Topaz
Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine with the chemical formula Al2SiO4(F,OH)2. Topaz crystallizes in the orthorhombic system, and its crystals are mostly prismatic terminated by pyramidal and other faces.
Color and varieties
Pure topaz is colorless and transparent but is usually tinted by impurities; typical topaz is wine red, yellow, pale gray, reddish-orange, or blue brown. It can also be white, pale green, blue, gold, pink (rare), reddish-yellow or opaque to transparent/translucent.
Orange topaz, also known as precious topaz, is the traditional November birthstone, the symbol of friendship, and the state gemstone of the US state of Utah.
Imperial topaz is yellow, pink (rare, if natural) or pink-orange. Brazilian Imperial Topaz can often have a bright yellow to deep golden brown hue, sometimes even violet. Many brown or pale topazes are treated to make them bright yellow, gold, pink or violet colored. Some imperial topaz stones can fade on exposure to sunlight for an extended period of time.
Topaz (Erik Friedlander album)
Topaz is a 1999 album by cellist Erik Friedlander which was released on the Siam label and features the quartet that became known as Topaz.
Reception
The Allmusic review by Alex Henderson awarded the album 4 stars stating "Topaz, like a lot of avant-garde jazz, isn't easy to absorb on the first listen. But the more times you listen, the more you realize how much this left-of-center CD has going for it".
Track listing
All compositions by Erik Friedlander except as indicated
Personnel
References
Topaz (novel)
Topaz is a Cold War suspense novel by Leon Uris, published in 1967 by McGraw-Hill. The novel spent one week atop The New York Times Best Seller List (on the list dated October 15, 1967), and was Uris's first New York Times number-one bestseller since Exodus in 1959. During its 52-week run on the list, Topaz set two records in two weeks; those for largest positional jump to number-one (9-1) and largest positional fall from number-one (1-5).
Overview
On the eve of the Cuban Missile Crisis, American and French intelligence agents are plunged into a maze of Cold War intrigue. In Paris, 1962, French intelligence chief André Devereaux and NATO intelligence chief Michael Nordstrom have uncovered Soviet plans to ship nuclear arms to Cuba. But when Devereaux reports his findings and nobody acts—and he is targeted in an assassination attempt—he soon realizes he’s tangled in a plot far greater than he first understood. The two agents, along with a small band of Cuban exiles and Soviet defectors, chase leads around the globe in a quest to save NATO, themselves, and perhaps the world itself.
Nicholas (Yarushevich)
Metropolitan Nicholas (Russian: Митрополит Николай, born as Boris Dorofeyevich Yarushevich, Russian: Борис Дорофеевич Ярушевич; January 13, 1892 (December 31, 1891 OS), Kovno – December 13, 1961, Moscow), was a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church.
He supported the controversial 1927 declaration of Metropolitan Sergius, pledging loyalty of the Church to the Soviet authorities without concurrence of the imprisoned Patriarchal locum tenens, Peter of Krutitsy, and Sergius' subsequent collaboration with them.
In 1941 he became Metropolitan of Volhynia and Lutsk and later, after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia. Later, as the German troops advanced, he was evacuated to Moscow.
In the early hours of September 5, 1943, together with Metropolitan Sergius and Metropolitan Alexius, Nicholas had a meeting with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, where the latter proposed to reestablish the Moscow Patriarchate and elect the Patriarch. On September 8, 1943, when the Moscow Patriarchate was reestablished, Nicholas became a permanent member of the Holy Synod. In 1944 he was appointed Metropolitan of Krutitsy. In 1946, when the External Church Relations Department was established within the Patriarchate, Metropolitan Nicholas became its chairman. In 1947 he became Metropolitan of Krutitsy and Kolomna.
