Jerusalem was the first center of the church, according to the Book of Acts, and according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the location of "the first Christian church". The apostles lived and taught there for some time after Pentecost. James, the brother of Jesus was a leader in the church, and his other kinsmen likely held leadership positions in the surrounding area after the destruction …

The siege of Damascus took place between 24 and 28 July 1148, during the Second Crusade.It ended in a crusader defeat and led to the disintegration of the crusade. The two main Christian forces that marched to the Holy Land in response to Pope Eugene III and Bernard of Clairvaux's call for the Second Crusade were led by Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany.

Thyateira (also Thyatira) (Ancient Greek: Θυάτειρα) was the name of an ancient Greek city in Asia Minor, now the modern Turkish city of Akhisar ("white castle"). The name is probably Lydian.It lies in the far west of Turkey, south of Istanbul and almost due east of Athens. It is about 50 miles (80 km) from the Aegean Sea

John Cassian, also known as John the Ascetic and John Cassian the Roman (Latin: Ioannes Eremita Cassianus, Ioannus Cassianus, or Ioannes Massiliensis; c. AD 360 – c. 435), was a Christian monk and theologian celebrated in both the Western and Eastern churches for his mystical writings. Cassian is noted for his role in bringing the ideas and practices of early …

The Church of Greece (Greek: Ἐκκλησία τῆς Ἑλλάδος, romanized: Ekklēsía tē̂s Helládos, IPA: [ekliˈsi.a tis eˈlaðos]), part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, is one of the autocephalous churches which make up the communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity.Its canonical territory is confined to the borders of Greece prior to the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913 ("Old ...

A military order (Latin: militaris ordo) is a Christian religious society of knights.The original military orders were the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, the Order of Saint James, the Order of Calatrava, and the Teutonic Knights.They arose in the Middle Ages in association with the Crusades, both in the Holy Land, the Baltic states, and the Iberian peninsula; their members …

Bartholomew is an English or Jewish (generally also Christian) given name that derives from the Aramaic name meaning "son of Talmai". Bar is Aramaic for "son", and marks patronyms. Talmai either comes from telem "furrow" or is a Hebrew version of Ptolemy.Thus Bartholomew is either "son of furrows" (i.e., rich in land) or "son of Ptolemy". Bartholomew (Barry) is English or …