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Deaconess

The ministry of a deaconess is a usually non-ordained ministry for women in some Protestant, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Orthodox churches to provide pastoral care, especially for other women, and which may carry a limited liturgical role. The word comes from the Greek (διάκονος), for "deacon", which means a servant or helper and occurs frequently in the Christian New Testament of the Bible. Deaconesses trace their roots from the time of Jesus Christ through to the 13th century in the West. They existed from the early through the middle Byzantine periods in Constantinople and Jerusalem; the office may also have existed in Western European churches. There is evidence to support the idea that the diaconate including women in the Byzantine Church of the early and middle Byzantine periods was recognized as one of the major non-ordained orders of clergy.

The English separatists unsuccessfully sought to revive the office of deaconesses in the 1610s in their Amsterdam congregation. Later, a modern resurgence of the office began among Protestants in Germany in the 1840s and spread through Nordic States, Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States. Lutherans were especially active and their contributions are seen in numerous hospitals. The modern movement reached a peak about 1910, then slowly declined as secularization undercut religiosity in Europe and the professionalization of nursing and social work offered other career opportunities for young women. Deaconesses continue to serve in Christian denominations such as Lutheranism and Methodism, among others. Before they begin their ministry, they are consecrated as deaconesses.

Non-clerical deaconesses should not be confused with women ordained deacons such as in the Anglican churches, the Methodist churches, and the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, many of which have both ordained deacons and consecrated deaconesses; in Methodism, the male equivalent to female deaconesses are Home Missioners.

Early Christian period
The oldest reference to women as deaconesses (or female deacons, there is no distinction of role in Latin or Greek) occurs in Paul's letters (c. AD 55–58). Their ministry is mentioned by early Christian writers such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen. Secular evidence from the early 2nd century confirms this. In a letter Pliny the Younger attests to the role of the women deaconesses. Pliny refers to "two maid-servants" as deacons whom he tortures to find out more about the Christians. This establishes the existence of the office of the deaconesses in parts of the eastern Roman Empire from the earliest times. 4th-century Fathers of the Church, such as Epiphanius of Salamis, Basil of Caesarea, John Chrysostom and Gregory of Nyssa accept the ministry of deaconesses as a fact.

The Didascalia of the Apostles is the earliest document that specifically discusses the role of deacons and deaconesses more at length. It originated in Aramaic speaking Syria during the 3rd century, but soon spread in Greek and Latin versions. In it the author urges the bishop: "Appoint a woman for the ministry of women. For there are homes to which you cannot send a deacon to their women, on account of the heathen, but you may send a deaconess ... Also in many other matters the office of a deaconess is required." The bishop should look on the man who is a deacon as Christ and the woman who is a deaconess as the Holy Spirit, denoting their prominent place in the church hierarchy.

Deaconesses are also mentioned in Canon 19 of Niceae I which states that “since they have no imposition of hands, are to be numbered only among the laity”. The Council of Chalcedon of 451 decreed that women should not be installed as deaconesses until they were 40 years old. The oldest ordination rite for deaconesses is found in the 5th-century Apostolic Constitutions. It describes the laying on of hands on the woman by the bishop with the calling down of the Holy Spirit for the ministry of the diaconate. A full version of the rite, with rubrics and prayers, has been found in the Barberini Codex of 780 AD. This liturgical manual provides an ordination rite for women as deaconesses which is virtually identical to the ordination rite for men as deacons. Other ancient manuscripts confirm the same rite. However some scholars such as Philip Schaff have written that the ceremony performed for ordaining deaconesses was "merely a solemn dedication and blessing." Still, a careful study of the rite has persuaded most modern scholars that the rite was fully a sacrament in present-day terms. R. Gryson, The Ministry of Women in the Early Church, Collegeville 1976; originally Le ministère des femmes dans l'Église ancienne, Gembloux 1972, esp. pp. 117–118; Y. Congar, 'Gutachten zum Diakonat der Frau', Amtliche Mitteilungen der Gemeinsamen Synode der Bistümer der Bundesrepublik Deutschlands, Munich 1973, no 7, p. 37–41; C. Vaggagini, 'L'Ordinazione delle diaconesse nella tradizione greca e bizantina', Orientalia Christiana Periodica 40 (1974) 145–189 ; H. Frohnhofen, 'Weibliche Diakone in der frühen Kirche', Studien zur Zeit 204 (1986) 269–278; M-J. Aubert, ''Des Femmes Diacres. Un nouveau chemin pour l'Église'', Paris 1987, esp. p. 105; D. Ansorge, 'Der Diakonat der Frau. Zum gegenwärtigen Forschungsstand', in T.Berger/A.Gerhards (ed.), Liturgie und Frauenfrage, St. Odilien 1990, pp. 46–47; A. Thiermeyer, 'Der Diakonat der Frau', Theologisch Quartalschrift 173 (1993) 3, 226–236; also in Frauenordination, W. Gross (ed.), Munich 1966, pp. 53–63; Ch. Böttigheimer,, 'Der Diakonat der Frau', Münchener Theologische Zeitschrift 47 (1996) 3, 253–266; P. Hofrichter, 'Diakonat und Frauen im kirchlichen Amt', Heiliger Dienst 50 (1996) 3, 140–158; P. Hünermann, 'Theologische Argumente für die Diakonatsweihe van Frauen', in ''Diakonat. Ein Amt für Frauen in der Kirche – Ein frauengerechtes Amt?, Ostfildern 1997, pp. 98–128, esp. p. 104; A. Jensen, 'Das Amt der Diakonin in der kirchlichen Tradition der ersten Jahrtausend', in Diakonat. Ein Amt für Frauen in der Kirche – Ein frauengerechtes Amt?, Ostfildern 1997, pp. 33–52, esp. p. 59; D. Reininger, Diakonat der Frau in der einen Kirche, Ostfildern 1999 pp. 97–98; P. Zagano, Holy Saturday. An Argument for the Restoration of the Female Diaconate in the Catholic Church, New York 2000; J. Wijngaards, Women Deacons in the Early Church'', New York 2002, pp. 99–107.

Olympias, one of the closest friends and supporters of the Archbishop of Constantinople John Chrysostom, was known as a wealthy and influential deaconess during the 5th century. Justinian's legislation in the mid-6th century regarding clergy throughout his territories in the East and the West mentioned men and women as deacons in parallel. He also included women as deacons among those he regulated for service at the Great Church of Hagia Sophia, listing men and women as deacons together, and later specifying one hundred deacons who were men and forty who were women. Evidence of continuing liturgical and pastoral roles is provided by Constantine Porphyrogenitus' 10th-century manual of ceremonies (De Ceremoniis), which refers to a special area for deaconesses in Hagia Sophia.

Pauline text
Paul's earliest mention of a woman as deacon is in his Letter to the Romans 16:1 (AD 58) where he says: "I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is the servant of the church at Cenchreae". The original Greek says: οὖσαν διάκονον,, being [the] [female] servant of the church at Cenchreae. The word means servant in nearly all of its 30 uses in the New Testament, but may also be used to refer to the church office of deacon. There is no scholarly consensus regarding whether the phrase here denotes "an official title of a permanent ministry." The term may refer to her serving in a more generic sense, without holding a church office.

A reference to the qualifications required of deacons appears in Paul's First Epistle to Timothy 3:8–13 (NRSV translation):

"Deacons likewise must be serious, not double-tongued, not indulging in much wine, not greedy for money; they must hold fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them first be tested; then, if they prove themselves blameless, let them serve as deacons. Women likewise must be serious, not slanderers, but temperate, faithful in all things. Let deacons be married only once, and let them manage their children and their households well; for those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus."

This verse about "the women" appears in the middle of a section that also addresses the men. However, the words regarding "the women" may refer to the wives of male deacons, or to deacons who are women. The transition from deacons generally to female deacons in particular may make sense linguistically, because the same word διακονοι covers both men and women. To indicate the women, the Greeks would sometimes say διάκονοι γυναῖκες ("deacon women"). This expression appears in the church legislation of Justinian. This interpretation is followed by some early Greek Fathers such as John Chrysostom and Theodore of Mopsuestia. However, this is not the phrase used here, where Paul refers simply to γυναῖκας (women).

Commentary on 1 Corinthians 9:5 "Have we not the right to take a woman around with us as a sister, like all the other apostles?" by Clement of Alexandria (150 AD to 215 AD):

"But the latter [the apostles], in accordance with their ministry [διακονια], devoted themselves to preaching without any distraction, and took women with them, not as wives, but as sisters, that they might be their co-ministers [συνδιακονους] in dealing with women in their homes. It was through them that the Lord's teaching penetrated also the women's quarters without any scandal being aroused. We also know the instructions about women deacons [διακονών γυναικών] which are given by the noble Paul in his other letter, the one to Timothy [1 Timothy 3:11]."

As Clement of Alexandria made mention of Paul's reference to deaconesses in 1 Timothy 3:11, so Origen of Alexandria (184 AD to 254 AD) commented on Phoebe, the deacon that Paul mentions in Romans 16:1–2:

"This text teaches with the authority of the Apostle that even women are instituted deacons in the Church. This is the function which was exercised in the church of Cenchreae by Phoebe, who was the object of high praise and recommendation by Paul… And thus this text teaches at the same time two things: that there are, as we have already said, women deacons in the Church, and that women, who by their good works deserve to be praised by the Apostle, ought to be accepted in the diaconate."

The Apostolic Constitutions say:

"Concerning a deaconess, I, Bartholomew enjoin O Bishop, thou shalt lay thy hands upon her with all the Presbytery and the Deacons and the Deaconesses and thou shalt say: Eternal God, the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the creator of man and woman, that didst fill with the Spirit Mary and Deborah, and Anna and Huldah, that didst not disdain that thine only begotten Son should be born of a woman; Thou that in the tabernacle of witness and in the temple didst appoint women guardians of thy holy gates: Do thou now look on this thy handmaid, who is appointed unto the office of a Deaconess and grant unto her the Holy Spirit, and cleanse her from all pollution of the flesh and of the spirit, that she may worthily accomplish the work committed unto her, to thy glory and the praise of thy Christ."

Women as deacons
Two types of monastic women were typically ordained to the diaconate in the early and middle Byzantine period: abbesses and nuns with liturgical functions, as well as the wives of men who were being raised to the episcopacy. There was a strong association of deacons who were women with abbesses starting in the late fourth century or early fifth century in the East, and it occurred in the medieval period in the Latin as well as the Byzantine Church. Principally, these women lived in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, where the office of deaconess was most often found. There is literary evidence of a diaconate including women, particularly in Constantinople, and archaeological evidence of deaconesses in a number of other areas in the Empire, particularly Asia Minor. One example of a woman from Constantinople being a deacon during the post-Constantine period was Olympias, a well-educated woman, who after being widowed devoted her life to the church and was ordained a deacon. She supported the church with gifts of land and her wealth which was typical during this period. Women who are deacons are often mistaken as being only widows or wives of deacons; and it is sometimes described that they came out of an order of widows. Minor church offices developed about the same time as the diaconate in response to the needs of growing churches. Widows, however, were elderly women of the congregation in need of economic help and social support due to their situation. This concept is mentioned in the first Acts 6:1 and 9:39–41 and 1 Timothy 5. These widows had no specific duties compared to that of the deacons. In the Apostolic Constitutions women who were deacons were recognized as having power over the widows in the church. The widows were cautioned to obey "women deacons with piety, reverence and fear". In the first four centuries of the church, widows were recognized members of the church who shared some similar functions of a deaconess; yet did not share the same responsibilities or importance.

Roles
In the Byzantine church women who were deacons had both liturgical and pastoral functions within the church. These women also ministered to other women in a variety of ways, including instructing catechumens, assisting with women's baptisms and welcoming women into the church services. They also mediated between members of the church, and they cared for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the imprisoned and the persecuted. They were sent to women who were housebound due to illness or childbirth. They performed the important sacramental duty of conducting the physical anointing and baptism of women. Ordination to the diaconate was also appropriate for those responsible for the women's choir, a liturgical duty. Evidence in the Vita Sanctae Macrinae (or Life of St. Macrina) shows that Lampadia was responsible for the women's choir. Some believe that they were also officiant   of the Eucharist, but this practice was seen as invalid.

Art
It has been argued that some examples of Christian art reflect the leadership roles of women as deacons including administration of the host, teaching, baptizing, caring for the physical needs of the congregation and leading the congregation in prayers. Some depictions of women in early Christian art in various ministerial roles were, arguably, later covered up to depict men. The fresco in the Catacombs of Priscilla has been claimed as one example of a conspiracy to deny women's involvement in the Eucharist. Another example involves the chapel of St. Zeno in the Church of St. Praxida in Rome. An inscription denoting a woman in the mosaic as, "Episcopa Theodora" was altered by dropping the feminine –ra ending, thereby transforming into a masculine name. Because is the feminine form of the Greek word for bishop or overseer, the inscription suggests that Theodora was a woman who became a bishop; however, this appellation was also originally used to honour the mother  or wife of a bishop.

Decline of the diaconate including women
After the 4th century the role of women as deacons changed somewhat in the West. It appeared that the amount of involvement with the community and the focus on individual spirituality did not allow any deacon who was a woman to define her own office. During the rule of Constantine, as Christianity became more institutionalized, leadership roles for women decreased. It was during the fifth and sixth centuries in the western part of the Roman Empire that the role of deaconesses became less favorable. The councils of Orange in 441 and Orléans in 533 directly targeted the role of the deaconesses, forbidding their ordination. By at least the 9th or 10th century, nuns were the only women ordained as deacons. Evidence of diaconal ordination of women in the West is less conclusive from the 9th to the early 12th centuries than for previous eras, although it does exist and certain ceremonials were retained in liturgy books to modern times.

In Constantinople and Jerusalem, there is enough of a historical record to indicate that the diaconate including women continued to exist as an ordained order for most if not all of this period. In the Byzantine Church, the decline of the diaconate which included women began sometime during the iconoclastic period with the vanishing of the ordained order for women in the twelfth century. It is probable the decline started in the late seventh century with the introduction into the Byzantine Church of severe liturgical restrictions on menstruating women. By the eleventh century, the Byzantine Church had developed a theology of ritual impurity associated with menstruation and childbirth. Dionysius of Alexandria and his later successor, Timothy, had similar restriction on women receiving the Eucharist or entering the church during menses. Thus, "the impurity of their menstrual periods dictated their separation from the divine and holy sanctuary." By the end of the medieval period the role of the deacons decreased into mere preparation for priesthood, with only liturgical roles. In the 12th and 13th century, deaconesses had mainly disappeared in the European Christian church and, by the 11th century, were diminishing in the Eastern Mediterranean Christian churches. Even so, there is substantial evidence of their existence throughout the history of Eastern Churches.

Restoration of the female diaconate
In August 2016, the Catholic Church established a Study Commission on the Women's Diaconate to study the history of female deacons and to study the possibility of ordaining women as deacons. Until today, the Armenian Apostolic Church is still ordaining religious Sisters as deaconesses, the last Monastic deaconess was Sister Hripsime Sasounian (died in 2007) and on 25 September 2017, Ani-Kristi Manvelian a twenty-four-year-old woman was ordained in Tehran's St. Sarkis Mother Church as the first lay deaconess after many centuries. The Russian Orthodox Church had a female monastic subdiaconate into the 20th century. The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Greece restored the female monastic order of "deaconess" in 2004. And on 16 November 2016, the Holy Synod of Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria also restored the female diaconate, actually for subdeaconesses.

Reformation era
The Damsels of Charity, founded in 1559 by Prince Henri Robert de la Marck of Sedan, have sometimes been regarded as the first Protestant association of deaconesses, although they were not called by that name.

Mennonites had a practice of consecrating deaconesses. Count Zinzendorf of the Moravian Church began consecrating deaconesses in 1745.

Late modern period
The deaconess movement was revived in the mid 19th century, starting in Germany and spread to some other areas, especially among Lutherans, Anglicans and Methodists. The professionalization of roles such as nursing and social work in the early 20th century undercut its mission of using lightly trained amateurs. By the late 20th century secularization in Europe had weakened all church-affiliated women's groups, though deaconesses continue to play an important role in many Christian denominations today.

Europe
The spiritual revival in the Americas and Europe of the 19th century allowed middle-class women to seek new roles for themselves; they now could turn to deaconess service. In Victorian England, and northern Europe, the role of deaconess was socially acceptable. A point of internal controversy was whether that the lifelong vow prevented the deaconesses from marrying. While deacons are ordained, deaconesses are not.

The modern movement began in Germany in 1836 when Theodor Fliedner and his wife Friederike Münster opened the first deaconess motherhouse in Kaiserswerth on the Rhine, inspired by the existing deaconesses among the Mennonites. The diaconate was soon brought to England and Scandinavia, Kaiserswerth model. The women obligated themselves for five years of service, receiving room, board, uniforms, pocket money, and lifelong care. The uniform was the usual dress of the married woman. There were variations, such as an emphasis on preparing women for marriage through training in nursing, child care, social work and housework. In the Anglican churches, the diaconate was an auxiliary to the ordained ministry. By 1890 there were over 5,000 deaconesses in Europe, chiefly in Germany, Scandinavia and England.

In Switzerland, the "Institution des diaconesses" was founded in 1842 in Échallens by the Reformed pastor Louis Germond. In France an order of Protestant deaconesses named "Diaconesses de Reuilly" were founded in 1841 in Paris by Reformed pastor Antoine Vermeil and by a parishioner named Caroline Malvesin. In Strasbourg another order was founded in 1842 by Lutheran minister François-Henri Haerter (a.k.a. Franz Heinrich Härter in German). All three deaconesses orders are still active today, especially in hospitals, old age care and spiritual activities (retreats, teaching and preaching).

In World War II, diaconates in war zones sustained heavy damage. As eastern Europe fell to communism, most diaconates were shut down and 7000 deaconesses became refugees in West Germany.

The DIAKONIA World Federation was established in 1947 with motherhouses from Denmark, Finland, France, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland signed the constitution. By 1957, in Germany there were 46,000 deaconesses and 10,000 associates. Other countries reported a total of 14,000 deaconesses, most of them Lutherans. In the United States and Canada, 1,550 women were counted, half of them in the Methodist churches.

Denmark
Charged by Princess Louise to investigate the Deaconess Institutes in Germany, Sweden and France with a view to creating one in Denmark, Louise Conring was the first Danish woman to be trained in nursing, ultimately heading the Deaconess Institute in Copenhagen from its inauguration in 1863.

England and the British Empire
In 1862, Elizabeth Catherine Ferard received Deaconess Licence No. 1 from the Bishop of London, making her the first deaconess of the Church of England. On 30 November 1861 she had founded the North London Deaconess Institution and the community which would become the (deaconess) Community of St. Andrew. The London Diocesan Deaconess Institution also trained deaconesses for other dioceses and some served overseas and began deaconess work in Melbourne, Lahore, Grahamstown, South Africa and New Zealand. In 1887, Isabella Gilmore oversaw the revival of deaconesses not living in a community.

Lady Grisell Baillie (1822–1891) became the first deaconess in the Church of Scotland in 1888. She was commemorated in 1894 by the opening of the Lady Grisell Baillie Memorial Hospital in Edinburgh which was later renamed the Deaconess Hospital.

Finland
In the 1850s, Amanda Cajander trained as a deaconess at the Evangelical Deaconess Institute in Saint Petersburg. The wealthy Finnish philanthropist Aurora Karamsin was familiar with the Russian institute, and when she decided to open a deaconess institution in Finland in Helsinki, she invited Cajander to be its first principal. The institute opened in December 1867, during the great Famine of 1866–68. The first deaconess to have been trained in Finland was Cecilia Blomqvist.

Norway
In 1866 Cathinka Guldberg went to Kaiserswerth, (Germany) to educate herself as a nurse and deaconess. She visited the Lutheran religious community at Kaiserswerth-am-Rhein, where she observed Pastor Theodor Fliedner and the deaconesses working with the sick and the deprived. In 1869 she returned to Norway and established the first deaconess instuition in Norway, the Christiania Deaconess House (Diakonissehuset Christiania) and started Norway's first professional nursing program.

Sweden
The first Deaconess institution in Sweden, Ersta diakoni, was founded in the capital of Stockholm in 1851. The office of head of the institution was offered to Maria Cederschiöld before it was founded, and Cederschiöld studied the deaconess institution Kaiserswerth in Germany under Theodor Fliedner in 1850-1851 before participating in the foundation of the institution in Sweden upon her return, herself becoming the first Swedish deaconess. Maria Cederschiöld of the Ersta diakoni also participated in the foundation of the first deaconess institution in Norway in Oslo.

North America
Lutheran pastor William Passavant was involved in many innovative programs; he brought the first four deaconesses to the United States after a visit to Fliedner in Kaiserswerth. They worked in the Pittsburgh Infirmary (now Passavant Hospital). Another more indirect product of Kaiserswerth was Elizabeth Fedde, who trained in Norway under a Kaiserswerth alumna, then established hospitals in Brooklyn, New York and Minneapolis, Minnesota (as well as provided the impetus for other hospitals in Chicago, Illinois and Grand Forks, North Dakota), although she turned down Passavant's invitation to administer his hospital.

In 1884, Germans in Philadelphia brought seven sisters from Germany to run their hospital. Other deaconesses soon followed and began ministries in several United States cities with large Lutheran populations. In 1895, the Lutheran General Synod approved an order of deaconesses, defining a deaconess as an "unmarried woman" of "approved fitness" serving "Christ and the Church". It set up its deaconess training program in Baltimore. By the 1963 formation of the Lutheran Church in America, there were three main centers for deaconess work: Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Omaha. These three sisterhoods combined and form what became the Deaconess Community of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Since 2019, the ELCA has permitted deaconesses (and deacons) to be ordained into its Word and Service roster. The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) has also promoted the role of deaconess.

The imperatives of the Social Gospel movement (1880s–1920s) led deaconesses to improve life for the new immigrants in large cities. In accord with the reform impulses of the Progressive Era, many agitated for laws protecting women workers, the establishment of public health and sanitation services, and improvement of social and state support for poor mothers and their children. Beginning in 1889, Emily Malbone Morgan used the proceeds of her published writings to establish facilities where working woman and their children of all faiths could vacation and renew their spirits.

In 1888, Cincinnati's German Protestants opened a hospital ("Krankenhaus") staffed by deaconesses. It evolved into the city's first general hospital, and included a nurses' training school. It was renamed Deaconess Hospital in 1917. Many other cities developed a deaconess hospital in similar fashion.

In Chicago, physician and educator Lucy Rider Meyer initiated deaconess training at her Chicago Training School for Home and Foreign Missions as well as editing a periodical, The Deaconess Advocate, and writing a history of deaconesses, Deaconesses: Biblical, Early Church, European, American (1889). She is credited with reviving the office of deaconess in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

In 1896 Methodist deaconesses founded the New England Deaconess Hospital to care for Bostonians, and the hospital added a staff of medical professionals in 1922. In 1996, the hospital merged with Beth Israel Hospital, which had opened in 1916 to serve Jewish immigrants, and thus formed the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

In 1907 Anna Alexander became the first (and only, due to the later suspension of deaconess as an office distinct from deacon) African-American deaconess in the Episcopal Church and she served in the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia during her entire career.

Mennonites founded the Bethel Deaconess Home and Hospital Society for nursing education and service in Newton, Kansas, in 1908. Over the next half century, 66 Mennonite women served there. They were unmarried but did not take explicit vows of chastity and poverty. They worked and prayed under the close supervision of founder and head sister, Frieda Kaufman (1883–1944). With the growing professionalization of graduate nursing, few women joined after 1930.

Canadian Methodists considered establishing a deaconess order at the general conference of 1890. They voted to allow the regional conferences to begin deaconess work, and by the next national conference in 1894, the order became national. The Methodist National Training School and Presbyterian Deaconess and Missionary Training Home joined to become the United Church Training School in 1926, later joining with the Anglican Women Training College to become the Centre for Christian Studies, currently in Winnipeg. This school continues to educate men and women for diaconal ministry in the United and Anglican churches.

Between 1880 and 1915, 62 training schools were opened in the United States. The lack of training had weakened Passavant's programs. However recruiting became increasingly difficult after 1910 as young women preferred graduate nursing schools or the social work curriculum offered by state universities.

Federated States of Micronesia
In 1982, Adelyn Noda became the youngest woman in Kosrae, the Federated States of Micronesia, to be ordained as a deaconess. She went on to become a teacher.

Australia
The Presbyterian and Methodist Churches both had deaconesses prior to church union that formed the Uniting Church in Australia in 1977. In 1991, the National Assembly agreed to ordain deacons — men and women. The first person to be ordained as a deacon was Betty Matthews in Perth, Western Australia, in 1992. The member association is Diakonia of the Uniting Church in Australia (DUCA).

The Anglican Church in Australia ordains transitional deacons and permanent deacons. The professional organisation for permanent deacons is the Australian Anglican Diaconal Association.

New Zealand
The Presbyterian Church of New Zealand (now the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand) started a Deaconess order in 1903 with the establishment of the Deaconess Training House in Dunedin. The work of deaconesses in New Zealand had been begun by Sister Christabel Duncan who arrived from Australia to begin work in Dunedin in 1901. By 1947 Deaconesses could choose from two three-year courses – the General Course or the Advanced Course. Women undertaking the Advanced Course could gain a Bachelor of Divinity Degree with the same theological training as Ministers through the Theological Hall at Knox College in Dunedin, as well as training in social services, teaching, nursing and missionary service. In 1965 the Church allowed women to be ordained as ministers leading to a decline in women seeking deaconess training and the Deaconess Order was wound up in 1975. Deaconesses could either become ordained as Ministers or become lay members of the Church, while still remaining employed.

The Presbyterian Research Centre, Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand in Dunedin, New Zealand, holds a collection of papers and other memorabilia relating to Presbyterian Deaconesses. The PCANZ Deaconess Collection was added to the UNESCO Memory of the World New Zealand Register in 2018.

Philippines
There are four member associations of the DIAKONIA World Federation in the Philippines: Commission on Deaconess Service of the United Methodist Church; Deaconess Association of Iglesia Evangelica En Las Islas Filipinas; Deaconess Association of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines; and Ang Iglesia Metodista sa Pilipinas.

The Iglesia ni Cristo's deaconesses are married women.

In other languages

 * Diakonissen-Anstalt Kaiserswerth.Vierzehnter Bericht über die Diakonissen-Stationen am Libanon: namentlich über das Waisenhaus Zoar in Beirut, vom 1. Juli 1885 bis 30. Juni 1887. 1887. Verlag der Diakonissen-Anstalt,
 * Herfarth, Margit. Leben in zwei Welten. Die amerikanische Diakonissenbewegung und ihre deutschen Wurzeln. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2014
 * Lauterer, Heide-Marie. Liebestätigkeit für die Volksgemeinschaft: der Kaiserwerther Verband deutscher Diakonissenmutterhäuser in den ersten Jahren des NS-Regimes, 1994. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, ISBN 3-525-55722-1
 * Markkola, Pirjo. Synti ja siveys: naiset, uskonto ja sosiaalinen työ Suomessa 1860–1920 ["Sin and chastity: women, religion and social work in Finland 1860–1920"] (2002, Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura), ISBN 951-746-388-X

title: Deaconess


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Leopoldshöhe

Leopoldshöhe is a municipality in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with ca. 16,000 inhabitants (2015).

Located in the rolling plains north of the Teutoburger Wald range, Leopoldshöhe consists of eight formerly independent municipalities: Asemissen, Bechterdissen and Greste to the south, Leopoldshöhe proper, Krentrup and Schuckenbaum at the center, and Nienhagen and Bexterhagen to the north. Both Asemissen and Leopoldshöhe proper have a pronounced infrastructure (supermarkets, gas stations, specialized shops, etc.).

Located only 10 km from the city of Bielefeld, the southern and central parts of the municipality today have a mostly suburban feel to them, but also contain several industrial zones, whereas the north is still mainly rural.

Asemissen is only a few hundred meters away from the A2 autobahn motorway, and (with the Oerlinghausen railway station) is on the railway line from Bielefeld to Detmold and Lemgo. A bus service connects almost all villages to the railway station.

History
Local proper names still existing today - particularly of the village of Krentrup - indicate settlements in the area well before 800 AD. The estate of Niederbarkhausen, at the border between Asemissen and Oerlinghausen, is mentioned in the oldest surviving document about the area, which dates from 1036 AD. In 1616, a total of 55 farms and estates is counted in the area of today's municipality.

Since this large rural area was rather sparsely populated, there was no church and people had to walk to other communities to attend service, until, in 1850, a church was built exactly in the middle between the neighboring churches of Oerlinghausen and Schötmar. Leopold II, Prince of Lippe, attended the consecration and named the budding village around the church after himself. Today, Leopoldshöhe proper is the only one of the eight constituent villages to have a centralized structure with church, market square, etc.

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

title: Leopoldshöhe


text:
Talk:Protestant Cemetery, Rome

Untitled
A temporary page was made for this listing -Gonville 05:26, 16 Jul 2004 (UTC)

The page should most certainly be moved to Non-Catholic Cemetery. It contains hundreds of Orthodox burials, including numerous Russian nobles and notables. The "Protestant Cemetery" is someone's POV. If nobody objects within 10 days, I'll move the page. --Ghirlandajo 15:05, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

Of course the cemetery holds people of various non-Catholic religions but the title "Protestant Cemetery" is NOT just someone's POV. It's an historic title, one which remains the most widely known, and used, name for this cemetery. Let's not re-write history! Madsqueak 02:07, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

The coordinates link in the top right hand corner of the page goes to "http://toolserver.org/~magnus/geo/geohack.php?pagename=Protestant_Cemetery%2C_Rome&params=41.876399_N_12.479943__E" Is not correct or not correctly parsed by the toolserver page. It has 2 underlines before the last E and therefore doesn't work. Changing that to one underline makes it work correctly. It may well be a general wikipedia fault, but I haven;t tested it on other pages. This is just a heads up. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.220.233.27 (talk) 12:15, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Article name
I've moved the page back to "Protestant Cemetery, Rome" for now. Of course that is not its name, which is "Il Cimitero Acattolico di Roma", but it is what it is called in the majority of English-language sources – compare this search to this one, for example – so in accordance with my understanding of Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 13:06, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

Requested move 9 February 2017

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: not moved. (non-admin closure) TonyBallioni (talk) 00:23, 16 February 2017 (UTC)

Protestant Cemetery, Rome → Non-Catholic Cemetery, Rome – Original name of the cemetery is 'The Non-Catholic Cemetery for Foreigners in Testaccio, Rome'. Although many English-speakers may be familiar with 'Protestant Cemetery', this name is wrong and should be averted. See this homepage of the cemetery for example. Cercatrova1554 (talk) 23:35, 8 February 2017 (UTC)
 * This is a contested technical request (permalink). wbm1058 (talk) 01:54, 9 February 2017 (UTC)

 * This is potentially controversial, per the section above this. wbm1058 (talk) 01:54, 9 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Oppose per wp:common Laurel Lodged (talk) 14:37, 9 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Oppose for the reason cited by Laurel Lodged--Jahaza (talk) 21:08, 9 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Oppose. I'm totally in favour of using the real (Italian) name of Italian institutions when there's no clearly-established English-language name in common use, but that's just not the case here. The present title seems to be – by a wide margin – the WP:COMMONNAME. What we absolutely cannot do, per WP:AT, is use a made-up name created by translation from another language; and that, I'm afraid, is what the proposed new title is. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 23:42, 9 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Common name takes primacy over official name. -- Necrothesp (talk) 15:25, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Failed attempt to add a photo -- advice?
I am attempting to add a photo (taken by me) of one of the more beautiful tombstones (John Piccoli, erected in 1955) but am getting an error message: "A file identical to this file (File:CimiteroAcattolicoPiccoliGrave.jpg) has previously been deleted. You should check that file's deletion history before proceeding to re-upload it." I have searched for this deletion history (am I looking in the right places?) and can find nothing. Anyway, there is no reason for this photo to be excluded... If you can help me understand how to solve this problem (i.e. post the photo) I will be most grateful. You may see the photo here: http://dan-keller.com/photos/2007-06-Roma/CimiteroAccatolicoPiccoliGrave.jpg  Danomatico (talk) 17:06, 28 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Hi, ! I assume the image is this one? I'm not a great expert on images, but if this is a photograph of a sculpture created in 1955, it may be protected by copyright. I don't know nearly enough about Italian copyright law to comment on that. If you want to be sure before you upload, you could try asking at Commons:Help desk, where there are experts on this sort of question. Good luck! Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 17:44, 28 December 2017 (UTC)
 * OK, I've found Commons:Deletion requests/Image:CimiteroAcattolicoPiccoliGrave.jpg, which I'm afraid confirms what I suspected (that Italy does not have freedom of panorama), and so your picture cannot be hosted on Commons. The sculptor apparently died in 1971. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 17:52, 28 December 2017 (UTC)

Adding information
Dear users of Wikipedia, I'm a student at the University of Bergamo, enrolled in the Planning and Management of Tourism Systems master course. I am participating in a project for which I have to add information to several articles here on Wikipedia (GLAM/UNIBG/Heritage studies and ICT). For this specific article, after checking the sources, I have added some historical information based on the italian version of the same. Feel free to modify and add infomation to my work and don't hesitate to contact me in case you have any questions or doubts. --Chiabase (talk) 09:37, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Protestant Cemetery, Rome


text:
Schlangen

Schlangen is a municipality in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Schlangen has about 9.000 inhabitants (2013) and enjoys relative prosperity. Located a few kilometers away from Detmold, the municipality stretches from the edge of the sandy Sea to the mountain course of the Teutoburger forest southern slope.

Politics
The town council of Schlangen consists of 26 members:

(conditions: Local election 2014)

Sister cities
The following cities are twinned with Schlangen:
 * 🇫🇮 Viitasaari, Central Finland, since 1999

title: Schlangen


text:
Warcino

Warcino  is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Kępice, within Słupsk County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland.

Geography
The settlement lies in Farther Pomerania on the left bank of the Wieprza river, approximately 3 km southwest of Kępice, 30 km southwest of Słupsk, and 117 km west of the regional capital Gdańsk.

History
The settlement, first mentioned in a 1485 deed, when it was part of the Duchy of Pomerania ruled by the Griffin duke Bogislaw X (1454-1523). The estates were held by nobles from nearby Zitzewitz (now Sycewice, Poland). Devastated in the Thirty Years' War, the region was incorporated into the Brandenburg-Prussian province of Pomerania in 1653. The Varzin branch of the Zitzewitz noble family became extinct in 1781, whereafter the estates changed hands several times.

In 1867 it was bought from the Blumenthal family for Otto von Bismarck by the grateful Prussian state for his services as Minister President during the Austro-Prussian War. Bismarck, though born in the Altmark region of central Germany, had ties to eastern Pomerania as he had spent several years of his childhood at his family's estates in Kniephof (now Konarzewo) near Naugard, and married Johanna von Puttkamer (of the Pomeranian Puttkamer noble family) at nearby Kolziglow in 1847. Bismarck evidently enjoyed the lifestyle of a Prussian Junker and the manor with its extended park and forests became one of the couple's favoured residences. Johanna died staying at Varzin in 1894, preceding her husband by four years. Otto von Bismarck then retired to his Friedrichsruh manor in Lauenburg.

Varzin manor remained in the possession of the Bismarck family until the end of World War II. The last family resident, Countess Sybille von Bismarck (née von Arnim), widow of Otto von Bismarck's son Wilhelm, declined to flee and, at age 81, committed suicide when Red Army forces were approaching in March 1945. She was buried in a family mausoleum on the grounds, which however was destroyed in 1957. After the war, the remaining German residents of the area were forcibly expelled and the locale became the Polish Warcino. The manor house, converted into a forestry college, retained a huge depiction of Bismarck's horse, Schmetterling, on its walls.

In 2011–2012, the remains of the ruinous Protestant half-timbered church in nearby Ciecholub were saved and relocated to the Warcino park. The rebuilt church was consecrated by the Evangelical bishop Marcin Hintz on 17 August 2012.

Notable people

 * Theodor Fontane visited Varzin, which is mentioned in his novel Effi Briest
 * Count Gustav Kálnoky, Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary, arrived in Varzin in 1884 for conversations on Triple Alliance matters with Chancellor Bismarck
 * Walter Flex, author of the Wild Geese poem, stayed at Varzin as a tutor of the Bismarck family in 1910-11
 * Marion Dönhoff rested at Varzin during her equestrian flight from East Prussia in 1945 and spent several days there with Sybille von Bismarck.
 * Johanna von Puttkamer

title: Warcino


text:
Talk:Pyramid of Cestius

2004 comment
A temporary page was made for this listing. --Gonville 05:27, 16 Jul 2004 (UTC)

"Relative size compared to Egyptian pyramids"
"Oddly, the Pyramid of Cestius is the 4th-tallest pyramid of the ancient Mediterranean world, being surpassed in height only by the three main Pyramids of Gizeh." This statement is at odds with the information found in the article on "Egyptian Pyramids." Several pyramids outisde Giza are listed there that are taller than 50 meters, and that are larger than the third-largest pyramid at Giza.

 * Yes, thass a mistake (a dumb one of mine, leaning on a secondary source when in fact I ought to know better); why didn't you edit it out? Bill 17:29, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

External links modified (January 2018)
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title: Talk:Pyramid of Cestius


text:
RTV Kragujevac

Radio Television Kragujevac (RTV Kragujevac; Радио Телевизија Крагујевац (РТВ Крагујевац) / Radio Televizija Kragujevac) is only one local television station in Kragujevac, Serbia and one of three regional television stations in Šumadija and Pomoravlje Region. They are trying to become not only commercial but educational stations too. They can be received in a wide region of central Serbia.

title: RTV Kragujevac


text:
User talk:Jerzy/Top Arc AC Dilog

This page contains my Topical Archive re Dialogue with Adam Carr
 * In /Top Arc AC Dilog (14 KB, 2004 Jul 16)

Consolidation of Dialogue with AC
[Moved to User talk:Jerzy/Top Arc AC Dilog Jerzy(t) 05:32, 2004 Jul 16 (UTC); originated on User talk:Jerzy and User talk:Adam Carr, and consolidated on the former, 17:45, 2004 Apr 21 (UTC) thru 21:37, 2004 Apr 22 (UTC)]

The remainder of this section is the refactoring and reformating by Jerzy(t) of a series of User-talk communications between Jerzy(t) and User:Adam Carr AKA Adam, in 2004 April, in which each participated entirely by editing the other's talk page until the point where Jerzy(t) 21:37, 2004 Apr 22 (UTC) did this reworking.

I haven't finished counting my reasons for objecting to this edit by you, but let's start with the the lack of sig. I welcome info on why you did it, and anything else that might moderate my opinion of you. But i also see the need to be blunt:
 * Don't do that.

BTW, you might consider tuning the wording of your no-headings request in light of the label "Subject/headline:" (rather than "heading") that appears when someone selects "Post a comment" from this page: some users will not realize that putting down a subject (and BTW, adding an informative summary into the history) creates an unwanted heading. --Jerzy(t) 17:45, 2004 Apr 21 (UTC)

 * Re this: ''I haven't finished counting my reasons for objecting to this edit by you, but let's start with the the lack of sig. I welcome info on why you did it, and anything else that might moderate my opinion of you. But i also see the need to be blunt:
 * Don't do that. ''
 * [ Jerzy(t) notes, at time of refactoring, that the broken ital markup is from AC's original.]

 * I have no idea what you are talking about. I made no such edit, and even if I did, so what?

Adam 23:56, 21 Apr 2004 (UTC)

If you followed the link i gave you, namely
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Talk:Josip_Broz_Tito&diff=3266738&oldid=3105015

then you saw the server's assertion that your acct (or one that was used between 22:23, 2004 Apr 7 and 02:05, 2004 Apr 8 in editing Talk:Josip Broz Tito) was used to link  the existing string "Joseph Tito" and to add the link "Tito" to Talk:Josip Broz Tito. One click from that page, at
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Talk:Josip_Broz_Tito&action=history

you will see which is the server's assertion that there were no edits by other accts between those times. I chose not to add my previous msg to your talk page in the heat of the moment. Perhaps my caution gave your memory time to become less clear than you initially assumed. --Jerzy(t) 07:04, 2004 Apr 22 (UTC)
 * (cur) (last) . . 02:05, 2004 Apr 8 . . Adam Carr
 * (cur) (last) . . m 22:23, 2004 Apr 7 . . Shallot (=Grenades vs. shells= just a confirmation)

 * I made this edit: Who made the silly decision to call this article Josip Broz rather than Josip Tito or Josip Broz Tito? He is universally known as Tito, regardless of what his legal name might have been. We don't call Lenin Vladimir Ulyanov or Stalin Iosif Djugashvili. Unless someone can give me a good reason not to, I am going to redirect it. Adam 10:48, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)

 * I have no memory of making the other edit, and I don't know what it means or what it is about it that offends you. Maybe someone attached my name to it.

Adam 07:31, 22 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Yes, i recall the entry you referred to on my talk page, which also shows up in the history here, where it also indicates it was you who preceded it with the heading "His name"; we're talking about some 3 hours later.

I've just checked further, exploiting knowledge of that time-frame, and see an explanation that would convince me of what i had unintentionally done, if it were i in your position. You may want to consider it, and learn from it if you judge it as i would.

At a (hand-edited) URL among your possible "User contributions" pages, you'll see what you were doing around that time, notably
 * 02:06, 2004 Apr 8 (hist) Greek Civil War
 * 02:06, 2004 Apr 8 (hist) Joseph Tito (New)
 * 02:05, 2004 Apr 8 (hist) Talk:Josip Broz Tito
 * 02:03, 2004 Apr 8 (hist) Josip Tito (New)
 * 02:01, 2004 Apr 8 (hist) Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) (top)

I trust you will recall the 4 of these edits other than the Talk one that we are discussing. If these were my contributions instead of yours, i'd say to myself, "Oh, of course i needed links to the Josip Tito and Joseph Tito pages, in order to create those redirects, and Talk:Josip Broz Tito could have been a good place to find at least something close. I could start an edit of the section where the "Joseph Tito" version is mentioned, and build the links i need but never save them. OK, copy Josip Broz Tito over here, take Broz out leaving Josip Tito, hit Show preview, click on the link, paste, and bingo, the Josip Tito link is done.  Take "Josip"  out, that's Tito, Show preview, follow the link, oh, good, someone already got that one right.  What's left? OK, put brackets around  "Joseph Tito" for Joseph Tito, hit Show preview..." and i'd figure that at that point i clicked on Save page instead, or even just hit Return while the cursor was in a vulnerable place (like, IIRC, the Edit summary pane!), i could have accidentally saved it.

If that still doesn't sound plausible to you, i recommend you -- because a compromised password is what it's supposed to take, for someone else to be able to put your user-name on the Page history and User contributions of an edit, as they are in this case.
 * change your password,
 * be sure you never click on "remember my password" when you go to WP from a machine you don't own, and
 * rethink the physical security of your primary computer (can people walk in and take over your WP session that you left logged on?)

If you are really sure that both of those are wrong, IMO you should go to Source Forge or get a developer to listen to you, bcz then you're a victim of a real bad bug, that probably no one is looking for at this point in the software life cycle of the data base.

Bottom line, i'm no longer interested in this matter, as i have a malice-free explanation that satisfies me. But in hopes of cleaning it up:

As to my role in it,
 * i'm glad i was persistent, and as cautious as i was;
 * i was blunt before it was entirely necessary (on the reasonable tacit assumption that accidental edits are much less common than cowboy editors, and that drawing out what could probably be more quickly settled (WRONG! [sigh]) was an inefficiency to be avoided.
 * I'm stopping short of apologizing for that judgement, but
 * i certainly regret that it turned out plausibly to have exacerbated the issue, and
 * i may turn out to call this an error and gauge similar situations differently in the future.
 * (And i babbled about the day or so between discovering the problem and editing your page, without remembering that it was weeks after the edit in question before i noticed its existence.)

Things that have more to do with you than me:
 * 1) I expect you'll be glad to know of a new feature aimed at this "where do i get a link for the page i want to creat" situation.
 * 2) Paste or type the new title in the upper-right corner pane next to Go and Search.
 * 3) Click Go.
 * 4) Toward the lower right corner of the page that results is a link to the page; it's blue, even though the page doesn't exist yet.
 * 5) (You can also
 * 6) edit a URL, or
 * 7) use a link on a preview page as i assume you did, or
 * 8) edit it in, in WP:Sandbox or a private sandbox
 * 9) -- but this is much nicer.)
 * 10) Consider whether it's worth your while to learn more about the WP tools.  The contribs and history and diffs don't really take much study, and are occasionally great labor saving devices -- usually for things you just would do without if you didn't use the tools.
 * 11) If you choose to forgo knowing the tools better, you are IMO in error if you don't dial down your confidence about what you do and don't understand.  "Someone put my name on the edit" can be plausible in the absence of evidence from Page history and User contributions when used carefully with Diff. In contrast, the evidence i had put before you pushed into conspiracy-theory ranges the plausibility of explanations involving what might be called "forgery" (except when done by password theft).
 * 12) I'm sympathetic with your not thinking thru the implications of irregularities while you felt confident they didn't happen on your watch.  But (especially since i'd be sympathetic with your being tired of this whole thing!) please now indulge my determination to ensure you grasp the issue. The problem with the edit was that it muddied the record in a way that's hard to trace (and requires an inefficient search for its cause, using the history and diffs tools, which are always more effort than orderly sigs, and whose combined use is not well understood by everyone). In particular,  it misattributes text.  (You appear to be someone who would understand the importance of that in scholarship, which is pretty much what we do here.)  In this specific case, it made me look like a fool to latecomers.

Thanks for your patience in a tricky situation. --Jerzy(t) 10:50, 2004 Apr 22 (UTC)

 * [Takes deep breath] Thanks for placing large amounts of stuff I don't understand on my Talk page. My dim recollection is that, yes, I created links from Josip Tito and Joseph Tito to the article Josip Broz Tito. I have no recollection of how I did it, but I suppose I must have done it in the way you suggest. My reference to someone else adding my name was a throwaway line because I neither knew nor cared how the edit in question came about. I still don't understand what you are getting so worked up about. Who cares whether Tito's name in a Talk page has brackets around it or not? And what is "sig"?

Adam 14:11, 22 Apr 2004 (UTC)

[ Jerzy(t) is making the following response only on User talk:Jerzy:]

Presumably My Last Word
I appreciate your deep breath, which i consider good for both of us. You ask
 * And what is "sig"?

Your sig is the expansion of ~, i.e., the remainder of that 'graph, following the question i am answering. The term could also apply to the expansion of, i.e., to that link to your user page, with the date omitted.
 * (FOLDOC provides some context in the " " sense (the first of the two senses labelled "2", sorry about that), and WP's user interface to our ".signature" analogue is a pane in, IIRC, the lower right quadrant of one's Preferences page. You appear to have entered "Adam" in that pane, while User:Angela, i, and too many others to enumerate, have something like "]][[" in the middle of ours.)

As i said, i'm no longer interested in this matter (though i'm glad to offer the courtesy of responding to what i take to be a sincere request for information). Besides that, i think direct response to the portions i've neglected in your last 'graph would, in one way or another, demean us both. Be well. --Jerzy(t) 21:37, 2004 Apr 22 (UTC)

Copy of Closure Message
[ Jerzy(t) is posting the following three 'graphs on User talk:Adam Carr, to replace the entirety of Jerzy(t)'s recent contributions there:]

This 'graph replaces approximately 1300 words edited in by Jerzy(t). The matter previously discussed partly here and partly on User talk:Jerzy now appears, refactored into chronological order and reformatted for clarity, at User talk:Jerzy. It should eventually be moved into an archive, with the move documented at User talk:Jerzy

Adam, it sounded like you'd be happier to have yr talk page decluttered of the material i have replaced with these three 'graphs. If i'm wrong, read User talk:Jerzy for suggestions.

If you are interested in my 186-word response (118 if you ignore the parenthentic portion) to your last msg, link to User talk:Jerzy --Jerzy(t) 21:37, 2004 Apr 22 (UTC)

Other Approaches I'd Applaud
According to you tastes, i'd applaud your I'd also be glad to provide technical help, if you have problems reverting, or otherwise retrieving deleted material. --Jerzy(t) 21:37, 2004 Apr 22 (UTC)
 * putting back all of what i've deleted, and/or
 * adding my refactored & reformatted version at User talk:Jerzy, or
 * deleting any or all of the three 'graphs, or
 * keeping at least the first 'graph (beginning "This 'graph replaces..."), and
 * adding a note of your choosing indicating you're modifying what follows, and
 * putting a version of either what was there or of my refactoring, modified and/or abridged as you like.

title: User talk:Jerzy/Top Arc AC Dilog


text:
Kintai Bridge

The Kintai Bridge (錦帯橋) is a historical wooden arch bridge, in the city of Iwakuni, in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan.

The pedestrian bridge was built in 1673, spanning the Nishiki River in a series of five wooden arches. The bridge is located on the foot of Mt. Yokoyama, at the top of which lies Iwakuni Castle.

Kikkou Park, which includes the bridge and castle, is a popular tourist destination in Japan, particularly during the Cherry blossom festival in the spring and the autumn color change of the Japanese maples. It was declared a National Treasure in 1922.

History

After Iwakuni Castle was completed in 1608 by Kikkawa Hiroie, the first lord of Iwakuni Domain, a series of wooden bridges was built. However, most of them were destroyed by floods several times before the construction of Kintai Bridge. Afterwards, Kintai Bridge was built by the third lord, Kikkawa Hiroyoshi, in 1673. The new stone piers replaced the old wooden ones. Though thought to be flood-proof, the bridge was destroyed by a flood the next year. As a result, the stone piers were redesigned for greater strength, and a special tax was created to maintain the bridge. This maintenance involved periodically rebuilding the bridge: every 20 years for three spans in the middle, every 40 years for two spans that connect to the banks.

Consequently, the footbridge remained intact for 276 years, until washed away again in a flood from typhoon Kijia in 1950. It was in a weakened state at the time, as the Japanese had stopped maintaining the bridge during World War II. In 1953, the bridge was reconstructed similar to the original.

In 1922, the bridge was declared a national treasure. Between 2001 and 2004, all five bridge girders were restored for the first time in 50 years.

Architecture

The bridge is composed of five sequential wooden arch bridges on four stone piers as well as two wooden piers on the dry riverbed where the bridge begins and ends. Each of the three middle spans is 35.1 meters long, while the two end spans are 34.8 meters, for a total length of about 175 meters with a width of 5 meters.

Original construction
For nearly three hundred years, the many versions of the bridge stood without the use of metal nails. This was achieved by the careful fitting of the wooden parts and by the construction of the thick girders by clamping and binding them together with metal belts. The main wooden parts of the bridge were covered by sheets of copper for additional durability.

Flood protection
The shape and weight of the bridge made it extremely strong at the top, but incredibly weak from underneath. To address concern that flood waters rushing along the river would destroy the bridge in its entirety, the bridge was designed so that the wooden pathway merely "floats" on top of its frame using mortise and tenon joints. This allowed rising flood waters to lift out the wooden pathway and carry it off down stream while sparing the main structure.

title: Kintai Bridge


text:
Virginia–Virginia Tech football rivalry

The Virginia–Virginia Tech football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Virginia Cavaliers football team of the University of Virginia (called Virginia in sports media and abbreviated UVA) and Virginia Tech Hokies football team of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (called Virginia Tech and abbreviated VT). The two schools first met in 1895 and have played annually since 1970. The game counts for 1 point in the Commonwealth Clash each year, and is part of the greater Virginia–Virginia Tech rivalry.

Since 1990, the game has nearly always been held in late November, often on Thanksgiving weekend. The scheduling of this rivalry has taken the place of Virginia's South's Oldest Rivalry game versus North Carolina, which was played on Thanksgiving Day every year between 1910 and 1950 (save for when the programs disbanded during World War I). It has also taken the place of the VMI–Virginia Tech football rivalry which was held on Thanksgiving Day up through 1971. In 1964, the UVA–VPI game began alternating between Lane Stadium and Scott Stadium on the campuses of the two universities. Previously, the series was sometimes played in Richmond, Norfolk, and at Victory Stadium in Roanoke.

The rivalry has seen many streaks. Virginia started 8–0 in the series, outscoring VPI 175–5. The Cavaliers again went unbeaten (7–0–1) from 1945 to 1952, outscoring the Gobblers 267–47, with four shutouts. Soon after, UVA president Colgate Darden turned down an invite to the 1952 Orange Bowl and de-emphasized Virginia football (causing Art Guepe to leave the program). VPI then went 12–2 in games from 1953 to 1966. More recently, Virginia Tech won a series record 15 straight games in the rivalry from 2004–2018 before the Cavaliers defeated the Hokies in 2019.

Virginia and Virginia Tech were both led by College Football Hall of Fame coaches in the 1980s and 1990s. George Welsh led UVA to a three-week run as the nation's AP No. 1 ranked team in 1990; shared ACC championships in 1989 and 1995; 85 ACC wins, second-most all-time (behind only Bobby Bowden); and an 8–6 record against Frank Beamer, a fellow Hall of Famer who led Virginia Tech to an appearance in a BCS National Championship Game; sole ACC championships in 2004, 2007, 2008, and 2010; four previous Big East Championships; and a dominant 14–1 record against Welsh's successors (Al Groh and Mike London). This rivalry game has three times served as a de facto Coastal Championship Game: in 2007 and 2011, won by Beamer's Hokies; and in 2019, won by Bronco Mendenhall's Cavaliers.

Commonwealth Cup Trophy
In 1996, a trophy was created for the rivalry, known as the Commonwealth Cup. The winning team holds the trophy until the next game, which has been held annually since 1970. Currently, the Virginia Tech Hokies football team holds the cup, having won the 2023 edition of the contest.

The trophy is constructed of marble and cherry wood, and is four feet high. It also contains the scores of all of the games in the series. The cup is engraved with the names of the two schools and is mounted atop a trapezoidal base that makes up most of the trophy's length. The front of the base features a stylized map of Virginia with Blacksburg and Charlottesville represented by stars on the map. '

History
The Virginia–Virginia Tech rivalry has existed since the 1890s, but did not reach pre-eminence until the 1980s. Traditionally, Virginia's primary rival had been the Tar Heels of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in a game which became known as the South's Oldest Rivalry. UVA and UNC had the most successful football programs of early Southern college football, as the name indicates: between 1889 and 1902, either Virginia or North Carolina claimed a southern championship in twelve out of fourteen years. VPI's rival was the Virginia Military Institute, with whom they shared a military tradition, geographic proximity, and similar acronyms (VMI and VPI).

The Virginia–VPI rivalry did have its heated moments, even early on. Hokie Hunter Carpenter, played nearly two full modern college football careers with Virginia Tech and the University of North Carolina. " The Cavalier Daily accused Carpenter of being paid, as he had played college football already for nearly a decade. Carpenter signed an affidavit that he had not received payment to play against UVA in any of the eight years (two of which he actually played for UNC in the South's Oldest Rivalry). After the VPI victory, Carpenter threatened to sue the UVA student paper for libel and UVA refused to play VPI again for eighteen years after, until 1923. Carpenter moved to Middletown, New York and never returned to the Commonwealth.

This rivalry game has been played in late November, often on Thanksgiving weekend, each year since 2000 and in every year but two (1999, when the game was played early in the season, and 2020, when the game was postponed two weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic) since 1990. This was not always the case, as the aforementioned Virginia–Carolina and VPI–VMI rivalry games were played on Thanksgiving Day for much of the 20th century. In the wake of the 2022 University of Virginia shooting, resulting in the death of 3 Virginia players, the 2022 edition was cancelled.

1995: Tech Comeback
The Virginia Cavaliers came into the '95 contest looking for their ninth regular season win. Virginia led 29–14 going into the fourth quarter, however Virginia Tech then stormed back and a Jim Druckenmiller touchdown pass to Jermaine Holmes gave the Hokies the lead with forty seven seconds left. The Cavaliers' last attempt to win the game was then snuffed out when a Mike Groh pass was intercepted and taken to the endzone by Antonio Banks, who avoided a sideline trip by a UVA athletic trainer, Joe Gieck. The Hokies went on to the 1995 Sugar Bowl to defeat Texas, whereas Virginia went on to the 1995 Peach Bowl to defeat Georgia.

1998: Cavalier Revenge
Both teams entered the '98 matchup in ranked in the Top 25 and looking for their ninth win. Virginia Tech took no time jumping out in front. The Hokies took a 17–0 lead early and led at halftime 29–7. The Hoos then came out on fire and outscored the Hokies 29–3 in the second half. A now legendary touchdown pass from quarterback Aaron Brooks to Ahmad Hawkins put Virginia up by four, and a Wali Rainer interception preserved a Virginia comeback victory, arguably their most impressive win in Blacksburg. By erasing a 22-point deficit in the second half, the Cavalier victory made for the greatest comeback win of the long series by either program. As in 1995, Virginia again faced Georgia, and again in the Peach Bowl, but this time narrowly losing. Virginia Tech avenged their rivalry loss by easily defeating Alabama in the 1998 Music City Bowl.

2003: Wali's World
The Virginia Cavaliers entered the '03 Commonwealth Cup looking to snap a four game losing streak against the Hokies. Virginia Tech led 14–7 at the half, but Virginia came out in the second half firing on all cylinders, and outscored Tech 21–0 by the 14 minute mark in the fourth quarter. Up by seven with only a few minutes left, Virginia pulled off a fake field goal on fourth down to keep possession away from the Hokies. Wali Lundy ran in it for the score on the next play, capping a dominant performance of three rushing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown. Virginia held on to the win 35–21. This game also saw Matt Schaub tie Shawn Moore for all time passing touchdowns at Virginia. The Cavaliers went on to defeat Pittsburgh in the 2003 Continental Tire Bowl, while the Hokies went on to lose to California in the 2003 Insight Bowl.

2018: The Fumble Touchdown
The '18 rivalry game saw the first overtime game, and perhaps the most dramatic fourth quarter, thus far in the long series. Virginia had high hopes of ending the 14-game losing streak against a Tech team that had mostly limped through the season. But Virginia Tech led 14–0 at halftime, only to fall behind by a touchdown with only two minutes remaining. On the ensuing Tech drive, the Hokies drove to the redzone. Hokie running back Steven Peoples fumbled the ball inside the five-yard line but it was recovered by wide receiver Hezekiah Grimsley in the endzone for a touchdown. The game then went into overtime and the Hokies managed only a field goal. Virginia completed a pass to the Hokie 14 on their first play, but quarterback Bryce Perkins fumbled on the next, and it was recovered by the defense to end the game, with a most unlikely Virginia Tech victory that extended their winning streak to 15 and bowl streak to 26. Despite the rivalry loss, Virginia went on to defeat South Carolina in the 2018 Belk Bowl, while Virginia Tech lost to Cincinnati in the 2018 Military Bowl.

2019: Virginia ends the streak
No. 24 Virginia Tech (8–3) and unranked Virginia (8–3) were tied for first place in the Coastal Division with identical 5–2 ACC records coming into the game, making the traditional Thanksgiving weekend matchup a de facto Coastal Championship Game with the winner advancing to the 2019 ACC Championship Game against Clemson. The Hokies rolled into Charlottesville with a full head of steam, as quarterback Hendon Hooker was 6–0 as a starter and the Virginia Tech defense had just shut down Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh by the combined score of 73–0 in Bud Foster's final season. The Hokies had also won 15 consecutive games in the rivalry (including two previous division championship games in 2007 and 2011, by scores of 33-21 and 38-0 respectively) and were slight favorites to win again. But Virginia and quarterback Bryce Perkins had other plans. Perkins completed 20-of-33 passes for 311 yards and rushed for another 164, totaling 475 combined yards as a one-man wrecking crew against Foster's vaunted defense; Perkins set the tone early with a pair of long first-quarter touchdown runs. After a fourth quarter that easily rivaled the previous year's in intensity and excitement, Cavalier kicker Brian Delaney made a 48-yard field goal with 1:23 left in the game to give UVA a 33–30 lead. The Cavalier defensive line then sacked Hooker on three consecutive plays on the final meaningful drive of the game. On 3rd and 21, the Hokie quarterback fumbled in his own end zone after Mandy Alonso stripped the ball, which was recovered by fourth-year defensive lineman and Virginia native Eli Hanback with 1:01 left, effectively ending the game as more than 40,000 Wahoos shook Scott Stadium to its core. UVA's coaches had Perkins take a knee instead of kicking the point-after, to prevent a potential blocked-kick runback, providing for the final 39-30 margin. As time ran out on the final play and one last Hooker attempt fell incomplete in the end zone in front of the Cavalier student section, Virginia fans rushed the field as the Cavaliers ended their losing streak against the Hokies. With the win, UVA ended the season with a perfect 7–0 record at Scott Stadium. Virginia players had head coach Bronco Mendenhall "break the rock" with a sledgehammer after the game, an action traditionally reserved for the most valuable player as selected by his peers in Cavalier victories. Mendenhall thus became the first Virginia coach to bring both the Commonwealth Cup and Jefferson-Eppes Trophy to Charlottesville at the same time after earlier knocking off Florida State (with the team additionally winning the trophyless South's Oldest Rivalry). Virginia went on to lose to Florida in the 2019 Orange Bowl, while Virginia Tech lost to Kentucky in the 2019 Belk Bowl.

title: Virginia–Virginia Tech football rivalry