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A templon (from Greek τέμπλον meaning "temple", plural templa ) is a feature of Byzantine churches consisting of a barrier separating the nave from the sanctuary near the altar .

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131-586: The solid templon first appeared in Christian churches around the 5th century and is still found in many Eastern Christian churches. Initially it was a low barrier probably not much different from the altar rails of many Western churches. It eventually evolved into the modern iconostasis , still found in Orthodox churches today. It is usually composed of carved wood or marble colonnettes supporting an architrave (a beam resting on top of columns). Three doors,

262-450: A post . Supports with a rectangular or other non-round section are usually called piers . For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering , columns may be designed to resist lateral forces. Other compression members are often termed "columns" because of the similar stress conditions. Columns are frequently used to support beams or arches on which the upper parts of walls or ceilings rest. In architecture, "column" refers to such

393-567: A volute , an ornament shaped like a scroll , at the four corners. The height-to-thickness ratio is around 9:1. Due to the more refined proportions and scroll capitals, the Ionic column is sometimes associated with academic buildings. Ionic style columns were used on the second level of the Colosseum. The Corinthian order is named for the Greek city-state of Corinth , to which it was connected in

524-428: A column is reached is called the critical or buckling load. The state of instability is reached when a slight increase of the column load causes uncontrollably growing lateral deflections leading to complete collapse. For an axially loaded straight column with any end support conditions, the equation of static equilibrium, in the form of a differential equation, can be solved for the deflected shape and critical load of

655-475: A concrete foundation, a steel column must have a base plate to spread the load over a larger area, and thereby reduce the bearing pressure. The base plate is a thick, rectangular steel plate usually welded to the bottom end of the column. The Roman author Vitruvius , relying on the writings (now lost) of Greek authors, tells us that the ancient Greeks believed that their Doric order developed from techniques for building in wood. The earlier smoothed tree-trunk

786-467: A continuously recurring decoration of stipules. The Minoans used whole tree-trunks, usually turned upside down in order to prevent re-growth , stood on a base set in the stylobate (floor base) and topped by a simple round capital. These were then painted as in the most famous Minoan palace of Knossos . The Minoans employed columns to create large open-plan spaces, light-wells and as a focal point for religious rituals. These traditions were continued by

917-427: A cross section that lacks symmetry may suffer torsional buckling (sudden twisting) before, or in combination with, lateral buckling. The presence of the twisting deformations renders both theoretical analyses and practical designs rather complex. Eccentricity of the load, or imperfections such as initial crookedness, decreases column strength. If the axial load on the column is not concentric, that is, its line of action

1048-853: 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

1179-475: 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

1310-520: A large central one and two smaller flanking ones, lead into the sanctuary . The templon did not originally obscure the view of the altar, but as time passed, icons were hung from the beams, curtains were placed in between the colonnettes, and the templon became more opaque. In modern Orthodox churches, it is common for the openings of the templa to be constructed specifically to contain icons. The templon most likely has an independent origin from that of Latin chancel barriers. Classical stage architecture

1441-659: A marble templon have been discovered on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Though there is some architectural and archaeological evidence of early templa, the first and most detailed description of a templon comes from a poem by Paul the Silentiary , describing Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. It was composed near the end of Justinian I ’s reign and was probably recited on Epiphany , January 6, 563, celebrating

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1572-755: 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 the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 7th century, the term Eastern Church increasingly came to be used for

1703-410: A rectangular ground plan around the altar. A horizontal entablature rested upon these. Three doors allowed entry to the apse, the central one larger than the other two. Though earlier scholars have proposed that all columns and all doors were in a single line parallel to the apse, modern reconstructions show the central portal facing out to the nave with the smaller doors each located on the other sides of

1834-451: A sharp point where the fillets are located on Ionic and Corinthian order columns. Most classical columns arise from a basis, or base, that rests on the stylobate , or foundation , except for those of the Doric order , which usually rest directly on the stylobate. The basis may consist of several elements, beginning with a wide, square slab known as a plinth . The simplest bases consist of

1965-554: 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 the Oriental Orthodox Churches , along with those groups descended from the historic Church of

2096-428: A single piece of stone. Monolithic columns are among the heaviest stones used in architecture. Other stone columns are created out of multiple sections of stone, mortared or dry-fit together. In many classical sites, sectioned columns were carved with a centre hole or depression so that they could be pegged together, using stone or metal pins. The design of most classical columns incorporates entasis (the inclusion of

2227-456: A single, prominent pillar or column, often made of stone. A number of world cultures incorporated pillars into tomb structures. In the ancient Greek colony of Lycia in Anatolia , one of these edifices is located at the tomb of Xanthos . In the town of Hannassa in southern Somalia , ruins of houses with archways and courtyards have also been found along with other pillar tombs, including

2358-408: A slight outward curve in the sides) plus a reduction in diameter along the height of the column, so that the top is as little as 83% of the bottom diameter. This reduction mimics the parallax effects which the eye expects to see, and tends to make columns look taller and straighter than they are while entasis adds to that effect. There are flutes and fillets that run up the shaft of columns. The flute

2489-452: A small scale, as they are easy to produce in wood by turning on a lathe (hence also the style's popularity for spindles on furniture and stairs). A Caryatid is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term karyatides literally means "maidens of Karyai ", an ancient town of Peloponnese . In architecture, an engaged column

2620-417: A structural element that also has certain proportional and decorative features. These beautiful columns are available in a broad selection of styles and designs in round tapered, round straight, or square shaft styles. A column might also be a decorative element not needed for structural purposes; many columns are engaged , that is to say form part of a wall. A long sequence of columns joined by an entablature

2751-533: 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

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2882-481: Is a column embedded in a wall and partly projecting from the surface of the wall, sometimes defined as semi or three-quarter detached. Engaged columns are rarely found in classical Greek architecture, and then only in exceptional cases, but in Roman architecture they exist in abundance, most commonly embedded in the cella walls of pseudoperipteral buildings. Pillar tombs are monumental graves, which typically feature

3013-415: Is a structural element that transmits, through compression , the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member . The term column applies especially to a large round support (the shaft of the column) with a capital and a base or pedestal , which is made of stone, or appearing to be so. A small wooden or metal support is typically called

3144-486: Is also a simple design, the base and capital both being series of cylindrical disks of alternating diameter. The shaft is almost never fluted. The proportions vary, but are generally similar to Doric columns. Height to width ratio is about 7:1. The Ionic column is considerably more complex than the Doric or Tuscan. It usually has a base and the shaft is often fluted (it has grooves carved up its length). The capital features

3275-470: Is equal to or more than 400 mm. Massive columns have the ability to increase in carrying strength over long time periods (even during periods of heavy load). Taking into account the fact, that possible structural loads may increase over time as well (and also the threat of progressive failure), massive columns have an advantage compared to non-massive ones. When a column is too long to be built or transported in one piece, it has to be extended or spliced at

3406-479: Is equal to the square root of (I/A), K = ratio of the longest half sine wave to the actual column length, E t = tangent modulus at the stress F cr , and KL = effective length (length of an equivalent hinged-hinged column). From Equation (2) it can be noted that the buckling strength of a column is inversely proportional to the square of its length. When the critical stress, F cr ( F cr = P cr / A , where A  = cross-sectional area of

3537-592: Is evidence that icons were hung from the columns of the templon prior to iconoclasm . Nicephorus I , Patriarch of Constantinople from 806 to 815 describes portable icons hung from columns and the gate of the templon in his Antirretikoi . Important portable and colossal icons were also placed in front of the templon, as in the 11th-century church of Saint Panteleimon in Nerzei . The templon gradually replaced all other forms of chancel barriers in Byzantine churches in

3668-441: Is from four to six times as tall as its diameter; it has twenty broad flutes; the capital consists simply of a banded necking swelling out into a smooth echinus, which carries a flat square abacus; the Doric entablature is also the heaviest, being about one-fourth the height column. The Greek Doric order was not used after c. 100 B.C. until its “rediscovery” in the mid-eighteenth century. The Tuscan order , also known as Roman Doric,

3799-484: Is known as a colonnade . All significant Iron Age civilizations of the Near East and Mediterranean made some use of columns. In ancient Egyptian architecture as early as 2600 BC, the architect Imhotep made use of stone columns whose surface was carved to reflect the organic form of bundled reeds, like papyrus , lotus and palm . In later Egyptian architecture faceted cylinders were also common. Their form

3930-860: 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

4061-412: Is not precisely coincident with the centroidal axis of the column, the column is characterized as eccentrically loaded. The eccentricity of the load, or an initial curvature, subjects the column to immediate bending. The increased stresses due to the combined axial-plus-flexural stresses result in a reduced load-carrying ability. Column elements are considered to be massive if their smallest side dimension

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4192-433: Is one possible source. At certain times during Byzantine history, theater heavily influenced painting and sculpture. Architects then, influenced by stage backdrops dating back to Sophocles , consciously imitated the classical proskenion (Latin proscenium ; the backdrop of a classical Greek stage), copying the multiple columns punctuated by a large door in the middle and two smaller doors to each side. The statues on top of

4323-514: Is represented in the bottom level of the Colosseum and the Parthenon , and was therefore considered to be able to hold more weight. The height-to-thickness ratio is about 8:1. The shaft of a Doric Column is almost always fluted . The Greek Doric, developed in the western Dorian region of Greece, is the heaviest and most massive of the orders. It rises from the stylobate without any base; it

4454-518: Is that the templon models, in both form and content, the decorative wall of the Torah screen in Jewish synagogues of the 2nd and 3rd centuries. These, too, had three main divisions: a central door leading to the altar, smaller flanking passages, and a distribution of parts similar to a templon. The Torah screen was probably not the direct prototype of the templon; it probably derives from the imitation of

4585-407: 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

4716-556: Is the part of the column that is indented in with a semi circular shape. The fillet of the column is the part between each of the flutes on the Ionic order columns. The flute width changes on all tapered columns as it goes up the shaft and stays the same on all non tapered columns. This was done to the columns to add visual interest to them. The Ionic and the Corinthian are the only orders that have fillets and flutes. The Doric style has flutes but not fillets. Doric flutes are connected at

4847-496: Is thought to derive from archaic reed-built shrines. Carved from stone, the columns were highly decorated with carved and painted hieroglyphs , texts, ritual imagery and natural motifs. Egyptian columns are famously present in the Great Hypostyle Hall of Karnak ( c.  1224 BC ), where 134 columns are lined up in sixteen rows, with some columns reaching heights of 24 metres. One of the most important type are

4978-432: 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

5109-619: 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

5240-590: The Cathedral of St. John at Stoudios in Constantinople, a basilica dedicated to John the Baptist , built around 463. The chancel barrier surrounded the altar in a π shape, with one large door facing the nave and two smaller doors on the other sides. Twelve piers held chancel slabs of about 1.6 meters in length. The height of the slabs is not known. The chancel barrier was not merely a low parapet (a short wall); remains of colonnettes have been found, suggesting that

5371-877: 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

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5502-795: 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 the Hellenistic East and the Latin West , and the political divide of 395 AD between the Western and Eastern Roman Empires . Since

5633-585: The High Priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, and only once a year on Yom Kippur . The third part was the entrance court. This architectural tradition for the two main parts can be seen carried forward in Christian churches and is still most demonstratively present in Eastern Orthodox churches where the iconostatsis divides the altar, the Holy of Holies containing the consecrated Eucharist –

5764-720: 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

5895-884: 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 ,

6026-631: 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

6157-762: 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

6288-645: The Prophets , the Apostles , and finally the Virgin Mary . The carvings on the architrave were deeply tied to the liturgy. Another templon roughly contemporary to Hagia Sophia's is that of the church to St. John of Ephesus , rebuilt by Justinian as a domed crucifix. There was an inscription to St. John the Theologian over a side door, since the crypt of the saint was within the enclosed sanctuary. St. John

6419-480: 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 the largest church in the East

6550-659: The Temple in Jerusalem . In almost all modern European languages, the word templon is a direct and late borrowing of the Greek architectural term, and it is rarely found outside the academic usage; besides the Greek templon , another direct descendant of the Latin templum , having the same architectural meaning, is the Romanian word tâmplă , "iconostasis". The chancel barriers are also known in archaeology as chancel screens . Archaeological evidence for an early templon comes from

6681-768: 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

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6812-754: The classical orders of architecture, which are most easily distinguished by the form of the column and its various elements. Their Doric , Ionic , and Corinthian orders were expanded by the Romans to include the Tuscan and Composite orders. Some of the most elaborate columns in the ancient world were those of the Persians , especially the massive stone columns erected in Persepolis . They included double-bull structures in their capitals . The Hall of Hundred Columns at Persepolis, measuring 70 × 70 metres,

6943-1019: 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

7074-474: 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

7205-406: 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

7336-484: 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

7467-436: 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

7598-445: 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

7729-400: 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

7860-462: The 6th, 7th, and 8th centuries except in Cappadocia . As late as the 10th century, a simple wooden chancel barrier separated the apse from the nave in the rock-cut churches, though by the late 11th century, the templon had become standard. This may have been because of the veneration and imitation of the Great Church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, though the columnar form of chancel barrier does predate Hagia Sophia. The templon began to change forms to

7991-485: 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

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8122-439: The Baptist was probably carved over the other door of the templon of Hagia Sophia, since he features prominently in liturgical writings of the church. In any case, the majority of templa followed the same basic design. They were usually carved of monochrome marble, though some, like Hagia Sophia's, were covered in precious metals and others used polychrome marbles . The slabs were often carved with vegetal or animal patterns and

8253-406: The Church of St. Pancras near Rome, and the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Pope Leo III also erected a pure silver chancel screen during the reign of Charlemagne. The 9th century Basilica of St. Mary Major had a screen of six purple marble columns topped with an architrave of white marble, from which hung veils. A lower barrier of silver columns projected outward from the screen. Many fragments of

8384-400: 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

8515-414: 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 the East and its offshoot, the Ancient Church of the East . The Eastern Orthodox are

8646-415: 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

8777-423: 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

8908-404: 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

9039-400: 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

9170-505: 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

9301-414: The Middle Byzantine period, the space between the colonnettes was not filled with icons but with curtains. Nicholaos Andidorum describes in his Protheoria "the shutting of the doors and the closing of the curtain over them". The most widespread image on the medieval templon seems to have been the Deesis. Its popularity arose from not only its simplicity and elegance, suggesting the efficacy of prayer and

9432-481: 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

9563-579: 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

9694-551: The Raising of Lazarus , linking the scene of Lazarus with the Holy Week images according to liturgical practice. Several epistyles of this form have been excavated throughout the empire, none earlier than the 12th century, indicating a change from busts on the architrave to scenic decoration. This new scenic style is representative of the increasing liturgification in Byzantine representational art after iconoclasm. During most of

9825-702: 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

9956-566: 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

10087-1036: 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

10218-610: The Torah screen in the altar of a typical Syrian pagan temple . A direct comparison can also be made to the layout of the great Temple of Jerusalem . The most sacred and innermost portion, known as the Holy of Holies , was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. This room was separated from the larger part of the main building's interior by a large curtain, the " veil of the temple ". Only

10349-745: 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

10480-459: The architecture of the Middle Ages . The classical forms were abandoned in both Byzantine and Romanesque architecture in favour of more flexible forms, with capitals often using various types of foliage decoration, and in the West scenes with figures carved in relief . During the Romanesque period, builders continued to reuse and imitate ancient Roman columns wherever possible; where new,

10611-566: The architraves with busts of God, the Virgin, and the saints. Figurative decoration on the templon was mainly concentrated on the architrave , initially with carved busts. This continued from the time of Justinian into the middle Byzantine period, as shown from a 10th-century excavation in Sebaste in Phrygia , which uncovered a marble templon whose epistyle is covered with busts of saints. There

10742-545: The backdrop would thus be analogous to the icons of the saints looking down. The similarities, however, are probably only visual. Although classical drama was performed in Constantinople , the capital of the Byzantine Empire, during the 5th and 6th century when the first templa appear, when Christian liturgy was first being developed, the plays and their architecture had lost their importance and could not have influenced Christian ritual. A much more plausible theory

10873-457: The barrier carried an architrave on top of the columns. The enclosure around the altar was in early times called an Ambitus Altaris , and their railings were called cancelli , sometimes with columns or arches bearing curtains. According to St. Gregory of Tours , these curtains were also painted and embroidered with sacred images in France, and noted the presence of chancel screens in the apse of

11004-659: 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

11135-447: 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

11266-423: The column returns to its straight form when the lateral force is removed. If the column load is gradually increased, a condition is reached in which the straight form of equilibrium becomes so-called neutral equilibrium, and a small lateral force will produce a deflection that does not disappear and the column remains in this slightly bent form when the lateral force is removed. The load at which neutral equilibrium of

11397-415: The column), is greater than the proportional limit of the material, the column is experiencing inelastic buckling. Since at this stress the slope of the material's stress-strain curve, E t (called the tangent modulus ), is smaller than that below the proportional limit, the critical load at inelastic buckling is reduced. More complex formulas and procedures apply for such cases, but in its simplest form

11528-582: The column. With hinged, fixed or free end support conditions the deflected shape in neutral equilibrium of an initially straight column with uniform cross section throughout its length always follows a partial or composite sinusoidal curve shape, and the critical load is given by f c r ≡ π 2 E I m i n L 2 ( 1 ) {\displaystyle f_{cr}\equiv {\frac {\pi ^{2}{\textit {E}}I_{min}}{{L}^{2}}}\qquad (1)} where E = elastic modulus of

11659-432: The construction site. A reinforced concrete column is extended by having the steel reinforcing bars protrude a few inches or feet above the top of the concrete, then placing the next level of reinforcing bars to overlap, and pouring the concrete of the next level. A steel column is extended by welding or bolting splice plates on the flanges and webs or walls of the columns to provide a few inches or feet of load transfer from

11790-434: The critical buckling load formula is given as Equation (3), f c r ≡ F y − F y 2 4 π 2 E ( K L r 2 ) ( 3 ) {\displaystyle f_{cr}\equiv {F_{y}}-{\frac {F_{y}^{2}}{4\pi ^{2}E}}\left({\frac {KL}{r^{2}}}\right)\qquad (3)} A column with

11921-422: The crowd. Templon is a loan word in Greek, from the Latin templum , " temple "; how and why it came to have its present meaning is unclear. The most obvious explanation is that the form of the templon resembles a pagan temple . The steps up to the apse (semicircle where the altar is located) are analogous to the stereobate and stylobate of the temple (the floor of a temple). The colonnettes arranged in

12052-579: 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

12183-527: The educated upper and bourgeois classes, they have had a significant impact in politics, business and culture, and most important figures of the Nahda movement were Christian Arabs. Today Arab Christians still play important roles in the Arab world, and Christians are relatively wealthy, well educated, and politically moderate. Columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering

12314-430: The emphasis was on elegance and beauty, as illustrated by twisted columns. Often they were decorated with mosaics. Renaissance architecture was keen to revive the classical vocabulary and styles, and the informed use and variation of the classical orders remained fundamental to the training of architects throughout Baroque , Rococo and Neo-classical architecture . Early columns were constructed of stone, some out of

12445-546: 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

12576-644: 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

12707-488: 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"

12838-573: 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 the Ukrainian Lutheran Church and Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church have under

12969-556: The later Mycenaean civilization , particularly in the megaron or hall at the heart of their palaces. The importance of columns and their reference to palaces and therefore authority is evidenced in their use in heraldic motifs such as the famous lion-gate of Mycenae where two lions stand each side of a column. Being made of wood these early columns have not survived, but their stone bases have and through these we may see their use and arrangement in these palace buildings. The Egyptians, Persians and other civilizations mostly used columns for

13100-486: The least weight, and also has the slenderest ratio of thickness to height. Height to width ratio is about 10:1. The Composite order draws its name from the capital being a composite of the Ionic and Corinthian capitals. The acanthus of the Corinthian column already has a scroll-like element, so the distinction is sometimes subtle. Generally the Composite is similar to the Corinthian in proportion and employment, often in

13231-648: 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

13362-600: The manifestation of the New Covenant, from the larger portion of the church accessible to the faithful. In Orthodox Christian tradition, with the exception of churches at women's monasteries , only men with good cause may enter the altar portion behind the iconostasis. Barriers called templons in Greek were also used on occasions when the Roman Emperors appeared in public, to segregate the Imperial retinue from

13493-514: The material, I min = the minimal moment of inertia of the cross section, and L = actual length of the column between its two end supports. A variant of (1) is given by f c r ≡ π 2 E T ( K L r ) 2 ( 2 ) {\displaystyle f_{cr}\equiv {\frac {\pi ^{2}E_{T}}{({\frac {KL}{r}})^{2}}}\qquad (2)} where r = radius of gyration of column cross-section which

13624-643: The medieval templon with the attachment of icons and painted scenes to the architrave. Some of the best preserved of these images are from the Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai in Egypt . The late 12th-century templon beam shows twelve canonical feast scenes, with the Deesis (Christ enthroned, flanked by Mary and St. John the Baptist) located in the middle between the Transfiguration and

13755-579: 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

13886-473: The original Templon. Photos of existing templon within churches. Some have had icons placed between the columns. Eastern Christianity Eastern Christianity comprises Christian traditions and church families that originally developed during classical and late antiquity in the Eastern Mediterranean region or locations further east, south or north. The term does not describe

14017-403: The papyriform columns. The origin of these columns goes back to the 5th Dynasty . They are composed of lotus (papyrus) stems which are drawn together into a bundle decorated with bands: the capital, instead of opening out into the shape of a bellflower , swells out and then narrows again like a flower in bud. The base, which tapers to take the shape of a half-sphere like the stem of the lotus, has

14148-454: The period. However, according to the architectural historian Vitruvius , the column was created by the sculptor Callimachus , probably an Athenian , who drew acanthus leaves growing around a votive basket. In fact, the oldest known Corinthian capital was found in Bassae , dated at 427 BC. It is sometimes called the feminine order because it is on the top level of the Colosseum and holding up

14279-665: The piers flanking the templon or as portable images in front of the screen. Proskynetaria of both these types still exist in Cyprus, from Lagoudera, now in the Archbishop's Palace in Nicosia, and in St Neophytos. Sometime between the 11th and 14th centuries, icons and proskynetaria began to be placed in the intercolumnar openings on the templon. After the reconquest in 1261, carving on the medieval templon approached sculpture in

14410-456: The plinth alone, sometimes separated from the column by a convex circular cushion known as a torus . More elaborate bases include two toruses, separated by a concave section or channel known as a scotia or trochilus. Scotiae could also occur in pairs, separated by a convex section called an astragal , or bead, narrower than a torus. Sometimes these sections were accompanied by still narrower convex sections, known as annulets or fillets. At

14541-1012: 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

14672-488: The practical purpose of holding up the roof inside a building, preferring outside walls to be decorated with reliefs or painting, but the Ancient Greeks, followed by the Romans, loved to use them on the outside as well, and the extensive use of columns on the interior and exterior of buildings is one of the most characteristic features of classical architecture, in buildings like the Parthenon . The Greeks developed

14803-420: The rectangular plan. In between the columns were slabs of marble covered in silver about 1.00 to 1.10 meters tall. On them had been carved the monograms of Justinian and Theodora (6th century) , even though Theodora had been dead for several years, as well as a many-armed cross in the center. On the center of the architrave was a repoussé medallion of Christ . On either side of Him were medallions of angels,

14934-469: 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

15065-489: The reinauguration of the church after the reconstruction of the great dome. Hagia Sophia’s templon surrounded, according to Paulus, "such space as was reserved in the eastern arch of the great church for the bloodless sacrifices". That is, it stretched the length of the eastern semidome, including the apse but excluding the exedrae (half-dome recesses in a wall). Twelve silver-covered marble columns of approximately 4.94 meters from base to capital were arranged on three sides of

15196-593: 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

15327-586: The round . From this period, the first wood-carved templa, or iconostases , were produced. They for most part had a fixed program of icon decoration with three levels: the Local, the Deesis, and the Festival tiers. Early Russian versions were at chest height, and called "thoraxis" in Greek. The full height iconostasis became standard in the 15th century, and probably owes more to 14th-century Hesychast mysticism and

15458-406: The same moldings as the base. In the case of free-standing columns, the decorative elements atop the shaft are known as a finial . Modern columns may be constructed out of steel, poured or precast concrete, or brick, left bare or clad in an architectural covering, or veneer. Used to support an arch, an impost , or pier, is the topmost member of a column. The bottom-most part of the arch, called

15589-540: 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

15720-436: The springing, rests on the impost. As the axial load on a perfectly straight slender column with elastic material properties is increased in magnitude, this ideal column passes through three states: stable equilibrium, neutral equilibrium, and instability. The straight column under load is in stable equilibrium if a lateral force, applied between the two ends of the column, produces a small lateral deflection which disappears and

15851-500: 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

15982-557: The threat of the Last Judgment , but also because it could be easily adapted to the patron's tastes with the addition of secondary scenes and characters, as in the Saint Catherine's Monastery where scenes from the life of St Eustratios appear on either side of the Deesis on a templon beam. Proskynetaria (large icons) also played a major part in the decoration of the medieval templon, either as monumental images placed on

16113-445: The top of the shaft is a capital , upon which the roof or other architectural elements rest. In the case of Doric columns, the capital usually consists of a round, tapering cushion, or echinus, supporting a square slab, known as an abax or abacus . Ionic capitals feature a pair of volutes , or scrolls, while Corinthian capitals are decorated with reliefs in the form of acanthus leaves. Either type of capital could be accompanied by

16244-420: The upper tiers of colonnades . Height to width ratio is about 11:1 or 12:1. A Solomonic column , sometimes called " barley sugar ", begins on a base and ends in a capital, which may be of any order, but the shaft twists in a tight spiral, producing a dramatic, serpentine effect of movement. Solomonic columns were developed in the ancient world, but remained rare there. A famous marble set, probably 2nd century,

16375-439: The upper to the lower column section. A timber column is usually extended by the use of a steel tube or wrapped-around sheet-metal plate bolted onto the two connecting timber sections. A column that carries the load down to a foundation must have means to transfer the load without overstressing the foundation material. Reinforced concrete and masonry columns are generally built directly on top of concrete foundations. When seated on

16506-765: The wood-carving genius of the Russians than anything else. The first ceiling-high, five-leveled Russian iconostasis was designed for the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Moscow Kremlin by Theophanes the Greek in 1405, and soon copied by his assistant Andrey Rublyov in the Cathedral of the Dormition in Vladimir in 1408. This is a list of known churches which retain their templon. Some have had icons placed inside, and others are modern reconstructions of

16637-408: The π shape resemble the columns that surround all four sides of a temple, the architrave looks like the architrave on a temple, and the carved disks on the architrave are analogous to the metopes on the entablature . However, it has also been suggested that the name templon derives not from the pagan temples but from the Christian idea of the shrine where God was worshipped, or more specifically

16768-666: Was brought to Old St. Peter's Basilica by Constantine I , and placed round the saint's shrine, and was thus familiar throughout the Middle Ages, by which time they were thought to have been removed from the Temple of Jerusalem . The style was used in bronze by Bernini for his spectacular St. Peter's baldachin , actually a ciborium (which displaced Constantine's columns), and thereafter became very popular with Baroque and Rococo church architects, above all in Latin America , where they were very often used, especially on

16899-586: Was built by the Achaemenid king Darius I (524–486 BC). Many of the ancient Persian columns are standing, some being more than 30 metres tall. Tall columns with bull's head capitals were used for porticoes and to support the roofs of the hypostylehall, partly inspired by the ancient Egyptian precedent. Since the columns carried timber beams rather than stone, they could be taller, slimmer and more widely spaced than Egyptian ones. Columns, or at least large structural exterior ones, became much less significant in

17030-518: 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

17161-399: Was replaced by a stone cylinder. The Doric order is the oldest and simplest of the classical orders. It is composed of a vertical cylinder that is wider at the bottom. It generally has neither a base nor a detailed capital . It is instead often topped with an inverted frustum of a shallow cone or a cylindrical band of carvings. It is often referred to as the masculine order because it

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