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Votians

Votians, also referred to as Votes, Vots and Vods (ва́ддялайзыд, vađđalaizõd; водь; vadjalased; vatjalaiset) are a Finnic ethnic group native to historical Ingria, the part of modern-day northwestern Russia that is roughly southwest of Saint Petersburg and east of the Estonian border-town of Narva. The Finnic Votic language spoken by Votians is close to extinction. The language is still spoken in three villages of historical Votia and by an unknown number of speakers in the countryside. The villages are Jõgõperä (Krakolye), Liivcülä (Peski), and Luuditsa (Luzhitsy). In the Russian 2020 census, 99 people identified as Votian.

Votians were one of the founding people of Veliky Novgorod.

History

Votians are the oldest known ethnic group in Ingria. They are probably descended from an Iron-age population of north-eastern Estonia and western Ingria. Some scholars claim they were a tribe of Estonians, who developed a separate identity during isolation from other Estonians. It is speculated the ancient Estonian county of Vaiga got its name from Votians. The Kylfings, a people active in Northern Europe during the Viking Age, may have been Votes.

The earliest literary references to the Votes by their traditional name are from medieval Russian sources, where Votes are referred to as Voď. Older Russian sources grouped them (under the name Chudes) with Estonians. Lake Peipus near the Votian homelands is called Chudsko ozero, meaning "Lake of Chudes" in Russian. In 1069 Votes were mentioned taking part in an attack on the Novgorod Republic by the Principality of Polotsk. Eventually Votes became part of the Novgorod Republic and in 1149 they were mentioned taking part in an attack by Novgorod against Jems who are speculated to be peoples of Tavastia. One of the administrative divisions of Novgorod, Voch'skaa, was named after Votes. After the collapse of Novgorod, the Grand Duchy of Moscow deported many Votes from their homelands and began more aggressive conversion of them. Missionary efforts started in 1534, after Novgorod's archbishop Macarius complained to Ivan IV that Votes were still practicing their pagan beliefs. Makarius was authorized to send monk Ilja to convert the Votes. Ilja destroyed many of the old holy shrines and worshiping places. Conversion was slow and the next archbishop Feodosii had to send priest Nikifor to continue Ilja's work. Slowly Votes were converted and they became devoted Christians.

Sweden controlled Ingria in the 17th century, and attempts to convert local Orthodox believers to the Lutheran faith caused some of the Orthodox population to migrate elsewhere. At the same time many Finnish peoples immigrated to Ingria. Religion separated the Lutheran Finns and Estonians and the Orthodox Izhorians and Votes, so intermarriage was uncommon between these groups. Votes mainly married other Votes, or Izhorians and Russians. They were mostly trilingual in Votic, Ingrian and Russian. In 1848, the number of Votes had been 5,148, (Ariste 1981: 78), but in the Russian census of 1926 there were only 705 left. From the early 20th century on, the Votic language no longer passed to following generations. Most Votes were evacuated to Finland along with Finnish Ingrians during World War II, but were returned to the Soviet Union later.

As a distinct people, Votes have become practically extinct after Stalinist dispersion to distant Soviet provinces as 'punishment' for alleged disloyalty and cowardice during World War II. Expellees allowed to return in 1956 found their old homes occupied by Russians. In 1989, there were still 62 known Votes left, with the youngest born in 1930. There were 73 self-declared Votes in the 2002 Russian census. Of them 12 lived in St. Petersburg, 12 in Leningrad Oblast and 10 in Moscow. In 2008 Votes were added to the list of Indigenous peoples of Russia, granting them some support to preserving their culture. There have been some conflicts with Votic villagers and foresters, and in 2001 the Votic museum was burned in the village of Lužitsõ. Another possible problem is a port which is being constructed to Ust-Luga. It is planned that some 35,000 people would move near historic Votic and Izhoran villages.

Votes in Latvia
[[image:Kreevinit.JPG|150px|thumb|right The Votes in Latvia were called krieviņi in Latvian. The word comes from krievs, which means "Russian". Historical sources indicate the [[Teutonic Knights]] led by Vinke von Overberg captured many people in Ingermanland during their attack there in 1444–1447, and moved them to Bauska, where a workforce was needed to build a castle. It is estimated that some 3,000 people were transferred there. After the castle was built, the Votes did not go back, but were settled in the vicinity of Bauska and became farmers. Gradually, they forgot their own language and customs and were assimilated by the neighboring Latvians. They are first mentioned in literature of 1636. The first "modern" scientist to study them was Finnish Anders Johan Sjögren, but the first person to connect them with Votes was Ferdinand Johan Wiedemann in 1872. Latvian poet Jānis Rainis had some Votic roots.
 * Latvian Votes in their national costumes, drawn by de Pauly]]

Some modern people in Latvia around Bauska, with historic Krevinian ancestory still wish to identify with Votians and there has been new interest in Votian culture among them. There also exists a Votic museum in Latvia.

Votes in Estonia
Votians used to live largely within the Narva region. Votes largely mixed with the Estonians, there exists information about Christians called "poluverniki" 'half believers', who mixed Orthodoxy and Lutheranism, this form of Christianity was practiced due to Orthodox Votians mixing with the Lutheran Estonians. Paul Ariste found that the Votic language influenced many Northern Estonian dialects.

Today Estonia still has Votian cultural events in Narva.

Culture
Historically most Votes were farmers. Slash and burn (sardo) was practiced until the early 20th century. Cattle, horses and geese were the most important livestock. Some made their living from fishing. Many primitive fishing habits survived a long time in Votic communities, such as fishing with a club or spear. Seine fishing was practiced during the winter. Votians formed seine groups (artelli) and made fishing trips as far as the Finnish outer islands like Seskar. Fishermen lived in wooden sleds called (pudka) during these trips. Hunting was never an important source of income, because local nobility had reserved the right to hunt to themselves. Since St. Petersburg was so close to Votic homelands, many of the Votes went working there. Men worked in factories and women worked as servants. This contributed to rapid demise of Votic culture.

Votes were quite poorly educated, and only one Vote, Dmitri Tsvetkov, is known to have ever attended and graduated from a university. Ancient Votic religion is not known well, but it is assumed that it was similar to other Finnic beliefs.

Language and identity
Most Votes were able to speak Ingrian and Russian as well as the Votic language. In fact, Ingrian was more common in everyday use than Votic in some villages. Votic was commonly used with family members, while Russian and Ingrian were used with others. Russian was the only language used in churches. Votes often referred to themselves as Izhorians, since this term was more commonly known among others. The term came in use when people wanted to make a difference between Lutheran and Orthodox Finnic populations in Ingria.

title: Votians


text:
Talk:Scheme (programming language)

Tail-recursion example is not tail-recursive
I think the example shown under ‘proper tail recursion’ does not actually use tail recursion because the call to the loop function is not directly returned from the function. The return value is instead passed to a call to ‘cons’ which would mean it has to maintain the call stack and can't optimise away the call. I think it would have to be something like this to use tail-call recursion:

Bpeel (talk) 16:04, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

As there was no response to my message I've just gone ahead and replaced the sample with the one above. Bpeel (talk) 17:46, 20 December 2012 (UTC)

Comments
"Each comment is preceded by a semicolon and extends for the rest of the line. Some implementations allow comments to span multiple lines by wrapping them with a #|...|# (possibly nested). Other implementations allow an entire s-expression to be commented out by prepending it with #;.[7] These two comment forms are included in the R6RS."

Three kinds of comments are described, but the last sentence mention only two forms. I don't know which form are referenced. Could anybody make it clearer please ? Halladba (talk) 22:22, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

 * the last two must be the new ones from R6RS because R5RS only has the whole-line comments. --MarSch (talk) 16:30, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Rscheme should be mentioned or linked to as a child/variant/descendent or whatever. --Clf99 (talk) 22:20, 24 September 2010 (UTC)

 * Rscheme is a really notable scheme system. It has a well implemented garb. I'll see if I can add it in a proper place. Rursus dixit. ( m bork3 !) 21:00, 23 May 2011 (UTC)

Used on Mars rover
I believe I heard at MIT that Scheme was used on one of the Mars rovers. Ten points to anyone who can find a reliable reference. 8) -- Beland (talk) 00:43, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Expansion needed
This article has been a mess for some time, and I'm planning an expansion, with possibly a rewrite of much of the article.

Some recent developments in Scheme standardization should be covered (see http://scheme-reports.org/). R6RS has divided Schemers more than any other event in the history of the language, and the Scheme Steering Committee has proposed that two Scheme versions should be specified: a small language more akin to R5RS, and a larger language closer to R6RS.

Meanwhile the coverage of key concepts is poorly handled. The following key language features need to be covered correctly:
 * Continuations
 * Hygienic macros
 * Multiple values
 * Numeric tower
 * Proper tail calls

The article should integrate with lisp (programming language) so that basic lisp concepts covered adequately in that article (lists, consing, etc) are not dwelt on here.

The SRFI process should be covered in more depth.

The Steering Committee recently remarked that "Scheme has the unhappy distinction of being the world's most unportable programming language", and this undeniable fact isn't really covered here at all. Their point is that if you want to write in Scheme, you have to choose a particular implementation, and having done that you will find that most of the software you write for that implementation will not run unaltered on other implementations. --TS 03:42, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

Language elements
It's hard to avoid the temptation to turn an encyclopedia article on a programming language into a miniature tutorial for the language. The "Language elements" section is messy and some parts of it need to be rewritten and other parts need to be incorporated elsewhere--as I have already done with some sections. --TS 16:09, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

Disney World
I've removed the following for now:

 * Chez Scheme has been used at Disney World in Florida for controlling virtual rides.

The citation given for this was "Kent Dybvig, invited to talk at the International Conference on Functional Programming, 2006." We need better sourcing than that. --TS 19:06, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Stuff removed from Boolean data type article
The following section was removed from the article Boolean data type: begin removed text

Scheme has two special symbols  and   which represent the logical values of true and false respectively. However, any non- value is interpreted as true. Note that unlike Lisp,  or , the empty list, is separate from   in Scheme, and therefore is considered true.

end removed text Is there a place for this text in the Scheme-related articles? Perhaps in the Wikibook? Thanks, and all the best, --Jorge Stolfi (talk) 00:08, 31 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks for this. I think we already cover it all in the present article, but it might be useful for the book (which was rather moribund last time I checked). --TS 00:10, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

Forth
I've reverted this edit which was based on an opinion stated in the edit summary: "Forth is even easier to implement, and has as much power from further readily available extensions."

This isn't because I want to engage in a debate on the relative power of Forth and Scheme (that isn't what we do here at Wikipedia) but because I think it's bad form to insert personal opinion into articles. For more on what is meant by "power" in the context of Scheme and other Lisps, read the "Fundamental design features" section. Any language may be augmented to contain these features, but every standard-conforming implementation of Scheme provides them without the need for augmentation. --TS 17:57, 1 April 2010 (UTC)
 * I've changed the word "power" to the wikilinked phrase expressive power, This refers to the readiness with which complex data and control structures can be expressed in Scheme. --TS 18:07, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

"Review of language syntax" is not about syntax
"Review of language syntax" section lists standard forms and procedures, not the lexical or syntactic structure of the textual form. So it seems to be a misnomer. Can anyone think of a better title, so it would match the content of that section? MagV (talk) 12:08, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes, there frankly isn't a lot of "syntax" in Lisp! Perhaps "Review of standard forms and procedures" would be better.  I might also become convinced that the entire section could be removed or rewritten--I think I need to spend some time examining the structure of articles on similar subjects such as Common Lisp.

 * There is also the problem that this article is heavily slanted towards the still-dominant R5RS standard, and this may well change over time. For now I'm happy to continue describing R5RS and noting R6RS differences (which we don't really do a very good job of yet).  If R6RS implementations, and uses of R6RS, become more popular, that will have to change.  In some ways R6RS defines such a different kind of language that it may merit an entire separate article, which may or may not in time become the default article for "Scheme (programming language)".  R6RS aims to be far more than the "minimalist" language described here. --TS 13:44, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

 * I'm down with "Review of standard forms and procedures". A rewrite is also good, since a list of standard bindings is not that useful by itself.
 * For the actual syntax, a pointer to s-expression with a description of differences (e.g. vectors) would be good.
 * For R5RS-ness, "Distinguishing features" should list features common among all standards/implementations, and then note differences. R5RS is the base for many common features, so it's OK to describe them from R5RS point of view. But then there are common features which R5RS does not have (e.g. a module system): those should be described as well, but not from R5RS point of view (obviously).
 * Finally, I don't think we need a separate R6RS article (too many common themes), but a section devoted to each standard would be good. Such section can say something about how and when it was accepted, and then list everything that does not fit "Distinguishing features". As a bonus, we'll be able to wikify all the "R5RS" across the Wikipedia to point to the relevant section, not the generic Scheme article.
 * -- MagV (talk) 15:17, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

Easiest to implement
Theres a statement in the wording that SCHEME is the easiest language of comparable power to implement. Is this REALLY true? I've seen some DAMN slim versions of Forth, and although it was never as fashionable for its stack-y ways, it was always a pretty expressive language and surprisingly capable for the kind of metaprogramming the lisps where known for. 121.45.251.215 (talk) 12:07, 9 October 2011 (UTC)

"Popular with programmers, implementors and hobbyists"
This sentence in the first paragraph seems completely meaningless: "Its compactness and elegance have made it popular with educators, language designers, programmers, implementors, and hobbyists."

Wouldn't it make sense to either simply state that "It is popular for its compactness", or to remove the overly broad and ambiguous "programmers, implementors, and hobbyists"? 174.1.213.234 (talk) 17:02, 20 May 2013 (UTC)

 * Changing that. Q VVERTYVS (hm?) 07:19, 19 July 2013 (UTC)

The Hofstaedter example
IMHO the Hofstaedter example looks a bit ugly and seems not to be very scheme-like (besides  of course). It evaluates to #f and depends mostly on the side effects of. Wouldn’t it be more appropiate if it evaluated e. g. to a list of pairs  like this:

It is of course a matter of taste and style, but functional parts of a program should be separated from imperative parts (cf. e. g. Conrad Barski, Land of Lisp, San Francisco 2011, p. 302). Displaying the results could be done with, which according to R5RS is explicitly to be called because of its side-effects:

Sokleidas (talk) 22:30, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

R7RS
What's up with that? The article seems out-of-date on that. Far as I can tell it's been delayed quite a bit, but then I don't follow Scheme news at all. --82.128.250.221 (talk) 10:19, 31 March 2014 (UTC)

 * I've updated the panel on the right, as R7RS has been officially ratified. But we should also state that in the introduction, where R6RS is mentioned as the new standard. cslarsen (talk) 11:30, 29 December 2014 (UTC)

The first paragraph should not mention Common Lisp
The header needs to focus more on Scheme exclusively. 137.124.161.12 (talk) 02:30, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

 * I think it's quite natural that the first paragraph does mention Common Lisp, if only to emphasize the minimalist philosophy behind Scheme's design and contrast it with the "everything and the kitchen sink" philosophy underlying the design of Common Lisp (which explicity tried to merge the features of the various dialects of (Mac)Lisp). However, I agree that the concrete wording of the first paragraph seems uneven.
 * The first paragraph :
 * Scheme and Common Lisp are the two principal dialects of the computer programming language Lisp. Unlike Common Lisp, Scheme follows a minimalist design philosophy that specifies a small standard core accompanied by powerful tools for language extension.
 * It used to read :
 * Scheme is a functional programming language and one of the two main dialects of the programming language Lisp. Unlike Common Lisp, the other main dialect, Scheme follows a minimalist design philosophy specifying a small standard core with powerful tools for language extension.
 * Even though both versions offer the same content, I think I prefer the older version. —Tobias Bergemann (talk) 08:40, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

 * I have restored the first paragraph to the version of 2014-12-11. —Tobias Bergemann (talk) 07:39, 5 February 2016 (UTC)

Ict 92.99.217.125 (talk) 11:31, 4 December 2023 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Scheme (programming language)


text: User talk:204.185.1.253

title: User talk:204.185.1.253


text:
Bangles

Bangles may refer to:

 * Bangle, jewellery
 * The Bangles, an American pop rock band
 * Bangles (EP), a 1982 EP by the Bangles
 * Bangles (film), a 2013 Indian Malayalam-language film

title: Bangles


text:
Lake Onega

Lake Onega (also known as Onego; Оне́жское о́зеро, ; Ääninen, Äänisjärvi; Livvi:  Oniegujärvi ; Änine, Änižjärv) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Republic of Karelia, Leningrad Oblast and Vologda Oblast. It belongs to the basin of the Baltic Sea, and is the second-largest lake in Europe after Lake Ladoga, slightly smaller than Lebanon. The lake is fed by about 50 rivers and is drained by the Svir.

There are about 1,650 islands on the lake. They include Kizhi, which hosts a historical complex of 89 Orthodox churches and other wooden structures of the 15th–20th centuries. The complex includes a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Kizhi Pogost. The eastern shores of the lake contain about 1,200 petroglyphs (rock engravings) dated to the 4th–2nd millennia BC, which have also been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The major cities on the lake are Petrozavodsk, Kondopoga and Medvezhyegorsk.

Geological history
The lake is of glacial-tectonic origin and is a small remnant of a larger body of water which existed in this area during an Ice Age. In geologic terms, the lake is rather young, formed – like almost all lakes in northern Europe – through the carving activity of the inland ice sheets in the latter part of the last ice age, about 12,000 years ago: In the Paleozoic Era (400–300 million years ago) the entire territory of the modern basin of the lake was covered with a shelf sea lying near the ancient, near-equatoric Baltic continent. Sediments at that time – sandstone, sand, clay and limestone – form a 200 m layer covering the Baltic Shield which consists of granite, gneiss and greenstone. The retreat of the Ice Age glaciers formed the Littorina Sea. Its level was first 7 - 9 m higher than at present, but it gradually lowered, thereby decreasing the sea area and forming several lakes in the Baltic region.

Topography and hydrography
Lake Onega has a surface area of 9,891 km² without islands and a volume of 291 km³; its length is about 245 km and width about 90 km. It is the second largest lake in Europe, and the 18th largest lake by area in the world. Its southern banks are mostly low and continuous, whereas northern banks are rocky and rugged. They contain numerous elongated bays resulting in the lake's outline appearing similar to a giant crayfish. In the northern part lies a large Zaonezhye Peninsula (Заонежье); south of it, is the Big Klimenetsky (Большой Клименецкий) island. To the west of them lies the deep (deeper than 100 m) Greater Onega (Большое Онего) area containing the Kondopozhskaya (Кондопожская губа, depth up to 78 m), Ilem-Gorskaya (42 m), Lizhemskoy (82 m) and Unitskoy (44 m) bays. To the southwest of Greater Onega lies Petrozavodskoye Onego (Петрозаводское Онего) containing the large Petrozavodsk and small Yalguba and Pinguba bays. To the east of Zaonezhye there is a bay, northern part of which is called Povenetsky Bay and the southern part is Zaonezhsky Bay. There, deep sections alternate with banks and islands which split the bay into several parts. The southernmost part of them, Lesser Onega, is 40 - 50 m deep. All the shores there are rocky.

The average depth of the lake is 30 m, and the deepest spot of 127 m is located in the northern part. The average depth is 50 – in the middle and rises to 20 – in the southern part. The bottom has a very uneven profile, it is covered with silt, and contains numerous trenches of various size and shape in the northern part. The trenches are separated by large shallow banks. Such bottom structure is favorable for fish, and the banks are used for commercial fishing.

The water level is stabilized by the Verhnesvirskaya hydropower plant and varies by only 0.9 – over the year. It rises due to the spring flood which lasts $1 1/2$ to 2 months. The highest water level is in June–August and the lowest is in March–April. Rivers bring 15.6 km³ of water per year to the lake, that is up to 74% of the water balance; the rest is provided by precipitation. Most of the lake water (84% or 17.6 km³ per year) outflows via a single river, Svir, and the remaining 16% evaporates from the lake surface. There are frequent storms more characteristic of a sea than a lake; waves of 2 – are not uncommon and may even reach 5 m. The lake freezes near the coast and bays in late November and December and around mid-January in its center. Thawing starts in April in the tributaries and reaches the lake in May. Water in the deep parts is clear, with the visibility up to 7 –. In the bays, the visibility may decrease to about a meter. The water is fresh, with a salinity of 35 mg/L. This is relatively low for a lake and is about $1 1/2$ times lower than in the other large lake of the area, Lake Ladoga.

The maximum surface water temperature is 20 – on the open lake and 24 – in the bays. The deep waters are much colder, from 2 – in winter to 4 – in summer. Weather is relatively cold, with temperatures below 0 °C for half of the year and average summer temperatures of about 16 °C.

Basin and islands
The catchment area of 51,540 km² drains into the lake via 58 rivers and more than 110 tributaries, including the Shuya, Suna, Vodla, Vytegra and Andoma. The only outgoing Svir, which marks the southern boundary of Karelia, runs from the southwestern shore of Lake Onega to Lake Ladoga and continues as the Neva to the Gulf of Finland.

The White Sea–Baltic Canal runs through the lake from the White Sea to the Baltic Sea. The Volga–Baltic Waterway connects Onega Lake with the Volga, Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The Onega Canal, which follows the southern banks of the lake, was built in 1818–1820 and 1845–1852 between Vytegra in the east and Svir in the west. The canal was part of the Mariinsk Canal System, a forerunner of the Volga–Baltic Waterway, and aimed to create a quiet pass for boats avoiding the stormy waters of the lake. It is around 50 m wide, and lies between 10 m and 2 km from the shores of the lake. The canal is not used for active navigation at present.

There are about 1650 islands in the lake with a total area of about 250 km². Whereas the most famous is Kizhi, which contains historical wooden churches of the 18th century, the largest island is Big Klimenetsky with an area of 147 km². It contains a few settlements, a school and an 82 m hill. Other large islands are Big Lelikovsky and Suysari.

Flora and fauna
The lake banks are low and are flooded with raising water level. They are therefore swampy and are rich in reed, hosting ducks, geese and swans. The coastal region is covered with dense virgin forests. Major tree types are coniferous, but also common are lime (linden), elm and European alder. Common mammals include elks, brown bears, wolves, red foxes, European hares, blue hares, red squirrels, lynxes, pine martens, European badgers, as well as American muskrats and minks which were introduced to the area in the early 20th century. About 200 bird species from 15 families have been observed in the lake basin.

Lake Onega features a large variety of fish and water invertebrates, including relicts of the glacial period such as lamprey. There are about 47 fish species from 13 families; they include sturgeon, landlocked salmon, brown trout, European smelt, grayling, roaches, Crucian carp, whitefishes, char, pike, European cisco, common dace, silver bream, carp bream, sabre carp, spined loach, wels catfish, European eel, rudd, ide, gudgeon, pike-perch, European perch, ruffe and burbot.

Ecology
The lake area used to be clean but pollution is gradually increasing, especially in the northwestern and northern parts which contain the industrial facilities of Petrozavodsk, Kondopoga and Medvezhyegorsk. About 80% of the population and more than 90% of industry of the basin are concentrated in these areas. The pollution from these three cities amount to about 190 e6m3 of sewage and drainage water and 150 tonne of emissions per year. Human activity results in about 315 e6m3 of drain water per year, of which 46% are industrial and household water, 25% is stormwater runoff and 16% is melioration-related drainage. This drainage contains 810 tonne of phosphorus and 17,000 tonne of nitrogen; 280 and 11,800 tonne respectively of these elements are removed through the River Svir whereas the rest accumulates in the lake. Ships and motor boats (about 8,000 units) bring oil pollution at the level of about 830 tonne per navigation year, as well as phenols (500 kg), lead (100 kg) and oxides of sulfur, nitrogen, and carbon.

Economy
The lake basin is a major source of granite, marble and black schist in Russia which have been exploited in the area since the early 18th century. Also advanced is metallurgy, especially in the Petrozavodsk area which produces about 25% of industrial products of Karelia. Water level of the lake is controlled by the Nizhnesvirskaya (Нижнесвирская ГЭС, "Lower Svir") and Verkhnesvirskaya (Верхнесвирская ГЭС, "Upper Svir") hydroelectric power plants. The former was built between 1927 and 1938 and has a peak power of 99 MW. The construction of Verkhnesvirskaya plant started in 1938, but was interrupted by World War II and could only be resumed in 1947. The plant was completed in 1952 and provided 160 MW of electric power. The associated with the plant Verkhnesvirsk Reservoir has an area of 9930 km² and volume of 260 km³, i.e. almost the same as those of Onega Lake. Its construction raised the water level of the lake by 0.5 m.

The lake contains a well-developed navigation system which is part of the Volga–Baltic Waterway and White Sea – Baltic Canal, connecting the basins of Baltic, Caspian and the northern seas. These canals allow water transport of goods from the lake to the countries from Germany to Iran; most traffic goes to Finland, Sweden, Germany and Denmark. The Onega Canal running along the southern shore of the lake there is not used at present. Cargo on Lake Onega amounts to 10–12 million tonnes per year with about 10,300 ship voyages. Lake shores contain two ports (Petrozavodsk and Medvezhyegorsk), 5 wharves (Kondopoga, Povenets, Shala, Vytegra and Ascension (Вознесенье)) and 41 piers.

Fishery is an important activity on the lake. About 17 species are being fished commercially, mostly European cisco, smelt, whitefishes, roaches, burbot, pike-perch, perch, ruffe, carp bream, lake salmon, pike and somewhat less ide, graylings, common dace, common bleak and crucian carp.

Whereas there is no regular passenger service on the lake, there are several tourist trips per day along the routes of Petrozavodsk–Kizhi, Petrozavodsk–Velikaya Guba and Petrozavodsk–Shala. They are run by hydrofoil and motor ships and are used for passenger transport as well. In addition, passenger ships go on the route Petrozavodsk – Shala.

Sailing is a popular activity on the lake and there is a sailing club in Petrozavodsk. Since 1972, every year at the end of July the lake has hosted the largest regatta in Russia ("Онежская парусная регата") which is the Russian Open Championship in the Russian class of Cruisers Yachts "Open800". The regatta has international status.

Cities
The largest city on the lake is Petrozavodsk – the capital of Republic of Karelia (about 270,000 citizens) – founded in 1703 by Peter I to exploit the natural ore deposits. The city contains several remarkable Neoclassical buildings from Catherine II's reign, including the Circular Square and a gymnasium building (built in 1790). The embankment of Lake Onega contains a series of sculptures, many of which were presented as gifts from the twin cities.

Kondopoga has been known since 1495 and (before its destruction in 2018) contained the Uspenskaya (Assumption) Church from 1774. This 42 m edifice was the tallest wooden church of the Russian North. There are two carillons in the city, with 23 and 18 bells, also there is an indoor ice sports arena accommodating 1,850 spectators and a Palace of Arts with an organ.

The town of Medvezhyegorsk was founded in 1916 and from 1931 became the construction base of the White Sea – Baltic Canal. Between 1703–1710 and 1766–1769 a factory was operating on the site of the city. During the World War II this area was occupied by the Finnish forces and was a place of busy military activities.

Kizhi island
The main attraction of the lake is the island of Kizhi in the northern part of the lake, which is a State Historical, Architectural and Ethnographic Preservation Area. There are 89 wooden architectural monuments of the 15th to 20th centuries on the island. The most remarkable of those is Kizhi Pogost of the early 18th century which consists of a summer church with 22 domes, a winter church with nine domes, and a belfry. The pogost was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1990. In the summer, there are daily boat connections to the island from Petrozavodsk.

Onega petroglyphs
Another attraction of the lake are the Onega petroglyphs (rock engravings). They are located on the eastern coast of the lake and date back to between the 4th and 2nd millennia BC. There are about 1,200 petroglyphs scattered over the 20 km area including several capes, such as Besov Nos (see map above). The engravings are 1 – deep and depict animals, people, boats and geometrical shapes of circular and crescent shapes.

In 2021, the petroglyphs were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for its significant artistic qualities that testify the creativity of the Stone Age.

Others
Many other historical monuments are scattered around the lake. They include the Dormition Monastery (ru) on the cape Muromsky, on the eastern shore of the lake. The monastery was founded in 1350, closed in 1918 and revived in 1991.

title: Lake Onega


text:
Order of Saint John (chartered 1888)

The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of chivalry constituted in 1888 by royal charter from Queen Victoria and dedicated to St John the Baptist.

The order traces its origins back to the Knights Hospitaller in the Middle Ages, the oldest surviving chivalric order which is generally considered to be founded in Jerusalem in 1099, which was later known as the Order of Malta. A faction of them emerged in France in the 1820s and moved to Britain in the early 1830s, where, after operating under a succession of grand priors and different names, it became associated with the founding in 1882 of the St John Ophthalmic Hospital near the old city of Jerusalem and the St John Ambulance Brigade in 1887.

The order is found throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, the Republic of Ireland, and the United States of America, with the worldwide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and injury, and to act to enhance the health and well-being of people anywhere in the world." The order's approximately 25,000 members, known as confrères, are mostly of the Protestant faith, though those of other Christian denominations, as well as adherents of other religions are accepted into the order. Except via appointment to certain government or ecclesiastical offices in some realms, membership is by invitation only and individuals may not petition for admission.

The Order of St John is perhaps best known for the health organisations it founded and continues to run, including St John Ambulance and St John Eye Hospital Group. As with the order, the memberships and work of these organisations are not constricted by denomination or religion. The order is a constituent member of the Alliance of the Orders of Saint John of Jerusalem. Its headquarters are in London and it is a registered charity under English law.

Emergence
In the 1820s, those Knights of Malta residing in France granted knighthoods to certain people of various Christian denominations who provided support to the Order in England.

In 1823, the Council of the French Langues—a French state-backed and hosted faction of the Order of Malta (Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta)—sought to raise through private subscription sufficient money to restore a territorial base for the Order of Malta and aid the Greek War of Independence. This was to be achieved by issuing bonds in London to form a mercenary army of demobilised British soldiers using readily available, cheap war surplus. A deal transferring various islands to the Order of Malta, including Rhodes when captured, was struck with the Greek rebels, but, ultimately, the attempt to raise money failed when details leaked to the press, the French monarchy withdrew its backing of the Council, and the bankers refused the loan. The Council was re-organised and the Marquis de Sainte-Croix du Molay (previously number two of the Council and a former Order of Malta administrator in Spain) became its head. In June 1826, a second attempt was made to raise money to restore a Mediterranean homeland for the Order when Philippe de Castellane, a French Knight of Malta, was appointed by the Council to negotiate with supportive persons in Britain. Scotsman Donald Currie was in 1827 given the authority to raise £240,000. Anyone who subscribed to the project and all commissioned officers of the mercenary army were offered the opportunity of being appointed knights of the Order. Few donations were attracted, though, and the Greek War of Independence was won without the help of the knights of the Council of the French Langues. Castellane and Currie were then allowed by the French Council to form the Council of the English Langue, which was inaugurated on 12 January 1831, under the executive control of Alejandro, conde de Mortara, a Spanish aristocrat. It was headquartered at what Mortara called the "Auberge of St John", St John's Gate, Clerkenwell. This was the Old Jerusalem Tavern, a public house occupying what had once been a gatehouse to the ancient Clerkenwell Priory, the medieval Grand Priory of the Knights Hospitaller, otherwise known as the Knights of Saint John. The creation of the langue has been regarded either as a revival of the Knights Hospitaller or the establishment of a new order.

The Reverend Sir Robert Peat, the absentee perpetual curate of St Lawrence, Brentford, in Middlesex, and one of the many former chaplains to Prince George (Prince Regent and later King George IV), had been recruited by the Council as a member of the society in 1830. On 29 January 1831, in the presence of Philip de Castellane and the Agent-General of the French Langues, Peat was elected prior ad interim. Then, on the grounds that he had been selling knighthoods, Peat and other English members of the organisation expelled Mortara, with the backing of the Council of the French Langues, leading to the existence of two competing English chivalric groups between early 1832 and Mortara's disappearance in 1837. On 24 February 1834, three years after becoming prior ad interim, in order to publicly reaffirm his claim to the office of Prior and in the hope of reviving a charter of Queen Mary I dealing with the original English branch of the Order of Malta, Peat took the oath de fideli administratione in the Court of the King's Bench, before the Lord Chief Justice. Peat was thus credited as being the first Grand Prior of the association, but in January 1919 "W.B.H." wrote to the journal Notes & Queries: "His name is not in the knights' lists, and he was never 'Prior in the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem': he became an ordinary member of that Order on Nov. 11, 1830."

Sir Robert Peat died in April 1837 and Sir Henry Dymoke was appointed Grand Prior and re-established contact with the knights in France and Germany, into which the group had by that time expanded. However, until the late 1830s, only the English arm of the organisation had considered itself to be a grand priory and langue of the Order of St John, having never been recognised as such by the established order. Dymoke sought to rectify this by seeking acknowledgement from the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Sovereign Military Order of Malta, but its then Lieutenant Grand Master, Philippe de Colloredo-Mansfeld, refused the request. In response to this rebuff, the English body declared itself to be the Sovereign Order of St John in England, under the title The Sovereign and Illustrious Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Anglia, thereby emphasising the order's independence and claim to direct and continuous succession from the Order of St John that was established in the 11th century. This new entity grew its membership over the ensuing three decades and, in 1861, William Montagu, 7th Duke of Manchester, agreed to become its grand prior. Additionally, an associated national hospitaller organisation was formed with a corps of ambulances.

Order of St John of Jerusalem in Great Britain
In 1871, the Duke of Manchester instituted a new constitution, which again changed the order's name, offering the more modest Order of Saint John of Jerusalem in England, abandoning the pretension to the title of "Sovereign Order". Five years later, Princess Alexandra was appointed a Lady of Justice, and this was followed by her husband, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) becoming a Knight. Two years later, Sir Edmund Lechmere bought St John's Gate as the order's headquarters; the property was initially leased from Lechmere, before the order acquired the freehold in 1887. In 1877, the order established various St John Ambulance associations in major railway centres and mining districts, so that railway men and colliers could learn how to treat victims of accidents with first aid; in 1882, the Grand Priory founded a hospice and ophthalmic dispensary in Jerusalem (known today as the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group); and, by 1887, had established the St John Ambulance Brigade, which undertook practical and life-saving work.

The name given in 1888, when the order was first constituted as the present order of chivalry by Queen Victoria's royal charter was Grand Priory of the Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in England. This was changed by the royal charter of 1926 to the Grand Priory in the British Realm of the Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem and further in 1936 to the Grand Priory in the British Realm of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem. In 1961, it played a role, together with the Protestant Continental branches of the original Order of Saint John (the "Johanniter Orders" in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and elsewhere), in the establishment of the Alliance of the Orders of Saint John of Jerusalem and thereafter finally received (through an agreement in 1963) collateral recognition by the Order of Malta. Its most recent royal charter was granted in 1955, with a supplemental charter issued in 1974, recognising the worldwide scope of the organisation by setting its present name. In 1999, the order received special consultative status from the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Officers
Charles III is at the apex of the Order of St John as its Sovereign Head, followed by the Grand Prior—since 1975, Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester. He, along with the four or five other Great Officers—the Lord Prior of St John, who acts as the lieutenant of and deputy to the Grand Prior; the Prelate, who is an Anglican bishop; the Deputy Lord Prior (or more than one depending on the Grand Prior's needs), who acts accordingly as a lieutenant and deputy to the Lord Prior; and the Sub-Prelate, who has interests in the commanderies and associations of the organisation —as well as the Priors and Chancellors of each of the order's eight priories and the Hospitaller make up the Grand Council. On recommendation of that body, the Grand Prior appoints all the Grand Officers, besides himself, and may also appoint members of either Grade I or Grade II as other officers, known as the Principal Officers, such as the Secretary-General and Honorary Officers, such as the Genealogist, (currently David White, Garter King of Arms) and Director of Ceremonies, who all hold office for a period not exceeding three years; the latter position currently being held by Alan Cook, a former Essex Police chief inspector on behalf of Major James Kelly. The Grand Prior may also appoint a Secretary of the Order, who holds office at the pleasure of the Grand Prior or until resignation. A subset of the Grand Council is the Honours and Awards Committee, which considers all recommendations for appointment or promotion into the grade of Bailiff or Dame Grand Cross, appointment or promotion into any grade of a person not resident within any priory's territory, and advises the Grand Council in respect of the award of its Lifesaving Medal and Service Medal.

List of grand priors
Since the Order's Royal Charter of 1888, the Grand Prior has been appointed by the Sovereign Head and has always been a member of the British royal family.

 * The Reverend Sir Robert Peat (1831–1837)
 * Sir Henry Dymoke (1838–1847)
 * Lieutenant Colonel Sir Charles Lamb (1847–1860)
 * Rear Admiral Sir Alexander Arbuthnott (1860–1861)
 * William Montagu, 7th Duke of Manchester (1861–1888)
 * Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (1888–1901)
 * George, Prince of Wales (1901–1910)
 * Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (1910–1939)
 * Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1939–1974)
 * Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester (1975–present)

List of priors
From 1888 until 1943, this office was styled "Sub Prior" and from 1943 until 1950 it was named "Prior."

Sub-priors

 * Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (1888–1892)
 * Prince George, Duke of Cornwall and York (1893–1901)
 * John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow (1906–1907)
 * Vacant (1908–1910)
 * Henry Holland, 1st Viscount Knutsford (1910–1914)
 * Robert Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth (1915–1923)
 * Aldred Lumley, 10th Earl of Scarbrough (1923–1943)

Priors

 * Ivor Windsor-Clive, 2nd Earl of Plymouth (1943)
 * George Villiers, 6th Earl of Clarendon (1943–1946)
 * John Loder, 2nd Baron Wakehurst (1947–1950)

Lord priors

 * John Loder, 2nd Baron Wakehurst (1950–1969)
 * Harold Caccia, Baron Caccia (1969–1981)
 * Sir Maurice Dorman (1982–1985)
 * Alan Cathcart, 6th Earl Cathcart (1986–1987)
 * Ralph Grey, Baron Grey of Naunton (1988–1990)
 * Samuel Vestey, 3rd Baron Vestey (1991–2001)
 * Colonel Eric Barry (2002–2008)
 * Anthony Mellows (2008–2014)
 * Neil Conn (2014–2015)
 * Sir Malcolm Ross (2016–2019)
 * Mark Compton (2019–present), present at the 2023 Coronation.

Grades
After the officers of the Order follow members, who are divided into six hierarchical grades, all having accordant post-nominal letters. Grade I is limited to only the members of the Grand Council plus no more than 21 others, though royalty and heads of state of any country may be appointed as a Bailiff or Dame Grand Cross without counting towards the complement. All Priors, should they not already be in the grade or higher, are appointed Knight or Dame upon their assignment. Knights and Dames of Justice, along with all Bailiffs and Dames Grand Cross, formerly were entitled to nominate two personal Esquires, just as each Knight or Dame of Grace could nominate one personal Esquire, subject to the Grand Council's scrutiny.

Knights and Dames receive the accolade from the Grand Prior when they are touched on the shoulder with a sword and are given their robes and insignia. However, jurisdiction dependent, post-nominal letters of the order are not used outside the organisation itself, and a Knight and Dame may not use the prefix Sir or Dame,   though they may request from their local heraldic authority a personal coat of arms, should they not already be entitled to use one, and have it adorned with emblems of the Order of St John. Bailiffs and Dames Grand Cross additionally have the right to be granted heraldic supporters for life. Further, membership only grants precedence within the Order, which is graded as follows:

 * 1) The Sovereign Head
 * 2) The Grand Prior
 * 3) The Lord Prior of St John
 * 4) The Prior of a Priory or the Knight or Dame Commander of a Commandery when within the territory of the establishment
 * 5) The Prelate of the Order
 * 6) The Deputy Lord Prior or the Deputy Lord Priors and if more than one by seniority in their grade
 * 7) The Sub-Prior of the Order
 * 8) Former Great Officers
 * 9) Bailiffs and Dames Grand Cross
 * 10) The Prior of a Priory or the Knight or Dame Commander of a Commandery outside the territory of the establishment
 * 11) Members of the Grand Council not included above by seniority in their grade
 * 12) The Principal Officers by seniority of their office
 * 13) The Sub-Prelates and the Honorary Sub-Prelates
 * 14) The Hospitaller of the Order
 * 15) Knights and Dames
 * 16) Chaplains
 * 17) Commanders
 * 18) Officers
 * 19) Members (formerly Serving Brothers and Serving Sisters)
 * 20) Priory Esquires (Priory Esquires are not members of the Order)

Precedence within each grade is dictated by date of appointment, save for those in Grade I who are either a head of state or royal, in which case they all precede other members in their grade as follows:

 * 1) Members of the Sovereign's family
 * 2) Heads of state from the Commonwealth of Nations
 * 3) Foreign heads of state
 * 4) Members of other Commonwealth royal families
 * 5) Members of foreign royal families

Awards are presented within the order: the Priory Vote of Thanks, the St John's Provincial/Territorial Commendation (in Canada), the Life Saving Award (Without Risk) in Silver, and the Service Medal of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.

Priories and commanderies

Following constitutional changes made in 1999, the Priory of England and The Islands was established (including the Commandery of Ards in Northern Ireland) alongside the existing Priories of Wales, Scotland, Canada, Australia (including the Commandery of Western Australia), New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States. In 2013, the Priory of Kenya and in 2014 the Priory of Singapore were formed. Each is governed by a prior and a priory chapter. Commanderies, governed by a Knight or Dame Commander and a commandery chapter, may exist within or wholly or partly without the territory of a priory, known as Dependent or Independent Commanderies, respectively. Any country without a priory or commandery of its own is assumed into the "home priory" of England and The Islands, many of these being smaller Commonwealth of Nations states in which the order has only a minor presence.

The Order of St John is said to have arrived in Canada in 1648, as the second Governor of New France, Charles de Montmagny, was a member of the original order, but it was not until 1883 that the first branch of the modern organisation was established in the Dominion, at Quebec City, growing to 12 branches by 1892. The Order of St John today constitutes part of the Canadian national honours system and the priory, established in 1946 out of the Commandery of Canada, is the largest outside of the United Kingdom, with some 6,000 members. The governor general, serves as the prior and chief officer in Canada, while lieutenant governors act as the vice-priors, overseeing the administration of the order in their respective province. These individuals thus automatically become Knights or Dames of Justice upon their assuming viceregal office.

An American Society of the Order of St John was established in 1957 as a foundation to assist the order with charitable work, after 1961 focusing its efforts specifically on the St John Ophthalmic Hospital in Jerusalem and some other organisations aiding the sick. This branch was successful enough that Queen Elizabeth II in 1996 officially created the Priory of the United States of America, the seventh priory at the time, with John R. Drexel as the first prior. By late 2000, the US Priory had approximately 1,100 members. As citizens of a country that did not have the sovereignty of the Order of St John vested in its head of state, American inductees who first joined the new priory were specifically asked to only "pay due obedience" to the governing authorities of the order "in all things consistent with your duty to your own country," thus eliminating any question of loyalty to a foreign head of state superseding American postulants' duties as US citizens.

Vestments and insignia
Upon admission into the Order of St John, confrères are presented with appropriate insignia, each level and office being depicted by different emblems and robes for wear at important occasions for the order. Common for all members of the Order is the badge, consisting of an eight-pointed Maltese Cross (embellished in the four principal angles alternately with two lions passant guardant and two unicorns passant). That for the Sovereign Head is gold with arms of white enamel and the embellishments rendered in gold, all surmounted by a jewelled St Edward's Crown, while those for the Officers of the order are the same save for the Grand Prior's having the crown made only of gold; the Lord Prior's having in place of the St Edward's Crown the coronet in gold of Albert, Prince of Wales (later Edward VII); and the Prelate's having instead a representation of a mitre in gold. Thereafter, the badges are prescribed as follows:

All Bailiffs and Dames Grand Cross may wear their badges at the left hip on a 101.6 mm (for men) or 82.5 mm (for women) wide, black watered silk ribbon over the right shoulder and from a 16.5 mm wide black band at the collar. Male Knights Justice or Grace and Commanders wear their badges on a 16.5mm wide ribbon at the neck, while Officers and Members have theirs on a 38 mm straight ribbon suspended from a medal bar on the left breast. Females in all grades have the option of wearing their insignia on a ribbon bow pinned at the left shoulder. Bailiffs and Dames Grand Cross, Knights and Dames of Justice or Grace, and chaplains may all also wear a breast star, which appears the same as their badges, only at a diameter of 88.9 mm and without embellishments for those in Grade I and 76 mm for those in Grade II. Further, those in these groups are also given a button for wear on the lapel of non-formal civilian clothing, for events such as business meetings of the order. In general, the insignia of the Order of St John may be worn at all occasions where other decorations are worn, not only those connected with the ceremonies of the order.

All members of the Order are also required to wear specific robes for formal occasions of the society, including a mantle, sopra vest, and hat. The mantles of the Sovereign Head and Grand Prior are all of black silk velvet and lined with white silk, the Sovereign Head's mantle is differentiated by an additional train. Bailiffs and Dames Grand Cross and, before 1926, Knights of Justice formerly wore black silk robes with a lining of the same material and colour; these members now wear the same mantle as Commanders and Officers, which are made of black merino wool faced with black silk. The only other unique mantles are those of the Medical Officer of the St John Ophthalmic Hospital, which bears a special pattern, and of chaplains, which is a black silk robe with full sleeves. Each cloak also bears on its left side a rendition of the order's star in white silk: the Sovereign Head, Grand Prior, and those in the first two grades of the order all have a 300 mm diameter emblem; the Sovereign's and Grand Prior's are of white silk with gold adornments, the former's also surmounted by a St Edward's Crown, while those for Bailiffs and Dames Grand Cross, Knights and Dames of Justice, and Knights and Dames of Grace are rendered in white linen, the first two groups having embellishments in gold silk, the latter in white silk. Similarly, the star for Commanders and Officers is of white linen with white silk ornamentation, though they are only 228.6 mm and 152.4 mm in diameter, respectively. The secretaries of the order, the priors and the commanders also wear the badge superimposed upon two goose quill pens embroidered saltire-wise in white silk.

The sopra (or supra) vest is a long drape of thin, black cloth that buttons close down the neck and to one side, falling to the ankles and cut so as to entirely cover the body. It is similar to a cassock, though it is actually derived from the supra vesta—a black surcoat worn in the mid-13th century by the Knights of St John. Confrères in Grade I have a plain, white, 300mm diameter Maltese Cross on their sopra vests, while members of Grades II and III, plus chaplains, have a plain garment, though the wearer's Order of St John insignia is displayed outside the vest, 152mm below the collar. Clerical inductees of the order may, when officiating, wear over their cassock and surplice a mozzetta of black with red lining, edging, and buttons, a 76mm wide star worn on the left breast and the accordant badge suspended at the neck. When full mantles and sopra vests are worn a black velvet Tudor-style hat is included.

Eligibility and appointment
The Sovereign Head confirms all appointments to the order as he, in his absolute discretion, shall think fit, though the constitution does impose certain limitations: the maximum number of members is set at 35,000, and appointees may not be under the age of 18. Recommendations are made by the Grand Council and those selected have generally acted in such a manner as to strengthen the spirit of mankind—as reflected in the order's first motto, Pro Fide—and to encourage and promote humanitarian and charitable work aiding those in sickness, suffering, and/or danger—as reflected in the order's other motto, Pro Utilitate Hominum.

To be inducted, new members must recite the organisation's declaration: "I do solemnly declare that I will be faithful and obedient to The Order of St John and its Sovereign Head as far as it is consistent with my duty to my [sovereign/president] and to my country; that I will do everything in my power to uphold its dignity and support its charitable works; and that I will endeavour always to uphold the aims of this Christian order and to conduct myself as a person of honour."

Those who are Christians additionally recite the following: "I solemnly declare that I personally profess the Christian faith and accordingly that I believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit."

Notwithstanding the order's promotion of Christian values of charity and its official stance that the order has a "Christian character", its Grand Council has since 1999 affirmed that "profession of the Christian Faith should not be a condition of membership of the Order." The issue of the order's Christian character and the issue of "inclusive membership" was dealt with in the Grand Council's Pro Fide Report in 2005, wherein it was said that the order's life is shaped by Christian faith and values, but that "[r]ather than the emphasis being primarily upon 'spiritual beliefs or doctrine' it is on works of mercy rendered through St John". Therefore, while the Great Officers are required to profess the Christian faith, the same is "not an essential condition of membership" and "[t]he onus is on the man or woman who is invited to the privilege of membership to decide whether he or she can with a good conscience promise to be faithful to the stated aims and purposes of this Christian lay order of chivalry." On the subject of inclusive membership, the report stated "Christian hospitality is a criterion which can be applied to the Order's relationships to persons of other religious faiths", and "the Order needs to be characterized by a hospitable disposition towards other faith traditions while holding fast to its own origins and foundational identity in Christian faith."

Order of wear
Admission to or promotion within the Order of St John does "not confer any rank, style, title, dignity, appellation or social precedence whatsoever". Its place in the order of wear varies from country to country. Unlike those of other hierarchical orders, all grades of the Order of St John rank between the order's predecessor and successor. Some examples follow:

Current Bailiffs and Dames Grand Cross

 * Sovereign Head: King Charles III
 * Grand Prior: Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, appointed Grand Prior and Bailiff Grand Cross in 1975

 * Bailiffs and Dames Grand Cross:

title: Order of Saint John (chartered 1888)


text:
Amber (disambiguation)

Amber is a fossilized tree resin.

Amber may also refer to:

Fiction

 * The Chronicles of Amber, a fantasy novel series written by Roger Zelazny

Film and television

 * Amber (film), a 1952 Indian film
 * Amber (TV series), an Irish TV series
 * "Amber 31422," a 2010 episode of the TV series Fringe
 * Amber Film & Photography Collective in Newcastle, England

Gaming

 * Amber: Journeys Beyond, a 1996 point-and-click computer game
 * Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game
 * AmberMUSH, a 1992 online computer game

Music

 * Amber (band), a British acoustic world music band
 * Amber (Dutch singer) (Marie-Claire Cremers, born 1969), electronic pop artist from the Netherlands
 * Amber (Amber album)
 * Amber Bondin (born 1991), also known by her stage name as Amber, a Maltese-British singer
 * Amber Liu (singer), a member of the South Korean girl group f(x), known by the mononym AMber
 * Amber (Autechre album), 1994
 * Amber (Clearlake album), 2006
 * Amber, a 1987 album by Michael Jones and David Darling
 * "Amber" (song), a song by 311 from their album From Chaos
 * "Amber", a song by Afro Celt Sound System on the album Volume 2: Release
 * "Amber", a song by Stick to Your Guns on the album The Hope Division
 * "Amber", a song by Steve Lacy from the album Gemini Rights

Australia

 * Amber, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Mareeba

Europe

 * Amber Highway, the official name of A1 autostrada (Poland)
 * Amber Road, an ancient trade route
 * EV9 The Amber Route, a cycling route between the Baltic and Adriatic Seas

India

 * Amber, India (also known as Amer)
 * Kingdom of Amber, a historical name for Jaipur State, India

United Kingdom

 * River Amber, Derbyshire, England
 * Amber Valley, Derbyshire, England

United States

 * Amber, Iowa
 * Amber, Oklahoma
 * Amber, Washington
 * Amber Township, Michigan

Other places

 * Amber Lake (disambiguation)
 * Amber Mountain (disambiguation)

Computing

 * AMBER, a molecular dynamics force field and software package
 * Amber (processor core)
 * Amber Smalltalk, a dialect of the Smalltalk programming language
 * An Amiga computer chip

Other science

 * AMBER (Very Large Telescope)
 * Amber mutation, a type of stop codon in genetics
 * A unit of volume according to the Winchester measure

Other uses

 * Amber (Bible)
 * Amber (color)
 * Amber (given name) (including a list of people with the name)
 * Amber (cheetah), shown in the series Big Cat Diary
 * Amber (restaurant), a restaurant in Hong Kong
 * Tropical Storm Amber (disambiguation)
 * Amber ale
 * AMBER Alert, a child abduction alert bulletin
 * Amber language, a language of eastern Indonesia
 * USS Amber (PYc-6), a U.S. Navy patrol boat

title: Amber (disambiguation)


text:
Moscow State University

Moscow State University (MSU; Московский государственный университет) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia.

The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches (including five foreign ones in the Commonwealth of Independent States countries). Alumni of the university include past leaders of the Soviet Union and other governments. As of 2019, 13 Nobel laureates, six Fields Medal winners, and one Turing Award winner were affiliated with the university.

The full official name is M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова).

Imperial Moscow University
Ivan Shuvalov and Mikhail Lomonosov promoted the idea of a university in Moscow, and Russian Empress Elizabeth decreed its establishment on 23 January 1755.

The first lectures were given on 7 May. Saint Petersburg State University and MSU each claim to be Russia's oldest university. Though Moscow State University was founded in 1755, St. Petersburg which has had a continuous existence as a "university" since 1819 sees itself as the successor of an academy established on in 1724, by a decree of Peter the Great.

MSU originally occupied the Principal Medicine Store on Red Square from 1755 to 1787. Catherine the Great transferred the university to a building on the other side of Mokhovaya Street, constructed between 1782 and 1793, to a design by Matvei Kazakov, and rebuilt by Domenico Giliardi after fire consumed much of Moscow in 1812.

In the 18th century, the university had three departments: philosophy, medicine, and law. A preparatory college was affiliated with the university until its abolition in 1812. In 1779, Mikhail Kheraskov founded a boarding school for noblemen (Благородный пансион) which in 1830 became a gymnasium for Russian nobility. The university press, run by Nikolay Novikov in the 1780s, published the newspaper in Imperial Russia: Moskovskie Vedomosti.

In 1804, medical education split into clinical (therapy), surgical, and obstetrics faculties. During 1884–97, the Department of Medicine built a medical campus in Devichye Pole, between the Garden Ring and Novodevichy Convent; designed by Konstantin Bykovsky, with university doctors like Nikolay Sklifosovskiy and Fyodor Erismann acting as consultants. The campus, and medical education in general, were separated from Moscow University in 1930. Devichye Pole was operated by the independent I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University and by various other state and private institutions.

The roots of student unrest in the university reach deep into the nineteenth century. In 1905, a social-democratic organization emerged at the university and called for the overthrow of the Czarist government and the establishment of a republic in Russia. The imperial government repeatedly threatened to close the university. In 1911, in a protest over the introduction of troops onto the campus and mistreatment of certain professors, 130 scientists and professors resigned en masse, including Nikolay Dimitrievich Zelinskiy, Pyotr Nikolaevich Lebedev, and Sergei Alekseevich Chaplygin; thousands of students were expelled.

1917–49
After the October Revolution of 1917, the institution began to admit children of the proletariat and peasantry. In 1919, the university abolished tuition fees, and established a preparatory facility to help working-class children prepare for entrance examinations. During the implementation of Joseph Stalin's first five-year plan (1928–32), prisoners from the Gulag were forced to construct parts of the newly expanded university.

1950–99
In 1970, the university imposed a 2% quota on Jewish students. A 2014 article entitled "Math as a tool of anti-semitism" in The Mathematics Enthusiast discussed antisemitism in the Moscow State University's Department of Mathematics during the 1970s and 1980s.

In the mid-1980s, the Dean of MSU's law faculty was dismissed for taking bribes. After 1991, nine new faculties were established. The following year, the university gained a unique status: it is funded directly from the state budget (bypassing the Ministry of Education).

On 6 September 1997, French electronic musician Jean Michel Jarre used the front of the university as the backdrop for a concert. The concert attracted a paying crowd of half a million people.

2000–2020

In 2007, MSU Rector Viktor Sadovnichy said that corruption in Russia's education system was a "systemic illness," and that he had seen an ad guaranteeing a perfect score on entrance exams to MSU, for a significant fee.

On 19 March 2008, Russia's most powerful supercomputer to date, the SKIF MSU (СКИФ МГУ; skif means "Scythian" in Russian) was launched at the university. Its peak performance of 60 TFLOPS (LINPACK – 47.170 TFLOPS) made it the fastest supercomputer in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

In November 2012, Mikhail Basharatyan, Deputy Dean of the MSU World Economy Department, was fired for taking a bribe from a pupil. In February 2013, Andrei Andriyanov resigned as head of the Kolmogorov Special Educational and Scientific Center of the university, after an investigation concluded that he had included fake references in his doctoral thesis.

Sanctions
In March 2022, Victor Sadovnichy, rector of Moscow State University and president of the Russian Union of Rectors, was the lead signature in a public statement endorsing the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In reaction, Academia Europaea, a pan-European academy, suspended the membership of Sadovnichy. In response to the Russian invasion, that same month Yale University, the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, University of Potsdam, and HKU Business School suspended their longstanding relationships with the university, and the University of St Andrews suspended a joint master's degree programme with the university. Intel and AMD, the largest chip manufacturers in the world, whose processors are used in the Moscow State University supercomputer, as well as Nvidia, reacted by suspending deliveries of their processors to Russia.

Campus
Since 1953, most of the faculties have been situated on Sparrow Hills, in southwest Moscow. In the post-war era, Joseph Stalin ordered seven tiered neoclassic towers to be built around the city. It was built using Gulag labour, as were many of Stalin's Great Construction Projects in Russia. The MSU main building was the tallest building in Europe until 1990. The central tower is 240 m tall, 36 stories high.

Along with the university administration, the Museum of Earth Sciences and faculties of Mechanics and Mathematics, Geology, Geography, and Fine and Performing Arts are in the main building. The building on Mokhovaya Street houses the Faculty of Journalism, the Faculty of Psychology, and Institute of Asian and African Countries. A number of faculty buildings are located near Manege Square in the centre of Moscow and a number of campuses abroad in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The Ulyanovsk branch of MSU was reorganized into Ulyanovsk State University in 1996.

Faculties
As of 2009, the university had 39 faculties and 15 research centres. A number of small faculties opened, such as Faculty of Physics and Chemistry and Higher School of Television. The full list of faculties is as follows:
 * Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics
 * Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics
 * Faculty of Physics

 * Faculty of Chemistry
 * Faculty of Materials Science
 * Faculty of Biology
 * MSU Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics
 * MSU Faculty of Soil Science
 * MSU Faculty of Geology
 * Faculty of Geography
 * Faculty of Fundamental Medicine
 * Faculty of Space Research
 * Faculty of History
 * MSU Faculty of Philology
 * MSU Faculty of Philosophy
 * Faculty of Economics
 * MSU Faculty of Law
 * Faculty of Journalism
 * Faculty of Psychology
 * Institute of Asian and African Countries
 * MSU Faculty of Sociology
 * MSU Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies
 * MSU Faculty of Public Administration
 * MSU Faculty of World Politics
 * Faculty of Political Science
 * Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts
 * Faculty of Global Studies
 * Faculty of Education
 * Graduate School of Business Administration
 * Faculty of Physics and Chemistry
 * Moscow School of Economics
 * Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation
 * Graduate School of Public Administration
 * Graduate School of Public Audit
 * Graduate School of Administration and Innovations
 * Graduate School of Innovative Business Administration
 * Graduate School of Contemporary Social Sciences
 * Graduate School of Television
 * Center of Military Training

Institutions and research centers

 * Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics
 * Institute of Mechanics
 * Sternberg Astronomical Institute
 * A.N. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology
 * Research Computing Center
 * N.N. Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Problems of Microphysics
 * White Sea Biological Station
 * Moscow University Herbarium

Academic reputation

In world rankings, MSU was ranked 101st–150th by the Academic Ranking of World Universities 2022, #75 by QS World University Rankings 2023, and #355 by U.S. News & World Report 2023.

According to the some international rankings MSU is the highest-ranked Russian university (with the nearest Russian competitor being Saint Petersburg State University), but it was consistently ranked outside the top 5 nationally in 2010–11 by Forbes and Ria Novosti / HSE, with both ratings based on data set collected by HSE from Russian Unified State Exam scores averaged per all students and faculties of university.

The university has contacts with universities throughout the world, exchanging students and lecturers. It houses the UNESCO International Demography Courses and Hydrology Courses. In 1991 the French University College, the Russian-American University, and the Institute of German Science and Culture were opened.

The institution's academic reputation was severely undermined because of its support for the special military operation in Ukraine (See: sanctions).

Staff and students
The university employs more than 4,000 academics and 15,000 support staff. Approximately 5,000 researchers work at the university's research institutes and facilities. More than 40,000 undergraduates and 7,000 advanced degree candidates are enrolled. Annually, the university hosts approximately 2,000 students, graduate students, and researchers from around the world.

Notable people
As of 2017, 13 Nobel laureates, 6 Fields Medal winners and one Turing Award winner had been affiliated with the university. It is the alma mater of writers Anton Chekhov, Boris Pasternak, and Ivan Turgenev; politicians Mikhail Gorbachev, Mikhail Suslov, and Ruslan Khasbulatov; and mathematicians and physicists Vladimir Arnold, Boris Demidovich, Vladimir Drinfeld, Vitaly Ginzburg, Andrey Kolmogorov, Grigory Margulis, Andrei Sakharov, and Yakov Sinai.

title: Moscow State University