From Monachos.net

Please note: This is an archive of old entries from the What's New index for previous years. If you wish to see new additions to the Monachos.net web site, please visit the current What's New page.

For the Year 2005:

Dates provided are: Church Calendar / Civil (New) Calendar. Read more on the issue of two calendars.

Thursday, 16 December 2005 / 29 December 2005

Updated the Patristic Source Text Library with five new texts: The letter of Pope Agatho of Rome to the Emperor, read as an official document of the sixth ecumenical council; the Letter of Pope Agatho and the Synod of Bishops of Rome, which constituted the Roman instruction to its legates at the council; the Decree of Alexander of Alexandria on the Deposition of Arius, containing Alexander's report of events surrounding Arius, bundled with several lesser epistles; and two lives of St Athanasius of Athos, founder of the Great Lavra and coenobitic life on the Holy Mountain—the longer Life A of Athanasius, and the shorter Life B, with introductory materials on both versions.

Tuesday, 14 December 2005 / 27 December 2005

Added this year's Nativity homily, Death and New Life in the Nativity of Christ.

Sunday, 7 November 2005 / 20 November 2005

Added three new patristic texts to the Library: Athenagoras the Apologist, On the Resurrection of the Dead - an important early defense of the doctrine of resurrection; Tertullian of Carthage, To Scapula - a letter to the proconsul Scapula, as a kind of brief 'apology' (defense) of the Christian faith with important passages on the nature of the human person and conceptions of God; and Theophilus of Alexandria, Synodical Letter to the Bishops of Palestine and Cyprus - the official letter of a council held in AD 400 at Alexandria to condemn Origenism, outlining the major doctrinal errors the council discovered in that tradition. (All documents added as part of the Library Project.)

Sunday, 24 October 2005 / 6 November 2005

Compiled the first version of the new Patristics Master List: a centralised index of patristic source documents in English on the internet—a thorough catalogue of the writings of the fathers and mothers of the Church on-line. Includes Monachos Library documents, with thorough study tools, as well as links to other web sites.

Sunday, 26 September 2005 / 9 October 2005

Launched fully the new Monachos.net Discussion Community message forum re-design, with new layout and additional functionality.

Wednesday, 22 September 2005 / 5 October 2005

Implemented the new design scheme for Monachos.net document pages and discussion community forum. The new page layout provides for a cleaner look, better screen display, reduction of page download times, and a host of increased functionality across the web site—including the ability to configure your preferences for the display of Monachos.net pages by increasing/decreasing the font size, changing the font used, etc.

The new A-Z Index of Patristic Source Texts has been dramatically expanded as part of this upgrade: a quick-access bar allows linkage directly to individual sections of the alphabetical index from any source text in the library; and the A-Z index itself now contains links to off-site patristic texts not yet available on the Monachos.net local library.

Thursday, 29 July 2005 / 11 August 2005

Added the Fragments of Papias ('the Elder') - fragmentary writings of Papias, a second-century 'elder' of influence on Irenaeus, Clement and many others; including notes on fragment sources and locations. Also added Tertullian of Carthage's On the Testimony of the Soul - his important early tract on the nature of the human soul and human person, written before his longer and more well-known De Anima, 'On the soul' (both texts added as part of the Monachos Library Project).

Thursday, 1 July 2005 / 14 July 2005

Added Athanasius of Alexandria's On the Incarnation of the Word - an important tract on the incarnation as means of salvation, with essential reflections on Christological implications for the Christian conception of salvation (added as part of the Monachos Library Project).

Thursday, 17 June 2005 / 30 June 2005

Added the five Mystagogics (or 'Mystagogical Catecheses') of Cyril of Jerusalem to the Source Texts Library. The Mystagogics comprise five orations delivered to those who had just received baptism, on the nature of the mystery thus received and the new life entered into via the Church.

Friday, 4 June 2005 / 17 June 2005

Greatly improved the Monachos.net site search engine. The search protocols themselves now deliver faster and more accurate results, and the interface has been refined for ease of use, with a more concise and visually pleasing results layout. An optional, secondary Google search engine for Monachos may also now be employed—though our local search system delivers far more accurate and descriptive results listings.

Thursday, 3 June 2005 / 16 June 2005

Added the third and fourth baptismal catechetical orations of St Cyril of Jerusalem (see yesterday's 'What's New' entry, below, for further details on this new collection of texts being made available in phases). Oration three is a potent text on the nature of baptism; while oration four covers a wide breadth of issues as 'ten points of doctrine' to be learnt by all catechumens.

Wednesday, 2 June 2005 / 15 June 2005

Added the first instalment of Cyril of Jerusalem's Baptismal Catechesis to the Patristic Source Texts Area. This first group of catechetical orations includes the prologue or Procatechesis; Oration One on the nature of Christian life and calling; and Oration Two on confession and the forgiving nature of God, with a passage on the nature of evil and the devil.

Saturday, 6 March 2005 / 19 March 2005

Added three new texts to the Patristic Source Texts Area, all by St Gregory of Nazianzus: Oration 1: First Paschal Oration; Oration 2: On his flight to Pontus after his ordination, with reflections on the holy priesthood; and Oration 45: Second Paschal oration.

Wednesday, 17 February 2005 / 2 March 2005

After some down-time, the Links Catalogue, On-line Quizzes Area, and Greek Studies Area have been restored in their upgraded form. Additionally, the problems of functionality in the message boards encountered over the past two days have been resolved.

Monday, 1 February 2005 / 14 February 2005

Added a new Lenten and Pre-Lenten bookstore for on-line ordering of texts and volumes of value for the Great Fast.

Wednesday, 13 January 2005 / 26 January 2005

Added new item to our collection of contemporary Orthodox psalms: Psalm on the City of My Innermost Heart - a reflection on the 'inner city' of the heart, examined before God in lament and hope; by an anonymous Orthodox author.

Friday, 25 December 2004 / 7 January 2005

Added a new document: The Advent of Love - Reflections on the Nativity of Christ, 2004.