Misplaced Pages

#139860

149-460: Major faiths commonly devote significant philosophical efforts to explaining the relationship between immanence and transcendence but do so in different ways, such as: Another meaning of immanence is the quality of being contained within, or remaining within the boundaries of a person, of the world, or of the mind. This meaning is more common within Christian and other monotheist theology, in which

298-574: A "conceptual space" in which a finite, independent world could exist. This has received different later interpretations in Jewish mysticism, from the literal to the metaphorical. In this process, creation unfolds within the divine reality. Luria offered a daring cosmic theology that explained the reasons for the Tzimtzum , the primordial catastrophe of Shevirat Hakelim (the "Breaking of the Vessels" of

447-462: A "light that surrounds all worlds", representing transcendent expressions of Divinity. The new doctrines of Isaac Luria in the 16th Century completed the Kabbalistic system of explanation. Lurianic Kabbalah describes the process of Tzimtzum (צמצום meaning "Contraction" or "Constriction") in the Kabbalistic theory of creation, where God "contracted" his infinite essence in order to allow for

596-470: A Kantian Ding-an-sich ( thing-in-itself ), and (2) the tendency of neo-Hegelian philosophy to lose the particular self in an Absolute that amounts to a kind of mystical reality without distinctions." Political theorist Carl Schmitt used the term in his book Politische Theologie (1922), meaning a power within some thought, which makes it obvious for the people to accept it, without needing to claim being justified. The immanence of some political system or

745-474: A bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. The Holy Spirit is also expressed as an immanence of God. and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." The immanence of

894-411: A common standard of law and justice for both the family and the city. Whoever follows the paths within and searches will discover; for within is law and justice, which is the proper arrangement of the soul. Pythagoreans believed that body and soul functioned together, and a healthy body required a healthy psyche. Early Pythagoreans conceived of the soul as the seat of sensation and emotion. They regarded

1043-613: A concept derives from the Kabbalistic theology that the physical World, and also the Upper spiritual Worlds, are continuously recreated from nothing by the Shefa (flow) of divine will, which emanates through the Sefirot . As a result, within all creations are divine sparks of vitality that sustain them. Medieval Kabbalah describes two forms of divine emanation, a "light that fills all worlds", representing this immanent divine creative power, and

1192-638: A counterculture in the dominant meat-eating culture. The philosopher Empedocles is said to have refused the customary blood sacrifice by offering a substitute sacrifice after his victory in a horse race in Olympia . Late-Pythagorean philosophers were absorbed into the Platonic school of philosophy and in the 4th century BC the head of the Platonic Academy Polemon included vegetarianism in his concept of living according to nature. In

1341-853: A distinct theology and dogma , include the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox communion, the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Assyrian Church of the East. In most Eastern churches, parish priests administer the sacrament of chrismation to infants after baptism , and priests are allowed to marry before ordination. The Eastern Catholic Churches recognize the authority of the Pope of Rome , but some of them who have originally been part of

1490-475: A high number of graduate (68%) and post-graduate (28%) degrees per capita. Scholars and intellectuals agree Christians have made significant contributions to Arab and Islamic civilization since the introduction of Islam , and they have had a significant impact contributing the culture of the Middle East and North Africa and other areas. Byzantine science played an important and crucial role in

1639-637: A house where Pythagoreans gathered was set on fire and all but two of the Pythagorean philosophers burned alive. Pythagorean meeting places in other cities were also attacked and philosophic leaders killed. These attacks occurred in the context of widespread violence and destruction in Magna Graecia. Following the political instability in the region, some Pythagorean philosophers fled to mainland Greece while others regrouped in Rhegium . By about 400 BC

SECTION 10

#1732773078140

1788-564: A life which is pleasing to his soul, if Pythagoras the wise truly achieved knowledge and understanding beyond that of all men. Empedocles described Pythagoras as "a man of surpassing knowledge, master especially of all kinds of wise works, who had acquired the upmost wealth of understanding." In the 4th century BC the Sophist Alcidamas wrote that Pythagoras was widely honored by Italians. Today scholars typically distinguish two periods of Pythagoreanism: early-Pythagoreanism, from

1937-573: A marked influence on Plato and through him, on all of Western philosophy . Many of the surviving sources on Pythagoras originate with Aristotle and the philosophers of the Peripatetic school . As a philosophic tradition, Pythagoreanism was revived in the 1st century BC, giving rise to Neopythagoreanism . The worship of Pythagoras continued in Italy and as a religious community Pythagoreans appear to have survived as part of, or deeply influenced,

2086-761: A model of the Paradigm of the Universe, which the Demiurge contemplates in his articulation of the ideas and his creation of the world according to the Logos. Tantric Buddhism and Dzogchen posit a non-dual basis for both experience and reality that could be considered an exposition of a philosophy of immanence that has a history on the subcontinent of India from early CE to the present. A paradoxical non-dual awareness or rigpa ( Tibetan — vidya in Sanskrit ) —

2235-424: A part of it comes from the reigning contemporary definer of Weltanschauung , namely religion (or any similar system of beliefs, such as rationalistic or relativistic world-view). Many hold Schmitt to be interested in an immanent polity without anything transcendent involved in its vital operations beyond the very border that separates it from the enemy outside. As such he might have ironically secularized politics in

2384-645: A personal covenant with the forefathers Abraham , Isaac and Jacob . Daily Jewish prayers refer to this inherited closeness and personal relationship with the divine, for their descendants, as "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob". To Moses , God reveals his Tetragrammaton name, that more fully captures divine descriptions of transcendence . Each of the Biblical names for God describe different divine manifestations. The most important prayer in Judaism, that forms part of

2533-622: A religious community Pythagoreans appear to have survived as part of, or deeply influenced, the Bacchic cults and Orphism . The akousmatikoi believed that humans had to act in appropriate ways. The Akousmata (translated as "oral saying") was the collection of all the sayings of Pythagoras as divine dogma. The tradition of the akousmatikoi resisted any reinterpretation or philosophical evolution of Pythagoras' teachings. Individuals who strictly followed most akousmata were regarded as wise. The akousmatikoi philosophers refused to recognise that

2682-496: A religious community they relied on oral teachings and worshiped the Pythian Apollo , the oracular god of Delphic Oracle . Pythagoreans preached an austere life. They believed that the soul was buried in the body, which acted as a tomb for the soul in this life. The highest reward a human could attain was for the soul to join in the life of the gods and thus escaped the cycle of reincarnation in another human body. Like

2831-438: A rigorous life of the intellect and strict rules on diet, clothing and behavior. Their burial rites were tied to their belief in the immortality of the soul. Early-Pythagorean sects were closed societies and new Pythagoreans were chosen based on merit and discipline. Ancient sources record that early-Pythagoreans underwent a five-year initiation period of listening to the teachings ( akousmata ) in silence. Initiates could through

2980-454: A specific method of discussing the limits of ability for a technological object. Specifically, this is the scope of potential uses of an object outside of the limits prescribed by culture or convention, and is instead simply the empirical spectrum of function for a technological artifact. Pythagoreanism Pythagoreanism originated in the 6th century BC, based on and around the teachings and beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers,

3129-472: A test become members of the inner circle. However, Pythagoreans could also leave the community if they wished. Iamblichus listed 235 Pythagoreans by name, among them 17 women whom he described as the "most famous" women practitioners of Pythagoreanism. It was customary that family members became Pythagoreans, as Pythagoreanism developed into a philosophic tradition that entailed rules for everyday life and Pythagoreans were bound by secrets. The home of Pythagoras

SECTION 20

#1732773078140

3278-533: A top-down hierarchy (see primus inter pares ). The Eastern Orthodox reject the Filioque clause as contrast to Catholics. The Catholic Church was once in communion with the Eastern Orthodox Church, but the two split after the East–West Schism and are no longer in communion. It is estimated that there are approximately 240 million Eastern Orthodox Christians in the world. Today, many adherents shun

3427-475: A vegetarian diet fostered a healthy body and enhanced the search for Arete . The purpose of vegetarianism in Pythagoreanism was not self-denial; instead, it was regarded as conductive to the best in a human being. Pythagoreans advanced a grounded theory on the treatment of animals. They believed that any being that experienced pain or suffering should not have pain inflicted on it unnecessarily. Because it

3576-408: A visual comprehension of mathematics and allowed for a geometrical exploration of numerical relationships. Pythagorean philosophers investigated the relationship of numbers extensively. They defined perfect numbers as those that were equal to the sum of all their divisors. For example: 28 = 1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14. The theory of odd and even numbers was central to Pythagorean arithmetic . This distinction

3725-518: A way that liberalism never could have. But this is a contentious issue. The French 20th-century philosopher Gilles Deleuze used the term immanence to refer to his " empiricist philosophy", which was obliged to create action and results rather than establish transcendents. His final text was titled Pure Immanence: Essays on a Life and spoke of a plane of immanence . Furthermore, the Russian Formalist film theorists perceived immanence as

3874-483: A well watered grove, which he provided with clear running-tracks and shady walks". Plato (less known as Aristocles) lived almost a hundred years later, circa 427 to 348 BC. On the other hand it seems likely that this was a part of the re-building of Athens led by Kimon Milkiadou and Themosticles, following the Achaemenid destruction of Athens in 480-479 BC - The Second Persian War . Kimon is at least associated with

4023-409: A wisdom or made a wisdom of his own: a polymathy, an imposture. Two other surviving fragments of ancient sources on Pythagoras are by Ion of Chios and Empedocles . Both were born in the 490s, after Pythagoras' death. By that time, he was known as a sage and his fame had spread throughout Greece. According to Ion, Pythagoras was: ... distinguished for his manly virtue and modesty, even in death has

4172-452: Is a system of musical tuning in which the frequency ratios of all intervals are based on the ratio 3:2 . This ratio, also known as the " pure " perfect fifth , is chosen because it is one of the most consonant and easiest to tune by ear and because of importance attributed to the integer 3. As Novalis put it, "The musical proportions seem to me to be particularly correct natural proportions." The fact that mathematics could explain

4321-474: Is filled with immanence, known as the light of Christ . It is also responsible for the intuitive conscience born into man. The Light of Christ is the source of intellectual and spiritual enlightenment, and is the means by which God is in and through all things. LDS scriptures identify the divine Light with the mind of God, the source of all truth and conveyor of the characteristics of the divine nature through God's goodness. The experienced brilliance of God reflects

4470-860: Is not a utopia. At a meeting in Balamand , Lebanon , in June 1993, the Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church declared that these initiatives that "led to the union of certain communities with the See of Rome and brought with them, as a consequence, the breaking of communion with their Mother Churches of the East … took place not without

4619-625: Is said to be the 'self-perfected state' of all beings. Scholarly works differentiate these traditions from monism . The non-dual is said to be not immanent and not transcendent, not neither, nor both. One classical exposition is the Madhyamaka refutation of extremes that the philosopher-adept Nagarjuna propounded. Exponents of this non-dual tradition emphasize the importance of a direct experience of non-duality through both meditative practice and philosophical investigation. In one version, one maintains awareness as thoughts arise and dissolve within

Immanence - Misplaced Pages Continue

4768-432: Is thus made up of fourteen or sixteen autocephalous bodies. Smaller churches are autonomous and each have a mother church that is autocephalous. All Eastern Orthodox are united in doctrinal agreement with each other, though a few are not in communion at present, for non-doctrinal reasons. This is in contrast to the Catholic Church and its various churches. Members of the latter are all in communion with each other, parts of

4917-579: Is wrong to say that the Pythagoreans were superseded by the Cynics in the 4th century BC, but it seems to be a distinction mark of the Cynics to disregard the hierarchy and protocol, ways of initiatory proceedings significant for the Pythagorean community; subsequently did the Greek philosophical traditions become more diverse. The Platonic Academy was arguably a Pythagorean cenobitic institution, outside

5066-461: The Bacchic cults and Orphism . Even the early Christian cenobitic traditions may be seen in light of the matematikoi. The biblical Greek name for 'disciple' is 'mathetes' [1] . Pythagoras was already well known in ancient times for his supposed mathematical achievement of the Pythagorean theorem . Pythagoras had been credited with discovering that in a right-angled triangle the square of

5215-619: The Balkans and the Caucasus ( Georgia , Abkhazia , Ossetia etc.), with a growing presence in the Western world . Eastern Orthodox Christians accept the decisions of the first seven ecumenical councils . Eastern Orthodox Christianity identifies itself as the original Christian church (see early centers of Christianity ) founded by Christ and the Apostles, and traces its lineage back to

5364-556: The Eastern Mediterranean region or locations further east, south or north. The term does not describe a single communion or religious denomination . Eastern Christianity is a category distinguished from Western Christianity , which is composed of those Christian traditions and churches that originally developed further west. Major Eastern Christian bodies include the Eastern Orthodox Church and

5513-877: The Four Marks of the Church listed in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381 AD): "One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic" ( Greek : μία, ἁγία, καθολικὴ καὶ ἀποστολικὴ ἐκκλησία ). Eastern churches (excepting the non-liturgical dissenting bodies) utilize several liturgical rites : the Alexandrian Rite , the Armenian Rite , the Byzantine Rite , the East Syriac Rite (also known as Persian or Assyrian Rite), and

5662-770: The Hellenistic East and the Latin West , and the political divide of 395 AD between the Western and Eastern Roman Empires . Since the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, the term "Eastern Christianity" may be used in contrast with " Western Christianity ", which contains not only the Latin Church but also forms of Protestantism and Independent Catholicism . Some Eastern churches have more in common historically and theologically with Western Christianity than with one another. Because

5811-659: The Holy See at the Vatican whilst being rooted in the theological and liturgical traditions of Eastern Christianity. Most of these churches were originally part of the Orthodox East, but have since been reconciled to the Latin Church. Many of these churches were originally part of one of the above families and so are closely related to them by way of ethos and liturgical practice . As in the other Eastern churches, married men may become priests, and parish priests administer

5960-588: The Kabbalah , and Hasidic philosophy , use hidden approaches. Both dimensions are seen by adherents as united and complementary. In this way, ideas in Jewish thought are given a variety of ascending meanings. Explanations of a concept in Nigleh are given inherent, inner, mystical contexts from Nistar . Descriptions of divine immanence can be seen in Nigleh , from the Bible to Rabbinic Judaism. In Genesis , God makes

6109-544: The Kabbalah , began to be taught in 12th-Century Europe, and reached a new systemisation in 16th-Century Israel. The Kabbalah gives the full, subtle, traditional system of Jewish metaphysics . In the Medieval Kabbalah, new doctrines described the 10 Sephirot (divine emanations) through which the Infinite, unknowable divine essence reveals, emanates, and continuously creates existence. The Kabbalists identified

Immanence - Misplaced Pages Continue

6258-705: The Kabbalistic tradition, explained using the four level exegesis method of Pardes . In this system, the first three approaches, Simple, Hinted and Homiletical interpretations, characterise the revealed aspects. The fourth approach, the Secret meaning, characterises a hidden aspect. Among the classic texts of Jewish tradition, some Jewish Bible commentators, the Midrash , the Talmud , and mainstream Jewish philosophy use revealed approaches. Other Bible commentators,

6407-884: The Middle Ages and coincided with Western Europe's re-emergence from the collapse of the Western Roman Empire . The Ukrainian Lutheran Church developed within Galicia around 1926, with its rites being based on the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom , rather than on the Western Formula Missae . The Eastern Orthodox Church is a Christian body whose adherents are largely based in Western Asia (particularly Syria , Lebanon , Jordan , Israel , and Palestine ) and Turkey , Eastern Europe ,

6556-631: The Montenegrin Orthodox Church ; both are domiciles of the Serbian Orthodox Church . There are also some Reformed Churches which share characteristics of Eastern Christianity, to varying extents. Starting in the 1920s, parallel hierarchies formed in opposition to local Orthodox churches over ecumenism and other matters. These jurisdictions sometimes refer to themselves as being "True Orthodox". In Russia, underground churches formed and maintained solidarity with

6705-755: The Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 7th century, the term Eastern Church increasingly came to be used for the Greek Church centered in Constantinople , in contrast with the ( Western ) Latin Church , centered on Rome , which uses the Latin liturgical rites . The terms "Eastern" and "Western" in this regard originated with geographical divisions in Christianity mirroring the cultural divide between

6854-709: The Oriental Orthodox Churches , along with those groups descended from the historic Church of the East (also called the Assyrian Church ), as well as the Eastern Catholic Churches (which are in communion with Rome while maintaining Eastern liturgies ), and the Eastern Protestant churches . Most Eastern churches do not normally refer to themselves as "Eastern", with the exception of the Assyrian Church of

7003-762: The Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church could in the future unite into a united church around the Kyiv throne. In 2019, the primate of the UGCC, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Galicia Sviatoslav , stated that every effort should be made to restore the original unity of the Kyivan Church in its Orthodox and Catholic branches, saying that the restoration of Eucharistic communion between Rome and Constantinople

7152-604: The Sefirot in the first existence), and the messianic Tikkun ("Fixing") of this by every individual through their sanctification of physicality. The concept of Tzimtzum contains a built-in paradox , as it requires that God be simultaneously transcendent and immanent: Giordano Bruno , Baruch Spinoza and possibly Hegel espoused philosophies of immanence versus philosophies of transcendence such as Thomism or Aristotelian tradition . Kant's "transcendental" critique can be contrasted to Hegel's "immanent dialectics." Thomas Carlyle 's idea of " Natural Supernaturalism " posited

7301-422: The Ukrainian Lutheran Church and Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church have under a million members. The Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East, descendant churches of the Assyria-based Church of the East, have a combined membership of approximately 400,000. Historically, Eastern Christianity was centered in the Middle East and surrounding areas, where Christianity originated. However, after

7450-576: The West Syriac Rite (also called the Antiochian Rite). Eastern Christians do not all share the same religious traditions, but many do share cultural traditions. Christianity divided itself in the East during its early centuries both within and outside of the Roman Empire in disputes about Christology and fundamental theology, as well as through national divisions (Roman, Persian, etc.). It would be many centuries later that Western Christianity fully split from these traditions as its own communion. Major branches or families of Eastern Christianity, each holding

7599-423: The dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon (451). Hence, these churches are also called the Old Oriental churches . They comprise the Coptic Orthodox Church , the Malankara Orthodox Church (India), the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church , the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church , the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church . Oriental Orthodoxy developed in reaction to Chalcedon on

SECTION 50

#1732773078140

7748-474: The early Church through the process of apostolic succession and unchanged theology and practice. Characteristics of the Eastern Orthodox Church include the Byzantine Rite (shared with some Eastern Catholic Churches) and an emphasis on the continuation of Holy Tradition , which it holds to be apostolic in nature. The Eastern Orthodox Church is organized into self-governing jurisdictions along geographical, national, ethnic or linguistic lines. Eastern Orthodoxy

7897-406: The mystery of confirmation to newborn infants immediately after baptism, via the rite of chrismation; the infants are then administered Holy Communion . The Syro-Malabar Church, which is part of the Saint Thomas Christian community in India, follows East Syriac traditions and liturgy. Other Saint Thomas Christians of India, who were originally of the same East Syriac tradition, passed instead to

8046-439: The pentagram , as each diagonal divides the two others at the golden ratio . When linear geometrical figures replaced the dots, the combination of Babylonian algebra and Pythagorean arithmetic provided the basis for Greek geometric algebra. By attempting to establish a system of concrete and permanent rules, Pythagoreans helped to establish strict axiomatic procedures of solving mathematical problems. Pythagoras pioneered

8195-484: The transmission of classical knowledge to the Islamic world . Christians, especially Nestorians, contributed to the Arab Islamic Civilization during the Umayyads and the Abbasids by translating works of Greek philosophers to Syriac and afterwards to Arabic . They also excelled in philosophy, science (such as Hunayn ibn Ishaq , Qusta ibn Luqa , Masawaiyh , Patriarch Eutychius , Jabril ibn Bukhtishu etc.) and theology (such as Tatian , Bar Daisan , Babai

8344-489: The 'field' of mind ; one does not accept or reject them, rather one lets the mind wander as it will until a subtle sense of immanence dawns. Vipassana , or insight, is the integration of one's 'presence of awareness' with that which arises in the mind. Non-duality or rigpa is said to be the recognition that both the quiet, calm, abiding state as found in samatha and the movement or arising of phenomena as found in vipassana are not separate. According to Christian theology,

8493-436: The 14th century, when the church was nearly destroyed by the collapse of the Mongol Empire and the conquests of Timur . By the 16th century it was largely confined to Iraq, northeast Syria, southeast Turkey, northwest Iran and the Malabar Coast of India ( Kerala ). The split of the 15th century, which saw the emergence of separate Assyrian and Chaldean Churches, left only the former as an independent sect. Additional splits into

8642-401: The 1st century AD Ovid identified Pythagoras as the first opponent to meat-eating. But the fuller argument Pythagoreans advanced against the maltreatment of animals did not sustain. Pythagoreans had argued that certain types of food arouse the passions and hindered spiritual ascent. Thus Porphyry would rely on the teachings of the Pythagoreans when arguing that abstinence from eating meat for

8791-445: The 20th century further affected the history of the Assyrian Church of the East. The Saint Thomas Syrian Christians are an ancient body of Syrian Christians in Kerala, Malabar coast of India who trace their origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. Many Assyrian and Jewish communities like the Knanaya and the Cochin Jews assimilated into the Saint Thomas Syrian Christian community. By

8940-416: The 4th century BC as significant mendicant school of philosophy by the Cynics . Mathēmatikoi philosophers were in the 4th century BC absorbed into the Platonic school of Speusippus , Xenocrates and Polemon . As a philosophic tradition, Pythagoreanism was revived in the 1st century BC, giving rise to Neopythagoreanism . The worship of Pythagoras continued in Italy in the two intervening centuries. As

9089-505: The 4th century BC, when the philosopher Archytas engaged in advanced mathematics as part of his devotion to Pythagoras' teachings. Today, Pythagoras is mostly remembered for his mathematical ideas, and by association with the work early Pythagoreans did in advancing mathematical concepts and theories on harmonic musical intervals , the definition of numbers , proportion and mathematical methods such as arithmetic and geometry . The mathēmatikoi philosophers claimed that numbers were at

SECTION 60

#1732773078140

9238-400: The 5th century the Saint Thomas Syrian Christians were part of the Church of the East ( Nestorian Church ). Until the middle of the 17th century and the arrival of the Portuguese , the Thomas Christians were all one in faith and rite. Thereafter, divisions arose among them, and consequently they are today of several different rites. The East Syriac Chaldean Rite (Edessan Rite) Churches among

9387-426: The 6th until the 5th century BC, and late-Pythagoreanism, from the 4th until the 3rd century BC. The Spartan colony of Taranto in Italy became the home for many practitioners of Pythagoreanism and later for Neopythagorean philosophers. Pythagoras had also lived in Crotone and Metaponto , both of which were Achaean colonies. Early-Pythagorean sects lived in Croton and throughout Magna Graecia . They espoused to

9536-485: The Assyrian Church of the East. The followers of these two churches are almost exclusively ethnic Assyrians. In India, the local Church of the East community, known as the Saint Thomas Christians, experienced its own rifts as a result of Portuguese influence. The Assyrian Church of the East emerged from the historical Church of the East, which was centered in Mesopotamia/Assyria, then part of the Persian Empire , and spread widely throughout Asia. The modern Assyrian Church of

9685-400: The Council of Ephesus in 431, leading to the Nestorian Schism in which churches supporting Nestorius split from the rest of Christianity. Many followers relocated to Persia and became affiliated with the local Christian community there. This community adopted an increasingly Nestorian theology and was thereafter often known as the Nestorian Church. As such, the Church of the East accepts only

9834-431: The East and its offshoot, the Ancient Church of the East . The Eastern Orthodox are the largest body within Eastern Christianity with a worldwide population of 220 million, followed by the Oriental Orthodox at 60 million. The Eastern Catholic Churches consist of about 16–18 million and are a small minority within the Catholic Church. Eastern Protestant Christian churches do not form a single communion; churches like

9983-415: The East declared independence from the churches of the Roman Empire at its general council in 424, which was before the Council of Ephesus in 431, and so had nothing to do with the theology declared at that council. Oriental Orthodoxy separated after the Council of Chalcedon in 451 but did not immediately form separate patriarchates until 518 (in the case of the Syriac Patriarchate of Antioch) and 536 (in

10132-423: The East emerged in the 16th century following a split with the Chaldean Church, which later entered into communion with Rome as an Eastern Catholic Church. The Church of the East was associated with the doctrine of Nestorianism, advanced by Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople from 428 to 431, which emphasized the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus . Nestorius and his doctrine were condemned at

10281-400: The Father only reveals himself immanently vicariously through the Son and Spirit, and the divine nature, the Godhead is wholly transcendent and unable to be comprehended. This is expressed in St. Paul 's letter to the Philippians, where he writes: who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of

10430-402: The Father, Mother, and Son (Zeus). In the mind of Zeus, the ideas are distinctly articulated and become the Logos by which he creates the world. These ideas become active in the Mind ( nous ) of Zeus. With him is the Power and from him is the nous . This theology further explains that Zeus is called Demiurge ( Dêmiourgos , Creator), Maker ( Poiêtês ), and Craftsman ( Technitês ). The nous of

10579-404: The Great , Nestorius , Toma bar Yacoub , etc.) and the personal physicians of the Abbasid Caliphs were often Assyrian Christians such as the long serving Bukhtishus . Many scholars of the House of Wisdom were of Christian background. A hospital and medical training center existed at Gundeshapur . The city of Gundeshapur was founded in AD 271 by the Sassanid king Shapur I . It was one of

10728-533: The Maronite Church, it resembles the liturgical rite of the Eastern Orthodox Church . In addition to these four mainstream branches, there are a number of much smaller groups which originated from disputes with the dominant tradition of their original areas. Most of these are either part of the more traditional Old Believer movement, which arose from a schism within Russian Orthodoxy, or

10877-683: The Mediterranean, India, and China. Originally the only Christian church recognized by Zoroastrian -led Sassanid Persia (through its alliance with the Lakhmids, the regional rivals to the Byzantines and its Ghassanid vassal), the Church of the East declared itself independent of other churches in 424 and over the next century became affiliated with Nestorianism, a Christological doctrine advanced by Nestorius , Patriarch of Constantinople from 428 to 431, which had been declared heretical in

11026-459: The Orphics, who considered metempsychosis a cycle of grief that could be escaped by attaining liberation from it, Pythagoras seems to postulate an eternal, endless reincarnation where subsequent lives would not be conditioned by any action done in the previous. Some Medieval authors refer to a "Pythagorean diet", entailing the abstention from eating meat, beans or fish. Pythagoreans believed that

11175-481: The Orthodox Church or Oriental Orthodox churches closely follow the traditions of Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy, including the tradition of allowing married men to become priests. The Eastern churches' differences from Western Christianity have to do with theology , as well as liturgy , culture, language, and politics. For the non-Catholic Eastern churches, a definitive date for the commencement of schism cannot usually be given (see East–West Schism ). The Church of

11324-636: The Paul VI and Athenagoras I meeting in Jerusalem there have been other significant meetings between Popes and Ecumenical Patriarchs of Constantinople. One of the most recent meetings was between Benedict XVI and Bartholomew I, who jointly signed the Common Declaration . It states that "We give thanks to the Author of all that is good, who allows us once again, in prayer and in dialogue, to express

11473-453: The Pythagorean meeting place in Croton. The anti-Pythagorean attacks in c.  508 BC were headed by Cylon of Croton . Pythagoras escaped to Metapontium. After these initial attacks and the death of Pythagoras, Pythagorean communities in Croton and elsewhere continued to flourish. At around 450 BC attacks on Pythagorean communities were carried out across Magna Graecia . In Croton,

11622-438: The Pythagorean philosophers with being the first to attempt a clarification of the planet sequence. The early-Pythagorean philosopher Philolaus believed that limited and unlimited things were the components of the cosmos, and these had existed ever since. The center of the universe, according to Philolaus, was the number one ( hēn ), which equated to the unity of Monism . Philolaus called the number one an "even-odd" because it

11771-446: The Pythagoreans. Pythagoras established the first Pythagorean community in the ancient Greek colony of Kroton , in modern Calabria (Italy) circa 530 BC. Early Pythagorean communities spread throughout Magna Graecia . Already during Pythagoras' life it is likely that the distinction between the akousmatikoi ("those who listen"), who is conventionally regarded as more concerned with religious, and ritual elements, and associated with

11920-763: The Roman Empire. Thereafter it was often known in the West, possibly inaccurately, as the Nestorian Church. Surviving a period of persecution within Persia, the Church of the East flourished under the Abbasid Caliphate and branched out, establishing dioceses throughout Asia. After another period of expansion under the Mongol Empire , the church went into decline starting in the 14th century, and

12069-566: The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia until the late 1970s. There are now traditionalist Orthodox in every area, though in Asia and Egypt their presence is negligible. Eastern Protestant Christianity comprises a collection of heterogeneous Protestant denominations which are mostly the result of Protestant Churches adopting Reformation variants of Orthodox Christian liturgy and worship. Some others are

12218-1036: The Saint Thomas Syrian Christians are the Syro Malabar Church and the Chaldean Syrian Church . The West Syriac Antiochian Rite Churches among the Saint Thomas Syrian Christians are the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church , the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church , the Mar Thoma Syrian Church , the Syro Malankara Church and the Thozhiyur Church . The twenty-three Eastern Catholic Churches are in communion with

12367-580: The Scriptural narrative to Moses, says "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One." This declaration combines different divine names, and themes of immanence and transcendence. Perhaps the most personal example of a Jewish prayer that combines both themes is the invocation repeatedly voiced during the time in the Jewish calendar devoted to Teshuva (Return, often inaccurately translated as Repentance), Avinu Malkeinu ("Our Father, Our King"). Much of

12516-745: The West Syriac tradition and now form part of Oriental Orthodoxy (some from the Oriental Orthodox in India united with the Catholic Church in 1930 and became the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church ). The Maronite Church claims never to have been separated from Rome, and has no counterpart Orthodox Church out of communion with the Pope. It is therefore inaccurate to refer to it as a "Uniate" Church. The Italo-Albanian Catholic Church has also never been out of communion with Rome, but, unlike

12665-418: The agreement of unlike spirits". In Pythagoreanism, numeric harmony was applied in mathematical, medical, psychological, aesthetic, metaphysical and cosmological problems. For Pythagorean philosophers, the basic property of numbers was expressed in the harmonious interplay of opposite pairs. Harmony assured the balance of opposite forces. Pythagoras had in his teachings named numbers and the symmetries of them as

12814-484: The building of the southern Wall of Themosticles , the city walls of ancient Athens. It seems likely that the Athenians saw this as a rejuvenation of the sacred grove of Academos. Following political instability in Magna Graecia, some Pythagorean philosophers moved to mainland Greece while others regrouped in Rhegium . By about 400 BC the majority of Pythagorean philosophers had left Italy. Pythagorean ideas exercised

12963-659: The case of the Coptic Patriarchate of Alexandria). Since the time of the historian Edward Gibbon , the split between the Church of Rome and the Orthodox Church has been conveniently dated to 1054, though the reality is more complex. This split is sometimes referred to as the Great Schism , but is now more usually called the East–West Schism . This final schism reflected a larger cultural and political division which had developed in Europe and Southwest Asia during

13112-538: The city walls of Athens in the 4th century BC. As a sacred grove dedicated to Athena, and Hecademos (Academos). The Academy, the sacred grove of Academos, may have existed, as the contemporaries seem to have believed, since the bronze age, even pre-existing the Trojan War. Yet according to Plutarch it was the Athenian strategos (general) Kimon Milkiadou (c.510–450 BC) who converted this, "waterless and arid spot into

13261-447: The closing of the academy by Emperor Justinian. They were engaged in medical sciences and initiated the first translation projects of medical texts. The arrival of these medical practitioners from Edessa marks the beginning of the hospital and medical center at Gundeshapur. It included a medical school and hospital (bimaristan), a pharmacology laboratory, a translation house, a library and an observatory. Indian doctors also contributed to

13410-563: The continuous development of mathematical and scientific research conducted by the mathēmatikoi was in line with Pythagoras's intention. Until the demise of Pythagoreanism in the 4th century BC, the akousmatikoi continued to engage in a pious life by practicing silence, dressing simply and avoiding meat, for the purpose of attaining a privileged afterlife . The akousmatikoi engaged deeply in questions of Pythagoras' moral teachings, concerning matters such as harmony , justice , ritual purity and moral behavior. The mathēmatikoi acknowledged

13559-457: The death of the body, the soul would be punished or rewarded. Humans could, through their conduct, ensure that their soul was admitted to another world. The reincarnation in this world equated to a punishment. In Pythagoreanism life in this world is social and in the realm of society justice existed when each part of society received its due. The Pythagorean tradition of universal justice was later referenced by Plato . For Pythagorean philosophers

13708-475: The demiurge proceeds outward into manifestation, becoming living ideas. They give rise to a lineage of mortal human souls. The components of the soul are 1) the higher soul, seat of the intuitive mind ( divine nous ); 2) the rational soul ( logistikon ) (seat of discursive reason / dianoia ); 3) the nonrational soul ( alogia ), responsible for the senses, appetites, and motion. Zeus thinks the articulated ideas ( logos ). The idea of ideas ( eidos - eidôn ), provides

13857-516: The development of two philosophical traditions within Pythagoreanism in Italy : akousmatikoi and mathēmatikoi . The mathēmatikoi recognised the akousmatikoi as fellow Pythagoreans, but because the mathēmatikoi allegedly followed the teachings of Hippasus , the akousmatikoi philosophers did not recognise them. Despite this, both groups were regarded by their contemporaries as practitioners of Pythagoreanism. The akousmatikoi were superseded in

14006-539: The early 5th century BC Croton acquired great military and economic importance. Pythagoras emphasised moderation, piety, respect for elders and of the state, and advocated a monogamous family structure. The Croton Council appointed him to official positions. Among others Pythagoras was in charge of education in the city. His influence as political reformer reputedly extended to other Greek colonies in southern Italy and in Sicily. Pythagoras died shortly after an arson attack on

14155-579: The eastern limit of the Byzantine Empire and in Egypt , Syria and Mesopotamia . In those locations, there are also Eastern Orthodox patriarchs , but the rivalry between the two has largely vanished in the centuries since the schism. Historically, the Church of the East was the widest reaching branch of Eastern Christianity, at its height spreading from its heartland in Persian -ruled Assyria to

14304-599: The final, feminine Sefirah with the earlier, traditional Jewish concept of the Shekhinah (immanent divine presence). This gave great spirituality to earlier ideas in Jewish thought, such as the theological explanations of suffering ( theodicy ). In this example, the Kabbalists described the Shekhinah accompanying the children of Israel in their exile, being exiled alongside them, and yearning for Her redemption. Such

14453-436: The first principle and called these numeric symmetries harmony. This numeric harmony could be discovered in rules throughout nature. Numbers governed the properties and conditions of all beings and were regarded the causes of being in everything else. Pythagorean philosophers believed that numbers were the elements of all beings and the universe as a whole was composed of harmony and numbers. The philosopher Philolaus , one of

14602-546: The first two ecumenical councils of the undivided Church—the First Council of Nicaea and the First Council of Constantinople—as defining its faith tradition, and rapidly took a different course from other Eastern Christians. The Church of the East spread widely through Persia and into Asia, being introduced to India by the 6th century and to the Mongols and China in the 7th century. It experienced periodic expansion until

14751-504: The goodness of each person was believed to be threefold: prudence, drive and good fortune. Pythagoreans thought numbers existed "outside of [human] minds" and separate from the world. They had many mystical and magical interpretations of the roles of numbers in governing existence. The Pythagoreans engaged with geometry as a liberal philosophy which served to establish principles and allowed theorems to be explored abstractly and rationally. Pythagorean philosophers believed that there

14900-525: The heart of everything and constructed a new view of the cosmos . In the mathēmatikoi tradition of Pythagoreanism the Earth was removed from the center of the universe . The mathēmatikoi believed that the Earth, along with other celestial bodies, orbited around a central fire. This, they believed, constituted a celestial harmony. Pythagoreanism was a philosophic tradition as well as a religious practice. As

15049-434: The human sentimental world had a profound impact on the Pythagorean philosophy. Pythagoreanism became the quest for establishing the fundamental essences of reality. Pythagorean philosophers advanced the unshakable belief that the essence of all things are numbers and that the universe was sustained by harmony. According to ancient sources music was central to the lives of those practicing Pythagoreanism. They used medicines for

15198-407: The hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. In ancient times Pythagoras was also noted for his discovery that music had mathematical foundations. Antique sources that credit Pythagoras as the philosopher who first discovered music intervals also credit him as the inventor of the monochord , a straight rod on which a string and a movable bridge could be used to demonstrate

15347-505: The immanence of the divine in nature, history and man. Clement Charles Julian Webb explained that "Carlyle had done more than any other nineteenth-century writer to undermine belief in the transcendence of God and the origin of the material world in an act of creation in time, and to put in its place an 'essentially immanentist' theology, drawn largely from the writings of the German Idealists ." Carlyle's "Natural Supernaturalism"

15496-644: The interference of extra-ecclesial interests"; and that what has been called " uniatism " "can no longer be accepted either as a method to be followed nor as a model of the unity our Churches are seeking" (section 12). At the same time, the Commission stated: There has been a significant Christian migration in the 20th century from the Near East. Fifteen hundred years ago Christians were the majority population in today's Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Egypt. In 1914 Christians constituted 25% of

15645-488: The joy we feel as brothers and to renew our commitment to move towards full communion ". In 2013 Patriarch Bartholomew I attended the installation ceremony of the new Catholic Pope, Francis , which was the first time any Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople had ever attended such an installation. In 2019, Primate of the OCU Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine Epiphanius stated that "theoretically"

15794-438: The largest church in the East is the body currently known as the Eastern Orthodox Church , the term "Orthodox" is often used in a similar fashion to "Eastern", to refer to specific historical Christian communions. However, strictly speaking, most Christian denominations, whether Eastern or Western, regard themselves as " orthodox " (meaning "following correct beliefs") as well as " catholic " (meaning "universal"), and as sharing in

15943-465: The later Hebrew Biblical narrative recounts the reciprocal relationship and national drama of the unfolding of themes of immanence and transcendence. Kabbalistic, or Hasidic Jewish thought and philosophy describe and articulate these interconnected aspects of the divine-human relationship. Jewish mysticism gives explanations of greater depth and spirituality to the interconnected aspects of God's immanence and transcendence. The main expression of mysticism,

16092-648: The major cities in Khuzestan province of the Persian empire in what is today Iran. A large percentage of the population was Syriacs, most of whom were Christians. Under the rule of Khusraw I , refuge was granted to Greek Nestorian Christian philosophers including the scholars of the Persian School of Edessa ( Urfa ), also called the academy of Athens , a Christian theological and medical university. These scholars made their way to Gundeshapur in 529 following

16241-512: The majority of Pythagorean philosophers had left Italy. Archytas remained in Italy and ancient sources record that he was visited there by young Plato in the early 4th century BC. The Pythagorean schools and societies died out from the 4th century BC. Pythagorean philosophers continued to practice, albeit no organised communities were established. According to surviving sources by the Neopythagorean philosopher Nicomachus , Philolaus

16390-486: The mathematical and experimental study of music. He objectively measured physical quantities, such as the length of a string and discovered quantitative mathematical relationships of music through arithmetic ratios. Pythagoras attempted to explain subjective psychological and aesthetic feelings, such as the enjoyment of musical harmony. Pythagoras and his students experimented systematically with strings of varying length and tension, with wind instruments , with brass discs of

16539-579: The more radical Spiritual Christianity movement. The latter includes a number of diverse " low-church " groups, from the Bible-centered Molokans to the anarchic Doukhobors to the self-mutilating Skoptsy . None of these groups are in communion with the mainstream churches listed above. There are also national dissidents, where ethnic groups want their own nation-church, such as the Macedonian Orthodox Church and

16688-410: The most prominent figures in Pythagoreanism, was the precursor of Copernicus in moving the earth from the center of the cosmos and making it a planet. According to Aristotle's student Eudemus of Cyprus , the first philosopher to determine quantitatively the size of the known planets and the distance between them was Anaximander , a teacher to Pythagoras, in the 6th century BC. Historic sources credit

16837-550: The odd was limited. Aristotle recorded in the 4th century BC on the Pythagorean astronomical system: It is not known whether Philolaus believed Earth to be round or flat, but he did not believe the earth rotated, so that the Counter-Earth and the Central Fire were both not visible from Earth's surface, or at least not from the hemisphere where Greece was located. But the conclusion of Pythagorean philosophers that

16986-513: The one God is considered to transcend his creation. Pythagoreanism says that the nous is an intelligent principle of the world acting with a specific intention . This is the divine reason regarded in Neoplatonism as the first emanation of the divine. From the nous emerges the world soul , which gives rise to the manifest realm. Neoplatonic gnosticism goes on to say the Godhead is

17135-449: The oral tradition about Pythagoreanism, which by the 4th century BC was in decline. Neopythagorean philosophers, who authored many of the surviving sources on Pythagoreanism, continued the tradition of legend and fantasy. The earliest surviving ancient source on Pythagoras and his followers is a satire by Xenophanes , on the Pythagorean beliefs on the transmigration of souls. Xenophanes wrote of Pythagoras that: Once they say that he

17284-436: The oral tradition, and the mathematikoi ("those who learn") existed. The ancient biographers of Pythagoras, Iamblichus (c.245-c.325 AD) and his master Porphyry (c.234–c.305 AD) seem to make the distinction of the two as that of 'beginner' and 'advanced'. As the Pythagorean cenobites practiced an esoteric path, like the mystery schools of antiquity, the adherents, akousmatikoi , following initation became mathematikoi . It

17433-1012: The population of the Ottoman Empire. At the beginning of the 21st century Christians constituted 6–7% of the region's population: less than 1% in Turkey, 3% in Iraq, 12% in Syria, 39% in Lebanon, 6% in Jordan, 2.5% in Israel/Palestine and 15–20% in Egypt. As of 2011 Eastern Orthodox Christians are among the wealthiest Christians in the United States. They also tend to be better educated than most other religious groups in America, having

17582-619: The practitioners of Orphism , a religious tradition that developed in parallel to Pythagorean religious practice, Pythagoreanism held that the soul was buried in the body as a punishment for a committed offense and that the soul could be purified. Aside from conducting their daily lives according to strict rules Pythagorean also engaged in rituals to attain purity. The 4th century Greek historian and sceptic philosopher Hecataeus of Abdera asserted that Pythagoras had been inspired by ancient Egyptian philosophy in his use of ritual regulations and his belief in reincarnation . Early Pythagoreanism

17731-424: The psychic force that pervaded the cosmos. Pythagoreans reasoned that the logic of this argument could not be avoided by killing an animal painlessly. The Pythagoreans also thought that animals were sentient and minimally rational. The arguments advanced by Pythagoreans convinced numerous of their philosopher contemporaries to adopt a vegetarian diet. The Pythagorean sense of kinship with non-humans positioned them as

17880-425: The purification ( katharsis ) of the body and, according to Aristoxenus , music for the purification of the soul. Pythagoreans used different types of music to arouse or calm their souls, and certain stirring songs could have notes that existed in the same ratio as the "distances of the heavenly bodies from the centre of" Earth. For Pythagoreans, harmony signified the "unification of a multifarious composition and

18029-541: The purpose of spiritual purification should be practiced only by philosophers, whose aim was to reach a divine state. The biographical tradition on Pythagoras holds that his mother, wife and daughters were part of his inner circle. Women were given equal opportunity to study as Pythagoreans and learned practical domestic skills in addition to philosophy. Eastern Christianity Eastern Christianity comprises Christian traditions and church families that originally developed during classical and late antiquity in

18178-469: The region of Galicia and its rites are based on the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom . The church suffered persecution under the Communist régime , which implemented a policy of state atheism . Ecumenical dialogue since the 1964 meeting between Pope Paul VI and Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras I has awoken the nearly 1,000-year hopes for Christian unity. Since the lifting of excommunications during

18327-447: The relations of string length: the octave (1/2), the fifth (2/3) and the fourth (3/4). The sum of those numbers 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10 was for Pythagoreans the perfect number, because it contained in itself "the whole essential nature of numbers". Werner Heisenberg has called this formulation of musical arithmetic as "among the most powerful advances of human science" because it enables the measurement of sound in space. Pythagorean tuning

18476-648: The relationship of musical intervals. Much of the surviving sources on Pythagoras originated with Aristotle and the philosophers of the Peripatetic school , which founded historiographical academic traditions such as biography , doxography and the history of science . The surviving 5th century BC sources on Pythagoras and early Pythagoreanism are void of supernatural elements, while surviving 4th century BC sources on Pythagoras' teachings introduced legend and fable. Philosophers who discussed Pythagoreanism, such as Anaximander , Andron of Ephesus, Heraclides and Neanthes had access to historical written sources as well as

18625-495: The religious underpinning of Pythagoreanism and engaged in mathēma (translated as "learning" or "studying") as part of their practice. While their scientific pursuits were largely mathematical, they also promoted other fields of scientific study in which Pythagoras had engaged during his lifetime. A sectarianism developed between the dogmatic akousmatikoi and the mathēmatikoi , who in their intellectual activism became regarded as increasingly progressive. This tension persisted until

18774-593: The result of reformations of Orthodox Christian beliefs and practices, inspired by the teachings of Western Protestant missionaries. Denominations of this category include the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church , Ukrainian Lutheran Church , St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India , Evangelical Orthodox Church , etc. Byzantine Rite Lutheranism arose in the Ukrainian Lutheran Church around 1926. It sprung up in

18923-444: The revolution of the stars produced a harmonic sound. The early-Pythagorean philosopher Philolaus argued that the structure of the cosmos was determined by the musical numerical proportions of the diatonic octave , which contained the fifth and fourth harmonic intervals. Pythagoreans equated justice with geometrical proportion, because proportion ensured that each part receives what it is due. Early-Pythagoreans believed that after

19072-453: The same diameter but different thickness, and with identical vases filled with different levels of water. Early Pythagoreans established quantitative ratios between the length of a string or pipe and the pitch of notes and the frequency of string vibration. Pythagoras is credited with discovering that the most harmonious musical intervals are created by the simple numerical ratio of the first four natural numbers which derive respectively from

19221-540: The school at Gundeshapur, most notably the medical researcher Mankah. Later after Islamic invasion, the writings of Mankah and of the Indian doctor Sustura were translated into Arabic at Baghdad . Daud al-Antaki was one of the last generation of influential Arab Christian writers. Arab Christians and Arabic-speaking Christians, especially Maronites , played important roles in the Nahda , and because Arab Christians formed

19370-515: The significance of numerology , he believed that numbers themselves explained the true nature of the Universe. Numbers were in the Greek world of Pythagoras' days natural numbers – that is positive integers (there was no zero ). But unlike their Greek contemporaries, the Pythagorean philosophers represented numbers graphically, not symbolically through letters. Pythagoreans used dots, also known as psiphi (pebbles), to represent numbers in triangles, squares, rectangles and pentagons. This enabled

19519-411: The soul as distinct from the intellect. However, only fragments of the early Pythagorean texts have survived, and it is not certain whether they believed the soul was immortal. The surviving texts of the Pythagorean philosopher Philolaus indicate that while early Pythagoreans did not believe that the soul contained all psychological faculties, the soul was life and a harmony of physical elements. As such

19668-476: The soul passed away when certain arrangements of these elements ceased to exist. However, the teaching most securely identified with Pythagoras is metempsychosis , or the "transmigration of souls", which holds that every soul is immortal and, upon death, enters into a new body. Pythagorean metempsychosis resembles the teachings of the Orphics , although its version contains substantial differences. Unlike

19817-444: The soul was the source of justice and through the harmony of the soul, divinity could be achieved. Injustice inverted the natural order. According to the 4th century BC philosopher Heraclides Ponticus , Pythagoras taught that "happiness consists in knowledge of the perfection of the numbers of the soul. A surviving fragment from the 3rd century BC by the late-Pythagorean philosopher Aesara reasoned that: I think human nature provides

19966-554: The term "Eastern" as denying the church's universal character. They refer to Eastern Orthodoxy simply as the Orthodox Church . Oriental Orthodoxy refers to the churches of Eastern Christian tradition that keep the faith of the first three ecumenical councils of the undivided Christian Church : the First Council of Nicaea (AD 325), the First Council of Constantinople (381) and the Council of Ephesus (431), while rejecting

20115-609: The transcendent God , who cannot be approached or seen in essence or being, becomes immanent primarily in the God-man Jesus the Christ , who is the incarnate Second Person of the Trinity . In Byzantine Rite theology the immanence of God is expressed as the hypostases or energies of God, who in his essence is incomprehensible and transcendent. In Catholic theology, Christ and the Holy Spirit immanently reveal themselves; God

20264-605: The triune God is celebrated in the Catholic Church, traditional Protestant Churches, and Eastern Churches during the liturgical feast of the Theophany of God , known in Western Christianity as the Epiphany . Pope Pius X wrote at length about philosophical-theological controversies over immanence in his encyclical Pascendi dominici gregis . According to Latter Day Saint theology, all of material creation

20413-586: The universe is not geocentric was not based on empirical observation . Instead, as Aristotle noted, the Pythagorean view of the astronomical system was grounded in a fundamental reflection on the value of individual things and the hierarchical order of the universe. Pythagoreans believed in a musica universalis . They reasoned that stars must produce a sound because they were large swiftly moving bodies. Pythagoreans also determined that stars revolved at distances and speeds that were proportional to each other. They reasoned that because of this numerical proportion

20562-400: The “fullness” of this spirit within God's being. Similarly, mankind can incorporate this spiritual light or divine mind and thus become one with God. This immanent spirit of light bridges the scientific and spiritual conceptualizations of the universe. Traditional Jewish religious thought can be divided into Nigleh ("Revealed") and Nistar ("Hidden") dimensions. Hebrew Scripture is, in

20711-446: Was a close relationship between numbers and geometrical forms. Early-Pythagorean philosophers proved simple geometrical theorems, including "the sum of the angles of a triangle equals two right angles". Pythagoreans also came up with three of the five platonic solids : the tetrahedron , the cube and the dodecahedron . The sides of a regular dodecahedron are regular pentagons , which for Pythagoreans symbolised health. They also revered

20860-404: Was able to generate both even and odd numbers. When one was added to an odd number it produced an even number, and when added to an even number it produced an odd number. Philolaus further reasoned that the fitting together of the earth and the universe corresponded to the construction of the number one out of the even and the odd. Pythagorean philosophers believed that the even was unlimited and

21009-415: Was based on research and the accumulation of knowledge from the books written by other philosophers. Pythagoras' philosophic teachings made direct reference to the philosophy of Anaximander , Anaximenes of Miletus and Pherecydes of Syros . Of the Pythagorean philosophers, Hippasus , Alcmaeon , Hippon , Archytas and Theodorus , written sources have survived. Pythagoras, in his teachings focused on

21158-518: Was eventually largely confined to its founding Assyrian adherent's heartland in the Assyrian homeland , although another remnant survived on the Malabar Coast of India. In the 16th century, dynastic struggles sent the church into schism, resulting in the formation of two rival churches: The Chaldean Catholic Church , which entered into communion with Rome as an Eastern Catholic Church, and

21307-411: Was for the Pythagorean philosophers direct and visual, as they arranged triangular dots so that the even and odd numbers successively alternate: 2, 4, 6, ... 3, 5, 7, ... Early-Pythagorean philosophers such as Philolaus and Archytas held the conviction that mathematics could help in addressing important philosophical problems. In Pythagoreanism numbers became related to intangible concepts. The one

21456-417: Was highly influential on American Transcendentalism and British Idealism . Giovanni Gentile 's actual idealism , sometimes called "philosophy of immanence" and the metaphysics of the "I", "affirms the organic synthesis of dialectical opposites that are immanent within actual or present awareness". His so-called method of immanence "attempted to avoid: (1) the postulate of an independently existing world or

21605-413: Was known as the site of mysteries. Pythagoras had been born on the island of Samos at around 570 BC and left his homeland at around 530 BC in opposition to the policies of Polycrates . Before settling in Croton, Pythagoras had traveled throughout Egypt and Babylonia . In Croton, Pythagoras established the first Pythagorean community, described as a secret society, and attained political influence. In

21754-612: Was not necessary to inflict pain on animals for humans to enjoy a healthy diet, they believed that animals should not be killed for the purpose of eating them. The Pythagoreans advanced the argument that unless an animal posed a threat to a human, it was not justifiable to kill an animal and that doing so would diminish the moral status of a human. By failing to show justice to the animal, humans diminish themselves. Pythagoreans believed that human beings were animals, but with an advanced intellect and therefore humans had to purify themselves through training. Through purification humans could join

21903-409: Was passing by when a puppy was being whipped, And he took pity and said: "Stop! Do not beat it! For it is the soul of a friend That I recognised when I heard it giving tongue." In a surviving fragment from Heraclitus , Pythagoras and his followers are described as follows: Pythagoras, the son of Mnesarchus, practised inquiry beyond all other men and selecting of these writings made for himself

22052-410: Was related to the intellect and being, the two to thought, the number four was related to justice because 2 * 2 = 4 and equally even. A dominant symbolism was awarded to the number three , Pythagoreans believed that the whole world and all things in it are summed up in this number, because end, middle and beginning give the number of the whole. The triad had for Pythagoreans an ethical dimension, as

22201-596: Was the successor of Pythagoras. According to Cicero ( de Orat. III 34.139), Philolaus was teacher of Archytas . According to the Neoplatonist philosopher Iamblichus , Archytas in turn became the head of the Pythagorean school about a century after the Pythagoras' death. Philolaus, Eurytus and Xenophilus are identified by Aristoxenus as the teachers of the last generation of Pythagoreans. Following Pythagoras' death, disputes about his teachings led to

#139860