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phylacteries
phylacteries [Gr.,=safeguard], two small leather boxes worn during morning prayers by Orthodox and Conservative Jews after the age of 13 years and one day. Each box contains strips of parchment inscribed with verses from the Scriptures: Ex. 13.1-10; 13.11-16; Deut. 6.4-9; 11.13-21. One box is faste...
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Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday in the Western Church, the first day of Lent , being the seventh Wednesday before Easter. On this day ashes are placed on the foreheads of the faithful to remind them of death, of the sorrow they should feel for their sins, and of the necessity of changing their lives. The practice, ...
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Leo XIII
Leo XIII 1810-1903, pope (1878-1903), an Italian (b. Carpineto, E of Rome) named Gioacchino Pecci; successor of Pius IX. Ordained in 1837, he earned an excellent reputation as archbishop of Perugia (1846-77), and was created cardinal in 1853. Leo's election brought a turn in the course of the papa...
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Byzantine music
Byzantine music the music of the Byzantine Empire composed to Greek texts as ceremonial, festival, or church music.
Long thought to be only a further development of ancient Greek music, Byzantine music is now regarded as an independent musical culture, with elements derived from Syrian and Heb...
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amnesia
amnesia , [Gr.,=forgetfulness], condition characterized by loss of memory for long or short intervals of time. It may be caused by injury, shock, senility, severe illness, or mental disease. Some cases of amnesia involve the unconscious suppression of a painful experience and everything remindful ...
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Fort Smith
Fort Smith city (1990 pop. 72,798), seat of Sebastian co., NW Ark., at the Okla. line where the Arkansas and Poteau rivers join; inc. 1842. It is the rail, trade, and industrial center of a farm and livestock area. Its manufactures include construction materials, food and beverages, textiles, furni...
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Berlin
Berlin , city (1994 pop. 3,475,400), capital of Germany, coextensive with Berlin state (341 sq mi/883 sq km), NE Germany, on the Spree and Havel rivers. Formerly divided into East Berlin (156 sq mi/404 sq km) and West Berlin (185 sq mi/479 sq km), the city was reunified along with East and West Germ...
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iconography
iconography [Gr.,=image-drawing] or iconology [Gr.,=image-study], in art history, the study and interpretation of figural representations, either individual or symbolic, religious or secular; more broadly, the art of representation by pictures or images, which may or may not have a symbolic as ...
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Boston
Boston city (1990 pop. 574,283), state capital and seat of Suffolk co., E Mass., on Boston Bay, an arm of Massachusetts Bay; inc. 1822. The city includes former neighboring towns—Roxbury, West Roxbury, Dorchester, Charlestown, Brighton, and Hyde Park—annexed in the late 19th cent.
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amulet
amulet , object or formula that credulity and superstition have endowed with the power of warding off harmful influences. The use of the amulet to avert danger and to dispel evil has been known in different religions and among diverse peoples. Like the talisman and the charm, the amulet is believed ...
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