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Dorcas

(Encyclopedia)Dorcas tăbˈĭthə [key] [Gr. Dorcas and Aramaic Tabitha=gazelle], in the Acts of the Apostles, Christian woman of Joppa whom St. Peter raised from the dead. She made clothes for the poor. ...

Joseph and Asenath

(Encyclopedia)Joseph and Asenath, an early Jewish work, highly regarded in Eastern and Western Christian traditions, most likely emanating from Alexandrian Egypt between 200 b.c. and a.d. 200, probably composed in ...

calico

(Encyclopedia)calico, plain weave cotton fabric in one or more colors. Calico, named for Calicut, India, where the fabric originated, was mentioned by historians before the Christian era and praised by early travel...

Pelayo

(Encyclopedia)Pelayo pāläˈyō [key], d. 737, first king (c.718–737) of Asturias. He was elected king by the tribespeople of Asturias and by Visigothic leaders who had escaped Tariq. His victory over the Moors ...

Patrick, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Patrick, Saint, c.385–461, Christian missionary, the Apostle of Ireland, b. Bannavem Taberniae (an unknown place in Britain, possibly near the Severn or in Pembroke). He was one of the most successf...

Northwich

(Encyclopedia)Northwich nôrthˈwĭch [key], town (1991 pop. 32,664), Cheshire West and Chester, W central England, at the confluence of the Weaver and Dane rivers. Northwich was once the center of England's salt p...

Medeba

(Encyclopedia)Medeba mĕdˈĭbə, mēˈ– [key], town, Jordan, the modern Madaba, E of the Dead Sea. An ancient Moabite town, it changed hands between Moab and Israel several times. In early Christian times it was...

Ascension, in Christianity

(Encyclopedia)Ascension, name usually given to the departure of Jesus from earth as related in the Gospels according to Mark (16) and Luke (24) and in Acts 1.1–11. The annual commemoration of this is one of the p...

Knox, Ronald

(Encyclopedia)Knox, Ronald, 1888–1957, English theologian and author. He attended Eton and then Balliol College, Oxford, and in 1910 was ordained as an Anglican minister. Doctrinal preferences, however, led to hi...

Tay Ninh

(Encyclopedia)Tay Ninh tā nĭn [key], city, S Vietnam, NW of Ho Chi Minh City. It is the center of the Cao Dai, a politically active religious group that was suppressed by South Vietnamese forces after an armed in...