Search result for religion

In no religion have monks played | HISTORY OF MONASTICISM

Buddhist monks

In no religion have monks played such a central part as in Buddhism. Leading his followers into holiness a generation after Mahavira, Buddha also organizes them into communities. But his own glimpse of the divine truth s...

Next come the demands of religion. | HISTORY OF BULGARIA

Bulgarian revival

Next come the demands of religion. The Greek hierarchy has suppressed the ancient Slavonic liturgy, devised in the 9th century by Cyril and Methodius and written in an alphabet probably created by their followers in Bulg...

The Persian empire, with Zoroastrianism as | HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY

Nestorius and Nestorians

The Persian empire, with Zoroastrianism as its religion, is tolerant of Christianity. An existing Christian community has evolved a tradition of doctrinal independence, being cut off politically from the Byzantine empire...

The adoption of Christianity as the | HISTORY OF SYRIA AND PALESTINE

Christian Palestine

The adoption of Christianity as the state religion, by the emperor Constantine, gives Jerusalem a new status. Pilgrims begin to arrive, among them even the mother of the emperor, Helena, whose significant achievement - s...

Hinduism, the earliest among the world's | HISTORY OF MONASTICISM

The first monks

Hinduism, the earliest among the world's great religions, is also probably the first to involve a form of monasticism. The rejection of worldly goods and desires, central to the Hindu concept of holiness, inclines devote...

When parliament in Edinburgh makes reformed | HISTORY OF SCOTLAND

Mary in Scotland

When parliament in Edinburgh makes reformed Christianity the religion of Scotland, and declares the mass a prohibited ceremony, the Catholic queen of Scots and her husband, Francis II, are reigning in France. But in Dece...

It has been an observable fact, | HISTORY OF MONASTICISM

Monastic reform

It has been an observable fact, in every religion with monastic traditions, that monasteries tend to get rich and monks fat. In some circumstances this leads to persecution by secular rulers (emperors in T'ang China or H...