title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: Doctor in theology of the UOC-MP argued that the break of communion between the churches of Moscow and Constantinople did not constitute a real schism (like the schism of 1054), but a "slit". The American Protestant magazine "Christianity Today" called the break of communion between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church the "biggest schism since 1054" and "the biggest Christian schism since the Protestant Reformation"


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 17 October, Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, was interviewed by the "BBC Russian" Service; this interview was published on the official website of the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church the very same day. Hilarion declared: "As of today, we have very clearly stated: the fact that the Patriarchate of Constantinople has recognized a schismatic structure means for us that Constantinople itself is now in schism. It has identified itself with a schism. Accordingly, we cannot have the full Eucharistic communion with it." Hilarion added that when members of the Russian Orthodox of Moscow Patriarchate pay visits to the monasteries on Mount Athos, they cannot participate in the sacraments (for example, receive communion), and promised punishment to any priests who participate in the divine services together with the local clergy. It is known that Russia makes large donations to the monasteries on Athos: the sum of $200 million was announced by a source close to the Moscow Patriarchate and confirmed by Hilarion in his interview. Hilarion hinted that "[h]istory shows that when Athos is concerned over something, the monasteries on the Holy Mountain do find ways to inform the Patriarch of Constantinople about it" and called on Russian businessmen to switch donations to Russian sacred places.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 29 December, during an interview to the channel "Russia-24", Metropolitan Hilarion declared the Patriarch of Moscow had informed during the last meeting of the Supreme Diocesan Assembly of Moscow that that faithfuls of the ROC could communicate in the territory of the Mount Athos, but only in the Saint Panteleimon Monastery. The territory of the Mount Athos is under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Hilarion declared the Saint Panteleimon Monastery "belongs to the Constantinople Church, as do all monasteries on Mt. Athos, but we know that it was built with Russian money by Russian monks and houses a Russian and Ukrainian monastic brotherhood, all rites are performed in a Slavic language and the laity who come there may take communion in it [...] But not in other Athos monasteries".


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 27 September 2021, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow declared he was "very much upset by the fact that today the Patriarch of Constantinople has lapsed into schism because he took communion together with schismatics and recognized self-ordained clergy who do not have lawful consecration by canonical hierarchs"


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 3 December, Ecumenical Patriarch, despite the decision of the Moscow Patriarchate, states there is no schism between Moscow and Constantinople.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 17 October 2019, the Holy Synod of the ROC reacted to the announcement that the Church of Greece had recognized the OCU. The Holy Synod stated: "If the Ukrainian schism is really recognized by the Greek Orthodox Church and its Primate – either in the form of a joint service, liturgical commemoration of the leader of the schism or sending official letters to them – it will be a sad testimony to the deepening division in the family of local Orthodox Churches. [...] We cease the prayer and Eucharistic communion with those bishops of the Greek Church who have entered or will enter into communion with representatives of the Ukrainian non-canonical schismatic communities. [...] the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church authorizes his Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia to stop the commemoration of the name of His Beatitude Archbishop of Athens and the entire Greece in the diptychs if the Primate of the Greek Church begins to commemorate the head of one of the Ukrainian schismatic groups during divine services or takes other actions indicating the recognition of the Ukrainian schism." In the same statement, the Holy Synod announced that the ROC would not be blessing pilgrimages of faithfuls of the ROC to Greek dioceses whose hierarchs are in communion with representatives of the OCU.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 21 October 2019, Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens and all Greece, the primate of the Church of Greece, sent a peaceful letter to Epiphanius, the primate of the OCU. This decision was supported by the whole hierarchy (bishops) of the Church of Greece, minus 7 Metropolitans; the Metropolitan of Piraeus later said he in fact did not support this decision, explaining: "My phrase 'I disagree but support the archbishop' was distorted beyond recognition." This decision meant that the Church of Greece recognized the OCU. The head of the external relations department of the ROC, Metropolitan Hilarion, stated that the ROC regretted this decision and that "the Greek Church is not independent, there is no full autocephaly, full independence, half of its hierarchs are hierarchs of the Constantinople Patriarchate, it does not have its own external policy, and therefore it always follows in the footsteps of the Constantinople Patriarchate." Hilarion stated that he hoped "no other regional church will follow this sad example." Thereafter, the Pilgrim Centre of the Patriarchate of Moscow, which is the official pilgrimage centre of the Moscow Patriarchate, released a list of dioceses of the Church of Greece which were considered "undesirable for pilgrimage" and to which the pilgrims of the Russian Orthodox Church were "not blessed" to go in pilgrimage. This list namely contained the diocese of Athens of the primate of the Church of Greece. This list was done on the basis of 17 October 2019 decision of the Holy Synod of the ROC not to bless pilgrimages to dioceses whose hierarchs enter in communion with representatives of the OCU.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 2 November, Metropolitan Hilarion stated: "We said that if the archbishop of Athens officially recognizes the Ukrainian schism, his name will be removed from the diptychs of the Russian Orthodox Church. What does that mean? It means that the patriarch will not mention the archbishop of Athens in his services, the same way as he is not mentioning the patriarch of Constantinople. I think he will not be mentioned this coming Sunday when the patriarch holds his service. That means we are stopping Eucharistic communion with the archbishop of Athens."


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On Sunday, 3 November 2019, Patriarch Kirill did not mention the primate of the Church of Greece in the liturgy, removing him from the diptych.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 8 November 2019, the Moscow Patriarchate announced that Patriarch Kirill would stop commemorating the Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa after the latter and his Church recognized the OCU that same day. On 25 November 2019, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow temporarily suspended the Moscow mission of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa. The future closing of the representation of the Patriarchate of Alexandria in Moscow was announced.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 6 December 2019, the Holy Synod of the UOC-MP announced it had severted eucharistic communion "with the Patriarchate of Constantinople and with the Churches and hierarchs who have recognised  the schismatics"


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 24 December 2019, Metropolitan Hilarion said that "[i]f the Patriarchate of Alexandria sides with the schism, then we might, of course, have to create parishes for our believers, because they won't be able to take communion at churches of the Patriarchate of Alexandria." Two days later, the Synod of the ROC in Moscow announced it severed full communion with the Patriarch of Alexandria and ceased commemorating him. In addition, the Synod of Moscow decided to suspend the activities of the metochion (embassy) of the Alexandrian Patriarchate under the Moscow Patriarchate. It was also decided that the Representation of the Patriarchate of Moscow under the Patriarchate of Alexandria in Cairo would become a parish of the ROC. As for the parishes of the ROC in Africa, they will be removed from the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and will be granted stauropegial status, that is, they will be transferred to the direct subordination of the head of the ROC, Patriarch Kirill.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On November 23, 2022, the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, meeting under the chairmanship of Patriarch Theodore II, decided the following things :


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 20 November 2020, the Holy Synod of the ROC declared that Patriarch Kirill can no longer commemorate Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus as a result of Chrysostomos' commemoration of Epiphanius on 24 October 2020.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 10 November 2018, Metropolitan Hilarion, heads of the Moscow Patriarchate's Office for External Relations said during a TV program on Russia-24 that the ROC had no choice but to "send priests of the Russian Orthodox Church" to Turkey, "[a]nd this will continue as long as the Patriarch of Constantinople is in schism". He said the ROC did not do so before because Turkey is a territory of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, but that the ROC now does because the Ecumenical Patriarchate is in schism.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 12 November 2018, it was reported that the first priest was sent by Patriarch Kirill to Istanbul (Turkey) "at the request of Russian believers who live in Turkey". On the same day, the Russian Orthodox Church announced a divine liturgy had been held on 11 November in Istanbul and would be regularly held. The ROC also reported the words of the priest who had led the divine liturgy who said that after the 15 October 2018 decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, numerous Russian Orthodox believers of Turkey had asked the Moscow Patriarchate to provide them with "pastoral care". On 14 December the Ecumenical Patriarchate published a statement by Metropolitan Sotirios of Pisidia in which he condemned the plans of the ROC priest to celebrate a Divine Liturgy in Belek (Turkey) with the help of the Russian consulate and without the permission of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which has canonical jurisdiction over this territory.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 30 December 2018, "Interfax" reported that the ROC was building a church on the territory of the embassy of Russia in Ankara.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 27 November 2018, the Ecumenical Patriarchate decided to dissolve the Archdiocese of Russian Orthodox churches in Western Europe (AROCWE) "thereby entrusting its faithful to the Hierarchs of the Ecumenical Throne in Europe". ROC officials responded with a reminder of the 2003 proposal of Alexy II to move to the Moscow Patriarchate. This decision was made without any official requests from the hierarchs of the diocese and caused confusion. On 15 December, Pastoral Assembly of AROCWE decided to call an Extraordinary General Assembly (EGA), scheduled for 23 February 2019. On 23 February, 191 out of the 206 voters of EGA voted against the dissolution.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: At the next Extraordinary General Assembly on 7 September 2019, 104 voters out of the 186 (58.1%) voted in favor of the AROCWE being subordinated to the Moscow Patriarchate, but that was less than two-thirds of the votes needed to make such a decision. Despite this, the head of AROCWE on 14 September personally came under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. On 3 November, the AROCWE delegation in Moscow received a letter on the reunification of the archdiocese with the Moscow Patriarchate. Some of AROCWE members joined the newly established "Vicariate of Russian Tradition of the Metropolis of France" which remained faithful to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 26 November 2018, Metropolitan Hilarion declared that the ROC would send a priest in South Korea and declared the plans "to create a full-fledged parish", because until the 1950s in Korea was a Russian Spiritual Mission whose faithful were in the 1950s transferred to the Ecumenical Patriarchate's jurisdiction. The priest was scheduled to be sent by the end of the year.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 28 December 2018, in response to the Ecumenical Patriarchate's actions in Ukraine, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to create the Patriarchal Exarchate in Western Europe (PEWE), the Spanish-Portuguese diocese, as well as the Patriarchal Exarchate in South-East Asia (PESEA). On the same day, in an interview with Russia-24 channel, Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations of the ROC, declared the ROC "will now act as if they [Constantinople] do not exist at all because our purpose is missionary, our task is to educate, we are creating these structures for ministerial care about our flock, there can be no such deterring factors here", and that the ROC will take charge of the Orthodox faithfuls of its diaspora instead of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 26 February, during the first 2019 session of the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Holy synod adopted a statement saying that the granting of the tomos by the Ecumenical Patriarchate "to the so-called 'Orthodox church of Ukraine,' created artificially by a merger of two schismatic organizations, deepened the division between [Eastern] Orthodox Christians in Ukraine and worsened ever more considerably the inter-confessional relations." The ROC also blamed the action of the Ukrainian parliament regarding the UOC-MP.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 7 October 2019, the ROC officially released comments by the Secretariat of the Biblical and Theological Synodal Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church. "The document discusses the problems of apostolic succession among schismatic "hierarchs", the limits of application of the oikonomia principle, issues of the lack of legitimacy of the OCU, the distortion of the role of the first bishop in the Orthodox Church, and explains the suspension of Eucharistic communion."


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 7 January 2019, during the festive Christmas liturgy in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Patriarch Kirill of the ROC did not mention a single name of the primates of other local Orthodox Churches, with whom the ROC is in canonical communion. Such commemoration is demanded by a church charter and is a centuries-old tradition. In contrast to this, the head of the newly created Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epiphanius, solemnly listed the names of all the primates, including the "Most Holy Patriarch of Russia Kirill". Epiphanius later explained that he had done this after the Ecumenical Patriarch had instructed him (Epiphanius) to do so, and that Filaret had instructed him not to mention Kirill.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 20 November 2019, during the patriarchal liturgy, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow did not commemorate by name any of the primates of the local Eastern Orthodox Churches, saying only "Remember, Lord, the Orthodox Patriarchs."


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 21 November 2019, Patriarch Kyrill and Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem concelebrated a liturgy together. During this liturgy, they commemorated each others, but did not commemorate any of the other Eastern Orthodox primates.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: In September 2021, after Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria concelebrated a liturgy with Met. Epiphanius of Kyiv of the OCU, the Holy Synod of the ROC declared the ROC was accepting priests who wanted to leave the Church of Alexandria to join the ROC due to their disapproval of the recognition of the OCU by the Church of Alexandria.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 29 December 2021, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church under Patriarch Kirill announced that 102 priests of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, from eight African countries, would be received into their jurisdiction, and that Dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church would be erected in Africa under an Exarchate.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: In May 2022, the Council of bishops of the UOC-MP has cutting ties with ROC over handling, perceived betrayal, and consequences of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: Numerous Eastern Orthodox churches took position concerning the question of the canonical jurisdiction over Ukraine, whether before or after this schism.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: The schism has its root in a dispute over who between the Patriarchate of Moscow and the Patriarchate of Constantinople has canonical jurisdiction over the See of Kyiv and, therefore, which patriarchate has canonical jurisdiction over the territory of Ukraine. "[T]he principal argument proposed [concerning the granting of the ecclesiastical status of autocephaly to Ukraine by the Ecumenical Patriarchate] is that Ukraine 'constitutes the canonical territory of the Patriarchate of Moscow' and that, consequently, such an act on the part of the Ecumenical Patriarchate would comprise an 'intervention' into a foreign ecclesiastical jurisdiction." The Patriarchate of Moscow's claim of canonical jurisdiction is based mostly on two documents: the "Patriarchal and Synodal "Act" or "Letter of Issue" of 1686", and a 1686 "Patriarchal Letter to the Kings of Russia". Both those documents are reproduced in the "Appendix" section of a study published by the Ecumenical Patriarch called "The Ecumenical Throne and the Ukrainian Church – The Documents Speak". The Church of Constantinople claims the Church of Constantinople has canonical jurisdiction over the See of Kyiv and that the documents upon which the Russian Orthodox Church bases its claim of jurisdiction over said See of Kyiv do not support the ROC's claim.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 1 July 2018, the Patriarch Bartholomew said that Constantinople was the Mother church of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and declared that


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: The Ecumenical Patriarchate issued a document authored by various clerics and theologians called "The Ecumenical Throne and the Ukrainian Church – The Documents Speak". This document analyzes canonical historic documents (namely the "Patriarchal and Synodal "Act" or "Letter of Issue" of 1686" and the 1686 "Patriarchal Letter to the Kings of Russia)" to see if the claim over the See of Kyiv by the Patriarchate of Moscow is canonical or not.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 27 December 2016, Konstantinos Vetochnikov wrote that the transfer of the See of Kyiv from the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church "never took place". Later, Vetoshnikov made an analysis of the arguments of the Russian Orthodox Church. He pointed out that, according to the strict dogmatic approach (akribeia, "ἀκρίβεια"), the whole territory of Russia was originally subjected to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. After Muscovy had gone into schism in the 15th century, it received autocephaly according to a more flexible approach (oikonomia, "οἰκονομία") to heal this schism. The Metropolitan of Kyiv at the same time remained within the jurisdiction of Constantinople. Then, also according to the "oikonomia" approach, the right to ordain Metropolitans of Kyiv was transferred to the Patriarch of Moscow. This was not a change in the boundaries of the Moscow Patriarchate eparchy, as it was issued by a document of a lower level (ekdosis, "ἐκδόσεως"), which was used for various temporary solutions. For pastoral reasons, the Ecumenical Patriarchate subsequently did not assert its rights to this territory. But after the dissolution of the Soviet Union there was a split among the Orthodox of Ukraine, and the Russian Church for 30 years failed to overcome this split. And now, also for pastoral reasons, the Ecumenical Patriarchate was forced to act in accordance with the principle of "akribeia", and so it decided to abolish the right to ordain Metropolitans of Kyiv which had been earlier transferred to the Moscow Patriarchate in accordance with "oikonomia".


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 20 August 2018, the pro-Moscow anonymous site "Union of Orthodox Journalists" analysed the Ecumenical Patriarchate's claim of jurisdiction over Ukraine and concluded the See of Kyiv had been transferred to the Patriarchate of Moscow. They added that even if the Ecumenical Patriarchate decided to abrogate the 1686 transfer, the territory covered in 1686 by the See of Kyiv's territory was "a far cry from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of today" and covered less than half of Ukraine's current territory.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: In its 15 October 2018 official statement, the Russian Orthodox Church gave counterarguments to the Ecumenical Patriarch's arguments.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: Metropolitan Hilarion, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, declared in an interview that Constantinople's plan to "grant Autocephaly to a part of the Russian Orthodox Church [...] that once was subordinate to Constantinople [...] runs counter to historic truth". His argument is that the entire territory of Ukraine has not been under Constantinople's jurisdiction for 300 years because the Kyiv metropolis that was incorporated into the Moscow Patriarchate in 1686 was much smaller (it did not include Donbass, Odessa and some other regions) and therefore does not coincide with the present-day territory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. A similar argument was given on 13 November in a live phone interview to Radio Liberty by the Head of the Information and Education Department of the UOC-MP, Archbishop Clement.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: Archbishop Clement of the UOC-MP considers that "to revoke the letter on the transfer of the Kyiv Metropolis in 1686 is the same as to cancel the decisions of the Ecumenical Councils of the 4th or 7th centuries."


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 8 November 2018, the "Union of Orthodox Journalists" analyzed the same documents as "The Ecumenical Throne and the Ukrainian Church" (the "Patriarchal and Synodal "Act" or "Letter of Issue" of 1686" and the 1686 "Patriarchal Letter to the Kings of Russia)" and again concluded that the See of Kyiv had been "completely transferred to the jurisdiction of the Russian Church in 1686".


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: The possibility of a pan-Orthodox synaxis (consultative assembly or conference) has been raised before and after the official break of communion.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 29 September 2018, , the press secretary of the Patriarch of Moscow, declared that the local Eastern Orthodox churches may initiate a pan-Orthodox Synaxis on the issue of granting autocephaly to the Church in Ukraine, however the problem was that the convening such a synaxis is "a prerogative of the First among the Equals, that is, the Ecumenical Patriarch". Volkov noted that


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 7 November, answering the question "Who could, for instance, convene a Pan-Orthodox Council and chair it?", Metropolitan Hilarion declared in an interview, which was published on the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church's Department for External Church Relations, that it was "obvious" that the Ecumenical Patriarch could not chair a Pan-Orthodox Council since "the most important problems in the Orthodox world are linked with precisely his anti-canonical activity".


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 4 December, when asked about the fact that convoking a pan-Orthodox council was a prerogative of the Ecumenical Patriarch, Metropolitan Hilarion replied:


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: In an interview published on 21 February 2019 in the Serbian magazine Politika, the Ecumenical Patriarch said: "As for the provision of autocephaly with the consent of other Orthodox Churches, this did not happen, because it is not a tradition in our Church. All the Tomoses of the autocephaly that were granted to the newly created autocephalous churches (Russia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Athens, Warsaw, Tirana and Presov) were provided by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and this was not preceded by any agreement or negotiation at the Pan-Orthodox level."


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: Thus far, Patriarch John X of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, Patriarch Irinej of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Chrysostomos II of the Church of Cyprus, Metropolitan Sawa (Hrycuniak) of the Polish Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Tikhon of the Orthodox Church in America, Archbishop Anastasios, primate of the Albanian Orthodox Church, three hierarchs of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (Metropolitans Gabriel of Lovech, John of Varna and Veliki Preslav, and Daniel of Vedin), and the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia have expressed their desire for a pan-Orthodox synaxis or pan-Orthodox council over the question of Ukraine in various statements. On 12 November 2018, the Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church of published a communiqué in which they requested the convocation of a Pan-Orthodox Synod.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: In 2019, the Ecumenical Patriarch declared in a letter to Patriarch John X of Antioch that he would not convene a pan-Orthodox council on the question of Ukraine.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 21 November 2019, Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem announced he would like to gather in Jordan with the other Eastern Orthodox primates "in the spirit of fellowship – koinonia – so that counsel will be taken together for the preservation of our unity in Eucharistic communion."


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: This initiative was welcomed by the ROC; Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the DECR, also added that the Patriarchate of Jerusalem had a "historic primacy" within the Eastern Orthodox Church.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: On 22 November, the primate of the Church of Greece declined the invitation. At the beginning of January, the primate of the Church of Cyprus said he had not replied to the invitation because he "considered it prudent not to answer" and did not consider this meeting a "serious act", and added that "only the Ecumenical Patriarch, no one else" had the right to convene such a council. At few days later, the answer of the Ecumenical Patriarch to the letter of invitation of the Patriarch of Jerusalem was reported; the Ecumenical Patriarch stated he refused the invitation and asked the Patriarch of Jerusalem to stop his initiative of meeting. A few days later, the primate of the Church of Greece reiterated that he would not attend Patriarch Theophilos III's meeting. Later, it was reported that the Orthodox Churches of Albania, Poland, Alexandria, Georgia, Bulgaria and Antioch had stated they would not come. The Romanian Orthodox Church said it would be present at the gathering, but would not be presented by its Patriarch but by a delegation.


title: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

text: The gathering took place on 26 February 2020. Were present the delegations of: the ROC with Patriarch Kirill as leader, the Church of Jerusalem with Patriarch Theophilos as leader, the Serbian Church with Patriarch Irinej as leader, the OCCLS with primate Met. Rastislav as leader, the Polish Church with Abp. as leader, and the Romanian Church with Met. as leader. After the gathering, the participants released a common statement.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: The Merina Kingdom, or Kingdom of Madagascar, officially the Kingdom of Imerina (–1897), was a pre-colonial state off the coast of Southeast Africa that, by the 19th century, dominated most of what is now Madagascar. It spread outward from Imerina, the Central Highlands region primarily inhabited by the Merina ethnic group with a spiritual capital at Ambohimanga and a political capital west at Antananarivo, currently the seat of government for the modern state of Madagascar. The Merina kings and queens who ruled over greater Madagascar in the 19th century were the descendants of a long line of hereditary Merina royalty originating with Andriamanelo, who is traditionally credited with founding Imerina in 1540.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: In 1883, France invaded the Merina Kingdom to establish a protectorate. France invaded again in 1894 and conquered the kingdom, making it a French colony, in what became known as the Franco-Hova Wars.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Madagascar's central highlands were first inhabited between 200 BC–300 AD by the island's earliest settlers, the Vazimba, who appear to have arrived by pirogue from southeastern Borneo to establish simple villages in the island's dense forests. By the 15th century the Hova people from the southeastern coast had gradually migrated into the central highlands where they established hilltop villages interspersed among the existing Vazimba settlements, which were ruled by local kings and queens. The two peoples coexisted peacefully for several generations and are known to have intermarried. In this way, a reigning Vazimba queen (alternately given in the oral histories as Rafohy or Rangita) married a Hova man named Manelobe. Their oldest son, Andriamanelo (r. 1540–1575), broke this tradition by launching a largely successful war to subjugate the surrounding Vazimba communities and force them to either submit to Hova dominance and assimilate, or flee.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Andriamanelo was succeeded by his son Ralambo (r. 1575–1612), whose many enduring and significant political and cultural achievements earned him a heroic and near mythical status among the greatest ancient sovereigns of Merina history. Ralambo was the first to assign the name of Imerina ("Land of the Merina people") to the central highland territories where he ruled. Ralambo expanded and defended the Kingdom of Imerina through a combination of diplomacy and successful military action aided by the procurement of the first firearms in Imerina by way of trade with kingdoms on the coast. Imposing a capitation tax for the first time (the "vadin-aina", or "price of secure life"), he was able to establish the first standing Merina royal army and established units of blacksmiths and silversmiths to equip them. He famously repelled an attempted invasion by an army of the powerful western coastal Betsimisaraka people. According to oral history, the wild zebu cattle that roamed the Highlands were first domesticated for food in Imerina under the reign of Ralambo, and he introduced the practice and design of cattle pen construction, as well as the traditional ceremony of the "fandroana" (the "Royal Bath"), to celebrate his culinary discovery.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Upon succeeding his father, Andrianjaka (1612–1630) led a successful military campaign to capture the final major Vazimba stronghold in the highlands on the hill of Analamanga. There he established the fortified compound ("rova") that would form the heart of his new capital city of Antananarivo. Upon his orders, the first structures within this fortified compound (known as the Rova of Antananarivo) were constructed: several traditional royal houses were built, and plans for a series of royal tombs were designed. These buildings took on an enduring political and spiritual significance, ensuring their preservation until being destroyed by fire in 1995. Andrianjaka obtained a sizable cache of firearms and gunpowder, materials that helped to establish and preserve his dominance and expand his rule over greater Imerina.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Political life on the island from the 16th century was characterised by sporadic conflict between the Merina and Sakalava kingdoms, originating with Sakalava slave-hunting incursions into Imerina.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: By the early 19th century, the Merina were able to overcome rival tribes such as the Bezanozano, the Betsimisaraka, and eventually the Sakalava kingdom and bring them under the Merina crown. It is through this process that the ethnonym "Merina" began to be commonly used, as it denotes prominence in the Malagasy language. Though some sources describe the Merina expansion as the unification of Madagascar, this period of Merina expansion was seen by neighboring tribes such as the Betsimisaraka as aggressive acts of colonialism. By 1824, the Merina captured the port of Mahajanga situated on the western coast of the island marking a further expansion of power. Under Radama I, the Merina continued to launch military expeditions that both expanded imperial control and enriched military chiefs. The ability of the Merina to overcome neighboring tribes was due to British firepower and military training. The British had an interest in establishing trade with the Merina kingdom due to its central position on the island since 1815. Merina imperial expeditions became more frequent and violent after the renunciation of the second Merina-British treaty. Between 1828 and 1840, more than 100,000 men were killed and more than 200,000 enslaved by Merina forces. Imperial rule was met with resistance from escaped slaves and other refugees from imperial rule numbering in the tens of thousands. These refugees formed raiding brigands that were dealt with by imperial troops who hunted them down in 1835. Notably, the rate of escaping refugees only heightened the demand for slave labor in the Merina kingdom, further fueling campaigns of military expansion. Throughout the middle of the 19th century, continued imperial expansion and increasing control in coastal trade solidified Merina predominance over the island. The Merina kingdom nearly consolidated all of Madagascar into a single nation before French colonization in 1895.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: King Andriamasinavalona quartered the kingdom to be ruled by his four favourite sons, producing persistent fragmentation and warfare between principalities in Imerina. He extended the borders of the kingdom to their largest historical extent prior to the kingdom's fragmentation.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: It was from this context in 1787 that Prince Ramboasalama, nephew of King Andrianjafy of Ambohimanga (one of the four kingdoms of Imerina) expelled his uncle and took the throne under the name Andrianampoinimerina. The new king used both diplomacy and force to reunite Imerina with the intent to bring all of Madagascar under his rule.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: This objective was largely completed under his son, Radama I, who was the first to admit and regularly engage European missionaries and diplomats in Antananarivo.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: The 33-year reign of Queen Ranavalona I, the widow of Radama I, was characterised by a struggle to preserve the cultural isolation of Madagascar from modernity, especially as represented by the French and British. Her son and heir, King Radama II, signed the unpopular Lambert Charter giving French entrepreneur Joseph-François Lambert exclusive rights to many of the island's resources. His liberal policies angered the aristocracy, however, and Prime Minister Rainivoninahitriniony had the King strangled in a "coup d'état". This aristocratic revolution saw Rasoherina, the queen dowager, placed on the throne upon her acceptance of a constitutional monarchy that gave greater power to the Prime Minister. She replaced the incumbent Prime Minister with his brother, Rainilaiarivony, who retained the role for three decades and married each successive queen. The next sovereign, Ranavalona II, converted the nation to Christianity and had all the "sampy" (ancestral royal talismans) burnt in a public display. The last Merina sovereign, Queen Ranavalona III, acceded the throne at age 22 and was exiled to Réunion Island and later French Algeria following French colonisation of the island in 1896.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Angry at the cancellation of the Lambert Charter and seeking to restore property taken from French citizens, France invaded Madagascar in 1883 in what became known as the First Franco-Hova War ("Hova" referring to the "andriana"). At the war's end, Madagascar ceded Antsiranana (Diégo Suarez) on the northern coast to France and paid 560,000 gold francs to the heirs of Joseph-François Lambert. Meanwhile, in Europe, diplomats partitioning the African continent worked out an agreement whereby Britain, in order to obtain the Sultanate of Zanzibar, ceded its rights over Heligoland to the German Empire and renounced all claims to Madagascar in favor of France. The agreement proved detrimental for the monarchy of Madagascar. Prime Minister Rainilaiarivory had succeeded in playing Great Britain and France against one another, but now France could meddle without fear of reprisals from Britain.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: In 1895, a French flying-column landed in Mahajanga (Majunga) and marched by way of the Betsiboka River to the capital, Antananarivo, taking the city's defenders by surprise since they had expected an attack from the much closer eastern coast. Twenty French soldiers died in combat while 6,000 died of malaria and other diseases before the Second Franco-Hova War ended. In 1896, the Merina Kingdom was put under French protection as the Malagasy Protectorate and in 1897 the French Parliament voted to annex the island as a colony, effectively ending Merina sovereignty.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Andriamanelo established the first fortified "rova" (royal compound) at his capital at Alasora. This fortified palace bore specific features – "hadivory" (dry moats), "hadifetsy" (defensive trenches) and "vavahady" (town gates protected by a large rolled stone disc acting as a barrier) – that rendered the town more resistant to Vazimba attacks.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Andrianjaka's policies and tactics highlighted and increased the separation between the king and his subjects. He transformed social divisions into spatial divisions by assigning each clan to a specific geographical region within his kingdom.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Andrianjaka unified the principalities on what he later designated as the twelve sacred hills of Imerina at Ambohitratrimo, Ambohimanga, Ilafy, Alasora, Antsahadita, Ambohimanambony, Analamanga, Ambohitrabiby, Namehana, Ambohidrapeto, Ambohijafy and Ambohimandranjaka. These hills became and remain the spiritual heart of Imerina, which was further expanded over a century later when Andrianampoinimerina redesignated the twelve sacred hills to include several different sites.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Under Andriamasinavalona, the Kingdom of Imerina was composed of six provinces ("toko"): Avaradrano, constituting Antananarivo and land to the northeast of the capital, including Ambohimanga; Vakinisisaony, including the land to the south of Avaradrano and its capital at Alasora; Vonizongo to the northwest of Antananarivo with its capital at Fihaonana; Marovatana to the south of Vonizongo, with its capital at Ambohidratrimo; Ambodirano, south of Marovatana with its capital at Fenoarivo; and Vakinankaratra to the south of Antananarivo with its capital at Betafo. Andrianampoinimerina reunited these provinces and added Imamo to the west, which has been described by some historians as having been incorporated into Ambodirano, and by others as separate from it; and Valalafotsy to the northwest. Together, these areas constitute the core territory rightly called Imerina, the homeland of the Merina people.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Imerina is located in the central highlands of Madagascar. It is notable that the word Imerina is derived from the Malagasy word meaning the "occupancy of a prominent place." Consistent with the name, much of the documented manipulation of the land in the Merina kingdom involve the building of palaces for royalty or of temples. Andrianampoinimerina (c.1745-1809) was the first to use the toponym of Imerina after conquering Antananarivo. He projected his power by constructing a palace on the site that became the seat of royal power in the Merina kingdom.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: A significant alteration of the landscape made under the rule of Andrianampoinimerina was the introduction of irrigation systems that allowed for the farming of rice paddies. To the present day rice remains a staple of Malagasy cuisine. The digging of canals and dikes was done by vast numbers of slaves placed under royal servitude, or "fanompoana."


title: Merina Kingdom

text: The landscape of Imerina and its geographical manipulation had significant ritual meaning in Merina culture. The irrigation system introduced to Antananarivo, the central authority of Imerina, represented the unification between the Merina royalty and its people. This infrastructural feat paralleled the ritual sprinkling of water known as "tsodrano" done to represent the unification of land and people. Merina beliefs held the connection between cultural history and the landscape in high regard. The use of water to represent spiritual connections between people, the land, and ancestors remains common in the present day.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: By the 1820s, an increased European population had superimposed many Western geographic features onto Imerina. This involved the introduction of non native plants and trees. This proved particularly successful for Europeans as the Malagasy soil and climate were particularly conducive to growing European plants and vegetables.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Before the unification of the Merina kingdom under Andrianampoinimerina, the social structure of the central highlands of Madagascar were distinguished by a class of petty princes and peasant masses.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Andriamanelo was reportedly the first to formally establish the andriana as a caste of Merina nobles, thereby laying the foundation for a stratified and structured society. From this point forward, the term Hova was used to refer only to the non-noble free people of the society which would later be renamed Merina by Andriamanelo's son Ralambo. The first sub-divisions of the "andriana" noble caste were created when Ralambo split it into four ranks.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Andrianjaka was the first king to be buried on the grounds of the Rova of Antananarivo, his tomb forming the first of the Fitomiandalana (seven tombs placed in a row on the Rova grounds). To commemorate his greatness, his subjects erected a small wooden house called a small sacred house on top of his tomb. Future Merina sovereigns and nobles continued to construct similar tomb houses on their tombs well into the 19th century.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: After the conquests of the 19th century, approximately half of the Merina population consisted of the descendants of slaves. This distinction is calcified in the present day by the classification of the descendants of slaves as "blacks" and those of freemen as "whites". The use of color to describe social distinction is further supplemented by the racial distinctions of the Malagasy population tracing back to the original settlement of the island, with Austronesian racial features are contrasted by African racial features.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Andriamanelo is credited with introducing astrology ("sikidy") in Imerina. The Merina rite of circumcision, described by Bloch (1986) in great detail, continued to be practiced by the Merina monarchy through the end of the 19th century in precisely the way first established by Andriamanelo generations before. Many elements of these rituals continue to form part of the circumcision traditions of Merina families in the 21st century. The origins of these practices can be traced back to the southeastern part of the island that the Hova had left behind as they migrated into the central highlands. Astrology, for instance, had been introduced early to the island by way of trade contacts between coastal Malagasy communities and Arab seafarers.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Under Andriamanelo's son Ralambo, the sovereign became imbued with increasing power to protect the realm. This was preserved by honoring the "sampy", traditional amulets made from assorted natural materials. Amulets and idols called "ody" had long occupied an important place among many ethnic groups of Madagascar, but these were believed to offer protection to the individual wearer only and were commonplace objects possessed by anyone from slave children to kings. After Ralambo received a highly powerful "sampy" called Kelimalaza that was distinguished by its supposed capacity to extend protection to an entire community, he sought out and amassed a total of twelve others from communities across Imerina believed to have such a quality. These sampy were personified—complete with a distinct personality—and offered their own house with guardians dedicated to their service. Ralambo then transformed the nature of the relationship between sampy and ruler: whereas previously the sampy had been seen as tools at the disposal of community leaders, under Ralambo they became divine protectors of the king's sovereignty and the integrity of the state, which would be preserved through their power on the condition that the line of sovereigns ensured the sampy were shown the respect due to them. By collecting the twelve greatest sampy—twelve being a sacred number in Merina cosmology—and transforming their nature, Ralambo strengthened the supernatural power and legitimacy of the royal line of Imerina. Oral history recounts numerous instances where sampy were taken into battle, and subsequent successes and varying miracles were attributed to them, including several key victories against Sakalava marauders. The propagation of similar sampy at the service of less powerful citizens consequently increased throughout Imerina under Ralambo's rule: nearly every village chief, as well as many common families, had one in their possession and claimed the powers and protection their communal sampy offered them. These lesser sampy were destroyed or reduced to the status of ody by the end of the reign of Ralambo's son, Andrianjaka, officially leaving only twelve truly powerful sampy (known as the "sampin'andriana": the "Royal Sampy") which were all in the possession of the king. These royal sampy, including "Kelimalaza", continued to be worshiped until their supposed destruction in a bonfire by Queen Ranavalona II upon her public conversion to Christianity in 1869.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Also beginning under Ralambo, the ritual sanctification of the realm occurred through the annual "fandroana" festival at the start of each year. Although the precise form of the original holiday cannot be known with certainty and its traditions have evolved over time, 18th- and 19th-century accounts provide insight into the festival as it was practiced at that time. Accounts from these centuries indicate that all family members were required to reunite in their home villages during the festival period. Estranged family members were expected to attempt to reconcile. Homes were cleaned and repaired and new housewares and clothing were purchased. The symbolism of renewal was particularly embodied in the traditional sexual permissiveness encouraged on the eve of the fandroana (characterized by early 19th-century British missionaries as an "orgy") and the following morning's return to rigid social order with the sovereign firmly at the helm of the kingdom. On this morning, the first day of the year, a red rooster was traditionally sacrificed and its blood used to anoint the sovereign and others present at the ceremony. Afterward the sovereign would bathe in sanctified water, then sprinkle it upon attendees to purify and bless them and ensure an auspicious start to the year. Children would celebrate the fandroana by carrying lighted torches and lanterns in a nighttime processional through their villages. The zebu meat eaten over the course of the festival was primarily grilled or consumed as "jaka", a preparation reserved uniquely for this holiday. This delicacy was made during the festival by sealing shredded zebu meat with suet in a decorative clay jar. The confit would then be conserved in a pit for twelve months to be served at the next year's fandroana.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: The marriage tradition of the "vodiondry", still practiced to this day throughout the Highlands, is said to have originated with Andriamanelo. According to oral history, after the sovereign had successfully contracted a marriage with Ramaitsoanala, sole daughter of Vazimba King Rabiby, Andriamanelo sent her a variety of gifts including vodiondry—meat from the hindquarters of a sheep—which he believed to be the tastiest portion. The value placed on this cut of meat was reaffirmed by Ralambo who, upon discovering the edibility of zebu meat, declared the hindquarters of every slaughtered zebu throughout the kingdom to be his royal due. From the time of Andriamanelo forward, it became a marriage tradition for the groom to offer vodiondry to the bride's family. Over time the customary offerings of meat have been increasingly replaced by a symbolic piastre, sums of money and other gifts. Andriamanelo's son Ralambo is credited with introducing the tradition of polygamy in Imerina. He also introduced the traditions of circumcision and family intermarriage (such as between parent and step-child, or between half-siblings) among Merina nobles, these practices having already existed among certain other Malagasy ethnic groups.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: According to oral history, the institution of lengthy formal mourning periods for deceased sovereigns in Imerina may also have begun with the death of Andrianjaka. He was succeeded by his son, Andriantsitakatrandriana.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Despite plenty of religious variation across Imerina and the Malagasy highlands in general, ritual circumcision has remained a constant factor in Merina and Malagasy culture. The permanence of the circumcision ritual continues to the modern day.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Indigenous silk clothing ("landibe") is especially important in highland cultures, including with the Merina. It was worn during ancestral funerary ceremonies.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: The "Tantaran'ny Andriana" or "Histories of Kings" is the written classic of Merina culture, compiled from oral traditions and stories. The "Tantara" was collected by the Jesuit priest François Callet in the 1860s. The "Tantara" and other printed works are held in such high regard that very few can be obtained for any price.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Present day Malagasy culture is still tied extensively to the past. Many ceremonies involve reenactments of the past, such as "tromba", or the spirit possession ceremony. Generally, the concept of history in Madagascar places a great emphasis on feeling and experiencing rather than knowing.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: The line of succession in Imerina used a system called "fanjakana arindra" ("organized government"), which was established by the Vazimba noblewomen who raised Andriamanelo, founder of Imerina. While the Vazimba had historically tended to favor rule by queens, the Hova favored male heirs, and the marriage between Andriamanelo's Vazimba and Hova parents had produced two sons and a daughter. To prevent conflict, the queen decided that Andriamanelo would inherit the crown upon his mother's death and would be succeeded not by his own child but by his younger brother. This system of succession was ordered by the queens to be followed for all time, and applied to families as well: in any instance where there was an elder child and a younger one, the parents would designate an elder child to assume authority within the family upon their death, and that authority would be handed to the designated younger child in the event of the death of the elder child. Ralambo was the first Merina sovereign to practice polygamy, and his second wife was the first to give him a son. While his younger son by his first wife was to rule, Ralambo sought to assuage the elder son by declaring that the crown could henceforth only be passed to a child born of the reigning sovereign and a princess from the elder son Andriantompokoindrindra's family line.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Imerina was initially ruled under Andriamanelo from his mother's home village of Alasora. The capital was shifted by his son Ralambo to Ambohidrabiby, location of the former capital of his maternal grandfather King Rabiby. Andrianjaka moved his capital from Ambohidrabiby to Ambohimanga upon ascending to the throne around 1610. The Besakana, Masoandrotsiroa and Fitomiandalana houses at the Rova of Antananarivo were preserved and maintained over the centuries by successive generations of Merina sovereigns, imbuing the structures with deep symbolic and spiritual meaning. As Andrianjaka's residence, the Besakana was particularly significant: the original building was torn down and reconstructed in the same design by Andriamasinavalona around 1680, and again by Andrianampoinimerina in 1800, each of whom inhabited the building in turn as their personal residence. King Radama I likewise inhabited the building for much of his time at the Rova, and in 1820 he designated the building as the first site to house what came to be known as the Palace School, the first formal European-style school in Imerina. Sovereigns were enthroned in this building and their mortal remains were displayed here before burial, rendering Besakana "the official state room for civil affairs... regarded as the throne of the kingdom."


title: Merina Kingdom

text: The early Merina fighters under the first king of Imerina were equipped with iron-tipped spears, an innovation credited to Andriamanelo himself, who may have been the first among the Hova to use smithed iron in this way.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Andrianjaka imposed an intimidating change to the traditional form of justice, the trial by ordeal: rather than administering "tangena" poison to an accused person's rooster to determine their innocence by the creature's survival, the poison would instead be ingested by the accused himself.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Andriamanelo was the first in the highlands to transform lowland swamps into irrigated rice paddies through the construction of dikes in the valleys around Alasora. Under Andrianjaka, the plains surrounding Antananarivo were gradually transformed into vast, surplus-producing rice paddies. This feat was accomplished by mobilizing large numbers of his able-bodied subjects to construct dikes that enabled the redirection of rainwater for controlled flooding of planted areas.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Andrianjaka was reportedly the first Merina leader to receive Europeans around 1620 and traded slaves in exchange for guns and other firearms to aid in the pacification of rival principalities, obtaining 50 guns and three barrels of gunpowder to equip his army.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Andriamanelo is traditionally credited with discovering the technique of silversmithing, iron smithing and the construction and use of pirogues. While these technologies were not discovered during his reign, Andriamanelo may have been among the first sovereigns in Imerina to make wide-scale use of them.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Captives from tribal raids were made into the Malagasy slave population. Surpluses of these populations were sent to foreign traders on the coast. These traders were initially Arab and Indian, though Europeans began to join those demanding slaves at the start of the 16th century. Malagasy slaves were exported to Arabia, India, Réunion and Mauritius, and the Americas, primarily Brazil.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: After the British emerged victorious from the Napoleonic wars, they captured the French Mascarene Islands which lie east of Madagascar. These islands facilitated the export of slaves and agricultural products. Some of the first stories of Madagascar to be told in Britain were those told by Robert Drury, a shipwrecked British sailor who wrote about the Malagasy slave trade of in his journal that would be published and widely distributed in England. It was this fixation on the slave trade in Madagascar that initially drew the British to the Merina, giving the Merina the firepower to extend their empire and trading networks across Madagascar. Though the British later returned the island of Réunion to France, they retained Mauritius and included it in the second British-Merina treaty of 1820. This treaty declared an end to the export of slaves in Madagascar under the Merina crown. However, the internal slave market still boomed after 1820 despite British efforts. It is estimated that between 6,000 to 10,000 slaves per year were exported from Antananarivo by 1820. In 1828, Ranavalona I revoked the second British-Merina treaty and expelled most foreigners from Madagascar by 1836.


title: Merina Kingdom

text: Due to the thin population density of Madagascar, domestic slavery was a way to broadcast control over resources and manpower. The elite of Imerina relied heavily upon slave labor. Because of this, the Merina king Radama I had little intent to abide by the first British-Merina treaty signed in 1817. Slave ownership became increasingly common in the following decades. As the slave caste expanded, more and more of the Merina population began holding slaves. As imperial conquests continually increased the supply of slaves captured from neighboring tribes, the population of Antananarivo grew from around 10,000 in 1820 to 50,000 in 1833. The demand in slaves matched the rise in supply as a result of "fanompoana", or mandatory military service, being established in the Merina kingdom thereby drawing able bodied free men away from agricultural labor and into the army. In the second half of the 19th century, the Merina had begun to import slaves from East Africa. This was driven by an economy that critically relied on slave labor as well as the demands of Merina court officials that had personal financial interests. Emancipation of domestic slaves began in 1877, when an estimated 150,000 slaves were freed. However, these newly freed slaves were made into an imperial labor reserve, a position not far removed from enslavement. A clandestine trade thrived in the 1880s until Franco-Merina hostilities broke out in 1882.


title: The World Is Flat

text: The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century is a book by Thomas L. Friedman that analyzes globalization, primarily in the early 21st century. The title is a metaphor for viewing the world as a level playing field in terms of commerce, wherein all competitors, except for labor, have an equal opportunity. As the first edition cover illustration indicates, the title also alludes to the perceptual shift required for countries, companies, and individuals to remain competitive in a global market in which historical and geographic divisions are, according to the author, becoming increasingly irrelevant.


title: The World Is Flat

text: Friedman is a strong advocate of those changes, calling himself a "free-trader" and a "compassionate flatist", and he criticizes societies that resist the changes. He emphasizes the inevitability of a rapid pace of change and the extent to which the emerging abilities of individuals and developing countries are creating many pressures on businesses and individuals in the United States; he has special advice for Americans and for the developing world. Friedman's work is based on much personal research, travel, conversation, and reflection. In his characteristic style, through personal anecdotes and opinions, he combines in "The World Is Flat" a conceptual analysis accessible to a broad public. The book was first released in 2005, was later released as an "updated and expanded" edition in 2006, and was yet again released with additional updates in 2007 as "further updated and expanded: Release 3.0". The title was derived from a statement by Nandan Nilekani, former CEO of Infosys. "The World Is Flat" won the inaugural Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award in 2005.


title: The World Is Flat

text: In his book "The World Is Flat", Friedman recounts a journey to Bangalore, India, when he realized globalization has changed core economic concepts. In his opinion, that flattening is a product of the convergence of the personal computer with fiber optic microcable with the rise of work flow software. Friedman termed the period Globalization 3.0, thereby differentiating it from the previous, Globalization 1.0, during which countries and governments were the main protagonists, and Globalization 2.0, during which multinational companies led the way in driving global integration.


title: The World Is Flat

text: Friedman recounts examples of companies based in India and China that according to him, by providing labor ranging from that of typists and call center operators to accountants and computer programmers, have become integral parts of complex global supply chains; such companies are Dell, AOL, and Microsoft. Friedman's capitalist peace theory called Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention is discussed in the book's penultimate chapter.


title: The World Is Flat

text: Friedman believes that to fight the quiet crisis of a flattening world, the US workforce should keep updating its work skills. Making the workforce more adaptable, Friedman argues, will keep it more employable. He also suggests that the government make it easier for people to switch jobs by making retirement benefits and health insurance less dependent on one's employer and by providing insurance that would partly cover a possible drop in income when changing jobs. Friedman also believes there should be more inspiration for youth to become scientists, engineers, and mathematicians because of a decrease in the percentage of those professionals who are American.


title: The World Is Flat

text: The Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention, also known as simply the Dell Theory, is a capitalist peace theory and an updated version of Friedman's previous "Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention". According to Friedman:


title: The World Is Flat

text: That is, as long as corporations have major supply chain operations in countries other than that corporation's home country, those countries will never engage in armed conflicts. This is because of the economic interdependence between nations that arises when a large corporation (such as Dell) has supply chain operations in multiple global locations and when developing nations (in which supply chain operations commonly take place) are reluctant to give up their newfound wealth.


title: The World Is Flat

text: In his previous book "The Lexus and the Olive Tree", Friedman argued that no two nations with a McDonald's franchise had ever gone to war with one another; this was known as the Golden Arches theory. Later, Friedman upgraded that theory into the "Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention" by saying that people or nations do not just want to have a better standard of living as symbolized by a McDonald's franchise in their downtown but also want to have that lump of the labor sector that is created by globalization. That is, developing nations do not want to risk the trust of the multinational companies that venture into their markets and include them in the global supply chain.


title: The World Is Flat

text: Thomas Friedman also warns that the Dell theory should not be interpreted as a guarantee that nations that are deeply involved in global supply chains will not go to war with each other. It means, rather, that the governments of those nations and their citizens will have very heavy economic costs to consider as they contemplate the possibility of war. Such costs include long-term loss of the country's profitable participation in the global supply chain.


title: The World Is Flat

text: This theory relates with how conflict prevention occurred between India and Pakistan in their 2001–2002 nuclear standoff, wherein India was at risk of losing its global partners. The relationship between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan was also cited as an example of that theory: both countries have strong supply relations with each other, and a war between the two seems very unlikely today.


title: The World Is Flat

text: "The World Is Flat" received generally positive popular and critical reception as well as some negative criticism, peppered with doubt.


title: The World Is Flat

text: "The Washington Post" called the book an "engrossing tour" and an "enthralling read". The review closed with, "We've no real idea how the 21st century's history will unfold, but this terrifically stimulating book will certainly inspire readers to start thinking it all through".


title: The World Is Flat

text: An opposing viewpoint was found in a 2007 "Foreign Policy" magazine article in which Professor Pankaj Ghemawat argued that 90% of the world's phone calls, Web traffic, and investments are local, suggesting that Friedman has grossly exaggerated the significance of the trends he describes: "Despite talk of a new, wired world where information, ideas, money, and people can move around the planet faster than ever before, just a fraction of what we consider globalization actually exists."


title: The World Is Flat

text: Some critics have pointed out that the book is written from an American perspective. Friedman's work history has been mostly with "The New York Times", and that may have influenced the way the book was written – some would have preferred a book written in a more "inclusive voice".


title: The World Is Flat

text: John Gray, formerly a School Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics and Political Science, wrote another critical review of Friedman's book called "The World Is Round". In it, Gray confirms Friedman's assertion that globalization is making the world more interconnected and, in some parts, richer but disputes the notion that globalization makes the world more peaceful or freer. Gray also declares, "least of all does it make it flat".


title: The World Is Flat

text: Geographers on the whole have been particularly critical of Friedman's writings, views influenced by the large body of work within their field demonstrating the uneven nature of globalization, the strong influence place still has on people's lives, and the dependent relationships that have been established between the have and have-not regions in the current world-system. Geographer Harm de Blij detailed those arguments for the general public in "Why Geography Matters: Three Challenges Facing America" (2005) and "The Power of Place: Geography, Destiny, and Globalization's Rough Landscape" (2008).


title: EB Games

text: EB Games (formerly known as Electronics Boutique and EB World) is an American computer and video games retailer. First established as an American company in 1977 by James Kim with a single electronics-focused location in the King of Prussia mall near Philadelphia, the company has grown into an international corporation. EB Games's parent corporation, GameStop, has its headquarters in Grapevine, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. When Electronics Boutique was an independent company, its headquarters was in West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania, near West Chester.


title: EB Games

text: The EB Games brand still operates in Australia and New Zealand. GameStop also operates certain stores under the EBX brand.


title: EB Games

text: Originally, the operation mainly sold calculators and digital watches. Between 1977 and the mid-1990s, the company expanded to (and later stopped) selling computers, software, and other related items (according to the EB Games employee handbook). Electronics Boutique also operated stores under the name Games 'n Gadgets. The Games 'n Gadgets stores were more centered on entertainment and gaming, rather than business and productivity. In the mid-1990s, the company's focus switched to TV-based video games and consoles, though many stores still maintain PC game sections.


title: EB Games

text: In May 2000, in order to unify their company, Electronics Boutique changed the vast majority of its current EB and EB Gameworld stores to the name EB Games. They also announced that they would be either closing or selling all of their EB Kids and Brandywine Sports Collectible Stores.


title: EB Games

text: For years EB Games' primary distribution center was in Louisville, Kentucky, with two smaller distribution centers and a World Headquarters all located in West Chester, Pennsylvania. With video games becoming increasingly popular, EB Games decided it was time for a new distribution center. In October 2004, EB Games opened its doors to its new distribution center in Sadsbury Township, Pennsylvania. The world headquarter office in West Chester remained open, however anyone working at the old distribution centers were transferred to the new location.


title: EB Games

text: As of July 30, 2001, the company operated 2,280 stores in the United States (including Puerto Rico), Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, and Sweden, primarily under the names EB Games and Electronics Boutique.


title: EB Games

text: On Thursday, October 6, 2005, shareholders from EB Games and GameStop agreed to a $1.44 billion takeover deal. The deal offered $38.15 in cash as well as approximately ¾ of a share of GameStop stock for every 1 share of EB Games stock. This offer was a 34.2% premium on the $41.12 per share closing price of EB Games stock. GameStop decided to close EB Games's newly constructed distribution center in Sadsbury, PA, their call center in Las Vegas, NV, and their International Headquarters in West Chester, PA, eliminating more than 800 jobs. Only 65 former EB Games employees were offered jobs at GameStop's headquarters in Grapevine, TX.


title: EB Games

text: EB began its international expansion with the opening of three stores in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1993. The Canadian division was the largest of the international divisions with over 300 stores as of May 2008.


title: EB Games

text: In 1995, the company expanded to the UK with the purchase of 25% of the financially troubled British game retailer Rhino Group. The name of the chain was changed from Future Zone to "Electronics Boutique" to match the new owner. John Steinbrecher, Electronic Boutique's VP of Stores in the US and Canada, was seconded to the UK to manage the chain. Store remodels, product mix changes and used video games combined to restore the chain's finances.


title: EB Games

text: Electronics Boutique commenced operations in Australia in 1997 and rapidly became the number one video game specialty retailer in the country and the only one with a nationwide footprint.


title: EB Games

text: Although the merger created a company separate from the U.S. parent, EB retained a 24% ownership stake in the merged chain for a period of time and, under the merger agreement, collected substantial management fees from it until 2004, when the companies agreed to sever the remainder of their ties with a one time settlement. The GAME brand replaced the EB name at all former EB stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The new company was the biggest video game retailer in the United Kingdom. However, GameStop is once again operating in Ireland under the GameStop brand.


title: EB Games

text: On May 23, 2005, EB Games announced a definitive agreement to acquire Jump, a retailer based in Valencia, Spain that sells PCs and other consumer electronics. EB Games plans to begin introducing video game hardware and software into Jump's 141 stores over the next several months. The acquisition provides EB Games entry into the Spanish marketplace and continues EB Games's aggressive international expansion.


title: EB Games

text: In July 2008, EB Games announced an agreement to acquire The Gamesman, which was the largest independently owned chain of video game stores in New Zealand.


title: EB Games

text: On July 28, 2021, EB Games announced that its Canadian operations would be rebranded under the GameStop name, with the rebranding expected to be completed by the end of 2021. Stores began to be converted to GameStop signage by September 2021.


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: "The Door" is the fifth episode of the sixth season of HBO's fantasy television series "Game of Thrones", and the 55th overall. The episode was written by series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and directed by Jack Bender.


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: Bran Stark learns the origin of the White Walkers, Jon Snow plans to unite the north against the Boltons, Euron Greyjoy reveals his return to the Iron Islands at the Kingsmoot, Tyrion Lannister meets with the Red Priestess Kinvara, and Daenerys Targaryen sees the depths of Jorah Mormont's devotion to her.


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: "The Door" received universal acclaim from critics, who found the episode to be emotional with effective action sequences involving the White Walkers and Hodor, in addition to providing "important answers regarding [the show]'s mythos." The adaptation of the Kingsmoot as well as Daenerys's farewell to Jorah were also listed as high points of the episode. Hodor's origin story was presented to the series co-creators by George R. R. Martin. In the United States, the episode achieved a viewership of 7.89 million in its initial broadcast. For the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards, Jack Bender was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series, among the episode's five nominations.


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: This episode marks the final appearance for Kristian Nairn (Hodor) and Max von Sydow (the Three Eyed Raven).


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: Jaqen offers Arya the assignment of killing an actress named Lady Crane, who is playing Cersei in a play recounting the War of the Five Kings.


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: Jorah reveals his greyscale to Daenerys. He admits his love for her, and Daenerys orders him to find a cure and return to her so he can be by her side when she conquers Westeros.


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: Tyrion summons the red priestess Kinvara, who agrees to preach to the people that Daenerys is the chosen one of the Lord of Light. She also claims to know what originally happened to Varys and why, unnerving the eunuch.


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: The members of House Greyjoy argue over the Salt Throne, with Euron being chosen as King. Theon and Yara, realizing Euron will have them put to death, flee with the best ships of the Iron Fleet. Euron orders the Ironborn to begin construction of a new, better fleet.


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: Sansa confronts Littlefinger about his decision to marry her to Ramsay. Littlefinger reveals that her great-uncle, the Blackfish, has retaken Riverrun with the Tully army. Sansa orders Brienne to go and recruit the Blackfish for their cause.


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: Bran's visions give him new insight into the Night King and the White Walkers. While in a vision of Winterfell, Bran hears the cries of Meera, who is trying to save Bran's body while the Children hold back the wights. Bran splits his consciousness by remaining in the vision of the past while simultaneously controlling Hodor in the present. The Night King kills the Three-Eyed Raven, while the Children and Bran's direwolf Summer are eventually killed by the wights. Hodor closes the hideout's door behind them, keeping the wights inside while Meera escapes with Bran. Meera repeatedly orders Hodor to "hold the door" shut while they flee, which results in the wights tearing him apart. In the vision, Bran becomes overwhelmed by the split consciousness and unintentionally enters the mind of Wylis in the vision, forging a connection between the past and present. With Bran's consciousness inside his head, Wylis suffers a seizure, while hearing the echoes of Meera's orders and he begins to yell the words "hold the door" repeatedly, until they slur together to sound "Hodor."


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: "The Door" was written by the series' creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. After the episode aired, in the "Inside the Episode" featurette released by HBO for "The Door", David Benioff and D. B. Weiss revealed that the closing scene involving Hodor's name origin and subsequent death was an idea that was presented to them directly from George R. R. Martin. Benioff stated, "We had this meeting with George Martin where we're trying to get as much information as possible out of him, and probably the most shocking revelation he had for us was when he told us the origin of Hodor and how that name came about. I just remember Dan and I looking at each other when he said that and just being like, 'Holy shit.'" Weiss continued, "It was just one of the saddest and most affecting things. Even sitting in a hotel room having someone tell you this was going to happen in the abstract in some way and that 'hold the door' was the origin of the name Hodor, we just thought that was a really, really heart-breaking idea."


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: In regards to the White Walkers' origin, David Benioff stated "No one's innocent really in this world, and there was just something really beautifully right about the idea that the great nemesis of mankind were created to protect the Children of the Forest from mankind." D. B. Weiss noted, "The Night King, who's sort of the embodiment of absolute evil, what you're watching is the creation of that absolute evil, so the absolute evil isn't absolute after all." Benioff also alluded to the many references and foreshadowing throughout the series that preceded the reveal of the Children creating the White Walkers, saying, "There are certain symbols and patterns that recur throughout the show. The first time we saw that was one of the first scenes in the pilot, when Will the ranger sees the Wildling body parts in an odd pattern displayed by the White Walkers. We see it again north of the Wall with the dead horses displayed in a spiral pattern, and then you see it again here and see where these patterns come from, that they're ancient symbols of the Children of the Forest used in their rituals, and the Children of the Forest created the White Walkers."


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: Ellie Kendrick, who portrays Meera Reed, spoke about the writing of the episode following its airing, and revealed that she was surprised by the scene, saying "When I was reading the episode, I completely forgot that I was a character in the show. I was reading it with such excitement, because this is a real story unfolding, with so many mysteries and quantum leaps and "Inception"-style traveling between the past and the present. I found it very exciting. So the first time I read it, I was just reading it for enjoyment, really, because it was so well-written and exciting. Once I picked my jaw up off the floor, I was really keen to get started working on it, because it's such an epic sequence."


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: "The Door" marks the final appearance of Kristian Nairn as Hodor, a role Nairn has played since the series pilot. Nairn, who was cast to play Hodor from previously knowing "Game of Thrones"' casting director from an audition he did for the film "Hot Fuzz", admitted in an interview that he was at first unaware of his impending death in the show. He stated, "First I heard from friends, people who had read the script, some other cast members. I think I said laughingly, "So did I survive?" They just gave me a look, and I was like, "Whaat?" Then I had the call from David and Dan, the fateful call everyone gets when your number's up. Then I read the script – which I loved. I loved the scene. I can't think of a better way to go, really. He doesn't give up. He never lets go of that door. For all costs, he's going to stop them from getting to Bran." Reflecting on playing the role, Nairn also went on to note, "People always joke, "Oh you've got the easiest role, you don't have any lines to learn." Anyone who knows anything about acting has been like, "You actually have one of the hardest roles." Because you have to articulate so much without words."


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: In the Braavos scene, several actors were cast to portray actors participating in a play titled "The Bloody Hand" that re-created the history of the beginning of the series, from an altered point of view. One of the actors that was cast included Richard E. Grant, who portrayed the leader of the theatre troupe, Izembaro. Kevin Eldon, who played the role of Eddard Stark, was also cast, and Essie Davis as the lead actress Lady Crane, among others. The Icelandic band Of Monsters and Men appeared in this episode in a cameo as stage musicians for the stage play.


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: Israeli actress Ania Bukstein was also introduced in the series as the High Priestess Kinvara, who is brought to Meereen to spread propaganda about Daenerys Targaryen's supposed success at eliminating the problem with the Sons of the Harpy. In an interview with Bukstein she said, "Yes, it's very exciting, but let's calm down. It's not like I'm the new Khaleesi. "Game of Thrones" came after a ton of hard work. I filmed a lot of audition tapes in front of a white wall at home. I've paid my dues for years." Bukstein also stated that she had previously sent in an audition tape to the series when it was first casting its first season, saying, "A few years ago, when they had only begun to cast the first season of "Game of Thrones", I sent an audition tape. I didn't really know for which role, and I mainly didn't know—and neither did the world—what a hit the series was about to become. But I remember that even then, the scenes excited me and I completely went with the style."


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: "The Door" was directed by Jack Bender, a first time director for "Game of Thrones". Bender had been previously approached to direct for the series, but declined due to the extensive time commitment involved in shooting, which Bender noted in an interview as having to commit to "four-and-a-half to six months because of the enormity of the episodes."


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: Shortly after the airing of "The Door", HBO released a featurette titled "Anatomy of a Scene" which went into greater detail about the creation of the final scene at the weirwood cave. Bender was interviewed for the segment, and stated "I knew it was going to be a lot of stunts, a lot of CGI, how were we going to do it? My goal was to make it realistic, make it terrifying, and make Hodor's sacrifice incredibly moving." Most of the exterior shots with the White Walkers and their army took place at Magheramorne, a small hamlet in County Antrim, Northern Ireland near where Castle Black is also filmed. With input from David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, Bender, as well as visual effects supervisor Joe Bauer, also incorporated a transposing of scenes with Wights also crawling on the ceiling and the walls, which Bender hoped would result in the scene being even more "creepy."


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: In the conclusion of the segment Bender stated, "The big climactic cave sequence was hugely complex, and although it's very scary that this really terrifying thing is happening to our characters, at the end of the day I think the emotion from what we are experiencing is hopefully going to be the shock that people will stay with," referring to Hodor's implied death. In an interview with Kristian Nairn (Hodor), he described filming the scene, "It was a really heavy day — you’ve got these 100-mile-per-hour winds being blown into your face with false snow. I was really holding the door — there were like eight people pushing from the other side and I was really holding them back. It’s definitely Method acting. It was a very intense day but one of the nice things was they let Isaac wrap me. He got to come over and say "Mr. Nairn, that’s a wrap." It was very emotional. It's always been a little group of us together and it felt like our little group was breaking up." Ellie Kendrick (Meera Reed) spoke about the filming of her part of the sequence, saying "A lot of what's happening in that scene, in Meera's head, comes down to adrenaline. There's just no way she can stop and consider logically what's happening. If you have an army of the undead chasing after you, you're only going to be thinking one thing: "Run!" It was interesting, having the challenge of creating that adrenaline and fear and sadness of Hodor, but not being able to process it at all. Having to recreate that feeling of immediacy, in a stuffy studio at 4 p.m. on a Thursday when you've been filming the same scene for a couple of days, it was difficult. But it was an exciting challenge, to constantly inject the energy those characters must be feeling in that moment."


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: Prosthetic designer Barrie Gower was also interviewed for the "Anatomy of a Scene" segment and noted "At any one time during the cave, we had so many characters which were going to be in prosthetics. We had the Night King, three White Walkers, six Children of the Forest including the hero, Leaf, and countless Wights." Gower went on to describe the process involved with creating the Children, "The Children of the Forest are fully covered from head to toe, they're glued completely into these prosthetics all over their body." Kae Alexander, the actress who played Leaf stated that it took between 9 and 10 hours to get the full body prosthetic ready for filming, a process which Bender described as challenging.


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: In order to create the Night King, according to Barrie Gower, it is primarily practical prosthetic, but also incorporates some VFX to create a more icy look and feel, saying about the eyes, "The effects department alters the eyes in post-production. They give them that blue-glowy hue to them, which we can't really achieve with contact lenses." In regards to the overall prosthetic, "they've added this sort of icy layer over the top of him to create this — it's something incredibly difficult to achieve practically, prosthetics are cast in a translucent rubber, which can only give you so much of that icy quality, so visual effects help augment it a little bit further to give it more dimension." Prior to the sixth season, the Night King was portrayed by Richard Brake, with a head mold of Brake being created in order to accurately mold the prosthetic to his face. In the sixth season he was portrayed by Vladimir Furdik. The White Walker army was first shot in front of a green screen in Magheramorne quarry, and according to a piece in "The Hollywood Reporter" "A scan was taken from a drone and used as the basis for a CG model of the location, which was augmented with VFX and joined with volcanic hills that were photographed in Iceland." Crowd replication was used to create the 1,000-man army, with special effects supervisor Joe Bauer saying "It's scans of those actors in the makeup and costumes, with variations we used to make a digital army that extends up onto the hills." Bauer also noted that VFX were used to create the weather conditions in the scene, noting "It's wind, mist, fog and heavy atmosphere that you'd get in a marine layer. The dramatic value is to say something's wrong; it's a mystery what they are facing. The temperature drops, and our characters can see their breath. The weather obscures their vision." Spain-based El Ranchito, one of several special effects companies used by "Game of Thrones", was responsible for the White Walker army shots.


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: Pilou Asbæk, who was cast to play Euron Greyjoy, spoke in an interview about the filming of the Kingsmoot saying "We spent two days on the Kingsmoot itself, and then two days on the montage. We shot it chronologically, which helped. The water was freezing cold. We shot the drowning many, many times. I remember looking down the shore, after I had been there for five or six hours, and I saw two smiling faces, in the form of Gemma Whelan and Alfie Allen. They were just smiling their asses off, because they weren't cold! They just had to run to the boat." In regards to stunts, Asbæk continued, "I got a little bit of help, but not much. I think 95 percent of it was me. I like to do all of it when I can, because then I can feel it with the character."


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: Iain Glen, who has portrayed Jorah Mormont since the beginning of the series, also spoke about his participation in the episode, with his farewell to Daenerys Targaryen, noting "They've got a worried actor on their hands. For any actor on the show, most of the time we're just thinking, "Please keep me alive!" I've been very lucky to be a part of the show, right back to the pilot. If I go out in the madness of greyscale, then I'll have thought I've done very well. It's been a complete treat to be a part of the show. They're a lovely group of people. But the greyscale has definitely got this actor worried, I'll be honest about that."


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: "The Door" was viewed by 7.89 million American households on its initial viewing, on May 22, which was slightly more than the previous week's rating of 7.82 million viewers for the episode "Book of the Stranger". The episode also acquired a 4.0 rating in the 18–49 demographic, making it the highest rated show on cable television of the night.


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: "The Door" received universal praise from critics, with many citing the emotional revelation involving Hodor, the action scenes with the White Walkers, as well as the Kingsmoot and Daenerys Targaryen's farewell to Jorah Mormont as high points for the episode. It has received a 98% rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes from 60 reviews with an average score of 9.08/10. The site's consensus reads "An exquisitely crafted episode, "The Door" culminates in a gut-wrenching revelation that makes the loss of a beloved character all the more poignant."


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: Matt Fowler of IGN wrote in his review of the episode, ""The Door," directed by Lost's main director, Jack Bender, gave us one of the most emotional deaths on the show to date. Mostly because the scene itself was paired with a big origin-style reveal and a newly opened avenue of time travel mysticism. And it came at the end of a very effective action sequence involving zombies, White Walkers, and the Night King." He gave the episode a 9 out of 10. Emily VanDerWerff of "Vox" noted, ""The Door", continues last week's trend of feeling as if it's offering up some major, important answers regarding [the show]'s mythos. And many of those revelations impact some of the show's most major characters." Michael Calia of "Wall Street Journal" wrote in his review of the episode; "The show delivers one of its most heartbreaking, spectacular and mind-blowing episodes."


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: Jeremy Egner of "The New York Times" wrote in his review of the episode; "As with many epic sagas, the story and action in “Game of Thrones” are driven largely by characters moving toward and eventually becoming the people they are supposed to be. While we tend to focus on the big-ticket destinies, whether it's Daenerys Targaryen emerging triumphantly from the flames last week or Jon Snow rising from the dead to fight again, the smaller figures have their own slots to fill." James Hunt of "What Culture" noted, "The Door ... delivered not only the best episode of the season to date, but one that is likely to go down as an all-time favourite." Tim Surette of "TV.com" wrote in his review, "The Door was BRUTAL in its final minutes, and you're still crying over it, admit it." Lauren O'Callaghan of "SFX Magazine" wrote in her review, "The Door, was the midseason episode. No way we were getting through that without taking some serious damage to our delicate hope-filled hearts." She gave the episode a 4.5 out of 5.


title: The Door (Game of Thrones)

text: The episode was accidentally released 24 hours early by HBO Nordic. The episode was eventually taken down, but the pirated copy was released to torrent websites. Reacting to the leak, an official HBO spokesperson said, "This past Sunday's episode was made available early on the HBO Nordic platform temporarily due to a technical issue, at which time it seems to have been copied. Upon learning of the incident, we used the available means to limit further access to the episode."


title: Medal

text: A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be intended to be worn, suspended from clothing or jewellery in some way, although this has not always been the case. They may be struck like a coin by dies or die-cast in a mould.


title: Medal

text: A medal may be awarded to a person or organisation as a form of recognition for sporting, military, scientific, cultural, academic, or various other achievements. Military awards and decorations are more precise terms for certain types of state decoration. Medals may also be created for sale to commemorate particular individuals or events, or as works of artistic expression in their own right. In the past, medals commissioned for an individual, typically with their portrait, were often used as a form of diplomatic or personal gift, with no sense of being an award for the conduct of the recipient.


title: Medal

text: An artist who creates medals or medallions is called a "medalist". Medals have long been popular collectible items, and in numismatics form a class called either exonumia or militaria.


title: Medal

text: In the proper use of the term, medallions are larger, starting at perhaps four inches across, and are, as such, usually too large to be worn very comfortably, though in colloquial use, "medallion" is often used to refer to a medal used as the pendant of a necklace (as in the medallion man fashion style of the 1960s and 1970s), or for other types of medals. Medallions may also be called "table medals" because they are too large to be worn and can only be displayed on a wall, table top, desk, or cabinet.


title: Medal

text: First attested in English in 1578, the word "medal" is derived from the Middle French "médaille", itself from Italian "medaglia", and ultimately from the post-classical Latin "medalia", meaning a coin worth half a denarius. The word "medallion" (first attested in English in 1658) has the same ultimate derivation, but this time through the Italian "medaglione", meaning "large medal". There are two theories as for the etymology of the word "medalia": the first being that the Latin "medalia" itself is derived from the adjective "medialis" meaning "medial" or "middle"; the second being that "medaglia" comes from the Vulgar Latin "metallea (moneta)", meaning "metal (coin)" and that from Latin "metallum", which is the latinisation of the Greek μέταλλον ("metallon"), "a mine".


title: Medal

text: Traditionally medals are stamped with dies on a durable metal flan or planchet, or cast from a mould. The imagery, which usually includes lettering, is typically in low relief, albeit often higher than on coins: Limited-edition medals may be struck in repeated impacts allowing more metal displacement than in coins produced for mass circulation in a single impact. Circular medals are most common; rectangular medals are often known as plaquettes. The "decoration" types often use other shapes, especially crosses and stars. These in particular usually come with a suspension loop, and a wide coloured ribbon with a clip at the top, for attaching to clothing worn on the chest.


title: Medal

text: The main or front surface of a medal is termed the obverse, and may contain a portrait, pictorial scene, or other image along with an inscription. The reverse, or back surface of the medal, is not always used and may be left blank or may contain a secondary design. It is not uncommon to find only an artistic rendering on the obverse, while all details and other information for the medal are inscribed on the reverse. The rim is found only occasionally employed to display an inscription such as a motto, privy mark, engraver symbol, assayer's marking, or a series number.


title: Medal

text: Medals that are intended to be hung from a ribbon also include a small suspension piece at the crest with which to loop a suspension ring through. It is through the ring that a ribbon is run or folded so the medal may hang pendent. Medals pinned to the breast use only a small cut of ribbon that is attached to a top bar where the brooch pin is affixed. Top bars may be hidden under the ribbon so they are not visible, be a plain device from which the ribbon attaches, or may even be decorative to complement the design on the medal. Some top bars are elaborate and contain a whole design unto themselves.


title: Medal

text: Bronze has been the most common material used to create medals, due to its fair price range, durability, ease with which to work when casting, and the ample availability. However, a wide range of other media have also been used. Rarer metals have been employed, such as silver, platinum, and gold, when wishing to add value beyond the mere artistic depiction, as well as base metals and alloys such as copper, brass, iron, aluminum, lead, zinc, nickel, and pewter. Medals that are made with inexpensive material might be gilded, silver-plated, chased, or finished in a variety of other ways to improve their appearance. Medals have also been made of rock, gemstone, ivory, glass, porcelain, terra cotta, coal, wood, paper, enamel, lacquerware, and plastics.