Purification

La doctrine du purgatoire est souvent remise en question. L'article donne d'abord un aperçu des problèmes: représentations vulgarisées par la prédication populaire, histoire des doctrines, débats œcuméniques, anthropologie. La seconde partie de l’article présente l'enseignement de l'Eglise catholique romaine sur le purgatoire, en se limitant aux conciles puisque quatre d'entre eux ont traité la question et fournissent l'essentiel de la doctrine catholique: le deuxième concile de Lyon en 1274, le concile de Florence en 1439, le concile de Trente en 1563 et le deuxième concile du Vatican en 1964.

The project aims at solving the alarming issue of water scarcity and sterilization by developing a system that would utilize solar energy which is a renewable source for the purification of unclean water from various water bodies to produce pure potable water. This system involves an evacuated tube containing water which is superheated using solar energy under elevated pressures to increase the boiling point. This high pressure superheated water is used for steam sterilization in an autoclave. The steam after sterilization can be condensed to generate pure water using a copper coil heat exchanger. This system can be effectively used in rural as well as coastal areas where energy sources other than solar are limited to generate potable water.In this process, water is pressurized to raise its boiling point. When this occurs, steam will be created at a temperature higher than 100°C. In fact, in order to fully eliminate all prions and bacteria associated with disease, saturated steam needs to be at least 121°C when in contact with the equipment being sterilized. A solar autoclave provides an alternative solution to this problem. Using only solar radiation, a solar autoclave can provide remote health clinics with an inexpensive, efficient way to sterilize medical equipment. The steam generated inside the autoclave is condensed to give pure water using a simple heat exchanger.

This study was designed to find the best method to separate
proanthocyanidins from other phenolic compounds extracted from
pomegranate’s peel and to investigate their radical scavenging
capacity. Water is used as an effective solvent for extracting
antioxidant compounds from pomegranate’s peel (Punica
granatum). The final extract contained closely related compounds
not readily separable. Proanthocyanidins are the most potent
antioxidant found in this extract and the purification and separation
from other phenolic compounds is an important challenge. A
comparison of two SPE cartridges, including silica-based C18 and
aminopropyl for the isolation and purification of proanthocyanidins
extracted from pomegranate’s peel, showed that the proposed SPE
method with aminopropyl cartridge using alkalized aqueous
acetone as eluent was more effective for the purification and the
separation of extractable proanthocyanidins.

Bromelain is a plant protease present in different parts of the pineapple [Ananas Comosus (Linn.) Merr.] plant. It is an enzyme of high commercial interest which can be attributed to the wide therapeutic and industrial applications it possesses. As such efficient purification and recovery of the enzyme is utmost necessary on a large scale basis. The review highlights the numerous applications of the protease enzyme and further discusses the various purification techniques beginning from simpler ultrafiltration to the more complex and specific column chromatography that are being commonly employed nowadays. Effort has been made to compare the purification strategies extensively and suggest the best among the techniques which is cost-effective, has high output and can be used on a large scale production basis.

Bromelain is a plant protease present in different parts of the pineapple [Ananas Comosus (Linn.) Merr.] plant. It is an enzyme of high commercial interest which can be attributed to the wide therapeutic and industrial applications it possesses. As such efficient purification and recovery of the enzyme is utmost necessary on a large scale basis. The review highlights the numerous applications of the protease enzyme and further discusses the various purification techniques beginning from simpler ultrafiltration to the more complex and specific column chromatography that are being commonly employed nowadays. Effort has been made to compare the purification strategies extensively and suggest the best among the techniques which is cost-effective, has high output and can be used on a large scale production basis.

The Theogony of Epimenides of Crete and the origin of the Orphic-Pythagorean doctrine of reincarnation
It is commonly believed that the epic Theogony of Epimenides of Crete derives from the corpus of pseudepigrapha under his name and that it was composed by anonymous author (with Pythagorean background) after 500 B.C. We demonstrate (mainly on the basis the reconstruction of the proem of the Theogony) that such influences do not exist and we arrive at the conclusion that the Theogony was written by Epimenides himself around 600 B.C. Aristotle who was sceptical about the authorship of the poems attributed to Orpheus and Musaeus, cites Epimenides without reservations as the real author of the verses he cites. Therefore the common elements between Epimenides on the one hand, and the Orphics and Pythagoreans on the other (Night as the first principle, the cosmic egg, the immortality and reincarnation of the soul), should be interpreted as borrowings by the latter from Epimenides, not vice versa. As a “priest of Zeus and Rhea” Epimenides belongs to the ancient Cretan hieratic clan that claimed discendance from Aiakos, son of Zeus; in view of the extreme conservatism of Cretan cultural, political and religious traditions, the sources of Epimenides’ divine wisdom should be sought not in the hypothetical “northern” or eastern quarters, but in the local oral traditions that go back the Late Minoan times and are closely tied to the cults and myths of the region around Mount Ida and similar oracular caves. The discussion of Epimendes’ herbal medicine shows that it is connected both with therapeutuc use of herbs and with cathartic rituals; Indian Ayurveda provides a close typological parallel to this, so common Indo-European roots are possible. After this we address the problem of the origin and the
sources of the Orphic Theogony and propose a new solution. Taking at its face value Aristotle’s information on Onomacritus as the author of the Orphic epic Theogony, we discuss the “Cretan connections” of Onomacritus and adduce in favour of our hypothesis numerous literary and epigraphical- archeological pieces of evidence that connect early Orphism and the belief in the reincarnation with the Idaean cave and the region around it (Orphic golden plates and epistomia from Eleuphtherna and Sfakaki near Rethymno collected and studied by Tzifopoulos). Inter alia, we also propose a new interpretation of the Orphic graffiti written on bone plates from Olbia as divinatory devices (mantic cards, the oldest known ancestor of the cards Tarot) that probably belonged to the “diviner of Hermes” Pharnabazos of Olbia and were connected with the dice divination (astragalomanteia), the proper art of Hermes. The divinatory dodecahedron found in the Idaean cave seems to be connected with astragalomanteia, as well.
Keywords: Epimenides of Crete, Theogony, early Greek philosophy, divination, oniromancy, epic poetry, ritual slendering, rite de passage, Orphism, Orphic gold plates, pythagoreism, Pythagoras, soul, immortality, longevity, reincarnation, metempsychosis, Onomacritus, Aristotle, Euripides, Theopompus, Lion of Nemea, liar’s paradox, phytotherapy, history of herbal medicine, Ayurveda, Crete, Idaean cave, Eleutherna, Sfakaki, origin of the cards Tarot, astragalomancy (dice divination), Hermes, Apollo, Zeus.

Wenn Pontius Pilatus am Ende des Prozesses gegen Jesus seine „Hände in Unschuld wäscht“ (Mt. 27,24), dann zitiert er damit ein altjüdisches Entsühnungsritual für einen unaufgeklärten Mord (vgl. Dt. 21,7). Es ist sowohl eine Form der Unschuldsbeteuerung als auch zugleich das Eingeständnis, dass hier Unrecht geschieht oder geschehen ist (‚Blut an der Hand klebt‘). Das gilt auch für Rolf Hochhuths Drama ‚Der Stellvertreter‘, in dem Papst Pius XII. sich die Hände wäscht angesichts der von ihm nicht öffentlich angeprangerten Naziverbrechen. Zwischen diesen beiden Polen der Schuldabwehr und der Anerkennung von Schuld, so die These des Beitrags, bewegen sich die Handwaschungen im christlichen Kult. Nach der frühchristlichen Ablehnung des Händewaschens als einem Reinigungsritus, mit dem nach ‚Befleckungen‘ verschiedenster Art Kultfähigkeit (wieder)hergestellt werden sollte, halten seit dem früheren Mittelalter Handwaschungen Einzug auch in die christliche Liturgie. Dabei ist einmal eine enge Verbindung mit dem Zölibatsdiskurs und damit eine Reduktion auf geschlechtliche ‚Befleckung’ zu beobachten: Nur noch sexuell enthaltsam lebende Priester dürfen mit ihren ‚reinen Händen‘ die Eucharistie berühren. Und zum anderen gehen mit der Integration von Reinigungsriten in die Hl. Messe spirituelle Auslegungen einher, die betonen, dass es auf die Bedeutung ankomme, nicht (wie dem Judentum unterstellt wird) auf den äußeren Akt. Exemplarisch zeigt der Beitrag solche Allegoresen des liturgischen Händewaschens am ‚Rationale divinorum officiorum‘ des Wilhelm Durandus auf, wo es in doppelter Funktion gedeutet wird: als Aufforderung an den Priester, die eigene Sündhaftigkeit einzugestehen, wie auch als eine an Pilatus erinnernde Unschuldsbeteuerung, nicht für den Tod Jesu verantwortlich zu sein, dessen Gedächtnis die Hl. Messe feiert.

This paper recapitulates the actual use and the degrees of iconization vessels receive in depictions of festive and ritual contexts from the Late Uruk to the Old Babylonian periods. The diachronic perspective reveals partially consistent and partially diverging relations between container shapes and the gender, attire, gesture and posture of the people handling them.
It points to the visual importance of purificatory practices and offers a new interpretation of the enigmatic “ball-and-staff” and “pot" motif, which appears frequently in early second millennium cylinder seal iconography.

La presente investigación se ha centrado en el análisis de macro y micro restos de especies vegetales asociadas con los componentes (disco-soguilla-lastre) de un “objeto purificador” y fogones de tipo plano, empleado por los moche en el área de los purificadores. Este espacio cumplió un rol importante en la circulación del templo viejo de Huaca de la Luna, al ser el nexo entre la plaza ceremonial y el interior del templo. Por tal razón, con respaldo de la iconografía y fuentes etnohistóricas se ha sugerido que aquí se realizaban actividades similares a los ritos incaicos de la fiesta de la Citua; sin embargo, la presencia de fitolitos de almidones en los diversos análisis de muestras tomadas en los fogones asociados, sugieren el consumo de alimentos en este lugar sacro.

El capítulo forma parte de un volumen que recoge la mirada de Plutarco sobre figuras relevantes de la historia política, literaria y filosófica de Atenas. Epiménides de Creta es un personaje a medio camino entre la historicidad y la leyenda y nuestra contribución trata de determinar si las noticias de Plutarco pueden ayudar a resolver cuestiones planteadas por la crítica moderna, como la polaridad entre un Epiménides de rasgos puramente literarios y vinculado a Creta, frente a otro Epiménides 'histórico', ligado a Atenas.

Ayurveda advocates Shodhana (Purificatory procedures) for poisonous substances to render it safe and effective for therapeutics. But mentioning of Shodhana for a non poisonous plant like Vacha is a matter of great curiosity with regards to the purpose of Shodhana. In this review an attempt has been made to analyse the concept and relevance of Vacha Shodhana in view of both classical and modern thoughts.

Çalışmada, 1978 yılında Türk Dil Kurumunca yayımlanan Özleştirme Kılavuzu ele alınarak Türkiye’deki özleştirme çalışmaları sırasında sürekli tartışma konusu olan ‘özleştirilen kelimelerin kökenleri’ sorununa yönelik veri sağlanması hedeflenmiştir. Bu amaçla, Kılavuz’daki tüm kelimelerin köken incelemesi yapılmış ve çıkan sonuç, sayısal verilere dayalı tablolar halinde ortaya konulmuştur. Ayrıca, özleştirmeyle ilgili değişik görüş ve çalışmaların incelenmesi sonucunda dikkat çekici bulgulara ulaşılmış ve bazı değerlendirmelere gidilmiştir.

This paper discussed the problem of purification in the sense of salvation. In the cases of Plotinus and Iamblichus, my analysis presented the Neoplatonists' two distinct approaches to solving the question of purification: the philosophical and the ritual-religious. Firstly, I explained that in Plotinus three degrees of virtues purify successively three levels of faults or evil of soul. Secondly, I reflected on the relationship between later Neoplatonists and Plotinus, and attempted to answer these questions: What is common, what is different, between them? Why do later Neoplatonists follow a way different from what Plotinus follows? In the end, I proposed to interpret the theurgy in Iamblichus' De Mysteriis by three degrees of purification instead of the current interpretation (of two degrees of purification).

 PROOFS. While numerous scholars have compared the Priestly regulations in the Pentateuch to ancient Near Eastern " ritual texts, " the Priestly legal material more generally corresponds in form and style to ancient Near Eastern casuistic law collections than to descriptive or prescriptive " ritual texts. " At the same time, ancient Near Eastern law collections do not contain any ritual or religious ordinances, relating instead primarily to civil and financial affairs or social law and order. This paper examines the formal, substantive, and generic affinities between the Priestly laws and the casuistic Greek " Sacred Laws " inscribed on stone and other materials throughout the eastern Mediterranean basin from the sixth century BCE onwards. Analysis of related Northwest-Semitic and Punic texts, as well as potential precedents from the Hittite world, further contributes to our understanding of the Sitz im Leben of the casuistic Priestly law.

Al-Fiqh Al-Islami written by Muhammad Akram Nadwi is a collection of the fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) of Imam Abu Hanifa and his school of thought. The author, generally, follows traditional subdivision and ordering of topics regarding Islamic jurisprudence, throughout his work. First volume of this compilation begins with 'purification' which is a precondition for the validity of prayer.