let our foes be ashamed! Let them be ashamed, let them repent! Look how the Heavenly Armies are glowing! How glowing are they! How loud are they! Tall mountains are falling before them! Tall mountains and earthly emperors! Look the Lord is coming to enthrone Himself! Seraphims are charging! Cherubims are following! All of Earth is burning, everything is smoking! All is smoking! We can't breathe! The Joy and Horror cannot be described! No one to describe the miracle of miracles, when sinful Earth is tightened by the Heavens! Heaven tightens us by its nearness! Then Earth is at the End! Armies after armies are coming from Heaven! Angels sound! The just acclaim! The just acclaim, "Here comes the Lord! Let soil and water disappear!" Soil and water are disappearing! Look! It is happening, what the Scriptures foretold! What the Scriptures foretold, everything is happening! New Sky and Earth are being born! Here comes the Lord! Humans are resurrecting! Here He comes to judge the world! To judge the world and save the flock! The Universe is rumbling and roaring! Rumbling and roaring are Earth and Heaven! Our gold and silver are useless now! Gold and silver are at an end! And let You shine, The God's Son! Break 1: Save, o Lord, Your People! Save, o Lord, Your People: Save, o Lord, Your People! And bless Your Inheritance! Grant victory to our Emperor over the barbarians! And preserve Your dwelling-place! By the power of Your Cross! Break 2: Blessed Are You, O Lord, Teach Me Your Statutes (English) Break 3: Christ Is Risen! (English) Break 4: Agni Parthene Agni Parthene: O Virgin pure, immaculate, O Lady Theotokos, O rejoice, Bride unwedded! O fleece bedewed with every grace, O Virgin Queen and Mother, O rejoice, Bride unwedded! More radiant than the rays of sun, and higher than the heavens, ... Break 5: Trysagion Hymn (First English Then Greek) Outro: The Last Stand by Sabaton --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the11thhour/message

Part 3 of our 3 part series on the Abrahamic religions. The Eleventh Hour presents the religion that is and always has been at war with the dark forces that dominate our world. Christendom, the inheritance of Western Man, is the primary target of the (((globalists))) because it stands in opposition to their master. Listen to Phalanxman and Ricky Bobby deliver a full-spectrum special covering the story of our religion all the way to the present existential danger to our way of life as the West. CORRECTION: Phalanxman mistakenly attributed the Nestorian heresy to the Copts rather than the Monophysite heresy. We, at the Eleventh Hour, always seek to give an honest presentation of the facts and sometimes mistakes are made. Here are the translated lyrics for the break music used in this special: Intro Music: Selah by Kanye followed by The Terrifying Judgement sung by the Children's Choir of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Terrifying Judgement: Here comes the Lord with His armies! Let our foes be ashamed! Let them be ashamed, let them repent! Look how the Heavenly Armies are glowing! How glowing are they! How loud are they! Tall mountains are falling before them! Tall mountains and earthly emperors! Look the Lord is coming to enthrone Himself! Seraphims are charging! Cherubims are following! All of Earth is burning, everything is smoking! All is smoking! We can't breathe! The Joy and Horror cannot be described! No one to describe the miracle of miracles, when sinful Earth is tightened by the Heavens! Heaven tightens us by its nearness! Then Earth is at the End! Armies after armies are coming from Heaven! Angels sound! The just acclaim! The just acclaim, "Here comes the Lord! Let soil and water disappear!" Soil and water are disappearing! Look! It is happening, what the Scriptures foretold! What the Scriptures foretold, everything is happening! New Sky and Earth are being born! Here comes the Lord! Humans are resurrecting! Here He comes to judge the world! To judge the world and save the flock! The Universe is rumbling and roaring! Rumbling and roaring are Earth and Heaven! Our gold and silver are useless now! Gold and silver are at an end! And let You shine, The God's Son! Break 1: Save, o Lord, Your People! Save, o Lord, Your People: Save, o Lord, Your People! And bless Your Inheritance! Grant victory to our Emperor over the barbarians! And preserve Your dwelling-place! By the power of Your Cross! Break 2: Blessed Are You, O Lord, Teach Me Your Statutes (English) Break 3: Christ Is Risen! (English) Break 4: Agni Parthene Agni Parthene: O Virgin pure, immaculate, O Lady Theotokos, O rejoice, Bride unwedded! O fleece bedewed with every grace, O Virgin Queen and Mother, O rejoice, Bride unwedded! More radiant than the rays of sun, and higher than the heavens, ... Break 5: Trysagion Hymn (First English Then Greek) Outro: The Last Stand by Sabaton --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the11thhour/message

Show notes and Transcript James Delingpole is a well known podcaster and social commentator who never minces his words, but he is also a man of deep faith and he returns to Hearts of Oak to tell us the story of how he rediscovered his Christian beliefs.  In the UK, faith is a private matter that seems taboo and must never be discussed with others yet James is determined to go against this protocol as he knows the importance of faith and belief.  He had a very traditional English childhood where the Church of England was a constant through his education, but once free from those schooling constraints he went his own way.  But he has now gone full circle and re-embraced Christianity and found a whole new purpose in life.  He shares with us how he now feels called to encourage others to find a meaning for their lives, James' boldness, clarity and certainty is an inspiration in an age of confusion and chaos. James Delingpole is a writer, journalist, broadcaster, podcaster and columnist who has written for a number of publications, including the Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and The Spectator. He writes regularly for Breitbart London and has also published several novels and political books. James has published articles rejecting the scientific consensus on climate change and he has not been silent in these current crazy times, a fountain of knowledge and common sense when it comes to COVID, The Great Reset, conspiracies and tyrannical political control. And not forgetting, he is the host of the brilliant, popular and ever entertaining podcast, The Delingpod..... which can be found on all good podcast apps. Connect with James at the links below... Website      http://delingpoleworld.com/ Podcast      https://delingpole.podbean.com/ X                 http://twitter.com/jamesdelingpole Instagram  http://instagram.com/delingpodclips Substack   https://delingpole.substack.com/ Interview recorded 20.9.23 *Special thanks to Bosch Fawstin for recording our intro/outro on this podcast. Check out his art https://theboschfawstinstore.blogspot.com/ and follow him on GETTR https://gettr.com/user/BoschFawstin and Twitter https://twitter.com/TheBoschFawstin?s=20  To sign up for our weekly email, find our social media, podcasts, video, livestreaming platforms and more... https://heartsofoak.org/connect/ Support Hearts of Oak by purchasing one of our fancy T-Shirts.... https://heartsofoak.org/shop/ Please subscribe, like and share! Transcript (Hearts of Oak) It is wonderful to have Mr Delingpod back with us again, James Delingpole. James, thank you so much for your time today.  (James Delingpole) It's a pleasure, Peter.  Great to have you, and obviously you can follow James there is his Twitter handle, and Delingpod will bring up, everywhere and anywhere where the Delingpod is, whether it's audio you listen on the go, or whether you watch. I certainly enjoy it on Rumble, but I'll let the viewers and listeners choose their preferred platform to watch your many interviews. Now, James, I wanted to have you on. Actually, as I mentioned to you before we went on, it was chatting to Dick at the Comcast event at the beginning of the year. And the issue of faith came up in one after one of the sessions over a few drinks. So I was curious and wanted you to come on. I know there's something you've talked about, but maybe if I can step back a little bit and ask you what was your background kind of growing up in terms of faith and church? I have probably the classic background for a certain kind of Englishman, let's say. So I went to a prep school where we had chapel seven days a week, twice on Sundays, and then I went to a public school where there was a fairly similar arrangement. And I went to church at Christmas and possibly Easter. I think at the time I didn't really know it, but I was what I would probably call now a cultural Christian. I believed in the Church of England as a kind of institution, as part of the fabric of our heritage, you know, you had all the beautiful churches run about the country. You had the vicar judging the marrows in the village fete and more tea vicar. And the church was there for when you got married and when you got buried, when you got christened. And this was part of the sort of the ritual formality that binds our country. I still respect that element, although I think it's greatly diminished in our culture. But in what you might call my normie days, I would have made a very good case, for the cultural importance of Christianity and of the Church of England, and just sort of giving a degree of shape and meaning to our lives. But what I didn't really, I didn't, I wouldn't say I was an atheist. I know I wasn't an atheist, because when I was at my prep school, I remember arriving at my prep school, I would have been about eight. And you get dropped off by your parents. And then the headmaster and headmistress pretend to be all friendly, like they do in front of your parents. And then your parents go. And then suddenly, you are. It's like being in prison. It really is like being in prison. You are shown to your dormitory. And your bed is not the comfy bed you had at home, where mommy kind of tucked you in and read you a story. It's this grim prison bed with this lumpy mattress and these scratchy blankets. And you're in a dormitory with these boys who, some of them, are crying in their pillows and stuff. And I remember that first night. And what do you do? I remember saying my prayers. Because I'd seen my dad, when I was very, very young, one of my earliest memories is going into my parents' bedroom and seeing my father kneeling down by his bed every night. He said his prayers. And so for me, it was something that you did. So I said my prayers. And I wonder now, looking back, whether a bit like, I think that I did myself a lot of good later on in life by being a cross-country runner at school. When you develop your lung capacity and your stamina at that age, it stands you in good stead for later life. And in a way, I wonder whether my prayers put me on the right footing, with God. And I suppose, did I say my prayers when I was at my public school at Morven? Probably I did. But as you know, there is a massive, there is a sort of cultural cringe towards Christianity, which I now understand is the work of the devil. You know, if you are the devil and the devil does exist. If you are the devil and you've got this institution, Christianity. How are you going to undermine it? Well, I think if you attack it head-on, what you're probably going to find is that people are going to resist and they're going to defend it. It's a bit like when big government pushes too hard. I just done a podcast with somebody who's, sorry, excuse my digressions here, but I quite like a digression. I just done a podcast with Monica Smit and Monica Smit, got, did 23 days in solitary confinement in an Australian prison cell because this punishment for resisting all the kind of vaccine mandates. And she was describing what it was like in the the state of Victoria, which, of all the places in the West, had about the most draconian COVID regulations anywhere in the world. And she said that there was a protest outside the state parliament in Victoria, in Melbourne. Which attracted 600,000 people, 600,000 people. The population, I think, of Victoria is 6 million. So when you discount all the people who were too young to attend or too old to attend, she reckoned it was probably about half of the state was up in arms against it. Because Dan Andrews, their wicked premier, pushed too hard. And I think it's the same where the devil knows this. The devil's a clever fellow. So he knows that if you want to undermine Christianity, you don't attack it head on. What you do is you make it this slightly embarrassing, uncool thing. And you infiltrate the church by making sure that you get priests, clerics, who don't really, they think that Christianity needs updating. You know, that Bible stuff, it's so old-fashioned. It's just like, they're not really. They're not very progressive on issues like homosexuality. And really, you need kind of gay marriage to, because the Bible was, happened a long time ago, and we've moved on since then. And also, you need, instead of psalms and robust hymns written by Charles Wesley with Jolly Tunes, what you need is people strumming guitars. And you need to rewrite the service book. So instead of having the old liturgy with its robust, sonorous, and beautiful language. You replace it with this touchy-feely, limp, toe rag, limp dishcloth stuff that's designed to make you feel awkward and embarrassed and to take you away from the numinous, from the spiritual side of things, which is the only side that really eats. In fact, what you do is you keep the religion, but you remove God. You remove the key element. And one of the things that's really excited me about my sort of discovery or rediscovery of Christianity is to realize that the supernatural element, the element which has largely been written out of Christianity in our secular culture, is the stuff that really matters. Because God is real. God created the Earth. I mean, despite what we're taught at schools, we're taught evolutionary theory is evolutionary fact. And it just doesn't stand up when you look into it. So my journey of faith has been rediscovering that God is real, that angels are real. Two of my followers, whatever we want to call them, have seen angels. I know demons are real. There's a friend of mine who can actually see the demons feeding off people. They harvest our emotional energy. Once you understand that this earthly world, the materium, is merely a kind of Earth-bound reflection of what is happening above in the spiritual realm, Only then do you really understand the nature of reality. Can I, I agree on that? When I talk to atheists, I say, I wish I had your faith to believe in nothing. When you see the complexity of the world.  Yeah, that's a good one. But can you, I'm assuming that when you left school, you kind of left that behind. I'm hearing kind of your faith as in prayer, that ritual was part of the education, but when you finish education, you left that behind, or did you keep some of that? More or less, more or less. I had an interesting period where, when I had children. And every parent goes through this, how do you get your child into a school that is not totally shit, that is not going to break the bank. So in the early days, most of us, can't afford private education for our children. I mean, I did go private later on, but by various means, you know, sort of bursaries and helpful relatives and things like that. But you think, okay, well, got to get them into it, ideally a church. I can't do a Catholic school, because I'm not a Catholic, but Church of England Primary. And quite a lot of Church of England Primary schools know they've got you by the balls. They know that this is a way of enforcing church attendance among parents. So then it came down to what? Most churches are really grim places. And I mean, talking back then, the modern equivalent of talking about Zelensky and climate change, that they've got all these values which have nothing to do with Christianity. So you think, well, and some of them have really long services as well, really, really boring services. Luckily, we had family connections, traditions with a fantastic church called Chelsea Old Church on the embankment. It was Thomas Moore's church, I think. So lots of people have worshipped there. And it had a really good vicar called Peter Elvey. And Peter Elvey and his marvellous assistant, Susan Gaskell, who was this, she liked to sort of have a glass of champagne at 11 in the morning and with a few cigarettes. She was proper old school. And the congregation was really quite pucker. And this appealed to my snobbery apart from anything else. And I like the fact this is an old church. And I think it used the Book of Common Prayer, I think. But they had this great children's service. And in the middle of the service, they had a really good dressing up box. And if you were lucky, your children would be selected to act out whatever the day's scripture, what the day's reading was. And I started taking part in organizing this. And sometimes I would do some of the quizzes where you'd quiz the children on what been said in the story, and testing them, and throwing mini Mars bars to the child who got it. So I quite liked this. I didn't become a God-botherer.  So this was your first, what, this may be 15 years ago, whatever. This is your first step back into the church, is it?  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly, exactly. But it reminded me of some of the things that are good about the church. But more, Do you know what, at the time I justified this to myself more on, I remember going back to my school, back to Malvern, and talking to one of the few staff that remained from my period there. He was a history teacher, and he was describing to me how children would come up, would start at, 13 year olds would arrive at the school, and none of them would know basic things like the biblical stories, which I think are one of the bedrocks of our culture. And this really matters to me. I mean, regardless of what you think about the spiritual element, we are a Christian country. Our literature, for example, which is possibly our greatest artistic speciality, if you like. Our literature is steeped in religious learning. I mean, I studied The Dream of the Rude. Anglo-Saxon poetry is all about Christ and the cross and stuff. And then you go through to Chaucer and Shakespeare and so on. Milton, obviously. They all have an understanding, they all write on the assumption that their audience knows things like the water into wine and all the stories. And I found it shocking that I was living in a world where this stuff had been written out of our history. Probably the generation after mine is the first generation in a thousand or more years that doesn't understand the basics of the Bible. And that was shocking. So I saw it as a cultural thing. I thought it was part of my children's education, number one. And probably also at the time, I believed something which I do not believe now. I thought that the great clash of, the great war, if you like, was between Christianity and fundamentalist Islam. I didn't realize that almost all alleged Muslim attacks are actually false flag operations masterminded by the dark side. So I thought, it's Lord of the Rings time. There is evil out there, and we can see what the evil looks like. And we've got to know what side we're on. We're on the side of Judeo-Christian culture, as I would have called it at the time. So I saw it as a cultural thing rather than as a spiritual thing. So there came a point, I want to pick up on that, cultural Christianity near the end, because it's something I've been pondering about a lot, listening to a lot of commentators. But for you, you talked about going back to church. Then was there a wake-up point, or is it gradually, when you begun to realize, actually the Bible is true, God is real, and that then requires a response from me.  That came later. So, about just before the fake pandemic craziness, I got very invested in Donald Trump. I thought that Donald Trump was was going to save us. I don't think that anymore. I don't believe there are any white hats. I think they're all compromised. But at the time, I sensed that something was very, very, very wrong with the world. And I think a lot of people who go down the rabbit hole have this traumatic experience in some way, whether it's somebody who's had all their money taken away by the banks, that they thought banks were respectable, or whatever. My own trauma was seeing the leadership of the free world, as I believed it was then, stolen in real time by skulduggery of such breath-taking overtness. It was so blatant. And I saw the entirety of the media, which I'd thought of as a journalist of 30 years, I thought, well, the media's job is to speak truth to power and all the things that Toby Young still believes in. I thought, well, the media will never allow this to happen. They're going to point out all this blatant stuff, ballot papers being discovered by the lorry load, filled in and stuff, and footage from the various counting stations and so on. Anyway, it didn't happen. I saw that the mainstream media, which I trusted to tell the truth, was gaslighting everyone, into believing that actually this was normal and that this senile, incontinent crook in the pay of communist China and stuff, who'd never even gone on the road because his handlers couldn't bear to let such a liability anywhere near the electorate, that somehow this guy Joe Biden had won and worst of all was all the people I'd thought of as my comrades in arms, the people who I thought of as the band of brothers who were going to fight with me in the foxholes alongside me, and I could trust them to guard my flanks because we were all in this one together, that great battle for freedom, for truth, they were participating in this lie. And it was a real, real, OK. I mean, I was desperately naïve. I think most of us are, though. I think because we're subject to this brainwashing process from the earliest stage. Our parents, who know no better, tell us. And then our schools brainwash us. And then the media brainwashes. And the entertainment industry brainwashes us. So it was really, and I went through this period of about three months where, I mean, I almost had a breakdown, actually. And then you start looking into various other things, trying to make sense of the world. And you realize that the whole world is a lie and an illusion, and that there are really, really bad people in charge. And that is the stage where you go from red-pilled to black-pilled. You think, we are totally stuffed. But then, parallel to this, there were various awakening moments. So I started noticing in my podcast that I was starting to talk about that I was, I started mentioning God more, and I was starting to talk about being on a mission from God. And I said it half flippantly. But I began to realize that actually, no, I wasn't saying this flippantly at all. I remember doing a podcast with Jamie Franklin from a Irreverend Pod. Yeah. And Jamie said to me, you know, I've noticed that some of the language you've started using is really quite, you know, religious, Christian in its overtones. And I thought, yeah, you're right, Jamie. What's going on here? There were a few other things, because it didn't... there wasn't a... A saw line moment of sort of blinding realization. It wasn't as simple as that. I remember I did a podcast with Jerry Marzynski, the psychiatrist from Arizona who'd worked a lot with paranoid schizophrenic in high security hospitals and prisons. And it's worth listening to the two podcasts I did with him, but Jerry, unlike most psychiatrists or prison shrinks, who'd prefer to dose their patients with chemical cosh's and just like, you know, turn them into zombies. He actually took the trouble to listen to what they were saying about the voices in their heads. And he discovered there was remarkable consistency in what the voices in the heads were saying was the sort of thing that demons would say, because these things are demons. And he found that the most effective treatment of these demons was the 23rd Psalm. So I thought that's interesting. I get kind of voices in my head, not demonic voices. Well, I mean, I think they are demonic voices. But I think when you say to yourself things like, God, you're such an idiot. I bloody hate you, you bastard, you stupid. I hate you. You really you'd be better off dead. You should die. I hate you. I used to get that all the time, especially after nights drinking, whatever, and stuff. So I started learning the 23rd Psalm, and then I learned Psalm 91. And then I thought, I quite like these Psalms. And what I found was that the Psalms made me based, for want of a better word, the Psalms are a great solace. And it's not without reason, I think, that novice monks, the first job when they joined the monastery was to learn the Psalter. They learned the whole lot, all 150 of the Psalms. The enemy, the forces of darkness, the Russell Brands of this world, they use words. They use words like spells, and the dark side uses spells. Christians too have spells, but we don't call them spells, because that's what they are. They are a form of magic, but they're holy magic. And when you say the Psalms, it gives you... you put on the whole armour of God. They protect you. They protect you from the dark forces. And I mean, There were other moments too. I found that I would have moments where... I didn't have a voice saying, I am God, and thou art my chosen one to go. But I do very much feel, really, really feel, that I've been given a mission, a purpose.  And my purpose is twofold. It's one to red pill people, and one to white pill people. And I feel really, really comfortable about that. I don't feel at all embarrassed about talking about Christianity. When I go out into the world, when I'm hunting, for example, and the fact that I go hunting pisses some people off. And I say to them, OK, I wrote a piece about this on Substack once. I say, the world is controlled by Satanists who sacrifice children to the devil, and you're worried about fox hunting. Get real. I think anyone who's against fox hunting is not actually fit to be properly awake, so they don't get it. They don't get that the war on hunting is part of the forces of darkness's war on humanity generally, on us ordinary people. If you saw how communities are bound by rural communities, economically they're bound, socially they're bound, the qualities that they instil in the people who do it, you know, courage, camaraderie, a love of the countryside, you know, we even love the fox for goodness sake, I mean, because the fox is a key part of the deal and we respect the fox, we like the fox, the fox is our quarry, okay, he's our enemy in the sense that he trashes chickens and stuff, and if you've seen the hen house after a fox has been in there, it's carnage. Everything that's going on in the world right now is a war on humanity, and we are created in God's image. And that is why they do it. That is why they divide us in all sorts of ways, whether it's through religious schisms, whether it's through things like animal rights, a division between artificial entirely, I think, created by propaganda, between meat-eaters and non-meat-eaters. Almost every division in society is created by the forces of darkness to divide. I think, left to our own devices, we'd all get on really quite well. We wouldn't have wars. We definitely would not have wars. Wars are all engineered by a tiny, tiny, tiny satanic, class. Where am I going with this? I can't remember what the question was. Actually, on the Psalms, you talk about the Psalms, reading the 23rd Plasms, 91st and others. You've just started a series on the Psalms. Gavin Ashenden, I think, was the second one I watched that. That's intriguing because the only other person, I think I've seen Alistair Williams do, kind of looking at different parts of the Bible. It's something that's frowned upon, as you said, frowned upon in the UK. It's not the American right that where people are fairly open about faith, whether it's real or not. So what led you to actually going through the Psalms and talking about it? Because that's quite a step change. It puts you out there, makes you vulnerable. It's outside your lane, all of that stuff.  Yeah. They came about me like bees, which are extinct, even as the fire among the thorns. How could you not respond to language like that? I mean, the language of the liturgy is up there with Shakespeare. It was written about the same period. I mean, I just quoted, I hope accurately, the psalm I'm just learning, which is Psalm 118. The one I've been using is, I started out using the King James versions of the version of Psalm 23, and then just KJV. But then a lot of the psalm translations in KJV borrow quite heavily from Myles Coverdale, who was translating them about 50 or 60 years earlier. And I think there's a greater charm in his translations. And so those are the ones used in the Book of Common Prayer, which were were the psalms I learned at prep school, or the psalms we sang at prep school. And I remember at school. And I was thinking, why? Why are we singing these dirgy, I mean, OK, some of the hymns are bad enough. But the psalms, you didn't really know what the point of them was. They were just, but looking back, I'm glad that I've got these phrases lodged in my head, which I was, it was like having a kind of Proust-Madeleine moment where I came back to learning these psalms and recognizing these familiar phrases which I'd resented singing at school or sort of croaking at school, you know, the fowls of the air and the fishes of the sea, and whatsoever walketh through the paths of the sea, so Lord our governor, Herakles, which is my name, in all the world. There was a point, and I doubt even the head of music, who was also one of the school's benders, who used to molest us, I'm sure was the case in most prep schools. Everyone had a kind of molesty master. I doubt he was much of a Christian, not least because he introduced with relish the alternative service book of the 1970s, that horrible yellow band thing with the horrible modern liturgy. So he was probably part of Satan's mission. But anyway, unwittingly, he inculcated us with the language of Miles Coverdale, which has stayed with me since. The Psalms are as, I mean, I'd love to be able to speak Hebrew and read them in the original Hebrew. But certainly in their translation by Coverdale and the team that put together the King James version. They work as literature. They also work as a form of solace, because what they do is tell you that however bad things may get, God is there for you. They're kind of like an instruction manual. It is better to trust in the Lord than put any confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than put any confidence in princes. I mean, if you learn those two lines, in fact, one of them would do, it'd be a very good manual for living out your life, because you wouldn't be putting your trust in Russell Brand. You wouldn't be putting your trust in Donald Trump. you wouldn't be trusting, you just remind yourself that the most important thing is God. And the better your relationship with God, the better life you have. Because God works his holy magic. I mean, all Christians can testify this. All real Christians know that this stuff is not imaginary, that there are ways that God helps you, that the supernatural, the crazy stuff works. And the Psalms were a daily reminder of this. And so if you can ideally learn them, because you inhabit them more thoroughly than you do when you're reading them. I mean, I have a treasury of poetry in my head as well. I learned a representative poem by pretty much all our great poets. I mean, I don't practice them as much now because I'm too busy reciting the psalms in my head. But when you learn poetry, with your stumbling process by which you memorize these poems and you get it wrong, you actually go through the process the poet went through when he was writing this poem. And in the same way, I think when you learn the psalms, you, well, you inhabit them, and they inhabit you, and that is a lovely thing to have running through you every day. Yeah, because there are numerous times in the Psalms where it says, tell my soul, speak to my soul, and it is a framework. It changes your focus, not only the Psalms, but Proverbs, a guide for living, and whatever you're going through personally, that is what gives you hope, and you're right. If you soak in that, you're infused with that, then that affects what you do. They have direct practical uses as well. For example, Psalm 91, which is a warrior's psalm. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee.". This, I understand, is the prayer recited by the US Marine Corps when they go into action, and probably many other soldiers as well. And it protects you. It protects you. So that's a good psalm to have up your sleeve.  You talk about confidence in what the Bible teaches about taking that on and that becomes who you are. I'm curious because when I look at the Church of England and doubt and how that fits, I mean I grew up a pastor's kid, Baptist church, it was certainty, it was absolute, you knew what you believed. Then you look at the Church of England and kind of there's a lot of fear of offending, and I guess doubt becomes a virtue. I'm intrigued with that, where I like the absolute uncertainty that parts of the church bring to the Bible, it is the Word of God, it is true, where The Church of England  seems to struggle with that sense of truth. Well, I don't think it's just the Church of England. I think that all the, well certainly, the Roman Catholic Church, certainly the Church of England, probably most churches, have been infiltrated by the forces of darkness. Obviously, as you would. I mean, if you were devil, it would be your key target. The Pope is the anti-Pope. The Pope is definitely batting for the wrong team. So is Welby. And yet, I quite like, I'm quite enjoying the fact at the moment that I am a sort of floating voter in that notionally I'm C of E. But I find much that is good in the Calvinists I speak to and in the Catholics, particularly the Latin mass. And it enables me, I think, to speak to all Christians rather than... I mean, I love the Orthodox Church. You're like, wow, I'd quite like to be an Orthodox monk on Mount Athos. But-  We could do that together. That'd be good fun.  It'd be fun. It saddens me that there are these- you see it on my telegram channels, that the Baptists and so on, and the Calvinists and whatever, they think that Catholicism isn't really Christianity because they accuse them of worshipping Mary and saying prayers to saints and stuff. And it's a throwback to the emperor Constantine. He never really converted to Christianity. That was just fake. And what he did was he borrowed all the kind of pagan goddesses and you know all this and I'm thinking... God. I don't want to speak for God. But I have a feeling that God is looking at these schisms and going, guys, lighten up, will you? You're all doing pretty much the right thing. I don't believe that he is so picky, that he is saying, well, the Catholics, they are pagans. Look at at the Asherah pole they've got standing in the middle of St. Peter's Square. How can they not? The other thing I've noticed about becoming a Christian, is that the upside is the church, the broad church, the joy you get talking to Christians about Christianity. So the other day I went riding and you're going to be on a horse talking to people for the next couple of hours if you're out on the hack. And some of them are boring, some of them are not. So met these people and two women up from London and I said to one of them. And what's your name and she said I'm called Mariam I said Mariam oh that's an interesting name. It sounds a bit... Ethiopian.  She said, I'm not Ethiopian. I'm originally from a Muslim background. I said, all right. Yeah, well, Mariam, yeah, I've heard it a lot. It's sort of the Copts. I kind of like the Coptic church. It's really old. And I didn't mention that they've got the Ark of the Covenant somewhere hidden in Ethiopia. But I said, yeah, I'm really interested in Christianity. It's just, I think, endlessly fascinating. She said, are you? I said, yeah, yeah, yeah. Can't get enough of it. And she said, I was baptized three months ago. And I said, oh, wow. So the whole of the rest of the ride, we had this great talk about God. So that's what I love about Christianity, the fellowship. [The downside is that you get lots of really annoying Christians who do things like telling you, hinting that you're not really Christian enough, or correcting you on sort of doctrinal inaccuracies. I've got views that I know are heretical. I'm not going to talk about them here, because I don't want to get stick from... But look, I think that you listen to the the words of Jesus. You follow the Psalms. You've got the creed to keep you on the straight and narrow. Go to church if you can. Take communion if you can. We're all on the same team, I think. Can I pick up, just to finish on that cultural Christianity, which has been in my head for a couple of years watching different commentators, politicians, probably more stateside, they kind of, they yearn for those days whenever Christianity gave a moral framework, I guess, and they seem to want the idea that Christianity brings without having the person of Christ. And I enjoy watching conservative commentators struggle with that, that they want this but they don't. And it's like something is so attractive, it looks good, but yet that relationship with Jesus, that actually calls them back. Yeah, I mean, didn't Tony Blair claim to be a Catholic once? I have my suspicions about other conservative MPs who go big on their Catholicism. In fact, I have my severe doubts about any of the MPs who play the Christian card, because I think they're all basically working for the other side. I think what we saw during... I hate to use the word COVID like it was real. But what we saw was the puppets of Satan just doing the devil's work to the people, trusting people who thought these were their elected representatives. I don't think that I, it's not for me to judge, but I don't think there are many MPs, any politicians anywhere in the world who are not going to burn in hell. But what does that, because I know, I think Thierry Baudet was with you a while ago, and he talked about the Natcon conference. And he was fairly dismissive of that actually being conservative and not only the big issues, but actually what I took away looking at some of those was that Christianity no longer plays a part in those circles, apart from lip service. Is that a fair enough assessment or disagree with that?  Totally. Yeah, I mean, Natcon is definitely another example of the devil at work. Yeah, yeah. I mean, name me an MP, a politician of any hue, who talks about real Christianity, as opposed to Erzat's Christianity. Yeah, they might like the values. None of those values involve actually believing in God. I mean, can you imagine if you asked any of them about how the world was made? All they'd be doing is thinking of the headline that X believes that, lol, the world was made by God. Come on, everyone knows that evolution is how. was Big Bang and then there was this apparently Charles Darwin tells us, you know, one of the greatest Britons as named by the BBC, so it must be true, They wouldn't go there, they just couldn't cope with it. Oh a hundred percent. I had Eric Metaxas on once talking about the death of atheism and it's a phenomenal book going into the none of this can be luck and chance, none of it, the complexity of, the world. Just a quick question, what about push back on you because you're not supposed to have a series on the Psalms on your channel, that's just not done here. Kind of what pushback, have people say, James, get back to discussing COVID the last three years. Oh, it's no, no, do you know what? I don't get much of that. I get more, I get the occasional commentator, who has clearly been following me for a very long time in my, in my normie phase where I believed in things like the war on terror stuff. And they're looking at me now and thinking this guy has lost the plot. He thinks it's a conspiracy and what's more, he thinks the devil's kind of running the show. He needs to, you know, hasn't he read any history books? Surely he knows that it was the North Vietnamese that started the Vietnam War, you know, with their... Torpedo boat attack on the U.S. fleet. So their reference points are reference points of those trapped in the beast system. All the history books are written for the devil's party. All the politicians work for the devil's party. It's everywhere. Look, it says in 2 Corinthians, doesn't it? That Satan is the god of this world. And unless and until you understand that. You are missing the biggest piece in the jigsaw. You're never going to get it. You can be right about vaccines, that they're bad for you, and you can be right about the importance of bodily autonomy and stuff. You stand up all these principal things, but until you understand that this is a war between good and evil, which has taken place since the beginning of our time on this earth, you really don't get it at all, frankly.  100 percent. That is the piece of the jigsaw people have to get to understand everything else. James, I appreciate you coming on. As I said at the beginning, I've been wanting to have this conversation with you and unpacking, so thanks so much for coming along and sharing your story with us.  Well thank you very much, I really enjoyed talking about it, part of my holy mission from God.  Thank you, I think the last guest you had on the Delingpod, just for the viewers and listeners that haven't seen, I think was Abi Roberts. And we had her on after she got arrested for swearing, and Abi is a force of nature, so if people want to catch the latest one, it is Abi Roberts on the Delingpod, everywhere and anywhere. So, James, thanks so much for your time today.  Thanks, Peter.

The first episode of our summer mini series focused on understanding persecution from a Biblical and Theological perspective. In this episode, Jared shares about Jesus' promise that there will be persecution in John 15-16.  Egypt's Country Profile describes what persecution looks like for Egyptian Christians. Read it at https://www.opendoorscanada.org/worldwatchlist/country-profiles/egypt/  Download a copy of the 2023 World Watch List at https://www.opendoorscanada.org/worldwatchlist/ Find more resources to pray for the persecuted church at https://www.opendoorscanada.org/get-involved/pray/ Get in touch with us at podcast@odcan.org Subscribe to the #WorldWatchWeekly podcast via iTunes, PodBean, Spotify, or YouTube.   In Jared discussion of the history of Christianity in Egypt, here are the resources that he found helpful: Sedra, Paul. “Class cleavages and ethnic conflict: Coptic Christian communities in modern Egyptian politics” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 10 no.2. (April 2007). 219-235. Meinardus, Otto F.A. “A Brief Introduction to the History and Theology of the Coptic Church” St. Vladimir's Seminary Quarterly 6, no. 3 (1962) p. 139-155 Chaillot, Christine. “The Life and Situation of the Coptic Orthodox Church Today.” Studies in World Christianity 15 pt.3. (2009). 199-216. Zeidan, David. “The Copts - equal, protected, or persecuted? The impact of Islamization on Muslim-Christian relations in modern Egypt.” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, 10, no.1. (April 2007). 53-67

The Catholic role in the coronation and among the Copts Syrian President Bashar Assad, Iran and the Arab bloc Victory Day in Russia Millions of dollars for the Bidens, from China And a panel discussion on illegal immigration Links [00:45] Catholics and Copts (10 minutes) Jerusalem in Prophecy [10:27] Syria and the Arab League (11 minutes) The King of the South [21:54] VE Day in Russia (10 minutes) The Prophesied ‘Prince of Russia' “Putin Orders Reservists to Training Camps, Triggering Fears of New Mobilization” [31:37] Bidens and China (8 minutes) America Under Attack [39:26] PANEL: Illegal Immigration (17 minutes) “Where America's Race Riots Are Leading”

We are taking a break from the Middle Ages to look to the beaches of North Africa.

Month Dedicated to the Holy Family | Word and Songs Podcast with Sr. Lines Salazar, fsp The month of February is dedicated to the Holy Family. This special devotion, which proposes the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as the model of the virtue of all Christian households began in the 17th century. It started almost simultaneously in Canada and France: the Association of the Holy Family was founded in Montreal in 1663, and by the Daughters of the Holy Family in Paris in 1674. This devotion soon spread and in 1893, Leo XIII expressed his approval of a feast under this title and himself composed part of the Office. On account of the flight into Egypt, this feast has been observed by the Copts from early times. The feast was welcomed by succeeding Pontiffs/ as an efficacious means for bringing home to the Christian people the example of the Holy Family at Nazareth, and by the restoration of the true spirit of family life, stemming, in some measure, the evils of present-day society. Honoring the Holy Family beginning during its traditional month, February, is a major way to restore the family to its truly God-given place. We easily remember that October is the month dedicated to the Holy Rosary; May is the month dedicated to our Blessed Mother; and June is to the Sacred Heart. Monthly dedications don't stop there. But for a number of recent years, we have let slip such months as February. But how much do we remember or hear that February is a month dedicated to the Holy Family? Friends, this February we should restore that devotion. It would both honor the Holy Family and at the same time becomes a reminder to strengthen our own family life. After all, the Church has taught how the Holy Family is the model, the example, for all families. As St. John Paul II said, “the family of Nazareth is a model for every home.” Honoring the Holy Family throughout February — and continuing beyond the month — and beginning to imitate them in our own families, we will, as John Paul II told us in his Letter to Families, “come to appreciate the grandeur of the goods of marriage, family and life; so that [we] will come to appreciate the great danger which follows when these realities are not respected, or when the supreme values which lie at the foundation of the family and of human dignity are disregarded.”

In response to this Caity Weaver New York Times Magazine article, beloved Patreon backer Scott Wachter makes the Gaming Hut a very quiet place indeed by asking us for the scenario possibilities of anechoic chambers. Estimable backer Ray Slakinski beckons us to the Northern Ontario location of the Horror Hut to discuss the Wilno vampire. […]

Herod the Great may have pushed Joseph, Mary, and Jesus into exile in Egypt, but tradition says it was Mark the Evangelist who brought Christianity to the nation. Learn how Egypt moved from worshipping gods to worshipping God during the final centuries of the Roman Empire. Episode links: To order signed copies of Amanda's books, visit https://amandahopehaley.square.site/ For help making your podcast sound as good as this one, contact Nicholas Allaire at nicholasjallaire@gmail.com

This week, Nermien talks to fellow podcaster Tasoni Laura. Tasoni is the founder of the blog Coptic Dad & Mom and the podcast Raising Up Copts and the author of the children's book, The Story of the Copts. Tasoni shares her experience growing up in one of the only Coptic Christian families for miles in central Virginia and how this experience motivated her to help other Coptic Christians grow in their faith and thrive in Western society.

In this episode, Nermien interviews Nader Anise, the Director of the American Lawyers Public Image Association, and the founder of the Coptic Chamber of Commerce and Global Coptic Day. The two talk about Coptic identity, the early presence of Copts in the U.S., and how they imagine future generations of Copts can uphold the Coptic heritage and faith!

Nermien Riad interviews Dallas-based painter and visual artist Marian Mekhail, where they discuss Marian's solo exhibition "Maktub," how Marian's Coptic heritage influences her art, and encourage Copts everywhere to follow their God-given talents.

What on earth is the Coptic Church? Most of us only know about the 21 Coptic martyrs of 2015, or about the Coptic Church rejecting the Council of Chalcedon in 451. But who are the Copts? Why did they part ways with the rest of the Church? And has persecution prompted us to reconsider if we're closer to them than we think? This week, Onsi (our resident Copt!) gets quizzed by Rhys and Colin.NOTE: most books below are linked via Bookshop.org. Any purchases you make via these links give The Davenant Institute a 10% commission, and support local bookshops against chainstores/Amazon.Currently ReadingOnsi: Three Arabaic Treatises on Aristotle's Rhetoric: The Commentaries of Al-Farabi, Avicenna, and Averroes  Colin: his own tweets Rhys: The Warden by Anthony TrollopeTexts Discussed"Unity Across the Chalcedonian Divide" by Lukas StockThe 21: A Journey Into the Land of Coptic Martyrs by Martin Mosebach"Cyril of Alexandria, letter to John of Antioch (Formula of Reunion)" by Cyril of AlexandriaSpotlightSubscribe to read the Winter 2022 edition of Ad Fontes

Happy new year!  Or is it?  It depends on which calendar you're using. Like what you hear?  Become a patron of the arts for as little as $2 a month!   Or buy the book or some merch.  Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs.  Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter,  or Instagram. Music: Kevin MacLeod, David Fesliyan.   Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Links to all the research resources are on the website.   On Monday this December 30th past, I clocked in at my retail jobs, put on my headset, and played the morning messages.  There was one from my manager telling us what to expect in terms of sales volume that day and one from corporate welcoming us to the first day of 2020.  The didn't get their dates mixed up.  December 30th 2019 was the first day of 2020 in a way that once crashed Twitter for hours.  My name…   When we think of the calendar, we think of it as singular and exclusive.  “The” calendar.  Sure, there were other calendars, but those were for old-timey people in old-timey times.  If you've ever listened to the show before, you'll know I'm about to disabuse you of that notion; it's kinda my schtick.  The calendar we think of as the end all and be all of organizing time into little squares is the Gregorian calendar, but it's just one of many that have been used and still are used today.   For example, at the time of this recording, it's currently the 27th day of the month of Tevet in the year 5782 for those who follow the Hebrew calendar.  The Hebrew calendar, also known as the Jewish calendar, was originally created before the year 10 CE.  It first used lunar months, which will surprise no one who has had to google when Passover or Easter are each year.  A standard Jewish year has twelve months; six twenty-nine-day months, and six thirty-day months, for a total of 354 days.  This is because the months follow the lunar orbit, which is on average 29.5 days.  Due to variations in the Jewish calendar, the year could also be 353 or 355 days.  It also used standard calendar years, but these two methods don't line up perfectly, and this posed a problem.  As time went on, the shorter lunar calendar would result in holy days shifting forward in time from year to year.  That simply wouldn't do as certain holidays have to be celebrated in a certain season, like Passover in the spring, Tu B'Shevat, the Jewish 'New Year for Trees,' which  needs to fall around the time that trees in the Middle East come out of their winter dormancy, or Sukkot, the festival that calls adherents to build and live in huts in their yard to commemorate Isrealites taking shelter in the wilderness, which is meant to fall in autumn.  So a thirteenth month had to be added every 3 to 4 years in order to make up for the difference.  Such a year is called a shanah meuberet ("pregnant year") in Hebrew; in English we call it a leap year, and it makes up all the lunar calendar's lost days.  The month is added to Adar, the last of the twelve months. On leap years we observe two Adars — Adar I and Adar II.  Today, the Hebrew calendar is used primarily to determine the dates for Jewish religious holidays and to select appropriate religious readings for the day.   Similar in usage is the Hijri calendar, or Islamic calendar.  It's based on lunar phases, using a system of 12 months and either 354 or 355 days every year.  The first Islamic year was 622 CE when the prophet Muhammad emigrated from Mecca to Medina, meaning today is the Jumada I 28, 1443 .  The Hijri calendar is used to identify Islamic holidays and festivals.  The Islamic New Year marks the journey of the prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina.  However, the occasion and the sacred month of Muharram are observed differently by the two largest branches of Islam, Shiite and Sunni.  Shiite pilgrims journey to their holiest sites to commemorate a seventh-century battle, while Sunnis fast to celebrate the victory of Moses over an Egyptian pharaoh.  Also known as the Persian calendar, it's the official calendar used in Iran and Afghanistan, and it's the most accurate calendar system going, but more on that later.   Further east you'll encounter the Buddhist calendar, which is used throughout Southeast Asia.  This uses the sidereal year, the time it takes Earth to orbit the sun, as the solar year.  Like other systems, the calendar does not try to stay in sync with this time measurement, but unlike the others, no extra days or months have been added, so the Buddhist calendar is slowly moving out of alignment at a pace of around one day every century.  Today, the traditional Buddhist lunisolar calendar is used mainly for Theravada Buddhist festivals, and no longer has the official calendar status anywhere. The Thai Buddhist Era, a renumbered Gregorian calendar, is the official calendar in Thailand.  The Buddhist calendar is based on an older Hindu calendar, of which there are actually three -- Vikram Samvat, Shaka Samvat, and Kali Yuga.  The Vikram Samvat is used in Nepal and some Indian states, and uses lunar months and the sidereal year to track time.  Sidereal means based on fixed stars and constellations, rather than celestial things on the move, like planets.  The Shaka Samvat, used officially in India and by Hindus in Java and Bali, has months based around the tropical zodiac signs rather than the sidereal year.  The Kali Yuga is a different sort of calendar altogether.  It meters out the last of the four stages (or ages or yugas) the world goes through as part of a 'cycle of yugas' (i.e. mahayuga) described in the Sanskrit scriptures. The Kali Yuga, began at midnight (00:00) on 18 February 3102 BCE,  is the final cycle within the 4-cycle Yuga era. The first cycle is the age of truth and perfection, the second cycle is the age of emperors and war, the third stage is the age of disease and discontent, and the third stage (the Kali Yuga) is the age of ignorance and darkness.  If you're worried because you already missed 5,000 years of the Yuga, don't fret; you have upwards of 467,000 years left.     You've probably heard of Chinese New Year, so you won't be surprised that there is a Chinese calendar.  According to this system, each month begins on the day when the moon is in the "new moon" phase. The beginning of a new year is also marked by the position of the moon and occurs when the moon is midway between the winter solstice and spring equinox.  China uses the Gregorian calendar for official things, but still uses the Chinese calendar is used to celebrate holidays.   You might be surprised to learn about the Ethiopian calendar.  The Ethiopian calendar is quite similar to the Julian calendar, the predecessor to the Gregorian calendar most countries use today.  Like the other calendars we've discussed, it's intertwined with the faith of the people.  The first day of the week for instance, called Ehud, translates as ‘the first day‘ in the ancient Ge'ez language, the liturgical language of the Ethiopian church.  It is meant to show that Ehud is the first day on which God started creating the heavens and the earth.  The calendar system starts with the idea that Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden for seven years before they were banished for 5,500 for their sins.  Both the Gregorian and Ethiopian use the birthdate of Jesus Christ as a starting point, what Eddie Izzard called “the big BC/AD change-over,” though the Ethiopian Orthodox Church believes Jesus was born 7 years earlier than the Gregorian calendar says.  The Ethiopian calendar has 13 months in a year, 12 of which have 30 days. The last month, called Pagume, has five days, and six days in a leap year.   Not only do the months have names, so do the years.  The first year after an Ethiopian leap year is named the John year, and is followed by the Matthew year, then Mark, then Luke.  Sept. 11 marks the day of the new year in Ethiopia.  By this time, the lengthy rainy season has come to a close, leaving behind a countryside flourishing in yellow daisies. That's fitting because Enkutatash in Amharic, the native language of Ethiopia, translates to “gift of jewels.” To celebrate New Year's, Ethiopians sing songs unique to the day and exchange bouquets of flowers. Of course, there is plenty of eating and drinking, too.   So what about this Gregorian calendar I keep mentioning?  The Gregorian calendar was created in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, who made some changes to the previously used Julian calendar.  Okay, so what was the Julian calendar?  It should shock no one that the Julian calendar was ordered by and named after Julius Caesar.  By the 40s BCE the Roman civic calendar was three months ahead of the solar calendar.  The Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes, introduced the Egyptian solar calendar, taking the length of the solar year as 365 1/4 days.  The year was divided into 12 months, all of which had either 30 or 31 days except February, which contained 28 days in common (365 day) years and 29 in every fourth year (a leap year, of 366 days).  That 29th day wasn't February 29th, it was February 23rd a second time.  What a mess that would make, though that conflagration of confusion probably paled in comparison to to what Caesar did to align the civic and solar calendars--he added days to the year 46 BCE, so that it contained 445 days.  Unsurprisingly when you try to make such a large change to the daily lives of so many people in the days before electronic communication, it took over fifty years to get everybody on board.   Sosigenes had overestimated the length of the year by 11 minutes 14 seconds.  11 minutes doesn't mean much in a given year, but after, say, 1500 years, the seasons on your calendar no longer line up with the seasons of reality.  That matters when your most important holy day needs to happen at a certain time of year.  Enter Pope Gregory XIII, who wanted to stop Easter, which had been celebrated on March 21, from drifting any farther away from the spring Equinox.  Aloysus Lilius, the Italian scientist who developed the system Pope Gregory would unveil in 1582, realized that the addition of so many February 23rds made the calendar slightly too long. He devised a variation that adds leap days in years divisible by four, unless the year is also divisible by 100. If the year is also divisible by 400, a leap day is added regardless. [OS crash noise] Sorry about that.  While this formula may sound confusing, it did resolve the lag created by Caesar's earlier scheme—almost; Lilius' system was still off by 26 seconds.  As a result, in the years since Gregory introduced his calendar in 1582, a discrepancy of several hours has arisen.  We have some time before that really becomes an issue for the average person.  It will take until the year 4909 before the Gregorian calendar will be a full day ahead of the solar year.   Maths aside, not everyone was keen on Pope Gregory's plan.  His proclamation was what's known as a papal bull, an order that applies to the church by has no authority over non-Catholics.  That being said, the new calendar was quickly adopted by predominantly Catholic countries like Spain, Portugal and Italy, major world players at the time.  European Protestants, however, feared it was an attempt to silence their movement, a conspiracy to keep them down.  Maybe by making it hard to remember when meetings and protests were supposed to be, I'm not sure.  It wasn't until 1700 that Protestant Germany switched over, and England held out until 1752.  Those transitions didn't go smooth.  English citizens didn't take kindly to the act of Parliament that advanced their calendars from September 2 to September 14, overnight.  There are apocryphal tales of rioters in the streets, demanding that the government “give us our 11 days.” However, most historians now believe that these protests never occurred or were greatly exaggerated.  Some countries took even longer than Britain--the USSR didn't convert to the Gregorian calendar until 1918, even later than countries like Egypt and Japan.  On the other side of the Atlantic from the British non-protests, meanwhile, Benjamin Franklin welcomed the change, writing, “It is pleasant for an old man to be able to go to bed on September 2, and not have to get up until September 14.”   When Julius Caesar's reformed the calendar in 46 B.C., he established January 1 as the first of the year.  During the Middle Ages, however, European countries replaced it with days that carried greater religious significance, such as December 25 and March 25 (the Feast of the Annunciation).  I didn't google that one.  After my mom listens to this episode, she'll send me a gloriously incorrect speech-to-text message explaining it.  Different calendars mean different New Years days even now, and the ways in which people celebrate as as splendidly diverse as the people themselves.   The Coptic Egyptian Church celebrates the Coptic New Year (Anno Martyrus), or year of the martyrs on 11th of September. The Coptic calendar is the ancient Egyptian one of twelve 30-day months plus a "small" five-day month—six-day in a leap year.  The months retain their ancient Egyptian names which denote the gods and godesses of the Egyptians, and the year's three seasons, the inundation, cultivation, and harvest, are related to the Nile and the annual agricultural cycle.  But the Copts chose the year 284AD to mark the beginning of the calendar, since this year saw the seating of Diocletian as Rome's emperor and the consequent martyrdom of thousands upon thousands of Egypt's Christians.  Apart from the Church's celebration, Copts celebrate the New Year by eating red dates, which are in season, believing the red symbolises the martyrs' blood and the white date heart the martyrs' pure hearts.  Also, dates are delicious.    Bonus fact: You know that guy, Pope Francis?  He's not actually the pope.  The pope's proper title, according to the Vatican's website, is Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of Vatican City, Servant of the Servants of God.  'Pope' comes from the Italian 'papa.'  Francis is the Sancta Papa, the Holy Father.  The title of pope belongs to the head of the Coptic church.  So if anyone uses the rhetorical question “Is the pope Catholic?” to imply a ‘yes' answer, you have my authorization to bring the conversation to a screeching halt by saying “No.  No, he's not.”  Double points if you simply walk away without explaining yourself.

How are ancient Egypt and Ireland connected? Legends of the Seven Desert Monks and the Copts, ancient DNA, Atlantis, and more!

Tonight we concluded Hypothesis 12, again considering the importance of parents raising their children not only to love virtue but also to be willing to sacrifice all for it and for Christ. We considered three stories where mothers had to set aside their natural sensibilities and desire to protect their children from harm. In each case, the mothers act out of their faith to encourage their sons to remain steadfast. We see in and through the stories that they are not only bound by blood but, in a deeper way, by faith. The mothers seek to protect the eternal life of their sons and are willing to sacrifice themselves and their own needs for that end. In doing so they become inheritors of the glory that belongs to the martyrs. Their sons will intercede on their behalf because of the virtue and support that they showed.  These are not easy stories to consider and one is compelled to set aside one's judgment and to listen to them with faith. We are to see these martyrs and those who support them as living icons of the gospel. In this they will be the most compelling witnesses - those who counted all in this world as refuse compared to the surpassing worth of knowing and gaining Christ. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:30:55 Eric Williams: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” - GK Chesterton   00:39:05 Anthony: I am friends with several Copts in Hampton VA.  Beautiful people, understand suffering.  Same with my Iraqi Syriac Catholic friends.   00:42:30 Anthony: Sometimes I wonder what is the dividing line between rigorous ascetic practice ans insanity.  Is love the difference?   00:54:33 Ambrose Little: Discernment of the will of God. Union of the will with God, so that the actions flow out of that union. So yes, love in that sense, in that God is love and union with His will is union with Love. There is some danger, it seems, in that persons may seek out the actions for themselves, as a kind of emulation of holiness, when what makes such acts holy is the heart in tune with God's.   00:55:22 Anthony: Thank you, Ambrose   01:12:45 Carol Nypaver: What is that song called?   01:12:54 Fr. Miron Kerul-Kmec Jr.: billy joel lullabye   01:13:06 Carol Nypaver: Thank you!   01:13:12 renwitter: Its the one that begins “Goodnight my Angel"   01:15:23 Fr. Miron Kerul-Kmec Jr.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjSix58CXQQ   01:16:54 renwitter: The book is actually remarkably well adapted in the film. Very accurate.   01:26:32 Ann Grimak: Thank you so much Father   01:27:14 Rachel: Thank you  

A special guest comes to Raising Up Copts! Sherry Ibrahim has been homeschooling her three boys for four years now. She joins us to tell us what made helped her and her husband make that decision for their family and tips for families considering homeschooling their own kids.You can find more at raisingupcopts.com and reach us at raisingupcopts@gmail.com

A special guest comes to Raising Up Copts! Sherry Ibrahim has been homeschooling her three boys for four years now. She joins us to tell us what made helped her and her husband make that decision for their family and tips for families considering homeschooling their own kids.You can find more at raisingupcopts.com and reach us at raisingupcopts@gmail.com

For Free Zoom Lessons RSVP and click the following website: www.walkingtheholyland.com   Episode 48 Israel's Diverse Population   Total  9.1 Million   79 % Jewish 17% Muslim 2% Christians 2% Mosaic of religions – Bahai – Druze – Samartins etc   Secular Jew They hold on to their identity as a Jewish culture mixed in with modern society, without the faith of their ancestors. Jews who partake in modern secular society and are not religious Makeup over 40% of the Jewish population.   Ultra-Orthodox Jew Jews that are pro-religious and emphasize studying the Torah and Talmud. Called in Hebrew Haredi Jews, they regard themselves as the most religiously authentic group of Jews. (13% of Israel's population) They have a high birth rate, the Haredi population is growing rapidly Some of them do not recognize the State of Israel as legitimate and do not join the IDF.    They mostly are located in the following Four religious cities in Israel. Safed, Jerusalem, Hebron and Tibereas.   National Religious Jew Recognize the modern state as a legitimate entity yet still desire for Israel to become a religious state. is an ideology that combines Zionism and Orthodox Judaism. the two main ultra-Orthodox parties in the parliament  are the Sephardic Shas Party and United Torah Judaism.   Immigrant Jews Jews from all over the world who made Aliyah to Israel, 37% of the population. Aliyah is the immigration of Jews from all over the world to the modern State of Israel.  Also defined as "the act of going up"—that is, towards Jerusalem—"making aliyah" by moving to the Land of Israel.   Palestinian Jew Jews that lived in the land before the foundation of the State of Israel and speak Arabic fluently. After the establishment of Israel in 1948, the Jews of Mandatory Palestine became Israeli citizens, and the term "Palestinian Jews" has largely fallen into disuse and is somewhat defunct, in favor of the term Israeli Jews.     Muslims Population Arab Muslim 17% of the population in Israel. Sunni Muslim is by far the largest branch of Islam, followed by almost 90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word Sunnah, referring to the behaviour of Muhammad or in others words following the directions of the profit, and According to Sunni traditions, Muhammad designated Abu Bakr as his successor (the first caliph).   But in contrasts the Shiaa view is different    , which holds that Muhammad announced his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor and according to shiaa view that the successor should be from the family and blood line of Mouhamad and not through his successors like the chaliph     Arab Israelis Arabs who own an Israeli ID. Most self-designate themselves as Palestinians by nationality and Israeli by citizenship, while others prefer “Israeli Arab.” This name refers to the fact that after the Nakba, these are the Palestinians that remained within Israel's 1948 borders. Many have family ties to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as to Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. The Arabs living in East Jerusalem and the Druze in the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed, were offered Israeli citizenship, but most have refused, not wanting to recognize Israel's claim to sovereignty. They became permanent residents instead. They have the right to apply for citizenship, are entitled to municipal services and have municipal voting rights.   Minorities in Israel Arab Christian less than 2% Around 175,000 Arab Christians live in Israel. They are from a variety of denominational back- grounds such as Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Melchite, Anglican, and others.   Some 42% of all Christians are affiliated with the Melkite Greek Church, and 30% with the Orthodox Church; smaller numbers are split between Latin Rite Catholics with 13% of Christians, we have Less than 10,000 Maronites lives in Israel belongs to the Maronite Catholic Church, who reside in Israel and some of whom self-identify as Arameans. 1,000 Assyrians belongs to the Assyrian Churches, also known as Arameans or Chaldeans are an ethnic group indigenous to the Middle East. They are speakers of the Aramaic branch of Semitic languages.   Coptic community of around 1,000 Copts, Coptic Christians trace their founding to the apostle St. Mark. Tradition holds that Mark brought Christianity to Egypt and founded the Coptic church during the first century. It is one of the oldest Christian churches in the Middle East and was the first founded in Africa.   We have small branches of Protestants, evangelical Christian churches mostly Baptist denomination.     Armenians Part of the Armenian Diaspora, around 400 Armenian families live in the Armenian quarter of the Old City and 10,000 in Israel.   Other minorities Such as: Bedouin are nomadic Arab Tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Middle East. followers of Islam. Traditionally they live in tents, or Shakes or even houses the modern ones they used to move with their herds across vast areas of arid land in search of grazing areas. Bedouin society is patrilineal. They are renowned for their hospitality, honesty and fierce independence. 200,000 is the population of the Bedouins.     Samaritans Israel's smallest religious minority and own an Israeli ID. 731 Samartains Samaritans claim descent from the tribe of Ephraim and tribe of Manasseh (two sons of Joseph). Assimilated descendant of the Assyrians and residents of the district of Samaria who consider themselves the original Jews and recognize their own version of the Pentateuch plus the book of Joshua.   The present-day population has been consistently divided between the West Bank and Israel. Samaritans in the West Bank live in Mount Gerizim area, while those in Israel are concentrated in the city of Holon, just outside Tel Aviv.     Druze is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion based on the teachings of the Fatimid caliph, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, and Ancient Greek philosophers.   An offshoot of Islam whose people have a secret religion and are loyal to the State of Israel. Jethro of Midian is considered an ancestor of the Druze, who revere him as their spiritual founder and chief prophet.   105,000 in population, most in northern Israel.      

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 29, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: It's "Tea" Time 1: In the 1920s this scandal poured out of Wyoming Teapot Dome. 2: One of the 2 plays with "tea" in their title that earned Tony Awards for their actors in 1954 (1 of) Teahouse of the August Moon and Tea and Sympathy. 3: It's the spicy red fruit of the American wintergreen; a brand of chewing gum is named for it teaberry. 4: Officially, the Disneyland ride often called "The Teacups" is named for this loony fictional festivity the Mad Hatter's tea party. 5: It's a small chest made to hold tea leaves, not golf clubs a tea caddy. Round 2. Category: The History Of The World: Part 1 1: This event on October 8-9, 1871 forced thousands of Illinois residents to flee their homes Chicago Fire. 2: In his last battle, this man defeated Pompey's sons and supporters in 45 B.C. at Munda in Spain Julius Caesar. 3: In 325 A.D. this "Great" leader presided over the Religious Council of Nicaea Constantine. 4: Code-named "Operation Valkyrie", the "July Plot" of 1944 was an attempt to kill this leader Adolf Hitler. 5: The public farewell seen here took place in this year:(Nixon leaving Washington) 1974. Round 3. Category: Panthers And Bobcats 1: Y acts as the only vowel in the name of this wildcat, a bobcat relative lynx. 2: E.T. Seton referred to the "lithe and splended beasthood" of the New World panther with this 2-word name a mountain lion. 3: For the first 9 to 10 days of its life, a bobcat suffers from this ocular disability blindness. 4: When it's black instead of spotted, this cat is often called a panther; there are albino ones, too a leopard. 5: Taxonomists group cats into ones that roar and ones, including bobcats, that do this instead purr. Round 4. Category: Animals In Paradise 1: Solomon talked to this industrious insect that was later allowed into paradise ant. 2: The largest animal in paradise is this biblical one that swallowed a person whole (Jonah's) whale. 3: A bird called the Hoopoe of Bilquis is on the list, Bilqis being a name for the biblical queen of this place Sheba. 4: The ram he sacrificed instead of his son is in the fold Abraham. 5: His mount Al-Buraq was allowed into heaven Muhammad. Round 5. Category: Special Days 1: International Boss' Day Off was proclaimed for this day on which Julius Caesar was offed March 15 (Ides of March). 2: Officially approved by Congress in 2009, National Pi Day is celebrated on this date March 14. 3: I can smell it in the oven--be it white, wheat or sourdough, November 17 is homemade this bread. 4: The Copts celebrate this holiday on January 7, 13 days after we've roasted all our chestnuts Christmas. 5: In Tennessee, Confederate Memorial Day is observed on June 3, the birthday of this confederate president Jefferson Davis. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia! was here

Servants Ministry at St. Mary, MD Rreflect on our identity as Copts By: Mr. Sam Tadros

Listen as Madona and Laura share some listener responses about how Coptic families celebrate.You can find the Nativity Advent Calendar mentioned on We the Copts: https://www.wethecopts.com/product-page/nativity-advent-calendar

Listen as Madona and Laura share some listener responses about how Coptic families celebrate.You can find the Nativity Advent Calendar mentioned on We the Copts: https://www.wethecopts.com/product-page/nativity-advent-calendar

Welcome to our new podcast Raising Up Copts featuring Madona Lawindy (and me—Laura Michael)!We can't wait to get to know all of you through this and to air out all our concerns about parenting “in the lands of immigration”Our scripture for this week comes from Deuteronomy 6:4-10.Visit our site raisingupcopts.com to see more episodes!

Welcome to our new podcast Raising Up Copts featuring Madona Lawindy (and me—Laura Michael)!We can't wait to get to know all of you through this and to air out all our concerns about parenting “in the lands of immigration”Our scripture for this week comes from Deuteronomy 6:4-10.Visit our site raisingupcopts.com to see more episodes!

10/14/20

Kim Kardashian was recently baptized into the Armenian Oriental Church. So, she's a Copt. Actually, no. But she's in full communion with the Copts. I flush it out--Copts, Chalcedon, Kardashians, Kanye.Extended Lightning Segments. Boston, Evander Holyfield's mama, Cure de Ars, more.

Brian Sims: Yup, he's a hateful nut. Yup, the Right has hateful nuts too. The thing is, the Right doesn't have them in positions of influence or power. Moreover, the postmodernist Left is, from its core beliefs, extremist and hateful.Fleeing California: Dot com millionaires are fleeing California right before they realize their taxable income from their start-ups. Pretty funny . . . and a snapshot why beautiful California will wreck itself.Lightning Segments: Toilet wine, transgender sports leagues, two Spotify recommendations, how to drink like an adult, Michigan in May, and Copts.E.F. Schumacher: A Guide for the Perplexed is a great book, but it's wrapped in the self-focused northern school of Zen instead of the southern school that rejects subject-object. The western spiritual tradition is wrapped in the northern school, but its two greatest spiritual writers, St. John of the Cross and St. Therese Lisieux, weren't.

Kate Adie presents the first in a new series of eight programmes. In this edition, John Murphy reports from Najaf on the mounting death toll among Iraqis from the conflict with so-called Islamic State; Olivia Crellin tells the remarkable story of a transgender couple in Ecuador who are challenging some local assumptions by seeking to become parents; as South Africa's athletes return from Rio, Lindsay Johns in Cape Town reflects on the extraordinary impact that Olympic success is having there on coloured South Africans more than twenty-five years after the end of apartheid; Caroline Davies in Cairo discovers how, despite the growing intolerance Copts face in Egypt, they are enjoying great success in the country's recycling business; and Hugh Schofield in Paris ponders the world of Anglo-French mathematics as he studies for his A level in the subject and his son works on his baccalauréat.

The title of this episode is Coping.It's time once again to lay down our focus on the Western Church to see what's happening in the East.With the arrival of Modernity, the Church in Europe and the New World was faced with the challenge of coping in what we'll call the post-Constantine era. The social environment was no longer favorable toward Christianity. The institutional Church could no longer count on the political support it enjoyed since the 4th C. The 18th C saw Western Christianity faced with the challenge of secular states that may not be outright hostile but tended to ignore it.In the East, Christianity faced far more than benign neglect for a long time. When Constantinople fell in 1453 to the Turks, The Faith came under a repressive regime that alternately neglected and persecuted it.While during the Middle Ages in Europe, Popes were often more powerful than Kings, the Byzantine Emperor ruled the Church. Greek patriarchs were functionaries under his lead. If they failed to comply with his dictates, they were deposed and replaced by those who would. When the Emperor decided reuniting with Rome was required to save the empire, the reunion was accomplished against the counsel of Church leaders. Then, just a  year later, Constantinople fell to the Ottomans. Many Eastern Christians regarded this calamity as a blessing. They viewed it as liberation from a tyrannical emperor who'd forced them into a union with a heretical church in Rome.The new Ottoman regime initially granted the Church limited freedom. Since the patriarch fled to Rome, the conqueror of Constantinople, Mohammed II, allowed the bishops to elect a new patriarch.  He was given both civil and ecclesiastical authority over Christians in the East. In the capital, half the churches were converted to mosques. The other half were allowed to continue worship without much change.In 1516, the Ottomans conquered the ancient seat of Middle Eastern Christianity in Syria and Palestine. The church there was put under the oversight of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Then, when Egypt fell a year later, the Patriarch of Alexandria was given authority over all Christians in Egypt. Under the Ottomans, Eastern Church Patriarchs had vast power over Christians in their realm, but they only served at the Sultan's pleasure and were often deposed for resisting his policies.In 1629, the Patriarch of Constantinople, Cyril Lucaris, wrote what was considered by many, a Protestant treatise titled Confession of Faith. He was then deposed and executed. Fifty years later, a synod condemned him as a “Calvinist heretic.” But by the 18th C, the Reformation wasn't a concern of the Eastern Church. What was, was the arrival of Western philosophy and science. In the 19th C, when Greece gained independence from Turkey, the debate became political. Greek nationalism advocated Western methods of academics and scholarship. The Greeks also demanded that the Greek Church ought to be independent of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Conservatives wanted to subsume scholarship under tradition and retain allegiance to Constantinople.During the 19th and early 20th Cs, the Ottoman Empire broke up, allowing national Orthodox churches to form in Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania. The tension between nationalist and conservative Orthodoxy dominated the scene. In the period between the two world wars, the Patriarch of Constantinople acknowledged the autonomy of Orthodox churches in the Balkans, Estonia, Latvia, and Czechoslovakia.Early in the 20th C, the ancient patriarchates of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch were ruled by Arabs. But the newly formed states existed under the shadow of Western powers. This was a time when out of a desire to identify with larger groups who could back them up politically and militarily, a large number of Middle Eastern Christians became either Catholic or Protestant. But an emergent Arab nationalism reacted against Western influence. The growth of both Protestantism and Catholicism was curbed. By the second half of the 20th C, the only nations where Eastern Orthodox Christianity retained its identity as a state church were Greece and Cyprus.The fall of Constantinople in 1453 was viewed by Russian Christians as God's punishment for its reunion with the heretical Rome. They regarded Moscow as the “3rd Rome” and the new capital whose task was to uphold Orthodoxy. In 1547, Ivan IV took the title “czar,” drawn from the ancient “Caesar” a proper name that had come to mean “emperor.” The Russian rulers deemed themselves the spiritual heirs to the Roman Empire. Fifty years later, the Metropolitan of Moscow took the title of Patriarch. The Russian Church then churned out a barrage of polemics against the Greek Orthodox Church, Roman Catholics, and Protestants. By the 17th C, the Russian Orthodox Church was so independent when attempts were made by some to re-integrate the Church with its Orthodox brothers, it led to a schism in the Russian church and a bloody rebellion.Now—I just used the term “metropolitan.” We mentioned this in an earlier episode, but now would be a good time for a recap on terms.The Roman Catholic Church is presided over by a Pope whose authority is total, complete. The Eastern Orthodox Church is led by a Patriarch, but his authority isn't as far-reaching as the Pope. Technically, his authority extends just to his church. But realistically, because his church is located in an important center, his influence extends to all the churches within the sphere of his city. While there is only one pope, there might be several Patriarchs who lead various branches of the Eastern Orthodox Church.A Metropolitan equates loosely to an arch-bishop; someone who leads a church that influences the churches around it.Peter the Great's desire to westernize a recalcitrant Russia led to an interest on the part of Russian clergy in both Catholic and Protestant theology. Orthodoxy wasn't abandoned; it was simply embellished with new methods. The Kievan school adopted a Catholic flavor while the followers of Theophanes Prokopovick leaned toward Protestantism. In the late 19th C, a Slavophile movement under the leadership of Alexis Khomiakov applied some of Hegel's analytics to make a synthesis called sobornost; a merging of the Catholic idea of authority with the Protestant view of freedom.Obviously, the Russian Revolution at the beginning of the 20th C put an end to all this with the arrival of a different Western Philosophy - Marxism. In 1918, the Church was officially separated from the State. The Russian Constitution of 1936 guaranteed “freedom for religious worship” but also “freedom for anti-religious propaganda.” In the 1920s, religious instruction in schools was outlawed. Seminaries were closed. After the death of the Russian Patriarch in 1925, the Church was forbidden to name a successor until 1943. The State needed all the help it could get rallying the population in the war with Germany. The seminaries were re-opened and permission was given to print a limited number of religious books.In the late 20th C, after 70 years of Communist rule, the Russian Orthodox Church still had 60 million members.In a recent conversation I had with a woman who grew up in Czechoslovakia during the Soviet Era, she remarked that under the Communists the Church survived, though few attended services. Freedom of religion was the official policy under the Soviets. But in reality, those who professed faith in God were marked down and passed over for education, housing, and other amenities, thin as they were under the harsh Soviet heel. You could be a Christian under Communism; but if you were, you were pretty lonely.Several years ago, when Russia opened to the rest of the world, I had a chance to go in with a team to teach the Inductive Study method as part of Russia's attempt to teach its youth morality and ethics.A senior citizen attended the class who between sessions regaled us with tales of being a believer under Communism. He looked like something straight out of an old, grimy black and white photo of a wizened old man with thinning white hair whose wrinkled face speaks volumes in the suffering he'd endured. He told us that he'd spent several stints in Russian prisons for refusing to kowtow to the Party line and steadfastly cleaving to his faith in God.It's remarkable the Church survived under Communism in the Soviet Bloc. Stories of the fall of the Soviets in the early '80s are often the tale of a resurgent Church.There are other Orthodox churches in various parts of the world. There's the Orthodox Church of Japan, China, and Korea. These communions, begun by Russian missionaries, are today, indigenous and autonomous, with a national clergy and membership, as well as a liturgy conducted in their native tongue.Due to social strife, political upheavals, persecution, and the general longing for a better life, large numbers of Orthodox believers have moved to distant lands. But as they located in their new home, they often transported the old tensions. Orthodoxy believes there can only be a single Orthodox congregation in a city. So, what to do when there are Greek, Russian or some other flavor of Eastern Orthodox believers all sharing the same community?Keep in mind not all churches in the East are part of Eastern Orthodoxy. Since the Christological controversies in the 5th C, a number of churches that disagreed with established creeds maintained their independence. In Persia, most Christians refused to refer to Mary as Theotokos = the Mother of God. They were labeled as Nestorians and declared heretical; though as we saw way back when we were looking at all this, Nestorius himself was not a heretic. Nestorians are more frequently referred to as Assyrian Christians, with a long history. During the Middle Ages, the Assyrian church had many members with missions extending as far as China. In modern times, the Assyrian Church has suffered severe persecution from Muslims. Early in the 20th C and again more recently, persecution decimated its members. Recent predations by ISIS were aimed at these brethren.Those churches that refused to accept the findings of the Council of Chalcedon were called Monophysites because they elevated the deity of Christ over His humanity to such a degree it seemed to make that humanity irrelevant. The largest of these groups were the Copts of Egypt and Ethiopia. The Ethiopian church was the last Eastern church to receive State support. That support ended with the overthrow of Haile Selassie in 1974. The ancient Syrian Monophysite Church, known more popularly as Jacobite, continued in Syria and Iraq. Its head was the Patriarch of Antioch who lived in Damascus. Technically under this patriarchate, but in reality autonomous, the Syrian Church in India has half a million members.As we saw in a previous episode, the Armenian Church also refused to accept the Chalcedonian Creed, because it resented the lack of support from Rome when the Persians invaded. When the Turks conquered Armenia, the fierce loyalty of the Armenians to their faith became one more spark that lit the fuse of ethnic hostility. In 1895, 96, and again in 1914 when the world was distracted elsewhere by The Great War, thousands of Armenians living under Turkish rule were massacred. A million escaped to Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Greece, France, and other Western nations where the memory of the Armenian Holocaust lives on and continues to play an important role in international relations and the development of foreign policy.

This is an archived copy of The Daily Standard podcast. Please note that advertisements, links and other specific references within the content may be out of date.

This episode is titled “Meanwhile, Back in the East” because before we dive into the next phase of church history in Europe, we need to catch up on what's happening to the East.The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th Cs occupied the largest contiguous land empire in history. Rising originally from the steppes of Central Asia and stretching from Eastern Europe to the Sea of Japan; from Siberia in the north to Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Iranian plateau, and the Middle East. At its greatest extent it spanned 6000 miles and covered about 16% of the planet's total land area.Genghis Khan was a shamanist, but recognizing the need to unite the Mongol clans. He adopted a policy of religious toleration that remained official policy during his reign and that of his son Ogedai. Several of the tribes that formed the core of the Mongol horde were Christians in at least a cultural sense. The Keriats, Onguds and Uighurs owed the Christianization of their culture to the Eastern expansion of Christianity we've looked at in earlier episodes.It's important to insert a short parenthetical comment here. Knowing what devastation the Mongols wrought during the 13th and 14th Cs and the literal wagon-loads of blood they spilled, we have to be careful when we call these tribes Christian. They certainly weren't evangelical missionaries. Their faith was a highly-distorted Nestorian version of the Gospel that exercised little restraint on the barbaric rapaciousness that marked their conquests. Still, they called themselves ‘'Christians and their claimed allegiance to the Gospel had a huge impact on what happened in the Middle East.Genghis Khan's son Tolui, married a Christian woman from the Keriat tribe. One of their sons was the Mongol ruler Hulegu. Another was the famous Kublai Khan, founder of the Yaun Dynasty in China. While Hulegu seems to have identified as a Christian, Kublai certainly favored Christians in his court. When Hulegu conquered Baghdad, the Islamic capital of the day, his Christian wife urged him to destroy the city's mosques but protect the churches. Her goal was to dismantle Islam in the region and hand it a permanent setback.The Mongols took control of the Caliph's palace and gave it to Baghdad's Christian patriarch. It ended up being made into a grand church. With such obvious favor being shown Christians, many Mongols converted.Asian Christians who'd suffered under the tyranny and oppression of Islamic rule for generations began to look to the advancing Mongol army as deliverers. One writer lauded the genocidal Hulegu and his wife as great luminaries and zealous combatants for the Christian religion. Beleaguered Western Crusaders were stoked by reports of allies in the East doing noble battle with the Muslims. Some Crusaders even sent emissaries to try to link up with the Mongols and help them in their conquest of the Egyptian Mamelukes in 1260. The Mameluke victory at Ain Jalut over the Mongols was a major disappointment.Hulegu's son married a Byzantine princess and he favored Christianity over both Buddhism and Islam. Over the next few decades the Mongols didn't persecute Muslims but they did impose what the Muslims felt was a heavy burden. They were no longer able to treat Christians living among them as a subject people they could extract heavy tolls and fines from. The Mongol attitude was that as long as everyone paid their taxes, they were free to practice whatever religion they wanted. So a huge source of wealth to Muslims was lost.Christians all across the Middle East took advantage of their newfound freedom and hoped things would stay that way indefinitely under a sympathetic Mongol rule. With Hulegu and his heirs in power, Christians began doing things that had been forbidden under Islam; like carrying the cross in public processions, drinking wine, and building churches where none had been permitted.Then, in 1268 in Baghdad, I aks you to pay close attention to. Maybe this will bring a little light to why there's such tremendous hatred on the part of certain elements within Islam towards Christians today; especially in that region of the world. The Christian Catholicos, the title of the archbishop, ordered a man drowned for converting from Christianity to Islam. Muslims were scandalized and rioted. Following Mongol policy, the rioting was brutally crushed. Christians took this as further evidence they were now the favored faith. But that favor was soon to turn against them.The Mongol leaders became increasingly aware that Islam, with its embrace of jihad in the extension of the Faith by the power of the sword, was much more compatible with their values than either Christianity or Buddhism. They began to drift towards Islam until 1295, when the new Khan, Mahmoud Gazahn, persecuted Christianity and Buddhism. His successors followed his policies. During the early years of the 14th C, Christians found themselves under the control of a Muslim super-state. Their position radically change from what they'd known under the Arab caliphate. Now Christians were subject to intense persecution. In the regional capital of Al-Malek in 1338, all Christians in the city were killed. The few traces of faith among the Keriats and Uighurs didn't last much into the 15th C.Islam's victory among the Mongols proved devastating for the remaining Christians of Central Asia and the Middle East. These communities had managed to weather the storm of the Muslim Arab conquest of the 7th C and it settled down to an uneasy peace with their new neighbors. But the brief respite brought by the Mongol invasion allowed the Christians to emerge in a dominant role for a time that they used to inflict the Muslims with real hurt. When a few years later, Muslims were back in control, this time with the authority of a Mongol Muslim powerhouse à Well, they decided it was payback-time. It was the Christians in Egypt who first bore the brunt of this new intolerance.From the start of the 13th C, Egypt was the main target of Western Crusades. Frustrated Egyptian governments regularly retaliated for the Crusades by attacking the Copts, the native Egyptian church. In the mid-13th C, Egypt was ruled by the Mamelukes and with the loss of Baghdad to the Mongols, the center of gravity of the Muslim world shifted to Mameluke Egypt. They considered the Christians in their region as a 5th column, in cahoots with the Mongols pressing west toward Egypt. After the loss of Baghdad, it wasn't hard to imagine a world in which Egypt would stand alone as the last great Muslim power in a Middle East dominated by Christian-Mongols.The greatest Mameluke leader was General Baibar, the Scourge of both Crusaders and Mongols. Baibar hated Christians in general, but had an extra dose of loathing for those of the European variety. When he captured Antioch in 1268, he wrote the city's Crusader ruler, who'd barely escaped, “Had you stayed, you'd have seen the crosses in your churches smashed, the pages of a false testament scattered, the patriarchs' tombs overturned. You would have seen your Muslim enemy trampling over the places where you celebrated Mass, cutting the throats of monks, priests, and deacons upon your altars--bringing sudden death to the patriarchs and slavery to your royal princes.”This attitude was radically different from the tone of earlier Muslim-Christian affairs. It reflected Baibar's fury at the Christian alliance with the Mongols who themselves were utterly brutal in their conquests. This intolerance was increasingly evident in Egyptian policies toward their still substantial Christian minority. Persecution in Egypt wasn't new, but things deteriorated quickly after the Mameluke-Mongol wars.Between 1293 and 1354, the Egyptian government launched four campaigns to enforce the submission of Christians and Jews and drive them to accept Islam. Each wave of violence became more intense and better organized. A review of this half-century gives us a much better understanding of the ancient hostilities that have inflamed the Middle East ever since.A quick sketch of what happened.In 1293, an initial persecution fizzled when the sultan's officials realized the Christians they were about to execute controlled the country's finances and were the most competent scribes.In 1301, a vizier visiting from Morocco was appalled at the wealth and status of Egyptian Christians and Jews. In Morocco, they had to pay a steep fine if they refused to convert and were subject to all kinds of public indignities.  But in Egypt they held high public office, wore rich clothes and rode the best mounts. The vizier's criticisms moved Egyptian officials to install the same rules as Morocco. A wave of repressive laws followed, and ordinances closed all the churches and synagogues outside of Cairo. Some ancient churches were demolished, relics burned. Non-Muslims were dismissed from public employment and were forced to wear distinctive clothing; blue turbans for Christians, yellow for Jews. They were forced to ride only on donkeys and whenever a Muslim approached, they had to dismount and bow. Visitors to Egypt said that the enforcement of these rules continued all the way into the 19th C.The effects of this crisis linger to the present day, since the rigorous Muslim legalism that emerged at that time shaped modern Islamic fundamentalist movements. From the 1290s, Muslim jurists produced ever harsher interpretations of the laws governing minorities, particularly through the work of militant puritanical scholars like Ibn Taymiyyah. His life was shaped by the disasters of the Mongol wars which forced him into exile in Egypt. He saw his goal as the militant restoration of Islam in the face of its enemies at home and abroad. His work has had a long afterlife. Ibn Taymiyyah is regarded as the spiritual godfather of the Wahhabi movement and of most modern extremist and jihadist groups. Among many others, Osama bin Laden cited him as a special hero.The Muslim hostility toward Christianity in the early 14th C was reflected in outbreaks of extreme anti-Christian violence.  In 1321, Muslim mobs looted and destroyed Cairo's Coptic churches. Usually, a Muslim cleric would give the signal for the attacks by mobilizing crowds in the mosques under the cry of “Down with the churches.”Now, the sultan tried to keep order, but the hatred of Christians was too powerful to contain. They were blamed for setting fires across Cairo. When some of the accused confessed under torture, the authorities were forced to support the popular movement. At one point, the Sultan faced a mob of 20,000 calling for the forceful suppression of Christians. In order to safeguard his rule, the Sultan permitted purge. The government went further and announced that anyone who found a Christian was permitted to beat him and take his goods.By the mid-14th C, Muslim writers had a whole catalog of anti-Christian charges that bear a close resemblance to the libelous anti-Jewish tracks - The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Christians were accused of being spies, ever on the lookout for opportunities to betray the Muslim cause. Cases in both Egypt and Syria proved, and I'm using air-quotes around that word “proved”-- they were serial arsonists. Some were even reported to have planted a bomb in the Great Mosque of Medina.Given modern-day stereotypes of Islam in the West, it's ironic that Christian minorities were then so feared because they allegedly plotted terror attacks against prestigious symbols of Muslim power.In a society founded on honor and family pride, the humiliations of these new policies were too much to bear for many wealthy urban Christians who then converted to Islam. Other, poorer Christians proved firmer; particularly if they were located in rural areas where government policies were slower to penetrate. But later waves of intimidation wore down there resistance. Violence in the 1320s reduced Christian numbers and prepared the way for the disasters of 1354. From the end of the 14th C, Egypt's Coptic Christians were reduced to a minority they retain up to the present day. The Coptic Church entered a period of hibernation that lasted until the mid-19th C. This is sad when we consider that Egypt had been a major center of Christianity for hundreds of years, and the place of dozens of vital and prolific monasteries. What were once the thousand monks of Bufanda, were reduced to just two.Once their Mongol rulers converted to Islam, conditions became equally difficult for the Christians of Mesopotamia and Syria. Between 1290 and 1330, the story of Christianity in these parts, like that in Egypt, becomes a long list of disasters and ever harsher laws. One edict commanded that churches be demolished and services halted. All clergy and Christian leaders were to be executed. The storied churches of Tabriz, Arbella, Mosul, and Baghdad were torn down. Bishops and priests were tortured and imprisoned. Some laws struck directly at ordinary believers rather than just the institutions and hierarchy. Some of these edicts came from the Khans themselves while others came from the initiation of local governors. But the effects were just as damaging. Even when the Khans tried to limit persecution, they could hardly stem the zeal of local officers. In some cities, local laws ordered forcible conversion to Islam and prohibited the exercise of Christianity upon the pain of death. One Muslim ruler in Armenia passed ruinous taxes and ordered that anyone who refused to convert to Islam should be branded, blinded in one eye, and castrated. Christians and Jews were to be instantly recognizable by wearing distinctive clothing. In the words of one contemporary, “The persecutions and disgrace and markings and ignominy which the Christian suffered at this time, especially in Baghdad, well the words cannot describe.” The persecution reached its height with wholesale massacres at Arbella in 1310 and at Amita in 1317. There at Amita, where 12,000 were sold into slavery, the destruction of churches and monasteries was so thorough the fires burned for a month. These persecutions had a greater effect on the churches of the Middle East than any other event since the conversion of the Roman Empire. The succession of church leadership that had remained unbroken since the time of the Apostles came to an abrupt end. Whole Christian communities were annihilated across Central Asia and surviving communities shrank to tiny fractions of their former size. Christianity disappeared in Persia and across southern and central Iraq the patriarchs of Babylon now literally headed for the hills, taking up residence on the safer soil of northern Mesopotamia.

This episode of CS is part 3 of our series on The Crusades.A major result of the First Crusade was a further alienation of the Eastern and Western Churches. The help provided Byzantium by the crusaders were not what The Eastern Emperor Alexius was hoping for.It also resulted in an even greater alienation of the Muslims than had been in place before. 200 years of crusading rampages across the Eastern Mediterranean permanently poisoned Muslim-Christian relations and ended the spirit of moderate tolerance for Christians living under Muslim rule across a wide swath of territory. The only people who welcomed the Crusaders were a handful of Christian minorities who'd suffered under Byzantine and Muslim rule; the Armenians and Maronites living in Lebanon. The Copts in Egypt saw the Crusades as a calamity. They were now suspected by Muslims of holding Western sympathies while being treated as schismatics by the Western Church. Once the Crusaders took Jerusalem, they banned Copts from making pilgrimage there.Things really went sour between East and West when the Roman church installed Latin patriarchates in historically Eastern centers at Antioch and Jerusalem. Then, during the 4th Crusade, a Latin patriarch was appointed to the church in Constantinople itself.To give you an idea of what this would have felt like to the Christian of Constantinople; imagine how Southern Baptists would feel if a Mormon bishop was installed as the President of the Southern Baptist Convention. You get the picture = No Bueno.Another long-lasting effect of the Crusades was that they weakened the Byzantine Empire and hastened its fall to the Ottoman Turks a couple centuries later. Arab governments were also destabilized leaving them susceptible to invasion by Turks and Mongols.A significant new development in monastic history was made at this time in the rise of the knightly monastic orders. The first of these was the Knights Templar, founded in 1118 under Hugh de Payens. King Baldwin gave the Templars their name, and from them the idea of fighting for the Temple passed to other orders. Bernard of Clairvaux, although not the author of the Templar rule, as legend has it, did write an influential piece called In Praise of the New Militia of Christ which lauded the new orders of knights.The Templars were imitated by the Hospitallers, who had an earlier origin as a charitable order. They'd organized in 1050 by merchants from Amalfi living in Jerusalem to protect pilgrims. They provided hospitality and care of the sick, and helped morph the word “hospitality” into “hospital.” Under Gerard in 1120, the Hospitallers gained papal sanction. Gerard's successor was Raymond de Provence who reorganized the Hospitallers as a military order on the pattern of the Knights Templar. The Hospitallers, also known as the Knights of St. John eventually moved to the islands of Rhodes, then Malta, where they held out in 1565 in a protracted siege against the Turks in one of history's most significant battles.Another important military order, the Teutonic Knights arose in 1199, during the 3rd Crusade.The knightly monastic orders had certain features in common. They viewed warfare as a devotional way of life. The old monastic idea of fighting demons, as seen in the ancient Egyptian desert hermits, evolved into actual combat with people cast as agents of evil. Spiritual warfare became actual battle. Knights and their attendants took the vows similar to other monks. They professed poverty, chastity, and obedience, along with a pledge to defend others by force of arms. While personal poverty was vowed, using violence to secure wealth was deemed proper so it could be used to benefit others, including the order itself. The Templars became an object of envy for their immense wealth.In studying the relations between Christianity and Islam during the Middle Ages, we should remember there were many peaceful interchanges. Some Christians advocated peaceful missions to Muslims. These peaceful encounters can be seen in the exchange of art. Christians highly valued Muslim metalwork and textiles. Church vestments were often made by Muslim weavers. Such a vestment is located today at Canterbury. It contains Arabic script saying, “Great is Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet.”On the positive side, if there was anything positive to be gleaned from the Crusades, it did promote a greater sense of unity in Western Europe. Remember that one of the reasons Pope Urban sparked the Crusade was to vent the violent habits of the European nobles who were constantly at each other's throats. Instead of warring with each other back and forth across Europe, watering its fields with blood, they united to go against infidels “way over there.”The Crusades also led to increased prestige for the papacy as they were able to mobilize huge numbers of people.  The Crusades also stimulated an intellectual revival in Europe as Crusaders returned with new experiences and knowledge from another part of the world.After the 1st Crusade, over the next 60 years, Jerusalem saw a succession of weak rulers while the Muslims from Damascus to Egypt united under a new dynasty of competent and charismatic leaders. The last of these was Saladin, or, more properly, Salah ad-Din. Founder of the Ayyubid dynasty of Islam, he became caliph in 1174 and set out to retake Jerusalem.The king of Jerusalem at the time was (and warning: I'm going to butcher this poor guy's name) Guy de Lusignan. Let's just call him “Guy.” He led the Crusaders out to a hill on the West of the Sea of Galilee called the Horns of Hattin. Both the Templars and Hospitallers were there in force, and the much vaunted “true cross” was carried by the bishop of Acre, who himself was clad in armor. On July 5, 1187, the decisive battle was fought. The Crusaders were completely routed. 30,000 perished. King Guy, the leaders of the Templars and Hospitallers along with a few other nobles were taken prisoner. Saladin gave them clemency. The fate of the Holy Land was decided.On Oct. 2, 1187, Saladin entered Jerusalem after it made brave resistance. The generous conditions of surrender were mostly creditable to the chivalry of the Muslim commander. There were no scenes of savage butchery as followed the entry of the Crusaders 90 years before. The people of Jerusalem were given their liberty if they paid a ransom. Europeans and anyone else who wanted to, were allowed to leave. For 40 days the procession of the departing continued. Relics stored in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher were redeemed for the sum of 50,000 bezants. Named after Byzantium where they were the medium of exchange, the bezant was a gold coin of 5 grams.Thus ended the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. Since then the worship of Islam has continued on Mount Moriah without interruption. The other European conquests of the 1st Crusade were then in danger from the unending feuds of the Crusaders themselves, and, in spite of the constant flow of recruits and treasure from Europe, they fell easily before Saladin.He allowed a merely ceremonial Latin ruler to hold the title King of Jerusalem but the last real king was Guy, who was released, then travelled around claiming the title of king but without a court or capital. He eventually settled in Cyprus.We'll go into less detail for the rest of the Crusades as we finish them off over the next episode .The 2nd Crusade was sparked by 2 events; the Fall of the Crusader state of Edessa in Syria and the preaching of Bernard of Clairvaux. And note that the 2nd Crusade took place BEFORE the arrival of Saladin on the scene.Edessa fell to the Turks in Dec., 1144.  They built a fire in a large breach they'd made in the city wall. The fire was so hot it cracked a section of the wall a hundred yards long. When the wall collapsed, the Turks rushed in and unleashed the same kind of brutality the Crusaders had when they conquered Jerusalem.Pope Eugenius III saw the Turk victory at Edessa as a threat to the continuance of the Crusaders in Palestine and called upon the king of France to march to their relief. The forgiveness of all sins and immediate entrance into heaven were promised to all embarking on a new Crusade. Eugenius summoned Bernard of Clairvaux to leave his abbey and preach the crusade. Bernard was the most famous person of his time and this call by the Pope came at the zenith of his fame. He regarded the Pope's summons as a call from God.On Easter in 1146, King Louis of France vowed to lead the Crusade. The Pope's promise of the remission of sins was dear to him as he was stricken with guilt for having burned a church with 1300 inside. How grand to be able to gain forgiveness by killing more! He assembled a council at Vézelai at which Bernard made such an overpowering impression by his message that all present pressed forward to take up the crusading cause. Bernard was obliged to cut his own robe into small fragments, to give away to all who wanted something of his they could carry to the East. He wrote to Pope Eugenius that the enthusiasm was so great “castles and towns were emptied of their inmates. One man could hardly be found for 7 women, and the women were being everywhere widowed while their husbands were still alive.” Meaning most of the men set off on the Crusade, leaving the population of France with 7 women to every man. Hey – lucky them!From France, Bernard went to Basel, in modern day Switzerland, then up thru the cities along the Rhine as far as Cologne. As in the 1st Crusade, persecution broke out against the Jews in this area when a monk named Radulph questioned why they needed to go to the Middle East to get rid of God-haters and Christ-killers. There were plenty of them in Europe.  Bernard objected vehemently to this. He called for the Church to attempt to win the Jews by discussion and respect, not killing them.Bernard was THE celebrity of the day and thousands flocked to hear him. Several notable miracles and healings were attributed to him. The German Emperor Konrad III was deeply moved by his preaching and convinced to throw his weight to the Crusade.Konrad raised an army of 70,000; a tenth of whom were knights. They assembled at Regensburg and proceeded thru Hungary to the Bosporus. All along their route they were less than welcome. Konrad and the Eastern Emperor Manuel where brothers-in-law, but that didn't keep Manuel from doing his best to wipe out the German force. The guides he provided led the Germans into ambushes and traps then abandoned them in the mountains. When they finally arrived at Nicea, famine, fever and attacks had reduced the force to a tenth is original size.King Louis set out in the Spring of 1147 and followed the same route Konrad had taken. His queen, Eleanor, famed for her beauty and skill as a leader, along with many other ladies of the French court, accompanied the army. The French met up with what was left of Konrad's force at Nicea.The forces then split up into different groups which all reached Acre in 1148. They met King Baldwin III of Jerusalem and pledged to unite their forces in an attempt to conquer Damascus before retaking Edessa. The siege of Damascus was a total failure. The European nobles fell to such in-fighting that their camp fragmented into warring groups. Konrad left for Germany in the Fall of 1148 and Louis returned to France a few months later.Bernard was humiliated by the failure of the Crusade. He assigned it to the judgment of God for the sins of the Crusaders and Christian world.A little more about King Louis's wife Eleanor. Eleanor of Aquitaine was really something. In a world dominated by men, Eleanor's career was something special. She was one of the wealthiest and most powerful people in Europe during the Middle Ages.Eleanor succeeded her father as the ruler of Aquitaine and Poitiers at the age of 15. She was then the most eligible bride in Europe. Three months after her accession, she married King Louis VII. As Queen of France, she went on the 2nd Crusade. Then, with it's defeat and back in France, she got an annulment from Louis on the basis that they were relatives, then married Henry Plantaget, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou, who soon became King Henry II of England in 1154. This despite the fact that Henry was an even closer relative than Louis had been and 9 years younger than she. They were married just 8 weeks after her annulment. Over the next 13 years Eleanor bore Henry 8 children: 5 sons, 3 of whom would become king, and 3 daughters. However, Henry and Eleanor eventually became estranged. She was imprisoned between 1173 and 1189 for supporting her son's revolt against her husband.Eleanor was widowed in July 1189. Her husband was succeeded by their son, Richard I, known as the Lion-hearted. As soon as he ascended the thrown, Richard had his mother released from prison. Now the queen dowager, Eleanor acted as regent while Richard went on the 3rd Crusade. She survived Richard and lived well into the reign of her youngest son John, known as the worst king in England's long history. It's this King John who's cast as the chief villain in the story of Robin Hood.The 3rd Crusade is referred to as the Kings' Crusade due to the European monarchs who participated in it. It was an attempt to reconquer the Holy Land from the Muslims who, under Saladin, had reclaimed the lands the Crusaders took in the 1st Crusade. The 3rd was for the most part successful but fell short of its ultimate goal, the re-conquest of Jerusalem.When Saladin captured Jerusalem in 1187, the news rocked Europe. The story goes that Pope Urban III was so traumatized, he died of shock. Henry II of England and Philip II of France ended their dispute with each other to lead a new crusade. When Henry died 2 years later, Richard the Lionheart stepped in to lead the English. The elderly Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa also responded to the call to arms, and led a massive army across Turkey. Barbarossa drowned while crossing a river in June, 1190 before reaching the Holy Land. His death caused great grief among the German Crusaders. Most were so discouraged they returned home.After driving the Muslims from the port of Acre, Frederick's successor Leopold V of Austria and King Philip of France left the Holy Land in August 1191, leaving Richard to carry on by himself. Saladin failed to defeat Richard in any military engagements, and Richard secured several key coastal cities. But the English King realized a conquest of Jerusalem wasn't possible to his now weakened force and in September of 1192, made a treaty with Saladin by which Jerusalem would remain under Muslim control, but allowed unarmed Christian pilgrims and merchants to visit the city. Richard departed the Holy Land a month later.The successes of the 3rd Crusade allowed the Crusaders to maintain a considerable kingdom based in Cyprus and along the Syrian coast. Its failure to recapture Jerusalem led to the call for a 4th Crusade 6 years later.The 3rd Crusade was yet another evidence of the European's inability to form an effective union against the Muslims. The leaders and nobility of Europe made great promises of unity when they embarked on a Crusade, but the rigors of the journey, along with the imminent prospect of victory saw them more often than not falling out with each other in incessant and petty squabbles.On Richard's journey back to England he was seized by the afore mentioned Leopold, duke of Austria, whose enmity he'd incurred in the battle for the city of Joppa. The duke turned his captive over to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VI who also had a grudge to settle. The Lionheart was released on the humiliating terms of paying an enormous ransom and consenting to hold his kingdom as a fiefdom of the Empire.  It's this hostage taking of Richard the Lionhearted that forms the backdrop for the tale of Robin Hood.Saladin died in March, 1193, by far the most famous of the foes of the Crusaders. Christendom has joined with Arab writers in praise of his courage, culture, and the magnanimous manner in which he treated his foes.Historians debate how many Crusades there were. It wasn't as though Kings Henry and Philip said, “Hey, let's make nice and launch the 3rd Crusade.” They didn't number them as historians have since. History tends to ascribe 9 as the number of Crusades, but then add 2 more by assigning them with names instead of numbers; the Albigenian and the Children's Crusades, which took place between the 4th and 5th Crusades.Generally, the 5th thru 9th Crusades are considered lesser armed movements while the first 4 are called the Great Crusades.We'll finish with a quick review of the 4th Crusade.Innocent III became Pope in 1198.  He called for the 4th Crusade which was the final blow that forever sundered the Western and Eastern churches, though that was certainly never his aim. In fact, he warned the Crusaders against it.Pope Innocent's plan was simply to destroy a Muslim military base in Egypt. The merchants of Venice had promised to supply the Crusaders with ships at a huge discount; one the Crusaders couldn't pass up. So in the summer of 1202, they arrived in Venice expecting to sail to Egypt. But there was a problem: Only a third of the expected number of warriors showed. And they came up with a little more than half the required sailing fee.A prince from the East offered to finance the balance under one condition: That the Crusaders sail first to Constantinople, dethrone the current Emperor and hand it over to him. They could then sail on their merry way to Egypt. Pope Innocent forbade this diversion, but no one paid him any attention.On July 5th, 1203, the Crusaders arrived in the Eastern capital. The people of Constantinople were by now fed up with Europeans meddling in their affairs and formed a counter revolution that swept the current emperor off the throne, but only so they could install their own fiercely anti-Crusader ruler. Being now shut out of his hopes, the would-be emperor who'd paid the Crusaders way to Constantinople refused to pay their way to Egypt, leaving them stranded in increasingly hostile territory.They were furious. Their leaders decided to try and make the best of it and called for a quick plundering of Constantinople. One of the Crusade chaplains proclaimed; in complete disregard for the Pope's wishes, “If you rightly intend to conquer this land and bring it under Roman obedience, all who die will partake of the pope's indulgence.”  That was like letting a rabid dog off its chain. For many of the Crusaders, this was not only an excuse to get rich by taking loot, it meant a license to do whatever they pleased in Constantinople.On Good Friday, 1204, the Crusaders, with red crosses on their tunics, sacked Constantinople. For 3 days, they raped and killed fellow Christians. The city's statues were hacked to pieces and melted down. The Hagia Sophia was stripped of its golden vessels. A harlot performed sensual dances on the Lord's Table, singing vile drinking songs. One Eastern writer lamented, “Muslims are merciful compared with these men who bear Christ's cross on their shoulders.”Neither the Eastern Empire nor Church ever recovered from those 3 days. For the next 60 years Crusaders from the Roman church ruled what was once the Eastern Empire. The Eastern emperor established a court in exile at Nicaea. Rather than embrace Roman customs, many Eastern Christians fled there. There they remained until 1261, when an Eastern ruler retook Constantinople.