title: History of Palestine

text: The presence of a large number of immigrants and refugees from the now dissolved Mandate of Palestine fueled the regional ambitions of King Abdullah I, who sought control over what had been the British Jerusalem and Samaria districts on the West Bank of the Jordan River. Towards this goal the king granted Jordanian citizenship to all Arab holders of the Palestinian Mandate identity documents in February 1949, and outlawed the terms "Palestinian" and "Transjordanian" from official usage, changing the country's name from the Emirate of Trans-Jordan to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The area east of the river became known as , or "The East Bank". In April 1950, with the formal annexation of the positions held by the Jordanian Army since 1948, the area became known as or "The Western Bank". With the formal union of the East and West Banks in 1950, the number of Palestinians in the kingdom rose by another 720,000, of whom 440,000 were West Bank residents and 280,000 were refugees from other areas of the former Mandate then living on the West Bank. Palestinians became the majority in Jordan although most believed their return to what was now the state of Israel was imminent.


title: History of Palestine

text: In the course of the Six-Day War in June 1967, Israel captured the rest of the area that had been part of the British Mandate of Palestine, taking the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt. Following military threats by Egypt and Syria, including Egyptian president Nasser's demand of the UN to remove its peace-keeping troops from the Egyptian-Israeli border, in June 1967 Israeli forces went to action against Egypt, Syria and Jordan. As a result of that war, the Israel Defense Forces conquered the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula bringing them under military rule. Israel also pushed Arab forces back from East Jerusalem, which Jews had not been permitted to visit during the prior Jordanian rule. East Jerusalem was allegedly annexed by Israel as part of its capital, though this action has not been recognized internationally. Israel also started building settlements on the occupied land.


title: History of Palestine

text: The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 242, promoting the "land for peace" formula, which called for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in 1967, in return for the end of all states of belligerency by the aforementioned Arab League nations. Palestinians continued longstanding demands for the destruction of Israel or made a new demand for self-determination in a separate independent Arab state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip similar to but smaller than the original Partition area that Palestinians and the Arab League had rejected for statehood in 1947.


title: History of Palestine

text: In the course of 1973 Yom Kippur War, military forces of Egypt crossed the Suez canal and Syria to regain the Golan heights. The attacking military forces of Syria were pushed back. After a cease fire, Egyptian President Sadat Anwar Sadat started peace talks with the U.S. and Israel. Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt as part of the 1978 Camp David Peace Accords between Egypt and Israel.


title: History of Palestine

text: From 1987 to 1993, the First Palestinian Intifada against Israel took place. Attempts at the Israeli–Palestinian peace process were made at the Madrid Conference of 1991.


title: History of Palestine

text: Following the historic 1993 Oslo Peace Accords between Palestinians and Israel (the "Oslo Accords"), which gave the Palestinians limited self-rule in some parts of the occupied territories through the Palestinian Authority, and other detailed negotiations, proposals for a Palestinian state gained momentum. They were soon followed in 1993 by the Israel–Jordan peace treaty.


title: History of Palestine

text: After few years of on-and-off negotiations, the Palestinians began an uprising against Israel. This was known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada. The events were highlighted in world media by Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel that killed many civilians, and by Israeli Security Forces full-fledged invasions into civilian areas along with some targeted killings of Palestinian militant leaders and organizers. Israel began building a complex security barrier to block suicide bombers crossing into Israel from the West Bank in 2002.


title: History of Palestine

text: Also in 2002, the Road map for peace calling for the resolution of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict was proposed by a "quartet": the United States, European Union, Russia, and United Nations. U.S. President George W. Bush in a speech on 24 June 2002, called for an independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace. Bush was the first U.S. president to explicitly call for such a Palestinian state.


title: History of Palestine

text: Following Israel's unilateral disengagement plan of 2004, it withdrew all settlers and most of the military presence from the Gaza strip, but maintained control of the air space and coast. Israel also dismantled four settlements in northern West Bank in September 2005.


title: History of Palestine

text: On 25 January 2006 Palestinian legislative elections were held in order to elect the second Palestinian Legislative Council, the legislature of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Hamas won the election, securing 74 of the 132 seats while its rival Fatah only won 45 seats. The outcome of the election shocked the world and meant that Hamas would take over most of PA's institutions. Hamas tried to form a unity government with Fatah, but the offer was rebuffed. Meanwhile, Israel and the US imposed sanctions on the PA in order to destabilize the Palestinian government so that it would fail and new elections would be called. Those efforts were ultimately unsuccessful but lead to a rift between Hamas and Fatah.


title: History of Palestine

text: In June 2006, Palestinian militants affiliated with Hamas carried out a cross-border raid from Gaza into Israel through a tunnel dug for the purpose of attacking Israel. An Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, was captured and taken to Gaza by the militants. He would be held for five years until he was released in 2011 in exchange for over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners imprisoned by Israel. The raid caused Israel to large several large-scale invasions of Gaza in the summer and autumn of 2006 attempting to rescue their captured soldier. Over 500 Palestinians and 11 Israelis were killed during the hostilities but ultimately they were unsuccessful in retrieving Shalit.


title: History of Palestine

text: Relations between Hamas and Fatah deteriorated further as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attempted to dismiss the Hamas-led coalition government in June 2007. Hamas objected to this move being illegal and street battles between Hamas and Fatah members broke out in what came to be known as the 2007 Battle of Gaza. Hamas emerged victorious and took control of the Gaza Strip.


title: History of Palestine

text: From that point on, governance of the Palestinian territories were split between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas, branded an Islamist terror organization by the EU and several Western countries, in control of Gaza and Fatah in control of the West Bank.


title: History of Palestine

text: As of July 2009, approximately 305,000 Israelis lived in 121 settlements in the West Bank. The 2.4 million West Bank Palestinians (according to Palestinian evaluations) live primarily in four blocs centered in Hebron, Ramallah, Nablus, and Jericho.


title: History of Palestine

text: On 23 September 2011, President Mahmoud Abbas on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organisation submitted an application for membership of Palestine in the United Nations. The campaign, dubbed "Palestine 194", was formally backed by the Arab League in May, and was officially confirmed by the PLO on 26 June. The decision was labelled by the Israeli government as a unilateral step, while the Palestinian government countered that it is essential to overcoming the current impasse. Several other countries, such as Germany and Canada, have also denounced the decision and called for a prompt return to negotiations. Many others, however, such as Norway and Russia, have endorsed the plan, as has Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who stated, "UN members are entitled whether to vote for or against the Palestinian statehood recognition at the UN."


title: History of Palestine

text: In July 2012, it was reported that Hamas Government in Gaza was considering declaring the independence of the Gaza Strip with the help of Egypt. In August 2012, Foreign Minister of the PNA Riyad al-Malki told reporters in Ramallah that PNA would renew effort to upgrade the Palestinian (PLO) status to "full member state" at the U.N. General Assembly on 27 September 2012. By September 2012, with their application for full membership stalled due to the inability of Security Council members to "make a unanimous recommendation", Palestine had decided to pursue an upgrade in status from "observer entity" to 'non-member observer state'. On November 27, it was announced that the appeal had been officially made, and would be put to a vote in the General Assembly on November 29, where their status upgrade was expected to be supported by a majority of states. In addition to granting Palestine "non-member observer state status", the draft resolution "expresses the hope that the Security Council will consider favourably the application submitted on 23 September 2011 by the State of Palestine for admission to full membership in the United Nations, endorses the two state solution based on the pre-1967 borders, and stresses the need for an immediate resumption of negotiations between the two parties".


title: History of Palestine

text: On 29 November 2012, in a 138–9 vote (with 41 abstaining), General Assembly resolution 67/19 passed, upgrading Palestine to "non-member observer state" status in the United Nations. The new status equates Palestine's with that of the Holy See. The change in status was described by "The Independent" as "de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine".


title: History of Palestine

text: The UN has permitted Palestine to title its representative office to the UN as "The Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations", and Palestine has started to re-title its name accordingly on postal stamps, official documents and passports, whilst it has instructed its diplomats to officially represent "The State of Palestine", as opposed to the "Palestine National Authority". Additionally, on 17 December 2012, UN Chief of Protocol Yeocheol Yoon decided that "the designation of "State of Palestine" shall be used by the Secretariat in all official United Nations documents", thus recognising the PLO-proclaimed State of Palestine as being sovereign over the territories Palestine and its citizens under international law.


title: History of Palestine

text: By February 2013, 131 (67.9%) of the 193 member states of the United Nations had recognised the State of Palestine. Many of the countries that do not recognise the State of Palestine nevertheless recognise the PLO as the "representative of the Palestinian people".


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: The ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" is a lightly armored Soviet self-propelled, radar-guided anti-aircraft weapon system (SPAAG).


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: The acronym "ZSU" stands for "Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka" (), meaning "anti-aircraft self-propelled system"; the "23" signifies the bore diameter in millimeters; the "4" signifies the number of gun barrels. It is named after the Shilka River in Russia. Afghan soldiers nicknamed it the "sewing machine" due to the sound of firing guns. It is also referred to by its nickname of "Zeus", derived from the Russian acronym.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: The previous Soviet self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG), the ZSU-57-2, was armed with two 57 mm autocannons; it was aimed optically using a basic tracking and lead calculating system. The ZSU-57-2 was not particularly successful despite its very powerful autocannons; given their large caliber, it could only carry 300 rounds, was inaccurate as it lacked radar and could not fire while on the move.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: The ZPU series armed with 14.5 mm heavy machine guns carried on a towed mount for stationary, point air defence had a much higher rate of fire. The 23 mm version of this weapon system was known as the ZU-23-2, a towed mount carrying two 23 mm cannons. However, these towed or improvised truck-mounted weapons had similar disadvantages.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: The development of the ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" began in 1957 along with ZSU-37-2 "Yenisei" and the vehicle was brought into service in 1965, replacing all ZSU-57-2s in air defense units toward the beginning of the 1970s. The ZSU-23-4 was intended for AA defense of military facilities, troops, and mechanized columns on the march; originally, the more powerful guns of "Yenisei" were judged to be effective at covering the inner dead-zone of Soviet surface-to-air missile systems despite the increased weight of the vehicle, but commonality prevailed. Initially, tank regiments should have had the anti-aircraft artillery battalion of "Shilka" (consisting of two batteries, four ZSU-23-4s in each). At the end of the 1960s, one battery was equipped with ZSU-23-4s and the other with ZSU-57-2s. Motorized rifle and tank regiment standard anti-aircraft batteries consisted of two platoons later (one platoon was equipped with four ZSU-23-4s and another with four mobile surface-to-air missile systems 9K31 Strela-1 or 9K35 Strela-10). The ZSU-23-4 combined a proven radar system, the non-amphibious chassis based on GM-575 tracked vehicle, and four 23 mm autocannons. This delivered a highly effective combination of mobility with heavy firepower and considerable accuracy. The ZSU-23-4 outclassed all NATO anti-aircraft guns at the time, and it is still regarded as posing a major threat for low-flying fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: The system was widely fielded throughout the Warsaw Pact and among other pro-Soviet states. Around 2,500 ZSU-23-4s, of the total 6,500 produced, were exported to 23 countries. The Warsaw Pact's successor states continue to manufacture and supply variants of the ZSU-23-4, notably the Ukrainian "Donets" and Polish "Biala" variants.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: ZSU-23-4 units saw active service in the Yom Kippur War (1973) and other Arab-Israeli conflicts, the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988), and the First Gulf War (1990). During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the system was particularly effective against the Israeli Air Force. Israeli pilots attempting to fly low in order to avoid SA-6 missiles were often shot down by ZSU-23-4s as in Operation Doogman 5. During the Soviet–Afghan War ZSU-23-4 units were used widely and to great effect against mujahideen positions in the mountains, the ZSU-23-4's guns being able to elevate much higher than the weapons on BMPs, BTRs, T-55s, or T-62s. They were also used to suppress defensive positions around the presidential palace during the initial coup in Kabul at the start of the Soviet-Afghan war. The Russian Army used the ZSU-23-4 for mountain combat in Chechnya.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: The radar-guided ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" SPAAG, with its four 23 mm (0.90") autocannons, was a revolutionary SPAAG, proving to be an extremely effective weapon against enemy attack aircraft and helicopters under every weather and light condition. The ZSU-23-4 has a very high density, rate and accuracy of fire, as well as the capability for each of the four autocannons to fire its own type of projectile from separate belts. While it is technically possible that each cannon shoots different type of ammunition, there were two types commonly used in late 1970s: OFZT incendiary fragmentation and BZT armour-piercing tracer, which were to be loaded in 3:1 ratio—three OFZT, then one BZT, every 10th BZT round equipped with so-called "copper remover" and marked. Operators were strongly discouraged from shooting from a single barrel.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: The appearance of the "Shilka" caused significant changes in NATO tactics in aircraft use at low altitude over the battlefield. Despite its present obsolescence as a modern short-range anti-aircraft weapon, the ZSU-23-4 is still deadly for enemy light armoured vehicles, infantry and firing points as an infantry-support vehicle. With its high rate of accurate fire, the ZSU-23-4 can even neutralize tanks by destroying their gun sights, radio antennas, or other vulnerable parts. ZSU-23-4s, especially late models, have excellent performance and good systems reliability.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: Based on the GM-575 tracked vehicle chassis, which used components from the PT-76 light amphibious tank, the ZSU-23-4 mounts an armored turret holding four liquid-cooled 23 mm (0.9") 2A7 autocannons linked to an RPK-2 "Tobol" radar (NATO designator: "Gun Dish"). The vehicle weighs 19 tonnes (late modifications up to 21 tonnes), has a movement range of and a top speed of 50 km/h (31 mph). Additional firepower of late modifications can be supplied by a roof-mounted pod of six short-range SA-18 SAMs, or side-mounted SA-16s.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: The crew numbers four: driver, commander, gunner and radar operator. The driver's compartment is located in the nose part of the vehicle. The fighting compartment is in the center, and the engine compartment is in the rear part of the vehicle.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: The transmission consists of a multi-plate metal-contact main clutch, a manual gearbox with five forward gears, two planetary two-step steering gears with locking frictions and two final drive groups. The vehicle chassis has six single rubber tired road wheels, a rear drive sprocket with detachable sprocket rings (lantern-wheel gear) and one idler wheel per side. The first and fifth left, and sixth right road wheels have hydraulic shock absorbers. The track is 11.904 m long, 382 mm (15") wide and has 93 links.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: Because of a large number of different pipes and tubes to detach during maintenance, the repair procedure for some of the vehicle's mechanisms is hard (for example, replacement or repair of a starter). The electric drive of an air outlet hatch of a gas turbine engine (part of the vehicle's electric power supply system) has an inconvenient location (at the bottom of the hull) which causes overheating and sometimes, jamming of the electric drive. On the other hand, the construction of the electric power supply system is very reliable. Changing the main engine oil and coolant is easy, as is replacement of fuel and oil filters, and sections of the air filter.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: The ZSU-23-4 can cross vertical obstacles 0.7 m (2.3') high, trenches 2.5 m (8.2') wide, has a 1.0 m (3.3') fording depth and can climb 30° gradients.<ref name="http://otvaga2004.narod.ru/otvaga2004/wars1/wars_02.htm">В Боях На «Шилке» </ref> The ZSU-23-4 has good maneuverability and cross-country ability, but its diesel engine's power is insufficient for a vehicle of its weight. As a result, off-road acceleration capabilities are sub-par, and the vehicle lags behind MBTs and IFVs on up-hill terrain.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: The ZSU-23-4 is equipped with an NBC system with an air filtration unit, fire-fighting equipment, TNA-2 navigational system, infrared vision device, R-123 radio set, R-124 intercom and electric power supply system consisting of a DGChM-1 single-shaft gas turbine engine (70 hp at 6,000 rpm) and a direct-current generator (which provides 27 V and 54 V direct current or 220 V 400 Hz alternating current).<ref name="http://pvo.guns.ru/shilka/shilka.htm"></ref>


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: Each water-cooled 23 mm 2A7 autocannon has a cyclic rate of 850–1,000 rounds per minute for a combined rate of fire of 3,400–4,000 rounds per minute, which gives a continuous fire time of 30–35 seconds before running out of ammo (not considering the constraints that limit the practical rate of fire, such as barrel overheating). The welded turret has a race ring transplanted from a T-54 medium tank with a 1,840 mm (6') diameter. The 360° rotating turret is fully stabilised and capable of firing on the move. The turret rotation and autocannon elevation mechanisms provide very good speed and guidance accuracy. The hydraulically driven aiming mechanisms have been proven to be very reliable. Manual aim is used against ground targets. The quad automatic anti-aircraft gun AZP-23 "Amur" has a range of elevation from −4° to +85°. The GRAU designation for ZSU-23-4 turret with 23 mm (0.9") AZP-23 "Amur" quad automatic gun is 2A10. An armoured plate inside the turret protects crew members from fire and explosive gas during intense firing.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: Ammunition capacity is 2,000 rounds stowed aboard (520 rounds per each upper autocannon and 480 rounds per each lower autocannon) loaded in 50-round or shorter belts.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: The water-cooled 2A7 23mm guns of ZSU-23-4 fire the same 23×152B mm caliber ammunition as the 2A14 guns of the twin-barrel ZU-23-2 towed gun. While the 23mm Volkov-Yartsev VYa-23 aircraft gun used in the Second World War era Il-2 Sturmovik also fired ammunition of the same cartridge case dimensions, the rounds differed in loading and primer, and are thus not interchangeable with the post-war AA gun ammunition. Compared to the VYa and its ammunition, the air defence guns have slightly higher muzzle velocity, and explosive rounds also have slightly larger HE fillings. The VYa ammunition has brass cases, while 2A7/2A14 ammunition has steel cases.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: Three main types of 23mm anti-aircraft ammunition were manufactured post-war: API-T, HEI and HEI-T. In addition to the original Soviet rounds, a number of ammunition manufacturers have since begun to produce ammunition for what is still a widely used caliber; these include new ammunition types such as sub-caliber armor-piercing rounds and frangible ammunition. The following table lists the main characteristics of some of the available 23×152B mm ammunition used in 23mm AA guns:


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: A typical loading of each ammunition belt contains 40 OFZT and 10 BZT rounds. They can be fired to a maximum horizontal range of , and a vertical range of . The effective vertical range is at a direct range to target of and target speed of 250 m/s (up to 500 m/s if a modern fire control system is used). The usual autocannon burst consists of 3–10 projectiles and target lead angle is calculated for each burst (fire without adjustment) by computer. In attacking targets on the ground, its effective range is around . The short range of its 23 mm autocannons and relatively low explosive effect of its small-calibre projectiles mean it is less able to engage threats such as jet attack aircraft and cruise missiles than modern systems like the 2K22 Tunguska armed with more powerful 30 mm autocannons and integrated missile armaments. A special 23 mm round with composite projectiles was developed for a modern variant of SPAAG (ZSU-23-4M4) to be used against cruise missiles.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: The RPK-2 "Tobol" a.k.a. 1RL33 radar operates in the Ku band and can detect aircraft up to away. It has excellent target tracking capability and is relatively hard to detect by the enemy. However, the radar picks up many false returns (ground clutter) under 60 m (200 ft) of altitude. The radar antenna is mounted on collapsible supports in the top rear of the turret. There is an optical alignment sight. The RPK-2 radar proved to have good protection against enemy passive electronic radar counter-measures. Nevertheless, the radar system of the ZSU-23-4 has a short detection range during target search, depending on weather conditions (mainly dependent on rain and snow conditions). It is hard to automatically track the target at ranges less than 7–8 km (4.3–5.0 mi) because of the high angular speed of the target at close distances. The radar needs to be reset quite often because of the unstable parameters of electronic cathode-ray tubes of the target selection system. The absence of an automatic laser range finder requires a skillful commander and gunner.<ref name="http://www.army.lv/?s=703&id=65&v=1#info">ЗСУ-23-4 "Шилка" – Army.lv< </ref>


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: Early versions of the ZSU-23-4 sometimes had problems with "runaway guns": after prolonged periods of firing, the guns would get so hot that chambered rounds would "cook off" even if the operator was not pulling the trigger – discharging the weapon and chambering a new round, which would then also cook off, and continue to do so. This would sometimes continue until the entire belt of ammunition had been expended. Overheating barrels could jam and even break away from the vehicle. The problem resulted from a deficient cooling system and made the early ZSU-23-4s dangerous even to friendly troops standing nearby if this happened. Despite the fact that this seldom happened, Soviet operators learned to give these machines a wide berth.(Perrett 1987:100) It was not recommended to perform continuous fire (bursts longer than 15 seconds without pause) on earlier models until the problem with autocannon reliability and overheating during intense fire was solved on ZSU-23-4M (welded tubes of coolant outlet were replaced with flexible pipes). After the autocannon cooling system was improved, the autocannons became extremely reliable.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: The ZSU-23-4 has an 1A7 SRP electro-mechanical fire solution calculator, weighing 180 kg, that occupies all of the space before the Commander. It contains 60 electric motors driving 110 axles over different potentiometers, shafts, rods, cams, gears and linkages to mechanically calculate ammunition flight time until impact, elevation lead angle, and azimuth lead angle using the target parameters received from the 1RL33 RPK-2 (gun dish) radar, and the correction angle received from the GAG (gyroscope) unit.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: Soviet doctrine supplied the vehicle since 1965 in an anti-aircraft artillery battery of two, four-vehicle platoons for anti-aircraft defence of motor rifle and tank regiments. At the end of the 1960s one platoon was equipped with ZSU-23-4 SPAAGs while another one was still equipped with ZSU-57-2 SPAAGs. ZSU-57-2 was completely replaced with ZSU-23-4 by the beginning of the 1970s. In the 1970s, Soviet motor rifle and tank regiments were equipped with an anti-aircraft missile artillery battery consisting of two platoons, one equipped with four ZSU-23-4 SPAAGs and the other with four 9K31 Strela-1 (SA-9 Gaskin) or later with four 9K35 Strela-10 (SA-13 Gopher) short-range surface-to-air missile systems which cover the dead zones of 2K12 Kub (SA-6 Gainful) surface-to-air missile systems belonging to the divisional level. Since the 1980s Soviet motor rifle and tank regiments were equipped with an anti-aircraft artillery battalion of three batteries (one was equipped with ZSU-23-4 or 9K22 Tunguska SPAAGs, the second one was equipped with 9K35 Strela-10 (SA-13 Gopher) short-range surface-to-air missile systems and the third battery with 9K38 Igla man-portable surface-to-air missiles on IFVs or APCs.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: The ZSU-23-4 is very vulnerable to enemy anti-tank missiles, cannons and heavy machine guns; the armour is thin (not exceeding 15 mm) and the exposed wheels, tracks, radar, and gun barrels can easily be damaged in combat. Firing positions of ZSU-23-4 SPAAGs are typically placed near the forward edge of the battle area (FEBA) but behind the main forces, usually 600–1000 m behind objectives when on the defensive or 400–600 m behind the leading tanks on the offensive. ZSU-23-4 SPAAGs are divided evenly along the troop columns on the march.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: At first each ZSU-23-4 operated in combat autonomously, without target marking from regimental or divisional air defence. In 1978, the PPRU-1 (mobile reconnaissance and control post) was passed into service of the Soviet Army. The PPRU-1 ("Ovod-M-SV") vehicle is based on MT-LBu armoured tracked chassis and it was intended for control of motor rifle or tank regimental anti-aircraft unit equipped with ZSU-23-4 SPAAGs and 9K31 "Strela-1M" mobile surface-to-air missile systems. The PPRU-1 is equipped with the "Luk-23" radar and an automatic fire control system associated with the divisional air defence system.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: The guns are useful against low-flying aircraft and lightly protected ground targets. Due to its effectiveness against ground targets, ZSU-23-4s have been used in urban environments (e.g., Afghanistan, Abkhazia, Chechnya, Syria and Lebanon). This is primarily because the guns can elevate much higher than a tank or APC cannon, enabling armored units equipped with ZSU-23-4s to return fire against ambushes from above.


title: ZSU-23-4 Shilka

text: A small number of ZSU-23-4 SPAAGs are still in use by the Russian Naval Infantry (specifically the 61st Brigade of the Northern Fleet, the 336th Brigade of the Baltic Fleet, and the 155th Brigade of the Pacific Fleet).


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: The F. W. Woolworth Company (often referred to as Woolworth's or simply Woolworth) was a retail company and one of the pioneers of the five-and-dime store. It was among the most successful American and international five-and-dime businesses, setting trends and creating the modern retail model that stores follow worldwide today.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: The first Woolworth store was opened by Frank Winfield Woolworth on February 22, 1879, as "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store" in Utica, New York. Though it initially appeared to be successful, the store soon failed. When Woolworth searched for a new location, a friend suggested Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Using the sign from the Utica store, Woolworth opened his first successful "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store" on July 18, 1879, in Lancaster. He brought his brother, Charles Sumner Woolworth, into the business.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: The two Woolworth brothers pioneered and developed merchandising, direct purchasing, sales, and customer service practices commonly used today. Despite its growing to be one of the largest retail chains in the world through most of the 20th century, increased competition led to its decline beginning in the 1980s, while its sporting goods division grew. The chain went out of business in July 1997, when the company decided to focus primarily on sporting goods and renamed itself Venator Group. By 2001, the company focused exclusively on the sporting goods market, changing its name to the current Foot Locker, Inc., changing its ticker symbol from its familiar Z in 2003 to its present ticker ().


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: Retail chains using the Woolworth name survived in Austria, Germany, Mexico and the United Kingdom as of early 2009. The similarly named Woolworths supermarkets in Australia and New Zealand are operated by Australia's largest retail company, Woolworths Group, a separate company with no historical links to the F. W. Woolworth Company or Foot Locker, Inc. However, Woolworths Limited did take their name from the original company, as it had not been registered or trademarked in Australia at the time. Similarly, in South Africa, Woolworths Holdings Limited operates a Marks & Spencer-like store and uses the Woolworth name, but has never had any connection with the American company. The property development company Woolworth Group in Cyprus began life as an offshoot of the British Woolworth's company, originally operating Woolworth's department stores in Cyprus. In 2003, these stores were rebranded Debenhams, but the commercial property arm of the business retained the Woolworth's name.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: The F.W. Woolworth Co. had the first five-and-dime stores, which sold discounted general merchandise and fixed price, usually five or ten cents, undercutting the prices of other local merchants. Woolworth, as the stores popularly became known, was one of the first American retailers to put merchandise out for the shopping public to handle and select without the assistance of a sales clerk. Earlier retailers had kept all merchandise behind a counter and customers presented the clerk with a list of items they wished to buy.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: After working in Augsbury and Moore dry goods store in Watertown, New York, Frank Winfield Woolworth obtained credit from his former boss, William Moore, along with some savings, to buy merchandise and open the "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store" in Utica, New York, on February 22, 1879. The store failed and closed in May 1879, after Frank earned enough money to pay back William Moore. Frank soon made a second attempt, and opened his "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store", using the same sign, on June 21, 1879, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Lancaster proved a success, and Frank never forgot the city for the rest of his life. Frank wanted to open a second store in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and so he asked his brother Charles Sumner "Sum" Woolworth to join him by managing it. The Harrisburg store opened as, "5¢ Woolworth Bro's Store" on July 19, 1879. After a falling-out with the landlord, that store moved to York, Pennsylvania, opening in March 1880. That store did not last long either, closing three months later. Frank searched for a larger, low-rent building. He found an ideal location in Scranton, Pennsylvania, at 125 Penn Avenue, and opened their "5¢ & 10¢ Woolworth Bro's Store" on November 6, 1880, with Sum as manager. The Scranton store is where Sum fully developed the brothers' "5¢ & 10¢" merchandising model. Sum spent a lot of time working the sales floor, talking with customers and employees. He often personally served customers. Sales grew steadily. By 1881, at Frank's suggestion, Sum bought out his brother's share of the Scranton store in two installments, in January 1881 and 1882. This made Sum the first Woolworth Bro's franchisee.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: In 1884, confident enough to open another store, Sum partnered with his longtime friend Fred Morgan Kirby to open a store in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, a neighboring town to the west of Scranton. Fred had been working as the head of wholesale operations at Augsbury and Moore of Watertown, New York. Each man put up $600 to launch the Wilkes-Barre store called "Woolworth and Kirby". Fred managed the new store and, while sales were initially poor, the store soon caught on. By 1887 he used his profits to buy out Sum and expand the store under his name; Sum and Fred remained the best of friends. During this time, Frank was expanding with more stores. Sum's approach was different; he worked to perfect the look and feel of his Scranton store. It had mahogany counters with glass dividers and glass-fronted showcases. The store was brightly lit, new, and the wooden floor was polished to a lustrous shine. The layout was soon adopted by Frank for his F. W. Woolworth stores and became the standard as the two brothers persuaded family members and former co-workers from Moore's to join them in forming a "friendly rival syndicate" of five-and-ten-cent stores. Each of the syndicate chain's stores looked similar inside and out, but operated under its founder's name. Frank Woolworth provided much of the merchandise, encouraging the rivals to club together to maximize their inventory and purchasing power.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: At the same time, using his preference to have someone he could trust, Frank brought in their cousin, Seymour H. Knox I, to open a store in Reading, Pennsylvania, under the name "Woolworth and Knox". Seymour had been managing a general store in Michigan.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: By 1904, there were six chains of affiliated stores operating in the United States and Canada. Between 1905 and 1908, members of the Woolworth Syndicate followed Frank's lead to incorporate their businesses; Sum maintained that he did not need to incorporate his stores. In 1912, the syndicate agreed to a scheme crafted by Frank Woolworth: to join forces and incorporate as one corporate entity under the name "F. W. Woolworth Company" in a merger of all 596 stores. The stock flotation raised over $30 million for the five founders of the merged chains. They all swallowed their pride and accepted Frank's name above the door, with Frank as president of the new corporation. Sum Woolworth, Fred Kirby, Seymour Knox, Earle Charlton, and William Moore each became a director and vice-president. One of the "friendly rival" predecessor chains included several stores initially opened as Woolworth & Knox stores starting as early as September 20, 1884 as well as S. H. Knox & Co. 5 & 10 Cent Stores opened after an 1889 buyout by his cousin, Seymour H. Knox I. Knox's chain grew to 98 U.S. and 13 Canadian stores by the time of the corporate consolidation. Fred M. Kirby added 96 stores, Earle Charlton added 35, Charles Sumner Woolworth added 15, and William Moore added two.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: Sum Woolworth continued to maintain his home base in Scranton. He was not the type to get embroiled in the politics, as executives of the different chains sought to establish themselves in the merger. As he did from the beginning, Sum concentrated on improving stores, particularly in his native Pennsylvania, and training up-and-coming managers. Those managers eventually dispersed across the entire company, setting the style and tone of Woolworth stores worldwide.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: In 1900, Frank launched his first development plan in the city of his first success, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Rather than just enlarging his store on North Queen Street, he bought up properties along the street in an area which was not considered a "good" side of town. By keeping his plans quiet, Frank saw to it that real estate prices would not be inflated in that area. When he finished the real estate purchases, he announced his plan to build a building with five floors of offices above a large store. The roof had a garden and an open-air theater. The theater was a huge hit in town, and soon became the city's social center. This project was something of a dress rehearsal for his next venture.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: In 1910, Frank Woolworth commissioned the design and construction of the Woolworth Building in New York City. A pioneering early skyscraper, it was designed by American architect Cass Gilbert, a graduate of the MIT architecture school. The building was paid for entirely in cash. It was completed in 1913 and was the tallest building in the world until 1930. It also served as the company’s headquarters until the F.W. Woolworth Company’s successor, the Venator Group (now Foot Locker), sold it in 1998.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: Frank Woolworth, president of F. W. Woolworth, Corporation, died in 1919, in Glen Cove, New York. Sum's demeanor made him the perfect candidate to head the F. W. Woolworth Corporation after the death of his brother. He was non-confrontational, as everyone else positioned themselves in the company. The board of directors unanimously asked Sum to take on the presidency. With his infamous modesty he declined. He did, however, agree to take the new role of chairman. Company treasurer, Hubert Parson, took the presidency. Over the following 25 years, Sum saw four presidents come and go. He gave each one quiet-spoken advice and good counsel. As chairman, he facilitated debate and ensured issues were properly confronted and argued out by the board.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: For many years the company did a strictly "five-and-ten cent" business, but in the spring of 1932 it added a 20-cent line of merchandise. On November 13, 1935, the company's directors decided to discontinue selling-price limits altogether.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: The stores eventually incorporated lunch counters after the success of the counters in the first store in the UK in Liverpool that served as general gathering places, a precursor to the modern shopping mall food court. A Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina became the setting for the 1960 Greensboro sit-ins during the Civil Rights Movement.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: The Woolworth's concept was widely copied, and five-and-ten-cent stores (also known as five-and-dime stores or dimestores) became a 20th-century fixture in American downtowns. They would serve as anchors for suburban shopping plazas and shopping malls in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Criticisms that five-and-dime stores drove local merchants out of business would repeat themselves in the early 21st century, when big-box discount stores became popular.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: In the 1960s, the five-and-dime concept evolved into the larger discount department store format. In 1962, Woolworth's founded a chain of large, single-floor discount stores called Woolco. Some of these stores were branded as Winfields, after the founder's middle name.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: In that same year, Woolworth's competitors opened similar retail chains that sold merchandise at a discount: the S.S. Kresge Company opened Kmart, Dayton's opened Target, and Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart store.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: The following year, in 1963, Woolworth expanded into the shoe store business with the purchase of Kinney Shoe Corporation, which eventually created the store that Woolworth would become — Foot Locker.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: By Woolworth’s 100th anniversary in 1979, it had become the largest department store chain in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: During the 1980s, the company began expansion into many different specialty store formats, including Afterthoughts (which sold jewelry and other accessories for women), Northern Reflections (which sold cold-weather outerwear), Rx Place (later sold to Phar-Mor), and Champs Sports. By 1989, the company was pursuing an aggressive strategy of multiple specialty store formats targeted at enclosed shopping malls. The idea was that if a particular concept failed at a given mall, the company could quickly replace it with a different concept. The company aimed for ten stores in each of the country's major shopping malls, but this never came to pass as Woolworth never developed that many successful specialty store formats. Also attempted was a revision of the classic Woolworth store model into "Woolworth Express", a small, mall-oriented variant which was dubbed "a specialty variety store<nowiki>"</nowiki>, stocked with everyday convenience items such as health and beauty aids, greeting cards, snack foods, cleaning supplies and school supplies (somewhat like the non-pharmacy, mall-based locations of CVS/pharmacy and other drug store chains).


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: The growth and expansion of the company contributed to its downfall. The Woolworth company moved away from its five-and-dime roots and placed less emphasis on its department store chain as it focused on its specialty stores. Still, the company was unable to compete with other chains that had eroded its market share. While it was a success in Canada, the Woolco chain closed in the United States in 1983. Europe's largest F. W. Woolworth store, in Manchester, England (one of two in the city centre), suffered a fire in May 1979. Despite the store being rebuilt even larger and up to the latest fire codes, the negative stories in the press and loss of lives in the fire sealed its fate; it finally closed in 1986. During the rebuilding and partly as a result of the bad press, the British operation was separated from the parent company as Woolworths plc. This proved fortuitous, as the brand subsequently lasted a full twelve years longer in the United Kingdom than it did in the United States. On October 15, 1993, Woolworth's embarked on a restructuring plan that included closing half of its 800-plus general merchandise stores in the United States and converting its Canadian stores to a closeout division named The Bargain! Shop. Woolco and Woolworth survived in Canada until 1994, when the company sold the majority of the Woolco stores to Wal-Mart. The Woolco stores that Wal-Mart did not purchase were either converted to "The Bargain! Shop", sold to Zellers or closed permanently. Approximately 100 Woolworth stores in Canada were rebranded as "The Bargain! Shop", and the remainder closed.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: Amid the decline of the signature stores, Woolworth began focusing on the sale of athletic goods. On January 30, 1997, the company acquired the mail order catalog athletic retailer Eastbay.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: On March 17, 1997, Wal-Mart replaced Woolworth's as a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Analysts at the time cited the lower prices of the large discount stores and the expansion of supermarket grocery stores – which had begun to stock merchandise also sold by five-and-dime stores – as contributors to Woolworth's decline in the late 20th century.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: On July 17, 1997, Woolworth's closed its remaining department stores in the U.S. and changed its corporate name to Venator. In 1999, Venator moved from the Woolworth Building in New York City to offices on 34th Street.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: On October 20, 2001, the company changed names again; taking the name of its top retail performer and became Foot Locker, Inc., which Woolworth started in 1974. Foot Locker, Inc. is the legal continuation of the original Woolworth; it retains Woolworth's pre-1997 stock price history.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: As part of celebrating F. W. Woolworth's centennial on the New York Stock Exchange on June 26, 2012, a news release featured 1912 Woolworth's store and a 2012 Foot Locker store.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: On February 1, 1960, four black students sat down at a segregated lunch counter in a Greensboro, North Carolina, Woolworth's store. They were refused service, touching off six months of sit-ins and economic boycotts that became a landmark event in the civil rights movement. In 1993, an eight-foot section of the lunch counter was moved to the Smithsonian Institution and the store site now contains a civil rights museum,


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: which had its grand opening on Monday, February 1, 2010, the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the sit-ins.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: Imitation sit-ins also occurred in other cities where there were segregated lunch counters at Woolworth's. In Roanoke, Virginia on August 27, 1960, two women and a boy "...sat at the lunch counter and ordered a slice of pie, a soda and a sundae, all under the watchful eyes of the biracial committee which had organized the event." The names of the three black customers were not reported at the time, and are now unknown. While the incident was uneventful, other sit-ins were completed, also without incident, at 17 other segregated lunch counters in Roanoke.


title: F. W. Woolworth Company

text: In later years the chairman rather than the president was frequently the chief executive officer. Gibbons (1919–1982) succeeded Burcham (1913–1987) as chairman-CEO in 1978 and died in office, succeeded by vice chairman John W. Lynn (1921–2013) who was succeeded in 1986 by president (since 1983, replacing Richard L. Anderson (d. 2015)) Harold Sells. Farah joined the company as chairman and CEO in December 1994 and Hennig was replaced by Dale W. Hilpert as president in May 1995.


title: Govinda filmography

text: Govinda is a great Indian actor, dancer, comedian and former politician known for his work in Hindi films. Govinda's first film was 1986's "Ilzaam", and he has appeared in over 165 Hindi films. In June 1999, he was voted the tenth-greatest star of stage or screen in a BBC News Online poll.


title: Govinda filmography

text: During the 1980s, Govinda's acted in family, drama, action and romantic films. He started out as an action hero in the 80s and reinvented himself as a comedy hero in the 90s. His earlier box-office hits include "Jaan Se Pyaara" (1992), "Dulaara" (1994), "Khuddar" (1994) and "Andolan" (1995). He was recognised later in the decade as a comic actor after playing a mischievous young NCC cadet in the 1992 romance "Shola Aur Shabnam". Govinda had lead roles in several commercially successful comedy films, including "Aankhen" (1993), "Raja Babu" (1994), "Coolie No. 1" (1995), "Hero No. 1" (1997), "Deewana Mastana" (1997), "Dulhe Raja" (1998), "Bade Miyan Chote Miyan" (1998), "Anari No.1" (1999) and "Jodi No. 1" (2001). He received a Filmfare Best Comedian Award for "Haseena Maan Jayegi" and a Filmfare Special Award for "Saajan Chale Sasural". He played six roles in "Hadh Kar Di Aapne" (2000): Raju and his mother, father, sister, grandmother and grandfather.


title: Govinda filmography

text: After a number of box office flops in the 2000s, his later commercial successes included "Bhagam Bhag" (2006), "Partner" (2007),"Life Partner" (2009),And "" (2014), In 2015 Govinda became a judge on Zee TV's dance-contest program, "Dance India Dance Super Mom Season 2". The show received the highest TRP of any reality-show opening episode.


title: Govinda filmography

text: In 1999 Govinda and his wife appeared on "Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai", hosted by Bollywood actor Suresh Oberoi. Two years later he hosted a game show, "Jeeto Chappar Phaad Ke" (loosely translated as "When the Heavens Open") on Sony TV. Although its first episode had good ratings,


title: Govinda filmography

text: In 2002 Govinda appeared on SAB TV's "Movers & Shakers", a late-night talk show hosted by Shekhar Suman. The following year, he and his wife Sunita appeared on "Rendezvous with Simi Garewal".


title: Govinda filmography

text: In 2012 Govinda appeared on the first episode of SAB TV's "Movers & Shakers Masala Markey", a late-night talk show hosted by Shekhar Suman. On 15 December 2013, he appeared on the Colors TV show "Comedy Nights with Kapil" with Pooja Bose to promote his album. Govinda also sang few lines of the title track, "Gori tere naina", on the show (which was appreciated by legendary Bollywood singer Lata Mangeshkar).


title: Govinda filmography

text: In 2014 Govinda appeared on Star Plus' "Mad in India", dancing to some of his hits with Karisma Kapoor. The following year he replaced Mithun Chakraborty as a judge on Zee TV's dance-based reality show, "Dance India Dance Super Mom Season 2". The show received the highest TRP for any season opener of a reality show.


title: Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate

text: The "Admiral Gorshkov" class, Russian designation Project 22350 for the original and upgraded version armed with 16 and 32 VLS cells respectively, is the newest class of frigates being built by the Severnaya Verf in Saint Petersburg for the Russian Navy with a cost of $250 million. The Project 22350 was designed by the Severnoye Design Bureau and incorporates use of stealth technology. As of August 2020, ten vessels have been ordered for delivery by 2027. The lead ship of the class, , was commissioned on 28 July 2018.


title: Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate

text: The design of the ship, developed by "Severnoye PKB" (Northern Design Bureau) FSUE in St. Petersburg, was approved by Naval Command in July 2003. The plan is to fully replace the older and in four Russian fleets.


title: Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate

text: The lead ship, or its full name – "Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov", was laid down on 1 February 2006 in Severnaya Verf shipyard in St. Petersburg. In late October 2008 the Russian deputy prime minister, Sergei Ivanov, said the timely construction of combat ships is a priority task of for Russia's shipbuilding industry, and announced that the first ship in the class would be ready by 2011. The completion date of the lead ship was initially slated for 2009, but this was later pushed back, as was the commissioning date.


title: Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate

text: On 24 June 2009, during the "МВМС-IMDS 2009" International Naval Expo, the Commander in Chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, announced that the production of a second "Admiral Gorshkov"-class frigate would begin at Severnaya Verf by the end of the year. In November 2009 the Severnaya Verf shipyard announced that it would start the construction of the second ship of the class on 26 November named . The ship was laid down in a ceremony attended by representatives of the Russian Navy, the St. Petersburg administration, and Admiral Igor Kasatonov - the son of the ship's namesake, Vladimir Kasatonov. In December 2014, one engine from "Admiral Kasatonov" was transferred to "Admiral Gorshkov".


title: Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate

text: The first frigate was floated out of the launch dock on 29 October 2010. The ship was only 40 percent complete and then began to be fitted out. At that point, main mechanical equipment and systems providing safe launching had been installed, including a combined diesel and gas (CODAG) turbine powerplant, gear assemblies, drive shafts and screws, and electric power supply facilities. Further work was be performed at the shipyard's fitting quay.


title: Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate

text: The Russian Navy set a requirement for 20–30 such ships. The Severnaya Verf shipyard has thus far announced having received orders for six units. According to the Russian Navy’s deputy commander for armament Vice Admiral Viktor Bursuk, the Russian Navy needs no less than 15 such frigates in basic and upgraded versions.


title: Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate

text: In August 2012, the shipyard received loans worth RUB 16.23 billion (US$510 million) from the state-owned Sberbank to facilitate the frigate construction project.


title: Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate

text: The first two ships of the class have gas turbines from Zorya-Mashproekt in Ukraine. Following the 2014 Crimean crisis, Ukrainian industry refused to supply Russia with military technology. As a result, NPO Saturn has been commissioned to design indigenous engines. Initial forecasts expected these new engines to be available in 2017–18, allowing ships to be commissioned from 2020; however, after intervention by the Russian government, the plan was brought forward. In November 2020 it was announced that United Engine Corporation had initiated delivery of the DGTA M55R diesel-gas power plant which would be installed on frigates of the class beginning with "Admiral Isakov".


title: Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate

text: State testing of the Russian shipborne Poliment-Redut range air defence missile system with a phased array radar for the frigates of 22350 series has been completed, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Admiral Vladimir Korolev announced in February 2019.


title: Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate

text: In February 2019, "Admiral Gorshkov" and "Admiral Kasatonov" were equipped with a naval version of the new 5P-42 Filin electro-optic countermeasure system. The Filin fires a beam similar to a strobe light that affects enemy's combatants eyesight, making it more difficult for them to aim at night. During testing, volunteers reportedly used rifles and guns to shoot targets that were protected by the system and reported having trouble aiming because they could not see. Additionally, about half of the volunteers said they felt dizzy, nauseated and disoriented. About 20 percent of the volunteers reported experiencing hallucinations.


title: Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate

text: In March 2019, the Severnoye Design Bureau reported it has completed the outline design of the upgraded Project 22350M frigate and began working on the technical documentation for the ship. The Project 22350M frigates are believed to incorporate increased number of VLS cells for combination of 48 or 64 Kalibr, Oniks and Zircon anti-ship cruise missiles while displacing about 7,000 tons. The ships are expected to be laid down in a new boathouse with two slipways at Severnaya Verf which will be completed in 2022.


title: Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate

text: On 23 April 2019, two modified Project 22350 frigates, "Admiral Amelko" and "Admiral Chichagov", were laid down at Severnaya Verf in Saint Petersburg during a ceremony attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin. It was reported that they were to be fitted with 24 VLS cells for Kalibr, Oniks or Zircon cruise missiles, as opposed to 16 VLS cells installed on the first four frigates of the class. Their delivery to the Russian Navy is scheduled for 2023/24 and 2025, respectively. In 2021 it was reported that the intent was actually to fit 32 3S-14 versatile shipborne VLS cells in "Admiral Amelko", "Admiral Chichagov" and follow-on ships. This remained to be confirmed. In 2020 it was indicated that three ships would be assigned to the Northern Fleet, three to the Pacific Fleet and two to the Black Sea Fleet. A further contract for two additional frigates of the class was announced at the "Army-2020" forum increasing the numbers of projected frigates in the Northern and Pacific Fleets to four vessels each.


title: Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate

text: On 30 December 2021, it was reported that the Amur Shipyard is preparing to sign a contract for the construction of six frigates for the Pacific Fleet, likely of the "Admiral Gorshkov" class. This would decrease the load on Severnaya Verf, which is currently responsible for the construction of all "Admiral Gorshkov"-class frigates. However, there has been no official confirmation from either the Ministry of Defence or Amur Shipyard.


title: Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate

text: On 17 August 2022, the United Shipbuilding Corporation stated that they will soon be ready to submit a design proposal for "Project 22350M "Super Gorshkov"" to the Ministry of Defence, with a lead vessel laying already planned but not yet publicly known (as of August 2022).


title: Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate

text: On 15 November 2022, General Director of Severnaya Verf Igor Orlov stated that the shipyard will lay down five additional Admiral Gorshkov-class frigates.


title: Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate

text: The "Admiral Gorshkov" class is the successor to the and frigates. Unlike their Soviet-era predecessors, the new ships are designed for multiple roles. They are to be capable to execute long-range strikes, conduct anti-submarine warfare and to carry out escort missions.


title: RimWorld

text: RimWorld is an indie top-down construction and management simulation video game by Montreal-based developer Ludeon Studios. Originally called "Eclipse Colony", it was initially released as a Kickstarter crowdfunding project in early access for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux in November 2013, and was officially released on October 17, 2018. The game was also released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as "RimWorld Console Edition" on July 29, 2022, with development and publishing being handled by Double Eleven. Rather than a test of skill or a challenge, the game is intended to serve as an AI-powered "story generator", where the game is used as the medium for players to experience narrative adventures. The game has received generally positive reviews from critics and overwhelmingly positive reviews from PC players on Steam.


title: RimWorld

text: The game takes place in the distant future, where humans are spread across the universe but cannot travel faster than the speed of light. Planets and star systems develop in isolation from each other, and while some societies advance technologically, others regress due to war or disease. As a result, there is a massive range of technological levels of societies, from Neolithic tribes to reality-transcending machine gods.


title: RimWorld

text: Rimworld has a small variety of starting scenarios to choose from, although the core narrative is the same. The player characters (referred to as "pawns" in game documentation) are stranded on a procedurally generated planet located in the frontiers of known space (a "rim world"). The characters have a randomly generated set of positive or negative traits which affect how they can contribute to or endanger the colony, the decisions they make, and how their existence affects the other characters. As time goes on, more characters will join the colony. Characters can be rescued after crash-landing on the player map, they can wander in, or they can be captured after a raid.


title: RimWorld

text: To end the game, the player must either research and construct a spaceship, or find a broken-down ship with the help of a friendly AI. After starting the ship, the player must defend it for fifteen days as other desperate inhabitants of the planet attempt to seize control of it. After escaping the planet with at least one colonist, the credits roll. With the Royalty DLC, the game can also end by hosting the High Stellarch, leader of one of the factions that inhabit the Rim, and leaving the colony with them. With the Ideology DLC the ArchoNexus ending is made available, which involves selling your colony for part of a map to the ArchoNexus, a massive AI-controlled computer capable of controlling the entire planet.


title: RimWorld

text: The objective of the game is to ensure the survival of a colony of people, fighting against various environmental and/or internal events through randomly generated events in a customizable world. As the game progresses events become progressively harder and the player can unlock more advanced technology through research. The game has a top down, two-dimensional view.


title: RimWorld

text: In-game events are procedurally generated by an AI storyteller, which is central to gameplay; game difficulty, event difficulty and difficulty progression depend on its settings. The AI storyteller will analyze the player's current situation and choose events based on what it assesses will make the most interesting narrative. The game has three preconfigured AI storytellers, "Cassandra Classic", who follows traditional storytelling techniques of rising and falling tension, "Phoebe Chillax", a more laid-back storyteller, and "Randy Random", who forsakes narrative altogether in favor of randomness and excitement. There are 6 different preset difficulties to choose from along with a custom difficulty option. These influence the severity and frequency of events as well as the good, neutral, and bad balance of events. Events can range from simple occurrences such as wild animals wandering into the map or spacecraft debris crash landing to catastrophic long-lasting events such as Cold snaps or Volcanic winters.


title: RimWorld

text: The game also has two save-modes. Commitment mode acts as Rimworld's permadeath mode, disabling manual saving, and Reload anytime mode allows the player to save and load freely, giving the player a chance to undo an event.


title: RimWorld

text: The characters' mental stability is represented by a mood meter, affected by basic or complex needs, personality traits, and character backstories. Characters require food, rest and shelter but will also request a place to sit while eating, well-made and undamaged clothes, or enough time for recreation like stargazing, cloud watching or playing chess. If needs are left unmet, characters may undergo "mental breaks" such as going into a daze or even going berserk and attacking other characters.


title: RimWorld

text: With the release of Alpha 13 on April 6, 2016, a new social aspect to the game was introduced. Characters were given the ability to have social relationships with each other, and an opinion system was introduced.These relationships can benefit or detract from the needs and joys of a character, and poor social relationships may result in fights.


title: RimWorld

text: Animals in the game may be domesticated or tamed, and can form relationships with human characters, but they cannot be controlled directly by the player. Certain animals may be taught commands, which vary from simply obeying its master to defending them if attacked to occasionally carrying and storing items.


title: RimWorld

text: Players can research new technologies by constructing research stations. Players may harness electricity, which unlocks a plethora of machines and increases the colony's efficiency, but they are forced to find ways to generate electricity, including wind turbines, solar panels, or geothermal power stations. Players can also unlock other advancements like medicine, advanced weaponry, or drugs.


title: RimWorld

text: Players may be forced into several combative events. For example, during a pirate attack, the player will have to defend the colony by either drafting the characters or by building defensive mechanisms around the colony. Such defensive measures may include traps and automated turrets. A key mechanic in combat is cover. Ducking behind cover, such as trees, walls or sandbags, gives characters a much lower chance of being hit by projectiles during firefights.


title: RimWorld

text: Characters in the game need constant nourishment. One of the challenges of a larger colony is finding a way to feed all the colonists. Players may combine hunting, farming, animal husbandry, and trading to meet the colonist's needs. Animals can be lured and tamed with food, but there is a small chance the animal will attack the tamer instead. Upon being tamed, domestic animals can also reproduce.


title: RimWorld

text: On December 20, 2016, Alpha version 16 "Wanderlust" was released. Many new features were added regarding the world map, including: a spherical world map, time-zones, factions now starting with many bases, the ability to travel across the whole world map, the ability to set up multiple colonies, world generation, and customizable world map parameters. It is possible for players to attack other bases and plunder resources from them, angering the attacked faction in the process.


title: RimWorld

text: Players are able to install modifications (known as "mods") distributed via the Steam Workshop, the game's official forums, or other distribution sites. The game is known for its active modding community, regularly publishing mods from simple quality of life upgrades to complete gameplay overhauls.


title: RimWorld

text: "RimWorld" has received "generally favorable" reviews for Windows according to review aggregator Metacritic; the Xbox One version received "universal acclaim". Nomura Hikaru of "IGN" rated the game 9/10, describing it as "an all-in-one package for management simulation", and writing positively of the way it handled the player failing and its ability to tell a story. Sam Greer of "PC Gamer" gave a generally positive review, declaring that it was "a rich colony sim" and finding that its mid and late games were entertaining, while criticising its early game as somewhat tedious. Brendan Caldwell of "Rock Paper Shotgun" wrote positively of the game, praising it as a "wonderful fiasco", and writing positively of its ability to create drama. "RimWorld" has been favourably compared to other management-survival games such as "Dwarf Fortress".


title: RimWorld

text: In 2016 "RimWorld" was voted Indie DB's "indie of the year". In 2018 "Rimworld" was voted Steam's Top User-Rated Game, from all categories. The game was nominated in 2019 for the category of "Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year" at the 22nd D.I.C.E. Awards. In 2020, "RimWorld" was ranked the best management game on the PC in Rock Paper Shotgun.


title: RimWorld

text: In February 2018, it was announced by Sylvester that "RimWorld" had sold over a million copies. By August 2020, it was estimated that "RimWorld" had accumulated well over 100 million dollars in revenue, making it one of the most popular indie games on Steam.


title: RimWorld

text: On February 24, 2020, the first downloadable content (DLC), "Royalty", was released with the 1.1 update, adding a new empire faction and psylink technology for colonists to use. It also introduces the concept of royal titles, mechanoid clusters, 13 more songs to the soundtrack, more possible quests and more body implants and types of weapons.


title: RimWorld

text: On July 20, 2021, the second DLC, "Ideology", was released with the 1.3 update, adding belief systems based around several memes which make up the core of the ideology. Each ideology adds new buildings, apparel, quests, and social roles. New raid types, animal pens, mortar barrels, and caravan reworks were added as part of the free update.


title: RimWorld

text: On 21 October, 2022, the third DLC, "Biotech", was released alongside the 1.4 update. The DLC introduced a new mechanoid building mechanic allowing the construction of


title: RimWorld

text: robots that can assist the colony with labor or combat, the ability for colonists to become pregnant and raise new families, and new options to genetically modify colonists into xenohumans granting special abilities and traits. New factions with xenohumans have been added ranging from supersoldiers to neanderthals. Pollution emitted from constructed mechanoids can cause severe damage to colonies by causing sickness, sun blockage from smog and awakening of hibernating underground creatures. The update also improved the game's initial loading time by around 37%.


title: RimWorld

text: In February 2022, a previously unannounced port of the game for consoles was refused classification by the Australian Classification Board for its depictions of drug use. Following this, the PC version of the game was pulled from the digital storefront Steam for Australian users without input from the developers, with them stating that they were unsure of the reasoning, but were "working to resolve this situation and make RimWorld available to everyone again as soon as possible". On April 20, 2022 the game was classified as R18+ in Australia and was subsequently made available on Steam again.


title: Ecumenism

text: Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjective "ecumenical" is thus applied to any initiative that encourages greater cooperation and union among Christian denominations and churches.


title: Ecumenism

text: The fact that all Christians belonging to mainstream Christian denominations profess faith in Jesus as Lord and Saviour over a believer's life, believe that the Bible is the infallible, inerrant and inspired word of God (John 1:1), and receive baptism according to the Trinitarian formula is seen as being a basis for ecumenism and its goal of Christian unity. Ecumenists cite John 17:20-23 as the biblical grounds of striving for church unity, in which Jesus prays that Christians "may all be one" in order "that the world may know" and believe the Gospel message.


title: Ecumenism

text: In 1920, the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Germanus V of Constantinople, wrote a letter "addressed 'To all the Churches of Christ, wherever they may be', urging closer co-operation among separated Christians, and suggesting a 'League of Churches', parallel to the newly founded League of Nations". In 1937, Christian leaders from mainstream Christian churches resolved to establish the World Council of Churches, to work for the cause of Christian unity; it today includes churches from most major traditions of Christianity as full members, including the Assyrian Church of the East, the Old Catholic Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the Anglican Communion, the Baptist World Alliance, the Mennonite churches, the World Methodist Council, the Moravian Church, the Pentecostal churches and the World Communion of Reformed Churches, as well as almost all jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church; the Roman Catholic Church participates as an observer, sending delegates to official gatherings.


title: Ecumenism

text: Many regional councils affiliated with the World Council of Churches, such as the Middle East Council of Churches, National Council of Churches in Australia and Christian Churches Together, work for the cause of Christian unity on the domestic level, with member denominations including churches from the Oriental Orthodox, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Methodist, Anglican, and Reformed traditions, among others.


title: Ecumenism

text: Each year, Christians observe the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity for the goal of ecumenism, which is coordinated by the World Council of Churches and adopted by many of its member churches.


title: Ecumenism

text: The terms "ecumenism" and "ecumenical" come from the Greek ("oikoumene"), which means "the whole inhabited world", and was historically used with specific reference to the Roman Empire. The ecumenical vision comprises both the search for the visible unity of the Church (Ephesians 4:3) and the "whole inhabited earth" (Matthew 24:14) as the concern of all Christians. In Christianity, the qualification "ecumenical" was originally and still is used in terms such as "ecumenical council" and "Ecumenical Patriarch", in the meaning of pertaining to the totality of the larger Church (such as the Catholic Church or the Eastern Orthodox Church) rather than being restricted to one of its constituent local churches or dioceses. Used in this sense, the term carries no connotation of re-uniting the historically separated Christian denominations but presumes a unity of local congregations in a worldwide communion.


title: Ecumenism

text: The term ecumenism as it is now commonly used refers to interdenominational cooperation between different Christian churches. These initiatives can range from local churches of different denominations operating a soup kitchen for the poor, hosting an ecumenical Bible study with participants from different Christian traditions, inviting all baptized Christians to partake in a Lovefeast when churches celebrate them, to holding an ecumenical Stations of the Cross service on Fridays during the Christian liturgical season of Lent with the service being held at a different local church each Friday (e.g. Catholic, Lutheran, Moravian, Anglican, Reformed and Methodist). The ultimate goal of ecumenism is the recognition of sacramental validity, eucharistic sharing, and the reaching of full communion between different Christian denominations. There are a variety of different expectations of what that Christian unity looks like, how it is brought about, what ecumenical methods ought to be engaged, and what both short- and long-term objectives of the ecumenical movement should be.


title: Ecumenism

text: Baptism according to the Trinitarian formula, which is done in most mainstream Christian denominations, is seen as being the grounds for Christian ecumenism, the concept of unity amongst Christians. With respect to ecumenism, A. W. Tozer maintained that "Unity in Christ is not something to be achieved; it is something to be recognized." Ecumenists cite as the Biblical basis of striving for church unity, in which Jesus prays that Christians "may all be one" in order "that the world may know" and believe the Gospel message. As such, ecumenism has a strong implication for the Church's mission of evangelism, which is referenced in : "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another". Additionally, Jesus emphasized that the ties of Christians to one another are much greater than those to blood relatives.


title: Ecumenism

text: Historically, the term "ecumenism" was originally used in the context of the larger ecumenical councils organised with the support of the Roman Emperor. The aim of these councils was to clarify matters of Christian theology and doctrine, leading to the meaning of unity behind the term "ecumenical". The ecumenical councils brought together bishops from across the Roman Empire, with a total of seven ecumenical councils accepted to have been held by both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches before the Great Schism dividing the two churches; the first four ecumenical councils are recognized by the Lutheran Churches, Anglican Communion and Reformed churches though they are "considered subordinate to Scripture". The Assyrian Church of the East acknowledges the first two ecumenical councils, while Oriental Orthodox Churches accept the first three ecumenical councils.


title: Ecumenism

text: Christianity has not been a monolithic faith since the first century, also known as the "Apostolic Age", and in the present day, a number of widely varied Christian groups exist, both within and without mainstream Christianity. Despite the division between these groups, a number of commonalities exist throughout their traditions, understanding of theology, governing church systems, doctrine and language. As such, many of these groups are visibly divided into different communions or denominations, groupings of Christians and their churches in full communion with one another, but to some degree set apart from other Christians.


title: Ecumenism

text: The World Council of Churches counts 348 member churches, representing more than half a billion members of the major Christian traditions. This, with the Catholic Church's 1.25 billion Christians, indicates that 349 churches/denominations already account for nearly 80% of the world's Christian population.


title: Ecumenism

text: One problem with the larger numbers is that single denominations can be counted multiple times. For example, the Catholic Church is a single church, or communion, comprising 24 distinct self-governing particular churches in full communion with the bishop of Rome (the largest being the Latin Church, commonly called "Roman Catholic"). Further, the Catholic Church's presence in each country is counted as a different denomination—though this is in no way an ecclesiologically accurate definition. This can result in the one Catholic Church being counted as 242 distinct denominations, as in the "World Christian Encyclopedia".


title: Ecumenism

text: Additionally, single nondenominational congregations or megachurches without denominational affiliation are effectively counted each as its own denomination, resulting in cases where entire "denominations" may account for only a handful of people. Other denominations may be very small remnants of once larger churches. The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing (Shakers) have only two full members, for example, yet are a distinct denomination.


title: Ecumenism

text: Most current divisions are the result of historical schisms—a break in the full communion between previously united Churches, bishops, or communities. Some historical schisms proved temporary and were eventually healed, others have hardened into the denominations of today. However individual denominations are counted, it is generally acknowledged that they fall into the following major "families" of churches:


title: Ecumenism

text: In the United States, the historic racial/ethnic churches are sometimes counted as a distinct family of churches, though they may otherwise fit into any one of the previous categories.


title: Ecumenism

text: Some of these families are in themselves a single communion, such as the Catholic Church. Other families are a very general movement with no universal governing authority. Protestantism, for example, includes such diverse groups as Adventists, Anabaptists, Baptists, Congregationalists, Evangelicals, Hussites, Irvingians, Lutherans, Messianic Jews, Methodists (inclusive of the Holiness movement), Moravians, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Reformed, and Waldensians. Many of these have, as a result of ecumenical dialogue, established full or partial communion agreements.


title: Ecumenism

text: The oldest lasting schism in Christianity resulted from fifth-century disagreements on Christology, heightened by philosophical, linguistic, cultural, and political differences.


title: Ecumenism

text: The first significant, lasting split in historic Christianity, the so-called Nestorian Schism, came from the Church of the East, consisting largely of Eastern Syriac churches outside the Roman Empire, who left full communion after 431 in response to misunderstandings and personality conflicts at the Council of Ephesus. After fifteen centuries of estrangement, the Assyrian Church of the East and the Catholic Church entered into an ecumenical dialogue in the 1980s, resulting in agreement on the very issue that split them asunder, in the 1994 Common Christological Declaration, which identifies the origin of the schism as largely linguistic, due to problems of translating very delicate and precise terminology from Latin to Aramaic and vice versa.


title: Ecumenism

text: As part of the then-ongoing Christological controversy, following the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the next large split came with the Syriac and Coptic churches dividing themselves. The churches dissented from Chalcedon, becoming today's Oriental Orthodox Churches. These also include the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church in India. In modern times, there have also been moves towards healing this division, with common Christological statements being made between Pope John Paul II and Syriac patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, as well as between representatives of both Oriental Orthodoxy and the Eastern Orthodox Church.


title: Ecumenism

text: Although the Christian world as a whole did not experience any major church divisions for centuries afterward, the Eastern, predominantly Greek-speaking and Western, predominantly Latin-speaking, cultural divisions drifted toward isolation, culminating in the mutual excommunication of Patriarch of Constantinople Michael I Cerularius and the legate of then-deceased Pope of Rome Leo IX in 1054, in what is known as the Great Schism. The canonical separation was sealed by the Latin sacking of Constantinople (1204) during the Fourth Crusade and through the poor reception of the Council of Florence (1449) among the Orthodox Eastern Churches.


title: Ecumenism

text: The political and theological reasons for the schism are complex. Aside from the natural rivalry between the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire and the Franco-Latin Holy Roman Empire, one major controversy was the inclusion and acceptance in the West in general – and in the diocese of Rome in particular – of the Filioque clause ("and the Son") into the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, which the East viewed as a violation of ecclesiastical procedure at best, an abuse of papal authority as only an Ecumenical Council could amend what had been defined by a previous council, and a heresy at worst, inasfar as the Filioque implies that the essential divinity of the Holy Spirit is derived not from the Father alone as "arche" (singular head and source), but from the perichoretic union between the Father and the Son. That the hypostasis or persona of the Spirit either is or is produced by the mutual, pre-eternal love between God and His Word is an explanation which Eastern Christian detractors have alleged is rooted in the medieval Augustinian appropriation of Plotinian Neoplatonism. (See Augustine of Hippo, "De Trinitate".)


title: Ecumenism

text: Both West and East agreed that the patriarch of Rome was owed a "primacy of honour" by the other patriarchs (those of Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople and Jerusalem), but the West also contended that this primacy extended to jurisdiction, a position rejected by the Eastern patriarchs. Various attempts at dialogue between the two groups would occur, but it was only in the 1960s, under Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, that significant steps began to be made to mend the relationship between the two. In 1965, the excommunications were "committed to oblivion".


title: Ecumenism

text: The resulting division remains, however, providing the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, both of which are globally distributed bodies and no longer restricted geographically or culturally to the "West" or "East", respectively. (There exist both Eastern Rite Roman Catholicism and Western Rite Orthodoxy, for example.) There is an ongoing and fruitful Catholic-Orthodox dialogue.


title: Ecumenism

text: In Western Christianity, there were a handful of geographically isolated movements that preceded in the spirit of the Protestant Reformation. The Cathars were a very strong movement in medieval southwestern France, but did not survive into modern times, largely as a result of the Albigensian Crusade. In northern Italy and southeastern France, Peter Waldo founded the Waldensians in the 12th century, which remains the largest non-Catholic church in Italy and is in full communion with the Italian Methodist Church. In Bohemia, a movement in the early 15th century by Jan Hus called the Hussites called for reform of Catholic teaching and still exists to this day, known as the Moravian Church. Though generally counted among Protestant churches, groups such as the Waldensians and Moravians pre-exist Protestantism proper.


title: Ecumenism

text: The Protestant Reformation began, symbolically, with the posting of Martin Luther's "Ninety-Five Theses" in Saxony on October 31, 1517, written as a set of grievances to reform the Western Church. Luther's writings, combined with the work of Swiss theologian Huldrych Zwingli and French theologian and politician John Calvin, sought to reform existing problems in doctrine and practice. Due to the reactions of ecclesiastical office holders at the time of the reformers, the Catholic Church separated from them, instigating a rift in Western Christianity. This schism created the Mainline Protestant Churches, including especially the Lutheran and Reformed traditions.


title: Ecumenism

text: In England, Henry VIII of England declared himself to be supreme head of the Church of England with the Act of Supremacy in 1531, repressing both Lutheran reformers and those loyal to the pope. Thomas Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury introduced the English Reformation in a form compromising between the Calvinists and Lutherans. This schism created today's Anglican Communion.


title: Ecumenism

text: The Radical Reformation, also mid-sixteenth century, moved beyond both Anglican and Protestant reformations, emphasizing the invisible, spiritual reality of the Church, apart from any visible ecclesial manifestation. A significant group of Radical reformers were the Anabaptists, people such as Menno Simons and Jakob Ammann, whose movements resulted in today's communities of Mennonites, Amish, Hutterites, and Brethren churches, and to some extent, the Bruderhof Communities.


title: Ecumenism

text: Further reform movements within Anglicanism during the 16th through 18th centuries, with influence from the Radical Reformation, produced the Puritans and Separatists, creating today's Baptists, Congregationalists, Quakers, and eventually Unitarian Universalism.


title: Ecumenism

text: The Methodist churches, which uphold Wesleyan-Arminian theology, grew out of a revival within Anglicanism, especially in England and the American colonies, under the leadership of the brothers John Wesley and Charles Wesley, both priests in the Church of England. This movement also produced the Holiness movement churches.


title: Ecumenism

text: The Old Catholic Church split from the Catholic Church in the 1870s because of the promulgation of the dogma of Papal Infallibility as promoted by the First Vatican Council of 1869–1870. The term "Old Catholic" was first used in 1853 to describe the members of the See of Utrecht who were not under Papal authority. The Old Catholic movement grew in America but has not maintained ties with Utrecht, although talks are under way between some independent Old Catholic bishops and Utrecht.


title: Ecumenism

text: The Evangelical movement takes form as the result of spiritual renewal efforts in the anglophone world in the 18th century. According to religion scholar, social activist, and politician Randall Balmer, Evangelicalism resulted "from the confluence of Pietism, Presbyterianism, and the vestiges of Puritanism. Evangelicalism picked up the peculiar characteristics from each strain – warmhearted spirituality from the Pietists (for instance), doctrinal precisionism from the Presbyterians, and individualistic introspection from the Puritans". Historian Mark Noll adds to this list High Church Anglicanism, which contributed to Evangelicalism a legacy of "rigorous spirituality and innovative organization".


title: Ecumenism

text: Pentecostalism is likewise born out of this context, and traditionally traces its origins to what it describes as an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on 1 January 1901 in Topeka, Kansas, at the Bethel Bible College. Subsequent charismatic revivals in Wales in 1904 and the Azusa Street Revival in 1906 are held as the beginnings of the Pentecostal movement. These started just a few hours after Pope Leo XIII led a prayer "Veni Spiritus Sanctus" during an "Urbi et Orbi" message, consecrating the 20th century to the Holy Spirit and through this prayer to the reunion of Christianity.


title: Ecumenism

text: For some Protestants, spiritual unity, and often unity on the church's teachings on central issues, suffices. According to Lutheran theologian Edmund Schlink, most important in Christian ecumenism is that people focus primarily on Christ, not on separate church organizations. In Schlink's book "Ökumenische Dogmatik" (1983), he says Christians who see the risen Christ at work in the lives of various Christians or in diverse churches realize that the unity of Christ's church has never been lost, but has instead been distorted and obscured by different historical experiences and by spiritual myopia. Both are overcome in renewed faith in Christ. Included in that is responding to his admonition (John 17; Philippians 2) to be one in him and love one another as a witness to the world. The result of mutual recognition would be a discernible worldwide fellowship, organized in a historically new way.


title: Ecumenism

text: For a significant part of the Christian world, one of the highest goals to be sought is the reconciliation of the various denominations by overcoming the historical divisions within Christianity. Even where there is broad agreement upon this goal, approaches to ecumenism vary. Generally, Protestants see fulfillment of the goal of ecumenism as consisting in general agreements on teachings about central issues of faith, with mutual pastoral accountability between the diverse churches regarding the teachings of salvation.


title: Ecumenism

text: For Catholics and Orthodox on the other hand, the true unity of Christendom is treated in accordance with their more sacramental understanding of the Body of Christ; this ecclesiastical matter for them is closely linked to key theological issues (e.g. regarding the Eucharist and the historical Episcopate), and requires full dogmatic assent to the pastoral authority of the Church for full communion to be considered viable and valid. Thus, there are different answers even to the "question of the church", which finally is the goal of the ecumenist movement itself. However, the desire of unity is expressed by many denominations, generally that all who profess faith in Christ in sincerity, would be more fully cooperative and supportive of one another.


title: Ecumenism

text: For the Catholic and Orthodox churches, the process of approaching one another can be described as formally split in two successive stages: the "dialogue of love" and the "dialogue of truth". Examples of acts belonging to the former include the mutual revocation in 1965 of the anathemas of 1054, returning the relics of Sabbas the Sanctified (a common saint) to Mar Saba in the same year, and the first visit of a Pope to an Orthodox country in a millennium (Pope John Paul II accepting the invitation of the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Teoctist, in 1999), among others.


title: Ecumenism

text: Christian ecumenism can be described in terms of the three largest divisions of Christianity: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant. While this underemphasizes the complexity of these divisions, it is a useful model.


title: Ecumenism

text: The Catholic Church has always considered it a duty of the highest rank to seek full unity with estranged communions of fellow Christians and, at the same time, to reject what it sees as a false union that would mean being unfaithful to or glossing over the teaching of sacred scripture and tradition.


title: Ecumenism

text: Before the Second Vatican Council, the main stress was laid on this second aspect, as exemplified in canon 1258 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law:


title: Ecumenism

text: The 1983 Code of Canon Law has no corresponding canon. It absolutely forbids Catholic priests to concelebrate the Eucharist with members of communities which are not in full communion (canon 908), but allows, in certain circumstances and under certain conditions, other sharing in the sacraments. The "Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism", 102 states: "Christians may be encouraged to share in spiritual activities and resources, i.e., to share that spiritual heritage they have in common in a manner and to a degree appropriate to their present divided state."


title: Ecumenism

text: Pope John XXIII, who convoked the council that brought this change of emphasis about, said that the council's aim was to seek renewal of the church itself, which would serve, for those separated from the See of Rome, as a "gentle invitation to seek and find that unity for which Jesus Christ prayed so ardently to his heavenly Father".


title: Ecumenism

text: Some elements of the Catholic perspective on ecumenism are illustrated in the following quotations from the council's decree on ecumenism, "Unitatis Redintegratio" of 21 November 1964, and Pope John Paul II's encyclical, "Ut Unum Sint" of 25 May 1995.


title: Ecumenism

text: While some Eastern Orthodox churches commonly rebaptize converts from the Catholic Church, thereby refusing to recognize the baptism that the converts have previously received, the Catholic Church has always accepted the validity of all the sacraments administered by the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches.


title: Ecumenism

text: The Catholic Church likewise has very seldom applied the terms "heterodox" or "heretic" to the Eastern Orthodox churches or its members, although there are clear differences in doctrine, notably about the authority of the Pope, Purgatory, and the filioque clause. More often, the term "separated" or "schismatic" has been applied to the state of the Eastern Orthodox churches.


title: Ecumenism

text: The Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox churches are two distinct bodies of local churches. The churches within each body share full communion, although there is not official communion between the two bodies. Both consider themselves to be the original church, from which the West was divided in the 5th and 11th centuries, respectively (after the 3rd and 7th Ecumenical councils).


title: Ecumenism

text: Many theologians of the Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxies engage in theological dialogue with each other and with some of the Western churches, though short of full communion. The Eastern Orthodox have participated in the ecumenical movement, with students active in the World Student Christian Federation since the late 19th century. Most Eastern Orthodox and all Oriental Orthodox churches are members of the World Council of Churches. Kallistos of Diokleia, a bishop of the Eastern Orthodox Church has stated that ecumenism "is important for Orthodoxy: it has helped to force the various Orthodox Churches out of their comparative isolation, making them meet one another and enter into a living contact with non-Orthodox Christians."


title: Ecumenism

text: Historically, the relationship between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion has been congenial, with the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1922 recognising Anglican orders as valid. He wrote: "That the orthodox theologians who have scientifically examined the question have almost unanimously come to the same conclusions and have declared themselves as accepting the validity of Anglican Orders." Moreover, some Eastern Orthodox bishops have assisted in the ordination of Anglican bishops; for example, in 1870, the Most Reverend Alexander Lycurgus, the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Syra and Tinos, was one of the bishops who consecrated Henry MacKenzie as the Suffragan Bishop of Nottingham. From 1910–1911, the era before World War I, Raphael of Brooklyn, an Eastern Orthodox bishop, "sanctioned an interchange of ministrations with the Episcopalians in places where members of one or the other communion are without clergy of their own". Bishop Raphael stated that in places "where there is no resident Orthodox Priest", an Anglican (Episcopalian) priest could administer Marriage, Holy Baptism, and the Blessed Sacrament to an Orthodox layperson. In 1912, however, Bishop Raphael ended the intercommunion after becoming uncomfortable with the fact that the Anglican Communion contained different churchmanships within Her, e.g. High Church, Evangelical, etc. However, after World War I, the Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius was organized in 1927, which much like the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association worked on ecumenism between the two Churches; both of these organisations continue their task today.


title: Ecumenism

text: In accordance with the Soviet anti-religious legislation under the state atheism of the Soviet Union, several Russian Orthodox churches and seminaries were closed. With ecumenical aid from Methodists in the United States two Russian Orthodox seminaries were reopened, and hierarchs of the Orthodox Church thankfully made the following statement: "The services rendered by the American Methodists and other Christian friends will go down in history of the Orthodox Church as one of its brightest pages in that dark and trying time of the church. Our Church will never forget the Samaritan service which your whole Church unselfishly rendered us. May this be the beginning of closer friendship for our churches and nations."