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A ROMAN ring that was discovered in a field near York has been classified as an item of treasure, an inquest heard. The silver ring which could date as far back as first century AD, was discovered by Peter Spencer, while he was searching a field in Dunnington using a metal detector. The jewel, whose value will be determined by the treasure valuation committee, was despatched to the British Museum, where it was examined, and a report on it completed. The report, by Ralph Jackson, at the museum’s department of pre-history and Europe, described the find as a small, Roman...

America has become an empire. Everyone says so. This is a surprise to most Americans, since few imagined that they were building such a thing. But, as historians such as Walter Nugent and Robert Kagan have recently taught us, Americans have been at this imperialist expansionism for quite some time — really since the beginning of the republic. How else to explain that the United States has gone from a handful of agrarian colonies to a world-spanning colossus in the space of only a few centuries? As you read this, American military might is deployed across the planet. The U.S....

In this undated image released by France's Culture Ministry Tuesday May 13, 2008, a life size marble bust of Julius Cesar is seen. The bust, probably dated 46 BC, was discovered last year after underwater searches in the Rhone River near Arles, southern France. (AP Photo/Culture Ministry, C. Chary) Divers trained in archaeology discovered a marble bust of an aging Caesar in the Rhone River that France's Culture Ministry said Tuesday could be the oldest known. The life-sized bust showing the Roman ruler with wrinkles and hollows in his face is tentatively dated to 46 B.C. Divers uncovered the...

GLOUCESTER'S ROMAN MASS GRAVE SKELETONS WERE PLAGUE VICTIMS By 24 Hour Museum Staff 29/04/2008 Archaeologists work to uncover the Roman mass grave in Gloucester during 2005. © Oxfod Archaeology A mass Roman grave, discovered in Gloucester in 2005, may have contained the victims of an acute disease of epidemic proportions, possibly plague. This is the startling conclusion to a new report by Oxford Archaeology and archaelogical consultancy CgMs, who have been conducting an 18-month programme of scientific study on the grave, which contained around 91 skeletons. The discovery of a mass grave of Roman date is almost unparalleled in British...

Is Stonehenge Roman? Geoffrey Wainwright, the co-Director of the excavations. Geoffrey's friends will be glad to note that he has now recovered from his hip replacement, though he can still not get down the deep holes After a gap of some forty four years, Stonehenge is once again being excavated. Admittedly, this time it is only a very small hole, and is only being dug for a fortnight, but it is a very important hole, and on April the 9th, we were invited down to Stonehenge to inspect it. It was a wonderful trip, not least because the weather was...

Skull returns to final rest place The skull is believed to be that of a woman in her 50s A rare 2,000-year-old Roman skull has been returned to the cave beneath the Yorkshire Dales where it was discovered by divers in 1996. Archaeologists were called in after cave divers unearthed human bones in what is believed to be one of the most important cave discoveries ever made. The skull dates to the 2nd Century and is that of a local woman in her 50s. It was stored at Sheffield University for carbon-dating and recently returned to the cave, which has...

HE was many miles from home - a Roman soldier posted to Manchester, perhaps feeling cold and lonely, longing for loved ones left behind. He was called Aelius Victor. And now after 2,000 years an altar he built to keep a promise to the goddesses he prayed to has been unearthed in the middle of the city. The altar - described by experts as being in 'fantastic' condition - was discovered during an archaeological dig at a site on Greater Jackson Street earmarked for development. Aelius Victor had dedicated it to two minor goddesses. A Latin inscription on the altar...

Rare Roman gold coins regarded as "priceless" by experts have been unearthed in Derbyshire. The coins, which date back to AD 286, were discovered by Derrick Fretwell while he was out digging near Ashbourne. After an internet search failed to shed any light on his discovery, he turned to Derby Museum who, in turn, sought help from experts at the British Museum in London. Their studies have revealed that one of the coins has never been classified before and the other is the first example to be found since 1975. The museum's Sam Moorhead, an expert in Roman antiquities, said:...

Ancient Rome's Earliest Temple Reconstructed Sara Goudarzi for National Geographic NewsMarch 14, 2008 Experts have digitally reconstructed Rome's earliest major temple, the Temple of Apollo, built by the first Roman emperor, Augustus. The temple dates to 28 B.C., and its ruins stand adjacent to the emperor's imperial palaces on the city's famous Palatine Hill. Until now the original design of the temple had not been well understood, partly due to the ruins' poor state of preservation. Also, previous efforts to model the temple had been based on outdated historical assessments rather than on the ruins themselves. Stephan Zink, a graduate...

Roman shops unearthed under Corn Hall By Andy Woolfoot Workers unearthed the remains during renovation work THE remains of an ancient Roman shopping parade, hidden for centuries under the floorboards of Cirencester's historic Corn Hall have been unearthed this week. Workers came across the remains of what archaeologists claim is the most significant Roman discovery in the town in the last 50 years while carrying out refurbishment work. A series of walls were discovered 10 feet below the level of the floorboards in the main room of the 19th Century building along with evidence the site used to house shops...

Unique Roman Amphitheatre Slumbers Beneath Sofia Downtown Updated on: 20.02.2008, 14:29 Published on: 19.02.2008, 12:13 Serdica - an ancient names of Sofia, was a military, economic and culture centre in the Roman Empire. And while local culture tourism is redirected to Perperikon and other spots dispersed all over this country, a mystic town slumbers beneath Sofia downtown, told from Standart. The excavations under the medieval St. Sofia church started in the 1940s. There is a huge Roman necropolis under the church with dozens of tombs stretching under the building of the National Assembly. Archaeologists and historians reckon the remnants from...

Exihibition in Bonn concerning loot plundered from Gaul by the Alemanni found in the Rhine (more than 1000 objects). This event is dated fairly exactly to the mid-third century by Roman records of a great defeat of Germans trying to get back to Germany after plundering Gaul. Apparently the Roman Army caught them in mid-stream, burdened with plunder. Bet it sucked to be them that day.Story in German.

DISCOVERY: Oldest lighthouse at ancient Roman port The New Anatolian / Ankara 06 February 2008 Turkish archaeologists unearthed a 2000-year-old lighthouse at the ancient Roman port of Patara, near southern town of Kas, Antalya, discovering probably the oldest such structure that managed to remain intact. The 12-meter-high lighthouse was built under the reign of Emperor Nero who ruled from 54 to 68, Professor Havva Iskan Isik, head of the excavation team reported. "The oldest known lighthouse is the one in Alexandria but there is nothing left of it. So, the lighthouse at the Patara port is the oldest one that...

Archaeologists Discover Roman Fort In Cornwall, England ScienceDaily (Feb. 5, 2008) — University of Exeter archaeologists have discovered a Roman fort in South East Cornwall. Dating back to the first century AD, this is only the third Roman fort ever to have been found in the county. The team believes its location, close to a silver mine, may be significant in shedding light on the history of the Romans in Cornwall. Situated next to St Andrew’s Church, Calstock, the site is on top of a hill in an area known to have been involved with silver mining in medieval times....

Gold coins show ‘Emperor of Britain’January 24, 2008 Dalya Alberge Two “extremely important” gold coins that shed light on a little-known rebel Roman emperor from the 3rd century AD have been unearthed by a farmer in the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire area. They relate to the Roman commander Carausius, who declared himself Emperor of Britain around 286 or 287 after the Emperor in Rome ordered his execution. He was overthrown in a coup d’état by his finance minister, Allectus, in 293. The coins were handed in to the Portable Antiquities Scheme and moved to the British Museum. The scheme is facing...

An outing for Hadrian at the British Museum By Nigel Reynolds Last Updated: 2:48am GMT 11/01/2008 An exhibition on the Roman emperor Hadrian - the first staged anywhere in the world - is to be mounted at the British Museum this summer, replacing the First Emperor terracotta warriors show which closes in April. Negotiations over several years will see more than 200 loans from 31 countries - most of them once under the Roman yoke - being put on display in London. The British Museum’s Ralph Jackson with the bronze bust of Hadrian fished out of the Thames Though Hadrian,...

A unique exhibition of 2,000-year-old paintings called Pompeian Red has opened at the National Museum of Rome.

Mapping Pune's Roman connection 14 Dec 2007, 0216 hrs IST,Vishwas Kothari,TNN PUNE: Ever imagined the Romans taking a circuitous sea route around Africa to reach the Persian Gulf and further touch the western Indian shores of Bharuch in Gujarat for trade with Pune over 2,000 years back? Archaeologists from the Deccan College here have come across a plethora of evidence at the Junnar excavation site, 94 km from city, that establishes Pune’s trade links across the oceans, with the ancient Roman Empire. The evidence suggests that Satavahanas, the earliest rulers of Maharashtra (230 Before Christ Era), who reigned from Junnar,...

Stunning survey unveils new secrets of Caistor Roman town PA280/07 — December 13 2007 On the morning of Friday July 20, 1928, the crew of an RAF aircraft took photographs over the site of the Roman town of Venta Icenorum at Caistor St Edmund in Norfolk, a site which now lies in open fields to the south of Norwich. The exceptionally dry summer meant that details of the Roman town were clearly revealed as parched lines in the barley. The pictures appeared on the front page of The Times on March 4, 1929 and caused a sensation. Now, new investigations...

Roman barge under Cologne to reveal shipping history Posted : Sun, 09 Dec 2007 02:08:05 GMT Cologne, Germany - Excited archaeologists are raising part of a Roman barge that sank near the wharf nearly 2,000 years ago in the German riverside city of Cologne. Cologne, which derives its modern name from the town's Latin name, Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, is full of Roman remains including a largely intact aqueduct. But the oaken boat, found 12 metres below the surface during excavations a few days ago for an underground mass-transit line, is something special, offering scientists a new window into life...

Roman ruins cast new light on a trip to doctor By Anthea Gerrie in Rimini Last Updated: 2:11am GMT 09/12/2007 An ancient doctor's surgery unearthed by Italian archaeologists has cast new light on what a trip to the doctor would have been like in Roman times. Far from crude, the medical implements discovered show that doctors, their surgeries and the ailments they treated have changed surprisingly little in 1,800 years. A physician on a house call kneels to tend the hero Aeneas in this fresco from Pompeii Sore joints were common, patients were often told to change their diets, and...

CHENNAI: A broken storage jar with inscriptions in Tamil Brahmi script has been excavated at Quseir-al-Qadim, an ancient port with a Roman settlement on the Red Sea coast of Egypt. This Tamil Brahmi script has been dated to first century B.C. One expert described this as an “exciting discovery.” The same inscription is incised twice on the opposite sides of the jar. The inscription reads paanai oRi, that is, pot (suspended) in a rope net. An archaeological team belonging to the University of Southampton in the U.K., comprising Prof. D. Peacock and Dr. L. Blue, who recently re-opened excavations at...

The landmass and the seas have been stretched and flattened Enlarge Image The Tabula Peutingeriana is one of the Austrian National Library's greatest treasures. The parchment scroll, made in the Middle Ages, is the only surviving copy of a road map from the late Roman Empire. The document, which is almost seven metres long, shows the network of main Roman roads from Spain to India. It is normally never shown to the public. The parchment is extremely fragile, and reacts badly to daylight. But it has been on display for one day to celebrate its inclusion in Unesco's Memory...

Expert sceptical of sacred Roman cave By Silvia Aloisi in Rome November 24, 2007 A LEADING Italian archaeologist said that the grotto whose discovery was announced this week in Rome is not the sacred cave linked to the myth of the city's foundation by Romulus and Remus. The Culture Ministry and experts who presented the find said they were “reasonably certain” the cavern is the Lupercale - a sanctuary worshipped for centuries by Romans because, according to legend, a wolf nursed the twin brothers there. But Adriano La Regina, Rome's superintendent of archaeology from 1976 to 2004, said ancient descriptions...

Found in a farmer's field: The 2,000-year-old skeleton of the lost lady of Rome By CHRIS BROOKE Last updated at 09:14am on 23rd November 2007 In her lifetime she was a member of a wealthy family based in a bustling British outpost of the world's mightiest empire. The imperial glory has long faded. But, almost 2,000 years on, archaeologists have discovered a corner of an English field that is forever Rome. They have unearthed a coffin containing a remarkably well-preserved skeleton in the village of Aldborough, near Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire - once the site of a major Roman town, Isurium...

Roman tombstone found at Inveresk The tombstone was found near the line of a Roman road The first Roman tombstone found in Scotland for 170 years has been unearthed at Carberry, near Inveresk. The red sandstone artefact was for a man called Crescens, a bodyguard for the governor who ran the province of Britain for the Roman Emperor. The National Museum of Scotland said the stone provided the strongest evidence yet that Inveresk was a pivotal Roman site in northern Britain. It was found by amateur enthusiast Larney Cavanagh at the edge of a field. It had been ploughed up...

The ethnic origins of General David Petraeus are apparently Dutch, which is a shame because there’s something sonorously classical about the family name of the commander of the US forces in Iraq. When you discover that his father was christened Sixtus, the fantasy really takes flight. Somewhere in the recesses of the brain, where memory mingles hazily with imagination, I fancy I can recall toiling through a schoolboy Latin textbook that documented the progress of one Petraeus Sixtus as he triumphantly extended the imperium romanum across some dusty plain in Asia Minor. The fantasy is not wholly inapt, of course....

As a pastor I’m often asked, "What’s the real issue that divides Catholics and Evangelicals?" Many cite the adoration of Mary, prayers to the saints, and for some it’s papal authority. While these topics can be troublesome for Evangelicals, the fundamental difference lies in our understanding of the cross itself. In a recent series of documents, Pope Benedict XVI clearly brought this cross-centered difference to the forefront when he said, Protestant, Lutheran and other Christian denominations ... were not true churches but merely ecclesial communities and therefore did not have the “means of salvation.” The other communities “cannot be called...

Belisarius: Book I, The First Shall Be Last by Paolo A. Belzoni Arx Publishing, 2007 $14.95 ISBN-13: 978-1889758-78-7 Historical fiction set in the distant past has often been used as a platform to comment on contemporary events. Yes, the reader says, that situation was like the one we face today, and the way their heroes dealt with it is the way we must deal with ours. That’s what begins to happen while reading Belisarius, a sweeping re-creation of the tumultuous world of the early 500s, where the once-mighty Roman Empire has crumbled into a patchwork of barbarian kingdoms in the...

A Worldwide Push To Bring back chariot Racing THE WALL STREET JOURNAL May 24, 2007 SAO SIMAO, Brazil – On a drowsy May day in the country, tractors and combines were lumbering down dirt roads when, suddenly, a cloud of dust rose up on the horizon. Birds scattered. Rumbling across the green landscape came seven racing chariots, each pulled by four horses. Riding in the chariot decorated with an engraving of Alexander the Great was Luiz Augusto Alves de Oliveira, a 50-year-old sugar-cane farmer who has an epic plan: returning chariot racing to its ancient glory. In this May Day...

Ancient Roman Town Ruins Found in Bulgaria 1 May 2007, Tuesday Archaeologists had to dig only 30 centimeters deep to uncover the stone foundations of the houses. photo by Bulgarian National Television. Bulgarian archaeologists have unearthed the remains of an early Roman town near the village of Gorsko Ablanovo, 30 kilometers south of Russe, Bulgaria's national television reported on Tuesday. Initial artefact finds include a bronze duck figurine of a previously unfamiliar design and a silver fibula, only the fifth documented find of its kind in Bulgaria. The stone foundations of the houses have been preserved well despite intensive agricultural...

Roman-style column bolsters Han Dynasty tomb Archeologists excavate near a Roman-style column in a newly found Han Dynasty tomb (202 BC - 220 AD) in Xiao County, east China's Anhui Province, April 3, 2007. (newsphoto) Nearby villagers look on at the stone entrance of a newly found Han Dynasty tomb (202 BC - 220 AD) in Xiao County, east China's Anhui Province, April 3, 2007. (newsphoto) An archeologists cleans carved stones in a newly found Han Dynasty tomb (202 BC - 220 AD) in Xiao County, east China's Anhui Province, April 3, 2007. (newsphoto)

Archaeologists unearth Roman era artefacts in Kerala From our ANI Correspondent Pattanam (Kerala), Mar 23: What began as exploratory studies in Kerala, has thrown up enough artefacts and structures of two millennia old Indo-Roman trade era to delight archaeologists, who are looking for the lost port of Muziris. Archaeological teams in Pattanam village, near the port city of Kochi have been working on a site, which has yielded pottery, amphora, beads and other artefacts that are reminiscent of the ancient Romans. "The initial studies carried out in this region have amply indicated that there was a Roman presence. The Roman...

English Heritage is conducting stabilisation work at the site Archaeologists have found traces of a Roman settlement at a 5,000-year-old landmark man-made hill in Wiltshire.English Heritage believes there was a Roman community at Silbury Hill about 2,000 years ago. The 130ft Neolithic mound near Avebury - one of Europe's largest prehistoric monuments - is thought to have been created some 3,000 years earlier. Experts carrying out a project to stabilise the hill say the site may have been a sacred place of pilgrimage. Human activity English Heritage geophysicist Dr Neil Linford said: "We are really excited by this discovery...

Find of Roman coin shows ancient Britons in a new light By Daily Telegraph Reporter Last Updated: 1:34am GMT 26/02/2007 Experts are excited about a rare coin unearthed by an amateur treasure hunter which could change the accepted ancient history of Britain. The silver denarius which dates back to the Roman Republic — before Julius Caesar made Rome an empire — was unearthed near Fowey in Cornwall. Dating from 146 BC, it shows how ancient Britons were trading with the Romans well before the country was conquered in AD 43. "It proves that there was a lot more going on...

Gladiators fought to the death in Chester By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent Last Updated: 2:09am GMT 17/02/2007 Gladiatorial contests took place at the largest amphitheatre in Roman Britain, according to new evidence unearthed by archaeologists. An artist's impression of Chester's ampitheatre Finds at an excavation of the arena in Chester provide the most conclusive proof yet that it played host to grisly fights to the death for public entertainment, and reinforce the view of the town's importance in the Roman Empire. A stone block with iron fittings was discovered at the centre of the two-storey amphitheatre, which dates back to...

A Roman Catholic priest who is accused of beating, groping and choking a soloist at his Las Vegas church was arrested Thursday in Arizona, authorities said. The Rev. George Chaanine, 52, was taken into custody in Apache (nyse: APA - news - people ) Junction, about 30 miles east of Phoenix, said Deb McCarley, a spokeswoman for the Phoenix office of the FBI. Chaanine had been a fugitive since the alleged assault on Jan. 26 at the Our Lady of Las Vegas parish office. A judge issued a felony warrant Tuesday charging him with attempted murder, sexual assault, kidnapping and...

Roman descendants found in China? By Richard Spencer in Liqian, north-west China Last Updated: 1:33am GMT 02/02/2007 Sound and vision: Richard Spencer visits the village of Liqian, China(Click at site) Residents of a remote Chinese village are hoping that DNA tests will prove one of history's most unlikely legends — that they are descended from Roman legionaries lost in antiquity. Villager Cai Junnian with his green eyes and ruddy complexion Scientists have taken blood samples from 93 people living in and around Liqian, a settlement in north-western China on the fringes of the Gobi desert, more than 200 miles from...

Emperor's treasures found Richard Owen ROME The lost treasure of Maxentius, the last preChristian Roman emperor, has been unearthed by archaeologists. Imperial standards, lances and glass spheres, right, were buried on the Palatine Hill by Maxentius before his battle with Constantine the Great in AD312. Archaeologists believe that he planned to retrieve the treasure if he won. In the event, he and his closest aides were killed, so that no one knew where it was hidden.

Sacred Cave of Rome's Founders Discovered, Archaeologists Say Maria Cristina Valsecchi in Rome for National Geographic News January 26, 2007 Archaeologists say they have unearthed Lupercale—the sacred cave where, according to legend, a she-wolf nursed the twin founders of Rome and where the city itself was born. The long-lost underground chamber was found beneath the remains of Emperor Augustus' palace on the Palatine, a 230-foot-tall (70-meter-tall) hill in the center of the city. Archaeologists from the Department of Cultural Heritage of the Rome Municipality came across the 50-foot-deep (15-meter-deep) cavity while working to restore the decaying palace. "We were drilling...

Hunting for Hadrian Published on 25/01/2007 HISTORIANS hope to unearth evidence that Roman emperor Hadrian once stayed in a fort along the magnificent wall bearing his name. Archaeologists will be digging along Hadrian’s Wall this summer in an attempt to confirm speculation about why and when it was built. They hope their work at Vindolanda in Northumbria will prove that the emperor once stayed there on a visit to the wall, as well as unlocking secrets about the Roman army and people’s political and social lives. The 73-mile stone barrier – stretching east to west from the River Tyne to...

P. 97 THE NINTH ARTICLE (of the Apostles' Creed) "..Later times were to behold wicked men, imitative as the ape that would like to pass for a human being, who arrogate to themselves exclusively the name of Catholic;"

Ancient Roman road found in Netherlands By TOBY STERLING, Associated Press Writer Fri Jan 5, 3:19 PM ET AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Archaeologists in the Netherlands have uncovered what they believe is part of the military road Roman soldiers patrolled nearly 2,000 years ago while guarding against hostile Germanic tribes at the Roman Empire's northern boundary. Known in Latin as the "limes," the road was in use from roughly A.D. 50 to A.D. 350, before it fell into disrepair and eventually disappeared underground, said archaeologist Wilfried Hessing, who is leading the excavations in Houten, about 30 miles southeast of Amsterdam. The...

Sunken treasure with a distinctly fishy flavor has been recovered from a huge Roman shipwreck in the Mediterranean. The 2,000-year-old vessel, discovered off the Spanish coast, was described by marine archaeologists last week as "a jewel of the Old World." Jars found in Roman shipwreck photo However, it wasn't gold or silver that the ship was carrying but hundreds of jars of a foul-smelling fish sauce. The ancient delicacy, known as garum, was usually made from fermented fish guts and blood. Wealthy Romans, experts say, couldn't get enough of the stuff. The sailing ship, dating from the first century A.D....

Space impact 'saved Christianity'By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor Did a meteor over central Italy in AD 312 change the course of Roman and Christian history? About the size of a football field: The impact crater left behind A team of geologists believes it has found the incoming space rock's impact crater, and dating suggests its formation coincided with the celestial vision said to have converted a future Roman emperor to Christianity. It was just before a decisive battle for control of Rome and the empire that Constantine saw a blazing light cross the sky and attributed...

How sad, to see a post so contradictory to the truth. If Scott's soul is lost then thank God for it is being guided by the High Priest our Lord Jesus Christ, or maybe he is lost but for the sake of the true presence Christ in the eucharist that he is able to bring so many to His Kindom. Scott's so called lost soul is more fruitful than most found souls. You make false charges about him too. He says clearly that the Bible is never to be fully understood, and he says that the reason for that is...

A Roman Catholic nun has been sentenced to serve 30 years in a Rwandan jail for her part in the 1994 genocide. Sister Theophister Mukakibibi was found guilty of helping Hutu militiamen kill hundreds of Tutsi who were sheltering at the hospital in Butare where she worked. In a year-long trial before one of Rwanda's traditional gacaca courts, more than 20 witnesses testified against her, saying that she led Hutu fighters to their victims, denied food to the Tutsis and dumped a baby in a latrine. "She would select Tutsi, throw them out of the hospital for the militia to...

Archaeologists working on the Quantock Hills in Somerset have uncovered evidence of a substantial Roman villa with a mosaic floor in the main room. The findings are part of a six-year study carried out on six separate sites around the area. The dig team said the villa at Yarford is one of the most westerly villas with mosaic floors found in Roman Britain. It was subjected to three seasons of excavation but has since been buried again to protect it for the future. "If there is one villa, then the chances are that others will be found in due course."...

Sep. 5, 2006 0:51 | Updated Sep. 5, 2006 2:13 Christian Zionists Angry Over Slur By ETGAR LEFKOVITS The leaders of three Jerusalem-based Christian Evangelical organizations on Monday voiced distress over a recent proclamation by the Latin Patriarch and the heads of three other churches in Jerusalem issuing a stinging and virtually unprecedented public criticism of Christian Zionism and their unflinching support for the State of Israel. The bitter inter-Christian tiff followed an August 22 "Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism" signed by the outgoing Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, Archbishop Swerios Malki Mourad of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate, Bishop Riah Abu...

The Vatican's envoy in the Holy Land and bishops from three other churches have launched a rare joint attack on the Christian Zionist movement, accusing it of promoting "racial exclusivity and perpetual war." Christian Zionists form a growing part of the pro-Israel lobby in the United States, the Jewish state's main ally. They believe the return of Jews to the Holy Land and establishment of Israel are proof of God's promises to biblical patriarchs. Churches in the Middle East often appear closer to the Palestinians, whose Christian minority makes up a substantial portion of their clergy in the region. The...