The First Iconoclasts…
It will also not be a story of iconoclasm by the Muslims.
But first, a backstory. By this point, the integrity of the Roman Empire had been greatly compromised. Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and North Africa were all overrun by Muslim armies. Despite having second-class status, the Christians in these lands were granted some toleration as they constituted the majority in these lands and were necessary for effective administration.
They also had religious autonomy, however they could not convert Muslims, build new churches, even maintain existing churches. The cross could not be displayed, and bells could not be rung. Even with this, many of the Christian clergy supported this Arab colonization:
7 May 2021 10:01am
The feast day of Zoodohou Pigis, life-giving spring, is celebrated on the Friday after Orthodox Easter. Those who are named Zoe, Zissis, Ziggy, Zoyia, Pigi, Peggy and other derivatives of this name celebrate their name day today.
The Mother of God of the Life-giving Spring or Life-giving Font (Ζωοδόχος Πηγή) is an epithet of the Holy Theotokos that originated with her revelation of a sacred spring in Baloukli, Constantinople, to a soldier named Leo Marcellus, who later became Byzantine Emperor Leo I.
The traditional account surrounding the feast of the Life-Giving Spring is recorded by Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos, the last of the Greek ecclesiastical historians circa 1320. It begins with a miracle that occurred involving a soldier named Leo Marcellus, the future Byzantine Emperor Leo I.
Ancient Jordan site restoration brings locals and refugees jobs
19.02.2021
In the ruins of an ancient Byzantine church in northern Jordan, local townspeople and Syrian refugees work side-by-side on a project that preserves cultural heritage and fights poverty.
Meticulously operating by hand with tweezers and brushes, workers restore a mosaic floor piece by piece at the St John the Baptist church, built in 619 AD. It is one of three church mosaic floors under restoration, or recently restored, in the small town of Rihab, adding to an impressive array of such national treasures.
Jordan s most renowned mosaic is one of the oldest maps of the Holy Land, consisting of over two million mosaic stones originally built into the floor of a sixth century Byzantine church in Madaba.
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