title: José Altuve

text: Altuve continued his hot hitting in October. During the ALDS Altuve hit 3 home runs en route to a 3–2 series victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. With his 3rd home run of the series in Game 5, Altuve hit his 11th career postseason home run, the most by any second baseman in baseball history and drew him into a tie with George Springer for most postseason home runs by a Houston Astros player. In the ALCS, the Astros prevailed due to Altuve. In Game 6, with the game tied in the ninth inning, he hit a deep shot off Aroldis Chapman to send Houston to the World Series for the second time in three seasons. It was the fifth walkoff home run to end an LCS in MLB history. Altuve received the ALCS MVP award for his performance in the series, batting .348 with 2 home runs, 3 RBIs, 6 runs scored, and a 1.097 OPS. He also set the record for the most career postseason homers by a second baseman (13). He hit .303 with no home runs and one RBI in the 2019 World Series, which the Astros lost to the Washington Nationals.


title: José Altuve

text: In 2020, he batted .219/.286/.344 with 5 home runs and 18 RBI in 192 at bats. On July 27, 2020, Altuve hit his 300th double in his MLB career. On October 7, 2020, Altuve became the Venezuelan with the most home runs in postseason history; he is tied with Mickey Mantle and Reggie Jackson for 5th-most home runs in postseason history. In Game 4 of the ALCS, Altuve took a four-seam fastball from Tampa Bay Rays starter Tyler Glasnow and hit the fastest pitches hit for home runs in 2020. On October 15, 2020, Altuve became the Venezuelan with the most RBI in the playoffs.


title: José Altuve

text: On June 15, 2021, Altuve hit a walk-off grand slam versus the Texas Rangers. The next day, he continued with a lead-off home run against Texas; Altuve is the first player in major league history to have hit a walk-off grand slam and then hit a lead-off home run in the following game. On June 23, Altuve hit his 150th career home run, doing so off Thomas Eshelman of the Baltimore Orioles.


title: José Altuve

text: On July 4, 2021, after finishing as the runner-up AL second baseman in fan voting, Altuve was named to his seventh All-Star Game, tying the Astros franchise record with Craig Biggio for the most career All-Star game selections.


title: José Altuve

text: On September 17, 2021, Altuve hit a home run off Madison Bumgarner of the Arizona Diamondbacks at Minute Maid Park to collect his 849th career hit in the stadium, which tied him with Lance Berkman for most hits by an Astro in the venue. He then passed Berkman the next night with a double.


title: José Altuve

text: In Game 6 of the 2021 World Series, Altuve made his 73rd postseason start as part of the infield unit of Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, and Yuli Gurriel, which was more postseason starts than any quartet of teammates in major league history, surpassing the Yankees' Derek Jeter, Tino Martinez, Paul O’Neill, and Bernie Williams, who had started 68 postseason contests together. In 77 total plate appearances during the 2021 playoffs, Altuve tied the record held by Carlos Beltran for most runs scored in one postseason with 21 runs.


title: José Altuve

text: On May 19, 2022, Altuve doubled for the 344th time in his career, which broke a tie with César Cedeño for fourth-most in Astros history. He also reached a season-high four hits to drive a 5–1 win over the Rangers. On June 23 versus the Yankees, he reached base four times, collecting three hits including two doubles in a 7–6 loss. Altuve appeared in his 1,500th career game on July 3, 2022, in a contest versus the Los Angeles Angels, going 3-for-5.


title: José Altuve

text: On July 8, Altuve was named the starter at second base for the American League in the MLB All-Star Game. It was his eighth selection overall, and fifth as a starter, both setting franchise records. He led AL second basemen in on-base percentage (.368), slugging percentage (.539) OPS (.907) and home runs (17). Craig Biggio (seven) previously held the record for most appearances.


title: José Altuve

text: On August 3, he went 4-for-4 against the Boston Red Sox, which tied his career high and tied him with Biggio for most four-hit games in team history (34). Altuve was named the Astros' Heart & Hustle Award winner on August 5, making him a nominee for the major league award in November. Altuve doubled twice, walked twice, scored twice and drove in two runs lead a 5–3 win over Texas on August 31. Altuve was 3-for-4 with a home run, double, and three RBI on September 4 versus the Angels, leading to a 9–1 win. On September 11 versus the Angels, Altuve achieved his 12th three-hit game of the season. Altuve's leadoff home run on September 19 versus the Rays started the Astros' scoring in a 4–0 win to the clinch a fifth AL West division title over the previous six seasons. On September 27, Altuve hit a leadoff home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was his twelfth leadoff home run this season, tying the Astros' team record set by George Springer in 2019.


title: José Altuve

text: For the 2022 regular season, Altuve batted .300, reaching the mark for the first time since 2018, and tied his career high with 66 walks in 141 games. He finished eighth in the AL in batting, fourth in each of OBP (.387), SLG (.533) and OPS (.921), and third in OPS+ (160). He also ranked second both with 103 runs scored and stolen base percentage (94.74, 18-for-19), eighth in doubles (39), and tenth in total bases (281). He led the Astros in runs scored and base hits (158). Altuve won his fourth Luis Aparicio Award, and was nominated for the AL Hank Aaron Award.


title: José Altuve

text: Altuve endured an 0-for-16 performance in an ALDS sweep of the Mariners, including a career-worst 0-for-8 in third game which lasted a postseason record-tying 18 innings. The hitless streak extended to 25 at bats, setting a record for most to start a postseason, until Altuve hit an opposite-field double in the fifth inning at Yankee Stadium in Game 3 of the 2022 ALCS. The Astros advanced to the World Series and defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in six games to give Altuve his second World Series title.


title: José Altuve

text: Altuve represents his native Venezuela in international competition. He participated in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, splitting time at second and third base with Rougned Odor. This decision led to criticism of Venezuela manager Omar Vizquel, due to the fact that neither Altuve nor Odor had ever played third base in the majors before; both players made errors at critical moments in the second round, which eventually led to Venezuela's early exit from the tournament. Vizquel defended his managerial decisions, stating: "There's nothing we can do about it. We are trying to put the players there that got the opportunity to get some runs for us [...] It's hard for one guy to get in the lineup sometimes. I can't really bench Altuve and Odor." In Venezuela's 2017 campaign, Altuve slashed .259/.286/.259 with seven hits and one RBI.


title: José Altuve

text: On August 17, 2022, Altuve announced that he would again play for Venezuela in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.


title: José Altuve

text: Originally listed at , Altuve is now listed at his correct height of , making him the shortest active player in Major League Baseball, and the shortest since Freddie Patek retired following the 1981 season.


title: José Altuve

text: Inspired by broadcasters debating how many "Altuves" a particular home run traveled, Bryan Trostel created a simple web-based calculator to calculate distance in Official Standard Listed Altuves (OSLA). Although Altuve's listed height is 5 feet 6 inches (5.5 feet), one OSLA = 5.417 feet (5 feet 5 inches). Altuve himself has been receptive of the idea, saying "It's funny, man... When they told me how many 'Altuves' was a home run, I just laughed."


title: José Altuve

text: On November 1, 2016, Altuve's wife Nina gave birth to their first child, a daughter. They reside in Pearland, Texas.


title: José Altuve

text: Altuve is a born-again Christian and has spoken about his faith in videos released by the Astros for faith day events.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Athanasius I of Alexandria (c. 296–298 – 2 May 373), also called Athanasius the Great, Athanasius the Confessor, or, among Coptic Christians, Athanasius the Apostolic, was a Coptic church father and the 20th pope of Alexandria (as Athanasius I). His intermittent episcopacy spanned 45 years (c. 8 June 328 – 2 May 373), of which over 17 encompassed five exiles, when he was replaced on the order of four different Roman emperors. Athanasius was a Christian theologian, a Church Father, the chief defender of Trinitarianism against Arianism, and a noted Egyptian Christian leader of the fourth century.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Conflict with Arius and Arianism, as well as with successive Roman emperors, shaped Athanasius' career. In 325, at age 27, Athanasius began his leading role against the Arians as a deacon and assistant to Bishop Alexander of Alexandria during the First Council of Nicaea. Roman Emperor Constantine the Great had convened the council in May–August 325 to address the Arian position that the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, is of a distinct substance from the Father. Three years after that council, Athanasius succeeded his mentor as pope of Alexandria. In addition to the conflict with the Arians (including powerful and influential Arian churchmen led by Eusebius of Nicomedia), he struggled against the Emperors Constantine, Constantius II, Julian the Apostate and Valens. He was known as Athanasius Contra Mundum (Latin for 'Athanasius Against the World').


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Nonetheless, within a few years of his death, Gregory of Nazianzus called him the "Pillar of the Church". His writings were well regarded by subsequent Church fathers in the West and the East, who noted their devotion to the Word-become-man, pastoral concern and interest in monasticism. Athanasius is considered one of the four great Eastern Doctors of the Church in the Catholic Church. In his Easter letter of 367, Athanasius was the first person to list the 27 books of the New Testament canon that are in use today. He is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, and Lutheranism.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Athanasius was born to a Christian family in Alexandria, or possibly the nearby Nile Delta town of Damanhur, sometime between 293 and 298. The earlier date is sometimes assigned because of the maturity revealed in his two earliest treatises "Contra Gentes" ("Against the Heathens") and "De Incarnatione" ("On the Incarnation"), which were likely written circa 318 before Arianism had begun to make itself felt, as those writings do not show an awareness of Arianism.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: However, Cornelius Clifford places his birth no earlier than 296 and no later than 298, based on the fact that Athanasius indicates no first-hand recollection of the Maximian persecution of 303, which he suggests Athanasius would have remembered if he had been ten years old at the time. Secondly, the "Festal Epistles" state that the Arians had accused Athanasius, among other charges, of not having yet attained the canonical age (35) and thus could not have been properly ordained as patriarch of Alexandria in 328. The accusation must have seemed plausible. The Orthodox Church places his year of birth around 297.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: His parents were wealthy enough to give him a fine secular education. He was, nevertheless, clearly not a member of the Egyptian aristocracy. Some Western scholars consider his command of Greek, in which he wrote most (if not all) of his surviving works, evidence that he may have been a Greek born in Alexandria. Historical evidence, however, indicates that he was fluent in Coptic as well, given the regions of Egypt where he preached. Some surviving copies of his writings are in fact in Coptic, though scholars differ as to whether he wrote them in Coptic originally (which would make him the first patriarch to do so) or whether these were translations of writings originally in Greek.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Rufinus relates a story that as Bishop Alexander stood by a window, he watched boys playing on the seashore below, imitating the ritual of Christian baptism. He sent for the children and discovered that one of the boys (Athanasius) had acted as bishop. After questioning Athanasius, Bishop Alexander informed him that the baptisms were genuine, as both the form and matter of the sacrament had been performed through the recitation of the correct words and the administration of water, and that he must not continue to do this as those baptized had not been properly catechized. He invited Athanasius and his playfellows to prepare for clerical careers.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Alexandria was the most important trade centre in the empire during Athanasius's boyhood. Intellectually, morally, and politically—it epitomized the ethnically diverse Graeco-Roman world, even more than Rome or Constantinople, Antioch or Marseilles. Its famous catechetical school, while sacrificing none of its famous passion for orthodoxy since the days of Pantaenus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Dionysius and Theognostus, had begun to take on an almost secular character in the comprehensiveness of its interests and had counted influential pagans among its serious auditors.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Peter of Alexandria, the 17th archbishop of Alexandria, was martyred in 311 in the closing days of the Great Persecution and may have been one of Athanasius's teachers. His successor as bishop of Alexandria was Alexander of Alexandria. According to Sozomen; "the Bishop Alexander 'invited Athanasius to be his commensal and secretary. He had been well educated, and was versed in grammar and rhetoric, and had already, while still a young man, and before reaching the episcopate, given proof to those who dwelt with him of his wisdom and acumen' ".(Soz., II, xvii)


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Athanasius' earliest work, "Against the Heathen – On the Incarnation" (written before 319), bears traces of Origenist Alexandrian thought (such as repeatedly quoting Plato and using a definition from Aristotle's "Organon") but in an orthodox way. Athanasius was also familiar with the theories of various philosophical schools and in particular with the developments of neoplatonism. Ultimately, Athanasius would modify the philosophical thought of the School of Alexandria away from the Origenist principles such as the "entirely allegorical interpretation of the text". Still, in later works, Athanasius quotes Homer more than once ("Hist. Ar. 68, Orat. iv. 29").


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Athanasius knew Greek and admitted not knowing Hebrew [see, e.g., the 39th Festal Letter of St. Athan]. The Old Testament passages he quotes frequently come from the Septuagint Greek translation. Only rarely did he use other Greek versions (to Aquila once in the "Ecthesis", to other versions once or twice on the Psalms), and his knowledge of the Old Testament was limited to the Septuagint. The combination of Scriptural study and of Greek learning was characteristic of the famous Alexandrian School.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Bishop (or Patriarch, the highest ecclesial rank in the Centre of the Church, in Alexandria) Alexander ordained Athanasius a deacon in 319. In 325, Athanasius served as Alexander's secretary at the First Council of Nicaea. Already a recognized theologian and ascetic, he was the obvious choice to replace his ageing mentor Alexander as the Patriarch of Alexandria, despite the opposition of the followers of Arius and Meletius of Lycopolis.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: At length, in the Council of Nicaea, the term "consubstantial" (homoousion) was adopted, and a formulary of faith embodying it was drawn up by Hosius of Córdoba. From this time to the end of the Arian controversies, the word "consubstantial" continued to be the test of orthodoxy. The formulary of faith drawn up by Hosius is known as the Nicene Creed. However, "he was not the originator of the famous 'homoousion' ( of "homoousios"). The term had been proposed in a non-obvious and illegitimate sense by Paul of Samosata to the Fathers at Antioch, and had been rejected by them as savouring of materialistic conceptions of the Godhead."


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: While still a deacon under Alexander's care (or early in his patriarchate as discussed below) Athanasius may have also become acquainted with some of the solitaries of the Egyptian desert, and in particular Anthony the Great, whose life he is said to have written.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: In about 319, when Athanasius was a deacon, a presbyter named Arius came into a direct conflict with Alexander of Alexandria. It appears that Arius reproached Alexander for what he felt were misguided or heretical teachings being taught by the bishop. Arius' theological views appear to have been firmly rooted in Alexandrian Christianity. He embraced a subordinationist Christology which taught that Christ was the divine Son (Logos) of God, made, not begotten. This view was heavily influenced by Alexandrian thinkers like Origen and was a common Christological view in Alexandria at the time. Arius had support from a powerful bishop named Eusebius of Nicomedia (not to be confused with Eusebius of Caesarea), illustrating how Arius's subordinationist Christology was shared by other Christians in the empire. Arius was subsequently excommunicated by Alexander, and Arius began to elicit the support of many bishops who agreed with his position.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Frances A. M. Forbes writes that when Patriarch Alexander was on his death-bed he called Athanasius, who fled fearing he would be constrained to be made bishop. "When the Bishops of the Church assembled to elect their new Patriarch, the whole Catholic population surrounded the church, holding up their hands to Heaven and crying; "Give us Athanasius!" The Bishops had nothing better. Athanasius was thus elected, as Gregory tells us..." (Pope Gregory I had full access to the Vatican Archives). Alban Butler writes on the subject: "Five months after this great Council, Nicae, St Alexander lying on his deathbed, recommended to his clergy and people the choice of Athanasius for his successor, thrice repeating his name. In consequence of his recommendation, the bishops of all Egypt assembled at Alexandria, and finding the people and clergy unanimous in their choice of Athanasius for patriarch, they confirmed the election about the middle of year 326. He seems, then, to have been about thirty years of age."


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: T. Gilmartin (Professor of History, Maynooth, 1890) writes: "On the death of Alexander, five months after the termination of the Council of Nicaea, Athanasius was unanimously elected to fill the vacant see. He was most unwilling to accept the dignity, for he clearly foresaw the difficulties in which it would involve him. The clergy and people were determined to have him as their bishop, Patriarch of Alexandria, and refused to accept any excuses. He at length consented to accept a responsibility that he sought in vain to escape, and was consecrated in 326, when he was about thirty years of age."


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Athanasius' episcopate began on 9 May 328 as the Alexandrian Council elected Athanasius to succeed after the death of Alexander. Patriarch Athanasius spent over 17 years in five exiles ordered by four different Roman Emperors, not counting approximately six more incidents in which Athanasius fled Alexandria to escape people seeking to take his life. During his first years as bishop, Athanasius visited the churches of his territory, which at that time included all of Egypt and Libya. He established contacts with the hermits and monks of the desert, including Pachomius, which proved very valuable to him over the years.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: "During the forty-eight years of his episcopate, his history is told in the history of the controversies in which he was constantly engaged with the Arians, and of the sufferings he had to endure in defence of the Nicene faith.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: We have seen that when Arius was allowed to return from exile in 328, Athanasius refused to remove the sentence of excommunication."


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Athanasius' first problem lay with Meletius of Lycopolis and his followers, who had failed to abide by the First Council of Nicaea. That council also anathematized Arius. Accused of mistreating Arians and Meletians, Athanasius answered those charges at a gathering of bishops at the First Synod of Tyre in 335. There, Eusebius of Nicomedia and other supporters of Arius deposed Athanasius. On 6 November, both sides of the dispute met with Emperor Constantine I in Constantinople. At that meeting, the Arians claimed Athanasius would try to cut off essential Egyptian grain supplies to Constantinople. He was found guilty and sent into exile to Augusta Treverorum in Gaul (now Trier in Germany).


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: When Athanasius reached his destination in exile in 336, Maximin of Trier received him, but not as a disgraced person. Athanasius stayed with him for two years. Constantine died in 337 and was succeeded by his three sons, Constantine II, Constantius, and Constans. Paul I of Constantinople had cautioned Emperor Constans against the Arians, revealing their plots, and he also had been banished and found shelter with Maximin.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: When Emperor Constantine I died, Athanasius was allowed to return to his See of Alexandria. Shortly thereafter, however, Constantius II renewed the order for Athanasius's banishment in 338. "Within a few weeks he set out for Rome to lay his case before the Church at large. He had made his appeal to Pope Julius, who took up his cause with whole-heartedness that never wavered down to the day of that holy pontiff's death. The pope summoned a synod of bishops to meet in Rome. After a careful and detailed examination of the entire case, the primate's innocence was proclaimed to the Christian world." During this time, Gregory of Cappadocia, an Arian bishop, was installed as the patriarch of Alexandria, usurping the absent Athanasius. Athanasius did, however, remain in contact with his people through his annual "Festal Letters", in which he also announced on which date Easter would be celebrated that year.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: In 339 or 340, nearly one hundred bishops met at Alexandria, declared in favour of Athanasius, and vigorously rejected the criticisms of the Eusebian faction at Tyre. Plus, Pope Julius wrote to the supporters of Arius strongly urging Athanasius's reinstatement, but that effort proved in vain. Julius called a synod in Rome in 340 to address the matter, which proclaimed Athanasius the rightful bishop of Alexandria.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Early in 343 Athanasius met with Hosius of Córdoba, and together they set out for Serdica. A full council of the Church was summoned there in deference to the Roman pontiff's wishes. At this great gathering of prelates, leaders of the Church, the case of Athanasius was taken up once more, that is, Athanasius was formally questioned over misdemeanours and even murder, (a bishop in Egypt named Arsenius had turned up missing, and they blamed his death on Athanasius, even supposedly producing Arsenius' severed hand.)


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: The council was convoked for the purpose of inquiring into the charges against Athanasius and other bishops, on account of which they were deposed from their sees by the semi-Arian Synod of Antioch in 341 and went into exile. Eusebian bishops objected to the admission of Athanasius and other deposed bishops to the council, except as accused persons to answer the charges brought against them. Their objections were overridden by the orthodox bishops. The Eusebians, seeing they had no chance of having their views carried, retired to Philoppopolis in Thrace where they held an opposition council under the presidency of the Patriarch of Antioch and confirmed the decrees of the Synod of Antioch.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Athanasius' innocence was reaffirmed at the Council of Serdica. Two conciliar letters were prepared, one to the clergy and faithful of Alexandria, the other to the bishops of Egypt and Libya, in which the will of the council was made known. Meanwhile, the Eusebians issued an anathema against Athanasius and his supporters. The persecution against the orthodox party broke out with renewed vigour, and Constantius was induced to prepare drastic measures against Athanasius and the priests who were devoted to him. Orders were given that if Athanasius attempted to re-enter his see, he should be put to death. Athanasius, accordingly, withdrew from Serdica to Naissus in Mysia, where he celebrated the Easter festival of the year 344. Hosius presided over the Council of Serdica, as he did for the First Council of Nicaea, which like the 341 synod found Athanasius innocent. He celebrated his last Easter in exile in Aquileia in April 345, received by Bishop Fortunatianus.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: The Council of Serdica sent an emissary to report their finding to Constantius. Constantius reconsidered his decision, owing to a threatening letter from his brother Constans and the uncertain conditions of affairs on the Persian border, and he accordingly made up his mind to yield. But three separate letters were needed to overcome the natural hesitation of Athanasius. When he finally acquiesced to meet with Constantius, he was accorded a gracious interview by the emperor and sent back to his see in triumph and began ten years of peace.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Pope Julius died in April 352 and was succeeded by Liberius. For two years Liberius had been favourable to the cause of Athanasius; but driven at last into exile, he was induced to sign an ambiguous formula, from which the great Nicene text, the "homoousion", had been studiously omitted. In 355 a council was held at Milan, where in spite of the vigorous opposition of a handful of loyal prelates among the Western bishops, a fourth condemnation of Athanasius was announced to the world. With his friends scattered, Hosius in exile, and Pope Liberius denounced as acquiescing in Arian formularies, Athanasius could hardly hope to escape. On the night of 8 February 356, while engaged in services in the Church of St. Thomas, a band of armed men burst in to secure his arrest. It was the beginning of his third exile.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Gilmartin writes: "By Constantius' order, the sole ruler of The Roman Empire at the death of his brother Constans, the Council of Arles in 353, was held, which was presided over by Vincent, Bishop of Capua, in the name of Pope Liberius. The fathers terrified of the threats of the Emperor, an avowed Arian, they consented to the condemnation of Athanasius. The Pope refused to accept their decision, and requested the Emperor to hold another Council, in which the charges against Athanasius could be freely investigated. To this Constantius consented, for he felt able to control the Council in Milan."


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: In 355, three hundred bishops assembled in Milan, most from the West and only a few from the East. They met in the Church of Milan. Shortly, the emperor ordered them to a hall in the Imperial Palace, thus ending any free debate. He presented an Arian formula of faith for their acceptance. He threatened any who refused with exile and death. All, with the exception of Dionysius (bishop of Milan), and the two Papal Legates, viz., Eusebius of Vercelli and Lucifer of Cagliari, consented to the Arian Creed and the condemnation of Athanasius. Those who refused were sent into exile. The decrees were forwarded to the pope for approval but were rejected because of the violence to which the bishops were subjected.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Through the influence of the Eusebian faction at Constantinople, an Arian bishop, George of Cappadocia, was appointed to rule the see of Alexandria in 356. Athanasius, after remaining some days in the neighbourhood of the city, finally withdrew into the desert of Upper Egypt where he remained for a period of six years, living the life of the monks and devoting himself to the composition of a group of writings, such as his "Letter to the Monks" and "Four Orations against the Arians". He also defended his own recent conduct in the "Apology to Constantius" and "Apology for His Flight". Constantius' persistence in his opposition to Athanasius, combined with reports Athanasius received about the persecution of non-Arians by the Arian bishop George of Laodicea, prompted Athanasius to write his more emotional "History of the Arians", in which he described Constantius as a precursor of the Antichrist.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Constantius died on 4 November 361 and was succeeded by Julian. The proclamation of the new prince's accession was the signal for a pagan outbreak against the still dominant Arian faction in Alexandria. George, the usurping bishop, was imprisoned and murdered. An obscure presbyter named Pistus was chosen by the Arians to succeed him, when news arrived that filled the orthodox party with hope. An edict had been put forth by Julian permitting the exiled bishops of the "Galileans" to return to their "towns and provinces". Athanasius accordingly returned to Alexandria on 22 February 362.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: In 362 Athanasius convened a council at Alexandria and presided over it with Eusebius of Vercelli. Athanasius appealed for unity among all those who had faith in Christianity, even if they differed on matters of terminology. This prepared the groundwork for his definition of the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. However, the council also was directed against those who denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit, the human soul of Christ, and Christ's divinity. Mild measures were agreed on for those heretic bishops who repented, but severe penance was decreed for the chief leaders of the major heresies.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: With characteristic energy he set to work to re-establish the somewhat shattered fortunes of the orthodox party and to purge the theological atmosphere of uncertainty. To clear up the misunderstandings that had arisen in the course of the previous years, an attempt was made to determine still further the significance of the Nicene formularies. In the meanwhile, Julian, who seems to have become suddenly jealous of the influence that Athanasius was exercising at Alexandria, addressed an order to Ecdicius, the Prefect of Egypt, peremptorily commanding the expulsion of the restored primate on the ground that he had not been included in the imperial act of clemency. The edict was communicated to the bishop by Pythicodorus Trico, who, though described in the "Chronicon Athanasianum" (XXXV) as a "philosopher", seems to have behaved with brutal insolence. On 23 October the people gathered about the proscribed bishop to protest against the emperor's decree; but Athanasius urged them to submit, consoling them with the promise that his absence would be of short duration.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: In 362 Julian, noted for his opposition to Christianity, ordered Athanasius to leave Alexandria once again. Athanasius left for Upper Egypt, remaining there with the Desert Fathers until Julian's death on 26 June 363. Athanasius returned in secret to Alexandria, where he received a document from the new emperor, Jovian, reinstating him once more in his episcopal functions.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: His first act was to convene a council which reaffirmed the terms of the Nicene Creed. Early in September 363 he set out for Antioch on the Orontes, bearing a synodal letter, in which the pronouncements of this council had been embodied. At Antioch he had an interview with Jovian, who received him graciously and even asked him to prepare an exposition of the orthodox faith. In February 364 Jovian died.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: The accession of Emperor Valens gave a fresh lease of life to the Arian party. He issued a decree banishing the bishops who had been deposed by Constantius but who had been permitted by Jovian to return to their sees. The news created the greatest consternation in Alexandria, and the prefect, in order to prevent a serious outbreak, gave public assurance that the very special case of Athanasius would be laid before the emperor. But Athanasius seems to have divined what was preparing in secret against him. He quietly withdrew from Alexandria in October 364 and took up his abode in a country house outside the city. Valens, who seems to have sincerely dreaded the possible consequences of another popular outbreak, within a few weeks issued orders allowing Athanasius to return to his episcopal see. Some early reports state that Athanasius spent this period of exile at his family's ancestral tomb in a Christian cemetery.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: After returning to Alexandria, Athanasius spent his final years repairing all the damage done during the earlier years of violence, dissent, and exile. He resumed writing and preaching undisturbed, and characteristically re-emphasized the view of the Incarnation which had been defined at Nicaea. On 2 May 373, having consecrated Peter II, one of his presbyters as his successor, Athanasius died peacefully in his own bed, surrounded by his clergy and faithful supporters.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: In Coptic literature, Athanasius is the first patriarch of Alexandria to use Coptic as well as Greek in his writings.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Athanasius was not a speculative theologian. As he states in his "First Letters to Serapion", he held on to "the tradition, teaching, and faith proclaimed by the apostles and guarded by the fathers." He held that both the Son of God and the Holy Spirit are consubstantial with the Father, which had a great deal of influence in the development of later doctrines regarding the Trinity. Athanasius' ""Letter Concerning the Decrees of the Council of Nicaea"" ("De Decretis"), is an important historical as well as theological account of the proceedings of that council.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Examples of Athanasius' polemical writings against his theological opponents include "Orations Against the Arians", his defence of the divinity of the Holy Spirit ("Letters to Serapion" in the 360s, and "On the Holy Spirit"), against Macedonianism and "On the Incarnation". Athanasius also authored a two-part work, "Against the Heathen" and "The Incarnation of the Word of God". Completed probably early in his life, before the Arian controversy, they constitute the first classic work of developed Orthodox theology. In the first part, Athanasius attacks several pagan practices and beliefs. The second part presents teachings on the redemption. Also in these books, Athanasius put forward the belief, referencing , that the Son of God, the eternal Word (Logos) through whom God created the world, entered that world in human form to lead men back into the harmony from which they had earlier fallen away.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: His other important works include his "Letters to Serapion", which defends the divinity of the Holy Spirit. In a letter to Epictetus of Corinth, Athanasius anticipates future controversies in his defence of the humanity of Christ. In a letter addressed to the monk Dracontius, Anathasius urges him to leave the desert for the more active duties of a bishop. Athanasius also wrote several works of Biblical exegesis, primarily on Old Testament materials. The most important of these is his "Epistle to Marcellinus" (PG 27:12–45) on how to incorporate psalm-saying into one's spiritual practice. Excerpts remain of his discussions concerning the Book of Genesis, the Song of Solomon, and Psalms.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Perhaps his most notable letter was his Festal Letter, written to his Church in Alexandria when he was in exile, as he could not be in their presence. This letter clearly shows his stand that accepting Jesus as the Divine Son of God is not optional but necessary:


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: His biography of Anthony the Great entitled "Life of Antony"(Βίος καὶ Πολιτεία Πατρὸς Ἀντωνίου, "Vita Antonii") became his most widely read work. Translated into several languages, it became something of a best seller in its day and played an important role in the spreading of the ascetic ideal in Eastern and Western Christianity. It depicts Anthony as an illiterate yet holy man who continuously engages in spiritual exercises in the Egyptian desert and struggles against demonic powers. It later served as an inspiration to Christian monastics in both the East and the West. Athanasius' works on asceticism also include a "Discourse on Virginity", a short work on "Love and Self-Control", and a treatise "On Sickness and Health" (of which only fragments remain).


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: There are several other works ascribed to him, although not necessarily generally accepted as being his own. These include the so-called Athanasian Creed (which is today generally seen as being of 5th-century Galician origin), and a complete "Expositions on the Psalms".


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Based on his understanding of the prophecies of Daniel and the Book of Revelation, Athanasius described Jesus’ Second Coming in the clouds of heaven and pleads with his readers to be ready for that day, at which time Jesus would judge the earth, raise the dead, cast out the wicked, and establish his kingdom. Athanasius also argued that the date of Jesus’ earthly sojourn was divinely foretold beyond refutation by the seventy weeks prophecy of Daniel 9.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Athanasius was originally buried in Alexandria, but his remains were later transferred to the Chiesa di San Zaccaria in Venice, Italy. During Pope Shenouda III's visit to Rome (4–10 May 1973), Pope Paul VI gave the Coptic Patriarch a relic of Athanasius, which he brought back to Egypt on 15 May. The relic is currently preserved under the new Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo. However, the majority of Athanasius's corpse remains in the Venetian church.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: All major Christian denominations which officially recognize saints venerate Athanasius. Western Christians observe his feast day on 2 May, the anniversary of his death. The Catholic Church considers Athanasius a Doctor of the Church. For Coptic Christians, his feast day is Pashons 7 (now circa 15 May). Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendars remember Athanasius on 18 January. Athanasius is honored on the liturgical calendars of the Church of England and the Episcopal Church on 2 May. Gregory of Nazianzus (330–390, also a Doctor of the Church), said: "When I praise Athanasius, virtue itself is my theme: for I name every virtue as often as I mention him who was possessed of all virtues. He was the true pillar of the Church. His life and conduct were the rule of bishops, and his doctrine the rule of the orthodox faith."


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Historian Cornelius Clifford says in his account: "Athanasius was the greatest champion of Catholic belief on the subject of the Incarnation that the Church has ever known and in his lifetime earned the characteristic title of 'Father of Orthodoxy', by which he has been distinguished ever since." Clifford also says: "His career almost personifies a crisis in the history of Christianity; and he may be said rather to have shaped the events in which he took part than to have been shaped by them." St. John Henry Newman describes him as a "principal instrument, after the Apostles, by which the sacred truths of Christianity have been conveyed and secured to the world".


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: The greater majority of Church leaders and the emperors fell into support for Arianism, so much so that Jerome (340–420) wrote of the period: "The whole world groaned and was amazed to find itself Arian". He, Athanasius, even suffered an unjust excommunication from Pope Liberius who was exiled and leant towards compromise, until he was allowed back to the See of Rome. Athanasius stood virtually alone against the world.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: It was the custom of the bishops of Alexandria to circulate a letter after Epiphany each year confirming the date of Easter and therefore other moveable feasts. They also took the occasion to discuss other matters. Athanasius wrote forty-five festal letters. Athanasius' "39th Festal Letter", written in 367, is widely regarded as a milestone in the evolution of the canon of New Testament books. Athanasius is the first person to identify the same 27 books of the New Testament that are in use today. Up until then, various similar lists of works to be read in churches were in use. Athanasius compiled the list to resolve questions about such texts as the "Epistle of Barnabas". Athanasius includes the Book of Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah and places the Book of Esther among the "7 books not in the canon but to be read" along with the Wisdom of Solomon, Book of Sirach, Book of Judith, Book of Tobit, the "Didache", and "The Shepherd of Hermas".


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Athanasius' list is similar to the Codex Vaticanus in the Vatican Library, probably written in Rome in 340 by Alexandrian scribes for Emperor Constans, during the period of Athanasius' seven-year exile in the city. The establishment of the canon was not a unilateral decision by a bishop in Alexandria but the result of a process of careful investigation and deliberation, as documented in a codex of the Greek Bible and, twenty-seven years later, in his festal letter. Pope Damasus I, the bishop of Rome in 382, promulgated a list of books which contained a New Testament canon identical to that of Athanasius. A synod in Hippo in 393 repeated Athanasius' and Damasus' New Testament list (without the Epistle to the Hebrews), and the Council of Carthage (397) repeated Athanasius' and Damasus' complete New Testament list.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Scholars debate whether Athanasius' list in 367 formed the basis for later lists. Because Athanasius' canon is the closest canon of any of the Church Fathers to the one used by Protestant churches today, many Protestants point to Athanasius as the Father of the Canon.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Christian denominations worldwide revere Athanasius as a saint and teacher. They cite his defence of the Christology described in the first chapter of the Gospel of St. John and his significant theological works (C. S. Lewis calls "On the Incarnation of the Word of God" a "masterpiece") as evidence of his righteousness. They also emphasize his close relationship with Anthony the Great, the ancient monk who was one of the founders of the Christian monastic movement.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: The Gospel of St. John, and particularly the first chapter, demonstrates the Divinity of Jesus. This Gospel is the greatest support of Athanasius' stand. The Gospel of St. John's first chapter began to be said at the end of Mass, we believe as a result of Athanasius and his life's stand. The beginning of John's Gospel was much used as an object of special devotion throughout the Middle Ages; the practice of saying it at the altar grew, and eventually Pope Pius V made this practice universal for the Roman Rite in his 1570 edition of the Missal. It became a firm custom with exceptions in using another Gospel in use from 1920. Cyril of Alexandria (370–444) in the first letter says: "Athanasius is one who can be trusted: he would not say anything that is not in accord with sacred scripture." (Ep 1).


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Throughout most of his career, Athanasius had many detractors. Classics scholar Timothy Barnes recounts ancient allegations against Athanasius: from defiling an altar, to selling Church grain that had been meant to feed the poor for his own personal gain, and even violence and murder to suppress dissent. Athanasius used "Arian" to describe both followers of Arius and as a derogatory polemical term for Christians who disagreed with his formulation of the Trinity. Athanasius called many of his opponents "Arian", except for Meletius.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: Scholars now believe that the Arian party was not monolithic but held drastically different theological views that spanned the early Christian theological spectrum. They supported the tenets of Origenist thought and subordinationist theology but had little else in common. Moreover, many labelled "Arian" did not consider themselves followers of Arius. In addition, non-homoousian bishops disagreed with being labeled as followers of Arius, since Arius was merely a presbyter, while they were fully ordained bishops.


title: Athanasius of Alexandria

text: The old allegations continue to be made against Athanasius, however, many centuries later. For example, Richard E. Rubenstein suggests that Athanasius ascended to the rank of bishop in Alexandria under questionable circumstances because some questioned whether he had reached the minimum age of 30 years, and further that Athanasius employed force when it suited his cause or personal interests. Thus, he argues that a small number of bishops who supported Athanasius held a private consecration to make him bishop.


title: Amyra Dastur

text: Amyra Dastur (born 7 May 1992) is an Indian actress who has starred in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu Films.


title: Amyra Dastur

text: Dastur is Parsi and she speaks English and Gujarati at home. She holds a bachelor's degree in commerce from Mumbai's HR College.


title: Amyra Dastur

text: Dastur started her career as a model in commercials. Dastur made her Hindi cinema-acting debut in Manish Tiwary's romantic drama "Issaq", alongside Prateik Babbar.


title: Amyra Dastur

text: Amyra in her first international project, "Kung Fu Yoga" acted alongside Jackie Chan which released in India on 3 February 2017.


title: Amyra Dastur

text: Amyra Dastur was also seen in director Akshat Verma's next, titled "Kaalakaandi", starring Saif Ali Khan. Amyra shot for a song in the film which is an upbeat dance number and has some fun lyrics. The track has been choreographed by Adil Malik of Kar Gayi Chul fame.


title: Amyra Dastur

text: She debuted in Telugu cinema with Mahesh Babu's sister's first directorial venture, "Manasuku Nachindi". Again in 2018, Amyra had her second Telugu release with "Rajugadu" opposite Raj Tarun.


title: George Patton IV

text: George Smith Patton IV (December 24, 1923 – June 27, 2004) was a major general in the United States Army and the son of World War II General George S. Patton Jr. He served in the Korean War and the Vietnam War.


title: George Patton IV

text: Patton was educated at The Hill School. A 1946 graduate of the United States Military Academy, Patton was initially trained as an infantry officer. His first assignment was to Regensburg, West Germany, where he participated in the 1948 Berlin Airlift. The troops under his command were used to load supplies onto Air Force transport aircraft bound for Berlin. In 1952, he joined C Company, 63rd Tank Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, as a platoon leader. A year after he returned from Germany, he married Joanne Holbrook.


title: George Patton IV

text: Patton served in the Korean War from February 1953, commanding "A" Company of the 140th Tank Battalion, 40th Infantry Division. He received his first Silver Star and the Purple Heart in Korea.


title: George Patton IV

text: Returning to the United States in 1954, Patton, now a captain, was initially assigned to West Point, but was quickly picked up as part of an exchange program and was sent to teach at the United States Naval Academy.


title: George Patton IV

text: Patton served a total of three tours of duty in South Vietnam, the first from April 1962 to April 1963 at Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, during which he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He then took command of the 2d Battalion, 81st Armor of the 1st Armored Division at Fort Hood Texas, before his second tour in 1967, this one lasting only three months. During Patton's final and most intense tour, lasting from January 1968 to January 1969, he was awarded two Distinguished Service Crosses for his actions on the battlefield. During this final tour, he was initially assigned as Chief of Operations and Plans at Headquarters, United States Army Vietnam. However, after his promotion to colonel in April 1968, he was given command of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. During his three tours in Vietnam, Patton, who frequently used helicopters as a mobile command post, was shot down three times and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.


title: George Patton IV

text: After Vietnam, Patton was promoted to brigadier general in June 1970 before becoming the commanding general of the 2nd Armored Division, in 1975, as a major general. This was a unit his father had commanded just before the United States had entered World War II, making this the first time in United States Army history that a father and a son had both commanded the same division.


title: George Patton IV

text: Brigadier General Patton was Deputy Post Commander at Fort Knox, Kentucky during 1972. He was also Assistant Commandant of the Armor School at the same time.


title: George Patton IV

text: Patton was assigned to the VII Corps in Germany, as the Deputy Commander. He was stationed near Stuttgart, where Manfred Rommel, son of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, was a government official who later became the city's mayor. The sons of the two former adversaries entered a much publicized friendship, which continued until Patton's death in 2004. The two men shared the same birthday, December 24. From 5 August 1975 to 3 November 1977, he commanded the 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas.


title: George Patton IV

text: In the years after his 1980 retirement, Patton turned an estate owned by his father located north of Boston into the Green Meadows Farm, where he named the fields after soldiers who died under his command in Vietnam.


title: George Patton IV

text: During the first years after his retirement from the Army, Patton was interviewed by journalist Kim Willenson for his book "The Bad War: An Oral History of the Vietnam War", which was published in June 1987. In the 1990s, Patton worked alongside author Brian Sobel to write "The Fighting Pattons", a book that serves as an official family biography of his father as well as a comparison between the military of his father's generation and that of his own, a time which covered five conflicts and almost 70 years of combined service. "The Fighting Pattons" was published in 1997.


title: George Patton IV

text: Patton was the fourth in his line to be named George Smith Patton. His great-grandfather, the first George Smith Patton, was a colonel in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Commanding a brigade at the Battle of Opequon, also known as the Third Battle of Winchester on September 19, 1864, he was wounded, captured and died. True to what would be a Patton family characteristic of never admitting defeat, Patton was mortally wounded in a nearly hopeless attempt to rally his men after his brigade had been shot to pieces and all his subordinate regiments' colors had been captured. Patton's grandfather, born George William Patton in 1856, changed his name to George Smith Patton in 1868, in honor of his father. Patton's father was George Smith Patton Jr., the renowned World War II general most famous for his command of the Third U.S. Army in Northwest Europe in 1944 and 1945.


title: George Patton IV

text: Though given the name Junior, Patton's father was actually the third George Smith Patton. For this reason, Patton was christened George Smith Patton IV. Following his father's death in 1945, Patton changed his legal name to George Smith Patton, dropping the Roman numerals.


title: George Patton IV

text: His eldest son, technically the fifth George S. Patton, is also known as George Smith Patton Jr., WW-II General Patton's young grandson, who still is living, has given interviews on the History Channel and the Military Channel, recalling his family heritage.


title: George Patton IV

text: Another son, Robert H. Patton, has written a history of the Patton family: "The Pattons: A Personal History of an American Family" (Crown, 1994).


title: George Patton IV

text: His youngest son Benjamin Patton has written a family biography entitled "Growing Up Patton: Reflections on Heroes, History, and Family Wisdom", which reflected on his grandfather and father's careers. Benjamin, a filmmaker, also recorded tapes of his father's memories of his own and his grandfather's experiences, and those tapes formed the basis of the book "The Fighting Pattons" by Brian M. Sobel.


title: Morwenna Banks

text: Tamsin Morwenna Banks (born 20 September 1961) is a British comedy actress, writer and producer. She appeared in the Channel 4 comedy sketch show "Absolutely", and wrote, produced, and appeared in the British ensemble film "The Announcement". She voices Mummy Pig, Madame Gazelle and Dr Hamster in the children's series "Peppa Pig".


title: Morwenna Banks

text: Banks attended Truro High School for Girls and Robinson College, Cambridge and was a member of the Cambridge Footlights from 1981 to 1983. She also acted with the Marlowe Society, such as in a brief comic cameo as the Widow in Ben Jonson's "The Alchemist", alongside Tilda Swinton.


title: Morwenna Banks

text: One of Banks' early major television roles was as part of the team on the comedy sketch show "Absolutely", broadcast on Channel 4 between 1989 and 1993. Her other television appearances include the BBC series "The Thick of It", "Red Dwarf", "Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul" and the Steve Coogan comedy "Saxondale", in which she played receptionist Vicky. She also appeared as Anthea Stonem in the E4 Teen drama "Skins" and was a cast member on NBC's "Saturday Night Live", for four episodes of the show's twentieth season. She appeared as Carmen Kenaway in the first two episodes of the ninth series of "Shameless".


title: Morwenna Banks

text: Her voice roles include Claire Feeble in "Stressed Eric"; Cleo Lion in Between the Lions; (Nick Jr UK) Mummy Pig in "Peppa Pig"; the ship's computer in the BBC TV series "Hyperdrive"; the witches in "Meg and Mog", an animated children's series for CITV (2003); Ping Pong in "Rupert Bear" (Channel 5); Guinevere in "King Arthur's Disasters" (CITV). Banks won Best Voice Performance at the 2014 British Animation Awards for providing the voice for Queen Marigold in "Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom" and a voice in "Humf".


title: Morwenna Banks

text: Banks wrote, produced, and appeared in the British ensemble film "The Announcement" in 2001. She also appeared in season one, episode 13 of "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" as a "rulebearer". In 2004, she played the central role of Tess in the series "Catterick", with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer.


title: Morwenna Banks

text: Banks had also voiced Sophie in "Crapston Villas", an adult animated sitcom soap opera, which was produced in the 1990s. Both Banks and the television programme’s creator, Sarah Ann Kennedy, would later go on to voice characters in "Peppa Pig".


title: Morwenna Banks

text: In 2009, Banks made a series of web videos for BBC Comedy called "Celebrities STFU", each video featuring her in costume impersonating Lady Gaga, Noel Gallagher, Susan Boyle, Pixie Lott, Jools Holland, and Duffy.


title: Morwenna Banks

text: On 19 October 2013, BBC Radio 4 broadcast Banks' play "Goodbye" about a woman diagnosed with breast cancer. The play is an account of the path from the first diagnosis to the death of Lizzie, played by Olivia Colman; it deals with her relationships with her family and with her best friend Jen, played by Natascha McElhone, and their reactions to Jen's illness and death. The cast included Darren Boyd, John Simm, Alison Steadman, Banks' Peppa Pig co-star Harley Bird, Banks' son Ezra, and singing by Banks' daughter Dolly. It was produced by Heather Larmour. Banks received the 2015 Tinniswood Award for the play. She subsequently wrote the play's 2015 film adaptation, titled "Miss You Already".


title: Morwenna Banks

text: From 2012 to 2018, she played Venus Traduces (a parody of Violet Trefusis) and other roles in the BBC Radio 4 sitcom "Gloomsbury".


title: Morwenna Banks

text: Banks' later voice work includes the roles of Betty and Sonia in the 2008 film version of "Tales of the Riverbank"; and a translator at the trial of Adolf Eichmann in "The Eichmann Show".


title: Morwenna Banks

text: In 2016, Banks co-wrote and starred in the comedy series "Damned". She co-starred in and wrote (with Rebecca Front) "Shush!", a sitcom set in a library broadcast on BBC Radio Four in 2017. In late 2019, she provided the voice of Mrs Brown in "The Adventures of Paddington" which began airing on Children 4 Jr and Nick Jr. in early 2020.


title: Morwenna Banks

text: Banks' husband is David Baddiel; they have two children, a daughter Dolly and a son Ezra. They both starred in Banks' play, "Goodbye".


title: Ewen Montagu

text: Ewen Edward Samuel Montagu (19 March 1901 – 19 July 1985) was a British judge, Naval intelligence officer and author.


title: Ewen Montagu

text: He is best known for his leading role in Operation Mincemeat, a critical military deception operation which misdirected German forces' attention away from the Allied Invasion of Sicily in Operation Husky.


title: Ewen Montagu

text: Montagu was born in 1901, the second son of Gladys, Baroness Swaythling (née Goldsmid) and Louis Montagu, 2nd Baron Swaythling. His family was Jewish. He was educated at Westminster School before becoming a machine gun instructor during the First World War at a United States Naval Air Station. After the war he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge and at Harvard University. He was admitted to the Middle Temple on 22 November 1920 and was called to the Bar on 14 May 1924. One of his more celebrated cases as a junior barrister was the defence of Alma Rattenbury in 1935 against a charge of murdering her 30-years-older husband, the architect Francis Rattenbury, who was savagely beaten with a mallet at the Villa Madeira in Bournemouth.


title: Ewen Montagu

text: Montagu was a keen yachtsman, and enlisted in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in 1938. Because of his legal background he was reassigned to specialized study. From there he was assigned to the Royal Navy's East Yorkshire headquarters at Hull as an assistant staff officer in intelligence. Montagu served in the Naval Intelligence Division of the British Admiralty, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander RNVR. He was the Naval Representative on the XX Committee, which oversaw the running of double agents.


title: Ewen Montagu

text: While Commanding Officer of NID 17M, Montagu and Squadron Leader Charles Cholmondeley RAFVR conceived Operation Mincemeat, a major deception operation. Montagu had the idea of having a corpse dressed as a British officer wash ashore in Spain, carrying faked papers revealing plans for invasion of Greece (the real target was Sicily). The location chosen was where pro-German Spanish officials would show the papers to German agents. Montagu manufactured a false identity, "William Martin", for the body of Glyndwr Michael to have in his pockets: military ID, theatre ticket stubs, love letters and a photo of his fiancée, bills from a tailor and jeweller.


title: Ewen Montagu

text: The Germans were fooled completely. German documents found after the war showed that the false information went all the way to Hitler's headquarters, and led to German forces being diverted to Greece. The invasion of Sicily was a success. Historian Hugh Trevor-Roper called it the best deception in the history of military deception. For his role in Operation Mincemeat, Montagu was appointed to the Military Division of the Order of the British Empire. In November 2021 the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, working with the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women and the London Borough of Hackney placed a memorial at the Hackney Mortuary, where the corpse had been prepared.


title: Ewen Montagu

text: From 1945 to 1973 Montagu held the position of Judge Advocate of the Fleet. He wrote "The Man Who Never Was" (1953), an account of Operation Mincemeat which was adapted as a theatrical film three years later. Montagu also wrote "Beyond Top Secret Ultra", which focused more on the information technology and espionage tactics used in World War II. He was a governor of a public health project, the Peckham Experiment, in 1949.


title: Ewen Montagu

text: Before the Courts Act 1971 Montagu was Chairman of the Quarter Sessions for the Middlesex area of Greater London and recorder in the County of Hampshire. He was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Southampton.


title: Ewen Montagu

text: Montagu was president of the United Synagogue fom 1954 to 1962, and President of the Anglo-Jewish Association from December 1949 on.


title: Ewen Montagu

text: Montagu's youngest brother Ivor Montagu was a film maker and Communist. Ewen Montagu married Iris, the daughter of the painter Solomon J. Solomon, in 1923. They had a son, Jeremy, who became an authority on musical instruments, and a daughter, Jennifer, who became an art historian.


title: Ewen Montagu

text: Montagu was a first cousin, once removed, of comedian Christopher Guest, through Montagu's maternal grandparents.


title: Ewen Montagu

text: Montagu has been portrayed on screen twice. In the 1956 film "The Man Who Never Was", he was portrayed by Clifton Webb. In the 2021 film "Operation Mincemeat", he was played by Colin Firth. Montagu himself appeared in the film adaptation of "The Man Who Never Was", playing an Air-Vice Marshal disparaging the Ewen Montagu character in a briefing.


title: Demographics of Europe

text: Figures for the population of Europe vary according to the particular definition of Europe's boundaries. In 2018, Europe had a total population of over 751 million people. Russia is the most populous country in Europe, with a population of 146 million.


title: Demographics of Europe

text: Europe's population growth is low, and its median age high. Most of Europe is in a mode of sub-replacement fertility, which means that each new(-born) generation is less populous than the older. Nonetheless, most West-European countries still have growing populations mainly due to immigration within Europe and from outside Europe and some due to increases in life expectancy and population momentum. Some current and past factors in European demography have included emigration, ethnic relations, economic immigration, a declining birth rate and an ageing population.


title: Demographics of Europe

text: According to Volker Heyd, an archaeologist at the University of Helsinki, up to 7 million people lived in Europe in 3000 BC.


title: Demographics of Europe

text: Estimates for historical population sizes of Europe (including Central Asia, listed under "former USSR") based on Maddison (2007), in millions, with estimated percentage of world population:


title: Demographics of Europe

text: 330,000,000 people lived in Europe in 1916. In 1950 there were 549,000,000. The population of Europe in 2015 was estimated to be 741 million according to the United Nations, which was slightly less than 11% of the world population. The precise figure depends on the exact definition of the geographic extent of Europe. The population of the European Union (EU) was 509 million as of 2015. Non-EU countries situated in Europe in their entirety account for another 94 million. Five transcontinental countries have a total of 247 million people, of which about half reside in Europe proper.


title: Demographics of Europe

text: As it stands now, around 10% of the world's people live in Europe. If demographic trends keep their pace, its share may fall to around 7% in 2050, but still amounting to 716 million people in absolute numbers, according to the United Nations estimate. (The decline in the percentage is partly due to high fertility rates in Africa and South America.) The sub-replacement fertility and high life expectancy in most European states mean a declining and aging population. High immigration and emigration levels within and from outside the continent are taking place and quickly changing countries, specifically in Western Europe, from a single ethnic group to a multicultural society. These trends change societies' economies as well as their political and social institutions.


title: Demographics of Europe

text: According to different definitions, such as consideration of the concept of Central Europe, the following territories and regions may be subject to various other categorisations aside from geographic conventions.


title: Demographics of Europe

text: Mirroring their mostly sub-replacement fertility and high life expectancy, European countries tend to have older populations overall. They had nine of the top ten highest median ages in national populations in 2005. Only Japan had an older population.


title: Demographics of Europe

text: Over the last several centuries, religious practice has been on the decline in a process of secularization. Several European countries have experienced a decline in church attendance as well as a decline in the number of people professing a religious belief. The 2010 Eurobarometer survey found that, on average, 51% of the citizens of the European Union that they believe there is a God, 26% believe there is some sort of spirit or life force and 20% don't believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force. 3% declined to answer. The Eurobarometer survey must be taken with caution, however, as there are discrepancies between it and national census results. For example, in the United Kingdom, the 2001 census revealed that over 70% of the population regarded themselves as "Christians" with only 15% professing to have no religion, though the wording of the question has been criticized as "misleading" by the British Humanist Association. The 2011 census showed a dramatic reduction to less than 60% of the population regarding themselves as "Christians".


title: Demographics of Europe

text: Despite its decline, Christianity is still the largest religion in Europe. According to a survey published in 2010, 76.2% of Europeans identified themselves as Christians. Catholics were the largest Christian group in Europe, accounting for more than 48% of European Christians. The second-largest Christian group in Europe was the Orthodox, who made up 32% of European Christians. And about 19% of European Christians were part of the Protestant tradition. Europe constitutes in absolute terms the world's largest Christian population.


title: Demographics of Europe

text: According to a 2003 study, 47% of French people declared themselves as agnostics in 2003. This situation is often called "Post-Christian Europe". A decrease in religiousness and church attendance in western Europe (especially in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden) has been noted. According to a survey published in 2012, atheists and agnostics make up about 18.2% of the European population. According to the same survey the religiously unaffiliated make up the majority of the population only in two European countries: Czech Republic (75%) and Estonia (60%).


title: Demographics of Europe

text: According to another survey about Religiosity in the European Union from 2012 by Eurobarometer, Christianity was the largest religion in the Union (accounting for 72% of the total population), Catholics were with 48% the largest Christian group in the Union, Protestants made up 12%, Eastern Orthodox made up 8% and other Christians accounted for 4% of the total population. non-believers/agnostics accounted for 16%, atheists accounted for 7% and Muslims accounted for 2%.


title: Demographics of Europe

text: Pan and Pfeil (2004) count 87 distinct "peoples of Europe", of which 33 form the majority population in at least one sovereign state, while the remaining 54 constitute ethnic minorities. The total number of national minority populations in Europe is estimated at 105 million people, or 14% of 770 million Europeans. (including Europeans in Siberia)


title: Demographics of Europe

text: The largest ethnic groups are the Russians, with 117 million, and the Germans, with 72 million. In some countries such as the United Kingdom, France and Spain, the designation of nationality may controversially take on ethnic aspects, subsuming smaller ethnic groups such as Scots, Welsh, Bretons and Basques, making it difficult to quantify a "British" or "French" ethnicity, for example.


title: Demographics of Europe

text: Approximately 20 million non-Europeans live in the EU, 4% of the overall population. There are an estimated 10 million Romani people in Europe.


title: Demographics of Europe

text: Most of the languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European language family. This family is divided into a number of branches, including Romance, Germanic, Baltic, Slavic, Albanian, Celtic and Greek. The Uralic languages, which include Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian, also have a significant presence in Europe. The Turkic family also has several European members, while the North Caucasian and Kartvelian families are important in the southeastern extremity of geographical Europe. The Basque language of the western Pyrenees is an isolate unrelated to any other group, while Maltese is the only Semitic language in Europe with national language status. The Kalmyk language, is an Mongolic language, spoken in Kalmykia, located directly north of the North Caucasus in Eastern Europe. The most spoken language of Europe is Russian, which belongs to the group of Slavic languages.


title: Demographics of Europe

text: Languages that are not official state languages are protected in many European countries by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. These can include languages spoken by relatively many people, such as Catalan and Basque in Spain, as well as languages spoken by relatively few such as Cornish and Scottish Gaelic in the United Kingdom.


title: Demographics of Europe

text: "Homo sapiens" appeared in Europe roughly 40,000 years ago, with the settlement of the Cro-Magnons, followed by European hunter-gatherers and Early European Farmers (EEF). Over the prehistoric period there was continuous settlement in Europe, notably by the immediate descendants of the Proto-Indo-Europeans who migrated west after the advent of the Neolithic revolution.


title: Demographics of Europe

text: Studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have suggested substantial genetic homogeneity of European populations, with only a few geographic or linguistic isolates appearing to be genetic isolates as well. On the other hand, analyses of the Y chromosome and of autosomal diversity have shown a general gradient of genetic similarity running from the southeast to the northwest of the continent.


title: Demographics of Europe

text: According to geneticist David Reich, based on ancient human genomes that his laboratory sequenced in 2016, Europeans formed from four West-Eurasian ancestral components in varying degrees: Western Hunter-gatherers (WHG), Eastern Hunter Gatherers (EHG), Neolithic Levant farmers and Neolithic Iranian farmers respectively.


title: Demographics of Europe

text: A study in May 2009 that examined 19 populations from Europe using 270,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) highlighted the genetic diversity of European populations corresponding to the northwest to southeast gradient and distinguished "several distinct regions" within Europe:


title: Demographics of Europe

text: In this study, Fst (Fixation index) was found to correlate considerably with geographic distances ranging from ≤0.0010 for neighbouring populations to 0.0230 for Southern Italy and Finland. For comparisons, pair-wise Fst of non-European samples were as follows: Europeans – Yoruba (West Africans) 0.1530; Europeans – Chinese 0.1100; Yoruba (West Africans) – Chinese 0.1900.


title: Life Is a Highway

text: "Life Is a Highway" is a song by Canadian musician Tom Cochrane from his second studio album, "Mad Mad World" (1991). The song became a number-one hit in Canada in late 1991. "Life Is a Highway" also peaked at number six on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart in August 1992 and reached the top three in Australia and New Zealand the same year. The song was covered by Chris LeDoux for his 1998 album One Road Man and Rascal Flatts for the "Cars" soundtrack.


title: Life Is a Highway

text: Cochrane has stated that "Life Is a Highway" was originally conceived in the 1980s as "Love is a Highway" while he was still a member of Red Rider, but was shelved at that time because he felt the unfinished song was unusable. Following a trip with his family to Eastern Africa with the World Vision famine relief organization, Cochrane revisited the song on the advice of his friend John Webster, an instrumentalist on the "Mad Mad World" album. In a 2017 interview with The Canadian Press to mark the song's 25th anniversary, Cochrane said Webster encouraged him to revisit the demo recording, which at that point only had mumbled vocals and improvised lyrics, but not the song's well-known chorus. "(The song) became a pep talk to myself... saying you can’t really control all of this stuff, you just do the best you can," he says. Cochrane says he was trying to make sense of the poverty he witnessed on his trip, which he found "shocking and traumatic".


title: Life Is a Highway

text: Eventually, the original demo version was released on the 25th-anniversary reissue of "Mad Mad World" under the original title "Love is a Highway". He later said the uptempo spirit of the song came from looking for something positive to "hang the experience on." Most of the vocals on the track were recorded in Cochrane's small home studio. The song was Cochrane's only top-40 hit in the United States, reaching number six on the "Billboard" Hot 100. In Canada, the song stayed at number one for two weeks, and three other singles from the album charted within the top 10; "No Regrets" peaked at number three, "Sinking Like a Sunset" reached number two, and "Washed Away" climbed to number seven. In Australia and New Zealand, the single peaked at number two in both countries. Elsewhere, it became a top-40 hit in Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden.


title: Life Is a Highway

text: The video for "Life Is a Highway" was directed by David Storey and produced by Albert Botha, who went on to be the line producer on two films for "Saturday Night Live": "Superstar" starring Molly Shannon and "The Ladies Man" starring Tim Meadows. The video was shot in Alberta's Badlands, near the town of Drumheller. Many of the shots are in familiar locations along the Dinosaur Trail, including Cochrane playing guitar amid the Hoodoos and the couple, Kait Shane and Brennan Elliott, running around the car while it rides the Bleriot Ferry across the Red Deer River. It also features an older man (gas station attendant), a couple (tall man, short wife), two women (Jacqueline and Joyce Robbins) from an Anabaptist religious order (Alberta has a population of Hutterites), and two First Nations men, one wearing a baseball cap with the words "Oka Standoff" printed on it, referring to the Oka Crisis (a land dispute between a group of Mohawk people and the town of Oka, Quebec). The car featured in the music video is a 1965 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport.


title: Life Is a Highway

text: In 1998, Chris LeDoux covered "Life Is a Highway" for his album One Road Man. Changes include the intro, timing of vocal entrances on the chorus, and location names between the first and second chorus. LeDoux's version was released as a single the following year and peaked at number 64 on the "Billboard" Hot Country Songs chart during the week of June 12, 1999, and remained at the spot for nine weeks.


title: Life Is a Highway

text: The music video for the song, directed by Michael Salomon, takes place on multiple roads and highways as well as a blue and red static themed room. When on roads and highways, there is a chance for LeDoux to appear on a television that is sitting on a sidewalk or grass, however, while the background behind LeDoux (that appears on the TV) is the same background as everything behind the TV itself, LeDoux does not appear to be standing behind the TV. In most locations, LeDoux is walking down a road as at the start of the music video. The video ends with LeDoux singing the chorus while appearing on a flap-down TV inside of someone's car, then transitioning to LeDoux being once again in the static room and then walking out of it. After LeDoux leaves the room, the screen slowly fades to black and the video ends.


title: Life Is a Highway

text: In 2005, American country band Rascal Flatts recorded a cover of this song for the Pixar animated film "Cars", which was released on June 9, 2006. The song sold a large quantity of digital downloads, leading to a number seven peak on the "Billboard" Hot 100 (one position lower than the Tom Cochrane original). In addition, the cover was placed as a bonus track on later versions of the album "Me and My Gang", and also was included on "Greatest Hits Volume 1" and "". This version also won the "Favorite Song from a Movie" award at the 33rd People's Choice Awards.


title: Life Is a Highway

text: The instrumental of the Rascal Flatts' cover version was prominently featured in the "", which aired February 11, 2007. The song is included on the soundtrack for "Lego Rock Band". It topped the two million mark in paid downloads as of the chart dated March 28, 2009. As of March 2013, the song has sold over three million copies in the US. On July 14, 2015, Scott Walker, Republican Governor of Wisconsin, launched his presidential campaign as Republican Party nominee in Waukesha, Wisconsin using the song. On December 8, 2020, Harmonix announced that the cover will be featured on the video game, FUSER, as a DLC on December 10, 2020.


title: Life Is a Highway

text: The music video portrays the three band members pulling into a drive-in theater driving three vintage vehicles. The cars allude to three characters from the movie: Lightning McQueen, Doc Hudson and Mater. As the projector rolls, scenes from the Disney/Pixar movie "Cars" are shown as the band plays through the number. It was directed by Shaun Silva.


title: Life Is a Highway

text: The Rascal Flatts version subsequently became a hit on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, where it peaked at number seven. Even though it was not officially released to country radio, many country stations played the song as an album cut, overlapping with their then-current country single "My Wish". The unsolicited country airplay brought "Life Is a Highway" to number 18 on the US Hot Country Songs chart. The song has sold 3.4 million copies in the US as of June 2016.


title: Julia Hart (wrestler)

text: Julia Rose Hart (born November 8, 2001) is an American professional wrestler and former cheerleader. She is currently making appearances in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) where she is a member of The House of Black stable.


title: Julia Hart (wrestler)

text: Hart first began training at the Academy SOPW with Ken Anderson. On November 22, 2019, Hart had her debut match against Alyna Kyle, which Hart won. Hart then trained again with the 'Nightmare Factory', and on March 28, 2021 (on their second showcase), Hart took part in a tag match, teaming with Spencer Kitz to take on Hyena Hera and Karma Dean; the two lost the match.


title: Julia Hart (wrestler)

text: Since May 2021, Hart began to work with All Elite Wrestling, appearing on "AEW Dark" or "AEW Dynamite". She aligned with the team of the Varsity Blonds (Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison) for several months and was at ringside with them for each of their matches during that time. On the May 25 episode of "AEW Dark" Hart earned her first AEW win by pinning Tesha Price. On the September 4 episode of "AEW Dark", Hart injured her leg, making her unable to compete in the Casino Battle Royale at All Out. Hart returned to the ring on the September 28 edition of "AEW Dark" (originally taped on September 11), where she faced Reka Tehaka and beat her by pinfall. On January 28 2022 special edition of "Rampage" being AEW Rampage Beach Break Hart faced Jade Cargill for the AEW TBS Championship which Hart lost. On April 6 on "Dynamite" Hart participated in the Owen Hart Cup where she lost to Hikaru Shida in the qualifying round.


title: Denis Diderot

text: Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the "Encyclopédie" along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during the Age of Enlightenment.


title: Denis Diderot

text: Diderot initially studied philosophy at a Jesuit college, then considered working in the church clergy before briefly studying law. When he decided to become a writer in 1734, his father disowned him. He lived a bohemian existence for the next decade. In the 1740s he wrote many of his best-known works in both fiction and non-fiction, including the 1748 novel "The Indiscreet Jewels".


title: Denis Diderot

text: In 1751, Diderot co-created the "Encyclopédie" with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. It was the first encyclopedia to include contributions from many named contributors and the first to describe the mechanical arts. Its secular tone, which included articles skeptical about Biblical miracles, angered both religious and government authorities; in 1758 it was banned by the Catholic Church and in 1759 the French government banned it as well, although this ban was not strictly enforced. Many of the initial contributors to the "Encyclopédie" left the project as a result of its controversies and some were even jailed. D'Alembert left in 1759, making Diderot the sole editor. Diderot also became the main contributor, writing around 7,000 articles. He continued working on the project until 1765. He was increasingly despondent about the "Encyclopédie" by the end of his involvement in it and felt that the entire project might have been a waste. Nevertheless, the "Encyclopédie" is considered one of the forerunners of the French Revolution.


title: Denis Diderot

text: Diderot struggled financially throughout most of his career and received very little official recognition of his merit, including being passed over for membership in the Académie française. His fortunes improved significantly in 1766, when Empress Catherine the Great, who heard of his financial troubles, paid him 50,000 francs to serve as her librarian. He remained in this position for the rest of his life, and stayed a few months at her court in Saint Petersburg in 1773 and 1774.


title: Denis Diderot

text: Diderot's literary reputation during his life rested primarily on his plays and his contributions to the "Encyclopédie"; many of his most important works, including "Jacques the Fatalist", "Rameau's Nephew", "Paradox of the Actor", and "D'Alembert's Dream", were published only after his death.


title: Denis Diderot

text: Denis Diderot was born in Langres, Champagne. His parents were Didier Diderot (1685–1759), a cutler, "maître coutelier", and Angélique Vigneron (1677–1748). Three of five siblings survived to adulthood, Denise Diderot (1715–1797) and their youngest brother Pierre-Didier Diderot (1722–1787), and finally their sister Angélique Diderot (1720–1749). According to Arthur McCandless Wilson, Denis Diderot greatly admired his sister Denise, sometimes referring to her as "a female Socrates".


title: Denis Diderot

text: Diderot began his formal education at a Jesuit college in Langres, In 1732 he received the degree of Master of Arts from the University of Paris. He abandoned the idea of entering the clergy in 1735, and instead decided to study at the Paris Law Faculty. His study of law was short-lived however and in the early 1740s, he decided to become a writer and translator. Because of his refusal to enter one of the learned professions, he was disowned by his father, and for the next ten years he lived a bohemian existence.


title: Denis Diderot

text: In 1742, he befriended Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whom he met while watching games of chess and drinking coffee at the Café de la Régence. In 1743, he further alienated his father by marrying Antoinette Champion (1710–1796), a devout Roman Catholic. The match was considered inappropriate due to Champion's low social standing, poor education, fatherless status, and lack of a dowry. She was about three years older than Diderot. The marriage, in October 1743, produced one surviving child, a girl. Her name was Angélique, named after both Diderot's dead mother and sister. The death of his sister, a nun, in her convent may have affected Diderot's opinion of religion. She is assumed to have been the inspiration for his novel about a nun, "La Religieuse", in which he depicts a woman who is forced to enter a convent where she suffers at the hands of the other nuns in the community.


title: Denis Diderot

text: Diderot had affairs with Mlle. Babuti (who would marry Greuze), Madeleine de Puisieux, Sophie Volland and Mme de Maux. His letters to Sophie Volland are known for their candor and are regarded to be "among the literary treasures of the eighteenth century".


title: Denis Diderot

text: Diderot's earliest works included a translation of Temple Stanyan's "History of Greece" (1743); with two colleagues, François-Vincent Toussaint and Marc-Antoine Eidous, he produced a translation of Robert James's "Medicinal Dictionary" (1746–1748). In 1745, he published a translation of Shaftesbury's "Inquiry Concerning Virtue and Merit", to which he had added his own "reflections".


title: Denis Diderot

text: In 1746, Diderot wrote his first original work: the "Philosophical Thoughts" ("Pensées philosophiques"). In this book, Diderot argued for a reconciliation of reason with feeling so as to establish harmony. According to Diderot, without feeling there is a detrimental effect on virtue, and no possibility of creating sublime work. However, since feeling without discipline can be destructive, reason is necessary to control feeling.


title: Denis Diderot

text: At the time Diderot wrote this book he was a deist. Hence there is a defense of deism in this book, and some arguments against atheism. The book also contains criticism of Christianity.


title: Denis Diderot

text: In 1747, Diderot wrote "The Skeptic's Walk" ("Promenade du sceptique") in which a deist, an atheist, and a pantheist have a dialogue on the nature of divinity. The deist gives the argument from design. The atheist says that the universe is better explained by physics, chemistry, matter, and motion. The pantheist says that the cosmic unity of mind and matter, which are co-eternal and comprise the universe, is God. This work remained unpublished until 1830. Accounts differ as to why. It was either because the local police, warned by the priests of another attack on Christianity, seized the manuscript, or because the authorities forced Diderot to give an undertaking that he would not publish this work.


title: Denis Diderot

text: In 1748, Diderot needed to raise money on short notice. He had become a father through his wife, and his mistress Mme. de Puisieux was making financial demands from him. At this time, Diderot had stated to Mme. de Puisieux that writing a novel was a trivial task, whereupon she challenged him to write a novel. In response, Diderot wrote his novel "The Indiscreet Jewels" ("Les bijoux indiscrets"). The book is about the magical ring of a Sultan which induces any woman's "discreet jewels" to confess their sexual experiences when the ring is pointed at them. In all, the ring is pointed at thirty different women in the book—usually at a dinner or a social meeting—with the Sultan typically being visible to the woman. However, since the ring has the additional property of making its owner invisible when required, a few of the sexual experiences recounted are through direct observation with the Sultan making himself invisible and placing his person in the unsuspecting woman's boudoir.


title: Denis Diderot

text: Besides the bawdiness, there are several digressions into philosophy, music, and literature in the book. In one such philosophical digression, the Sultan has a dream in which he sees a child named "Experiment" growing bigger and stronger till it demolishes an ancient temple named "Hypothesis". The book proved to be lucrative for Diderot even though it could only be sold clandestinely. It is Diderot's most published work.


title: Denis Diderot

text: Diderot would keep writing on science in a desultory way all his life. The scientific work of which he was most proud was "Memoires sur differents sujets de mathematique" (1748). This work contains original ideas on acoustics, tension, air resistance, and "a project for a new organ" which could be played by all. Some of Diderot's scientific works were applauded by contemporary publications of his time like "The Gentleman's Magazine", the "Journal des savants"; and the Jesuit publication "Journal de Trevoux," which invited more such work: "on the part of a man as clever and able as M. Diderot seems to be, of whom we should also observe that his style is as elegant, trenchant, and unaffected as it is lively and ingenious."


title: Denis Diderot

text: On the unity of nature, Diderot wrote, "Without the idea of the whole, philosophy is no more," and, "Everything changes; everything passes; nothing remains but the whole." He wrote of the temporal nature of molecules, and rejected "emboîtement", the view that organisms are pre-formed in an infinite regression of non-changing germs. He saw minerals and species as part of a spectrum, and was fascinated with hermaphroditism. His answer to the universal attraction in corpuscular physics models was universal elasticity. His view of nature's flexibility foreshadows the discovery of evolution, but it is not Darwinistic in a strict sense.


title: Denis Diderot

text: Diderot's celebrated "Letter on the Blind" ("Lettre sur les aveugles à l'usage de ceux qui voient") (1749) introduced him to the world as an original thinker. The subject is a discussion of the relation between reasoning and the knowledge acquired through perception (the five senses). The title of his book also evoked some ironic doubt about who exactly were "the blind" under discussion. In the essay, blind English mathematician Nicholas Saunderson argues that, since knowledge derives from the senses, mathematics is the only form of knowledge that both he and a sighted person can agree on. It is suggested that the blind could be taught to read through their sense of touch. (A later essay, "Lettre sur les sourds et muets", considered the case of a similar deprivation in the deaf and mute.) According to Jonathan Israel, what makes the "Lettre sur les aveugles" so remarkable, however, is its distinct, if undeveloped, presentation of the theory of variation and natural selection.


title: Denis Diderot

text: This powerful essay, for which La Mettrie expressed warm appreciation in 1751, revolves around a remarkable deathbed scene in which a dying blind philosopher, Saunderson, rejects the arguments of a deist clergyman who endeavours to win him round to a belief in a providential God during his last hours. Saunderson's arguments are those of a neo-Spinozist Naturalist and fatalist, using a sophisticated notion of the self-generation and natural evolution of species without Creation or supernatural intervention. The notion of "thinking matter" is upheld and the "argument from design" discarded (following La Mettrie) as hollow and unconvincing. The work appeared anonymously in Paris in June 1749, and was vigorously suppressed by the authorities. Diderot, who had been under police surveillance since 1747, was swiftly identified as the author, had his manuscripts confiscated, and was imprisoned for some months, under a "lettre de cachet", on the outskirts of Paris, in the dungeons at Vincennes where he was visited almost daily by Rousseau, at the time his closest and most assiduous ally.


title: Denis Diderot

text: Voltaire wrote an enthusiastic letter to Diderot commending the "Lettre" and stating that he had held Diderot in high regard for a long time to which Diderot had sent a warm response. Soon after this, Diderot was arrested.


title: Denis Diderot

text: Science historian Conway Zirkle has written that Diderot was an early evolutionary thinker and noted that his passage that described natural selection was "so clear and accurate that it almost seems that we would be forced to accept his conclusions as a logical necessity even in the absence of the evidence collected since his time."


title: Denis Diderot

text: Angered by public resentment over the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, the government started incarcerating many of its critics. It was decided at this time to rein in Diderot. On 23 July 1749, the governor of the Vincennes fortress instructed the police to incarcerate Diderot, and the next day he was arrested and placed in solitary confinement in the Vincennes. It is during this time that Jean-Jacques Rousseau came to visit Diderot in prison and came out a changed man, with newfound ideas about the downsides of knowledge, civilization and Enlightenment—the so-called "illumination de Vincennes".


title: Denis Diderot

text: Diderot had been permitted to retain one book that he had in his possession at the time of his arrest, "Paradise Lost", which he read during his incarceration. He wrote notes and annotations on the book, using a toothpick as a pen, and ink that he made by scraping slate from the walls and mixing it with wine.


title: Denis Diderot

text: In August 1749, Mme du Chatelet, presumably at Voltaire's behest, wrote to the governor of Vincennes, who was her relative, pleading that Diderot be lodged more comfortably while jailed. The governor then offered Diderot access to the great halls of the Vincennes castle and the freedom to receive books and visitors providing he would write a document of submission. On 13 August 1749, Diderot wrote to the governor:


title: Denis Diderot

text: On 20 August, Diderot was lodged in a comfortable room in the Vincennes, allowed to meet visitors, and to walk in the gardens of the Vincennes. On 23 August, Diderot signed another letter promising to never leave the Vincennes without permission. On 3 November 1749, Diderot was released from the Vincennes. Subsequently, in 1750, he released the prospectus for the "Encyclopédie".


title: Denis Diderot

text: André le Breton, a bookseller and printer, approached Diderot with a project for the publication of a translation of Ephraim Chambers' "Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences" into French, first undertaken by the Englishman John Mills, and followed by the German Gottfried Sellius. Diderot accepted the proposal, and transformed it. He persuaded Le Breton to publish a new work, which would consolidate ideas and knowledge from the Republic of Letters. The publishers found capital for a larger enterprise than they had first planned. Jean le Rond d'Alembert was persuaded to become Diderot's colleague, and permission was procured from the government.


title: Denis Diderot

text: In 1750 an elaborate prospectus announced the project, and in 1751 the first volume was published. This work was unorthodox and advanced for the time. Diderot stated that "An encyclopedia ought to make good the failure to execute such a project hitherto, and should encompass not only the fields already covered by the academies, but each and every branch of human knowledge." Comprehensive knowledge will give "the power to change men's common way of thinking." The work combined scholarship with information on trades. Diderot emphasized the abundance of knowledge within each subject area. Everyone would benefit from these insights.


title: Denis Diderot

text: Diderot's work, however, was mired in controversy from the beginning; the project was suspended by the courts in 1752. Just as the second volume was completed accusations arose regarding seditious content, concerning the editor's entries on religion and natural law. Diderot was detained and his house was searched for manuscripts for subsequent articles: but the search proved fruitless as no manuscripts could be found. They were hidden in the house of an unlikely confederate—Chretien de Lamoignon Malesherbes, who originally ordered the search. Although Malesherbes was a staunch absolutist, and loyal to the monarchy—he was sympathetic to the literary project. Along with his support, and that of other well-placed influential confederates, the project resumed. Diderot returned to his efforts only to be constantly embroiled in controversy.