WIKIPEDIA TAG
MAY 6, 2015




One of my favorite ways to entertain myself is to take a good dictionary, encyclopedia or nowadays the Internet and look up a subject about which I'm curious at the time, then go from it to other subjects I come across and from that to yet others, skipping around until I answer my questions. In this case I wanted to find out the proper spelling of the word Cyrillic, which I had always connected with Russian language and writing. It was used as a base for a good many other scripts as well as Russian, and it began as an offshoot from the contemporary Greek of 800 or so AD.

From there I hopped to Glagolitic, which was a totally new word to me, and Saint Methodius. My immediate thought was that his name was probably related to the Protestant Methodist religion in which I was brought up. That was not, I found, the actual reason for how John and Charles Wesley's group got it's name, but rather it began as a term of derision at their methodical pursuit to faith. The Wesleys were connected with the Moravians, however, which was a Protestant group from Moravia in the modern day Czech Republic, and they had, it turns out, been influenced by Saint Methodius after all. So it is possible, in my opinion, that perhaps Saint Methodius was part of the Moravian influence picked up by Wesley. Saint Methodius was opposed to the doctrine of the Elect which is espoused by the Calvinists, and which indicates that only a select few people will actually be saved; and further that they are predestined to be saved, while the rest of us poor creatures are not so destined. We are all, it seems, going to Hell.

That could be why I never fully had faith in the story of the Virgin Birth and the Dying And Rising Lord stories about Jesus. On the other hand, it is more likely simply because I always believed in learning from multiple sources rather than just from the Bible, and I believed in THOUGHT over FAITH. The Dying and Rising Lords were present in a number of other ancient religions of the early days of civilization. For more about them, see “Dying-and-rising god” in Wikipedia.

From that point, however, I skipped to the Moravians which have a settlement some 30 miles from my home in Thomasville, NC in the foothills of the mountains. One of my favorite places to visit is Old Salem in Winston-Salem, NC. It is an historically accurate little town manned by members of the Moravian Church there. There are a number of buildings including the shops of craftsmen who are making candles, etc. in the manner of the 1800s and a large and beautiful garden including plants like hops, which they used as we use it today, to make beer. There was a spinning and weaving center using wool sheared on site and dyed with lots of different plant dyes. The colors are soft and seductive I would recommend Old Salem to anyone who comes to North Carolina and would like to see the sights.

From there it was a natural step to Andy Griffith, who is probably the most famous modern day Moravian. A news letter of the Moravian Church features their recent renewal of his relationship of the church of his childhood. See all these things below.



CYRILLIC SCRIPT

The Cyrillic script /sɨˈrɪlɪk/ is an alphabetic writing systememployed across Eastern Europe, North and Central Asian countries. It is based on the Early Cyrillic, which was developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 9th century AD at the Preslav Literary School.[2][3][4] It is the basis of alphabets used in various languages, past and present, in parts of Southeastern Europe and Northern Eurasia, especially those of Slavic origin, and non-Slavic languages influenced by Russian. As of 2011, around 252 million people in Eurasia use it as the official alphabet for their national languages. About half of them are in Russia.[5] Cyrillic is one of the most used writing systems in the world.

Cyrillic is derived from the Greek uncial script, augmented by letters from the older Glagolitic alphabet, including some ligatures. These additional letters were used for Old Church Slavonicsounds not found in Greek. The script is named in honor of the twoByzantine brothers,[6] Saints Cyril and Methodius, who created the GLAGOLITIC ALPHABET earlier on. Modern scholars believe that Cyrillic was developed and formalized by early disciples of Cyril and METHODIUS.




GLAGOLITIC ALPHABET

The Glagolitic alphabet /ˌɡlæɡɵˈlɪtɨk/, also known asGlagolitsa, is the oldest known Slavic alphabet, from the 9th century.

Name[edit]

The name was not coined until many centuries after its creation, and comes from the Old Church Slavonic glagolъ "utterance" (also the origin of the Slavic name for the letter G). The verb glagoliti means "to speak". It has been conjectured that the name glagolitsa developed in Croatia around the 14th century and was derived from the word glagolity, applied to adherents of the liturgy in Slavonic.[1]

The words that denote Glagolitic alphabet in the main Slavic languages are as follows: Bulgarian, Russian, Macedonian глаголица (glagolitsa / glagolica), Belarusian глаголіца (hłaholica),Croatian glagoljica, Serbian глагољица / glagoljica, Czech hlaholice, Polish głagolica, Slovene glagolica, Slovak hlaholika, andUkrainian глаголиця (hlaholycia).

Origins of the Glagolitic characters

The creation of the characters is popularly attributed to Saints Cyril and Methodius, who may have created them in order to facilitate the introduction of Christianity.[2][3][4][5][6] It is believed that the original letters were fitted to Bulgarian (Macedonian dialects specifically).[3][7]

The number of letters in the original Glagolitic alphabet is not known, but may have been close to its presumed Greek model. The 41 letters known today include letters for non-Greek sounds which may have been added by Saint Cyril, as well as ligatures added in the 12th century under the influence of Cyrillic, as Glagolitic lost its dominance.[8] In later centuries the number of letters dropped dramatically, to fewer than 30 in modern Croatian and Czech recensions of the Church Slavic language. Twenty-four of the 41 original Glagolitic letters (see table below) probably derive from graphemes of the medieval cursive Greek small alphabet, but have been given an ornamental design.

The source of the other consonantal letters is unknown. If they were added by Cyril, it is likely that they were taken from an alphabet used for Christian scripture. It is frequently proposed that the letters sha Ⱎ, tsi Ⱌ, and cherv Ⱍ were taken from the letters shin ש and tsadi צ of the Hebrew alphabet, and that Ⰶ zhivete derives from Coptic janja Ϫ.[citation needed]However, Cubberley (1996) suggests that if a single prototype were presumed, that the most likely source would be Armenian. Other proposals include the Samaritan alphabet, which Cyril learned during his journey to the Khazars in Cherson.

Glagolitic letters were also used as numbers, similarly to Cyrillic numerals. Unlike Cyrillic numerals, which inherited their numeric value from the corresponding Greek letter (see Greek numerals), Glagolitic letters were assigned values based on their native alphabetic order.




http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/methodius

METHODIUS
[muh-thoh-dee-uh s] 

noun
1.
Saint (Apostle of the Slavs) a.d. c825–885, Greekmissionary in Moravia (brother of Saint Cyril).
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2015.

noun 
1.
Saint, with his younger brother Saint Cyril called the Apostles of the Slavs. 815–885 ad, GreekChristian theologian sent as a missionary to the Moravians. Feast day: Feb 14 or May 11


SAINT METHODIUS ( from Wikipedia)

Saint Methodius may refer to:
Saint Methodius of Olympus (d. 311), Christian bishop, church father, and martyr
Saint Methodios I of Constantinople (c. 790-847), patriarch of Constantinople
Saint Methodius of Thessaloniki (826-885), Byzantine Greek archbishop of Great Moravia and scholar




METHODISM
 (ˈmɛθ əˌdɪz əm) 

n.
the doctrines, polity, beliefs, and methods of worship of the Methodists.
[1730–40]

The following on Methodism is from Wikipedia:

The Methodist movement is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity which derive their inspiration from the life and teachings of John Wesley.George Whitefield and John's brother Charles Wesleywere also significant leaders in the movement. It originated as a revival within the 18th-century Church of England and became a separate Church following Wesley's death. Because of vigorous missionary activity, the movement spread throughout the British Empire, the United States, and beyond, today claiming approximately 80 million adherents worldwide.[1]

Methodism is characterized by its emphasis on helping the poor and the average person, its very systematic approach to building the person, and the "church" and its missionary spirit.[2] These ideals are put into practice by the establishment of hospitals, universities, orphanages, soup kitchens, and schools to follow Jesus's command to spread the Good News and serve all people.[3]

Methodists are convinced that building loving relationships with others through social service is a means of working towards the inclusiveness of God's love. Most Methodists teach that Christ died for all of humanity, not just for a limited group, and thus everyone is entitled to God's grace and protection. In theology, this view is known as Arminianism.[4] It denies that God has pre-ordained an elect number of people to eternal bliss while others are doomed to hell no matter what they do in life. However, Whitefield and several others were considered Calvinistic Methodists.

The Methodist movement has a wide variety of forms of worship, ranging from high church to low church in liturgical usage; denominations that descend from the British Methodist tradition tend toward a less formal worship style, while American Methodism—in particular the United Methodist Church—is more liturgical.[5] Methodism is known for its rich musical tradition; Charles Wesley was instrumental in writing much of the hymnody of the Methodist Church,[6] and many other eminent hymn writers come from the Methodist tradition.

Early Methodists were drawn from all levels of society, including the aristocracy,[a] but the Methodist preachers took the message to labourers and criminals who tended to be left outside organized religion at that time. In Britain, the Methodist Church had a major impact in the early decades of the making of the working class (1760–1820). In the United States it became the religion of many slaves who later formed "black churches" in the Methodist tradition.

John Wesley came under the influence of the Moravian Church and of the Dutch theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609). Arminius (the Latinized form of the name Jakob Harmaens) denied that God had pre-ordained an elect number of people to eternal bliss while others perished eternally.[b] Conversely, George Whitefield, Howell Harris,[13] and Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon were notable for being Calvinistic Methodists. Whitefield, who had been a fellow student of the Wesley brothers at Oxford, became well known for his unorthodox ministry of itinerant open-air preaching and inspired Wesley to likewise preach to those excluded from the Anglican Church. Differences in theology put serious strains on the relationship between Whitefield and Wesley, with Wesley becoming quite hostile toward Whitefield in what had been previously very close relations. Whitefield consistently begged Wesley not to let these differences sever their friendship and, in time their friendship was restored, though this was seen by many of Whitefield's followers to be a doctrinal compromise. As a final testimony of their friendship, John Wesley's sermon on Whitefield's death is full of praise and affection.[15]



MORAVIAN CHURCH

The Moravian Church (Latin: Unitas Fratrum, meaning "Unity of the Brethren",[1] Czech: Moravští bratři) is the oldest Protestant denomination emerged from the Bohemian Reformation. The name by which the Church is commonly known comes from the original exiles who came to Saxony in 1722 fromMoravia to escape persecution, but its religious heritage began in 1457 in Kunvald, Bohemia, today part of the Czech Republic, an autonomous kingdom within the Holy Roman Empire. The Moravian Church places a high premium on Christian unity, personal piety, missions, and music.

The Church's emblem is the Lamb of God (right) with the flag of victory, surrounded by the Latin inscription:Vicit agnus noster, eum sequamur, or in English: "Our Lamb has conquered, let us follow Him".

History

The Hussite movement that was to become the Moravian Church was started by Jan Hus (English: John Huss) in the early 15th century, in what is today the Czech Republic. Hus objected to some of the practices of the Roman Catholic Church and wanted to return the Church in Bohemia andMoravia to early Byzantine-inspired practices: liturgy in the language of the people (i.e. Czech), having lay people receivecommunion in both kinds (bread and wine – that is, in Latin,communio sub utraque specie), married priests, and eliminating indulgences and the idea of Purgatory.

Jan Hus rejected indulgences and adopted a doctrine ofjustification by grace through faith alone;[citation needed]consequently, the Moravian Church became the firstProtestant church.[2][3] The movement gained support in Bohemia. However, Hus was summoned to attend the Council of Constance, which decided that he was a heretic and had him burned at the stake on 6 July 1415. 

Within fifty years of Hus' death, a contingent of his followers had become independently organised as the "Bohemian Brethren" (Čeští bratři) or Unity of the Brethren (Jednota bratrská), which was founded in Kunvald, Bohemia, in 1457. They received episcopal ordination through the Waldensians in 1467.[2]:36 ff[3]:107 ff These were some of the earliest Protestants, rebelling against Rome some fifty years before Martin Luther.[2][3] By the middle of the 16th century as many as 90 per cent of the inhabitants of theCzech Crown lands were Protestant.[4] The majority of nobility was Protestant, the schools and printing-shops established by the Moravian Church were flourishing.

Protestantism had a strong influence to the education of the population. Even in the middle of the 16th century there was not a single town without a Protestant school in the Czech lands, and many had more than one, mostly with two to six teachers each. In Jihlava, a principal Protestant center in Moravia, there were six schools: two Czech, two German, one for girls and one teaching in Latin, which was at the level of a high / grammar school, lecturing on Latin, Greek and Hebrew, 

 With the University of Prague also firmly in hands of Protestants, the local Catholic church was unable to compete in the field of education. Therefore the Jesuits were invited, with the backing of the Catholic Habsburg rulers, to come to the Czech lands and establish a number of Catholic educational institutions in the Moravian capital Olomouc, for example second university in country. In 1582 they forced closure of local Protestant schools. By 1622 all Protestant schools in the Czech Crown lands were forced to close.

By 1622 the entire education system of the Czech lands was in the hands of Jesuits and all Protestant schools were closed. The Habsburgs not only suppressed Protestantism but also the Czech language: books written in Czech were burned and any publication in Czech was considered to be heresy by the Jesuits.[citation needed] The Czech language was gradually reduced to a means of communication between peasants, who were often illiterate.[citation needed] The Brethren were forced to operate underground and eventually dispersed across Northern Europe as far as the Low Countries, where their Bishop John Amos Comenius, who is also called Teacher of nations, attempted to direct a resurgence.

The largest remaining communities of the Brethren were located in Leszno (German: Lissa) inPoland, which had historically strong ties with the Czechs, and small, isolated groups in Moravia. These latter are referred to as "the Hidden Seed" which John Amos Comenius had prayed would preserve the evangelical faith in the land of the fathers.

In Addition to the Renewed Unitas Fratrum or Moravian Church, which preserves the Unitas Fratrum's three orders of episcopal ordination, The Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren and the Czechoslovak Hussite Church also continue the Hussite tradition in the Czech and SlovakRepublics today, although they only account for 0.8% of the Czech population (which is 79.4% non-religious, and 10.4% Catholic).

In 1722, a small group of Bohemian Brethren (the "Hidden Seed") who had been living in northern Moravia as an illegal underground remnant surviving in Catholic setting of the Habsburg Empire for nearly 100 years, arrived at the Berthelsdorf estate of Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, a nobleman who had been brought up in the traditions of Pietism. Out of a personal commitment to helping the poor and needy, he agreed to a request from their leader (Christian David, an itinerant carpenter) that they be allowed to settle on his lands in Upper Lusatia, which is in present-day Saxony in the eastern part of modern-dayGermany.

In 1741, David Nitschmann and Count Zinzendorf led a small community to found a mission in the colony ofPennsylvania. The mission was established on Christmas Eve, and was named Bethlehem, after theBiblical town in Judea. There, they ministered to the Algonquian Lenape. Bethlehem, Pennsylvania is today the sixth largest city in Pennsylvania. Later, colonies were also founded in North Carolina, where Moravians led by Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg purchased 98,985 acres (400.58 km2) from John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville. This large tract of land was named die Wachau, orWachovia, after one of Zinzendorf's ancestral estates on the Danube River in Lower Austria. Other early settlements included Bethabara (1753), Bethania (1759) and Salem (now referred to as Old Salem in Winston-Salem North Carolina) (1766).




OLD SALEM

Old Salem is a historic district of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It features a living history museum (operated by the non-profit Old Salem Museums & Gardens, organized as Old Salem Inc.) that interprets the restored Moravian community. The non-profit organization began its work in 1950, although some private residents had restored buildings earlier. As theOld Salem Historic District, it was declared aNational Historic Landmark (NHL) in 1966.[2][3] The district showcases the culture of the Moravian settlement in North Carolina during the 18th and 19th centuries, communal buildings, churches, houses, and shops.[4]

Two buildings are individually designated as NHL: theSalem Tavern and the Single Brothers' House. Additional buildings and properties have been added to the National Register that expand the historic area (see St. Philips Moravian Church below, Single Brothers Industrial Complex Site, and West Salem Historic District). Ownership of the buildings and land is divided among Old Salem, Inc., Wachovia Historical Society, private owners, Salem Academy and College, Home Moravian Church, and the Moravian Church Southern Province.

Salem was originally settled by members of the Moravian Church, a Protestant denomination that first began in 1457, out of the followers of John Huss (Jan Hus, 1369–1415) in the Kingdoms ofBohemia and Moravia, now part of the Czech Republic.

Salem was to be the central town of a 98,985-acre (400.58 km2) tract named Wachovia. Construction began in 1766 to build the central economic, religious, and administrative center of the Wachovia tract. The outlying communities, eventually five in all (Bethabara, Bethania, Friedberg, Friedland, and Hope), were more rural and agriculture focused. Salem and most of the other communities were controlled by the church, which owned all property and only leased land for construction. All people in the communities had to be members of the church and could be expelled from the town if they acted contrary to the community's regulations. The several governing bodies all kept meticulous records; copies were sent to the Bethlehem and Herrnhut archives. Most of this information has been translated and published in the "Records of the Moravians in North Carolina" by the North Carolina State Archives, now comprising 13 volumes. This detailed information is part of the documentation used for the accurate restoration and interpretation of Old Salem.

In 1849, Forsyth County was created, but Salem was unwilling to be the county seat and sold property directly to the north to become the new courthouse town. This town became Winston, which quickly grew into a thriving industrial center.

In 1857, the church divested control of the town and allowed the residents to purchase their property. Salem then became a legal municipality. The town expanded twice, in 1889 and 1907.

Salem merged with adjacent Winston in 1913, becoming known as Winston-Salem. This was the only community to ever be officially designated as a hyphenated name for a Post Office by the US Postal Service.[5]





ANDY GRIFFITH

http://www.moravian.org/the-moravian-magazine/moravian-october-
Moravian Church in North America
Remembering Andy Griffith

In July, 2012, actor Andy Griffith, best known as Andy Taylor of the Andy Griffth Show and as attorney Ben Matlock, passed away at age 86. Many have speculated that Mayberry is, in actuality Mt. Airy, N.C., home of Grace Moravian Church. But the connection goes much deeper.

“On a beautiful Spring day in May 2009, we were welcomed with generosity and kindness into the Manteo home of Mr. and Mrs. Andy Griffith,” says the Rev. Anthony Hayworth, pastor at Grace Moravian. “Andy, a member of Grace Moravian during his teenage years, had expressed a desire to reconnect with the Moravian church. Through the liturgies for the Reaffirmation of Faith and Holy Communion, Cindi and Andy became members of the Grace Moravian Congregation.

“The spirit of Moravian worship and devotion was common in their home, as Andy began each day reading the Daily Text and his Bible,” continued Tony. “ On that particular day, Christ was in our midst, transforming the various emotions we experienced through the joy of prayers, sacrament and hymns.

“Emmett remembers it was ‘quite an experience’ and ‘really special.’ It was truly a re-membering. Old friends saying hello, new friends making acquaintances; Christian worship with the gift of Christ’s loving spirit; a moment of Moravian worship ending with the familiar chords of ‘Sing Hallelujah, Praise the Lord’ played on an old pump organ. We honored the old and celebrated the hope of the new. Now our dear friend knows those “realms of endless light.” To which we say, ‘Praise ye the Lord! Amen.’”

he Rev. Edward T. Mickey, Jr., was pastor of Raleigh Moravian Church when this article first appeared in The Moravian.

An Interview with Andy Griffith by Carol Foltz and John Rights
(Originally published in “Moravian Mainline,” March-April 1982. Used with permission)

To hear the name of Andy Griffith brings to mind visual images of Mayberry, Deputy Barney Fife and the guitar-pickin’ sheriff of The Andy Griffith Show, but to those who knew Andy Griffith before his tremendous success as an entertainer, his name might just as easily be associated with Mt. Airy, Bishop Ed Mickey and a trombone-blowin’ youth at Grace Moravian Church. Carol Foltz and I had the privilege of speaking with Andy Griffith by way of a phone call to his residence in Southern California. In our curiosity to find out about his background and insights into his profession, we found Mr. Griffith very open, most cordial and an actor concerned with the direction television programming seems to be taking. The following excerpts are taken from this interview.

What has been your past association with the Moravian Church? 

“This is something that is very important to me. In Mt. Airy, when I grew up, there was no music program in the school system. They had one music teacher, but it didn’t amount to anything. There was no instrumental program or anything like that. I found myself very interested in music. …At that time a boy who was not athletic, was not particularly bright or a good student and wasn’t from a well-to-do family, kinda played second fiddle, if you know what I mean. I never felt I was very much of a full person. I felt like I was second class all the time. Well, when I met Ed Mickey and the Moravian Church and through them met music…now understand that when I was eight years old I was baptized into the Baptist Church, and had been going to that church regularly. Our family always had a religious background, but Ed Mickey and that church added another dimension to my life. Then he started teaching me to sing and all of a sudden I amounted to something.”

How old were you when all this happened?

“I lied, though Christians can’t lie. I lied about my age when I was 14 and said I was 15 in order to get a job, and I had my trombone so I must’ve met Ed Mickey when I was 15. He left Mt. Airy my last year of high school. I went to Chapel Hill (the University of North Carolina). I went to be a minister under Bishop Pfohl, and not to say anything wrong against Bishop Pfohl, but Bishop got mad at me because I was majoring in Sociology and, just to be honest with you, I hated it. I hated every second of it. I was crazy over the music department and I was ill-prepared for it because I started late, but Bishop didn’t want me to major in Music and still stay in the ministry, and he was right, … so I suffered under that a long time. So finally I went home and stopped by to see Ed Mickey to tell him and he said, ‘Well, I had a feeling that was coming.’ It’s funny the transitions that your life goes through and you don’t even know it’s going to. The upshot is how important alternatives are for young people, and the more the merrier! In my case, the factor that music was an alternative gave me direction in my life I didn’t have. That’s why I feel in my case and, many peoples’ case that music is important. The Moravian Church wouldn’t be quite the same Moravian Church without music.”

What does it take to be a successful actor, musician or entertainer?

“This is important. Moss Hart wrote a book called Act One, and in his fascinating book he said to be successful in any business, whether it is show business or any business, you have to have talent at what you’re doing. You have to have the ability to work hard. And he also said being at the right place at the right time is also important. But, he said perhaps the most important quality a person can have is the ability to know what to do when an opportunity presents itself.

“Another thing you must have to be successful, and more than that happy, in any line of work goes by a lot of different names: thickskin, resilience and many other things. In any artistic endeavors such as singing, acting, painting and writing, you tend to expose your inner feeling, you tend to say to someone, ‘I love you’ who may not love you back or care if you love them. What you either have to have, or develop is the ability to be rejected, and that may not sound like it would be hard to do, but I’m going to tell you that it is very hard to do!”

In his book, The Andy Griffith Show, Richard Kelly writes, “There are few television programs today that embody the high moral and artistic standards of the Griffith Show. Lust, anger, betrayal, greed, and violence seem to be the order of the day. Soaps such as All My Children, The Young and the Restless and As the World Turns and popular evening melodramas such as Dallas all show people to be fundamentally immoral and the family to be a focus of strife and anxiety…Like the solid old westerns that create a dream vision of the American past, with its clear moral code, the Griffith Show captures a romantic myth that continues to entice and satisfy our yearnings for a simpler world, one filled with hope, purpose, respect, love, laughter, understanding and a sense of belonging and permanence.”

Such are the fruits born in dynamic Christian living. We thank you Andy Griffith for your constructive contribution to television and the field of entertainment; for countless amusing half-hours of afterschool relaxation and studybreaks spent on the streets of Mayberry; and for the gracious sharing of yourself with the youth of the Southern Province.

The Rev. John D. Rights is now pastor of Konnoak Hills Moravian Church in Winston-Salem, N.C.; The Rev. Carol Foltz serves at Friedland Moravian Church in Winston-Salem.




When I was about 12 years old I had the good fortune to see Andy Griffith perform live at High Point University – then High Point College – in the wonderful play “No Time For Sergeants.” He sang, danced, drank a bunch of his army buddies under the table, wrecked the bar and just generally brought the house down. He was a very talented actor and singer. He issued an album of hymns and one of gospel songs, and perhaps others as well. I was very sorry to hear that he had died, though of course he was a great deal older than I was. I was half in love with him, anyway, and I still watch the old Andy Griffith Show reruns sometimes, though I have memorized most of them by now.