John of Ephesus

John of Ephesus (or of Asia) (c. 507 – c. 588) was a leader of the non-Chalcedonian Syriac-speaking Church in the sixth century, and one of the earliest and most important of historians who wrote in Syriac.

Life

Born at Amida (modern Diyarbakır in southern Turkey) about 507, he was there ordained as a deacon in 529 by John of Tella at Zuqnin Monastery, but in 534 we find him in Palestine, and in 535 he passed to Constantinople. The cause of his leaving Amida might have been the great plague which broke out there in 542. However he also had already been traveling the region before in order to collect stories for his collection of saints lives. He was back in Amida at the start of the furious persecution directed against the Monophysites by Ephrem, patriarch of Antioch, and Abraham (bishop of Amida c. 520-541). Around 540 he returned to Constantinople and made it his residence.

In Constantinople he seems to have early won the notice of Justinian I, one of the main objects of whose policy was the consolidation of Eastern Christianity as a bulwark against the Zoroastrian power of Persia, through persecution of all the remaining pagans of the empire. John is said by Barhebraeus (Chron. eccl. i. 195) to have succeeded Anthimus as Monophysite bishop of Constantinople, but this is probably a mistake. In any case, he enjoyed the emperor's favor until the death of the latter in 565 and (as he himself tells us) was entrusted with the administration of the entire revenues of the Monophysite Church.

Ephesus

Ephesus (/ˈɛfəsəs/;Greek: Ἔφεσος Ephesos; Turkish: Efes; ultimately from Hittite Apasa) was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, three kilometres southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of the former Arzawan capital by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era it was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League. The city flourished after it came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC. According to estimates, Ephesus had a population of 33,600 to 56,000 people in the Roman period, making it the third largest city of Roman Asia Minor after Sardis and Alexandria Troas.

The city was famed for the Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. In 268 AD, the Temple was destroyed or damaged in a raid by the Goths. It may have been rebuilt or repaired but this is uncertain, as its later history is not clear. Emperor Constantine the Great rebuilt much of the city and erected new public baths. Following the Edict of Thessalonica from Emperor Theodosius I, what remained of the temple was destroyed in 401 AD by a mob led by St. John Chrysostom. The town was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614 AD. The city's importance as a commercial center declined as the harbor was slowly silted up by the Küçükmenderes River.

Ancient Siam

Ancient Siam (also known as Ancient City)(Thai: เมืองโบราณ, Mueang Boran) is a park constructed under the patronage of Lek Viriyaphant and spreading over 200 acres (0.81 km²) in the shape of Thailand.

The founder's original idea was to create a golf course with miniatures of Thailand's historically significant structures spread around the course. During his research he found most structures being severely damaged over time and decided instead of creating new miniatures to save the original structures when possible or re-creating them full size or scaled down.

Ancient Siam is dubbed as the world's largest outdoor museum. Situated close to the Crocodile Farm in Samut Prakan province, the 320-hectare city features 116 structures of Thailand's famous monuments and architectural attractions. The grounds of Ancient Siam correspond roughly to the shape of the Kingdom, with each of the monuments lying at their correct places geographically. Some of the buildings are life-size replicas of existing or former sites, while others are scaled down.

Gospel of John

The Gospel According to John (also referred to as the Gospel of John, the Fourth Gospel, or simply John; Greek: Τὸ κατὰ Ἰωάννην εὐαγγέλιον, to kata Ioannen euangelion) is one of the four canonical gospels in the Christian Bible. In the New Testament it traditionally appears fourth, after the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John begins with the witness and affirmation of John the Baptist and concludes with the death, burial, resurrection, and post-resurrection appearances of Jesus.

Chapter 21 states that the book derives from the testimony of the "disciple whom Jesus loved" and early church tradition identified him as John the Apostle, one of Jesus' Twelve Apostles. The gospel is closely related in style and content to the three surviving Epistles of John such that commentators treat the four books, along with the Book of Revelation, as a single body of Johannine literature. According to some modern scholars, however, the apostle John was not the author of any of these books.

The gospel

In Christianity, the gospel (Greek: εὐαγγέλιον euangélion; Old English: gospel), or the Good News, is the news of the coming of the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-15), and of Jesus's death on the cross and resurrection to restore people's relationship with God. It may also include the descent of the Holy Spirit upon believers and the second coming of Jesus.

The message of good news is described as a narrative in the four gospels. The message of good news is described as theology in many of the New Testament letters. It relates to the saving acts of God due to the work of Jesus on the cross and Jesus' resurrection from the dead which bring reconciliation ("atonement") between people and God.

Christian theology describes the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ not as a new concept, but one that has been foretold throughout the Old Testament and was prophetically preached even at the time of the Fall of Man as contained in Genesis . It is called Proto-Evangelion or Proto-Gospel.

The apostle Paul clearly states that the gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. (I Corinthians 15:1-4).