BIC GENEVA — In a cruel escalation, and just two days after previous attacks on Baháʼís across Iran, up to 200 Iranian government and local agents have sealed off the village of Roushankouh, in Mazandaran province, where a large number of Baháʼís live, and are using heavy earthmoving equipment to demolish their homes.
Roads into and out of the village have been blocked.
Anyone who tried to challenge the agents were arrested and handcuffed.
Agents have confiscated the mobile devices of those present and prohibited filming.
Neighbors have been warned to stay in their homes and barred from filming or photographing.
Four homes that were under construction have already been destroyed.
The authorities are installing robust metal fences to restrict access of the Baháʼís to their own homes.
The Baháʼís in Roushankouh have been targeted many times in the past with land confiscations and home demolitions. But this move follows weeks of intensifying persecution of the Baháʼís: over 100 have been either raided or arrested in recent weeks.
“We ask everyone to raise their voice and call for these dreadful acts of blatant persecution to be immediately stopped. Every day there has been fresh news of persecution of the Baháʼís in Iran, demonstrating unmistakably that the Iranian authorities have a step-by-step plan that they are implementing, first blatant lies and hate speech, then raids and arrests, and today land grabs, occupations, and the destruction of homes,” said Diane Ala’i, representative of the Bahá’í International Community (BIC) to the United Nations in Geneva, referring to the past several weeks. “What will be next? The international community must act before it is too late.”
Archaeologists of the Pridnestrovian State University discovered the oldest stone sculpture in the Northern Black Sea region in the Slobodzeya region.
According to preliminary data, it is from 4.5 to 5 thousand years old. In other words, it is about 500 years older than the Egyptian pyramids.
As the leading researcher of the research laboratory “Archaeology” of the Pridnestrovian State University, Candidate of Historical Sciences Sergey Razumov, told reporters, the statue is an anthropomorphic stele, that is, a stone slab on which a rough image of a person is applied. At the same time, an image is carved on one side of the slab, and an ocher pattern is applied on the other – obtained from burnt clay with a high content of iron oxides, mixed with vegetable or animal fat. According to Sergei Razumov, such slabs usually depicted facial features, a belt, feet, weapons, signs of power.
The image has been preserved for so many years, thanks to the fact that this slab was laid face down on the burial, over which the barrow was then poured.
The burial belongs to the so-called pit cultural-historical community. A common feature of this community, which spread over the territory from the Danube to the Urals, is the burial of the dead in rectangular pits. Indo-European cattle breeders belonged to it, semi-nomadic tribes who moved across the steppe, lived in wooden carts, although they also knew agriculture.
Over time, this mound turned into a small cemetery, which was used for about 2 thousand years. The last discovered burial in it dates back to the Cimmerian time, that is, 2700-2300 years ago.
As noted by the head of the laboratory, Doctor of Historical Sciences Vitaly Sinika, over the past decades, the mound has been completely plowed up and almost leveled with the surrounding surface. To find it, we had to analyze data from old maps, aerial photography and satellite images.
A total of 7 burials were found in the barrow. The first of them, which refers to the period 2900-2700 years ago, was located directly under the arable land. Vitaly Sinika did not rule out that in the course of further work it would be possible to find two to five more burials.
As for the oldest of the found graves, the one that was covered by the slab found, it belongs to the early Bronze Age. Unfortunately, the remains buried in this grave were poorly preserved. Over time, the boards on which the slab was laid rotted, the stone collapsed into the grave and crushed the bones. Therefore, anthropologists who will analyze the finds will face significant difficulties. It is possible that they will not even be able to establish who was buried in the grave – a man or a woman, and this information will have to be obtained on the basis of DNA studies.
Be that as it may, Vitaly Sinika emphasized that the remains found under the slab are unlikely to belong to an ordinary person. There are no deposits of such a stone nearby, the slab for the statue had to be delivered from afar, and then also processed.
“Most often, in burials covered with such steles, there is nothing but human bones,” the archaeologist explained. – Because the significance of this stele exceeded everything possible that could be put in this grave. Very rarely, as my colleague who studies this period says, they have gold and silver temple decorations – such spirals of wire. So far, we have not had this, but according to the materials of past excavations, this has happened. ”
The finds found in the excavated burial mound will be the subject of study by anthropologists and other specialists. Thanks to this work, in six months or a year, a certain amount of unique information will be obtained in a variety of scientific areas.
As for the found stele, as Vitaliy Sinika emphasized, it is capable of becoming an adornment of the museum collection.
Next August 12th 2022 will mark 55 years since Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard established, starting in the Spanish Canary Islands as a research project into the spiritual nature of humankind, what has become the religious order of the religion professed by Scientologists.
Therefore, such a historic date for Scientology, included in a calendar of religious festivities, researched and produced by Spain’s Prime Minister’s office, public Foundation Pluralism and Coexistence, becomes a commemoration in itself.
“We work for a society that is informed, respectful of the diversity of beliefs and committed o the processes of improving coexistence, placing value on the road travelled to the current framework of rights and freedoms, which includes religious freedom, and promoting a better knowledge of the diversity of beliefs and religious practices.” says the website of the state foundation.
The calendar, which this year includes the Scientology festivities in their paper edition, briefly describes it as the “Anniversary of the Scientology fraternity called the “Sea Organisation”. On August 12th, 1967, on one of Ron Hubbard’s sojourns in the Canary Islands, the religious order of Scientology (called the “Sea Organisation”) was formed.”
And continues saying that “This religious order is dedicated to safeguarding the purity of Scientology’s doctrinal and administrative teachings. Its members take eternal vows and devote themselves exclusively to the religion.”
Scientology’s questions and answers website provides a more in-depth yet basic explanation of the Sea Organization and explains that it “was established in 1967 and once operated from a number of ships. It was formed to assist L. Ron Hubbard with advanced research operations and supervise Church organizations around the world. The Sea Organization is entrusted to minister the advanced services of Scientology.”
The members of this modern religion believe in being immortal souls, so those who find the vocation of the religious order “commit for an eternity,” says Ivan Arjona, President of the European Office of the Church of Scientology for Public Affairs and Human Rights. The official website explains that:
“The first Sea Organization members formulated a one-billion-year pledge to symbolize their eternal commitment to the religion and it is still signed by all members today. It is a symbolic document which, similar to vows of dedication in other faiths and orders, serves to signify an individual’s eternal commitment to the goals, purposes and principles of the Scientology religion.”
“Members of the Sea Organization commit themselves wholeheartedly and eternally to fulfill the Creed of Scientology: to uphold the rights of humans, including their spiritual right to sanity and to affirm the basic goodness of humankind and the overarching goal of survival which is closely connected with the salvation of the spirit.”
Positions in the Sea Organization (over 7000 worldwide) are analogous to that of members of religious orders in other religions. “They are at the forefront of spearheading the Church’s massive social mission,” says Arjona, “including some of the world’s largest nongovernmental drug prevention and human rights education campaigns and many other global programs that touches the lives of millions”. Seems obvious then that Sea Organization members are acutely aware of the world in which they live, and their service, according to the church and parishioners, is fully dedicated to helping humankind. “They do not live cloistered lives”, says Arjona (a member of the Sea Org himself), “but are very much a part of this challenging society that needs so many vocations”.
Why Ireland failed to accept the Bolshevik revolution – although on paper it tried to do so
On January 30, 1972, British soldiers shot 26 civilians during a protest march in Northern Ireland. Of these, 14 people died and the rest were injured. The soldiers don’t even show mercy as the protesters run away and keep the pressure on. Some of the people have returned to help the wounded, but as thanks they also receive a bullet. Other victims were cut by rubber bullets, batons and kicks with military clubs. The British Army is simply on a roll and clearly has no mercy.
With a tribunal of inquiry set up with accusations that it was yet another abuse of rights, the judges concluded that the soldiers were innocent because they only used force against provocateurs and people who were carrying weapons – weapons such as oil bombs. The jury selected does not have a single Irishman. Bloody Sunday, as the day will be remembered, has caused some countries to think much more seriously about their influence on the island.
Ireland is the nest of spies who are always working to destabilize and increase tension. Favorites among all cadres are precisely the residents of the KGB, whose aspirations are to directly influence the West. After Dublin is shaken by the chaos and effect of the protests, Soviet agents rush to develop another interesting story – the officialization of the spy ring.
At the same time, institutions such as the CIA, MI6 and J2 – Irish military intelligence – began to report very serious activity in the Eastern Bloc.
In late 1972, the KGB organized the so-called Operation Splash. The purpose of the occupation is to supply weapons to the Irish Revolutionary Army, which professes to some extent Marxist ideas. In case you’re wondering if this could even be credible information, it’s described in considerable detail in Mitrokhin’s archives, who tells the secret history of the KGB in a long and not-so-romantic book.
The vessel sent is named Gearbox and is to pass through the fishing grounds, dropping anchor about 50 miles off Northern Ireland. The military organization must wait for the arsenal of 70 automatic rifles, two light machine guns, 10 Walthers and about 41,600 magazines covered in special containers to be handed over. The Russians throw the weapon into the fishing nets and in this way the same will reach the fishing boats.
Yuri Andropov has given permission for this mission, but officially does not want to have any connection with the USSR. The weapon sent was collected from West Germany, while military experts took pains to lubricate the old guns with special German oil, removing any doubt from them.
A few hours after the ship’s departure, a fishing boat will pass by to collect everything needed and start the little revolution. This is the first documented delivery, but it certainly won’t be the last. The IRA will get many more tools for waging war.
The KGB is making every effort to open a Soviet embassy somewhere in Ireland. Paddy Donegan – Foreign Secretary – would repeatedly refuse such an invitation. The first talks were documented as early as 1973. The informal ones continued for decades, but there is always a reason why diplomacy fails. Whenever the press asks him why he refuses, he explains very simply:
“If the USSR sends 22 diplomats to Dublin, they will come with at least 22 more partners. Of their total number, about 30 will be spies.’
Paddy’s connection to the USSR is Mr. No, or Andrei Gromyko, who has often demonstrated how he can twist the arms of the Western powers and find loopholes in every respect. Moscow’s dream is to get closer to London and he is the only man for this mission. Gromyko also once served as ambassador to the US, so opening a new consulate in Dublin is a no-brainer at this stage.
The battle between David and Goliath can be screened in the negotiations of the two with the search for an option in which no one gets hurt. The problem is that the Kremlin really wants to send at least 20-30 people. Paddy disagrees and against the backdrop of Moscow’s wishes, he proposes to open an Irish embassy in the USSR.
The Russians are ready to compromise and allow the entire diplomatic team to be a maximum of 6 people. Meanwhile, 17 people will fly to Dublin. The deal is signed at the UN headquarters in New York and marks the beginning of one of the newest and most advanced KGB spy bases in Western Europe. Even if we don’t want to admit it, it’s a small and unofficial holiday.
Anatoly Caplin will go to Dublin as the first ambassador to Ireland. Gennady Salin will be appointed first secretary and press secretary, while Viktor Lipasov arrives to fill the role of second secretary, along with his wife Irina. The USSR begins to arrange the pieces on the chessboard and everything becomes more than interesting. The Soviet delegation gets its quarters on a very special street – George Orwell.
The sum of 720,000 dollars was paid for their small complex of approximately 5 acres. After two years, the USSR claimed that the buildings were outdated and needed new ones, planning to demolish their old building and erect a new one with an additional 18 apartments, a library and even a cinema. And if the people of Dublin see nothing wrong, every intelligence begins to express dissatisfaction and look for a new way to sabotage Russian ambitions. People like Michael Quinn will point out some troubling facts:
“Irish J2 Military Intelligence is involved in the complete monitoring of people entering and exiting the estate on George Orwell Street, also known as ‘Orwell Road.’ MI6 spies, meanwhile, have been busy removing the IRA from Northern Ireland. Every opinion was considered at the table; forged letters, propaganda, sabotage of IRA weapons, even murder.
However, British Prime Minister Ted Heath wanted more. False stories were told that the IRA was involved in fraud, witchcraft and it was even claimed that Soviet grenade launchers would soon arrive on Irish shores. Another suggestion was to invent legends about bombs causing cancer.’
The Crown is slowly and surely losing its influence over Ireland, but it doesn’t mind sabotaging any flirtations with the USSR. The investment in propaganda is more than good, but the more important question: how successful is it? Of course, the CIA gets in on the fun too. The Washington Post will claim that this will be the first Russian intelligence coup that will go down in the history of the century.
Fortunately, a group of Americans and West Germans are working undercover with Crypto AG, a Swiss company run by Boris Hagelin. He is known for creating a special machine for encrypting information, which has been in the arsenal of Soviet agents since 1952.
The spies sell Hagelin’s device to all interested intelligence agencies around the world. Ireland paid the sum of $1.25 million in the early 1980s, and with the new equipment it became clear that the CIA could decipher anything sent from Dublin.
At that time, the KGB was walking in the most reliable place in the world – the pubs. Hitting the most vulnerable groups is more than enough as legends of a coup by the IRA, the movements of the British army, as well as the focus of NATO and the dispatch of American submarines begin to circulate.
More than 90 Russian intelligence agents have been able to transfer directly from Britain to Ireland so that the number of diplomats can still be maintained. Entering England may be considered a more difficult task, but in the meantime we must not forget that Ireland is open to anyone who wants to live there.
Often people make excuses or make excuses, but they don’t recognize their fear of marriage
Gamophobia is an excessive fear of commitment or marriage. In this case, it is not about the temporary nervousness that comes over someone when he is about to connect his life with another person. It consists of excessive anxiety that can be accompanied by panic attacks.
Like other phobias, there is a fear that goes beyond the limits of the rational. And although it seems unfounded, it becomes so intense that it can be paralyzing. A person may even experience a panic attack.
The main characteristic of gamophobia is the irrational fear of marriage. This is accompanied by another series of traits that are typical of people with this disorder.
Such manifestations are the following:
• Intense emotional response
It is common for the symptoms of gamophobia to manifest themselves when the affected person is faced with a situation where they are asked to consider marriage as an option. This can also happen at the very idea of getting married or seeing another couple that does. This leads to chaotic or unusual behavior that is incomprehensible to others.
• Lack of justification
Those who suffer from this disorder lack the ability to explain why. If asked, they do not find reasons for their behavior or try to minimize it. They often claim that this is a personality trait, but it doesn’t really cause them any problems.
• Avoidance
They also often try to avoid any situations and even conversations related to marriage. If they are forced to undergo this, they may have a panic attack. Their fear provokes feelings of guilt and shame.
• Physical manifestations
The anguish and anxiety they experience when faced with marital situations usually manifests itself in a series of physical reactions, such as the following:
• Difficulty breathing
• Excessive sweating
• Sensation of suffocation
• Chest pain
• Vertigo
• Digestive problems
• Increase in blood pressure
• Muscle strain
• Nausea
To overcome gamophobia, the first thing you need to do is recognize that you have a problem. Often people make excuses or make excuses, but they don’t recognize their fear of marriage. Therefore, this step is not so easy to take.
Once you have determined that you do have a psychological problem, you should get the help of a professional. There are different types of therapy that can help in these cases.
• Exposure therapy
It is a behavioral psychotherapy that is usually very effective in treating gamophobia.
• Cognitive therapy
This type of psychotherapy focuses more on identifying, analyzing, and correcting misconceptions about marriage.
• Psychodynamic therapy
This type of therapy is based on an open and free conversation about the person’s feelings.
• Medicines
In general, medication does not serve to overcome the phobia as such. However, in some extreme cases they can help mitigate the reactions caused by gamophobia and partially stabilize the mood.
Scientists conducted an interdisciplinary study of materials from the city of Mayapan, the largest political capital of the Maya of the postclassic period. They found that as long as rainfall in the region remained at a sufficient level, the population of the city continued to grow. But prolonged droughts have led to increased social tensions and violence. Mayapan was eventually abandoned in the middle of the 15th century. It is noteworthy that, it seems, the researchers managed to find a collective burial of representatives of the Kokom dynasty, who were killed as a result of an uprising around 1441. This is reported in an article published in the journal Nature Communications.
At the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennia of our era, the crisis of the classical Mayan society occurred. Many territories were practically depopulated, state associations collapsed, many cities disappeared, and the social structure and economy collapsed. A number of scientists see climate change as the cause of this process, while others defend the idea that internal structural problems in Mayan society were to blame. At the initial stage of the postclassic period, around the second half of the 10th – mid-11th centuries, the city of Chichen Itza flourished, which controlled most of the northern Yucatan. However, soon he and several other cities fall into decay, and Mayapan establishes dominance over the peninsula at the end of the 12th century.
Mayapan is the largest political capital of the Maya of the postclassic period. It was inhabited from about 1100 to 1450 and exceeded the size of any city located in the lowlands of the Maya of Belize, Guatemala and Mexico, acting as the center of political, economic and religious life. Since the second half of the 13th century, Mayapan was ruled by the Kokom dynasty, whose power was largely based on control over trade with other regions. However, in 1441, the Kokoms were overthrown as a result of an uprising led by the Shiu dynasty, and Yucatan, as a result, was divided into a dozen and a half states that were at war with each other, but were closely connected by trade. Today Mayapan is the ruins of an ancient city. Archaeologists have discovered in it the remains of a city wall, several thousand buildings, including monumental temples, a sacred cenote (natural well), numerous art objects, burials and other things associated with the Mayan civilization.
Douglas Kennett of the University of California at Santa Barbara, together with colleagues from Australia, the UK, Germany, Canada, Mexico and the US, combined archaeological, historical, osteological and paleoclimatic data to test the link between climate change, civil conflict and political collapse. Mayapana in the XIV-XV centuries. Scientists also conducted radiocarbon analysis of the remains of 205 people to confirm or refute the information from written sources about a number of significant events in the history of the Mayapan, recorded using the Mayan calendar: from the period of “terror and war” (1302-1323) to the murder of representatives of the Kokom dynasty ( 1440-1461), as well as the political decline and abandonment of the city (after 1450).
To find out the climatic conditions in which the Maya lived during the studied period, scientists conducted an analysis of stable oxygen isotopes in speleothems, and also studied changes in the salinity level of water in a small lake located about 27 kilometers from Mayapan. As a result of this work, scientists found that around 1100–1340, a sufficient amount of precipitation fell in the region. This was accompanied by an increase in population that peaked around 1200–1350, after which the population began to decline, reaching a trough around 1450. This conclusion is confirmed by written sources.
Radiocarbon analysis of the remains from a collective burial excavated near the temple showed that 25 individuals died around 1302-1362. In three of them, scientists found post-mortem traumatic brain injuries, cuts on the bones, indicating dismemberment and deliberate desecration.
According to the researchers, this burial may correspond to historical evidence of conflicts in the Yucatan (possibly, these are sacrificed prisoners of war). Another type of collective burials are two objects from 1360-1400, excavated near ceremonial structures, which contained desecrated human remains with ritual pottery. A number of remains demonstrate that people died a violent death (wounds with stone knives in different parts of the skeleton), in addition, some of the remains were dismembered and burned. According to scientists, this is consistent with historical data on the struggle within the ruling factions. Notably, this event coincided with a major drought in Central Mexico. Historical evidence of Mayapan massacres is also consistent with evidence of population decline and architectural construction.
Another collective burial was found near the temple of Kukulkan. Scientists have suggested that it may correspond to the burial of representatives of the Kokom dynasty, who were killed by Shiu. The skulls and bones of the postcranial skeleton belonged to at least nine individuals, seven of whom were children. Scientists found traces of stab wounds in two people. Based on radiocarbon analysis, this event occurred between 1440–1460. Moreover, paleogenetic analysis confirmed that the buried were genetically close to each other on the maternal line.
The researchers concluded that Mayapan’s population decline coincided with a period of extreme drought (around 1350-1430). As a result, famine followed, trade was disrupted, and Mayapan was eventually abandoned, and its inhabitants founded many small states throughout the Yucatan. The scientists also concluded that the prolonged hardship caused by climate change led to social tensions fueled by politicians. This eventually led to more and more violence. In addition, they confirmed the written data about the decline of this city between 1441-1461.
Photo: Location of the city of Mayapan on the map and the plan of this monument. The letters MB indicate the places where collective burials were discovered.
Douglas Kennett et al. / Nature Communications, 2022
We have all heard the name Howard Carter and know that he is the discoverer of the famous tomb of Tutankhamun in Egypt. However, history knows no less colorful ladies who left an important scientific legacy in Egyptology. I personally have a special sentiment and interest in two of them, with whom I feel connected in a special way.
We have all heard the name Howard Carter and know that he is the discoverer of the famous tomb of Tutankhamun in Egypt. However, history knows no less colorful ladies who left an important scientific legacy in Egyptology. I personally have a special sentiment and interest in two of them, with whom I feel connected in a special way.
Natasha Rambova
she is like a heroine from a movie. Her birth name was Winifred Kimball Shawhennessy. In the 1920s, she was a student of the Russian ballet master and choreographer Teodor Kozlov, and in his honor, when she was 17, she adopted the artistic pseudonym Natasha Rambova, which gradually became her official name. Later, she became one of the most extravagant designers of costumes for theater productions and film productions, and created her own fashion line. Her name is constantly mixed up in love affairs with both men and women.
They say that her mentor Teodor Kozlov and the actress and film producer Alla Nazimova, with whom they created the classic “Salome” in 1922, were also madly in love with her. Natasha Rambova played many roles in Hollywood, created costumes that are emblematic of the spirit of the time. She also went down in history with her stormy two-year marriage, followed by an equally stormy divorce from Hollywood’s sex symbol at the time, Rudolph Valentino. Spicy, passionate and uncontrollable, Rambova is fascinated by all forms of art, but also by esotericism and spiritualism, and more than once declares to the sweet and melodramatic
Valentino that it is completely impossible for her to stay at home, look after children and set the table for afternoon tea. A few years after her divorce from Valentino in 1925, she married the aristocrat Alvaro de Urzaiz, and in 1936 she visited Egypt for the first time – the country that enchanted her forever and with which she would connect her life. He is then 39 years old.
Natasha spends nearly a month in Luxor. It was there that she met Howard Carter – a fateful meeting, because from that moment she decided that she would devote the rest of her life, all her means, energy, strength and emotions to the science of Egyptology. At that time he wrote in his personal diary: “I felt as if at last, after a long journey and wandering, I had returned home. The first days I was in Thebes, I couldn’t stop my tears, they just flowed from my eyes. But no!… these weren’t tears of sadness, but some kind of emotional release, some kind of impact from the past – a return to yourself and to the place you’ve loved for too long and you’re finally back, where it’s always been. your heart I’m home, I’m finally home!!!’
Natasha Rambova’s research and contribution to the development of Egyptology is truly remarkable. He began collecting and studying various religious texts, until one afternoon, looking for information in the Cairo library, he met the director of the Institute at the time, the Russian-born Egyptologist Alexander Piankov. This acquaintance would lead to some of the most serious research and the publication of valuable books related to the sacred religious texts of Ancient Egypt – the pyramid texts from the pyramid of King Unas of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt at Saqqara. Rambova took up research and editorial work and actively helped Piankov in his studies. Finds solid funding from foundations, helps field research in Luxor. The team obtained permission to photograph and study the inscriptions from the golden shrines that surround the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun in his tomb in the Valley. He worked as an editor on the first three volumes of the series “Egyptian religious texts” by Alexander Piankov and continued to deal with Egyptology until his last breath.
Nina McPherson Davis
She is the wife of another very talented and famous Egyptologist – Norman de Garris Davis. A true lady, a talented artist, copyist and Egyptologist, she is also known for her impeccable personal style – her long dark hair is always braided and smells of jasmine, her dress is unfailingly elegant and she always welcomes guests for afternoon tea at her house in Kurna, on The West Bank of Luxor, with fine china cups on a white linen tablecloth.
A fateful trip in 1906 to Alexandria linked her life to Egyptology. Then Nina was 25 years old and with a group of friends toured the sights of Ancient Egypt. Over a cup of tea, she meets Norman de Garris Davies, who is 16 years older than her. By this time, Norman was already an established Egyptologist, clearly stating his serious work and dedication to science. Behind him was work as an Egyptologist and copyist, and together with Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie worked at Dendera (1897-1898).
He then headed the Egypt Exploration Fund mission, resulting in 11 volumes of copies of tombs from Saqqara, Amarna, Sheikh Said and Deir el-Gebrawi. Between 1905 and 1907 he worked with George Reisner on the Giza Plateau, as well as with James Henry Breasted, describing and studying the monuments in Nubia. Love between the two ignited at first sight, and upon returning from her trip, Nina was already engaged to Norman, and a year later, in 1907, they were married in London. In the same year, Norman headed the epigraphic mission to Egypt of major ancient Egyptian necropolises. He and his wife, Nina, settled in Luxor, where Norman began his work at Sheikh ab del-Qurna. Almost their entire life together was spent there studying the texts and images from the tombs of several major ancient Egyptian necropolises. This will become their life’s work.
From 1913, Nina began working as a copyist for the Metropolitan Mission, just like her husband. This job requires extreme precision, an accurate eye and a talented hand. It is often dark and uncomfortable to work in the tombs. There is a lack of natural light in which to see the true colors. Texts and reliefs are destroyed, parts are missing, images are covered with layers of dust and dirt. Nina started using mirrors in her work to provide more light in the rooms.
Together with Norman, they began to use a new technique in their repaintings – instead of watercolor paints, they used tempera paints, with which they gave volume and density to the images. Nina mastered the technique, style and form of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and imagery to such an extent that her renderings can still easily fool even the professional eye today. They live in a small house in Luxor, where in the evening they like to listen to music on their old gramophone, drink tea, and after dinner continue to work until the early hours of the next day.
Sir Alan Gardiner, one of the most famous British Egyptologists, was impressed by Nina’s talent and managed to organize several solo exhibitions of her in London and Oxford, and Rockefeller himself was included as a donor. With his help, two volumes of her works were published.
For the first edition of his Egyptian grammar, Sir Alan Gardiner asked Nina and Norman to produce a hieroglyphic character pool. They do, and in fact the grammar that all Egyptologists use today is based on the hieroglyphs written by Nina and Norman de Garris Davies.
In 1939, because of the complicated political situation immediately before the Second World War, the two left their house in Kurna and returned to England. Half of their belongings remain in Egypt, clearly indicating their intention to return and continue their work. However, on November 5, 1941, Norman died in his sleep of heart failure. Left alone, Nina never returned to Egypt and devoted her entire life to arranging, editing and publishing her husband’s unfinished works.
A conversation about spiritual mentorship with Father Georgi Chistyakov (August 4, 1953 – June 22, 2007) — priest, philologist, historian, human rights defender. He is considered a follower of Prot. Alexander Men. Like him, he is a highly erudite priest, pastor, historian, philologist, connoisseur of classical and several European languages. He is engaged in charity work, takes active public positions, in 2003 he opposed the Russian Federation’s war in Chechnya.
The interview was taken in 2003, but is still completely relevant today because of the observations and conclusions of Fr. George.
– Father George, from your point of view as an Orthodox priest, how sick is Russian society?
“It’s sick.” And it’s seriously sick. After all, after the fall of the Soviet regime, we found ourselves free, but in sufficiently harsh conditions of penury and unemployment, it was impossible for us to avoid the disadvantages. The problems associated with making independent decisions on many of the most important life issues faced people in all their fullness. We were used to the state solving all problems for us. That is why society is sick with asthenia – weakness. And the new Russian state simply abandoned us.
Although… I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. It might be for the better. Because a person must be able to decide too many things independently, without relying on the state. However, as of now, this is still not happening. How then can we help society, you will ask. Civil society structures will help you answer this question. I have been involved in the activities of non-governmental organizations for many years. Fortunately, now they are already working not only in Moscow and St. Petersburg, or let’s say, in Nizhny Novgorod, but also in many other cities of the country. The only problem is that often these organizations are still weak and need financial support from the side. Otherwise, they – so necessary to people – cannot work.
I am talking about the cases when people come together and with joint efforts solve a common problem; for such associations as, for example, associations of parents of children suffering from Down syndrome or diabetes, organizations of relatives of alcoholics, associations of pensioners and people with disabilities… There are many!
And the Church is also one of the elements of civil society. Sobriety groups, groups to help the poor, the homeless can be created at the temples. There they feed and clothe the wanderers. The people who are engaged in this work without any reward. It is a public work requiring a high degree of personal feeling. A feeling that you are doing important work, a sense of responsibility towards that work. A significant element of the church’s charitable activity is the work with disadvantaged elderly people living at the border or below the poverty line. For them, it is necessary to look for clothes, medicines, glasses, to collect money to buy the necessary things.
However, people turn to the temple not only for material, but of course also for spiritual help. And it is very important that the priest and the layman, who meet the person with his problems at the threshold of the church, should really be able to give him this spiritual help. When someone starts believing in God, he becomes stronger. Helping him to grow spiritually to confront the trouble he has fallen into is the most important task.
– What, in your opinion, is the most serious handicap destroying Russian society?
“I don’t even know where to start.” Everything is very serious: poverty, drug addiction, alcoholism… Facing people living below the poverty line, you can’t help but say that the main Russian problem is poverty. But when you meet relatives of alcoholics and parents of drug addicts, who sold everything to save their children, and what they couldn’t sell, their children stole to buy a dose, it becomes clear: the main problems for Russia it is drug addiction and alcoholism.
But there are quite a few other cruel handicaps. One of them – the high prices of good medical care. People don’t have enough money for her. Therefore, often, instead of turning to doctors, they go to magicians and psychics. Instead of taking medicines, they use folk remedies, nutritional supplements, etc.
I cannot help talking about such a dangerous disease as the terrible bitterness of the population… To the rich, to migrants, to refugees, to representatives of other nationalities, religions and confessions. For example, to Catholics. All that we call xenophobia. This disease also absolutely needs to be treated. It’s scary when a person is bitter against everyone and everything.
– Can this bitterness be eradicated somehow?
– First, you need to talk to people. All too often resentment stems from ignorance. From the fact that a person lives, operating not with facts, but with ancient mythologies of hatred for everything foreign. He fishes them in his unconscious and they begin to develop and bear very terrible fruit. In fact, it turns out that people are very poorly informed about the given problem. They simply hate, for example, Caucasians without knowing them. When you start talking to a person who feels hatred, it already gives a positive result.
Secondly, as a priest, I cannot help but say that prayer heals a person, that depth that is discovered in him heals him. When our self lacks depth, when we are superficial, when we turn to mythology, we are all very aggressive. When the person begins to approach the problem at least a little deeper, this aggressiveness drops quickly enough. And then she just disappears.
Finally, true faith in God heals a person. Superficial religiosity, in which a person makes a cross, buys an icon or, on January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, takes holy water from the temple, does not change him. But when a person experiences something great related to God, he becomes another, the aggressiveness leaves his heart. This is a very difficult process. We don’t get rid of anything else with as much effort as aggressiveness. Moreover, it is constantly fueled by material difficulties and the conditions in which we live.
– How do we acquire this true faith? Through suffering?
– Of course, it is easy to say, as Dostoevsky did, that suffering purifies the soul. In practice, this does not always happen. Today, we see the opposite result: suffering embitters a person, makes him more aggressive.
I think that the meeting plays a very big role. When someone on his life path meets a person who sincerely believes in God, who carries this pure, joyful, bright faith, then he can really change very quickly. That is, the meeting with the true believer is something very significant. Another issue is that many newly converted Christians do not believe brightly and joyfully, but carry some dark aggressive faith within themselves. For many of them, putting a cross around their neck, boots on their feet, growing a longer beard and starting to profess aggressive views and hatred towards Catholics, Protestants, Jews – this is precisely what it means to convert to Orthodoxy. In fact, all this horror has nothing to do with Orthodoxy, and even less with faith in God.
We are in dire need of bright teachers who lead us to the Truth and to God. Such was, for example, the recently deceased Metropolitan Antony Surozhki. He was 89 years old. He was an old, very sick man, he lived in London. He has not returned to Russia for many years, but his books are published here. Numerous recordings of his talks, videotapes, and audiotapes exist.
Once the TV presenter Vladimir Pozner asked me not without irony: “What would you do to improve the situation with faith in God, so that it would start helping people in Russia?” I answered that I would show Metropolitan Anthony on TV more often . “Another metropolitan,” Posner, who does not particularly like the clergy, retorts me with some irritation. “Not another one, but Antony. He is like that – the only one.”
A representative of the first emigration, Metropolitan Anthony during the years of the war in France was a participant in the Resistance. As a doctor surgeon. He did not receive any theological education, he became a saint during his lifetime, one might say, because he was extremely simple, ascetic in life and absolutely accessible to everyone and everyone; he didn’t even like to be addressed as ‘you’, he preferred the friendly ‘you’, including by people who were 30 or more years his junior.
It was a true bearer of Christ’s light, which truly enlightens all. For Bishop Anthony, each person was, to use the evangelical expression, a “pearl of great price” for which everything in the world could be sacrificed. He knew how to comfort and strengthen a person, but most importantly, to show what you need to do with yourself to become better. In his presence, not only the desire to change themselves for the better, but also the practical vision of what is needed for this appeared in people. And everything described happened because he knew how to love. He knew how to press to his heart, he knew how, if we may say so, to take everyone somewhere in the depths of his own “I” and keep him there. Like a child. At the same time, there was no pampering and no sentimentality in his attitude towards people.
“… Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful,” says Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. If we try to understand what the word “merciful” (in Greek “oiktirmon”) means, it will turn out that it comes from the Greek word “oiktos”, that is, “pain”; thus, he who accepts another’s pain as his own is merciful. It is in the indicated sense of the word that Metropolitan Antony was merciful. Communicating with such bright people gives a lot. But the trouble is that they are always infinitesimal. Dmitri Sergeevich Likhachev was also like that, and in India – Mother Teresa. Who else? I do not know. Our task as believers is to develop in people a sense of God, to teach them with the help of books, personal conversations and moments of trust in life. Sometimes this happens at confession in the church, sometimes – on the train on the way to the villa. In these moments, you can convey something to the person face to face, sow the seed that God, who is invisibly present in our lives, heals our hearts.
I wish people in Russia would read the Gospel more. Today, Orthodoxy begins with the fact that, for some unknown reason, people are given crosses. I would distribute the Gospel. This is an amazing book. When you start reading it, you really become someone else. During the August coup in 1991, we, together with my friend Father Alexander Borisov, distributed Gospels in front of the White House. The young people who were then standing around the building were infinitely grateful. At some point I took my Bible out of my pocket and we read aloud. For the people this was a huge discovery as they had never heard anything like it. They were literally transforming before our eyes.
The word of Jesus changes the person. Therefore, if we talk about spiritual help for the country, then this is evangelization. I know how much she gives from her experience in meetings with drug addicts and alcoholics, with young people and with sick children.
For more than 11 years now, my friends from the parish of St. Kozma and Damyan” in Shubino and I work at the Republican Children’s Clinical Hospital. We have to look for money for medicine, for clothes, for children’s books and, alas, for funerals. Let’s organize their free time, set up a small theater, musical meetings, draw… They love to draw. During these years we managed to hold several wonderful exhibitions of children’s drawings. Their authors are seriously ill children for whom spiritual help is needed no less than medical help. We read the Gospel, and we see how much it gives them. When you start reading it aloud, in some mystical way a real encounter with the living Jesus takes place. Jesus himself from the pages of the Gospel comes down to us. And invisibly he finds himself among us. Such is the effect produced by this one-of-a-kind book. Of course, children feel the presence of Christ in their lives thanks to the fact that together with them we pray and read the Gospel. It is a family prayer meeting like no other. Children with disabilities feel like full-fledged people, precisely because God is with them, precisely because they live with the joyful feeling of God’s presence in their lives.
Of course, there is another problem – that is the adoption of sick children. Children with vision problems, hearing problems, with severe diseases that need to be treated over the course of years through numerous operations. Initially, such children were adopted mostly in the USA, Italy and other countries. Now many Muscovites have adopted such children. To adopt a child with health problems, which you will have to “carry in your arms” for the rest of your life – this is a feat. That such children began to be taken in Russia, and not only abroad, is a very important sign! A sign that society is coming out of the dead end, from the state of crisis. A sign that we will not perish.
Iran’s parliament is considering a bill that could introduce a virtual ban on keeping pets in the country, reports the BBC. If it is adopted, it will be possible to own animals only with special permission from the government commission. For the importation into Iran of any animals, up to rabbits and turtles, a fine of about $ 800 will be provided. They are considered a “symbol of Westernization” unacceptable for an eastern country.
According to the President of the Iranian Association of Veterinarians and an opponent of the bill, Dr. Payam Mohebi, the debate on this issue began more than a decade ago. Then the bill was not approved, although it was periodically returned to its discussion. However, against the background of the current strengthening of conservative sentiments in Iran, the bill may be approved in the near future.
The list of animals affected by the bill includes not only dogs, but also cats and many other species.
The BBC correspondent in Tehran also reports that cases of arrests for walking dogs in parks and other public places have increased in Iranian cities. Animals are confiscated from those arrested.
• Contrary to popular stereotype, the Qur’an does not forbid Muslims from keeping dogs if they are useful – for example, as guards or assistants in hunting. Muslim theologians consider dog saliva and hair ritually unclean and recommend keeping dogs not in the home, but in the yard. There is no ban on keeping other animals – cats, birds, hamsters, rabbits – in Islam. According to Muslim tradition, cats were the favorite animals of the Prophet Muhammad.
• Before the “Islamic revolution” in 1979, Iran was one of the most progressive countries in the east in terms of keeping pets. He was the first in the Middle East to pass animal protection laws; in 1948, the first state organization to monitor compliance with them appeared here. Even members of the royal family had dogs. One of the most popular cat breeds in the world – Persian – was bred in Iran (Persia). There is a museum in Tehran dedicated to the history of this breed.
Photo: Police officer in Iran issues a fine for transporting a dog in a car
Switzerland is considering moving to rolling blackouts due to energy shortages.
This was announced on Wednesday by the director of the Association of Swiss Electricity Companies (VSE) Michael Frank, tass.ru reports.
“We plan, if necessary, to gradually introduce ever more stringent measures to save electricity,” Reuters quotes him as saying. % electricity”.
Frank estimates that these measures will help reduce the country’s electricity consumption by a quarter.
As a last resort, “individual regions will go offline in rotation for periods of four hours,” he added.
The source of the energy crisis in the country, the official considers the shortage of gas after the reduction of Russian supplies and the shutdown of nuclear power plants in France for maintenance.
On June 14, Gazprom announced that it was forced to reduce gas supplies via Nord Stream compared to the plan due to the untimely return of gas pumping units by Siemens from Canada. As a result, the gas flow to Germany was reduced to 40% of the pipeline’s capacity. As a result, Berlin agreed with Ottawa, as an exception to the sanctions, to return the unit to Europe.
