INTERNATIONAL PHILO~BYZANTINE ACADEMY AND UNIVERSITY

INTERNATIONAL PHILO~BYZANTINE

ACADEMY AND UNIVERSITY

     WESTERN CIVILIZATION reached maturity with the founding of the Byzantine Empire. History evolved to a point when its varied and distant past  converged to form an alliance of cultures and civilizations unequaled before. (See related history)
Beyond Ancient Greece and subsequently Rome, Byzantium was the center of cultural achievement that included influences from the Babylonian, Persian, and Egyptian civilizations. Coupled with the Christian ideal, Byzantium ushered the world into its highest level of universal self awareness, a fact that prevails even today.
A critical time in human history occurred when Constantinople fell in 1453. But, despite the setback, and true to its worth, the underlying influence of Byzantium continues unabated to the present. It existed in Europe throughout the life of Byzantium and was further entrenched when the erudite thinkers of the great Polis* [City], upon its fall, migrated there bringing with them their knowledge and skills to France, Ireland, Spain, and other countries where they settled. This activity triggered a newly found interest in the Classics and the great thinkers as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle who once more were inspiring the minds of many in an intellectual rebirth.
Athens remained the center of learning for studies in antiquity up to the fifth century of the Christian era. This preeminence deteriorated, however, onward of the fourth century with the invasions of the Goths. The Athens School of Philosophy was diminished and the center of gravity shifted to the Polis [the City of Constantine: Constantinople from the GreekConstantinou-Polis] where a University had come into being since the founding of the City, attracting several of the learned intellectuals who arrived from Syria, Africa, and parts of Europe either to teach or to learn. In the year 425, the Emperor Theodosius II reorganized the University, establishing norms as to the number of professors assigned to the teaching of Grammar, Rhetoric, Law and Philosophy. Two main departments comprised the University -- one of Philosophy and the other of Jurisprudence. The University was housed in a special building with grand conference rooms and also maintained a salaried faculty. It became, therefore, the most advanced and influential Intellectual and Spiritual center of the Empire and was known as the Superior School of Christianity or the University of Constantinople.
Contrary to dubious attempts to minimize the immense contribution of Byzantium toward the preservation and expansion of civilization, the reality is that Byzantium, the same as before, is to this day continuing to exert its influence on the Western mind and not less on the mind of the rest of the world.
The University of Constantinople was preserved under the auspices of several of its Imperial heads. In the course of its history its importance extended to several fields of learning -- Art, Literature, Music, Science -- up to the time of the Renaissance. Thus, in a contemporary setting, and in keeping with the tradition and practice of his predecessors, countering the adversity of 1453 and its aftermath, Prince Eugene II Lascaris Comnenus confirmed the continuity of the University of Constantinople on September 15, 1950 by restoring and renaming   it,    INTERNATIONAL  PHILO  BYZANTINE  ACADEMY  AND UNIVERSITY; and by maintaining it under his protection as hereditary Grand Master of theSOVEREIGN IMPERIAL ORDER OF SAINTS CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AND HELEN,  A.D. 312 -- first Dynastic Christian Order of Chivalry.
The Academy comprises a forum of prestigious personalities in the world of Science, Religion, Culture and the Arts. The University symbolizes the historical importance of an Institution which marked the way for the contemporary world as a center of learning and of human progress and edification.___________________________________*   Despite the general belief worldwide that the word, Istanbul, is Turkish, the reader would be well informed to know that, in fact, the word is Greek. Similar to the custom of residents of San Francisco and of New York who refer to their large urban areas as "the City," the Byzantines did exactly the same. Not only do San Franciscans call it "the City," they also constantly call South San Francisco [their southern industrial neighbor], simply, "South City."
City-bound suburbanite New Yorkers or San Franciscans, when asked where are they going, more likely will respond: "to the City."  These are the exact same words a Byzantinewould utter in Greek when responding to the same question. Namely, "ees-teen Pohleen" or "to the Polis" (that is, "to Constantinople"). The refined elegance and euphony of the Greek enunciation deteriorated under the brusqueness of the language of the substitute occupants of Constantinople and became what we hear today, the grotesque "is-tan-bool."
_________________________[The reader needs be aware of the misguided interpretation of the word istanbul as given on the televised program, "The History Channel”—an unfortunate major infraction in the conveyance of correct public information: The program makes a portentous claim that the word is . . . Turkish!  Moreover, it is regretful that the same source (namely, The History Channel), during another documentary (?) on the subject of Byzantium, compounds the error of misguided information.  In this instance, the viewing public is exhorted to believe that they are of Roman blood!
It would be difficult to comprehend  how the British people, for example, may consider themselves to be of . . . Roman blood—whatever that means—for the simple reason that it was a mere military contingent that formed the outpost of the Roman Empire in that area.  It was that contingent that proclaimed Constantine an Emperor.  The plausibility of the program's claim may be somehow acceptable in the Hellenic world, due to the affinity of the two peoples in their cultural and physical closeness.  The Greeks even called themselves Romioi.  However, this was not in repudiation of their Hellenic identity (their blood!), but a matter of civil identity. (Amazing how vigorous the beautiful and rich Greek language is even this very day.  It is spoken and heard, written and read, and preserved with the same fervor as it was by its ancestral creators—the lasting Roman, Ottoman, and sundry other invasions and occupations notwithstanding.)  The reality of Hellenism was present in the Roman Empire from its inception and again at the time of the Tetrarchy, when the Macedonian Greeks invested themselves into power, first inspired by Diocletian.  The unfortunate conveyance by The History Channel fails to tell the viewers that Byzantium was an evolving Hellenistic Rome.  The cycle was complete: The culture was Hellenic; the implementation was Roman—organizational and militant; the conclusion was Hellenic.
Given the above cited program's premise that, expanded cultural influence renders blood heredity, it follows that the viewing public is Roman in blood and, therefore, by logical regression Greek in blood! An absurdity.
Yet, the so-called History Channel moves unabated in spewing out its transparent propagandistic emissions.  Witness the statement that, because of the victory at Actium (31 B.C.), history stopped on its track and at once ceased to be a continuum of events.  The laughable notion is tendered that, as of that moment Western Civilization is born and that, this is whatall of us are today.  Of course, we must ask who all of us are? Then, we must also ask, for example, how is it that Octavian (known also as Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus or Augustus Caesar) rushed to erect Nikopolis in the shadow of the practice of Alexander the Great?  History is not compartmentalized in its essence but only for purposes of reference.  Western Civilization has a far greater depth than what the myopic pronouncements of the History Channel would have us believe. (See: "Historiotropy" [pp. 71 and 89]. A. C. Karras, (2001). Leadership Style of Constantine the Great: Significance for Leadership Development in the Church. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Trinity Theological Seminary. Newburgh, IN).
NEW BYZANTIUM is a cultural and ideological notion.  It does not warrant any racial identity.]

(A Proposal)

HAGIA  SOPHIA
(CHURCH  OF   HOLY  WISDOM)
Pride of  Constantinople and heart of The Byzantine Empire
where minarets pretend religious dominance and the Holy Church is reduced  to a museum.  See also Hagia Sophia: The Heartbeat of Christianity.

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REPUBLIC OF COSTA RICA

The 
NATIONAL  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY
of The
REPUBLIC  OF  COSTA  RICA
in Session on March 25, 1998

(Holy Day of The Annunciation
and also
Hellenic Independence Day
against the Turk)

by
Unanimous Vote
Proclaims
 

PRINCE
CONSTANTINE  LASCARIS  COMNENUS

"NATIONAL  HERO"

________

The Directorate of the National Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Costa Rica on March 21, 1998 at Seven O'clock in the Evening unveiled and placed the Portrait of Prince Constantine Lascaris Comnenus in the Hall of Ex-Presidents.

The solemn Act was emotionally attended by the Princes Theodore IX and Gabriela Lascaris Comnenus who traveled from Venezuela for the occasion.  Prince Theodore IX, senior brother to the Honoree, is the Grand Protector and Head of the Dynastic Byzantine House of Lascaris Comnenus of Constantinople.

________

(Translation)

UNIVERSITY  OF  COSTA   RICA  

SCHOOL  OF   PHILOSOPHY
SCHOOL  OF   GENERAL  STUDIES

Manifest their pleasure
for the nomination as

NATIONAL  HERO

of

Dr. Constantine
Lascaris Comnenus
University City, Rodrigo Facio, April, 1998

Principal impeller of the academic studies
of philosophy in Costa Rica, and who realized an
exceptionally prolific work in research, teaching,
philosophical coexistence, cultural expansion and
university institutionalization.
¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

At the Presidential Palace in San Jose, Costa Rica, May 28, 1993

The unveiling of the portrait of the
President of the Republic Rafael Angel Calderón Furnier (right).
Painting done by the renowned Spanish Artist Jesús María Del Rincón (middle).
Remarks extended by the House Delegate, Dr. Mark Athanasios C. Karras (left).

The  Plaza Constantino Láscaris  on  the    campus square of the National University    of Costa Rica.

Bronze  bust   of  Professor  Prince Constantino Lascaris Comnenu at Plaza Constantino Láscaris   on   the campus square of the National University of Costa Rica.  The site commemorates his outstanding cultural and spiritual contribution to that nation. Prince Constantino gave to Costa Rica of  his knowledge and wisdom the same as his predecessors and  other   Byzantine thinkers gave theirs to Europe to form  the basis of the Renaissance.

_________________________________________

CARACAS

VENEZUELA
____

At The

University  of  Andres   Bello

Honors  Bestowed Upon

 H.I. and R. H.  PRINCE  THEODORE  IX
LASCARIS COMNENUS

(Translation)

THE  VENEZUELAN   ARAGONESE  GROUP

GRANTS  THE  TITLE  OF

ILLUSTRIOUS   ARAGONESE

TO

Dr. Theodore E. Lascaris-Comnenus M.

FOR  HIS  VALUABLE  ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTION

TO  THE  NATIONS  OF   LATIN  AMERICA

Signed: MANUEL  ESTEBAN  F.,  ESQ., Secretary         

Signed: JOSE  TORAN  I., Public Relations

Caracas, June 14, 1998

¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

Unique occurrence whereby
Prince Theodore IX
Retired Professor of the
University of Carabobo, Valencia, Venezuela
Bestows upon his son
Prince Eugene III
the Corresponding Medallion
During Law School Graduation of that Institution
 

__________________________________

THE  REPUBLIC  OF  COLOMBIA

Assigns  Formal  Status   to the

INSIGNIAS

of  the

ORDER
OF
SAINT  EUGENE  OF   TREBIZOND

(Translation)

                                                                                                              [Registration and
                                                                                                               Approval Stamp]

REPUBLIC  OF  COLOMBIA
(Crest)

MINISTRY  OF  EXTERNAL   RELATIONS

                                           RESOLUTION  NUMBER                             070    OF  19

                                                           12  DEC. 1997

By means of which permission is conceded to accept
and to use a foreign decoration

THE  PRESIDENT  OF   THE  REPUBLIC  OF  COLOMBIA
in use of his legal faculties, and
especially those conferred to him by article 129
of the Political Constitution

RESOLVES

FIRST  ARTICLE:        To concede permission to Doctor HERNAN ALEJANDRO
                                OLANO   GARCIA, counselor of the Vice Minister of the Interior,
                                to accept and use  the "ORDER   OF  SAINT  EUGENE  OF
                                TREBIZOND   IN  THE  GRADE  OF  KING  OF  ARMS", of
                                Greece.

SECOND  ARTICLE:    This Resolution is effective as of the date of its publication.
                                PUBLISH AND COMPLY
                                Dated in Santafé of Bogotá D.C., on          12 DEC. 1997

                                                (signed)
THE  MINISTER  OF  EXTERNAL  RELATIONS

                                                                                     (signed)
                                                                     MARIA   EMMA  VEJIA  VELEZ

________________

On the above occasion, the Governing Council of the

CENTER  OF  HISTORICAL   STUDIES  IN  HUMAN  RIGHTS
Santiago de Tunja, Colombia

functioning under the auspices of the Republic of Colombia

together with the Law and Medical Faculties of the

UNIVERSITY  DE  LA   SABANA
Puente del Común, Chía, Colombia

have extended courtesies to the ORDER  OF  SAINT  EUGENE  OF  TREBIZOND.

__________________________________

THE  REPUBLIC  OF  CHILE

THE  CONSTANTINIAN ORDER
IN CHILE

The President of the Republic of Chile
(Right) His Excellency CARLOS IBAÑEZ
  (Left) House Delegate Mark Athanasios C. Karras
LA MONEDA, Presidential Palace
Santiago, Chile
1957

"Estabilidad Gubernativa Constituye una Garantía a los Capitalistas Extranjeros." La Nación, Santiago de Chile, Martes 5 de Noviembre de 1957, p. 12.

¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

"Notiziario Riguardante il Sovrano Ordine Imperiale di Costantino il Grande."  Artis Templum, Rivista di Lettere, Scienze ed Arti. Sassari Vicolo Sassun. 5 Cas. Post 147 Tel. 32173 - C.C.P. N. 103890 intestato a Prof. Wally Ferraris Corso Vittorio Emanuele n. 51 07100 SASSARI. (Registrato al Tribunale di Roma al N. 6675 del 17 gennaio 1959.)

_________________________________

In  Memory
of
GEORGE ATHOS ADAMSON

(Left) George Athos Adamsonand Mark A. C. Karas, Ph.D.,
[delegated by IPHBAU]at theUNIVERSITY CLUB
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
September, 2000
______

George Athos Adamson (Adamopoulos) a native of Souvala at Mt. Parnassos, Greece (the area known as Roumeli) together with his brother Alexander and his cousin Dr. George Lucas Adamson founded the prestigious ADAMSON UNIVERSITY in Manila, Philippines.
The institution began as a School of Industrial Chemistry in 1932 directed toward the developmental needs of the Philippines.  It was granted University status on February 5, 1941 by the Department of Education of the Philippines, and on December 4, 1964 it was turned over to the Vincentian Fathers of the Congregation of the Mission.
Today, the University is one of the leading centers of quality education in the Philippines.  As a Catholic university it promotes a meaningful Christian presence in the academic world.  It actively pursues its educational mission of empowering people, especially the socially disadvantaged.  It enjoys universal recognition for Graduate Education and offers an extensive number of academic disciplines.

__________________________________

Author:
Eugenian Knight
contributes important research
in the field of Military History.

The work is presented  in a Spanish language 267 page book published
by the Technical Secretariat General,
Center of Publications of the Ministry of Defense of Spain
(ISBN: 84-7823-852-2  ~  Copyright 2001  ~  700 copies).

In his Preface to the book, General of the Army
Alfonso PARDO  DE  SANTAYANA  Y  COLOMA
Chief of Staff of the Spanish Army

 remarks that: This study . . . rends the existing veil of ignorance around a great part of the events that happened during the Nineteenth Century and demonstrates for us a precedent in operations of Spanish-Portuguese collaboration for the maintenance of peace somehow similar to those being effectuated by both nations in the territory of the old Yugoslavia, collaborations in the bosom of the Atlantic Alliance or of those of the European defense organizations, as is the Western European Union or the European Rapid Deployment Force (EUROFOR), among others.  (The excerpt quoted is a translation.)

Researcher and Author

Gonzalo de Porras y R. de León
______________________________________________

Dos intervenciones
militares
hispano-portuguesas
en las guerras civiles
del siglo XIX

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Expansion of Western Civilization: from Constantine the Great to Constantinople and Byzantium and onward to America

NEW BYZANTIUM is The AMERICAS
 We are sincerely pleased you have come to visit our Site and we extend to you our warmest greeting in the highest tradition of BYZANTIUM.  Our Principal goal is to impart to you heretofore intentionally little known facts about BYZANTIUM as the foundation of Western Civilization.  We will avoid knowingly withholding the truth as an aim to social disorientation.  Practice of historical deception must cease.  We hope that you will enjoy our contribution to the fullest.  Welcome.
Constantine the Great began his eventful climb in York, England and reached the apex of his achievement in Constantinople, the City that he founded and named after himself (Constantine+Polis [city]=Constantinople).  By means of these pages, our readers travel through time, touching upon the early periods, including that of Constantine, of historical Constantinople, and of Hagia Sophia—the nexus of the Christian world—to arrive at places and events of our present day.  Our readers reach the outermost limit to which both Eastern and Western Christian groups expanded, bringing forth the flower of Western Civilization.  That limit is the Western Hemisphere as a whole, and in particular the coast of California near San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge where the two groups converged  as they approached from the North and from the South.