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The Wisdom of the Ages

Before the sometimes incomprehensible chaos of modern denominationalism (over 25,000 church denominations each claiming to represent the most correct version of Christianity), before the Protestant/Catholic wars of the 1600's, before the Crusades lead by the Popes against Islam in the 11th and 12th centuries, before Islam's victorious conquest of eastern Christianity in the 15th century, and hundreds of years before the advent of what is now called the Roman Catholic Church, there existed Byzantium, the greatest Christian civilization-and the longest lasting empire (1,000 years) in the history of mankind.

When the Roman Empire collapsed at the beginning of the fifth century, in reality only the western European half of the empire fell to the so-called "barbarians" (who, in any case, immediately converted to Christianity).

The eastern half of the old Roman Empire encompassing the eastern Mediterranean including Syria, Greece, Armenia, much of Eastern Europe, and Turkey (the Byzantine capital, Constantinople-is now called Istanbul) as well as Northern Africa, converted to Christianity and continued on with an incredibly rich and vibrant culture for over 1,000 years until it fell to invaders envious of Byzantium's immense treasures: spiritual, intellectual, artistic, historical, and financial.

Because Byzantium was geographically at the crossroads of the east and west, it's scholars and saints enjoyed a rich intellectual and spiritual intercourse with other wisdom traditions from the west, Middle East, and east. It is this trove of wisdom, set in place at the beginning of time and creation (see Proverbs 8:22-27) and recorded over 4,000 years ago by Jewish scribes, treasured alike by the early Christian church, and Jewish Rabbis as well as Islamic wise men, that has been preserved and handed down in the form of "old testament" wisdom books along with the "new testament" teachings of Jesus and his apostles who used the "old testament" as a veritable text book for instruction in the nature and successful application of God's widsom for abundant living. (Matthew 7:7-8)