document_title: Hierarchy of the Catholic Church

question_text: who was the highest ranking official in the early christian church

question_tokens: who was the highest ranking official in the early christian church

text: Hierarchy of the Catholic Church

text: Bishop[edit]

text: The bishops, who possess the fullness of orders, and therefore the fullness of both priesthood and diaconate, are as a body (the College of Bishops) considered the successors of the Apostles[15][16] and are "constituted Pastors in the Church, to be the teachers of doctrine, the priests of sacred worship and the ministers of governance"[17] and "represent the Church."[18] In the year 2012, there were 5,133 Catholic bishops;[19] at the end of 2014, there were 5,237 Catholic bishops.[20] The Pope himself is a bishop (the bishop of Rome) and traditionally uses the title "Venerable Brother" when writing formally to another bishop.

text: The typical role of a bishop is to provide pastoral governance for a diocese.[16] Bishops who fulfill this function are known as diocesan ordinaries, because they have what canon law calls ordinary (i.e. not delegated) authority for a diocese. These bishops may be known as hierarchs in the Eastern Catholic Churches. Other bishops may be appointed to assist ordinaries (auxiliary bishops and coadjutor bishops) or to carry out a function in a broader field of service to the Church, such as appointments as papal nuncios or as officials in the Roman Curia.

text: Bishops of a country or region may form an episcopal conference and meet periodically to discuss current problems. Decisions in certain fields, notably liturgy, fall within the exclusive competence of these conferences. The decisions of the conferences are binding on the individual bishops only if agreed to by at least two-thirds of the membership and confirmed by the Holy See.

text: Bishops are normally ordained to the episcopate by at least three other bishops,[17] though for validity only one is needed[21] and a mandatum from the Holy See is required.[22] Ordination to the episcopate is considered the completion of the sacrament of Holy Orders; even when a bishop retires from his active service, he remains a bishop, since the ontological effect of Holy Orders is permanent. On the other hand, titles such as archbishop or patriarch imply no ontological alteration, and existing bishops who rise to those offices do not require further ordination.

text: Sacramentally, all bishops are equal. According to jurisdiction, office, and privileges, however, various ranks are distinguished, as indicated below. All bishops are "vicars of Christ".[23]

text: Pope (Bishop of Rome)[edit]

text: The pope is the bishop of Rome. He is also, by virtue of that office:

text: Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the Latin Church, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the Vatican City State, Servant of the servants of God.[24]

text: Offices and titles[edit]

text: "Pope" is a pronominal honorific, not an office or a title, meaning "Father" (the common honorific for all clergy). The honorific "pope" was from the early 3rd century used for any bishop in the West, and is known in Greek as far back as Homer's Odyssey (6:57).[18] In the East, "pope" is still a common form of address for clergy in the Russian Orthodox Church, and is the style of the Bishop of Alexandria. Pope Marcellinus (d. 304) is the first Bishop of Rome shown in sources to have had the title "pope" used of him. From the 6th century, the imperial chancery of Constantinople normally reserved this designation for the Bishop of Rome.[18] From the early 6th century, it began to be confined in the West to the Bishop of Rome, a practice that was firmly in place by the 11th century, when Pope Gregory VII declared it reserved for the Bishop of Rome.[citation needed]

text: As bishop of the Church of Rome, he is successor to the co-patrons of that local Church, Saint Peter and Saint Paul.[25] As such, the Church of Rome, and its bishop, has always had a prominence in the Catholic communion and at least to some degree primacy among his peers, the other bishops,[26] as Peter had a certain primacy among his peers, the other apostles.[27] The exact nature of that primacy is one of the most significant ecumenical issues of the age, and has developed as a doctrine throughout the entire history of the Church.[28]

text: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting the Second Vatican Council's document Lumen gentium, states: "The pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, 'is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful.'"[29] Communion with bishop of Rome has become such a significant identifier of Catholic identity that at times the Catholic Church has been known in its entirety as "Roman Catholic", though this is inaccurate in Catholic theology (ecclesiology).[30]

text: Three other of the pope's offices stem directly from his office as bishop of the Church of Rome. As the Latin Church owes its identity and development to its origins in the liturgical, juridical, and theological patrimony of Rome, the bishop of Rome is de facto the patriarch of the Latin Church. According to no less than Pope Benedict XVI, there has been much 'confusion' between the pope's primacy as patriarch of the western church and his primacy as first patriarch among equals, that this "failure to distinguish" between the roles and responsibilities of these two distinct positions lead in time to the "extreme centralization of the Catholic Church" and the schism between East and West.[31]

text: As the first local Church of Italy, the bishop of Rome is the Primate of Italy and is empowered to appoint the president of the Italian Bishops' Conference.

text: The Church of Rome is also the principal church of the Province of Rome, so the bishop of Rome is Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman province.

text: As a bishop, the pope is referred to as a Vicar of Christ. This title was common to all bishops from the fourth through twelfth centuries, reserved to the bishop of Rome from the twelfth through early twentieth centuries, and restored to all bishops at the Second Vatican Council.[32]

text: The pope resides in Vatican City, an independent state within the city of Rome, set up by the 1929 Lateran Pacts between the Holy See and Italy. As popes were sovereigns of the papal states (754–1870), so do they exercise absolute civil authority in the microstate of Vatican City since 1929.

text: Interestingly, ambassadors are accredited not to Vatican City State but to the Holy See, which was a subject of international law even before the state was instituted. The body of officials that assist the Pope in governance of the Church as a whole is known as the Roman curia. The term "Holy See" (i.e. of Rome) is generally used only of Pope and curia, because the Code of Canon Law, which concerns governance of the Latin Church as a whole and not internal affairs of the see (diocese) of Rome itself, necessarily uses the term in this technical sense.

text: Finally, the title "Servant of the servants of God" was an addition of Pope Gregory the Great, a reminder that in Christianity, leadership is always about service/ministry (diakonia).

text: The style of address for the bishop of Rome is "His Holiness".

text: Election[edit]

text: The present rules governing the election of a pope are found in the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis.[33] This deals with the powers, from the death of a pope to the announcement of his successor's election, of the cardinals and the departments of the Roman curia; with the funeral arrangements for the dead pope; and with the place, time and manner of voting of the meeting of the cardinal electors, a meeting known as a conclave. This word is derived from Latin com- (together) and clavis (key) and refers to the locking away of the participants from outside influences, a measure that was introduced first as a means instead of forcing them to reach a decision.

text: Like all bishops, the pope has the option of resigning, though unlike other bishops, it is not required. The best known cases are those of Pope Celestine V in 1294, Pope Gregory XII in 1415 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2013. Approximately 10% of all popes left or were removed from office before death.

text: Patriarchs[edit]

text: The heads of some autonomous (in Latin, sui iuris) particular Churches consisting of several local Churches (dioceses) have the title of Patriarch.[34]

text: The pope, as patriarch of the Latin Church, is the head of the only sui iuris Church in the West, leading to the relatively short-lived title Patriarch of the West (in use 1863–2006). Eastern patriarchs are elected by the synod of bishops of their particular Church.[35]

text: The Patriarchs who head autonomous particular Churches are:

text:
The Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria (Coptic Catholic Church)[36]
The Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch (Melkite Greek Catholic Church)[37]
The Maronite Patriarch of Antioch (Maronite Church)[38]
The Syrian Catholic Patriarch of Antioch (Syrian Catholic Church)[39]
The Armenian Catholic Patriarch of Cilicia (Armenian Catholic Church)[40]
The Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylonia (Chaldean Catholic Church)[41]

text: These have authority not only over the bishops of their particular Church, including metropolitans, but also directly over all the faithful.[42] Eastern Catholic patriarchs have precedence over all other bishops, with the exceptions laid down by the Pope.[43] The honorary title prefixed to their names is "His Beatitude".

text: There are also titular patriarchs in the Latin Church, who, for various historical reasons, were granted the title, but never the corresponding office and responsibilities, of "patriarch". They include the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, the Patriarch of Venice, the Patriarch of Lisbon, and the Patriarch of the East Indies. All of these offices are honorary, and the patriarchs are not the heads of autonomous particular Churches.[44] The Patriarch of the East Indies is the archbishop of Goa, while the other patriarchs are the archbishops of the named cities. The title of Patriarch of the West Indies was in the past granted to some Spanish bishops (not always of the same see), but is long in abeyance.

text:
Current and historical Catholic patriarchates

Type
Church
Patriarchate
Patriarch

Patriarchs of sui iuris Churches
Coptic
Alexandria
Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak

Greek-Melkite
Antioch
Patriarch Youssef Absi

Maronite
Antioch
Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi

Syrian
Antioch
Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan

Armenian
Cilicia
Patriarch Gregory Petros XX Gabroyan

Chaldean
Babylon
Patriarch Louis Raphaël I Sako

Titular Patriarchs
Latin
Jerusalem
Sede vacante

Latin
East Indies
Patriarch Filipe Neri Ferrão

Latin
Lisbon
Cardinal Manuel Clemente

Latin
Venice
Patriarch Francesco Moraglia

Suppressed or vacant titles
Latin
Alexandria
suppressed in 1964

Latin
Antioch
suppressed in 1964

Latin
Constantinople
suppressed in 1964

Latin
West Indies
vacant from 1963

Latin
Aquileia
suppressed in 1751

Latin
Grado
transferred to Venice in 1451

text: Major archbishops[edit]

text: Other autonomous particular Churches are headed by a major archbishop. July 21, 2005</ref> With few exceptions, the authority of a major archbishop in his sui iuris Church is equivalent to that of a patriarch in his Church.[45] This less prestigious office[46] was established in 1963 for those Eastern Catholic Churches which have developed in size and stability to allow full self-governance if historical, ecumenical, or political conditions do not allow their elevation to a patriarchate.

text: At present, there are four major archbishops:

text:
Major archdiocese
Country
Church
Archbishop

Ernakulam-Angamaly
 India
Syro-Malabar
Cardinal George Alencherry

Făgăraş and Alba Iulia
 Romania
Romanian
Cardinal Lucian Mureșan

Kiev–Galicia
 Ukraine
Ukrainian
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk

Trivandrum
 India
Syro-Malankara
Cardinal Baselios Cleemis

text: Cardinals[edit]

text: Cardinals are princes of the Church appointed by the Pope.[47] He generally chooses bishops who head departments of the Roman Curia or important episcopal sees throughout the world. As a whole, the cardinals compose a College of Cardinals which advises the Pope, and those cardinals under the age of 80 at the death or resignation of a Pope elect his successor. Their heraldic achievement is surmounted by the red galero and tassels as a form of martyred position in the Church.

text: Not all cardinals are bishops. Domenico Bartolucci, Karl Josef Becker, Roberto Tucci and Albert Vanhoye are examples of 21st-century non-bishop cardinals. The 1917 Code of Canon Law introduced the requirement that a cardinal must be at least a priest.[48] Previously, they need only be in minor orders and not even deacons. Teodolfo Mertel, who died in 1899, was the last non-priest cardinal. In 1962, Pope John XXIII made it a rule that a man who has been nominated a cardinal is required to be consecrated a bishop, if not one already,[49] but some ask for and obtain dispensation from this requirement. It is rare that the Pope will appoint Cardinals who are priests only and not consecrated as a bishop.

text: The 1917 Code of Canon Law, continuing the tradition observed, for instance, at the First Vatican Council,[50] laid down that cardinals have precedence over all other prelates, even patriarchs.[51] The 1983 Code of Canon Law did not deal with questions of precedence.

text: The cardinalate is not an integral part of the theological structure of the Catholic Church, but largely an honorific distinction that has its origins in the 1059 assignation of the right of electing the Pope exclusively to the principal clergy of Rome and the bishops of the seven suburbicarian dioceses.[47] Because of their resulting importance, the term cardinal (from Latin cardo, meaning "hinge") was applied to them. In the 12th century the practice of appointing ecclesiastics from outside Rome as cardinals began. Each cardinal is still assigned a church in Rome as his "titular church" or is linked with one of the suburbicarian dioceses. Of these sees, the Dean of the College of Cardinals holds that of Ostia, while keeping his preceding link with one of the other six sees. Traditionally, only six cardinals held the rank of Cardinal Bishop, but when Eastern patriarchs are made cardinals, they too hold the rank of Cardinal Bishop, without being assigned a suburbicarian see. The other cardinals have the rank either of Cardinal Priest or Cardinal Deacon, the former rank being normally assigned to bishops in charge of dioceses, and the latter to officials of the Curia and to priests raised to the cardinalate.

text: Primates[edit]

text: The Latin Church title of primate has in some countries been granted to the bishop of a particular (usually metropolitan) see.[52] It once involved authority over all the other sees in the country or region, but now only gives a "prerogative of honor" with no power of governance unless an exception is made in certain matters by a privilege granted by the Holy See or by an approved custom.[53] The title is usually assigned to the ordinary of the first diocese or the oldest archdiocese in the country.[52] Thus in Poland, the primate is the archbishop of the oldest archdiocese (Gniezno, founded in 1000), and not the oldest diocese (Poznań, founded in 968).

text: Notably, the Archbishop of Baltimore is not formally considered a primate of the Catholic Church in the United States, but "prerogative of the place".

text: The closest equivalent position in Eastern Orthodoxy is an exarch holding authority over other bishops without being a patriarch.[52] In the Eastern Catholic Churches, exarchs, whether apostolic or patriarchal, do not hold authority over other bishops (see below, #Equivalents of diocesan bishops in law).

text: Metropolitans[edit]

text: A Latin Church Metropolitan is the bishop of the principal (the "metropolitan") see of an ecclesiastical province composed of several dioceses. The metropolitan receives a pallium from the pope as a symbol of his office. The metropolitan bishop has limited oversight authority over the suffragan dioceses in their province, including ensuring that the faith and ecclesiastical discipline are properly observed.[54] He also has the power to name a diocesan administrator for a vacant suffragan see if the diocesan council of consultors fails to properly elect one.[55] His diocesan tribunal additionally serves by default as the ecclesiastical court of appeal for suffragans (court of second instance),[56] and the metropolitan has the option of judging those appeals personally.[57]

text: Eastern metropolitans in patriarchal or major archiepiscopal churches have a level of authority similar to that of Latin metropolitans, subject to the specific laws and customs of their sui iuris church.[58] Eastern metropolitans who head a metropolitan sui iuris church have much greater authority within their church, although it is less than that of a major archbishop or patriarch.[59]

text: All metropolitans have the title of Archbishop, and the metropolitan see is usually referred to as an archdiocese or archeparchy, a title held not only by the 553 metropolitan sees but also by 77 other sees.[60] An exception is the metropolitan Diocese of Rome.

text: Archbishops[edit]

text: The title of archbishop is held not only by bishops who head metropolitan sees, but also by those who head archdioceses that are not metropolitan sees (most of these are in Europe and the Levant[61]). In addition, it is held by certain other bishops, referred to as "Titular Archbishops" (see "Other Bishops" below) who have been given no-longer-residential archdioceses as their titular sees—many of these in administrative or diplomatic posts, for instance as papal nuncios or secretaries of curial congregations. The bishop of a non-archiepiscopal see may be given the personal title of archbishop without also elevating his see (such a bishop is known as an archbishop ad personam), though this practice has seen significantly reduced usage since the Second Vatican Council.

text: Diocesan bishops[edit]

text: The bishop or eparch of a see, even if he does not also hold a title such as Archbishop, Metropolitan, Major Archbishop, Patriarch or Pope, is the centre of unity for his diocese or eparchy, and, as a member of the College of Bishops, shares in responsibility for governance of the whole Church (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 886). As each local particular Church is an embodiment of the whole Catholic Church, not just an administrative subdivision of something larger, the bishop who is its head is not a delegate of the Pope. Instead, he has of himself primary teaching, governance and sanctifying responsibility for the see for which he has been ordained bishop.

text: Within each diocese, even if the Eucharist is celebrated by another bishop, the necessary communion with the Bishop of the diocese is signified by the mention of his name. In Eastern eparchies the name of the patriarch, major archbishop or metropolitan is also mentioned, because these also have direct responsibility within all the eparchies of the particular Church in question. For the same reason, every Catholic celebration of the Eucharist has a mention of the Pope by name.

text: Ordination to the episcopate is the fullness of the priesthood and the completion of the sacrament of Holy Orders. Bishops are considered the successors of the apostles.

text: Within the Catholic Church the following posts have similarities to that of a diocesan bishop, but are not necessarily held by a bishop.

text: Equivalents of diocesan bishops in law[edit]

text: Canon 368 of the Code of Canon Law lists five Latin Church jurisdictional areas that are considered equivalent to a diocese. These are headed by:

text:
A Territorial Prelate, formerly called a Prelate nullius dioceseos (of no diocese), in charge of a geographical area that has not yet been raised to the level of diocese
A Territorial Abbot, in charge of an area, which in mission countries can be quite vast, associated with an abbey
A Vicar Apostolic (normally a bishop of a titular see), in charge of an apostolic vicariate, usually in a mission country, not yet ready to be made a diocese
A Prefect Apostolic (usually not a bishop), in charge of an apostolic prefecture, not yet ready to be made an apostolic vicariate
A Permanent Apostolic Administrator, in charge of a geographical area that for serious reasons cannot be made a diocese.

text: To these may be added:

text:
An Apostolic Exarch (normally a bishop of a titular see), in charge of an apostolic exarchate—not yet ready to be made an eparchy—for the faithful of an Eastern Catholic Church in an area that is situated outside the home territory of that Eastern Church.
A Patriarchal Exarch, a bishop in charge of a patriarchal exarchate—not yet ready to be made an eparchy—for the faithful of an Eastern Catholic Church in an area situated within the home territory of that patriarchal Eastern Church.[62]
A Military Ordinary, serving Catholics in a country's armed forces
A Personal Prelate, in charge of a group of persons without regard to geography: the only personal prelature existing is that of Opus Dei.
An Apostolic Administrator of a Personal Apostolic Administration: only one exists, the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney
An Ordinary of a personal ordinariate for former Anglicans[63]
A Superior of an autonomous mission

text: Of somewhat similar standing is the Diocesan Administrator (formerly called a Vicar Capitular) elected to govern a diocese during a vacancy. Apart from certain limitations of nature and law, he has, on a caretaker basis, the same obligations and powers as a Diocesan Bishop (canons 427–429 of the Code of Canon Law). Occasionally an Apostolic Administrator is appointed by the Holy See to run a vacant diocese, or even a diocese whose bishop is incapacitated or otherwise impeded.

text: Other bishops[edit]

text: A Diocesan Bishop may have bishops who assist in his ministry. The Coadjutor Bishop of a see has the right of succession on the death or resignation of the Diocesan Bishop, and, if the see is an archdiocese, holds the title of Archbishop. Similarly, a retired Diocesan Bishop keeps his connection with the see to which he was appointed, and is known as Bishop (or Archbishop) Emeritus of that see. On the other hand, an Auxiliary Bishop, who may also hold posts such as vicar general or episcopal vicar, is appointed bishop of a titular see, a see that in the course of history has ceased to exist as an actual jurisdictional unit.

text: The titular sees—which may be archiepiscopal or simply episcopal—assigned to such bishops were once known as sees in partibus infidelium, because they were situated in areas lost to Christianity as a result of Muslim conquests. Now former sees even in Christian countries are assigned as titular sees. These sees are also assigned to bishops who serve in the Roman Curia, as Papal Nuncios, or as equivalents of Diocesan Bishops in law (see above), such as Vicars Apostolic and Apostolic Exarchs.

text: The term "Titular Bishop" is frequently used for such bishops, but is, strictly speaking, inaccurate, since they are indeed bishops, even if they do not serve the see to which they are appointed, and are not merely holders of an honorary title of bishop. They are members of the College of Bishops as much as the Diocesan Bishops.

text: In most English-speaking countries, the honorary title prefixed to the name of a bishop is "The Most Reverend". However, in the United Kingdom and in those countries most strongly influenced by English (not Irish) practice, "The Most Reverend" is reserved for archbishops, and other bishops are called "The Right Reverend".

text: Important titles or functions usually, but not necessarily, held by (arch)bishops who are not in charge of a diocese or an equivalent community include those of Apostolic Delegate, Apostolic Nuncio, Papal Legate, Patriarchal Vicar, Pontifical Delegate.

text: Ordinaries and local ordinaries[edit]

text: Local ordinaries are placed over or exercise ordinary executive power in particular churches or equivalent communities.[64]

text:
The Supreme Pontiff (the Pope) is a local ordinary for the whole Catholic Church.[65][66]
In Eastern Catholic Churches, Patriarchs, major archbishops, and metropolitans have ordinary power of governance for the whole territory of their respective autonomous particular churches.[67]
Diocesan/eparchial bishops/eparchs
Other prelates who head, even if only temporarily, a particular church or a community equivalent to it (see above #Equivalents of diocesan bishops in law)
Vicars general and protosyncelli

text: Episcopal vicars and syncelli

text: Major superiors of religious institutes (including abbots) and of societies of apostolic life are ordinaries of their respective memberships, but not local ordinaries.

text: Presbyterate[edit]

text: In general[edit]

text: Bishops are assisted by priests[68] and deacons. All priests and deacons are incardinated in a diocese or religious order. Parishes, whether territorial or person-based, within a diocese are normally in the charge of a priest, known as the parish priest or the pastor.[68]

text: In the Latin Church, only celibate men, as a rule, are ordained as priests, while the Eastern Churches, again as a rule, ordain both celibate and married men. Among the Eastern particular Churches, the Ethiopic Catholic Church ordains only celibate clergy, while also having married priests who were ordained in the Orthodox Church, while other Eastern Catholic Churches, which do ordain married men, do not have married priests in certain countries. The Western or Latin Church does sometimes, though rarely, ordain married men, usually Protestant clergy who have become Catholics. All sui iuris Churches of the Catholic Church maintain the ancient tradition that, following ordination, marriage is not allowed. Even a married priest whose wife dies may not then marry again.

text: The Catholic Church and the ancient Christian Churches see priestly ordination as a sacrament dedicating the person ordained to a permanent relationship of service, and, like Baptism and Confirmation, having an ontological effect on the person. It is for this reason that a person may be ordained to each of the three orders only once. They also consider that ordination can be conferred only on males.

text: Priests in service outside their diocese[edit]

text: Although priests are incardinated into a diocese or order, they may obtain the permission of their diocesan ordinary or religious superior to serve outside the normal jurisdiction of the diocese or order. These assignments may be temporary or more permanent in nature.

text: Temporary assignments may include studying for an advanced degree at a Pontifical University in Rome. They may also include short-term assignments to the faculty of a seminary located outside the diocese's territory.

text: Long-term assignments include serving the universal church on the staff of a dicastery or tribunal of the Roman Curia or in the diplomatic corps of the Holy See. They may also be appointed the rector or to long-term teaching assignments to the faculty of a seminary or Catholic university. Priests may also serve on the staff of their episcopal conference, as military chaplains in the military ordinariates, or as missionaries.

text: Positions within a diocese at diocesan level[edit]

text: The diocesan bishop appoints a vicar general to assist him in the governance of the diocese. Usually, only one vicar general is appointed; particularly large dioceses may have more than one vicar general. The vicar general or one of them is usually appointed moderator of the curia who coordinates the diocesan administrative offices and ministries.[69] A diocesan bishop can also appoint one or more episcopal vicars for the diocese. They have the same ordinary power as a vicar general, however, it is limited to a specified division of the diocese, to a specific type of activity, to the faithful of a particular rite, or to certain groups of people.[70] Vicars general and episcopal vicars must be priests or bishops. In the Eastern Catholic Churches, they are called protosyncelli and syncelli (canon 191 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches).

text: Diocesan bishops are required to appoint a judicial vicar to whom is delegated the bishop's ordinary power to judge cases (canon 1420 of the Code of Canon Law, canon 191 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches). In the Latin church, the judicial vicar may also be called officialis. The person holding this post must be a priest, have earned a doctorate in canon law (or at least a license), be at least thirty years old, and, unless the smallness of the diocese or the limited number of cases suggests otherwise, must not be the vicar general. As one of the jobs of the judicial vicar is to preside over collegiate tribunals, many dioceses have adjutant judicial vicars who can preside over collegiate tribunals in place of the judicial vicar and must have the same qualifications.

text: The diocesan bishop appoints a chancellor, possibly a vice-chancellor, and notaries to the diocesan chancery. These officials maintain the records and archives of the diocese. They also serve as the secretaries of the diocesan curia. The bishop also appoints a finance officer and a finance council to oversee the budget, temporal goods, income, and expenses of the diocese.

text: The diocesan bishop may appoint priests to be members of the chapter of his cathedral or of a collegiate church (so called after their chapter). These priests are given the title of canon. He also appoints six to twelve priests from the presbyteral council to serve as a college of consultors. They have the responsibility to elect the diocesan administrator in the event of the vacancy of the see.

text: The bishop appoints priests and other members of the faithful to various advisory bodies. These include the presbyteral council, the diocesan synod, and the pastoral council.

text: Vicars Forane or Deans[edit]

text: "The Vicar Forane known also as the Dean or the Archpriest or by some other title, is the priest who is placed in charge of a vicariate forane" (canon 553 of the Code of Canon Law), namely of a group of parishes within a diocese. Unlike a regional Episcopal Vicar, a Vicar Forane acts as a help for the Parish Priests and other priests in the vicariate forane, rather than as an intermediate authority between them and the Diocesan Bishop.

text: Parish priest/pastor[edit]

text: This section concerns the priest who in the Code of Canon Law is referred to by the term parochus, which is some English-speaking countries is rendered as "the parish priest", in others as "the pastor". The English term "pastor" is also used in a more generic sense corresponding instead to the Latin term pastor:

text: The parish priest is the proper pastor of the parish entrusted to him. He exercises the pastoral care of the community entrusted to him under the authority of the diocesan Bishop, whose ministry of Christ he is called to share, so that for this community he may carry out the offices of teaching, sanctifying and ruling with the cooperation of other priests or deacons and with the assistance of lay members of Christ's faithful, in accordance with the law

text: The pastor (parochus) is the proper pastor (pastor) of the parish entrusted to him, exercising the pastoral care of the community committed to him under the authority of the diocesan bishop in whose ministry of Christ he has been called to share, so that for that same community he carries out the functions of teaching, sanctifying, and governing, also with the cooperation of other presbyters or deacons and with the assistance of lay members of the Christian faithful, according to the norm of law

text: Assistant priests/parochial vicars[edit]

text: The parish priest/pastor may be assisted by one or more other priests:

text: Whenever it is necessary or opportune for the due pastoral care of the parish, one or more assistant priests can be joined with the parish priest. As cooperators with the parish priest and sharers in his concern, they are, by common counsel and effort with the parish priest and under his authority, to labour in the pastoral ministry

text: Whenever it is necessary or opportune in order to carry out the pastoral care of a parish fittingly, one or more parochial vicars can be associated with the pastor. As co-workers with the pastor and sharers in his solicitude, they are to offer service in the pastoral ministry by common counsel and effort with the pastor and under his authority

text: Honorary titles[edit]

text: The honorary title of monsignor is conferred by the Pope upon diocesan priests (not members of religious institutes) in the service of the Holy See, and may be granted by him also to other diocesan priests at the request of the priest's bishop. The priest so honored is considered to be a member of the papal household. The title goes with any of the following three awards:

text:
Chaplain of His Holiness (called Papal Chamberlain until a 1969 reform),[71] the lowest level, distinguished by purple buttons and trim on the black cassock, with a purple sash.
Honorary Prelate (until 1969 called Domestic Prelate), the middle level, distinguished by red buttons and trim on the black cassock, with a purple sash, and by choir dress that includes a purple cassock.
Protonotary Apostolic, the highest level, with the same dress as that of an Honorary Prelate, except that the non-obligatory purple silk cape known as a ferraiolo may be worn also.

text: In December 2013, Pope Francis decided to make future grants of the title of Monsignor to priests not in the service of the Holy See only in the rank of Chaplain of His Holiness and only to priests aged 65 or over.[72]

text: Under legislation of Pope Pius X, vicars general and vicars capitular (the latter are now called diocesan administrators) are titular (not actual) Protonotaries durante munere, i.e., as long as they hold those offices, and so are entitled to be addressed as Monsignor,[73] as indicated also by the placing of the abbreviated title "Mons." before the name of every member of the secular (diocesan) clergy listed as a vicar general in the Annuario Pontificio. (Honorary titles such as that of "Monsignor" are not considered appropriate for religious.)

text: Some of the Eastern Catholic Churches of Syriac tradition use the title Chorbishop, roughly equivalent to the Western title of Monsignor. Other Eastern Catholic Churches bestow the honorific title of Archimandrite upon unmarried priests as a mark of respect or gratitude for their services. Married presbyters may be honored with the position of Archpriest, which has two grades, the higher is "Mitred Archpriest" which permits the priest to wear a mitre.

text: In the Latin Church titles of Archpriest is sometimes attached to the pastor of a few number of historic churches including the major basilicas in Rome. These archpriests are not presbyers, but bishops or cardinals.[74] Similarly, the title of Archdeacon is sometimes conferred on presbyters.

text: Diaconate[edit]

text: Deacons are ordained ministers of the Church who are co-workers with the bishop alongside presbyters, but are intended to focus on the ministries of direct service and outreach to the poor and needy, rather than pastoral leadership. They are usually related to a parish, where they have a liturgical function as the ordinary minister of the Gospel and the Prayers of the Faithful, They may preach homilies, and in the Roman Rite, may preside at non-Eucharistic liturgies such as baptisms, weddings, funerals, and adoration/benediction. In the Eastern Catholic Churches, in the absence of a priest, deacons do not vest and may only lead services as a reader, never presiding at weddings or funerals.

text: The scriptural basis and description of the role and qualifications of the deacon can be found in Acts 6:1–9, and in 1 Timothy 3:1–13.[75]

text: They may be seminarians preparing for ordination to the priesthood, "transitional deacons", or "permanent deacons" who do not intend to be ordained as priests. To be ordained deacons, the latter must be at least 25 years old, if unmarried; if married, a prospective deacon must be at least 35 years old and have the consent of his wife. In the Latin Church, married deacons are permanent deacons. In most diocese there is a cut-off age for being accepted into formation for the diaconate.

text: The passage from membership of the laity to that of the clergy occurs with ordination to the diaconate.[76] Previously, the Latin Church rule was that one became a cleric on receiving clerical tonsure, which was followed by minor orders and by the subdiaconate, which was reckoned as one of the major orders. By his motu proprio Ministeria quaedam of 15 August 1972, Pope Paul VI decreed: "The orders hitherto called minor are henceforth to be spoken of as 'ministries'."[77] The same motu proprio also decreed that the Latin Church would no longer have the major order of subdiaconate, but it permitted any episcopal conference that so desired to apply the term "subdeacon" to those who hold the ministry (formerly called the minor order) of "acolyte".[78] Even in those societies within the Latin Church that, with the approval of the Holy See, continue to administer the rites of tonsure, minor orders and subdiaconate, those who receive those rites remain lay people, becoming clerics only on being ordained as deacons.[79]

text: Laity[edit]

text: Most of the people of God are the laity, a term derived from Greek λαὸς Θεοῦ (Laos Theou), meaning "people of God". All Christian faithful have the right and duty to bring the gospel message increasingly to "all people in every age and every land".[80] They all have a share in the Church's mission and have the right to undertake apostolic activity according to their own state and condition.[81]

text: Lay ministry can take the form of exercising the priesthood of all the baptized, and more specifically undertaking the work of catechists. serving the Church pastorally, administratively, and in other ways, including the liturgical services as acolytes, lectors, cantors, and the like,[82][83] initiation sponsors, pastoral care ministers, and members of parish and diocesan consultative bodies.[83][84]

text: Some lay Catholics carry out full-time professional and vocational service in the name of the Church, rather than in a secular calling. Though the phenomenon is widespread in North America and much of Europe, the organization and definition of the ministry is left to national bishops conferences. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has adopted the term lay ecclesial ministry for these individuals, as intentionally distinct from the general apostolate or ministry of the laity described above.[85]

text: The consultative leadership of the church, in both the diocese and the parish, usually comprises a Pastoral Council[86][87] and a Finance Council,[88][89] as well as several Commissions usually focusing on major aspects of the church's life and mission, such as Faith Formation or Christian Education, Liturgy, Social Justice, Ecumenism, or Stewardship.[citation needed]

text: Religious[edit]

text: Religious—who can be either lay people or clergy—are members of religious institutes, societies in which the members take public vows and live a fraternal life in common.[90] This is a form of consecrated life distinct from other forms, such as that of secular institutes.[91] It is distinct also from forms that do not involve membership of an institute, such as that of consecrated hermits,[92] that of consecrated virgins,[93] and other forms whose approval is reserved to the Holy See.[94]

text: Religious institutes have historically been subdivided into the categories of orders and congregations.


document_title: Domain (biology)

question_text: which domain of life are humans members of

root

text: Domain (biology)

text: Domain or dominion[edit]

text: The term "domain" is proposed by Woese et al. (1990) in his three-domain system. This term represents a synonym for the category of dominion (lat. dominium), introduced by Moore in 1974.[4] However, only Stefan Luketa uses the term "dominion".[3] He placed Prion and Virus under two "dominions" separately.

tag: p

text: Characteristics of the three domains of life[edit]

text: Each of these three domains of life recognized by biologists today contain unique rRNA. This fact in itself forms the basis of the three-domain system. While the presence of a nuclear membrane differentiates the Eukarya domain from the Archaea and Bacteria domains, both of which lack a nuclear membrane, distinct biochemical and RNA markers differentiate the Archaea and Bacteria domains from each other.

text: Archaea[edit]

text: Archaea are prokaryotic cells, typically characterized by membrane lipids that are branched hydrocarbon chains attached to glycerol by ether linkages. The presence of these ether linkages in Archaea adds to their ability to withstand extreme temperatures and highly acidic conditions, but many archea live in mild environments. Halophiles, organisms that thrive in highly salty environments, and hyperthermophiles, organisms that thrive in extremely hot environments, are examples of Archaea. Archaea evolved many cell sizes, but all are relatively small. Their size ranges from 0.1μm to 15 μm diameter and up to 200 μm long. They are about the size of bacteria or similar to the size of a mitochondrion in a eukaryotic cell. Members of the genus Thermoplasma are the smallest of the archaea.

text: Bacteria[edit]

text: Even though bacteria are prokaryotic cells just like Archaea, their membranes are made of unbranched fatty acid chains attached to glycerol by ester linkages. Cyanobacteria and mycoplasmas are two examples of bacteria. They characteristically do not have ether linkages like Archaea, and they are grouped into a different category—and hence a different domain. There is a great deal of diversity in this domain, and between that and horizontal gene transfer, it is next to impossible to determine how many species of bacteria exist on the planet.

text: Eukarya[edit]

text: Members of the domain Eukarya—called eukaryotes—have membrane-bound organelles (including a nucleus containing genetic material) and are represented by four kingdoms: Plantae, Protista, Animalia, and Fungi.

text: Exclusion of viruses[edit]

text: None of the three systems currently include non-cellular life. As of 2011 there is talk about Nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses possibly being a fourth branch domain of life, a view supported by researchers in 2012.[7]

text: Stefan Luketa in 2012 proposed a five-domain system, adding Prionobiota (acellular and without nucleic acid) and Virusobiota (acellular but with nucleic acid) to the traditional three domains.[3]

text: Alternative classifications[edit]

text: Alternative classifications of life so far proposed include:

text:
The two-empire system or superdomain system, with top-level groupings of Prokaryota (or Monera) and Eukaryota.[8][9]
The eocyte hypothesis, first proposed by James A. Lake et al. in 1984, which posits two domains (Bacteria and Archaea, with Eukaryota included in Archaea).[10][11][12]

tag: ul


document_title: Capital punishment in Oregon

question_text: when was the death penalty reinstated in oregon

text: Capital punishment in Oregon

text: Legal process[edit]

text: Oregon is the only American state where someone can be convicted of a capital crime without a unanimous verdict from the jury: 11 jurors are enough to find the defendant guilty, unless the prosecution requests a unanimous verdict.[3]

text: But if the prosecution seeks the death penalty, the sentence is decided by the jury and must always be unanimous.

text: In case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a life sentence is issued, even if a single juror opposed death (there is no retrial).[4]

text: The Governor of Oregon has sole authority over clemency, including capital cases.[5]

text: The method of execution is lethal injection.

text: The men's death row is located, and executions are carried out, at the Oregon State Penitentiary.[6] Women on death row are held at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility until shortly before their execution.[7]

text: Capital crimes[edit]

text: Aggravated murder is the only crime punishable by death in Oregon. It is defined as murder involving any of the following circumstances:[8][9][10]

text:
The defendant committed the murder pursuant to an agreement that the defendant receive money or other thing of value for committing the murder.
The defendant solicited another to commit the murder and paid or agreed to pay the person money or other thing of value for committing the murder.
The defendant committed murder after having been convicted previously in any jurisdiction of any homicide, the elements of which constitute the crime of murder or manslaughter as defined by Oregon statutes.
There was more than one murder victim in the same criminal episode.
The homicide occurred in the course of or as a result of intentional maiming or torture of the victim.
The victim of the intentional homicide was a person under the age of 14 years.
The victim was a police officer, correctional, parole and probation officer or other person charged with the duty of custody, control, or supervision of convicted persons, a member of the Oregon State Police, judicial officer, juror, or witness in a criminal proceeding, employee or officer of a court of justice, or a member of the State Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision and the murder was related to the performance of the victim's duties in the justice system.
The defendant committed murder by means of explosives.
The defendant personally and intentionally committed the homicide in course of furtherance of another specified felony such as rape.
The murder was committed in an effort to conceal the commission of a crime, or to conceal the identity of the perpetrator of a crime.
The murder was committed after the defendant had escaped from a state, county, or municipal penal or correctional facility and before recapture.

tag: ol

text: Early history[edit]

text: The first death sentence carried out under the territorial government, apart from the hanging of the 5 Cayuse in 1850, came on April 18, 1851, when William Kendall was hanged in Salem.[11] Kendall's sentence was handed down by Judge William Strong of the Oregon Supreme Court.[11]

text: Since 1904, about 60 Five Cayuse Native American men were taken to Oregon City, tried and sentenced to hang. Before their execution on June 3, 1850, the leader, Tiloukaikt, accepted Catholic last rites. Tiloukaikt spoke on the gallows, "Did not your missionaries teach us that Christ died to save his people? So we die to save our people." Capital punishment was made explicitly legal by statute in 1864, and executions have been carried out exclusively at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem since 1904. The death penalty was outlawed between 1914 and 1920, again between 1964 and 1978, and then again between a 1981 Oregon Supreme Court ruling and a 1984 ballot measure.

text: Oregon voters amended the Constitution in 1914, to repeal the death penalty, by a margin of 50.04%. The repeal was an initiative of Governor Oswald West.[12] However, the death penalty was restored in 1920 with 56% of voters favoring its use.[13] From 1864 to 1931, executions were carried out by hanging.[13] However, beginning with the execution of LeRoy Hershel McCarthy, on January 30, 1939, Oregon began using lethal gas in gas-chamber executions.[14] The state executed seventeen men in this manner.[13] The last of these gas-inhalation executions took place on 20 August 1962, with the execution of Leeroy Sanford McGahuey.[13] In 1964 voters passed Measure 1, a constitutional amendment prohibiting capital punishment, with 60% of voters approving. Governor Mark Hatfield commuted the sentences of three death row inmates two days later.[13]

text: Voters reenacted the death penalty in the general election of 1978, by statute; Measure 8 required the death penalty in certain murder cases. Measure 8 was overturned by the Oregon Supreme Court in 1981, on the grounds that it denied defendants the right to be tried by a jury of their peers.[13]

text: In 1984, Measure 6 amended the state constitution to once more make the death penalty legal. Measure 7, a statutory measure passed in the same year,[15] required a separate sentencing hearing before a jury in cases of aggravated murder.[13]

text: In 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Penry v. Lynaugh affected the Oregon death penalty, because Oregon's law is based on the Texas law involved in the case. Seventeen Oregon cases were remanded for resentencing following Penry; eight convicts were re-sentenced to death.[13]

text: In 2000, the Benetton Group featured several inmates on Oregon's death row in a controversial anti-death penalty advertising campaign. Cesar Barone, Conan Wayne Hale, Jesse Caleb Compton, and Alberto Reyes Camarena were featured in the ad.[16]

text: Between 1904 and 1994, 115 people were sentenced to death in Oregon, and 58 of those were executed.[13]

text: List of individuals executed since 1978[edit]

text: Two people have been executed in Oregon since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1978. Both waived their appeals and asked that the execution be carried out.

text:
Name
Date of execution
Victim
Governor

1
Douglas Franklin Wright
September 6, 1996
William Marks and 2 others
John Kitzhaber

2
Harry Charles Moore
May 16, 1997
Thomas Lauri and Barbara Cunningham

tag: table


document_title: The Riveras

question_text: when does season 3 of the riveras start

question_tokens: when does season 3 of the riveras start

text: The Riveras

text: Production[edit]

text: Background and Development[edit]

text: After the death of singer Jenni Rivera, I Love Jenni ran its third and final season on NBC Universo (then known as mun2). The final episodes of the third season focused on Rivera's five children as they deal with life after her passing. The final season of I Love Jenni was the most-watched original mun2 original program. It finished as the fifth most-watched program with Hispanic females 18-49 and seventh most watched series with Hispanic adults 18-49[1][2]

text: In May 2016, Telemundo and UNIVERSO announced The Riveras as an upcoming series on UNIVERSO as well as other Jenni Rivera related programming.[3][4]

text: On November 6, 2017, during the finale of Mariposa de Barrio on Telemundo, UNIVERSO announced that a third season would premiere in 2018.

text: On March 1, 2018, UNIVERSO announced that The Riveras has been picked up for a fourth season set to premiere in 2019.

text: Cast[edit]

text: The series stars the five children of singer Jenni Rivera: Chiquis, Jacqie, Michael, Jenicka, and Juan Angel, as they pursue their dreams and honor their mother's legacy. Viewers see how they manage their mother's enterprise featuring her music, tequila, fashion line, and love foundation. The show features archive footage of Jenni Rivera from I Love Jenni and Chiquis 'N Control.

text: Episodes[edit]

text: Series overview[edit]

text: SeasonEpisodesOriginally airedFirst airedLast aired110October 16, 2016 (2016-10-16)December 18, 2016 (2016-12-18)210February 26, 2017 (2017-02-26)April 30, 2017 (2017-04-30)3TBAMarch 11, 2018 (2018-03-11)TBA

text: Season 1 (2016)[edit]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitle Original air date11"Nueva Cabeza de Familia"October 16, 2016 (2016-10-16)
22"Little Divas"October 23, 2016 (2016-10-23)
33"Movin' On"October 30, 2016 (2016-10-30)
44"Señor Madre"November 6, 2016 (2016-11-06)
55"Birds & Boss Bees"November 13, 2016 (2016-11-13)
66"Get Your Geek On"November 20, 2016 (2016-11-20)
77"Mi Padre"November 27, 2016 (2016-11-27)
88"Growing Pains"December 4, 2016 (2016-12-04)
99"Paloma Negra"December 11, 2016 (2016-12-11)
1010"Mud Is Thicker Than Water"December 18, 2016 (2016-12-18)

text: Season 2 (2017)[edit]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitle Original air date111"L.A.M.A.S."February 26, 2017 (2017-02-26)
122"Million Dollar Mexican"March 5, 2017 (2017-03-05)
133"Bright Lights, Big Sisters"March 12, 2017 (2017-03-12)
144"The Butt Stops Here"March 19, 2017 (2017-03-19)
155"Divine Inspiration"March 26, 2017 (2017-03-26)
166"Día de los Muertos"April 2, 2017 (2017-04-02)
177"The Cup is Half Empty"April 9, 2017 (2017-04-09)
188"The Day After Tomorrow"April 16, 2017 (2017-04-16)
199"Mex in the City"April 23, 2017 (2017-04-23)
2010"Talking Rivera"April 30, 2017 (2017-04-30)

text: Season 3 (2018)[edit]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitle Original air date211"El amor no vive aquí"March 11, 2018 (2018-03-11)
222"Tu eres el Juan que quiero"March 18, 2018 (2018-03-18)
233"Casamenteras"March 25, 2018 (2018-03-25)
244"¿Juntos o por separado?"April 1, 2018 (2018-04-01)
255"Chiquis se lleva una sorpresa"April 8, 2018 (2018-04-08)
266"Conmoción"April 15, 2018 (2018-04-15)
277"Pónle un anillo"April 22, 2018 (2018-04-22)

text: Special[edit]

text:
TitleOriginal air date"Remembering Jenni, Our Mom"December 9, 2017 (2017-12-09)[5]
The Rivera family, their friends and fans celebrate the life of Jenni Rivera to commemorate the fifth anniversary of her departure, with her best moments and stories never before told.


document_title: Rivers in Himachal Pradesh

question_text: chandra and bhaga river meets at the place

text: Rivers in Himachal Pradesh

text: Himachal Pradesh provides water to both the Indus and Ganges basins. The drainage systems of the region are the Chandra Bhaga or the Chenab, the Ravi, the Beas, the Sutlej and the Yamuna. These rivers are perennial and are fed by snow and rainfall. They are protected by an extensive cover of natural vegetation.

text: The Beas rises in the Pir Panjal range near the Rohtang Pass and flows about 256 kilometres (159 mi) in Himachal Pradesh. The river is formed by a numerous of tributaries; the major tributaries are the Parbati, the Hurla, the Sainj, the Uhl, the Suheti, the Luni, the Banganga and the Chaki. The northern and eastern tributaries of the river are snow fed and perennial, while the southern ones are seasonal. During the month of August, increase in the inflow sometimes results in floods.

text: The Chandrabhaga or Chenab (Vedic name Askni), the largest river (in terms of volume of water) is formed after the meeting of two streams namely, Chandra and Bhaga at Tandi, in Lahaul. It flows 122 kilometres (76 mi) and covers an area of 7,500 square kilometres (2,900 sq mi). in Himachal, before entering Kashmir. The Chandra passes through the barren tribal land.

text: The Ravi is born in Bara Banghal, Kangra district as a joint stream formed by the glacier fead Bhadal and Tantgari. The river is about 158 kilometres (98 mi) long and has a catchment area of nearly 5,451 square kilometres (2,105 sq mi). Chamba lies on its right bank.

text: The Satluj originates in distant Tibet. The river cuts through both the great Himalayan and the Zaskar ranges and crosses the Indo-Tibetan border (near Shipkila). Then the river Spiti joins Satluj from the north. Passing through gorges it emerges from the mountains at Bhakra. The catchment area of Satluj in Himachal Pradesh is about 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 sq mi).

text: The Yamuna has its origin in Yamunotri in Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand. Its total catchment area in Himachal Pradesh is 2,320 square kilometres (900 sq mi). Its tributaries are the Tons, the Giri and the Bata.[1]

text: The Ghaggar river originates in the village of Dagshai in the Shivalik Hills of Himachal Pradesh at an elevation of 1,927 metres (6,322 ft) above mean sea level[2] and flows through Punjab and Haryana states into Rajasthan;[3] just southwest of Sirsa, Haryana and by the side of Talwara Lake in Rajasthan.


document_title: New Kingdom of Egypt

question_text: what was the most important new religious figure of the new kingdom of ancient egypt

text: New Kingdom of Egypt

text: 18th Dynasty[edit]

text: The 18th Dynasty contained some of Egypt's most famous Pharaohs, including Ahmose I, Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Amenhotep III, Akhenaten and Tutankhamun. Queen Hatshepsut concentrated on expanding Egypt's external trade by sending a commercial expedition to the land of Punt.

text: Thutmose III ("the Napoleon of Egypt") expanded Egypt's army and wielded it with great success to consolidate the empire created by his predecessors. This resulted in a peak in Egypt's power and wealth during the reign of Amenhotep III. During the reign of Thutmose III (c. 1479–1425 BC), Pharaoh, originally referring to the king's palace, became a form of address for the person who was king.[4]

text: One of the best-known 18th Dynasty pharaohs is Amenhotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten in honor of the Aten, a representation of the Egyptian god, Ra. His exclusive worship of the Aten is often interpreted as history's first instance of monotheism. Akhenaten's wife, Nefertiti, contributed a great deal to his new take on the Egyptian religion. Nefertiti was bold enough to perform rituals to Aten. Akhenaten's religious fervor is cited as the reason why he and his wife were subsequently written out of Egyptian history.[5] Under his reign, in the 14th century BC, Egyptian art flourished under a distinctive style. (See Amarna Period.)

text: Towards the end of the 18th Dynasty, the situation had changed radically. Aided by Akhenaten's apparent lack of interest in international affairs, the Hittites had gradually extended their influence into Phoenicia and Canaan to become a major power in international politics — a power that both Seti I and his son Ramesses II would need to deal with during the 19th Dynasty.

text: 19th Dynasty[edit]

text: Ramesses II ("the Great") sought to recover territories in the Levant that had been held by the 18th Dynasty. His campaigns of reconquest culminated in the Battle of Kadesh, where he led Egyptian armies against those of the Hittite king Muwatalli II. Ramesses was caught in history's first recorded military ambush, although he was able to rally his troops and turn the tide of battle against the Hittites thanks to the arrival of the Ne'arin (possibly mercenaries in the employ of Egypt). The outcome of the battle was undecided, with both sides claiming victory at their home front, and ultimately resulting in a peace treaty between the two nations. Egypt was able to obtain wealth and stability under Ramesses' rule of over half a century.[6] His immediate successors continued the military campaigns, although an increasingly troubled court—which at one point put a usurper (Amenmesse) on the throne—made it increasingly difficult for a pharaoh to effectively retain control of the territories.

text: Ramesses II was also famed for the huge number of children he sired by his various wives and concubines; the tomb he built for his sons, many of whom he outlived, in the Valley of the Kings has proven to be the largest funerary complex in Egypt.

text: Egyptian and Hittite Empires, around the time of the Battle of Kadesh.

text: 20th Dynasty[edit]

text: The last "great" pharaoh from the New Kingdom is widely considered to be Ramesses III, a 20th Dynasty pharaoh who reigned several decades after Ramesses II.[7]

text: In the eighth year of his reign the Sea Peoples invaded Egypt by land and sea. Ramesses III defeated them in two great land and sea battles (the Battle of Djahy and the Battle of the Delta). He incorporated them as subject peoples and settled them in Southern Canaan although there is evidence that they forced their way into Canaan. Their presence in Canaan may have contributed to the formation of new states, such as Philistia, in this region after the collapse of the Egyptian Empire. He was also compelled to fight invading Libyan tribesmen in two major campaigns in Egypt's Western Delta in his sixth year and eleventh year respectively.[8]

text: The heavy cost of this warfare slowly drained Egypt's treasury and contributed to the gradual decline of the Egyptian Empire in Asia. The severity of the difficulties is indicated by the fact that the first known labor strike in recorded history occurred during the 29th year of Ramesses III's reign, when the food rations for Egypt's favored and elite royal tomb-builders and artisans in the village of Deir el Medina could not be provisioned.[9] Air pollutants prevented much sunlight from reaching the ground and also arrested global tree growth for almost two full decades until 1140 BC.[10] One proposed cause is the Hekla 3 eruption of the Hekla volcano in Iceland but the dating of this remains disputed.

text: Rameses III's death was followed by years of bickering among his heirs. Three of his sons ascended the throne successively as Ramesses IV, Rameses VI and Rameses VIII. Egypt was increasingly beset by droughts, below-normal flooding of the Nile, famine, civil unrest and official corruption. The power of the last pharaoh of the dynasty, Ramesses XI, grew so weak that in the south the High Priests of Amun at Thebes became the de facto rulers of Upper Egypt, and Smendes controlled Lower Egypt even before Rameses XI's death. Smendes eventually founded the 21st Dynasty at Tanis.

text: Gallery[edit]

text: This section contains what may be an unencyclopedic or excessive gallery of images. Galleries containing indiscriminate images of the article subject are discouraged; please improve or remove the section accordingly. (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text:
Relief of a Nobleman, c. 1295–1070 B.C.E. Brooklyn Museum

Queen Ahmose-Nefertari

Hatshepsut as a Sphinx. Daughter of Thutmose I, she ruled jointly as her stepson's (Thutmose III) co-regent. She soon took the throne for herself, and declared herself pharaoh.

Queen Hatshepsut's Temple at Deir el-Bahari, was called Djeser-Djeseru, meaning the Holy of Holies, in ancient times.

Thutmosis III, a military man and member of the Thutmosid royal line is commonly called the Napoleon of Egypt. His conquests of the Levant brought Egypt's territories and influence to its greatest extent.

Colossi of Memnon. Representing Amenhotep III, this statue sits outside Luxor.

Tiye, born a commoner, became queen through her marriage to Amenhotep III. In the New Kingdom, women gained influence in court, and Tiye soon helped run affairs of state for both her husband and son during their reigns.

Akhenaten, born Amenhotep IV, was the son of Queen Tiye. He rejected the old Egyptian religion and went about promoting the Aten as a supreme deity.

Akhenaten

Bust of Nefertiti. The wife of Akhenaten, she held position as co-regent with Akhenaten. She may also have ruled as pharaoh in her own right as she is one of few candidates for the identity of Pharaoh Neferneferuaten.

Tutankhamun's mask. King Tutankhamun, son of Akhenaten, restored Egypt to its former religion. Though he died young and was not considered significant in his own time, the 1922 discovery of his KV62 intact tomb by Howard Carter, made him relevant as a symbol of ancient Egypt in the modern world.

Detail Temple of Rameses II

Nefertari's Temple at Abu Simbel

Giant Ramses II

Abu Simbel Temple of Ramesses II

Abu Simbel

King Tutanhkamun Guardian Statue


document_title: Movable type

question_text: who is often associated with printing the first book using moveable type in germany

text: Movable type

text: Precursors to movable type[edit]

text: Letter punch and coins[edit]

text: The technique of imprinting multiple copies of symbols or glyphs with a master type punch made of hard metal first developed around 3000 BC in ancient Sumer. These metal punch types can be seen as precursors of the letter punches adapted in later millennia to printing with movable metal type. Cylinder seals were used in Mesopotamia to create an impression on a surface by rolling the seal on wet clay.[6] They were used to "sign" documents and mark objects as the owner's property. Cylinder seals were a related form of early typography capable of printing small page designs in relief (cameo) on wax or clay—a miniature forerunner of rotogravure printing used by wealthy individuals to seal and certify documents. By 650 BC the ancient Greeks were using larger diameter punches to imprint small page images onto coins and tokens.

text: The designs of the artists who made the first coin punches were stylized with a degree of skill that could not be mistaken for common handiwork—salient and very specific types designed to be reproduced ad infinitum. Unlike the first typefaces used to print books in the 13th century, coin types were neither combined nor printed with ink on paper, but "published" in metal—a more durable medium—and survived in substantial numbers. As the portable face of ruling authority, coins were a compact form of standardized knowledge issued in large editions, an early mass medium that stabilized trade and civilization throughout the Mediterranean world of antiquity.

text: Seals and stamps[edit]

text: Seals and stamps may have been precursors to movable type. The uneven spacing of the impressions on brick stamps found in the Mesopotamian cities of Uruk and Larsa, dating from the 2nd millennium BC, has been conjectured by some archaeologists as evidence that the stamps were made using movable type.[7] The enigmatic Minoan Phaistos Disc of 1800–1600 BC has been considered by one scholar as an early example of a body of text being reproduced with reusable characters: it may have been produced by pressing pre-formed hieroglyphic "seals" into the soft clay. A few authors even view the disc as technically meeting all definitional criteria to represent an early incidence of movable-type printing.[8][9] Recently it has been alleged by Jerome Eisenberg that the disk is a forgery.[10]

text: The Prüfening dedicatory inscription is medieval example of movable type stamps being used.

text: Woodblock printing[edit]

text: Following the invention of paper in the 2nd century AD during the Chinese Han Dynasty, writing materials became more portable and economical than the bones, shells, bamboo slips, metal or stone tablets, silk, etc. previously used. Yet copying books by hand was still labour-consuming. Not until the Xiping Era (172–178 AD), towards the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty did sealing print and monotype appear. It was soon used for printing designs on fabrics, and later for printing texts.

text: Woodblock printing, invented by about the 8th century during the Tang Dynasty, worked as follows. First, the neat hand-copied script was stuck on a relatively thick and smooth board, with the front of the paper, which was so thin that it was nearly transparent, sticking to the board, and characters showing in reverse, but distinctly, so that every stroke could be easily recognized. Then carvers cut away the parts of the board that were not part of the character, so that the characters were cut in relief, completely differently from those cut intaglio. When printing, the bulging characters would have some ink spread on them and be covered by paper. With workers' hands moving on the back of paper gently, characters would be printed on the paper. By the Song Dynasty, woodblock printing came to its heyday. Although woodblock printing played an influential role in spreading culture, there remained some apparent drawbacks. Firstly, carving the printing plate required considerable time, labour and materials; secondly, it was not convenient to store these plates; and finally, it was difficult to correct mistakes.

text: With woodblock printing, one printing plate could be used for tens of hundreds of books, playing a magnificent role in spreading culture. Yet carving the plate was time and labour consuming. Huge books cost years of effort. The plates needed a lot of storage space, and were often damaged by deformation, worms and corrosion. If books had a small print run, and were not reprinted, the printing plates would become nothing but waste; and worse, if a mistake was found, it was difficult to correct it without discarding the whole plate.

text: History[edit]

text: Ceramic movable type[edit]

text: Bi Sheng (毕昇/畢昇) (990–1051) developed the first known movable-type system for printing in China around 1040 AD during the Northern Song dynasty, using ceramic materials.[11][12] As described by the Chinese scholar Shen Kuo (沈括) (1031–1095):

text: When he wished to print, he took an iron frame and set it on the iron plate. In this he placed the types, set close together. When the frame was full, the whole made one solid block of type. He then placed it near the fire to warm it. When the paste [at the back] was slightly melted, he took a smooth board and pressed it over the surface, so that the block of type became as even as a whetstone.

text: For each character there were several types, and for certain common characters there were twenty or more types each, in order to be prepared for the repetition of characters on the same page. When the characters were not in use he had them arranged with paper labels, one label for each rhyme-group, and kept them in wooden cases.

text: If one were to print only two or three copies, this method would be neither simple nor easy. But for printing hundreds or thousands of copies, it was marvelously quick. As a rule he kept two forms going. While the impression was being made from the one form, the type was being put in place on the other. When the printing of the one form was finished, the other was then ready. In this way the two forms alternated and the printing was done with great rapidity.[11]

text: In 1193, Zhou Bida, an officer of Southern Song Dynasty, made a set of clay movable-type method according to the method described by Shen Kuo in his Dream Pool Essays, and printed his book Notes of The Jade Hall (《玉堂雜記》).[13]

text: The claim that Bi Sheng's clay types were "fragile" and "not practical for large-scale printing" and "short lived"[14] was refuted by facts and experiments. Bao Shicheng (1775–1885) wrote that baked clay moveable type was "as hard and tough as horn"; experiments show that clay type, after being baked in an oven, becomes hard and difficult to break, such that it remains intact after being dropped from a height of two metres onto a marble floor. The length of clay movable types in China was 1 to 2 centimetres, not 2mm, thus hard as horn.

text: There has been an ongoing debate regarding the success of ceramic printing technology as there have been no printed materials found with ceramic movable types. However, it is historically recorded to have been used as late as 1844 in China from the Song dynasty through the Qing dynasty.[13][15]:22

text: Wooden movable type[edit]

text: Bi Sheng (990–1051) also pioneered the use of wooden movable type around 1040 AD, as described by the Chinese scholar Shen Kuo (1031–1095). However, this technology was abandoned in favour of clay movable types due to the presence of wood grains and the unevenness of the wooden type after being soaked in ink.[11][16]

text: In 1298, Wang Zhen (王祯/王禎), a Yuan dynasty governmental official of Jingde County, Anhui Province, China, re-invented a method of making movable wooden types. He made more than 30,000 wooden movable types and printed 100 copies of Records of Jingde County (《旌德縣志》), a book of more than 60,000 Chinese characters. Soon afterwards, he summarized his invention in his book A method of making moveable wooden types for printing books. Although the wooden type was more durable under the mechanical rigors of handling, repeated printing wore the character faces down, and the types could only be replaced by carving new pieces. This system was later enhanced by pressing wooden blocks into sand and casting metal types from the depression in copper, bronze, iron or tin. This new method overcame many of the shortcomings of woodblock printing. Rather than manually carving an individual block to print a single page, movable type printing allowed for the quick assembly of a page of text. Furthermore, these new, more compact type fonts could be reused and stored.[11][12] The set of wafer-like metal stamp types could be assembled to form pages, inked, and page impressions taken from rubbings on cloth or paper.[12] In 1322，a Fenghua county officer Ma Chengde (馬称德) in Zhejiang, made 100,000 wooded movable types and printed the 43-volume Daxue Yanyi (《大學衍義》). Wooden movable types were used continually in China. Even as late as 1733, a 2300-volume Wuying Palace Collected Gems Edition (《武英殿聚珍版叢書》) was printed with 253,500 wooden movable types on order of the Yongzheng Emperor, and completed in one year.

text: A number of books printed in Tangut script during the Western Xia (1038–1227) period are known, of which the Auspicious Tantra of All-Reaching Union that was discovered in the ruins of Baisigou Square Pagoda in 1991 is believed to have been printed sometime during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Western Xia (1139–1193).[17] It is considered by many Chinese experts to be the earliest extant example of a book printed using wooden movable type.[18]

text: The logistical problems of handling the several thousand logographs (required for full literacy in Chinese language) posed a particular difficulty. It was faster to carve one woodblock per page than to composit a page from so many different types. However, if one used movable type to produce multiple copies of the same document, the speed of printing would increase relatively.[11]:201

text: Metal movable type in China[edit]

text: At least 13 material finds in China indicate the invention of bronze movable type printing in China no later than the 12th century,[19] with the country producing large-scale bronze-plate-printed paper money and formal official documents issued by the Jin (1115–1234) and Southern Song (1127–1279) dynasties with embedded bronze metal types for anti-counterfeit markers. Such paper-money printing might date back to the 11th-century jiaozi of Northern Song (960–1127).[15]:41–54

text: The typical example of this kind of bronze movable type embedded copper-block printing is a printed "check" of the Jin Dynasty with two square holes for embedding two bronze movable-type characters, each selected from 1,000 different characters, such that each printed paper note has a different combination of markers. A copper-block printed note dated between 1215–1216 in the collection of Luo Zhenyu's Pictorial Paper Money of the Four Dynasties, 1914, shows two special characters – one called Ziliao, the other called Zihao – for the purpose of preventing counterfeiting; over the Ziliao there is a small character (輶) printed with movable copper type, while over the Zihao there is an empty square hole – apparently the associated copper metal type was lost. Another sample of Song dynasty money of the same period in the collection of the Shanghai Museum has two empty square holes above Ziliao as well as Zihou, due to the loss of the two copper movable types. Song dynasty bronze block embedded with bronze metal movable type printed paper money was issued on a large scale and remained in circulation for a long time.[20]

text: The 1298 book Zao Huozi Yinshufa (《造活字印书法》/《造活字印書法》) by the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) official Wang Zhen mentions tin movable type, used probably since the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279), but this was largely experimental.[21] It was unsatisfactory due to its incompatibility with the inking process.[11]:217

text: During the Mongol Empire (1206–1405), printing using movable type spread from China to Central Asia.[clarification needed] The Uyghurs of Central Asia used movable type, their script type adopted from the Mongol language, some with Chinese words printed between the pages – strong evidence that the books were printed in China.[22]

text: During the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), Hua Sui in 1490 used bronze type in printing books.[11]:212 In 1574 the massive 1000-volume encyclopedia Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era (《太平御览》/《太平御覧》) was printed with bronze movable type.

text: In 1725 the Qing Dynasty government made 250,000 bronze movable-type characters and printed 64 sets of the encyclopedic Gujin Tushu Jicheng (《古今图书集成》/《古今圖書集成》, Complete Collection of Illustrations and Writings from the Earliest to Current Times). Each set consisted of 5,040 volumes, making a total of 322,560 volumes printed using movable type.[22]

text: Metal movable type in Korea[edit]

text: In 1234 the first books known to have been printed in metallic type set were published in Goryeo Dynasty Korea. They form a set of ritual books, Sangjeong Gogeum Yemun, compiled by Choe Yun-ui. [23][24]

text: While these books have not survived, the oldest book in the world printed in metallic movable types is Jikji, printed in Korea in 1377.[25] The Asian Reading Room of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. displays examples of this metal type.[26] Commenting on the invention of metallic types by Koreans, French scholar Henri-Jean Martin described this as "[extremely similar] to Gutenberg's".[27]

text: The techniques for bronze casting, used at the time for making coins (as well as bells and statues) were adapted to making metal type. The Joseon dynasty scholar Seong Hyeon (성현, 成俔, 1439–1504) records the following description of the Korean font-casting process:

text: At first, one cuts letters in beech wood. One fills a trough level with fine sandy [clay] of the reed-growing seashore. Wood-cut letters are pressed into the sand, then the impressions become negative and form letters [moulds]. At this step, placing one trough together with another, one pours the molten bronze down into an opening. The fluid flows in, filling these negative moulds, one by one becoming type. Lastly, one scrapes and files off the irregularities, and piles them up to be arranged.[23]

text: A potential solution to the linguistic and cultural bottleneck that held back movable type in Korea for 200 years appeared in the early 15th century—a generation before Gutenberg would begin working on his own movable-type invention in Europe—when Sejong the Great devised a simplified alphabet of 24 characters (hangul) for use by the common people, which could have made the typecasting and compositing process more feasible. But Korea's cultural elite, "appalled at the idea of losing hanja, the badge of their elitism", stifled the adoption of the new alphabet.[12]

text: A "Confucian prohibition on the commercialization of printing" also obstructed the proliferation of movable type, restricting the distribution of books produced using the new method to the government.[28] The technique was restricted to use by the royal foundry for official state publications only, where the focus was on reprinting Chinese classics lost in 1126 when Korea's libraries and palaces had perished in a conflict between dynasties.[28]

text: Scholarly debate and speculation has occurred as to whether Eastern movable type spread to Europe between the late 14th century and early 15th centuries.[23][29]:58–69[30][31]

text: Metal movable type in Europe[edit]

text: Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz, Germany is acknowledged as the first to invent a metal movable-type printing system in Europe, the printing press. Gutenberg was a goldsmith familiar with techniques of cutting punches for making coins from moulds. Between 1436 and 1450 he developed hardware and techniques for casting letters from matrices using a device called the hand mould.[29] Gutenberg's key invention and contribution to movable-type printing in Europe, the hand mould, was the first practical means of making cheap copies of letterpunches in the vast quantities needed to print complete books, making the movable-type printing process a viable enterprise.

text: Before Gutenberg, books were copied out by hand on scrolls and paper, or printed from hand-carved wooden blocks. It was extremely time-consuming; even a small book could take months to complete, and because the carved letters or blocks were flimsy and the wood susceptible to ink the blocks had a limited lifespan.

text: Gutenberg and his associates developed oil-based inks ideally suited to printing with a press on paper, and the first Latin typefaces. His method of casting type may have been different from the hand mould used in subsequent decades. Detailed analysis of the type used in his 42-line Bible has revealed irregularities in some of the characters that cannot be attributed to ink spread or type wear under the pressure of the press. Scholars conjecture that the type pieces may have been cast from a series of matrices made with a series of individual stroke punches, producing many different versions of the same glyph.

text: [34] It has also been suggested that the method used by Gutenberg involved using a single punch to make a mould, but the mould was such that the process of taking the type out disturbed the casting, creating variants and anomalies, and that the punch-matrix system came into use possibly around the 1470s.[35] This raises the possibility that the development of movable type in the West may have been progressive rather than a single innovation.[36]

text: Gutenberg's movable-type printing system spread rapidly across Europe, from the single Mainz printing press in 1457 to 110 presses by 1480, of which 50 were in Italy. Venice quickly became the center of typographic and printing activity. Significant were the contributions of Nicolas Jenson, Francesco Griffo, Aldus Manutius, and other printers of late 15th-century Europe.

text: Type-founding[edit]

text: Type-founding as practiced in Europe and the west consists of three stages.

text: The type-height was quite different in different countries. The Monotype Corporation Limited in London UK produced moulds in various heights:

text:
0.918 inches (23.3 mm) : United Kingdom, Canada, U.S.
0.928 inches (23.6 mm) : France, Germany, Switzerland and most other European countries
0.933 inches (23.7 mm) : Belgium height
0.9785 inches (24.85 mm) : Dutch height

text: A Dutch printers manual mentions a tiny difference between French and German Height:[38]

text:
62.027 points Didot = 23.30 millimetres (0.917 in) = English height
62.666 points Didot = 23.55 millimetres (0.927 in) = French height
62.685 points Didot = 23.56 millimetres (0.928 in) = German height
66.047 points Didot = 24.85 millimetres (0.978 in) = Dutch Height

text: Tiny differences in type-height will cause quite bold images of characters.

text: Typesetting[edit]

text: Modern, factory-produced movable type was available in the late 19th century. It was held in the printing shop in a job case, a drawer about 2 inches high, a yard wide, and about two feet deep, with many small compartments for the various letters and ligatures. The most popular and accepted of the job case designs in America was the California Job Case, which took its name from the Pacific coast location of the foundries that made the case popular.[39]

text: Traditionally, the capital letters were stored in a separate drawer or case that was located above the case that held the other letters; this is why capital letters are called "upper case" characters while the non-capitals are "lower case".[40]

text: Compartments also held spacers, which are blocks of blank type used to separate words and fill out a line of type, such as em and en quads (quadrats, or spaces. A quadrat is a block of type whose face is lower than the printing letters so that it does not itself print.). An em space was the width of a capital letter "M" – as wide as it was high – while an en space referred to a space half the width of its height (usually the dimensions for a capital "N").

text: Individual letters are assembled into words and lines of text with the aid of a composing stick, and the whole assembly is tightly bound together to make up a page image called a forme, where all letter faces are exactly the same height to form a flat surface of type. The forme is mounted on a printing press, a thin coating of viscous ink is applied and impressions made on paper under great pressure in the press. "Sorts" is the term given to special characters not freely available in the typical type case, such as the "@" mark.

text: Metal type combined with other methods[edit]

text: Sometimes it is erroneously stated that printing with metal type replaced the earlier methods. In the industrial era printing methods would be chosen to suit the purpose. For example, when printing large scale letters in posters etc. the metal type would have proved too heavy and economically unviable. Thus, large scale type was made as carved wood blocks as well as ceramics plates.[41] Also in many cases where large scale text was required, it was simpler to hand the job to a sign painter than a printer. Images could be printed together with movable type if they were made as woodcuts or wood engravings as long as the blocks were made to the same type height. If intaglio methods, such as copper plates, were used for the images, then images and the text would have required separate print runs on different machines.


document_title: Electrical conduction system of the heart

question_text: when does the sa node begin electrical signaling

text: Structure[edit]

text: Electrical signals arising in the SA node (located in the right atrium) stimulate the atria to contract and travel to the atrioventricular node (AV node), which is located in the interatrial septum. After a delay, the stimulus diverges and is conducted through the left and right bundle of His to the respective Purkinje fibers for each side of the heart, as well as to the endocardium at the apex of the heart, then finally to the ventricular epicardium.[1]

text: On the microscopic level, the wave of depolarization propagates to adjacent cells via gap junctions located on the intercalated disc. The heart is a functional syncytium (not to be confused with a true "syncytium" in which all the cells are fused together, sharing the same plasma membrane as in skeletal muscle). In a functional syncytium, electrical impulses propagate freely between cells in every direction, so that the myocardium functions as a single contractile unit. This property allows rapid, synchronous depolarization of the myocardium. While advantageous under normal circumstances, this property can be detrimental, as it has potential to allow the propagation of incorrect electrical signals. These gap junctions can close to isolate damaged or dying tissue, as in a myocardial infarction (heart attack).

text: Development[edit]

text: Embryologic evidence of generation of the cardiac conduction system illuminates the respective roles of this specialized set of cells. Innervation of the heart begins with a brain only centered parasympathetic cholinergic first order. It is then followed by rapid growth of a second order sympathetic adrenergic system arising from the formation of the thoracic spinal ganglia. The third order of electrical influence of the heart is derived from the vagus nerve as the other peripheral organs form.[2]

text: Function[edit]

text: Action potential generation[edit]

text: Cardiac muscle has some similarities to neurons and skeletal muscle, as well as important unique properties. Like a neuron, a given myocardial cell has a negative membrane potential when at rest. Stimulation above a threshold value induces the opening of voltage-gated ion channels and a flood of cations into the cell. The positively charged ions entering the cell cause the depolarization characteristic of an action potential. Like skeletal muscle, depolarization causes the opening of voltage-gated calcium channels and release of Ca2+ from the t-tubules. This influx of calcium causes calcium-induced calcium release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum, and free Ca2+ causes muscle contraction. After a delay, potassium channels reopen, and the resulting flow of K+ out of the cell causes repolarization to the resting state.[3][4]

text: There are important physiological differences between nodal cells and ventricular cells; the specific differences in ion channels and mechanisms of polarization give rise to unique properties of SA node cells, most important, the spontaneous depolarizations necessary for the SA node's pacemaker activity.

text: Requirements for effective pumping[edit]

text: In order to maximize efficiency of contractions and cardiac output, the conduction system of the heart has:

text:
Substantial atrial to ventricular delay. This will allow the atria to completely empty their contents into the ventricles; simultaneous contraction would cause inefficient filling and backflow. The atria are electrically isolated from the ventricles, connected only via the AV node which briefly delays the signal.
Coordinated contraction of ventricular cells. The ventricles must maximize systolic pressure to force blood through the circulation, so all the ventricular cells must work together.

Ventricular contraction begins at the apex of the heart, progressing upwards to eject blood into the great arteries. Contraction that squeezes blood towards the exit is more efficient than a simple squeeze from all directions. Although the ventricular stimulus originates from the AV node in the wall separating the atria and ventricles, the Bundle of His conducts the signal to the apex.
Depolarization propagates through cardiac muscle very rapidly. Cells of the ventricles contract nearly simultaneously.
The action potentials of cardiac muscle are unusually sustained. This prevents premature relaxation, maintaining initial contraction until the entire myocardium has had time to depolarize and contract.

Absence of tetany. After contracting, the heart must relax to fill up again. Sustained contraction of the heart without relaxation would be fatal, and this is prevented by a temporary inactivation of certain ion channels.

text: ECG[edit]

text: An electrocardiogram is a recording of the electrical activity of the heart.

text: SA node: P wave[edit]

text: Under normal conditions, electrical activity is spontaneously generated by the SA node, the cardiac pacemaker. This electrical impulse is propagated throughout the right atrium, and through Bachmann's bundle to the left atrium, stimulating the myocardium of the atria to contract. The conduction of the electrical impulses throughout the atria is seen on the ECG as the P wave.[3][5]

text: As the electrical activity is spreading throughout the atria, it travels via specialized pathways, known as internodal tracts, from the SA node to the AV node.

text: AV node and bundles: PR interval[edit]

text: The AV node functions as a critical delay in the conduction system. Without this delay, the atria and ventricles would contract at the same time, and blood wouldn't flow effectively from the atria to the ventricles. The delay in the AV node forms much of the PR segment on the ECG, and part of atrial repolarization can be represented by PR segment.

text: The distal portion of the AV node is known as the bundle of His.[6] The bundle of His splits into two branches in the interventricular septum: the left bundle branch and the right bundle branch. The left bundle branch activates the left ventricle, while the right bundle branch activates the right ventricle.

text: The left bundle branch is short, splitting into the left anterior fascicle and the left posterior fascicle. The left posterior fascicle is relatively short and broad, with dual blood supply, making it particularly resistant to ischemic damage. The left posterior fascicle transmits impulses to the papillary muscles, leading to mitral valve closure. As the left posterior fascicle is shorter and broader than the right, impulses reach the papillary muscles just prior to depolarization, and therefore contraction, of the left ventricle myocardium. This allows pre-tensioning of the chordae tendinae, increasing the resistance to flow through the mitral valve during left ventricular contraction.[3] This mechanism works in the same manner as pre-tensioning of car seatbelts.

text: Purkinje fibers/ventricular myocardium: QRS complex[edit]

text: The two bundle branches taper out to produce numerous Purkinje fibers, which stimulate individual groups of myocardial cells to contract.[3]

text: The spread of electrical activity through the ventricular myocardium produces the QRS complex on the ECG.

text: Atrial repolarization occurs and is masked during the QRS complex by ventricular depolarization on the ECG.

text: Ventricular repolarization[edit]

text: The last event of the cycle is the repolarization of the ventricles. It is the restoring of the resting state. In the ECG, repolarization includes the J point, ST-segment, and T- and U-waves.[7]

text: The transthoracically measured PQRS portion of an electrocardiogram is chiefly influenced by the sympathetic nervous system. The T (and occasionally U) waves are chiefly influenced by the parasympathetic nervous system guided by integrated brainstem control from the vagus nerve and the thoracic spinal accessory ganglia.

text: An impulse (action potential) that originates from the SA node at a relative rate of 60 - 100bpm is known as normal sinus rhythm. If SA nodal impulses occur at a rate less than 60bpm, the heart rhythm is known as sinus bradycardia. If SA nodal impulses occur at a rate exceeding 100bpm, the consequent rapid heart rate is sinus tachycardia. These conditions are not necessarily bad symptoms, however. Trained athletes, for example, usually show heart rates slower than 60bpm when not exercising. If the SA node fails to initialize, the AV junction can take over as the main pacemaker of the heart. The AV junction consists of the AV node, the bundle of His and the surrounding area; it has a regular rate of 40 to 60bpm. These "junctional" rhythms are characterized by a missing or inverted P-Wave. If both the SA node and the AV junction fail to initialize the electrical impulse, the ventricles can fire the electrical impulses themselves at a rate of 20 to 40bpm and will have a QRS complex of greater than 120 ms. This is necessary for the heart to be in good function.

text: Clinical significance[edit]

text: Arrhythmia[edit]

text: An 'arrhythmia' refers to an abnormal rhythm or speed of rhythm of the heartbeat. An abnormal rhythm or speed is defined as one which is not physiological.

text: Speed[edit]

text: A resting heart that beats slower than 60 beats per minute, or faster than 100 beats per minute, is regarded as having an arrhythmia. A heartbeat slower than 60 beats per minute is known as bradycardia, and a heartbeat faster than 100 is known as a tachycardia.

text: Physiological[edit]

text: Some individuals, for example trained athletes, may have heart beats slower than 60 beats per minute when not exercising. If the SA node fails to initialize, the AV junction can take over as the main pacemaker of the heart. The AV junction "surrounds" the AV node (the AV node is not able to initialize its own impulses) and has a regular rate of 40 to 60 bpm. These "junctional" rhythms are characterized by a missing or inverted P-Wave. If both the SA node and the AV junction fail to initialize the electrical impulse, the ventricles can fire the electrical impulses themselves at a rate of 20 to 40 bpm and will have a QRS complex of greater than 120 ms.

text: Pacemakers[edit]

text: In the event of arrhythmia, a pacemaker may be surgically inserted into the conduction system.