Free Republic

Reikado Hall on Miyajima Island's Mount Misen has been known as the home of the "eternal flame" for over 1,200 years. And the thing about eternal flames is that if they do get out of control, you can't really put them out. Otherwise they're not so eternal are they? And then the inevitable happens: A Buddhist hall in Western Japan known for housing an "eternal flame" that has been burning for over 1,000 years caught fire and burned to the ground on Miyajima Island. pic.twitter.com/8HPHGdDu4A— The Associated Press (@AP) May 21, 2026Yep, according to News on Japan, the eternal flame...

Monsieur Philip Krass was known throughout the Big Horn Basin for his sense of humor and a love for bridge and good cigars. He was the priest for both Thermopolis and Worland from 1934 to 1975 and would drive more than 100 miles just to join in a game of bridge. “He was a champion bridge player,” said Iris Cavalli, now 90. “He would go clear to Meeteetse if there was a game he was invited to.” Parishioner Dee Arps, 108, everyone knew if they were planning a night of bridge and needed that extra player, they could count on...

India has a thriving community of Eastern Orthodox Christians. The Eastern Orthodox faith stems from the Apostolic Church, brought by Saint Thomas the Apostle to India. Orthodox Christians have confronted certain challenges from the Latin West. As per the book Acts of Thomas, written in Edessa sometime in the 2nd to 4th centuries AD, on his first mission, St. Thomas the Apostle reached the capital of the Indo-Parthian king, Gondophares. Gondophares ruled Afghanistan and Punjab—with Taxila as the capital—along with the trader Abbanes. On his second mission, he traveled to a kingdom in southern India ruled by a first-century dynasty....

In my recent book The Fate of the Apostles, I examine the evidence the apostles of Jesus died as martyrs. Because the evidence is early and consistent, there is widespread agreement that Peter, Paul, and both James died as martyrs. But scholars are much more divided over the tradition surrounding “doubting” Thomas. Did he really make it to India, as tradition suggests, and die there as a martyr? The Eastern Church has consistently held that Thomas ministered in India. Alphonse Mingana notes: It is the constant tradition of the Eastern Church that the Apostle Thomas evangelized India, and there is...

In my last post, I evaluated the tradition that the apostle Thomas ministered in India. While the evidence for Thomas in India is not as strong as for Peter and Paul in Rome, it is at least probable that he founded the church in India. But did Thomas die as a martyr? THE ACTS OF THOMASThe Acts of Thomas (c. AD 200-220) is the earliest literary account of the martyrdom of Thomas in India. It begins with the apostles in Jerusalem dividing up the world for missions. According to lot, Thomas was assigned to go to India, but he reluctantly...

According to a statement released by the University of Liège, a 2,000-year-old fragment of papyrus recovered from the archives of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo preserves 30 previously unknown verses written by Empedocles of Agrigentum, a Greek philosopher who lived in the fifth century B.C. The work of Empedocles had been known only through quotes recorded by later authors, such as Plato, Aristotle, and Plutarch. Papyrologist Nathan Carlig of the University of Liège realized that the papyrus fragment, labeled P. Fouad inv. 218, was an unknown fragment of Physica, a poem written by Empedocles. These verses concern...

Top Secret Location this time, as I get a unique opportunity to inspect an ultra rare Medieval Wayside Cross, next to a lost Roman road, deep on a private estate with no public access. Believed to have been erected in the 13th or 14th centuries to provide reassurance for Christians travelling the ancient Roman road, this remarkable survivor has never been seen on video before and it speaks of the afterlife of the Roman road, before it disappeared from view. Along the way we get to see a well-defined surviving section of the road in the form of a causeway...

The Bulls are cutting bait with Jaden Ivey, waiving the guard following comments on social media livestreams against the LGBTQ community and the Catholic church. The team announced he was waived “due to conduct detrimental to the team” in a statement. Growing concerns about Ivey date back to last month and his comments on a livestream on his personal Instagram account on Monday about the LGBTQ community were the last straw for the Bulls, according to the Chicago Sun Times. Ivey has been posting several lengthy videos on his social media in recent weeks, with the topic of the NBA’s...

In major events in Jerusalem on February 16 and 17, the State of Israel and world Jewry celebrated the reclamation of the 3,000-year-old Mount of Olives, the historic burial site of more than 150,000 Jews over the ages; among them prophets, many great rabbis, and notable modern Israeli leaders. The events were sponsored by the International Committee for Har Hazeitim ICHH in conjunction with the Israeli government and Municipality of Jerusalem. The highlight of the two-day mission was the ceremony marking the completion of the first floor of the Visitor Education Center which ICHH is building in partnership with national...

In Zoroastrianism, the dog is regarded as an especially beneficent, clean and righteous creature, which must be fed and taken care of. The dog is praised for the useful work it performs in the household, but it is also seen as having special spiritual virtues. A dog’s gaze is considered to be purifying and to drive off daevas (demons). It is also believed to have a special connection with the afterlife: the Chinwad Bridge to Heaven is said to be guarded by dogs in Zoroastrian scripture, and dogs are traditionally fed in commemoration of the dead. Ihtiram-i sag, “respect for...

The Vatican will not join President Donald Trump’s newly formed Board of Peace, its top diplomatic official said Tuesday, signaling reluctance from the Holy See to take part in the post-war initiative. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said the Holy See "will not participate in the Board of Peace because of its particular nature, which is evidently not that of other States," the Vatican’s official news outlet reported. The Board of Peace, which was chartered in January and includes nearly 20 countries, is tasked with managing recovery efforts in the Gaza Strip after the Israel-Hamas war. While responding...

Another remarkable story has emerged about a supernatural encounter during a near-death experience. In a powerful new episode of the No Longer Nomads podcast, Billy and Isabella Garaffa shared their incredible story. Billy went into cardiac arrest in the middle of a hockey game and was dead for 16 minutes on the ice. But while he was physically dead, he was never more spiritually alive. A Prayer Before the Game Before he stepped onto the ice that day, Billy prayed for protection. What he didn't know was that prayer would set the stage for one of the most profound events...

The robed harbinger of human demise was once seen much differently, as was death itself. The history of how we personify death is a record of what we face in life. The Grim Reaper | 16:44 The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered | 1.61M subscribers | 97,710 views | October 31, 2025

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) - Another Texas A&M professor is facing scrutiny from university administration over course curriculum, being instructed to remove readings from his syllabus. Professor Martin Peterson confirmed to KBTX’s Rusty Surette that he was instructed by the philosophy department to remove readings in his “Contemporary Moral Issues” course related to race and gender - including readings by the Greek philosopher Plato - or be reassigned. “I speak for myself, not the university, when I say in my opinion, Texas A&M is not on the right track. Censorship is not a viable path to academic excellence,” said Peterson.

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2004 February 29 Julius Caesar and Leap Days Credit: Rune Rysstad Explanation: Today, February 29th, is a leap day - a relatively rare occurrence. In 46 BC, Julius Caesar, pictured above in a self-decreed minted coin, created a calendar system that added one leap day every four years. Acting on advice by Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes, Caesar did this to make up for the fact that the Earth's year...

Each month in the modern Gregorian calendar consists of at least 28 days. That number would be a nicely rounded 30 were it not for February. While every month besides the second in the calendar contains at least 30 days, February falls short with 28 (and 29 on a leap year). So why is the most widely used calendar in the world so inconsistent in the lengths of its months? And why is February stuck with the fewest number of days? Blame it on Roman superstition. The Gregorian calendar’s oldest ancestor, the first Roman calendar, had a glaring difference in...

...in the early 1990s two of Mike’s interests, numismatics and astronomy, came together. As Mike explored the astrological iconography on Roman coins he developed a theory for the "Magi's star.” He interpreted this event as a description of a remarkable pair of highly visible eclipses of Jupiter by the Moon. These occurred in the constellation Aries that was associated with King Herod and was likely interpreted as a sign of a major event. He presented his findings in a 1995 paper in The Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society and later in his 1999 Rutgers University Press book "The...

Because of the shift from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in the 1500s, Christmas ended up being celebrated 11 days earlier than before. When the change reached America in the 1750s, some people continued to observe December 25 as sacred and also marked January 6 as “Old Christmas.” This tradition held on strongly in Appalachia and remained part of Kentucky's holiday heritage as a parallel celebration alongside the newer Christmas date. The Forgotten Holiday Called 'Old Christmas' | 5:57 KET - Kentucky Educational Television | 44K subscribers | 47,374 views | November 26, 2025

This Monday is the federal holiday Washington's Birthday, better known as Presidents Day, celebrated on the third Monday of February. If you want to know the actual birth date of George Washington, you will find two dates: Feb. 22, 1732, and Feb. 11, 1731. Both dates are correct. What accounts for the discrepancy? When Washington was born, Britain and its colonies were using the Julian calendar. Developed in first century B.C. under Julius Caesar, it had three too many leap days per 400-year period. The Catholic Church corrected the error in the 16th century by introducing a modified calendar (the...

The Islamic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has switched from the lunar-based Islamic calendar, which starts with the emigration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, to the "Western" Gregorian calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII and based on Jesus Christ's birth.The decision, taken during a recent cabinet session chaired by King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, is an austerity measure to deal with its budget deficit, according to reports, which say the drop in crude oil prices beginning 2014 has hit the world's top oil exporter hard.The Muslim calendar, also known as Hijri, loses some 11 days a year so that Islamic...