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152-712: The term fools for Christ derives from the writings of Paul the Apostle . Desert Fathers and other saints acted the part of Holy Fools, as have the yurodivy (or iurodstvo) of Eastern Orthodox asceticism . Fools for Christ often employ shocking and unconventional behavior to challenge accepted norms, deliver prophecies, or to mask their piety. Certain prophets of the Old Testament who exhibited signs of strange behaviour are considered by some scholars to be predecessors of "Fools for Christ". The prophet Isaiah walked naked and barefoot for about three years, predicting

304-585: A communist-led revolution in Afghanistan, Soviet forces invaded the country, ultimately starting the Soviet–Afghan War . In May 1988, the Soviets started to withdraw from Afghanistan , due to international opposition, persistent anti-Soviet guerrilla warfare, and a lack of support by Soviet citizens. From 1985 onwards, the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev , who sought to enact liberal reforms in

456-433: A prophet , and occasionally being disruptive and challenging to the point of seeming immoral (though always to make a point). Ivanov argued that, unlike in the past, modern yurodivy are generally aware that they look pathetic in others’ eyes. They strive to preempt this contempt through exaggerated self-humiliation, and following such displays they let it be known both that their behaviors were staged and that their purpose

608-653: A troika was designated to take charge. Eventually Joseph Stalin , the General Secretary of the Communist Party , managed to suppress all opposition factions and consolidate power in his hands to become the country's dictator by the 1930s. Leon Trotsky , the main proponent of world revolution , was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929, and Stalin's idea of Socialism in One Country became

760-549: A Gentile, Greek audience, notably at Antioch, which had a large Jewish community and significant numbers of Gentile "God-fearers." From Antioch the mission to the Gentiles started, which would fundamentally change the character of the early Christian movement, eventually turning it into a new, Gentile religion. When a famine occurred in Judea , around 45–46, Paul and Barnabas journeyed to Jerusalem to deliver financial support from

912-536: A Hunter's Album . The protagonist's coachman describes him as "one of those holy men," who lives by himself in the forest, strictly differentiates between eating bread which he calls "God's gift to man" and "tame creatures" on the one hand, and birds "of the free air" and creatures "of the forest and of the field" on the other hand, the latter of which he sees as being sinful. Paul the Apostle Paul also named Saul of Tarsus , commonly known as Paul

1064-611: A Varangian from the Rus' people , named Rurik , was elected ruler of Novgorod in 862. In 882, his successor Oleg ventured south and conquered Kiev , which had been previously paying tribute to the Khazars . Rurik's son Igor and Igor's son Sviatoslav subsequently subdued all local East Slavic tribes to Kievan rule, destroyed the Khazar Khaganate, and launched several military expeditions to Byzantium and Persia . In

1216-510: A crisis. By 1991, economic and political turmoil began to boil over as the Baltic states chose to secede from the Soviet Union. On 17 March, a referendum was held, in which the vast majority of participating citizens voted in favour of changing the Soviet Union into a renewed federation . In June 1991, Boris Yeltsin became the first directly elected President in Russian history when he

1368-512: A fool and leading an ascetic way of life (slept naked on church-porches, prayed throughout the whole night, received food only from poor people). He was abused and beaten, but finally won respect and became venerated after his death. The Russian Orthodox Church numbers 36 yurodivye among its saints , starting from Procopius of Ustyug , and most prominently Basil Fool for Christ , who gives his name to Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow . One of

1520-773: A forthcoming captivity in Egypt ( Isaiah 20:2, 3 ); the prophet Ezekiel lay before a stone, which symbolized beleaguered Jerusalem , and though God instructed him to eat bread baked on human waste, ultimately he asked to use cow dung instead ( Ezekiel 4:9–15 ); Hosea married a harlot to symbolize the infidelity of Israel before God ( Hosea 3 ). By the opinion of certain scholars, these prophets were not counted as fools by their contemporaries, as they just carried out separate actions to attract people's attention and to awake their repentance . According to Christian ideas, "foolishness" included consistent rejection of worldly cares and imitating Christ , who endured mockery and humiliation from

1672-664: A global superpower. After World War II, according to the Potsdam Conference , the Red Army occupied parts of Eastern and Central Europe, including East Germany and the eastern regions of Austria . Dependent communist governments were installed in the Eastern Bloc satellite states. After becoming the world's second nuclear power , the Soviet Union established the Warsaw Pact alliance, and entered into

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1824-407: A herd of swine feeding. There, he quickly cut the foot off of one of the swine and carried it back to the brother, leaving the swine to die. This angered the herdsman, who complained to Saint Francis. Saint Francis confronted Brother Juniper, who joyfully exclaimed, "It is true, sweet father, that I did cut off the swine's foot. I will tell thee the reason. I went out of charity to visit the brother who

1976-800: A large confederacy, which was subsequently taken over by the Cumans and the Kipchaks . The ancestors of Russians are among the Slavic tribes that separated from the Proto-Indo-Europeans, who appeared in the northeastern part of Europe c.  1500  years ago. The East Slavs gradually settled western Russia (approximately between modern Moscow and Saint-Petersburg ) in two waves: one moving from Kiev towards present-day Suzdal and Murom and another from Polotsk towards Novgorod and Rostov . Prior to Slavic migration, that territory

2128-567: A meal with Gentile Christians in Antioch because they did not strictly adhere to Jewish customs. Writing later of the incident, Paul recounts, "I opposed [Peter] to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong", and says he told Peter, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew . How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs ?" Paul also mentions that even Barnabas, his traveling companion and fellow apostle until that time, sided with Peter. The outcome of

2280-500: A member state of the G20 , SCO , BRICS , APEC , OSCE , and WTO ; and the leading member state of post-Soviet organisations such as CIS , CSTO , and EAEU/EEU . It possesses the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons and has the third-highest military expenditure . Russia is generally considered a great power and is a regional power . Internationally, Russia ranks very low in measurements of democracy , human rights and freedom of

2432-510: A minimalistic lifestyle with very few if any possessions and a strict dedication to prayer and self-renunciation. Some ascetics are known as mendicants and are organised into mendicant orders . The most famous example in the Western church is Francis of Assisi , whose order was known for following the teachings of Christ and walking in his footsteps. Thus, upon joining the order, Franciscans gave away all possessions and focused on preaching in

2584-660: A minority view considers it may have been penned while he was imprisoned in Rome. Paul went through Macedonia into Achaea and stayed in Greece, probably Corinth, for three months during 56–57 AD. Commentators generally agree that Paul dictated his Epistle to the Romans during this period. He then made ready to continue on to Syria , but he changed his plans and traveled back through Macedonia, putatively because certain Jews had made

2736-487: A number of conflicts in former Soviet states and other countries , including its war with Georgia in 2008 and its war with Ukraine since 2014, which has involved the internationally unrecognised annexations of Ukrainian territory including Crimea in 2014 and four other regions in 2022 during an ongoing invasion . Russia is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council ;

2888-558: A plot against him. In Romans 15:19, Paul wrote that he visited Illyricum , but he may have meant what would now be called Illyria Graeca , which was at that time a division of the Roman province of Macedonia. On their way back to Jerusalem, Paul and his companions visited other cities such as Philippi , Troas , Miletus , Rhodes , and Tyre . Paul finished his trip with a stop in Caesarea , where he and his companions stayed with Philip

3040-683: A revisionist (and minority) dating of 47/51 AD. The meeting is described in Acts 15:2 and usually seen as the same event mentioned by Paul in Galatians 2:1–10 The key question raised was whether Gentile converts needed to be circumcised. At this meeting, Paul states in his letter to the Galatians, Peter , James , and John accepted Paul's mission to the Gentiles. The Jerusalem meetings are mentioned in Acts, and also in Paul's letters. For example,

3192-633: A secret protocol within the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany . The Soviet Union later invaded Finland , and occupied and annexed the Baltic states , as well as parts of Romania . On 22 June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union , opening the Eastern Front , the largest theater of World War II. Eventually, some 5 million Red Army troops were captured by the Nazis;

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3344-477: A servant girl, whose masters were then unhappy about the loss of income her soothsaying provided. They seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities and Paul and Silas were put in jail. After a miraculous earthquake, the gates of the prison fell apart and Paul and Silas could have escaped but remained; this event led to the conversion of the jailor. They continued traveling, going by Berea and then to Athens, where Paul preached to

3496-517: A struggle for global dominance, known as the Cold War , with the rivalling United States and NATO . After Stalin's death in 1953 and a short period of collective rule , the new leader Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalin and launched the policy of de-Stalinization , releasing many political prisoners from the Gulag labour camps. The general easement of repressive policies became known later as

3648-521: A validation of his teaching. Paul's narrative in Galatians states that 14 years after his conversion he went again to Jerusalem. It is not known what happened during this time, but both Acts and Galatians provide some details. At the end of this time, Barnabas went to find Paul and brought him to Antioch . The Christian community at Antioch had been established by Hellenised diaspora Jews living in Jerusalem, who played an important role in reaching

3800-616: A vision. Having been made blind, along with being commanded to enter the city, his sight was restored three days later by Ananias of Damascus . After these events, Paul was baptized, beginning immediately to proclaim that Jesus of Nazareth was the Jewish messiah and the Son of God . He made three missionary journeys to spread the Christian message to non-Jewish communities in Asia Minor ,

3952-477: Is Grisha in Tolstoy's Childhood. Boyhood. Youth . Callis and Dewey described Grisha as follows: Grisha's abnormal social conduct, seizures, and rants were common behaviors amongst holy fools. The esteem expressed by adults was also common. In his autobiography, Tolstoy expressed such esteem in reaction to overhearing Grisha praying: A further example is Kasyan in the ninth sketch from Turgenev's Sketches from

4104-489: Is a highly urbanised country including 16 population centres with over a million inhabitants. Its capital and largest city is Moscow . Saint Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city and its cultural capital . The East Slavs emerged as a recognised group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries CE. The first East Slavic state, Kievan Rus' , arose in the 9th century, and in 988, it adopted Orthodox Christianity from

4256-439: Is called "Paul" for the first time on the island of Cyprus , much later than the time of his conversion. The author of Luke–Acts indicates that the names were interchangeable: "Saul, who also is called Paul." He refers to him as Paul through the remainder of Acts. This was apparently Paul's preference since he is called Paul in all other Bible books where he is mentioned, including those that he authored . Adopting his Roman name

4408-489: Is mentioned in Acts 23:16. In Romans 16:7, he states that his relatives, Andronicus and Junia , were Christians before he was and were prominent among the Apostles. The family had a history of religious piety. Apparently, the family lineage had been very attached to Pharisaic traditions and observances for generations. Acts says that he was an artisan involved in the leather crafting or tent-making profession. This

4560-535: Is not like them." Part of the Biblical basis for it can be seen in the words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 4:10 , which famously says: And also: In Western Christianity there have been several saints who lived lives that were rather eccentric and seemingly foolish. Among the earliest of them was St. Nicholas of Trani , a young homeless man who died in 1094 AD. He apparently never stopped repeating

4712-491: Is pervasive", among that of many other apostles and missionaries involved in the spread of the Christian faith. Christians, notably in the Lutheran tradition, have classically read Paul as advocating for a law-free Gospel against Judaism. Polemicists and scholars likewise, especially during the early 20th century, have alleged that Paul corrupted or hijacked Christianity , often by introducing pagan or Hellenistic themes to

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4864-460: Is quoted as saying: "We leaders should leave the tradition that we have become crazy for God." In 1979 Unification Church critic Christopher Edwards titled a memoir about his experiences in the six months he spent as a church member: Crazy for God: The nightmare of cult life. In 2007, author Frank Schaeffer titled his autobiography Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found

5016-617: Is said to have performed numerous miracles, healing people and casting out demons, and he apparently organized missionary activity in other regions. Paul left Ephesus after an attack from a local silversmith resulted in a pro- Artemis riot involving most of the city. During his stay in Ephesus, Paul wrote four letters to the church in Corinth. The letter to the church in Philippi is generally thought to have been written from Ephesus, though

5168-560: Is sick." Brother Juniper likewise explained to the angry herdsman who, seeing the "charity, simplicity, and humility" (Hudleston, 1953) in Brother Juniper's heart, forgave him and delivered the rest of the pig to the brothers. The Holy Fool or yuródivyy (юродивый) is the Russian version of foolishness for Christ, a peculiar form of Eastern Orthodox asceticism . The yurodivy is a Holy Fool, one who acts intentionally foolish in

5320-539: Is too great and too terrible when encountered directly for men of normal sanity to be able to contemplate it comfortably. Only those who cannot care for the consequences run the risk of the direct confrontation of the Holy. There are a number of references to the yurodivy holy fools in 19th century Russian literature. The holy fool Nikolka is a character in Pushkin 's play Boris Godunov and Mussorgsky's opera based on

5472-628: The Oxford English Dictionary , the English name Russia first appeared in the 14th century, borrowed from Medieval Latin : Russia , used in the 11th century and frequently in 12th-century British sources, in turn derived from Russi , 'the Russians'; and the suffix -ia . In modern historiography, this state is usually denoted as Kievan Rus' after its capital city. Another Medieval Latin name for Rus'

5624-554: The Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943. Another German failure was the Siege of Leningrad , in which the city was fully blockaded on land between 1941 and 1944 by German and Finnish forces, and suffered starvation and more than a million deaths, but never surrendered. Soviet forces steamrolled through Eastern and Central Europe in 1944–1945 and captured Berlin in May 1945. In August 1945,

5776-765: The Brusilov Offensive of the Imperial Russian Army almost completely destroyed the Austro-Hungarian Army . However, the already-existing public distrust of the regime was deepened by the rising costs of war, high casualties , and rumors of corruption and treason. All this formed the climate for the Russian Revolution of 1917, carried out in two major acts. In early 1917, Nicholas II was forced to abdicate ; he and his family were imprisoned and later executed during

5928-662: The Byzantine Empire . Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated; the Grand Duchy of Moscow led the unification of Russian lands, leading to the proclamation of the Tsardom of Russia in 1547. By the early 18th century, Russia had vastly expanded through conquest, annexation, and the efforts of Russian explorers , developing into the Russian Empire , which remains the third-largest empire in history . However, with

6080-475: The Congress of Vienna , which defined the map of post-Napoleonic Europe. The officers who pursued Napoleon into Western Europe brought ideas of liberalism back to Russia, and attempted to curtail the tsar's powers during the abortive Decembrist revolt of 1825. At the end of the conservative reign of Nicholas I (1825–1855), a zenith period of Russia's power and influence in Europe, was disrupted by defeat in

6232-693: The Crimean War . Nicholas's successor Alexander II (1855–1881) enacted significant changes throughout the country, including the emancipation reform of 1861 . These reforms spurred industrialisation, and modernised the Imperial Russian Army, which liberated much of the Balkans from Ottoman rule in the aftermath of the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War . During most of the 19th and early 20th century, Russia and Britain colluded over Afghanistan and its neighbouring territories in Central and South Asia;

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6384-561: The Gospel not from man, but directly by "the revelation of Jesus Christ". He claimed almost total independence from the Jerusalem community (possibly in the Cenacle ), but agreed with it on the nature and content of the gospel. He appeared eager to bring material support to Jerusalem from the various growing Gentile churches that he started. In his writings, Paul used the persecutions he endured to avow proximity and union with Jesus and as

6536-614: The Great Northern War (1700–1721), securing Russia's access to the sea and sea trade. In 1703, on the Baltic Sea, Peter founded Saint Petersburg as Russia's new capital. Throughout his rule, sweeping reforms were made , which brought significant Western European cultural influences to Russia. He was succeeded by Catherine I (1725–1727), followed by Peter II (1727–1730), and Anna . The reign of Peter I's daughter Elizabeth in 1741–1762 saw Russia's participation in

6688-701: The Khrushchev Thaw . At the same time, Cold War tensions reached its peak when the two rivals clashed over the deployment of the United States Jupiter missiles in Turkey and Soviet missiles in Cuba . In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite , Sputnik 1 , thus starting the Space Age . Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit

6840-707: The Oldowan period in the early Lower Paleolithic . About 2 million years ago, representatives of Homo erectus migrated to the Taman Peninsula in southern Russia. Flint tools, some 1.5 million years old, have been discovered in the North Caucasus . Radiocarbon dated specimens from Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains estimate the oldest Denisovan specimen lived 195–122,700 years ago. Fossils of Denny , an archaic human hybrid that

6992-568: The Rurik dynasty that ruled Kievan Rus' collectively. Kiev's dominance waned, to the benefit of Vladimir-Suzdal in the north-east, the Novgorod Republic in the north, and Galicia-Volhynia in the south-west. By the 12th century, Kiev lost its pre-eminence and Kievan Rus' had fragmented into different principalities. Prince Andrey Bogolyubsky sacked Kiev in 1169 and made Vladimir his base, leading to political power being shifted to

7144-843: The Russian Civil War . The monarchy was replaced by a shaky coalition of political parties that declared itself the Provisional Government , and proclaimed the Russian Republic . On 19 January [ O.S. 6 January], 1918, the Russian Constituent Assembly declared Russia a democratic federal republic (thus ratifying the Provisional Government's decision). The next day the Constituent Assembly

7296-446: The Russian Revolution in 1917, Russia's monarchic rule was abolished and eventually replaced by the Russian SFSR —the world's first constitutionally socialist state . Following the Russian Civil War , the Russian SFSR established the Soviet Union with three other Soviet republics , within which it was the largest and principal constituent. At the expense of millions of lives , the Soviet Union underwent rapid industrialisation in

7448-408: The Seven Years' War (1756–1763). During the conflict, Russian troops overran East Prussia , reaching Berlin. However, upon Elizabeth's death, all these conquests were returned to the Kingdom of Prussia by pro-Prussian Peter III of Russia . Catherine II ("the Great"), who ruled in 1762–1796, presided over the Russian Age of Enlightenment . She extended Russian political control over

7600-474: The Siberian River Routes , and by the mid-17th century, there were Russian settlements in eastern Siberia, on the Chukchi Peninsula , along the Amur River , and on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. In 1648, Semyon Dezhnyov became the first European to navigate through the Bering Strait . Under Peter the Great , Russia was proclaimed an empire in 1721, and established itself as one of the European great powers. Ruling from 1682 to 1725, Peter defeated Sweden in

7752-412: The Soviet Union , by joining the Russian SFSR into a single state with the Byelorussian , Transcaucasian , and Ukrainian republics. Eventually internal border changes and annexations during World War II created a union of 15 republics ; the largest in size and population being the Russian SFSR, which dominated the union politically, culturally, and economically. Following Lenin's death in 1924,

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7904-494: The first human expedition into outer space . In 1991, the Russian SFSR emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as the Russian Federation. A new constitution was adopted, which established a federal semi-presidential system . Since the turn of the century, Russia's political system has been dominated by Vladimir Putin , under whom the country has experienced democratic backsliding and become an authoritarian dictatorship . Russia has been militarily involved in

8056-488: The "Hebrews" and their continuing participation in the Temple cult. Paul's conversion to the movement of followers of Jesus can be dated to 31–36 AD by his reference to it in one of his letters . In Galatians 1:16, Paul writes that God "was pleased to reveal his son to me." In 1 Corinthians 15:8, as he lists the order in which Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, Paul writes, "last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also." According to

8208-494: The 10th to 11th centuries, Kievan Rus' became one of the largest and most prosperous states in Europe. The reigns of Vladimir the Great (980–1015) and his son Yaroslav the Wise (1019–1054) constitute the Golden Age of Kiev, which saw the acceptance of Orthodox Christianity from Byzantium , and the creation of the first East Slavic written legal code , the Russkaya Pravda . The age of feudalism and decentralisation had come, marked by constant in-fighting between members of

8360-448: The 16th century, Russia expanded east of the Ural Mountains . However, the Tsardom was weakened by the long and unsuccessful Livonian War against the coalition of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (later the united Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ), the Kingdom of Sweden , and Denmark–Norway for access to the Baltic coast and sea trade. In 1572, an invading army of Crimean Tatars were thoroughly defeated in

8512-414: The 1930s and later played a decisive role for the Allies in World War II by leading large-scale efforts on the Eastern Front . With the onset of the Cold War , it competed with the United States for ideological dominance and international influence . The Soviet era of the 20th century saw some of the most significant Russian technological achievements , including the first human-made satellite and

8664-446: The Acts and the travels in his Epistles but not agreed upon fully by all Biblical scholars. Russia Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia . It is the largest country in the world by area , extending across eleven time zones and sharing land borders with fourteen countries . It is the world's ninth-most populous country and Europe's most populous country . Russia

8816-603: The Antioch community. According to Acts, Antioch had become an alternative center for Christians following the dispersion of the believers after the death of Stephen . It was in Antioch that the followers of Jesus were first called "Christians". The author of Acts arranges Paul's travels into three separate journeys. The first journey, for which Paul and Barnabas were commissioned by the Antioch community, and led initially by Barnabas, took Barnabas and Paul from Antioch to Cyprus then into southern Asia Minor, and finally returning to Antioch. In Cyprus, Paul rebukes and blinds Elymas

8968-409: The Apostle and Saint Paul , was a Christian apostle ( c.  5  – c.  64/65 AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world . For his contributions towards the New Testament , he is generally regarded as one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age , and he also founded several Christian communities in Asia Minor and Europe from the mid-40s to

9120-455: The Apostles recounts more information but leaves several parts of Paul's life out of its narrative, such as his probable but undocumented execution in Rome. The Acts of the Apostles also appear to contradict Paul's epistles on multiple matters, in particular concerning the frequency of Paul's visits to the church in Jerusalem . Sources outside the New Testament that mention Paul include: The two main sources of information that give access to

9272-467: The Apostles said that John Mark had left them in a previous trip and gone home. Unable to resolve the dispute, Paul and Barnabas decided to separate; Barnabas took John Mark with him, while Silas joined Paul. Paul and Silas initially visited Tarsus (Paul's birthplace), Derbe and Lystra . In Lystra, they met Timothy , a disciple who was spoken well of, and decided to take him with them. Paul and his companions, Silas and Timothy, had plans to journey to

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9424-428: The Byzantine double-headed eagle his own, and eventually Russia's, coat-of-arms. Vasili III united all of Russia by annexing the last few independent Russian states in the early 16th century. In development of the Third Rome ideas, the grand duke Ivan IV ("the Terrible") was officially crowned the first tsar of Russia in 1547. The tsar promulgated a new code of laws ( Sudebnik of 1550 ), established

9576-434: The Church there. He then traveled north to Antioch, where he stayed for some time ( Ancient Greek : ποιήσας χρόνον τινὰ . Some New Testament texts suggest that he also visited Jerusalem during this period for one of the Jewish feasts, possibly Pentecost . Textual critic Henry Alford and others consider the reference to a Jerusalem visit to be genuine and it accords with Acts 21:29, according to which Paul and Trophimus

9728-406: The Earth, aboard the Vostok 1 crewed spacecraft on 12 April 1961 . Following the ousting of Khrushchev in 1964, another period of collective rule ensued, until Leonid Brezhnev became the leader. The era of the 1970s and the early 1980s was later designated as the Era of Stagnation . The 1965 Kosygin reform aimed for partial decentralisation of the Soviet economy . In 1979, after

9880-428: The Ephesian had previously been seen in Jerusalem. According to Acts, Paul began his third missionary journey by traveling all around the region of Galatia and Phrygia to strengthen, teach and rebuke the believers. Paul then traveled to Ephesus , an important center of early Christianity , and stayed there for almost three years, probably working there as a tentmaker, as he had done when he stayed in Corinth . He

10032-467: The Epistle itself and was already doubted in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. It was almost unquestioningly accepted from the 5th to the 16th centuries that Paul was the author of Hebrews, but that view is now almost universally rejected by scholars. The other six are believed by some scholars to have come from followers writing in his name, using material from Paul's surviving letters and letters written by him that no longer survive. Other scholars argue that

10184-617: The Evangelist before finally arriving in Jerusalem. Among the writings of the early Christians, Pope Clement I said that Paul was "Herald (of the Gospel of Christ) in the West", and that "he had gone to the extremity of the west". Where Lightfoot 's translation has "had preached" below (in the "Church tradition" section), the Hoole translation has "having become a herald". John Chrysostom indicated that Paul preached in Spain: "For after he had been in Rome, he returned to Spain, but whether he came thence again into these parts, we know not". Cyril of Jerusalem said that Paul, "fully preached

10336-458: The Gospel, and instructed even imperial Rome, and carried the earnestness of his preaching as far as Spain, undergoing conflicts innumerable, and performing Signs and wonders". The Muratorian fragment mentions "the departure of Paul from the city [of Rome] [5a] (39) when he journeyed to Spain". The following table is adapted from the book From Jesus to Christianity by Biblical scholar L. Michael White , matching Paul's travels as documented in

10488-414: The Greek provinces of Achaia , Macedonia , and Cyprus , as well as Judea and Syria , as narrated in the Acts. Fourteen of the 27 books in the New Testament have traditionally been attributed to Paul. Seven of the Pauline epistles are undisputed by scholars as being authentic , with varying degrees of argument about the remainder. Pauline authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews is not asserted in

10640-448: The Jerusalem visit for famine relief apparently corresponds to the "first visit" (to Peter and James only). F. F. Bruce suggested that the "fourteen years" could be from Paul's conversion rather than from his first visit to Jerusalem. Despite the agreement achieved at the Council of Jerusalem, Paul recounts how he later publicly confronted Peter in a dispute sometimes called the " Incident at Antioch ", over Peter's reluctance to share

10792-514: The Jews and God-fearing Greeks in the synagogue and to the Greek intellectuals in the Areopagus . Paul continued from Athens to Corinth . Around 50–52 AD, Paul spent 18 months in Corinth . The reference in Acts to Proconsul Gallio helps ascertain this date (cf. Gallio Inscription ). In Corinth, Paul met Priscilla and Aquila , who became faithful believers and helped Paul through his other missionary journeys. The couple followed Paul and his companions to Ephesus and stayed there to start one of

10944-525: The New Testament , published in 1997, a chronology of events in Paul's life is presented, illustrated from later 20th-century writings of biblical scholars . The first missionary journey of Paul is assigned a "traditional" (and majority) dating of 46–49 AD, compared to a "revisionist" (and minority) dating of after 37 AD. A vital meeting between Paul and the Jerusalem church took place in the year 49 AD by traditional (and majority) dating, compared to

11096-740: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and annexed most of its territories into Russia , making it the most populous country in Europe. In the south, after the successful Russo-Turkish Wars against the Ottoman Empire , Catherine advanced Russia's boundary to the Black Sea, by dissolving the Crimean Khanate , and annexing Crimea . As a result of victories over Qajar Iran through the Russo-Persian Wars , by

11248-866: The Provisional Government and gave full governing power to the soviets, leading to the creation of the world's first socialist state . The Russian Civil War broke out between the anti-communist White movement and the Bolsheviks with its Red Army . In the aftermath of signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that concluded hostilities with the Central Powers of World War I ; Bolshevist Russia surrendered most of its western territories, which hosted 34% of its population, 54% of its industries, 32% of its agricultural land, and roughly 90% of its coal mines. The Allied powers launched an unsuccessful military intervention in support of anti-communist forces. In

11400-1001: The Red Army invaded Manchuria and ousted the Japanese from Northeast Asia, contributing to the Allied victory over Japan. The 1941–1945 period of World War II is known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War . The Soviet Union, along with the United States, the United Kingdom and China were considered the Big Four of Allied powers in World War II, and later became the Four Policemen , which

11552-823: The Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back . It tells of his upbringing as the son of a well-known evangelical minister and his later conversion to the Greek Orthodox Church . In the same year Stephen Prothero , author and chairman of Boston University 's Department of Religion, wrote in the Harvard Divinity Bulletin : "I am crazy for people who are crazy for God: people nearly as inscrutable to me as divinity, who leave wives and children to become forest-dwelling monks in Thailand , who wander naked across

11704-455: The Russian autocratic state. The destruction of Kievan Rus' saw the eventual rise of the Grand Duchy of Moscow , initially a part of Vladimir-Suzdal . While still under the domain of the Mongol - Tatars and with their connivance, Moscow began to assert its influence in the region in the early 14th century, gradually becoming the leading force in the "gathering of the Russian lands". When

11856-476: The Russian parliament culminated in a constitutional crisis which ended violently through military force. During the crisis, Yeltsin was backed by Western governments, and over 100 people were killed. In December, a referendum was held and approved, which introduced a new constitution, giving the president enormous powers. The 1990s were plagued by armed conflicts in the North Caucasus , both local ethnic skirmishes and separatist Islamist insurrections. From

12008-408: The Soviet Union led Russia into a deep and prolonged depression. During and after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, wide-ranging reforms including privatisation and market and trade liberalisation were undertaken, including radical changes along the lines of " shock therapy ". The privatisation largely shifted control of enterprises from state agencies to individuals with inside connections in

12160-636: The Soviet Union. The transitional disorganisation of the country's agriculture, combined with the harsh state policies and a drought, led to the Soviet famine of 1932–1933 ; which killed 5.7 to 8.7 million, 3.3 million of them in the Russian SFSR. The Soviet Union, ultimately, made the costly transformation from a largely agrarian economy to a major industrial powerhouse within a short span of time. The Soviet Union entered World War II on 17 September 1939 with its invasion of Poland , in accordance with

12312-459: The Soviet system, introduced the policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to end the period of economic stagnation and to democratise the government . This, however, led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements across the country. Prior to 1991, the Soviet economy was the world's second-largest, but during its final years, it went into

12464-604: The Ukrainian leader, Bohdan Khmelnytsky , offered to place Ukraine under the protection of the Russian tsar, Alexis ; whose acceptance of this offer led to another Russo-Polish War . Ultimately, Ukraine was split along the Dnieper , leaving the eastern part, ( Left-bank Ukraine and Kiev ) under Russian rule. In the east, the rapid Russian exploration and colonisation of vast Siberia continued, hunting for valuable furs and ivory. Russian explorers pushed eastward primarily along

12616-823: The Volga-Dnieper region of southern Russia and Ukraine as the urheimat of the Proto-Indo-Europeans . Early Indo-European migrations from the Pontic–Caspian steppe of Ukraine and Russia spread Yamnaya ancestry and Indo-European languages across large parts of Eurasia. Nomadic pastoralism developed in the Pontic–Caspian steppe beginning in the Chalcolithic . Remnants of these steppe civilizations were discovered in places such as Ipatovo , Sintashta , Arkaim , and Pazyryk , which bear

12768-404: The account in the Acts of the Apostles, it took place on the road to Damascus , where he reported having experienced a vision of the ascended Jesus. The account says that "He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' He asked, 'Who are you, Lord?' The reply came, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting'." According to the account in Acts 9:1–22, he

12920-436: The area of Jerusalem , before his conversion . Some time after having approved of the execution of Stephen , Paul was traveling on the road to Damascus so that he might find any Christians there and bring them "bound to Jerusalem". At midday, a light brighter than the sun shone around both him and those with him, causing all to fall to the ground, with the risen Christ verbally addressing Paul regarding his persecution in

13072-455: The area of Jerusalem . According to James Dunn , the Jerusalem community consisted of "Hebrews", Jews speaking both Aramaic and Greek, and "Hellenists", Jews speaking only Greek, possibly diaspora Jews who had resettled in Jerusalem. Paul's initial persecution of Christians probably was directed against these Greek-speaking "Hellenists" due to their anti-Temple attitude. Within the early Jewish Christian community, this also set them apart from

13224-408: The audience believes that the individual is sane, moral, and pious. The Eastern Orthodox Church holds that holy fools voluntarily take up the guise of insanity in order to conceal their perfection from the world, and thus avoid praise. Some characteristics that were commonly seen in holy fools were going around half-naked, being homeless , speaking in riddles , being believed to be clairvoyant and

13376-513: The belly of India in search of self-realization, who speak in tongues and take up serpents in Appalachia because the Bible says they can." One of the more recent works in theology is Fools for Christ by Jaroslav Pelikan . Through six essays dealing with various "fools," Pelikan explores the motif of fool-for-Christ in relationship to the problem of understanding the numinous: The Holy

13528-599: The best-known modern examples in the Russian Church is perhaps St Xenia of Saint Petersburg . "Crazy for God" is an expression sometimes used in the United States and other English speaking countries to convey a similar idea to "Foolishness for Christ." It has been especially connected to the Unification Church of the United States . In The Way of God's Will , a collection of sayings popular among church members, Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon

13680-591: The capital Moscow. In 1612, the Poles were forced to retreat by the Russian volunteer corps, led by merchant Kuzma Minin and prince Dmitry Pozharsky . The Romanov dynasty acceded to the throne in 1613 by the decision of the Zemsky Sobor, and the country started its gradual recovery from the crisis. Russia continued its territorial growth through the 17th century, which was the age of the Cossacks . In 1654,

13832-545: The control of the Golden Horde and consolidated the whole of northern Rus' under Moscow's dominion, and was the first Russian ruler to take the title "Grand Duke of all Rus'". After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Moscow claimed succession to the legacy of the Eastern Roman Empire . Ivan III married Sophia Palaiologina , the niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI , and made

13984-891: The country was more often referred to by its inhabitants as Rus ' , the Russian land ( Russkaia zemlia ), or the Muscovite state ( Moskovskoe gosudarstvo ), among other variations. In 1721, Peter the Great changed the name of the state from Tsardom of Russia ( Russian : Русское царство , romanized :  Russkoye tsarstvo ) or Tsardom of Muscovy ( Russian : Московское царство , romanized :  Moskovskoye tsarstvo ) to Russian Empire ( Rossiiskaia imperiia ). There are several words in Russian which translate to "Russians" in English. The noun and adjective русский , russkiy refers to ethnic Russians . The adjective российский , rossiiskiy denotes Russian citizens regardless of ethnicity. The same applies to

14136-424: The crowd. The spiritual meaning of "foolishness" from the early ages of Christianity was closely related to that of rejection of common social rules of hypocrisy, brutality and quest for power and gains. By the words of Anthony the Great : "Here comes the time, when people will behave like madmen, and if they see anybody who does not behave like that, they will rebel against him and say: 'You are mad', — because he

14288-450: The crucial Battle of Molodi . The death of Ivan's sons marked the end of the ancient Rurik dynasty in 1598, and in combination with the disastrous famine of 1601–1603 , led to a civil war, the rule of pretenders, and foreign intervention during the Time of Troubles in the early 17th century. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , taking advantage, occupied parts of Russia, extending into

14440-575: The earliest known traces of horses in warfare . The genetic makeup of speakers of the Uralic language family in northern Europe was shaped by migration from Siberia that began at least 3,500 years ago. In the 3rd to 4th centuries CE, the Gothic kingdom of Oium existed in southern Russia, which was later overrun by Huns . Between the 3rd and 6th centuries CE, the Bosporan Kingdom , which

14592-440: The earliest segments of Paul's career are the Acts of the Apostles and the autobiographical elements of Paul's letters to the early Christian communities. Paul was likely born between the years of 5 BC and 5 AD. The Acts of the Apostles indicates that Paul was a Roman citizen by birth, but Helmut Koester took issue with the evidence presented by the text. Some have suggested that Paul's ancestors may have been freedmen from among

14744-521: The early church. There has since been increasing acceptance of Paul as a fundamentally Jewish figure in line with the original disciples in Jerusalem over past misinterpretations, manifested though movements like "Paul Within Judaism". Paul's Jewish name was "Saul" ( Hebrew : שָׁאוּל , Modern :   Sha'ûl , Tiberian :   Šā'ûl ), perhaps after the biblical King Saul ,

14896-493: The eyes of men. The term implies behaviour "which is caused neither by mistake nor by feeble-mindedness, but is deliberate, irritating, even provocative." In his book Holy Fools in Byzantium and Beyond , Ivanov described "holy fool" as a term for a person who "feigns insanity, pretends to be foolish, or who provokes shock or outrage by his deliberate unruliness." He explained that such conduct qualifies as holy foolery only if

15048-641: The first king of Israel and, like Paul, a member of the Tribe of Benjamin ; the Latin name Paulus, meaning small, was not a result of his conversion as is commonly believed but a second name for use in communicating with a Greco-Roman audience. According to the Acts of the Apostles , he was a Roman citizen . As such, he bore the Latin name Paulus , which translates in biblical Greek as Παῦλος ( Paulos ). It

15200-481: The first Europeans to reach and colonise Alaska . In 1803–1806, the first Russian circumnavigation was made. In 1820, a Russian expedition discovered the continent of Antarctica . During the Napoleonic Wars , Russia joined alliances with various European powers, and fought against France. The French invasion of Russia at the height of Napoleon's power in 1812 reached Moscow, but eventually failed as

15352-564: The first Russian feudal representative body (the Zemsky Sobor ), revamped the military, curbed the influence of the clergy, and reorganised local government. During his long reign, Ivan nearly doubled the already large Russian territory by annexing the three Tatar khanates: Kazan and Astrakhan along the Volga , and the Khanate of Sibir in southwestern Siberia. Ultimately, by the end of

15504-586: The first half of the 19th century, Russia also conquered the Caucasus . Catherine's successor, her son Paul , was unstable and focused predominantly on domestic issues . Following his short reign, Catherine's strategy was continued with Alexander I's (1801–1825) wresting of Finland from the weakened Sweden in 1809, and of Bessarabia from the Ottomans in 1812. In North America, the Russians became

15656-612: The gentlemanly and well-educated prince bears no external resemblance to these eccentric figures, he does possess their traditional gift of spiritual insight, which operates instinctively, below any level of conscious awareness or doctrinal commitment." In Demons , the madwoman Marya Lebyadkina displays many of the attributes of the holy fool, as do the characters of Sofya Marmeladova in Crime and Punishment and Lizaveta in The Brothers Karamazov . Another fool-for-Christ

15808-485: The government, which led to the rise of Russian oligarchs . Many of the newly rich moved billions in cash and assets outside of the country in an enormous capital flight . The depression of the economy led to the collapse of social services—the birth rate plummeted while the death rate skyrocketed, and millions plunged into poverty; while extreme corruption, as well as criminal gangs and organised crime rose significantly. In late 1993, tensions between Yeltsin and

15960-534: The heavens (in 2 Corinthians 12 ) are the earliest first-person accounts that are extant of a Merkabah mystic in Jewish or Christian literature. Conversely, Timothy Churchill has argued that Paul's Damascus road encounter does not fit the pattern of Merkabah. According to Acts : And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." And all who heard him were amazed and said, "Is not this

16112-578: The idea of a pseudonymous author for the disputed epistles raises many problems. Today, Paul's epistles continue to be vital roots of the theology, worship and pastoral life in the Latin and Protestant traditions of the West , as well as the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox traditions of the East . Paul's influence on Christian thought and practice has been characterized as being as "profound as it

16264-551: The incident at Antioch is Paul's letter to the Galatians . Paul left for his second missionary journey from Jerusalem, in late Autumn 49 AD, after the meeting of the Council of Jerusalem where the circumcision question was debated. On their trip around the Mediterranean Sea, Paul and his companion Barnabas stopped in Antioch where they had a sharp argument about taking John Mark with them on their trips. The Acts of

16416-504: The incident remains uncertain. The Catholic Encyclopedia suggests that Paul won the argument, because "Paul's account of the incident leaves no doubt that Peter saw the justice of the rebuke". However, Paul himself never mentions a victory, and L. Michael White 's From Jesus to Christianity draws the opposite conclusion: "The blowup with Peter was a total failure of political bravado, and Paul soon left Antioch as persona non grata , never again to return". The primary source account of

16568-535: The latter deliberately starved to death or otherwise killed 3.3 million Soviet POWs , and a vast number of civilians, as the " Hunger Plan " sought to fulfil Generalplan Ost . Although the Wehrmacht had considerable early success, their attack was halted in the Battle of Moscow . Subsequently, the Germans were dealt major defeats first at the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942–1943, and then in

16720-499: The magician who was criticizing their teachings. They sailed to Perga in Pamphylia . John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas went on to Pisidian Antioch . On Sabbath they went to the synagogue. The leaders invited them to speak. Paul reviewed Israelite history from life in Egypt to King David. He introduced Jesus as a descendant of David brought to Israel by God. He said that his group had come to bring

16872-558: The man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?" But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. After his conversion, Paul went to Damascus , where Acts 9 states he was healed of his blindness and baptized by Ananias of Damascus. Paul says that it

17024-573: The meantime, both the Bolsheviks and White movement carried out campaigns of deportations and executions against each other, known respectively as the Red Terror and White Terror . By the end of the violent civil war, Russia's economy and infrastructure were heavily damaged, and as many as 10 million perished during the war, mostly civilians. Millions became White émigrés , and the Russian famine of 1921–1922 claimed up to five million victims. On 30 December 1922, Lenin and his aides formed

17176-464: The message of salvation. He recounted the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. He quoted from the Septuagint to assert that Jesus was the promised Christos who brought them forgiveness for their sins. Both the Jews and the " God-fearing " Gentiles invited them to talk more next Sabbath. At that time almost the whole city gathered. This upset some influential Jews who spoke against them. Paul used

17328-610: The mid-50s AD. The main source of information on Paul's life and works is the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament . Approximately half of its content documents his travels, preaching and miracles . Paul was not one of the Twelve Apostles , and did not know Jesus during his lifetime. According to the Acts, Paul lived as a Pharisee and participated in the persecution of early disciples of Jesus, possibly Hellenised diaspora Jews converted to Christianity, in

17480-609: The more recently coined noun россиянин , rossiianyn , "Russian" in the sense of citizen of the Russian state. According to the Primary Chronicle , the word Rus' is derived from the Rus' people , who were a Swedish tribe, and where the three original members of the Rurikid dynasty came from. The Finnish word for Swedes, ruotsi , has the same origin. Later archeological studies mostly confirmed this theory. The first human settlement on Russia dates back to

17632-489: The most influential cities in Asia Minor since the time of Alexander the Great , who died in 323 BC. Paul referred to himself as being "of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin , a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee ". The Bible reveals very little about Paul's family. Acts quotes Paul referring to his family by saying he was "a Pharisee, born of Pharisees". Paul's nephew, his sister's son,

17784-589: The north-east. Led by Prince Alexander Nevsky , Novgorodians repelled the invading Swedes in the Battle of the Neva in 1240, as well as the Germanic crusaders in the Battle on the Ice in 1242. Kievan Rus' finally fell to the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240, which resulted in the sacking of Kiev and other cities, as well as the death of a major part of the population. The invaders, later known as Tatars , formed

17936-620: The obstinate resistance in combination with the bitterly cold Russian winter led to a disastrous defeat of invaders, in which the pan-European Grande Armée faced utter destruction. Led by Mikhail Kutuzov and Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly , the Imperial Russian Army ousted Napoleon and drove throughout Europe in the War of the Sixth Coalition , ultimately entering Paris. Alexander I controlled Russia's delegation at

18088-454: The occasion to announce a change in his mission which from then on would be to the Gentiles. Antioch served as a major Christian home base for Paul's early missionary activities, and he remained there for "a long time with the disciples" at the conclusion of his first journey. The exact duration of Paul's stay in Antioch is unknown, with estimates ranging from nine months to as long as eight years. In Raymond E. Brown 's An Introduction to

18240-654: The official line. The continued internal struggle in the Bolshevik party culminated in the Great Purge . Under Stalin's leadership, the government launched a command economy , industrialisation of the largely rural country , and collectivisation of its agriculture . During this period of rapid economic and social change, millions of people were sent to penal labour camps , including many political convicts for their suspected or real opposition to Stalin's rule; and millions were deported and exiled to remote areas of

18392-559: The phrase ' Kyrie Eleison ' and behaved foolishly. Similarly Blessed Peter of Foligno lived in voluntary poverty and was deemed crazy. Other notable lay men who led saintly albeit eccentric lifestyles were Blessed Peter of Trevi , Teobaldo Roggeri , Benedict Joseph Labre , St. Salaun of Brittany Ludovico Morbioli and Casimiro Barello among others. The key characteristics of foolishness for Christ in Western Christianity are sleeping rough (outdoors) and homelessness,

18544-480: The play. In Pushkin's narrative poem The Bronze Horseman , the character of Evgenii is based in the tradition of the holy fools in his confrontation with the animated statue of Peter the Great . The yurodivy appears several times in the novels of Dostoevsky . The Idiot explores the ramifications of placing a holy fool (the compassionate and insightful epileptic Prince Myshkin ) in a secular world dominated by vanity and desire. According to Joseph Frank "though

18696-407: The press ; the country also has high levels of perceived corruption . As of 2024, Russia has a high-income economy which ranks eleventh in the world by nominal GDP and fourth at purchasing power parity , relying on its vast mineral and energy resources ; the world's second-largest for oil production and natural gas production . Russia is home to 32 UNESCO World Heritage Sites . According to

18848-536: The rivalry between the two major European empires came to be known as the Great Game . The late 19th century saw the rise of various socialist movements in Russia. Alexander II was assassinated in 1881 by revolutionary terrorists. The reign of his son Alexander III (1881–1894) was less liberal but more peaceful. Under last Russian emperor, Nicholas II (1894–1917), the Revolution of 1905

19000-876: The seat of the Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church moved to Moscow in 1325, its influence increased. Moscow's last rival, the Novgorod Republic , prospered as the chief fur trade centre and the easternmost port of the Hanseatic League . Led by Prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow, the united army of Russian principalities inflicted a milestone defeat on the Mongol-Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. Moscow gradually absorbed its parent duchy and surrounding principalities, including formerly strong rivals such as Tver and Novgorod . Ivan III ("the Great") threw off

19152-410: The southwest portion of Asia Minor to preach the gospel but during the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him to go to Macedonia to help them. After seeing the vision, Paul and his companions left for Macedonia to preach the gospel to them. The Church kept growing, adding believers, and strengthening in faith daily. In Philippi , Paul cast a spirit of divination out of

19304-596: The state of the Golden Horde , which ruled over Russia for the next two centuries. Only the Novgorod Republic escaped foreign occupation after it agreed to pay tribute to the Mongols. Galicia-Volhynia would later be absorbed by Lithuania and Poland , while the Novgorod Republic continued to prosper in the north. In the northeast, the Byzantine-Slavic traditions of Kievan Rus' were adapted to form

19456-526: The streets to the common man. Servant of God, Brother Juniper , an early follower of the Franciscan order, was known for taking the doctrine of the Franciscans to the extreme. Whenever anyone asked for any of his possessions, he freely gave them away, including his clothes. He once even cut off the bells from his altar-cloth and gave them to a poor woman. His fellow Franciscans had to watch him closely, and strictly forbade him from giving away his clothes. While such behaviors were embarrassing to his brothers, he

19608-449: The strongest and most faithful churches at that time. In 52, departing from Corinth, Paul stopped at the nearby village of Cenchreae to have his hair cut off, because of a vow he had earlier taken. It is possible this was to be a final haircut before fulfilling his vow to become a Nazirite for a defined period of time. With Priscilla and Aquila, the missionaries then sailed to Ephesus and then Paul alone went on to Caesarea to greet

19760-456: The supervision of Gamaliel in Jerusalem, he was not preparing to become a scholar of Jewish law, and probably never had any contact with the Hillelite school. Some of his family may have resided in Jerusalem since later the son of one of his sisters saved his life there. Nothing more is known of his biography until he takes an active part in the martyrdom of Stephen , a Hellenised diaspora Jew. Some modern scholarship argues that while Paul

19912-424: The term was not popularized until the coming of Symeon of Emesa , who is considered to be a patron saint of holy fools. In Greek, the term for Holy Fool is salos . The practice was recognised in the hagiography of fifth-century Byzantium, and it was extensively adopted in Muscovite Russia , probably in the 14th century. The madness of the Holy Fool was ambiguous, and could be real or simulated. He (or she)

20064-472: The thousands of Jews whom Pompey took as slaves in 63 BC , which would explain how he was born into Roman citizenship , as slaves of Roman citizens gained citizenship upon emancipation. He was from a devout Jewish family based in the city of Tarsus , which had been made part of the Roman Province of Syria by the time of Paul's adulthood. Tarsus was of the larger centers of trade on the Mediterranean coast and renowned for its academy , it had been among

20216-523: The time Chechen separatists declared independence in the early 1990s, an intermittent guerrilla war was fought between the rebel groups and Russian forces. Terrorist attacks against civilians were carried out by Chechen separatists, claiming the lives of thousands of Russian civilians. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia assumed responsibility for settling the latter's external debts. In 1992, most consumer price controls were eliminated, causing extreme inflation and significantly devaluing

20368-399: Was Ruthenia . In Russian, the current name of the country, Россия ( Rossiya ), comes from the Byzantine Greek name for Rus', Ρωσία ( Rosía ). A new form of the name Rus ' , Росия ( Rosiya ), was borrowed from the Greek term and first attested in 1387. The name Rossiia appeared in Russian sources in the late 15th century, but until the end of the 17th century

20520-449: Was elected President of the Russian SFSR. In August 1991, a coup d'état attempt by members of Gorbachev's government, directed against Gorbachev and aimed at preserving the Soviet Union, instead led to the end of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. On 25 December 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union , along with contemporary Russia, fourteen other post-Soviet states emerged. The economic and political collapse of

20672-417: Was a Hellenistic polity that succeeded the Greek colonies, was also overwhelmed by nomadic invasions led by warlike tribes such as the Huns and Eurasian Avars . The Khazars , who were of Turkic origin , ruled the steppes between the Caucasus in the south, to the east past the Volga river basin, and west as far as Kyiv on the Dnieper river until the 10th century. After them came the Pechenegs who created

20824-412: Was also recognized as a pure example of the Franciscan order and thus esteemed. "The Little Flowers of Saint Francis of Assisi", which documents the oral traditions of the Franciscans, told several stories of "Brother Juniper". The most famous of these is the story of how Brother Juniper, when he heard a sick brother request a pig's foot as a meal, took a kitchen knife and ran into the forest, where he saw

20976-460: Was believed to have been divinely inspired, and was therefore able to say truths which others could not, normally in the form of indirect allusions or parables . He had a particular status in regard to the Tsars , as a figure not subject to earthly control or judgement. The first reported fool-for-Christ in Russia was St. Procopius (Prokopiy), who came from the lands of the Holy Roman Empire to Novgorod , then moved to Ustyug , pretending to be

21128-423: Was blinded for three days and had to be led into Damascus by the hand. During these three days, Saul took no food or water and spent his time in prayer to God. When Ananias of Damascus arrived, he laid his hands on him and said: "Brother Saul, the Lord, [even] Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost." His sight

21280-440: Was dissolved by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee . An alternative socialist establishment co-existed, the Petrograd Soviet , wielding power through the democratically elected councils of workers and peasants, called soviets . The rule of the new authorities only aggravated the crisis in the country instead of resolving it, and eventually, the October Revolution , led by Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin , overthrew

21432-492: Was fluent in Koine Greek , the language he used to write his letters, his first language was probably Aramaic . In his letters, Paul drew heavily on his knowledge of Stoic philosophy , using Stoic terms and metaphors to assist his new Gentile converts in their understanding of the Gospel and to explain his Christology. Paul says that before his conversion , he persecuted early Christians "beyond measure", more specifically Hellenised diaspora Jewish members who had returned to

21584-448: Was found at Kostyonki–Borshchyovo , and at Sungir , dating back to 34,600 years ago—both in western Russia . Humans reached Arctic Russia at least 40,000 years ago, in Mamontovaya Kurya . Ancient North Eurasian populations from Siberia genetically similar to Mal'ta–Buret' culture and Afontova Gora were an important genetic contributor to Ancient Native Americans and Eastern Hunter-Gatherers . The Kurgan hypothesis places

21736-458: Was half Neanderthal and half Denisovan, and lived some 90,000 years ago, was also found within the latter cave. Russia was home to some of the last surviving Neanderthals, from about 45,000 years ago, found in Mezmaiskaya cave . The first trace of an early modern human in Russia dates back to 45,000 years, in Western Siberia . The discovery of high concentration cultural remains of anatomically modern humans , from at least 40,000 years ago,

21888-540: Was in Damascus that he barely escaped death. Paul also says that he then went first to Arabia, and then came back to Damascus. Paul's trip to Arabia is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, although it has been theorized that he traveled to Mount Sinai for meditations in the desert. He describes in Galatians how three years after his conversion he went to Jerusalem . There he met James and stayed with Simon Peter for 15 days. Paul located Mount Sinai in Arabia in Galatians 4:24–25. Paul asserted that he received

22040-412: Was populated by Finno-Ugrian peoples. From the 7th century onwards, the incoming East Slavs slowly assimilated the native Finno-Ugrians. The establishment of the first East Slavic states in the 9th century coincided with the arrival of Varangians , the Vikings who ventured along the waterways extending from the eastern Baltic to the Black and Caspian Seas. According to the Primary Chronicle ,

22192-539: Was restored, he got up and was baptized. This story occurs only in Acts, not in the Pauline epistles. The author of the Acts of the Apostles may have learned of Paul's conversion from the church in Jerusalem , or from the church in Antioch , or possibly from Paul himself. According to Timo Eskola, early Christian theology and discourse was influenced by the Jewish Merkabah tradition. John Bowker , Alan Segal and Daniel Boyarin have variously argued that Paul's accounts of his conversion experience and his ascent to

22344-401: Was the foundation of the United Nations Security Council . During the war, Soviet civilian and military death were about 26–27 million , accounting for about half of all World War II casualties . The Soviet economy and infrastructure suffered massive devastation, which caused the Soviet famine of 1946–1947 . However, at the expense of a large sacrifice, the Soviet Union emerged as

22496-413: Was to become an initial connection with Priscilla and Aquila , with whom he would partner in tentmaking and later become very important teammates as fellow missionaries. While he was still fairly young, he was sent to Jerusalem to receive his education at the school of Gamaliel , one of the most noted teachers of Jewish law in history. Although modern scholarship accepts that Paul was educated under

22648-400: Was to disguise their superiority over their audience. Fools for Christ are often given the title of Blessed ( блаженный ), which does not necessarily mean that the individual is less than a saint, but rather points to the blessings from God that they are believed to have acquired. The Eastern Orthodox Church records Isidora Barankis of Egypt (d. 369) among the first Holy Fools. However,

22800-569: Was triggered by the humiliating failure of the Russo-Japanese War . The uprising was put down, but the government was forced to concede major reforms ( Russian Constitution of 1906 ), including granting freedoms of speech and assembly , the legalisation of political parties, and the creation of an elected legislative body, the State Duma . In 1914, Russia entered World War I in response to Austria-Hungary 's declaration of war on Russia's ally Serbia , and fought across multiple fronts while isolated from its Triple Entente allies. In 1916,

22952-450: Was typical for the Jews of that time to have two names: one Hebrew, the other Latin or Greek. Jesus called him "Saul, Saul" in "the Hebrew tongue" in the Acts of the Apostles, when he had the vision which led to his conversion on the road to Damascus. Later, in a vision to Ananias of Damascus , "the Lord" referred to him as "Saul, of Tarsus". When Ananias came to restore his sight, he called him "Brother Saul". In Acts 13:9 , Saul

23104-426: Was typical of Paul's missionary style. His method was to put people at ease and approach them with his message in a language and style that was relatable to them, as he did in 1 Corinthians 9 :19–23 . The main source for information about Paul's life is the material found in his epistles and in the Acts of the Apostles. However, the epistles contain little information about Paul's pre-conversion past. The Acts of

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