Orthodox Dogmatic Theology. Eschatology in Christianity, Buddhism and Islam

Material prepared by Natalya Toporkova

Eschatology(from other Greek ἔσχατος - “final”, “last” + λόγος - “word”, “knowledge”) in its Christian understanding is a section of theology that reflects views on the question of the end of the world and the Second Coming of Christ. Interest in eschatological problems has changed over time. In the first century, Christians lived in anticipation of a quick meeting with Christ, which sometimes led to heresies. Thus, some believed that they would not die before the onset of parousia- that is, the Day of the Lord, and others introduced heresy about the soon coming Coming of Christ, so that they rejected the need for good works and repentance.

Later, the problem of eschatology began to fade, but from time to time the question was raised whether we had entered the eschatological period or not.

The versatility of eschatological issues described in various books of Holy Scripture prompted biblical studies of the 19th and early 20th centuries to begin summarizing all biblical information about the last times and the Second Coming of the Lord and, if possible, describe the picture of these future events. Such theologians as Professor V.N. made a significant contribution to summarizing Christian views on eschatology. Strakhov and Professor N.N. Glubokovsky.

From the 2nd half of the 19th century. to designate the entire sphere of scientific study of the Bible, the term appears in a number of church works "bibliology"(from Greek βιβλος - book, λογος - knowledge, teaching). In 1928 N.N. Glubokovsky in a summary essay "Russian theological science in its historical development and the latest state" entitled the section on biblical studies with this name and believed that it refers him to Divine primary sources and directs him to the study of the monuments of Divine revelation for accurate knowledge. This determines the fundamental importance of biblical studies for Russian theology. Literature of this kind spread in Russia from the first centuries of its Christianization, but at first it was primarily of an edifying nature. Then, towards the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries, it to some extent grew into an independent theological science, incorporating both the theological roots of the East and the scientific research of the West.

Back in the first half of the 19th century, work began in Russia on translating the Holy Scriptures from Church Slavonic into modern and commonly used Russian. In addition to the lack of Scripture written in an understandable language, there was also the problem of the small circulation of the books of Scripture, as a result of which it was difficult for the people to read it. All these problems led to the need to begin the work of translating and distributing the Bible. In 1812, by the Highest decree of Emperor Alexander I, it was created "Bible Society".

One of the most important theologians is St. Theophan the Recluse. The time of his church-writing creativity fell on the second half of the 19th century. The saint lived for some time on Athos, where he learned Greek, which allowed him later, while in seclusion in the Vyshenskaya Hermitage, to carry out a number of translations of the Greek holy fathers into Russian. The saint accepted the retreat after 6 years in the monastery. Having retired to a separate house, he built a house temple in it and, according to the testimonies of the descriptors of his life, was there for 22 years.

During this time, he managed to become the author of numerous spiritual works and a large epistolary heritage. Volumes of spiritual books began to appear from his pen, including works on the study of the Bible. Thus, he also compiled interpretations of all 14 epistles of St. Pavel. In compiling this work, he was guided mainly by the Eastern holy fathers: St. John Chrysostom, blessed Theodoret, Augustine, Ambrosiastes, St. John of Damascus, Ecumenius, Theophylact of Bulgaria. Western interpreters were also used, but they were present in his works, as a rule, in the role of contrast to the Eastern holy fathers. Sometimes, while reading his books, I come across phrases "our interpreters" or "their interpreters" which speaks of the saint’s constant tendency to divide the views of the two branches of Christian thought.

Speaking about the language of the saint, it should be noted that the writing style is simple and understandable for everyone, and the vocabulary is widely used. Many ascribe this to him as a disadvantage, but from the point of view of spiritual benefit, the simplicity of his language is a great advantage, since it thus attracts the study of the Scriptures and the application of them to life for everyone who wants to walk in the path of salvation.

The task in the interpretations of St. Theophan was not only to reveal the understanding of complex passages of Holy Scripture, but also to tune in to spiritual life and struggle. In his opinion, in order to bring the revealed truth to the heart of a person, it must be “chopped up,” that is, presented as simply and understandably as possible for both the ascetic and the novice. In clarifying the meaning of individual fragments of the Bible, the author of the interpretations primarily wanted the living and active Word of God to penetrate the heart of the reader. That is why he became widely known among ordinary believers, the depth of his pen's research is very deep, he cites ancient translations, referring to the Greek text, where he shows the nuances of the meaning of difficult words.

After living for some time on the holy Mount Athos, St. Theophan mastered the Greek language, which allowed him to subsequently carry out a number of translations of the Greek holy fathers into Russian, to which he devoted the time of his six-year retreat in the Vyshenskaya Hermitage (now the Ryazan region). That is why in his exegetical works there are so many references to the Greek original.

Nikolai Nikanorovich Glubokovsky also studied issues of biblical studies. He was born on December 6, 1863 in the village. Kichmengsky Town, Vologda province (died on March 18, 1937). Having lost his own father at the age of two, he was raised in the family of his older sister. In the period from 1874 to 1878, Glubokovsky studied at the Nikolsky Theological School, then entered the Vologda Seminary, after which in 1884 he was enrolled in the Moscow Theological Academy. However, in his fourth year, due to a conflict with its leadership, he was expelled, but reinstated the following year. However, the possible roughness of the initial entry of N.N. Glubokovsky to the SPbDA teaching corporation were erased by the brilliant work of the scientist in the field of research of the books of the New Testament . Since 1889, his specialization was first the study of the papacy and church history of the 5th-6th centuries. In the period from 1890 to 1891. he was sent to the Voronezh seminary, where he already taught the New Testament.

Glubokovsky did not shy away from general church problems; in 1896 he participated in the reform of theological education. Advocating for a radical reform of theological schools, both secondary and higher. Glubokovsky N.N., with his characteristic systematicity, developed the concept of spiritual and pedagogical policy, pointing out the need to study more the Holy Scripture itself, and not the corresponding textbooks.

Since 1905, Professor Glubokovsky took over the editing of the Theological Encyclopedia, founded by A.P. Lopukhin. The encyclopedia immediately changed its character and became an adornment of Russian theological science. The editor put enormous work and energy into the publication. This enterprise was suspended in 1911.

Speaking about the theological heritage in the works of N.N. Glubokovsky, works on biblical studies related to the book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles and the Epistles of St. Paul, occupy the main place in his written heritage. Among them, the greatest work that glorified him as a scientist and theologian was his doctoral dissertation on the apostle. Pavel. Started by him in 1897, it was supplemented over time by new research on AP. Pavel and by 1912 acquired the form of a trilogy with the general title “The Good News of St. Apostle. Paul according to his origin and essence." In addition, scientists conducted research on individual messages. Yes, he is known “The Good News of Christian Freedom in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians", as well as fundamental work "The Good News of St. ap. Paul according to his origin and essence".

Speaking about Glubokovsky’s work methodology, he put the historical and philological method in first place. He believed that a literary monument should be interpreted in the spirit of its time. Glubokovsky used a very deep analysis in the analysis of the texts of the Ap. Paul, analyzing all his predecessors who had already worked on this topic, deeply illuminating very narrow issues. According to contemporaries, his texts were amazing "straight up supernatural learning" and served as the beginning for the creation in Russia "biblical theology that almost did not exist yet". In a sense, his last name can be considered to clearly express the degree and high level of his understanding of the problem. He also participated in the reform of theological education, in which he advocated a change in methods of teaching the New Testament, fighting against "subject education" and advocating for "holistic attitude".

Shortly before leaving, on November 27, 1920, Glubokovsky formalized his marriage with Anastasia Vasilievna Lebedeva (nee Nechaeva), the widow of Professor A.P. Lebedeva, with whom he lived for many years in a civil marriage. After the revolution in 1918, Glubokovsky and his family decide to emigrate to Europe, because "did not want - as he writes himself - to live in an atheistic state", yes, this was becoming impossible. The couple left Petrograd on August 16/29, 1921. Life in exile remained rich and fruitful: teaching, scientific, church and social activities make Glubokovsky a notable figure in the Russian diaspora.

First he was on a business trip in Sweden, then he returned to Russia and spent some time in Vologda. Having learned about the death of his brother - his murder by the Bolsheviks, exile in Uralsk, he finally decided to migrate to Europe and settled in Bulgaria, in Sofia, where he became a teacher at the theological faculty of Sofia University. He also took an active part in international theological conferences. For example, in the 1600th anniversary of the 1st Ecumenical Council in London in 1925. He argued that there is no harm in interreligious conferences, since through them we fulfill Christ's commandment of unity. Death overtook the scientist in Sofia. It is noteworthy that Glubokovsky’s funeral took place on the Week of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, in the defense of which he worked so tirelessly all his life.

Over the entire period after emigrating from Russia, he published over 100 articles and notes, while the full bibliography of Glubokovsky’s works contains about a thousand titles. He surpasses not only many Russian biblical scholars, but also foreign ones - both in the number of publications and in the complexity and scientific character of his works. It is known that during his life N.N. Glubokovsky compiled only about 40 major works and more than 1000 articles and notes. He absorbed all the previous experience accumulated by previous theologians in Russia, and, having studied it, created a new comprehensive vision of many theological issues, which his contemporaries, not having complete information, looked at in isolation from the entire theological heritage.

Of his works, the most significant is considered “The Good News of St. Apostle. Paul according to his origin and essence"(1897), which most fully collected all the information about the apostle. Paul, and also studied his theology according to the degree of originality from Jewish ideas. This trilogy, published in three books in 1905, 1910 and 1912, is especially important for us, since it was a worthy response to various representatives of critical schools who questioned the revealed nature of the letters of St. ap. Paul, the most in-depth research was carried out in it.

In the first book of this trilogy, which is considered an introduction to the analysis of the entire theology of “Ap. languages", N.N. Glubokovsky highlighted a number of problems such as the conversion of Saul and the “Gospel” of St. ap. Paul, also compared this gospel to St. Paul with Judeo-rabbinic theology, explored the influence of the apocrypha of the Jewish people, its history and heritage, and Jewish apocalypticism. In the second book, Glubokovsky discusses the influence of Greek culture, expressed by philosophical schools (Philo of Alexandria), Hellenic and Roman law on the course of thought of the apostle. Pavel. The third book comes to the conclusion about the revealed nature of all the letters of St. ap., that is, all the 14 epistles he wrote, while recognizing the independence of his revelation from human pre-Christian views. The apostle himself speaks about his otherworldliness and spirituality, writing in his epistles to the Galatians: “ The gospel that I preached is not human, for I also received it... through the revelation of Jesus Christ"(Gal.1:11-12). Developing this idea, Prof. N.N. Glubokovsky discusses the need for the participation of reason in analyzing the truths of faith. Although faith is created in the heart and not in the mind, it must be based on a rational approach, “since “reasonable God” can become “reasonable human” only through a reasonable method of scientific argumentation”.

In this major work N.N. Glubokovsky shows that the teachings of the ap. Paul, split by negative critics into many supposedly different ideas, in fact represents a complete system and has its source in the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. It provides an answer to the question of whether there could have been an ap. Paul's approach to eschatology was at least partially borrowed from earlier sources, influencing his apocalypticism, or was it entirely a reflection of the Divine revelation of Christ Himself to his disciples? He not only answered this question, but also conveyed as a golden thread the idea that it was impossible for the authenticity of any message of the apostle to be denied. Paul, or that some copying from Old Testament sources be attributed to their author in exchange for the revealed nature of their origin.

Works of Prof. N.N. Glubokovsky were in their own way not only highly qualified theological works, but also a kind of instant response “to the topic of the day” to the insidious pro-Western trends in theology, implanted in Russia by liberal thinkers.

The idea of ​​contrasting “Paulism,” which excludes the role of revelation in the epistles of St. Paul, the teachings of Christ and the ancient Church are still found in the works of Western theologians, so Glubokovsky’s doctoral dissertation on them has not lost its relevance to this day. Encyclopedic erudition, thoroughness in the selection of information and comprehensiveness of research, good knowledge of Western theological thought, and at the same time rooted in the church - make his research a good source for finding answers to questions that are controversial to this day. For a clearer understanding of the contribution made by Glubokovsky to Russian and world biblical studies, one should consider his works not in the aggregate, but separately, by thematic blocks.

As an excellent exegete and a wonderful biblical scholar, N. N. Glubokovsky left a bright mark on Russian theological scholarship, and the St. Petersburg period was the most significant in his work. He not only contrasted Western biblical scholars with Eastern ones, conducting an apologetic analysis, but also revealed the positive content of the biblical text. In light of the emergence of various trends of critical Protestant schools, which also influenced Russian biblical scholars with their clearly non-Orthodox spirit, it is not surprising why Glubokovsky chose the study of the works of the apostle as his main direction. Paul: there was an acute problem of distorting the theology of St. in the Western manner. ap. Pavel.

With his life, he brought Christianity and science as close as possible, proving that “everything in the world is Christ-centric.” Reflecting already in exile on the causes of the revolution in Russia, he presented a theological and historical analysis of the causes of the tragedy that occurred in Russia and the “significant spiritual Christian prostration” into which the world is increasingly immersed.

About the life of Archpriest Vladimir Strakhov, author of a master's thesis on the second letter of St. ap. Paul to the Thessalonians, much less information has been preserved than about the life and work of N.N. Glubokovsky. This is explained mainly by the onset of the godless period and persecution that affected the scientist. Everything that we can learn about his life has been preserved only in a small archival material located in the Central Archive of the FSB (CA FSB of Russia) on those killed by the Soviet regime during the years of repression. However, Strakhov’s creative activity amazes us no less than others with the breadth and scope of the research and sources he involved, as well as the breadth of coverage of various ideas and information about the theology of the apostle. Pavel.

In fact, about Fr. We know Vladimir only from the lists of those who were innocently martyred for their faith in the time of godless power from among the last teachers of the Moscow Theological Academy, compiled by members of the PSTGU teaching corporation, and even then in a very meager form. Even the date of death of the innocently murdered Fr. Vladimir has not been clarified for sure: according to official data, he was shot by the NKVD troika in 1937, and according to unofficial data, he remained to live until 1948, when he was released, and, leaving the prison fence, was killed by an unknown person. However, both according to the first data and the second, his death was not free, but violent, which makes us realize that before us is not just an outstanding biblical scholar, but also a martyr for the faith of Christ.

Today Fr. Vladimir Strakhov remains a little-noticeable and little-studied personality, both as a theologian and as a member of the teaching corporation. Also, from 1919 to 1930, he was also the rector of the church in honor of St. Trinity in Listy in Moscow. In 1930 he was awarded the right to wear a miter, and on the 30th of the same month he was tried on false charges of fraud, but was acquitted at trial. Many people met the exhausted sufferer at the courthouse. Archpriest Vladimir also participated in the funeral service for Metropolitan. Hilarion Troitsky in St. Petersburg. (Vladika Hilarion was arrested while staying at Vladimir’s apartment, and died on the way from the Solovetsky camp). Fr.'s family Vladimir provided him with constant assistance during his stay in the Solovetsky camp SLON (Solovetsky camp for special purposes). It is known that the wife of priest Vladimir, mother Ksenia Vladimirovna, helped the exiled clergy a lot.

However, over Fr. Clouds continued to gather for Vladimir. The new arrest of the Shepherd of Christ occurred on March 3, 1931, followed by a three-year exile of the confessor. Initially, a special meeting at the OGPU assigned him the northern region of Russia as his place of exile. However, thanks to the efforts of the priest’s relatives and close people and their petition to the authorities, the place of exile was changed to a milder one. O. Vladimir was first placed in the operetta theater, and later transferred to Ulyanovsk, where he had friends. In Ulyanovsk Strakhov worked on his doctoral dissertation. He also managed to travel to Moscow from time to time. However, in December 1937, 78 clergy were arrested in Ulyanovsk, and among them was Fr. Vladimir, who was arrested immediately after returning from Moscow. All clergy were charged with the crime of collaborating with a fictitious organization of monarchist counter-revolutionaries. Further in the biography of Fr. Two versions of Vladimir appear: according to the official version, he was shot immediately by the NKVD troika on December 29, 1937, and according to the unofficial version, he was sentenced to exile in a forced labor camp for a period of 10 years. Along with the official version, there is another one, according to which in 1948 Fr. Vladimir was summoned by Patriarch Alexy I to Moscow with the intention of appointing him head of the newly opened Moscow Theological Academy. However, according to the stories of one deacon who spent time with Fr. Vladimir spent many years of his imprisonment; when he came out onto the road after his release, in weakened health, he was shot in the back by one of his former cellmates.

Despite all the horror of repression and the severity of the era he experienced, his scientific activity as a biblical scholar and scientist became very fruitful. From his scientific works the following have reached us: “The eschatological teaching of the second chapter of the second Epistle of St. ap. Paul to the Thessalonians", as well as a review of the work of N. D. Protasov. "St. ap. Paul at the Trial of Festus Agrippa,” published in 1912, And “Word on September 30, the day of remembrance of the fallen mentors and heads of the Academy”. Also important for our study is his eschatological treatise: “Belief in the nearness of the parousia or the second coming of the Lord in early Christianity and among St. ap. Paul" Notes from Fr. Vladimir on the occasion of a trip to the funeral of Archbishop. Hilarion, also the word "On the significance of the personality and work of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon", also a sermon on the week of the Samaritan woman "About the torment of the soul"(1930) and word "Art and Religion" (1929).

The feat of the cross of a true shepherd and confessor of the faith, as well as a profound biblical scholar of Russia, Rev. Vladimir Strakhov should not be forgotten in future generations of the sons of the Mother Church, as well as those who want to engage in church-scientific research.

In the works of Russian biblical scholars, the eschatological theme is often called the term “parousia”. This topic is covered in both letters to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians, 4 - 5 chapters, 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2), but it differs in each of them. Let us consider why the apostle needed to cover the topic in a new way parousia and write their second epistle to them, and we will also analyze how the ideas about the degree of closeness of the “parousia” differed in the first and second epistles to the Thessalonians.

It should be noted that after the writing of the first letter, the Thessalonians began to have new questions regarding the end of the world and the Day of Judgment, which required the apostle to give them a clearer explanation of his understanding of eschatology. But the main reason must be that someone sent them some kind of forged message, as if on behalf of St. ap. Paul, where it was stated that the Coming of Christ has already come or is coming (2 Thess. 2: 1 - 2). Prof. discusses this. prot. V.N. Strakhov, the same topic concerns Prof. N.N. Glubokovsky. This is what prompted the “teacher of languages” to compose a second letter to them, where the Christian view of the fate of the dead and eschatological events would be more clearly presented.

The main difference in the coverage of the eschatological theme in the second epistle to the Thessalonians compared to the first is that in the first epistle of St. Paul indirectly speaks of the parousia as a soon-coming event, and in the second he tries to avoid expressions that indicate the proximity of the parousia and focuses on indicating the signs and incidents preceding it. So, St. Paul lists the following series of signs of the Savior's appearance into the world in the following sequence:

1. Before the coming of the Lord, there must appear retreat and open yourself to the man of sin;
2. Potentially, his coming is possible, because this is favorable the mystery of lawlessness;
3. But something prevents this from happening holding(or even someone holding);
4. The appearance of the wicked can only happen if holding will be taken from the environment;
5. When holding factor will be taken from the environment, then the man of sin will be revealed, and appear, under the influence of Satan, with all sorts of signs and false wonders, in order to deceive people, while some apostasy will cause a certain spirit of error to appear among people, and this everything is not without the will of God, so that many will willingly believe lies, for they have not accepted love and truth for your salvation;
6. When will he appear? lawless then the time must come for the Coming of the Lord Christ, who will strike (kill) the lawless one with the breath of His mouth and He will destroy with the revelation of His coming.

As can be seen, by introducing the events that await the coming of the Savior into the world, such as: the appearance of the Antichrist, the falling away from the faith, the trampling and desecration of the temple of God, the apostle protects the Thessalonians from heretical ideas introduced by the forged message.

Thus, in his first letter the apostle clearly indicates the imminence of the Savior’s coming into the world: “You have turned from idols...to look for the coming of His Son from heaven...to deliver us from the wrath to come.”(1 Thess. 1:10). Elsewhere in the first letter we find the passage: "we are living ( now - Author. ), remaining until the coming of the Lord... along with them(deceased - Author) We will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”(1 Thess. 4 16-18). These thoughts became a reason for the Thessalonians to think that the Day of the Lord was not a distant event in the future, which is why they began to confuse the Christian community. Also, a consequence of this misunderstanding was that they began to believe that those who died before the coming of the Lord (the second) would not be in the Kingdom of Heaven (1 Thess. 4:16).

In the second letter, the topic of eschatology is illuminated as an event that will be preceded by a series of signs “in heaven and on earth”: “We beg you... do not rush to waver in your mind and be confused... as if the day of Christ is already coming.”(2 Thess. 2:1-2), which is revealed in the second letter to them. The mistake of their misunderstanding is associated with the imminent expectation of the end of the world. " That day- the apostle further writes, - will not be accomplished until the one who now holds it is taken from the environment"(2 Thess. 2:7). And although “the mystery of iniquity is already at work”, “restraining” the Antichrist does not allow him to come into the world before the allotted time (2 Thessalonians 2.6-7), and that day itself remains unknown to all creation: “But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but only My Father alone.”(Matthew 24:36).

The idea of ​​the Savior’s imminent coming to the World is found not only in St. Paul, but also in the eschatological passages of the three Synoptic Gospels and in the revelation of St. John the Theologian. Thus, after the prophecies about the fall of Jerusalem, the Lord begins to talk about the events of the appearance of the Antichrist, without giving any indication of their accomplishment in the time period. He also indirectly indicates the proximity of His coming: “...so, when you see all this, know that it is close, at the door. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things are done.”(Matt. 24, 33-34). At St. Evangelist Luke also does not indicate that parousia will occur in a relatively distant time period: the evangelist first writes about the destruction of Jerusalem in the 70th year of the 1st century: “...the days will come in which from what you see here, not one stone will be left on another; everything will be destroyed", and then predicts events relating to apocalyptic times: “Beware that you are not deceived, for many will come in My name, saying that I am the one...” and further (Luke 21:8-11). It is interesting that the Savior himself directly tells the disciples that "that time is near" ( Luke 21:8), without specifying whether the time is close, associated with the destruction of Jerusalem or with the appearance of Antichrists, wars and natural disasters. John the Theologian also writes: "Come Lord Jesus"(Rev. 22:20). Apparently, the apostles could not discern that Christ was telling them about events that were about to happen at different historical times. But the Savior himself did not make this distinction, which led to such a perception among his disciples.

The views of two biblical scholars - prof. prot. V.N. Strakhov and prof. N.N. Glubokovsky on the eschatology of St. Pavel. They agree on some things and disagree on others.

The problems of understanding the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ among the Thessalonians are revealed both in what we are studying and in the work of Prof. prot. V. Strakhov, and in the study of prof. N. Glubokovsky.

The uniqueness of the Antichrist and the indication of the future fulfillment of these prophecies is proven by the Holy Scripture itself:

• the Antichrist will show miracles (“does great signs, so that fire comes down from heaven to earth before people” - Rev. 13:13);
• seal with the number “666”, without which it will not be possible to carry out trade relations (« everyone... will receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and that no one will be able to buy or sell except the one who has this mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. ...His number is six hundred and sixty-six" - Rev.13:16-18);
• disasters, wars, destruction, and natural disasters that will occur ( « Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes in places, and famines, and pestilences, and terrible phenomena, and great signs from heaven» - Luke 21:10-11) and other harbingers of the coming of the false Christ.
• There is no indication of a plurality of Antichrists, but of a specific person (« And I saw another beast coming out of the ground."- Open 13.11).

Since none of the above has happened in human history, church-historical approach cannot be accepted for consideration. Otherwise, in his opinion, we will have to reject the truth of the words of the Gospel.

On the other hand, Prof. N.N. Glubokovsky is inclined towards the followers of the dogmatic theory, who believed that the apostolic apocalypticism was built to a greater extent on the revelation of Christ, either to his disciples or to the apostle himself. Paul in a personal vision. Although Glubokovsky does not reject some shadow of Jewish views, he does not see any special influence on them on the views of the apostle. Pavel. In order to accept or reject the presence of this dependence, it is necessary to understand what Old Testament ideas about the Antichrist could - if this is indeed the case - prevail.

Despite the extreme closeness of the eschatology of St. Paul to the Gospel apocalyptic passages in the conversation of the Lord with the disciples of all three evangelists, we can also prove the influence of Old Testament ideas on the latter. Yes, at app. Paul there are some indications of the events of recent times, which we do not find in the Gospel. Thus, in the Gospel there is no exact indication of the coming into the world of one Antichrist, and his entry into the temple of God is not spoken directly, but only figuratively: when you see the abomination that makes desolate standing in the holy place.”(Matt. 42:15).

Strakhov is taken to compare the eschatological places available in St. Paul with passages from the Old Testament, and comes to the conclusion that there is some semantic similarity. Indeed, it is present. Thus, the behavior of the wicked kings Darius, Antiochus Epiphanes, and Emperor Caligula are similar in many ways to the description of the image and behavior of the future Antichrist, and many principles of action in both cases are synonymous: self-deification, desecration of Christian shrines, persecution of Christians, etc. On this occasion, Prof. prot. V.N. Strakhov provides his own system of proof of the certain influence of Jewish traditions on the views of St. ap. Pavel.

To do this, he uses two approaches: philological, in which he notes which words of the Old Testament prophets are repeated in the epistle of St. Paul and semantic, attempting to discover similarities in meaning in Old Testament and New Testament eschatological passages. Yes, Prof. V.N. Strakhov notes that both the Old Testament and New Testament books use the words « ’ αποστασία » (2 Thess. 2, 3 and 1 Macc. 11:14), «ὁ άνθρωπος τῆς ἀνομίας» (2 Thess. 2.3 and Ps. 88.23) and some other eschatological concepts, which thereby indicates the dependence of the eschatology of St. Paul from pre-Christian prophecies, and the presence of a definite article before the eschatological concepts of the second letter to the Thessalonians that we are examining ( «ὁ άνθρωπος τῆς ἀνομίας», «ἡ ἀποστασία», «τὸ κατέχον» And «ὁ κατέχων») indicates the already existing awareness of Thessalonians with these concepts from earlier sources. He also draws attention to the fact that ap. Paul directly uses the expression "You know"(2 Thess. 2:6) speaking about the signs of the end of the world, which, it should be assumed, the Thessalonians already knew about.

Speaking on the philological analysis of the origin of eschatology. Paul, Glubokovsky notes that the author, “using only a philological scale, exaggerated the “Old Testament coloring.” Otherwise, he notes that there were other important factors that contributed more directly and powerfully to linguistic originality (2 Thess.).

Having analyzed passages from the Gospel telling about the end times, one can notice how the Lord Himself more than once refers to Old Testament sources during a conversation with the disciples about the end times, but at the same time uses them only as a prototype of pre-apocalyptic events. Thus, the Evangelist Matthew mentions how the Lord quotes the prophecy of Daniel: He will appear "the abomination of desolation, spoken through the prophet Daniel, standing in a holy place" (emphasis mine - N.S.)(Matt. 42:15). There is a similar passage in Mark - Mk. 13.14. Elsewhere, Christ compares the times of the second coming with the era of Noah during the flood and Lot during the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah: “And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man: they ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. ... so it will be on the day when the Son of Man appears"(Luke 17:26-30).

Regarding the issue of possible borrowing of the apocalypticism of the apostle. Paul from the Old Testament ideas of Fear allows them, but they do not claim a higher role for him than the revelation of the Savior. So, in one place he writes that “on the development of the eschatology of St. Paul... a great influence was probably exerted by the most ancient Christian prophets", by which he means Agabus, Judas and Silas, as well as some others who “in turn, they were dependent ... on the prophecies of the Old Testament, especially the book of St. Daniel”. Thus, Strakhov admits that on ann. Paul was influenced by the Old Testament view of eschatology. However, the word "probably" makes the whole conclusion somewhat unproven. A little further, Strakhov more thoroughly argues that "ap. Paul created it ( eschatological doctrine - S.N.) based on a rich legend", but emphasizes the importance of , “what exactly does the app take? Paul is from this tradition, and what are you throwing away as garbage?.

Thus, towards the end of his research, Strakhov draws his final opinion on the issue of borrowing. Strakhov comes to understand that all the Old Testament information about the coming of the false messiah: “neither Old Testament prophecies and psalms, nor modern historical events, nor apocryphal literature could provide the apostle with complete material for depicting the Antichrist" He emphasizes that “such an independent religious thinker-prophet as St. Paul, would not have taken anything from the ancient ideas if he had not been confirmed and confirmed in them by the events and experiences of his inner life, by his personal religious experience.”(compare 1 Cor. 11:23; Gal. 1:11; 2 Cor. 12:1-4).

Another proof in favor of the Divine revelation of eschatology by St. Paul's coming from Christ is, according to Strakhov, an excerpt from the letter to Timothy, where the apostle exhorts his disciple to abstain from Jewish fables (1 Tim. 1:4; 2 Tim. 4:4) and to preserve the received "sacred scriptures" ("ἱερὰ γράμματα"), by which we should understand the revelation of Christ. All this shows us, according to Strakhov, the attitude of the ap. to Old Testament judgments as fables, not confirmed by the truth and often vague and unclear.

According to Glubokovsky, in the Jewish contemplations of the 1st century there was only an idea “a collective anti-messiah for the totality of the enemies of Jehovah and the people of GodAndI". He says that Strakhov has no clarification “nor the correlation of factors in their special analysis and disclosure of the methods, nature or degreeAndJewish-apocalyptic influences". For example, he notes that Rev. V. Strakhov says that the image "a man of lawlessness" can only be fully understoodbased on Jewish circulation", taken from the book of the prophet Daniel, in which there was a prophecy not at all about the Antichrist, but about Antiochus Epiphanes, and from this it would be illiterate to conclude that the ap. This is what Paul used to prophesy about the Antichrist. Thus, Strakhov’s “Old Testament coloring” is unnecessarily exaggerated, as Glubokovsky writes, who, “speaking about the similarity of some concepts among St. Paul with the Old Testament, does not fully explain the Paulinistic linguistic features of 2 Thess, ... about which the latter says much less and is paler.”. We can agree with Glubokovsky’s criticism on this issue.

Confirming the weakness in the degree of dependence of the teachings of St. Paul from the Jewish idea of ​​eschatology, Glubokovsky states that in no historical monuments is there any information about the second coming of the Messiah into the world or the appearance of the Antichrist before the Second Coming of Christ. He considers the only two exceptions to be the following two passages from the Old Testament - the 8th chapter from the book of the prophet Daniel and the 5th and 6th chapters from the 3rd book of Ezra, which provide a description of the personality of the Antichrist, very similar to the New Testament revelation. Here are quotes from these texts: “a king will arise, impudent and skilled in deceit”(Dan. 8:23) and “Then he will reign whom those who live on earth do not expect...”(3 Esdras 5.6).

In addition to references to the Old Testament, Glubokovsky also draws attention to some extra-biblical sources, where he finds prophecies about the end of times, and they also contain the concept of a single image of the “man of lawlessness.” This is how the Antichrist is called in the prophetic Sibylline books. "Beliar, who will perform great signs, even raising the dead, and will seduce many Jews and wicked people, but by the will of the great God will ultimately be burned along with his followers". However, although this description is similar to the description of the Antichrist in the New Testament, and in particular with the passage from the epistle of St. Pavla: “the coming of [the Antichrist – S.N.], by the action of Satan, will be with all power and signs and lying wonders”- 2 Thess. 2:9), but perhaps it concerned not the Antichrist himself (apocalyptic), but other “apostates” (according to Glubokovsky, the Sibylline books contained a prophecy about Simon the Magician), as in the book of the prophet Daniel - about Antiochus Epiphanes.

Regarding the concept Antichrist, the opinion of the holy fathers, highlighted by prof. prot. V. N. Strakhov in the dogmatic point of view. Starting with sschmch. Irenaeus of Lyon, we see the development of the idea of ​​​​the Antichrist, but it did not go far beyond the scope of Holy Scripture. Yes, sschmch. Irenaeus thought of him as an enemy of the human race, who wished to deliberately harm man, starting with the appearance of the first people. At first he acted as a tempter, tempting Eve with a forbidden fruit, but in the future he will use the same method, but in the form of “installing” the Antichrist as the sole ruler for all humanity. The question remains, who will he be - a man or some other creature? Almost all the Church Fathers (except Pelagius and Cornelius a-Lapide) have a common opinion on the issue of the Antichrist. As Strakhov writes, even in Origen, who tends to mystify, the Antichrist appears in the form of a specific individual, and not the devil. The following evidence is provided to support this:

1. In the message we are examining, St. Paul writes that he "will work by the power of Satan"(“κατ’ ἐνέργειαν τοῦ Σατανᾶ”) (2 Thess. 2:5), which excludes the possibility of the satanic origin of the Antichrist.
2. The devil cannot repeat the act of Christ because he has no power before the Almighty Creator. St. John of Damascus writes: “It is not the devil himself who will become a man, just as the Lord became man, let it not be! But a man will be born from fornication and will take upon himself all the actions of Satan.”.
3. According to legend, the Old Testament allegorically indicates that the Antichrist will come from the last of the 12 Jewish tribes - the tribe of Dan, therefore, he will be a man. We learn about this indirectly in several places in Scripture. Thus, in the book of Genesis we read: “Dan will be a serpent on the road, an adder on the way, biting the horse’s leg, so that his rider will fall backward.”(Gen. 49, 17). And in Deuteronomy Dan is presented as “young lion”, “lying in wait for its prey”(Deut. 33.22). This speaks both of his special physical strength and belligerence, but also, according to many, of his cunning. So, Samson, being from the tribe of Dan, was strong even to tear the lion’s mouth. In another place in the Holy Scriptures it is said about Dan that from him "The whole earth trembles" and that he “He will destroy the earth and everything that is in it, the city and those who live in it”(Jer. 8:16). An interesting fact is that the name of the tribe of Dan is not found in the list of 144,000 chosen souls from the Apocalypse (Rev. 7:4).

Glubokovsky notices from Strakhov that in his understanding the personality of the tsar is very close to the Antichrist, from which he concludes that he is inclined to imagine the Antichrist as a political leader, for example, some kind of Roman emperor.

Speaking about the views of scientists on the origin of the Antichrist, Strakhov draws conclusions about the inadmissibility of the Jewish origin of the Antichrist, but he argues that the latter must be a pagan, since “all iniquity comes from the pagan world”, connecting him with the pagan king Antiochus Epiphanes. He refers to a prophecy from the book of Daniel (Dan. 11), where the prophet Daniel predicts the apostasy and persecution that will be caused by a certain king who "in his anger" will supply an army and “he will defile the sanctuary of power, he will put an end to the daily sacrifice, and he will set up the abomination that makes desolate” And "will exalt himself above all". This came true on Antiochus Epiphanes. Also, these conclusions are drawn based on the words of the message that he “will resist and exalt himself above everything that is called God or shrine"(2 Thess. 2:4). Etymologically analyzing the Greek words “ανομια” - "resistance to God" and σέβασμα – "shrine" he claims that the Antichrist cannot be a Jew.

Glubokovsky objects to Strakhov that “ανομια” is too broad a concept of paganism, rather going beyond its limits, and denoting a general opposition to God’s entire order of things, and also “moral debauchery” than pure idolatry. It is also outrageous that such assumptions are made about the origin of the Antichrist, which are not found anywhere in the text of the message, as well as in the entire Bible. We can glean this information only from certain hints in the Holy Scripture itself or from prophecies and Church Tradition. The first include the prophecy of Patriarch Jacob about Dan, taken from the book of Genesis: “Dan will be a serpent on the road, an adder on the way, biting the horse’s leg, so that his rider will fall backward. I hope for Your help, Lord!”(Gen. 49, 17-18), which confirms the Jewish origin "chief apostate" and in this case it does not play in favor of what V.N. proposed. Strakhov. Also equally important may be a similar prophecy from the book of wickedness in Jeremiah: “From Dan you can hear the snoring of his horses, from the loud neighing of his stallions the whole earth trembles; and they will come and destroy the land and everything that is in it, the city and those living in it.”(Jer. 8, 16-17).

Prof. N.N. Glubokovsky, analyzing the concept of Antichrist, considers two concepts - humanitarian And supranatural. According to the first of them Antichrist will be an ordinary person, and according to the second, he will have some special abilities, as if in imitation of Christ, who worked miracles, but the miracles he performs will only be an illusion in the eyes of people, but not a real miracle (2 Thess. 2:9). According to the second of them, Antichrist– will be the demon himself. This theory, as Glubokovsky writes, became dominant as a result of the influence of Babylonian mythology. After the year 50, as Glubokovsky writes, there is a tendency to identify the Antichrist with the Emperor Nero (the so-called Nero legends), who was possessed by a demon. Since they are not traced in the message, this proves that the message itself was written before the accession of Nero (October 54 AD) and the appearance of this theory itself. Paul’s consciousness, notes Glubokovsky, brings him closer to his era, and “we observe a coincidence of trends in Christian society and the thoughts of Paul set out in the second chapter”. Thus, Glubokovsky himself believes that the Antichrist will be more likely a human being who has completely subjugated himself to Satan, than the very embodiment of the evil spirit.

The holy fathers also thought about the Antichrist in the same way. Yes, St. Hippolytus of Rome, St. Irenaeus of Lyons, the church writer Victorinus, and others, based on the message we are examining, as well as the texts from Scripture we mentioned, conclude that a man of lawlessness who enters the Holy of Holies and defiles it will really be a person, while allegorically their understanding is rejected.

In the ancient Greek-Russian dictionary of Dvoretsky there are even more than 25 of them, among which there are such meanings as “keep”, “guard”, “detain” and so on. As a result, according to Glubokovsky, this verb cannot be understood exactly as "to create a disturbance", "to rebel against public authority", as it suggests to understand Strakhov in the second time used verb « κατέχειν ». In Strakhov, this verb can denote both a person holding something back from the coming of the Antichrist, and a person, on the contrary, creating hindrances and chaos for his coming. The ambiguity of Strakhov’s thoughts arouses the indignation of Glubokovsky, who concludes that the introduction of new concepts by Strakhov “creates unnecessary difficulties for the interpretation of other important details.”

In relation to the patristic tradition of understanding the verb « κατέχειν " majority of them believe that the first concept “τὸ κατέχον” should mean the existing Roman Empire, and the second – “ὁ κατέχων” - its emperor, who with his power and might was, as it were, the force that prevented the emergence of some other king, and here - the Antichrist.

Strakhov believes that, despite the fact that this construction is very logical, upon closer examination a misunderstanding arises: if this empire itself was a persecutor of Christians, then how can it be considered the same “restrainer”? Isn’t she rather a catalyst for the phenomenon of the “man of lawlessness”? It was not for nothing that many considered Nero to be the Antichrist who had already appeared, and later this definition was extended to all other Roman emperors - persecutors of Christians. The Roman Empire, filled with the lawlessness of paganism and the despotism of the ruling power, could not, in fact, be a guarantor protecting the world from the Antichrist. It seems that the arrival man of lawlessness into a pagan state would be more realistic than into a Christian one. Strakhov himself is inclined to think that the concept « τό κατεχόν » like something "holding" consists in a certain determination of God not to allow the kingdom of Antichrist until the appointed time of the end of the century and rather indicates state power, and “ὁ κατέχων” ( holding)- to its representatives.

It is interesting that over time, after the fall of the Roman Empire under the invasion of the Goths, the concept "holding" began to crystallize on the image of a Christian state, first Byzantium, then Russia, which is often expressed by modern Orthodox publicists in Russia.

Regarding the concept temple, in which the Antichrist will sit, like God, pretending to be God"(2 Thess. 2:4) the original meaning should be clarified for a more complete understanding. Strakhov writes that since the Antichrist will appear to the Jews who are waiting for him, who saw him as the Messiah, he assumes that the “man of lawlessness,” having made himself king, will sit in the most sacred place for them - the recreated Jerusalem Temple, in order to attract more of them to himself. Thus, Strakhov allows for a literal understanding of the expression used by Ap. Pavel. However, if this is allowed, then the Antichrist will never be able to desecrate the Temple of Jerusalem; this temple itself is in no way a Christian church, but is only thought of as "the center of all religious and political public life" Jews

Glubokovsky believes that the expression "he will sit in the temple of God"(2 Thess. 2:4) must be understood only figuratively, figuratively. He sees this process as an atheistic attempt to suppress Christianity with a new religion, therefore he concludes that here “there is no need to understand the Christian Church in a material sense”.

Among the holy fathers, the majority, as noted by Prof. V.N. fears, are of the opinion that under temple should be understood "spiritual temple of Christianity" How did the St. think about it? Irenaeus of Lyon, Blessed. Augustine, St. John Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Blessed. Theodoret of Cyrus and Icumenius. They refuted the idea of ​​the literal entry of the Antichrist into the Jerusalem Temple, since there is no mention of this anywhere in the Holy Scriptures. Image associations are common temple with the image of a woman who fled into the desert from the beast that was pursuing her, which is discussed in the book of Revelation of St. John the Evangelist (Rev. 12:6). In the light of this understanding, Glubokovsky is largely an exponent of the opinion of these holy fathers.

Obvious similarities in the description of the accession of the Antichrist to the temple can be observed with the book of Revelation of John the Theologian: “And a mouth was given to him speaking proudly and blasphemously... And he opened his mouth to blaspheme God, to blaspheme His name and His dwelling, and living in heaven. And they will bow to him all those who live on the earth whose names are not written in the book of life..."(Rev. 13:5-8) (emphasis mine – N.S.). Although it does not openly talk about the desecration of the temple in Jerusalem, the fact of the personal direct entry of the Antichrist into it as a prototype of the holy Old Testament temple of Solomon, in which the Spirit of God dwelt, fits well into this narrative.

In views about the personality of the Antichrist, the majority of the holy fathers think of him as a specific individual, while they deny the allegorical understanding. Strakhov politicizes the Antichrist, presenting himself as a kind of political anarchist, and a pagan origin is attributed to him (since “all evil is from the pagan world”). For Glubokovsky, the Antichrist is not necessarily a pagan personality. He points out in Strakhov’s work his too much reliance and emphasis on philological analysis, which may not always lead to true results. Instead, Glubokovsky tries to take into account biblical traditions, in connection with which the Antichrist may be from the tribe of Dan and, accordingly, of Jewish origin. It is characteristic that Glubokovsky also understands historical opinions about the Antichrist. So, many saw Nero under him, but this cannot be discussed in the message, since the imp. Nero reigned after the 50th year, and the second letter to the Thessalonians was composed before him.

Regarding the concept temple, in which the Antichrist "he will sit as God, showing himself to be God"(2 Thess. 2.4) - as the apostle writes. Paul - both biblical scholars contain some distinctive features in a number of details. While agreeing in general terms that the Antichrist will damage Christianity, as a result of which holy temples may be desecrated by him, each of them imagines the temple itself differently. Strakhov dares to admit that it can be thought of as a real physical structure - like the very temple that will be erected in Jerusalem on the site of the one built by King Solomon and destroyed in the 70s. according to R.H. by the Romans. At Glubokovsky's temple is understood very figuratively - this is a meeting of believers who were seduced by the person of the Antichrist, for the Lord warns that the Antichrist, when he comes, will try miracles, although false, but bright and impressive, "to seduce... and the chosen ones"(Mark 13:21). Thus, according to Glubokovsky, through the acceptance by some of the apostate believers of the teachings of the Antichrist, any temple in which these people receive the messenger of Satan will be desecrated.

On the one hand, Glubokovsky is objectively right in convicting Strakhov of his incorrect interpretation of the concept temple, for even if the Temple of Jerusalem were rebuilt before the end of all, it could in no way be considered Christian. Glubokovsky also questions the Jewish traditions about this event, since in the face of the Holy Scriptures, which do not directly talk about this anywhere, they have little weight. Strakhov’s position also cannot be rejected. They rightly note that the Antichrist, with his accession to the temple built by the Jews on the site of Solomon, will “touch” and affect the most important, the most sacred thing on which the faith of modern Jews is based - faith in the coming Messiah. Therefore, with this act, the Antichrist will be able to attract the largest number of Jews and the world intelligentsia, who will see in him the coming deliverance from troubles and wars. The Holy Fathers thought about this in two ways.

Eschatological questions, one way or another, will concern the entire Christian world and all of humanity until the end of time.

According to an already established tradition, major international theological conferences are held in Moscow every two years. The theme of the current conference, which is taking place in the hotel of the St. Daniel Monastery from November 14 to 17, is “Eschatological teaching of the Church.”

Eschatology - this is the doctrine of “last things”, about the final destinies of the world and man. As noted by the Chairman of the Synodal Theological Commission, Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus, Metropolitan of Minsk and Slutsk Filaret, “eschatology is one of the most important topics of modern theological and religious thought.” At the conference - during plenary sessions, round tables and discussion meetings - the problem of eschatology is explored from a biblical perspective, in a historical context, in connection with liturgical theology and Tradition of the Church, in terms of the challenges and temptations of our days. At the same time, as Metropolitan Philaret emphasized, church theology - it is one whole. It is impossible to consider the content of any of its sections in isolation from the holistic theological vision.

Conference “Eschatological Teaching of the Church” - this is the largest international theological forum, in which prominent domestic and foreign theologians take part - representatives of theological academies and theological faculties of universities in Europe, the USA, and Australia. The conference discusses problems not only of church life, but also of modern society as a whole. For example, there will be a round table dedicated to the Orthodox attitude to the problems of globalization.

In his welcoming speech to the participants of the conference, His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II emphasized that the time in which we live is characterized by processes of large-scale changes. Therefore, the problems that the Church faces today are largely due to them. To resolve existing problems, a “global”, or better yet, universal, response from the Church is needed.

The Patriarch also noted that it is precisely today that the Church needs strong theological science today. In his opinion, modern Christians must resist two temptations: on the one hand, the secularization of the Church, and on the other, “apocalyptic hysteria,” the desire to isolate themselves from the world around them. There is an urgent need to provide answers to the questions that concern believers through a collective mind.

Foreign participants highly appreciated the development of Russian theological science. For example, Christos Yannaras, professor of philosophy from the Institute of Political Science and International Studies (Athens), emphasized that for him and the theologians of his generation, Russia - birthplace of modern theology.

About freedom, will and salvation

Metropolitan Philaret of Minsk and Slutsk in his report drew the attention of the conference participants to the meaning of two most important Christian truths from an eschatological perspective. On the one hand, not only the Kingdom of God, but also this sinful world - “there is something inside us.” On the other hand, our faith is directed to the One who said: Take heart: I have conquered the world(John 16:33). Speaking in secular language, the Bishop continued, Christian eschatology is optimistic. But at the same time, this optimism has nothing to do with good-naturedness and complacency.

Orthodox eschatology tells us that the world as a person’s living space, despite its distorted state, is not alien to Christians. We must not run away from the world into which the Son of God came for its salvation. At the same time, a person’s destiny and calling are not limited to being in this world.

Of particular interest to the conference participants was the report of the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, “God’s Plan for Man and Free Will.” In his report, Metropolitan Kirill conducted a detailed theological analysis of the categories “freedom” and “human will.” The speaker quoted the words of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky from the novel “The Brothers Karamazov”, expressing a Christian understanding of the problem of freedom: “Here the devil fights with God, and the battlefield - people's hearts." According to Metropolitan Kirill, this statement not only touches on the very essence of the traditional Eastern Christian view of this problem, but also places the question of the human will in an eschatological perspective.

In the Orthodox patristic tradition, it was customary to speak not so much about freedom as such, but about free will. Will - an integral part of human nature, it is immanent in human nature, without it a person cannot be considered a rational being. The concept of “will” received its true revelation in the Incarnation. It was the Word made man that revealed what man should be like in his integrity, what his will should be and what his freedom should be.

To save a person, it is necessary that his will be consistent with the will of God - in the patristic tradition this is called synergy. At the same time, whenever a person does evil, the devil assists him, in this case synergy with the enemy of God is realized. Thus, the task of man is to direct his will to agree with the will of the Divine and not allow it to agree with the will of the devil.

The category “freedom” defines the spiritual space that is within the competence of a person. A person’s ability to determine the direction of his own will is an important feature of his nature. Nevertheless, the highest value of freedom lies not even in the ability to choose between good and evil, but in the choice of good, the ability to allow Divine grace into the space of human freedom. The direction of the will towards good and freedom are the most important factors of salvation.

Faced with a threat to human freedom

Currently, one can see the absolutization of the idea of ​​human freedom, the separation of freedom from the system of moral values. In the 20th century, a tendency emerges that reduces the problem of freedom exclusively to the freedom of choice, and therefore the choice in favor of evil. This entailed the absolutization of the individual’s right to decide what is good and what is evil. In practice, such a worldview was reflected in the authoritarian regimes of the 20th century, and the law already “liberated” the individual from traditional moral norms.

Today a lot is said about freedom, but today processes are developing that pose a threat to human freedom. At the social level, a person is forced to admit something that contradicts his beliefs. This can lead to the fact that a Christian will not be able to hold public positions or engage in many activities. The most striking example of the development of such a scenario was recently demonstrated at the level of the European Union, when the candidacy of an Italian politician for the post of Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs of the European Commission was rejected due to his rejection of homosexuality as a norm of interpersonal relations.

If today such norms are adopted at the international level, then tomorrow their adoption will be required from Russia and this, Metropolitan Kirill believes, is the greatest danger.

In the modern world, it is necessary for the Church to constantly testify to its position. The Russian Church is actively building its relations with the state, society, and international organizations such as the Council of Europe and the UN.

Thus, the speaker concluded, freedom and morality are the two most important categories of patristic anthropology. It is especially important to remember that these two categories are inextricably linked. Absolutization of one category to the detriment of another inevitably leads to social tragedies. The preaching of the Orthodox Church today is to affirm the interconnection and interdependence of these two categories.

A person’s choice always has an eschatological perspective, because the entire course of human history depends on whether he follows the path of life or death. From Revelation we know that at the end of human history, the establishment of the kingdom of the Antichrist will be possible only because people will prefer evil to good or lose the ability to distinguish between good and evil. Of course, the Antichrist will not be the crown of human history. And such a crown will be the Second Coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead. The Second Coming of Christ will be the aspiration of those who in their lives sought to do good, sacrificing their reputation, career and even life, who used God-given freedom for its intended purpose, that is, promoting the good will of God.

Opinions and assessments of participants

This is what a conference participant, rector of the Church of the Holy Martyr Tatiana at Moscow State University, professor of the Moscow Theological Academy said in an interview with a Pravoslavie.Ru correspondent Archpriest Maxim Kozlov.

- Father Maxim, what, in your opinion, is the relevance of this theological conference?

- The conference is undoubtedly very, very important. It is important because the topic of eschatology, perhaps, along with the doctrine of the Church, is the most painful and most relevant for modern church consciousness - from a highly theological level to what worries many ordinary Orthodox believers. Nowadays, two well-known temptations constantly occur. First, eschatological hyperoptimism - “they say, everyone will be saved anyway”, this is largely the result of Protestant influence - at least at the level of mass consciousness. Secondly, eschatological tension, which tends to see signs of the imminent coming of the Antichrist in any changes in modern technology.

It is necessary to see the middle ground between these two extremes, the “royal path” of Orthodox theology. Looking into different aspects of church tradition - from biblical studies to the works of modern devotees of piety - we will have, if not a final conclusion, then at least a much broader foundation for future sober conclusions on this topic.

- Can the results of the conference have a persuasive effect on people who live with tense eschatological expectations and create unhealthy excitement around this issue?

- I believe that the materials of the conference can give the canonical structures of our Church, the Hierarchy, tools for formulating conclusions based on church tradition. In this sense, the influence of the Church on completely insane people can take place.

-Will this conference help convey to our society the church’s position on issues of eschatology?

- This will depend on how much the results of this and similar conferences will be a relevant news item for the media. Therefore, the task of the Orthodox media, including Orthodox websites, is very great. It is important that the church position expressing “consensus patro” - the consent of the fathers was conveyed both to the church people and to the layers of our society interested in the life of the Church.

His opinions and assessments that he expressed and priest Vladimir Shmaliy, Vice-Rector of the Moscow Theological Academy, Secretary of the Synodal Theological Commission.

- Father Vladimir, why is this conference attractive to you?

- The timeliness of its implementation is obvious. Firstly, apocalyptic sentiments are growing among the Orthodox and near-Orthodox people, which causes concern both among the Hierarchy and among many children of the Church. Secondly, in parachurch circles and even in the Church itself there are forces that would have a positive attitude towards secularization and the increasing secularization of the Church. In both the first and second cases, these people forget about the eschatological nature of the Church, that it is the revealed Kingdom of God.

Therefore, the task of the conference - to reveal the Church’s understanding of its eschatological nature and consider the practical applications that follow from this, - in terms of liturgical life, development of theological education. The problem is that many people forget: the Church - not of this world. This leads to immersion in the socio-political element: they organize rallies with posters, some kind of mailings, and so on.

-It turns out that the actions of both liberal-minded people who want to secularize the Church and those who whip up apocalyptic fears lead to the same result?

- The problem is that both of these groups follow worldly, secular logic. The task of the children of the church - Always remain vigilant, we are called to this. We are awaiting the coming of the Savior, but in a sense, we have nothing to fear, because Christ has already conquered the world and the Church is already revealing the Kingdom of Heaven. The question is whether we will be able to be faithful to the Savior to the end. And among many people we now see a heightened expectation of the coming not of Christ, but of the Antichrist.

-How can the Church communicate its position on issues of eschatology to wider public circles?

- Conference currently underway - interdisciplinary; it will conclude with a round table “Globalization and Eschatology”. It is very important to convey the position of the Church to modern society, which is by no means alien to eschatological expectations. It sees how technological progress develops without limits, how skyscrapers collapse. Therefore, it is clear that sooner or later the end of the world will happen - in one form or another. It is necessary to show society that the point is not in disasters, not in “horror films,” but in the fact that the limits of human civilization are revealed in the moral state of the human soul. That's where the limits are, not outside.

We hope that it will be possible to organize a broad discussion in society with the participation of philosophers, sociologists, and political scientists about what will be the limits of the state of human existence; such a discussion can be successful.

The representative of the American Orthodox Church, priest John Baer (St. Vladimir's Academy, New York), in a conversation with a Pravoslavie.Ru correspondent, emphasized the great importance of the ongoing conference. At the same time, Father John noted that there are no tense eschatological sentiments among the Orthodox believers in America - their distributors in the USA are Protestants, who, having no support in the Holy Tradition, have naturally reached a dead end in matters of eschatology.

(29 votes: 4.8 out of 5)

Professor Andrey Zubov

One of my friends, who was destined to become a bishop of the Russian Church in the future, became a believer when he was about thirty years old. In the first conversation about the new reality that had opened up before him, he asked me: “You are talking about the saving power of the Christian faith, but there are many faiths, why consider the Christian faith true?” He was an orientalist, a polymath, this future bishop, and he knew what he was asking. In essence, this is a question of questions: why are we convinced of the truth of Christianity, when there are many peoples and many faiths. We can answer with the words of the psalm: “For all Gods are the tongue of the devil, but the Lord created the heavens” (). But this answer is not as exhaustive as it might seem to another apologist. Is the one whom Muslims call God a demon or the creator of heaven? Any Muslim will definitely say that Allah is the only creator of everything (tawhid ar-ribubiya), visible and invisible. Therefore, between Islam and Christianity there is no fundamental difference in the experience of God as Creator and heaven and earth. The same can be said about Orthodox Judaism, and practically the same can be said about the Gat religion. Brahma, or, if you like, Trimurti, or Atman is That which, surpassing all reality, is the originator of this reality. Is it worth continuing the conversation by talking about Tian Di and the Tao of Chinese religions; about Ptah, Atum, Ra, Amon of the ancient Egyptians, Anu, Inan, Enlil of the Sumerians?

An attentive historian of religions will be able to detect in any fairly well-known religious system the idea of ​​a creator God, a single supreme God who created the world, people, and spirits, whom most traditions call gods, and the authors of the books of the Old Testament prefer to call “the heavenly host.”

No, we do not become Christians because other faiths teach to burn incense to demons, but Christianity teaches to serve the true God. Both the Muslim praying and the Adventist chanting a hymn are quite sure that they are praying to the only, supreme, divine reality that created everything. How, on what basis, can we convince them otherwise? Is it that they sing not to the creator, but to the creature? I am sure that it is impossible to convince them of this, and therefore our preaching in the world of Islam or Hinduism most often remains ineffective. On the contrary, Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims have achieved good results in converting citizens of Christian civilization in recent decades. Why? Of course, I really want to answer this new, offensive question for Christians in the dichotomy “God - demons”: those Europeans who do not maintain the moral standard of Christianity, those who fall into sins, those go to other faiths, where the demons to whom they serve, they only indulge in these sins.

But reality does not allow us to agree with this statement. Most of us, Europeans, go not into Vishisht Advaita, not into Sufism, not even into primitive Krishnaism, but simply into unbelief, into atheism, agnosticism. It is this unbelieving majority of Europeans who do not live by God that creates that modern civilization, for which we will be painfully ashamed before the One who gave us the great, divine gift of creativity. As for serious converts to other faiths, they, as a rule, display a high moral ideal, strictness towards themselves, chastity and such immersion in religious life, which we Christians usually do not have, who allow ourselves too much in the hope of God’s mercy , but also in oblivion of His coming impartial judgment. Given the imperfection of human life, characteristic of fallen Adam in all eras and on all continents, today's Cairo, Madras and Tehran are morally distinguishable, if at all, then only for the better from Moscow, Berlin, Paris. So in relation to adherents of other faiths, demons are clearly less successful than in relation to us. Sometimes you hear: yes, Muslims or Hindus are superior to us in observing certain moral and ascetic norms, but they do good, tempted by pride, and not out of love for God. Someone else’s heart is darkness, but in mine I find so much pride and vanity that I can hardly suspect a Hindu who abstains from meat, wine and fornication throughout his life, or a Muslim who gets up to pray five times a day, is prouder than me.

A convincing answer to my friend’s question in the coordinate system of Psalm 95 clearly fails. Perhaps it is impossible at all? Maybe we should agree that for everyone his faith is the truth and call it a day? Subjectively, this is true. A follower of Shankra looks down not only on a Christian, but even on a disciple of Ramanuja. For him, Vishisht-Advaita is already “partial knowledge”. It is so common for all of us to despise a neighbor if he is different from us in some way, to despise apparently for this difference, but in reality - enjoying our own perfection, right-doing, right-thinking, right-believing. “I thank you, God, that I am not like him” are our favorite words. And to think at the same time that “he” was also created by the Lord, like me, and to achieve a goal no less important - it somehow doesn’t come to mind. This is subjective. But objectively, God is such an unapproachable completeness for our mind, created by Him, that it is arrogant to believe that we can at least know more than our “neighbor” in some way. Neither he nor I know anything positive except what is revealed to each of us for our benefit, for our salvation. And this, open, is an invaluable value for me, if I understand what it is for and how to handle it.

Let's say the greatest treasure of Christianity is the knowledge of the trinity of the consubstantial God. It is not revealed to the Church because we deserve this knowledge with our faith and love - this knowledge is our faith and the source of our love. We keep this knowledge, carefully pronounce the relationship of the hypostases of God, since without this knowledge-faith Christianity becomes an empty phrase - God does not become human, man is not deified. Muslims have a different goal in religious life. The thought of deification - the nerve and essence of Christianity - is sacrilegious for them: (Cor. 4.169 et seq.). Therefore, the secret of the Trinity is hidden from them, the doctrine of the Trinity for Islam is a concession of Christians to polytheism and Hellenistic philosophy - “He did not beget and was not begotten” (112.3) - the Koran firmly proclaims.

Why a Muslim Arab sees the ultimate goal of his life differently than a Christian Arab sees it - this is a separate conversation, and, frankly, it is difficult for me to answer the question about the reasons for the choice of one people, one person of Christianity, and another - Islam, Buddhism or religion bon. But an honest conversation about the uniqueness of Christianity is possible only if other religions also recognize their truth, albeit subjective, in matters of faith and goals of life. And only by comparing these goals, these subjective hopes, can we come to some objective truth.

Augustine, as you know, derived the word “religion” from the verb ligo, re-ligo to bind, unite (ligo dissociata). This etymology is far from indisputable, but spiritually it is true. Religion, faith (from the Avestedic word: var, heat, truth) is a connection, but also a path along which one can ascend to the eternal and uncreated Source of life, to God.

At all times, in all eras, man has been burdened by his mortality: by his poor quality, and has looked for ways to overcome it. In one of the sayings of the texts of the Sarcophagi (1130), Atum speaks of his four great deeds for people - one of them is mortal memory. “I did it so that they would not forget about the West (that is, death).” In essence, it is precisely in what people waited on the other side of the “last enemy - death” that the difference between faiths lies hidden. But they waited and continue to wait for very different things. The Kingdom of Heaven, which Christ taught about and which, according to Paul’s secret teaching, is Himself, is very different from the ideas about paradise - Jannah - of pious Muslims or about svarnara of Zoroastrians. The unconditional statement of the Indian sage Yajnavalkya “there is no consciousness after death” (Br. Up. IV.5.13) confused not only his wife Maitreya, but it will also confuse a Christian. At the same time, a Sufi ascetic who has experienced fana will most likely agree with him.

Eschatology is the main thing in any religion, and comparison of eschatological teachings is at least a more objective matter than a self-confident statement - “no, the one who is considered the creator in your faith is not the true creator, this is the One in whom we believe, he is - Creator in truth." In a conversation about the ultimate goals of existence, no one rapes anyone’s will. Everyone tells what he himself hopes for.

There seems to be no faith that does not recognize that God is good. “No one is good except God alone,” says the Savior. “Heaven is kind to all beings,” the Chinese say. All the suras of the Koran call God “Merciful and Merciful.” And this absolute good in its essence is not good. It is above every name. Hieromartyr Dionysius speaks beautifully about the Divine Good. But an attentive reader of the fourth chapter of “The Divine Names” cannot help but notice that the Athenian bishop, when he says that the word “Good” defines the essence of the Godhead (4.1), emphasizes that this is the opinion of the “theologians.” Continuing his speech, Dionysius shows that we call God “Good”, since He created and maintains the angelic and human world, all living things, the entire cosmos, moving and inert matter. In other words, God is good to us. As for the Divine essence, here the “theologians” are mistaken. “And even calling Him goodness, we are not able to know Him ... surpassing any name, any word and knowledge” (13.3). So, the goodness of God is not a property of His nature, but its manifestation to us. God is good for the world He created. We simply cannot say anything else. He is good not because He created the world, but He is good in the world He created.

But is it possible to consider the creation of a world that is collapsing, subject to decay and constant dying, to be completely good? Is there a flaw in such a creation itself, and therefore in its Creator? This is a completely legitimate question, since the world given to us in experience is precisely the world of destruction and death. Here, in the answer to this question, occurs the first great division of religions. The Gnostic solution, as is known, assumes that the world was created not by the Good God, who abides in Himself, but by the evil or imperfect Demiurge, and therefore reproduces his imperfections. The world is the creation not of the Creator, but of a spirit that has fallen away from God. Hope for salvation is given to a person only by that creative spark of God, which passes through the Demiurge into what He has created. In fact, the world and man turn out to be creations of the forces of evil. This conclusion is, admittedly, almost unique in the history of the human spirit. It presupposes, firstly, the independent creative ability of imperfect, evil forces and, secondly, suffering not as a result of one’s own deeds, but “by nature”: man and the whole world suffer because they are doomed to torment by the creator. Can the Greatest Good allow this to happen and remain Good?

In addition to the extravagant and, in essence, Gnostic scheme generated by the spiritual struggle with Christianity, the history of religions knows two fundamental answers to the question of the relationship between Good and suffering in the world. One declares the world to be an illusion, a mirage that has no independent value, and only the particle dear to the Creator in every creation is significant and real, the reunification of which with the Creator is the goal. These are the religions of South Asia, starting from the era of Brahmanas and Upanishads. Other cultures give a different answer - the world was created by God and this world is reality, since it was created by Absolute Reality. This world is good, since it was created by the Absolute Good. This world is impeccably beautiful, since its creator is Absolute Beauty. And the traditional religions of China, and Iranian Zoroastrianism, and the “Abrahamist religions”, and, as far as we know, the religions of the ancient Near East are united in this conviction.

What distinguishes them is their explanation of how this good and beautiful world became the way we see it - very evil and, often, disgustingly ugly. They all agree that the cause of the decline is man. But further accents of the West and the Far East are different. China and its derivative cultures see the cosmos as an “imprint” of the Tao. Just as many waves, running onto the shore, leave a trace on its sand, so Tao is imprinted in the world he created. Tao is the ocean, the world is the imprint of the wave. However, a person is a special “willing” grain of sand. It can disrupt the entire pattern of the divine wave, come out of it and doom the world to degradation - after all, the further the world retreats from the image set by the seal, the more it plunges into the chaos of non-existence. God creates the world. Man, a particle of the created world, either preserves or destroys both himself and it. Hence the intense search for the relationship between the human microcosm and the macrocosm in traditional Chinese medicine, ritual, and magic. Hence the Confucian teaching on music or the Taoist teaching on non-action (wu wei). The world was not created for man; he lives his own life, given by the Tao. A person does not only need to interfere with the world’s life, he must learn to subordinate his will to the rhythm of the world (Confucius), or completely exclude it (Lao Tzu). By restoring harmony, both suffering and death itself are overcome. That is why legends about immortals living forever in this world, tasting the peaches of the gardens of the West, the air and dew of Tai Shan, are so widespread in China.

In this beautiful and harmonious scheme, like the landscapes of Wang Wei or Ju Ran, only one thing remains unclear - why a person is such that he can and does constantly use his will for evil, as a result of which the world is constantly in the process of degradation (mo fa) . If he is an imprint of Tao, where does the evil come from in him? If the imprint is something else, then Tao can no longer be considered “the great one”, cannot “follow Itself” (Tao De Ching, 25).

The West, cultures from the steppes of Iran to the Atlantic coasts, looked at the world and man's place in it somewhat differently. The world is created For person. Man is an object of special love, attention and pity of God, who created him as a free accomplice in the universal drama of the struggle between good and evil, God - and the creatures created by him who have fallen away from him. The fight is on behind person. Created existence acquires an intense tragic mobility, to which both the Chinese cultivating God's garden and the Hindu fleeing from it are equally alien. Horus and Seth, Angro Magno and Boxy Manu, Satan and the Archangel Michael, Mahdi and al-Dajjal - these couples define the religious life of the West. Fleeing from one thing, searching for another, constant attentive looking into oneself, into one’s heart, which is the true battlefield - this mood is equally familiar to a Muslim, a Jew-Judaizer, a Christian, a Parsi, and as far as we can judge the faith of Mesopotamia and Egypt - and their inhabitants. The world does not simply perish with man and is reborn with him. He is a means of struggle, a constant temptation for a person, a means of victory over evil or a cause of death in evil. Whoever says that he loves God but hates his brother is a liar. Whoever says that he loves his brother, but does not help him in hunger and nakedness, that is, in the circumstances of the world, is no less a liar. The spiritual world - menog, say the Parsis, is only a prototype of the holistic, spiritual-material world - getig, which is much more perfect than the first. Only in getig can Angro-manyo enter, but evil can only be defeated in this spiritual-material world, and only with the help of a spiritual-material being - man.

If South Asia now resolves spiritual-material bi-nature by liberating the spirit identical with God from the bonds of matter, if the Far East actually experiences the world as a material imprint of the spiritual and sees the presence of the Spirit in the world only as a matrix, then the West constantly insists on mandatory bi-nature. He knows how to distinguish in a person the spiritual essence of the mind (nus, pneuma) inextricably fused with him, and to value the body, flesh (soma, sarkis) as an inseparable part of the human personality. Already in the Egyptian funeral ritual of the Old Kingdom we find all the necessary components of these views. Much can be found in the early Mesopotamian ritual of sacred marriage, and in the so-called cult of the dying and resurrecting God.

But in a duel with evil, man constantly loses. “Wretched man I am,” exclaims the Apostle Paul, “I do not do the good that I want, but I do the evil that I do not want.” A modern Orthodox thinker once said: “Our path is not from victory to victory, but from defeat to defeat.” All religions of the world, both Western and Eastern, agree that the world is not improving, but is degenerating, and not many, like the Jains, hope to do without a world catastrophe when complete decline sets in.

But why does a person, called out of oblivion by a good God, destroy himself? Because with six senses he connects himself with the illusion of cosmic existence - Maya, and because of this he forgets the identity of his existence with the Absolute - the Hindu will answer. The Buddhist will simply omit the second part of the formula about the Absolute and “his own being”; otherwise, his answer coincides with the Hindu one. Why a person prefers to associate himself with Maya, and not with Brahmo, Hinduism is silent, just as the Theravaddin teaching is silent about the reason for the rarity of arhats, pratyekobuddhas. The Far East answers this question differently: a person leaves the Path that all beings follow, he violates the harmony, music and rhythm of the world. Why a person rejects the Tao is also unclear. Finally, the West offers a third answer: a freely acting person, from the very first steps, falls under the temptation of spirits - the enemies of the Creator. And after the first man, almost all of his descendants do this. Only a few choose a different path, the path of serving God, the path of righteousness. Why is also not entirely clear. If human nature was created by a good Creator, then how can we explain man’s uncontrollable craving not for good, but for evil - “Poor man that I am!”

And yet religion would cease to be a religion if it lowered its head, if it were reconciled to such a disappointing conclusion. No, on the contrary, despite all empirical experience of human badness, all faiths affirm the triumphant final victory of Good over evil. But here people cannot do without an assistant. Vishnu and Shiva incarnate many times to support the righteous, punish the evildoers, and restore the righteous teaching. Lao Tzu does the same in late Taoism, and Chinese Buddhists hopefully pray to the Tushita Buddha of the future, Mi lo fo (Maitrei), who resides in heaven, who will come to earth at the end of time in order to save and correct everyone.

Unlike China and India, the West sees the savior as a person who is blood-related to the founder of the doctrine - the great righteous man. This is either the Messiah, a lion from the tribe of David, or Saoshyant - the seed of Zoroaster, or Mahdi - a descendant of Muhammad, according to a beautiful Shiite legend, living like light in the loins of the prophets and in the wombs of pious women, and incarnated at the end of centuries in order to defeat evil and kill al-Dajjala. The first person allows evil into himself, the last person, by defeating it, pleases God. In the great worldwide war, it is man, dressed in the armor of righteousness (after all, he is a blood descendant of the great righteous man), who defeats the prince of darkness, after which the dead are resurrected and the Creator carries out the final judgment on his creation. Those who fulfilled His will will inherit the world along with the conqueror of evil; those who opposed the will of God and freely chose the side of the enemies of the Good receive the second death, eternal destruction.

We are faced with three very different eschatological systems, the boundaries of which, in general, coincide with the boundaries of the three great civilizations of the Old World. Each of them is quite logical within itself, with the exception of a single, but key point - an explanation of the origin and dominance of evil in the world created by God.

How is the ultimate task of the individual solved in each of the systems - the return of the good gift of the Creator, lost by man due to deviation towards evil? In the Far East - through the return of all things to the Path. The result is a perfect natural person, who does not know death and need, and who remains forever in complete harmony with Tao. It is clear that the surrounding world, disturbed by the self-will of man, acquires around such a blessed husband the lost perfection of the reflection of Tao. For the Chinese, the very idea of ​​merging man with Tao is absurd. After all, a person is always something tangible and material, but the Beginning of the world, Tao, is both impersonal and immaterial, and for the world, the cosmos, it is as if it does not exist at all. Having harmonized himself, a person merges not with the Tao, but with the world - the imprint of the Tao. This is most likely the meaning of the concept of “identity of Tao” from the 23rd jan of the Tao de jing. Whatever the origin of Taoism (it is quite widely believed that Lao Tzu translated the teachings of the Upanishads into the categories of Chinese thought), the practice of religious life in China made it exactly that way.

South Asia solves the problem very differently. If the world is an illusion, then it is best to discard it and leave the world. Cosmic life at any level - heaven, earth, hell - is essentially always tragic, because it is inevitably interrupted by death, and then begins again. Life is an eternal nightmare from which you need to wake up. But awakening is possible only at the cost of renouncing the cosmos and oneself as part of it. Behind the cycle of the illusory world there is the Absolute, Brahman, to which the human mind is identical - atman. Throwing away the body, feelings, and the world, atman merges with Brahman, regains all the qualities of the Absolute, but at the same time loses itself, its face. After death there is no consciousness, since there are no two: God and man. There is only the Absolute and next to it there is no other. Unlike China, India insists on union with the Creator, but not of the creature, but of a part of the Creator, imprisoned for the time being in the creature. The rest, except this part - amsa - has no meaning or interest. And although Advaita Vedanta is not the only teaching of India, it is she who draws the most logical conclusions from premises common throughout South Asia. The fact that many Indian mystics were led by personal experience to doubt the construction of Shankra and value the human personality a little more is another matter.

Finally, the West, paying special attention to the individual personality of man, teaches about him as a complex being consisting of the divine spirit, the earthly body and the individual soul that arose from their union. Death is the temporary dissolution of these elements of man. Resurrection is their reunion. But the resurrected man, having conquered evil and its corrupting poisons, gains immortality and bliss, and remains fully human. The world is restored with him or given to him again, and he exists in it forever among those joys that, although darkened by evil, are already known to him from his present earthly life. The sensual paradise of Islam, essentially a rediscovered Eden, is a perfect illustration of this. It is not by chance that it is called a garden, like the Pardis Paradise: “For for the God-fearing there is a place of salvation, gardens and vineyards, and full-breasted women of the same age, and a full cup...” (Koran 78.31-33).

Such a goal of religious life will cause horror in a Hindu and a Buddhist and will leave a resident of the Far East in bewilderment, but dissolution in the Absolute will be for the majority of Muslims, Jews, Parsis no less strange, colorless and blasphemous claim. The goal of Advaita will also be strange for the Chinese, convinced that man, “if compared with the darkness of things, is like the tip of a hair of a horse’s hide” (Zhuang Tzu, 17). Three great civilizations have developed their answers to the ultimate demands of man and are fixed in front of each other in a stable misunderstanding. The syncretic movements of the Sufis in the West, the Madhvas in Hinduism, and the Mahayanist Buddhism of China and Japan did not remove the boundaries, but only blurred them, making the transitions smoother.

We cannot say with complete certainty when this division arose. It is unlikely that it was so deep at the beginning of history, five thousand years ago. The first monuments of the religious word of India and the ancient Near East, as well as the archeology of Shang-Yin, testify to greater similarities, although there are undoubtedly clear civilizational differences even then. But the era of the prophetic movements, VIII-V centuries, reveals fully developed religious types of the Far East, Hindustan and West, types that are known to us today.

We cannot speak about the beginning of the division, but we can speak about its end, for it ended and was overcome in Christian preaching. This statement may seem pretentious - after all, we are accustomed to believe that Christianity is a Western religion. Indeed, such typically Western aspects of teaching as exclusive attention to man, his personality, his body, which must, having died, be resurrected - all this is in Christianity. But this, Western, has been transformed by a strange and unexpected teaching, poorly experienced by Zoroastrianism and quite consciously rejected by both Judaism and Islam. Christianity explains the poor quality of man, the discrepancy between his will and action, and finally, death itself through the Fall of Adam. There is no person who will live and not sin. But Adam was the first man. His disobedience to God did not remain his personal problem, but passed on to all his descendants, to every earthly being. “Cursed is the earth for you” (). These terrible words of God weigh heavily on all humanity. The only one of the faiths, the Christian faith explains the evil of humanity from its free, but generic will. Just as children inherit the virtues and illnesses of their parents, so each descendant of Adam inherits “genetically” his sin, adding to it his own, prepared by Adam’s sin, committed by his own will. There is no reason for a Christian to hope for the “sinless seed” of Zoroaster, Muhammad or another righteous man. Every seed carries sin.

This Christian teaching perfectly explains the discord of the world and human evil, but it is so hopeless in its pessimism that it is not surprising that it is rejected by the majority of humanity. “Who can be saved?”, the disciples ask Christ in horror, and hear in response: “This is impossible for man.” Christ's answer is a verdict on all religious humanity.

However, Christ only keeps the apostles in a hopeless state for a moment. He continues the sentence he started. “It is impossible for man to be saved, but with God all things are possible.” So, God saves. This is known to both the Hindu, the Muslim, and the Mahayanist, perhaps not the Taoist and Confucian. But how does the Christian God save? Not by word, not by teaching, not by healings and resurrections, not by personal example when descending into the world. No. He saves by Himself and by His death, by His sacrifice. God dies, God sacrifices Himself? This is the second absurdity, after the continuity of ancestral sin, which can be attributed to Christians. But the sacrifice of man, corrupted by Adam, is not entirely pure. A pure sacrifice can only be one who does not have the seed of Adam in himself and at the same time is strong to defeat all the evil of the “ancient serpent who deceives the whole universe” (Ap. 12.9). But despite all this, he cannot help but be the one whom he is going to heal - that is, a person. Only God, and God made man, can save Adam. As God, He conquers death and sin; as man, He takes the fruits upon Himself, freeing in Himself - and this is the great good of family succession - both from death and from sin all humanity, freely uniting with Him.

But the fact that a person is saved from sin and death not by man, not by a godly mentor, and not by the favor of the transcendental God, but by God becoming human and sacrificing Himself for the world, has one, but the greatest consequence. A person who voluntarily agreed to participate in God’s sacrifice, entering with Him into death, finds himself with Him in resurrection, in triumph over death and over the source of evil. God became man so that man could become God - these well-honed words of the holy martyr explain the essence of the Christian faith. In resurrection with the God-man, man becomes God. He, a man, a creature, enters into the fullness of being of the One who created him and restored him from sinful decay. God makes His creation Himself. And in this, crossing the boundaries of Western religiosity, Christianity realizes the highest goal of the most refined Hinduism - it opens up the possibility of theosis, deification. “Tat tvam asi” - the most sacred Upanishadic formula finds itself in Christianity. And how he gains it!

Mergence with Brahmo is achieved in Advaita at the cost of renouncing the personality, which Shankara is left to declare as an illusion, maya. But Christianity, like all Western faiths, does not consider creation to be an illusion. It sees in the world a reality emanating from the reality of the Creator, but a reality distorted by the liar and deceiver Satan, who initially distorted himself. Therefore, victory over Satan is not liberation from the individual, but its straightening from the lies of sin. And since God who became man, having risen, resurrected his human mind-spirit, soul and body, the personality of man did not disappear, but was transformed in theosis.

To achieve its highest goal, merging with the Absolute, India had to sacrifice a lot - personality, world, and body. The God-man Christ, who corrected death by His death, opened up the possibility of theosis without this sacrifice, which is also a blasphemy against the goodness and pricelessness of the act of creation of the cosmos. Man becomes God without ceasing to be man, for Christ also became man without ceasing to be God. The ancient goal of the West - a return to the lost Eden, to the fields of Ialu - has been achieved. But the new Eden turned out to be not a garden of two cold springs with full-breasted houris and goblets of black wine, beds and tents, but the Unapproachable God Himself, for whom the epithets “being” and “non-being” are equally indefinite and whom the Son of Man loved to call the Kingdom of Heaven , where, of course, they don’t get married anymore...

There is no epithet more suitable for God, at least in relation to Him towards us, than Good. But can there be a greater good than the transformation of creation into a creator, man into God? Therefore, it is in Christianity that God fully reveals His Goodness, granting us deification through Himself.

What does Hinduism lose from Christianity? Nothing. What does it acquire? The personality and body, freed from maya, are absolute, if you like. What does Judaism and Islam lose from Christianity? Nothing. What does it acquire? Deification, as the complete realization of divine good.

Finally, the Far East. His main concern is to restore world harmony, destroyed by man, to return all things to the path of Heaven. The West, focusing on man, remained fairly indifferent to the world around him. And the Hindu saw in the world only the temptation to mistake illusion for truth.

Seeing precisely in man the reason for restoring the beauty and harmony of the world, Christianity is far from indifferent to the rest of creation. “The creation awaits with hope the revelation of the sons of God, because the creation submitted itself to vanity not voluntarily, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in the hope that the creation itself will be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now, and not only it, but we ourselves, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, and we groan within ourselves, awaiting adoption, redemption body ours. For we are saved in hope" (). The Cosmos is restored by man, and thus man becomes an accomplice in the creative act of His Creator.

What is the Far East losing in Christianity? Nothing. The world dear to the Chinese, the imprint of the Tao, is valued, preserved and restored to its original perfection by Christ. What does it acquire? The Far East acquires a man who turns out to be far from being “the end of a hair on a horse’s hide,” but a person who saves the world and returns it to the Creator, pure and immaculate. And instead of merging with the Tao imprinted in the world, there is an entry into the fullness of the One to whom the path leads.

Now, many years after that conversation with my friend, the future bishop, I would answer him: “I choose Christianity not because it is the religion of my ancestors, my people, European or Mediterranean civilization. I choose the Christian faith only because in Christ the hopes of all humanity, all its civilizations, all cultures have found their fullness. I choose the Christian faith, for, without detracting from anything good in the hope of other religions, it adds to them that which makes the goodness of the Creator perfect to creation. I choose the Christian faith, since I don’t know of any other faith that would make a person God, without detracting even an iota from his humanity.”

Orthodox Dogmatic Theology

Part 2

Christian eschatology

About God - the Finisher of the destinies of the world

Once again I will shake not only the earth, but also the sky(Heb. 12, 26; Hagg. 2, 6)

The future destinies of the world and humanity

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in the 7th, 11th and 12th members contains the Orthodox Christian confession of faith in the future coming of the Son of God to earth, the general Last Judgment and the future eternal life.

7th member: And again the coming one will be judged with glory by the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end.
11th member: I drink the resurrection of the dead,
12th member: and the life of the next century. Amen.

In God's economy plans are laid out for the future until the end of the ages. And in Christian teaching, its integral part is what the word of God tells us about the events of recent times; the second coming of the Lord, the resurrection of the dead and the end of the world - and then about the beginning of the kingdom of Glory and eternal life. The last part of dogmatic theology speaks of the completion of that great process, the beginning of which is set out on the first page of the book of Genesis.

The fate of a person after death before the general judgment is a private trial

Death is the common lot of people. But for a person it is not destruction, but only the detachment of the soul from the body. The truth of the immortality of the human soul is one of the fundamental truths of Christianity. " God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for with Him all are alive"(Luke 20:38). In the New Testament Holy Scripture, death is called the departure of the soul (" I will try to ensure that even after my departure you always bring this to mind"(2 Pet. 1:15)), liberation of the soul from prison (2 Cor. 5:1), putting aside the body (" knowing that I will soon have to leave my temple"(2 Peter 1:14)), detachment (" I have a desire to be resolved and be with Christ, because this is incomparably better"(Phil. 1:23)), departure (" the time of my departure has come"(2 Tim. 4:6)), Dormition (David rested (Acts 13:36)). The state of the soul after death, according to the clear testimony of the word of God, is not unconscious, but conscious (for example, according to the parable of the rich man and Lazarus) . Upon death, a person undergoes a judgment, which is called private, in contrast to the general final judgment." It is convenient to eat before God, on the day of death to reward a person according to his deeds", says the wise son of Sirach (Sir. 11:26). The Apostle Paul expresses the same thought: " It is appointed for men to die once, and after this the judgment"(Heb. 9:27). The Apostle presents the judgment as immediately following the death of a person, obviously meaning not a general judgment, but a private one, as interpreted by the holy fathers of the Church," today you will be with Me in Paradise"(Luke 23:43), - the Lord said to the repentant thief.

It is not given to us to know in the Holy Scriptures how private judgment occurs after the death of a person. We can only partially judge this from individual expressions found in the word of God. Thus, it is natural to think that even in private court, both good and evil angels take a large part in the fate of a person after death. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus it is said that Lazarus " was carried by angels to Abraham's bosom"(Luke 16:22); in the parable of the foolish rich man it is said to the rich man: " Madman, this night your soul will be taken from you"(Luke 12:20) - obviously, evil forces will take over (St. John Chrysostom). For, on the one hand, " these little angels"(Matthew 18:10), according to the word of the Lord, they always see the face of the Heavenly Father, and likewise at the end of the world the Lord" He will send His angels who will separate the wicked from among the righteous and cast them into the fiery furnace"(Matthew 13:49); and on the other hand, " your enemy the devil walks around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour"(1 Peter 5:8) - and the air is filled, as it were, with the spirits of wickedness in high places, and their prince is called a prince" air power"(Eph. 6, 12; 2, 2).

Based on these instructions from the Holy Scriptures, from ancient times the holy fathers of the Church depicted the path of the soul separated from the body as a path through such spiritual spaces where dark forces seek to devour the spiritually weak and where, therefore, the protection of heavenly angels and prayerful support from living members of the Church are especially needed. Among the ancient fathers, Saints Ephraim the Syrian, Athanasius the Great, Macarius the Great, Basil the Great, John Chrysostom and others speak about this. The most detailed development of thoughts of this kind is St. Cyril of Alexandria in his “Word on the Exodus of the Soul,” usually printed in the “Following Psalter,” and a pictorial depiction of this path is presented in the life of St. Basil the New, where the deceased blessed Theodora, in a dream vision of Vasily’s disciple, conveys what she saw and experienced after separation her soul with the body and during the ascent of the soul to the heavenly abodes. The path of the soul after leaving the body is usually called “ordeal.” Regarding the figurativeness of the legends about the ordeals, Moscow Metropolitan Macarius in “Orthodox Dogmatic Theology” notes: “We must, however, firmly remember the instruction that the angel gave to Saint Macarius of Alexandria when he just began speaking about the ordeals: “Take earthly things here as the weakest image of heavenly ones.” “- and the ordeal should be imagined as much as possible in the spiritual sense, hidden under more or less sensual, humanoid features.”

The Orthodox Church teaches about the state of the soul after a private trial: “We believe that the souls of the dead are blissful or tormented by their deeds. Having been separated from their bodies, they immediately pass either to joy or to sadness and sorrow: however, they do not feel either complete bliss or complete torment. For everyone will receive perfect bliss or perfect torment after the general resurrection, when the soul is united with the body in which it lived virtuously or viciously" (Message of the Eastern Patriarchs on the Orthodox Faith, member 18). Thus, the Orthodox Church distinguishes two different states after private judgment: one for the righteous, the other for sinners; in other words, heaven and hell. The Church does not recognize the Roman Catholic doctrine of the three states, distinguishing 1) beatitude, 2) purgatory or purgatorium, and 3) stay in Gehenna. The very name “Gehenna” is usually attributed by the Fathers of the Church to the state after the Last Judgment, when both death and hell will be defeated "into the lake of fire"(Rev. 20:15). The Fathers of the Church, on the basis of the word of God, believe that the torment of sinners before the Last Judgment is preliminary in nature. This torment can be alleviated and can even be removed through the prayers of the Church (Message of the Eastern Patriarchs on the Orthodox Faith, member 18. Likewise, the fallen spirits, “bound in the bonds of hellish darkness, are reserved for the judgment of the great day” (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 1:6).

Signs of the approaching second coming of the Lord and the Last Judgment

The Lord was not pleased to reveal to us - not for our own moral benefit - the date of the "last day" of the present heaven and earth, the day of the coming of the Son of Man, the "day of the Lord." " No one knows about that day and hour, not even the heavenly angels, but only My Father alone."(Matthew 24:36)" It is not your business to know the times and seasons that the Father has set in His authority" (Acts 1:7). This uncertainty should motivate Christians to constant spiritual vigilance: " Watch, watch, pray, for you do not know when this time will come... but what I say to you all: watch"(Mark 13:33-37).

However, the unknown of the Lord’s timing should not prevent a Christian from delving into the course of historical events and seeing in them signs of the approaching time of the “last day.” The Lord instructed: " Take a similar example from a fig tree: when its branches become soft and put out leaves, you know that summer is near. So you too, when you see all this, know that it is close, at the door"(Matthew 24:32-33).

Here are some signs indicated in the word of God:

a) Spreading the Gospel throughout the world: " And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."(Matthew 24:14).

b) On the other hand, an extraordinary manifestation of the forces of evil. " Because iniquity multiplies, the love of many will grow cold"(Matthew 24:12). The Apostle Paul says: " In the last days, difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of themselves, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unfriendly, unforgiving, slanderers, intemperate, cruel, not lovers of good,...more lovers of pleasure than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof."(1 Tim. 3:1-5). The general faith will weaken: " When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"(Luke 18:8).

c) The devil will raise a war against the kingdom of Christ through his weapon - the Antichrist. The name “Antichrist” is used in the Holy Scriptures in a double sense: broad, general, denoting every opponent of Christ; in this sense, the Antichrists are spoken of in the 1st and 2nd Epistles of St. John the Evangelist; - and in a special sense, to designate a specific person - the enemy of Christ, who is about to appear before the end of the world. We read about the qualities and actions of this Antichrist from the Apostle Paul: " Let no one deceive you: for that day will not come, until a falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above everything that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits in the temple of God as God, showing himself for God... For the mystery of iniquity is already at work, only it will not be completed until the one who now restrains is taken out of the way, and then the wicked one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the spirit of His mouth and destroy with the revelation of His coming, the one whom the coming, according to the work of Satan, will be with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception of those who are perishing because they did not receive the love of the truth for their salvation. And for this reason God will send them delusion, so that they will believe every lie."(2 Thess. 2, 3-11). The image of this enemy of God is presented in the prophet Daniel (Dan. 7 and 11 chapters), and in the New Testament also in the Revelation of St. John the Theologian (Rev. 11 and 13 chapters). The actions of the Antichrist will continue until the very day of judgment (2 Thess. 2, 8). The character of the personality of the Antichrist and the manner of his actions are presumably, but in detail depicted by St. Cyril of Jerusalem in the "Catechetical Teachings" and St. Ephraim the Syrian in the "Word on the Coming of the Lord and antichrist."

d) In the Revelation of St. John the Theologian indicates the appearance during the period of the Antichrist’s activity of “two Witnesses” who will prophesy the truth, perform miracles, and when they finish their testimony, they will be killed, then “ in three and a half days"will be resurrected and ascended into heaven (Rev. 2:3-12).

Second Coming of the Son of Man

The spiritual gaze of humanity who believes in Christ, from the time of the ascension to heaven from the earth of the Son of God, is directed towards the greatest future event in world history - His second coming to earth.

The reality of this expected coming is clearly attested many times by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, indicating a number of details of this event (Matt. 16:27; 24; Mark 8:38; Luke 12:40; 17:24; John 14:3 ). Angels announce it during the Ascension of the Lord (Acts 1:11); The apostles often remind us: Jude (Jude 1:14-15), John (1 John 2:28), Peter (1 Pet. 4:13), repeatedly the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 4:5; 1 Thess. 5 , 2-6 and others).

The Lord Himself outlined before His disciples an image of His coming in the following lines:

It will be sudden, obvious to everyone: " Just as lightning comes from the east and is visible even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man"(Matthew 24, 27).

First of all " the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn"(Matthew 24:30). This will be, according to the general interpretation of the holy fathers, a sign of the life-giving Cross of the Lord.

The Lord will come surrounded by countless hosts of angels, in all His glory: " and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory"(Mark 8:30) "with the holy angels"(Mark 8:38). " He will sit on the throne of His glory"(Matt. 25:31). Thus, the second coming will be different from the first, when the Lord " He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even to the point of death, death on the cross"(Phil. 2:8).

He will come " judge the universe righteously"(Acts 17:31) and render" to each according to his works"(Matthew 16:27). This essentially distinguishes the purpose of His second coming into the world from the purpose of His first coming, when He came" not to judge the world, but to save the world"(John 12:47), came" to give His soul as a ransom for many"(Matt. 20, 28; Mark 10, 45).

Resurrection of the Dead

On the great day of the coming of the Son of Man, the general resurrection of the dead will take place in a transfigured form. The Lord says about the resurrection of the dead: " The time is coming in which all those in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who have done good will come out to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil will come out to the resurrection of condemnation."(John 5:28-29). When the Sadducees expressed disbelief in the possibility of the resurrection, the Lord reproached them: " You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God"(Matthew 22:29).

The Apostle Paul expressed the certainty of the truth of the resurrection and the importance of faith in the resurrection in these words: " if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen; and if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain. Moreover, we would also turn out to be false witnesses about God, that He raised Christ, Whom He did not raise, if, that is, the dead do not rise.... But Christ rose from the dead, the firstborn of those who died.... Just as in Adam all die , so in Christ all will come to life"(1 Cor. 15, 13-15, 20-22).

The resurrection of the dead will be universal and simultaneous, both of the righteous and of sinners. " Those who have done good will come forth into the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil into the resurrection of condemnation."(John 5:29)" There will be a resurrection of the dead, just and unjust"(Acts 24:15, words of the Apostle Paul before the ruler Felix). If the same apostle in another place (1 Cor. 15 chapter, 1 Thess. 4 chapter), speaking about the resurrection of those who died in Christ, does not mention the resurrection of sinners, then, obviously, because his direct goal was to strengthen the faith of Christians themselves in their future resurrection in Christ. However, undoubtedly, the image or appearance of the resurrected righteous will be different from that of sinners." Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father“- the Lord said this only about the righteous (Matthew 13:43). “Some will be like light, others like darkness,” St. Ephraim the Syrian discusses this (“On the fear of God and the final judgment”).

From the word of God it must be concluded that the resurrected bodies will be in essence the same as those that belonged to the souls in earthly life: " For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."(1 Cor. 15:53); but at the same time they will be transfigured and, above all, the bodies of the righteous will be incorruptible and immortal, as can be seen from the same words of the apostle. They will be completely free from exhaustion and from the infirmities of this life. They will spiritual, heavenly, not having earthly bodily needs, life after the resurrection will be similar to the life of disembodied spirits-angels, according to the word of the Lord (Luke 20: 3). As for sinners, their bodies, no doubt, will rise in a new form, but Having received incorruptibility and spirituality, they will at the same time reflect their state of mind.

In order to facilitate faith in the future transformation of bodies, the apostle compares the future resurrection with sowing, as a symbol of resurrection given by nature: " But someone will say: how will the dead be raised? And in what body will they come? Reckless! What you sow is not a future body, but a naked grain that will happen, wheat or something else; but God gives him a body as he wants, and to each seed his own body"(1 Cor. 15, 35-38). For the same purpose, the Church Fathers pointed out that nothing in the world is destroyed or disappears; that God is able to restore what He himself creates; turning to nature, they found in it there are similarities of resurrection, such as: the vegetation of plants from a seed thrown into the ground and decomposed, the annual renewal of nature in the spring, the renewal of the day, awakening from sleep, the initial formation of man from the dust of the earth and other phenomena.

The general resurrection and subsequent events after it constitute phenomena that we are not able to fully imagine with our imagination, since they have never been experienced by us in their true future form, nor can we fully understand them with our rational thought, nor can we resolve those numerous questions that at the same time they face an inquisitive mind. Therefore, both these questions themselves and those personal considerations that were expressed in response to them, often in different ways, in the writings of the fathers and teachers of the Church, are not directly included in the subject of dogmatic theology, whose duty is to outline the exact truths of faith based on Holy Scripture .

The failure of chiliasm

At the present time, the doctrine of the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth until the general, or Last Judgment, known under the name chiliasm (hiliasmos - millennium), is becoming widespread. Its essence is as follows: long before the end of the world, Christ will come to earth again, defeat the Antichrist, resurrect only the righteous, and establish a new kingdom on earth, in which the righteous, as a reward for their exploits and sufferings, will reign with Him for 1000 years. , enjoying all the benefits of temporary life, then the second, general resurrection of the dead, general judgment and general eternal retribution will follow. These are the thoughts of the chiliasts. Defenders of this teaching are based on the vision of the seer in chapter 20 of the Apocalypse. It says that an angel came down from heaven and bound Satan for 1000 years; and the souls of those who were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God." came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.." "This is the first resurrection..." And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will deceive the nations."... The judgment of the devil and those deceived by him will soon follow. The dead will be raised, or rather raised, for judgment, and judged according to their deeds. " And whoever was not written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire." "This is the second death.". Over those resurrected in the first resurrection, the second death has no power.

Chiliastic views in ancient times spread mainly among heretics. However, they are also found in some ancient writers of the Church (Papias of Hierapolis, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus). In modern times they were revived in Protestant sects; finally, we see attempts in the spiritual literature of our time to carry the ideas of chiliasm into Orthodox theological thought.

As indicated, this teaching presupposes two future judgments, first one for the resurrected righteous, then the other universal; two future resurrections: first one - of the righteous, then another - of sinners; two future comings of the Savior in glory; the future purely earthly, albeit blessed, reign of Christ with the righteous is recognized as a certain historical era. From a formal point of view, this teaching is based on a misunderstanding of the seer's expression about " first resurrection"(Rev. 20:5); its internal reason is rooted in the loss among the masses of modern sectarianism of faith in the afterlife, in the bliss of the righteous in heaven, with whom they have no prayerful communication. Another reason, for some sects, is social-utopian dreams , hidden behind religious ideas and embedded in the mysterious images of the Apocalypse. It is not difficult to see the fallacy of the chiliasts’ interpretation of chapter 20 of Revelation.

Parallel passages to the words about " first resurrection" clearly show that here by resurrection is meant spiritual rebirth into eternal life in Christ through baptism, resurrection through faith in Christ, according to the words: " Arise, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will sanctify you"(Eph. 5:14)" You are risen with Christ" - we read many times from the apostles (Col. 3: 1; 2, 12; Eph. 2: 5-6). Based on this, by the thousand-year kingdom we must understand the period of time from the very beginning of the grace-filled kingdom of the Church of Christ, especially the Heavenly Church, triumphant. The Church militant on earth, in essence, also triumphs in the victory achieved by the Savior, but it is still experiencing a battle with " prince of this world"(John 12, 31; 14, 30; 16, 11), which will end with the defeat of Satan and his final casting into the lake of fire. "The second death" (Rev. 20, 5) is the condemnation of sinners at the General Judgment. It will not affect " resurrected on the first resurrection"(Rev. 20:5): this means that those who are spiritually reborn in Christ and purified by the grace of God in the Church will not be condemned, but will enter the blessed life of the Kingdom of Christ.

If it was possible to express judgments in the spirit of chiliasm, as private opinions, then it was possible until the Universal Church expressed its opinion about it. But when the Second Ecumenical Council (381), condemning all the errors of the heretic Apollinaris, condemned his teaching about the thousand-year kingdom of Christ and introduced the words about Christ into the Creed: " There will be no end to his reign“It is completely impermissible for an Orthodox Christian to hold these opinions.

The end of this century

As a result of the fall of man, all creation involuntarily submitted to the work of corruption, " the whole creation groans and suffers together to this day"(Rom. 8:22). The time will come when the entire material and human world must be cleansed from human sin and renewed, just as the spiritual world is from sin in the angelic world. This renewal of the material world must take place "on the last day"(John 6:54), on the day when the last judgment of the world takes place - and it will happen through fire. Antediluvian humanity perished, being drowned by water: " and the present heavens and earth, contained by the same Word, are reserved for fire against the day of judgment and destruction of wicked men"-instructs the Apostle Peter (2 Pet. 3:7). " The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, and then the heavens will pass away with a noise, the elements will be destroyed with a burning fire, the earth and all the works on it will be burned up... according to the promise, we look forward to a new heaven and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells"(2 Pet. 3, 10, 13).

The psalmist also predicted that the present world is not eternal, crying out to God: “ In the beginning You founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will remain, and they will all wear out like a robe, and You will change them like a garment, and they will be changed."(Ps. 101, 26-27). And the Lord Jesus Christ said: " Heaven and earth will pass away"(Matthew 24, 35).

The end of the world will not consist in its complete destruction and destruction, but in complete change and renewal. The Fifth Ecumenical Council, refuting various false teachings of the Origenists, solemnly condemned their false teaching that the material world would not only be transformed, but would be completely destroyed. As for those people whom the coming of the Lord will find living on earth, then, according to the apostolic word, an instant change will happen to them, the same as with the resurrected dead: " We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise incorruptible, and we will be changed: for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."(1 Cor. 15, 51-53).

General Court

(Rev. 21 and 22 chapters)

Among the numerous evidence of the reality and indisputability of the future General Judgment (John 5, 22; 5, 27-29; Matt. 16, 27; 7, 21-23; 11, 22 and 24, 35 and 41-42; 13, 37 -43, 19, 28-30; 24, 30; 25, 31-46. Acts 17, 31. Jude 1, 14-15. 2 Cor. 5, 10. Rom. 2, 5-7; 14, 10. 1 Cor. 4, 5. Eph. 6, 8. Col. 3, 24-25. 2 Thess. 1, 6-10. 2 Tim. 4, 1. Rev. 20, 11-15) is most fully represented the image of this final judgment by the Savior (Matthew 25:31-46) " When will the Son of Man come in His glory...". From this image we can conclude about the properties of the court. It will be:

Universal, i.e. extending to all people, living and dead, good and evil, and according to other indications of the word of God, even to the fallen angels themselves (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 1:6);

Solemn and open, for the Judge will appear in all His glory, with all the holy angels, in the face of the whole world;

Strict and terrible, carried out according to all the truth of God, and " That day will be the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God."(Rom. 2:5);

The last and final, determining the fate of everyone judged for all eternity. The result of the Judgment will be eternal reward - the bliss of the righteous and the torment of the condemned wicked.

Depicting in the brightest and most joyful terms the eternal life of the righteous after the General Judgment, the word of God speaks with the same affirmation and certainty about the eternal torment of the wicked. " Depart from Me, cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, - the Son of Man will say on the day of judgment - ... and these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life"(Matthew 25:41-46). This state of torment is presented figuratively in the Holy Scriptures as a place of torment and is called "gehenna" (the image of fiery Gehenna is taken from the Oenom Valley, which is located outside of Jerusalem, where capital punishments were once carried out, as well as all kinds of sewage were dumped, as a result of which, to protect against infection, a fire was always maintained there.) The Lord says: " If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off: it is better for you to enter into life maimed, than to go with two hands into hell, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched."(Mark 9:43-49)" There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth"- the Savior repeated more than once about Gehenna (Matthew 8:12, etc.). In the Revelation of John the Theologian, this place or state is called the “lake of fire” (Rev. 19:20). And in the Apostle Paul: “ In flaming fire he takes vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."(1 Thess. 1:8). The images: the undying worm and the unquenchable fire are obviously symbolic and indicate the severity of torment. St. John of Damascus notes: "Sinners will be consigned to eternal fire, not as material as ours, but such as is known to God alone" (St. John of Damascus).

“I know,” writes St. John Chrysostom, “that many are horrified by Gehenna alone; but I think that the deprivation of that glory (the glory of the Kingdom of God) is a crueler torment than Gehenna” (On the Gospel of Matthew, Conversation 23). “This deprivation of goods,” he argues in another place, “will cause such torment, such sorrow and oppression that even if no execution awaited those who sinned here, then it in itself, stronger than the torments of Gehenna, can tear and revolt our souls... Many foolish people only want to get rid of Gehenna, but I consider the punishment of Gehenna to be much more painful than not being in that glory; and I think that those who have lost it should cry not so much for the torment of Gehenna as for the deprivation of heavenly blessings; for this alone is the cruelest of all. all punishments" (Homily 1 to Theodore).

We read the same explanation in St. Irenea (Against heresies).

St. Gregory the Theologian teaches: “Recognize the resurrection, judgment and reward as the righteous judgment of God. And this reward for those who are purified in heart will be light, that is, God visible and cognizable to the extent of purity, which we call the Kingdom of Heaven, and for those blind in mind, that is for those alienated from God, due to the myopia here, there will be darkness" (Baptismal Word).

The Church, based on the word of God, recognizes the torment of Gehenna as eternal and endless, and therefore at the Fifth Ecumenical Council it condemned the false teaching of the Origenists that demons and wicked people will suffer in hell only for a certain time, and then will be restored to their primitive state of innocence (apokatastasis). . Condemnation at the General Judgment is named in the Revelation of St. John the Theologian "by the second death" (Rev. 20:14).

The desire to understand the torment of Gehenna in a relative sense - eternity, as a certain age, a period, perhaps long, but finite, as in ancient times was encountered, and is encountered today, or even the reality of these torments is generally denied. In this case, considerations of a logical nature are given, the discrepancy between torment and the goodness of God is pointed out; to the disproportion that seems to us between temporary crimes and the eternity of punishments for sin; to their inconsistency with the ultimate goal of human creation, which is bliss in God. But it is not for us to determine the boundaries between the ineffable mercy of God and the truth - His justice. We know that the Lord “wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” But a person is capable of pushing away God’s mercy and the means of salvation with his own evil will. St. John Chrysostom, interpreting the image of the Last Judgment, notes: “When He (the Lord) spoke about the kingdom, he said: "Come, you blessed ones, inherit the kingdom", he added: "that which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world", and speaking about fire, he didn’t say that, but added: “ prepared for the devil and his angels"(Matthew 25:34-41). For I have prepared the kingdom for you, but fire is not for you, but for the devil and his angels. But since you cast yourselves into fire, you blame yourselves for this."

We have no right to understand the words of the Lord only conditionally, as a threat, as some kind of pedagogical measure used by the Savior. If we understand this, we will sin, since the Savior does not instill in us such an understanding, and we will subject ourselves to the wrath of God, according to the words of the psalmist: “ Why does the wicked despise God, saying in his heart: “You will not require it?”"(Ps. 9:34).

However, the very concept of “anger” in relation to God is conditional and humanoid, as we learn about this from the instructions of St. Anthony the Great. He says:

“God is good and impassive and unchangeable. If anyone, recognizing that it is blessed and true that God does not change, is nevertheless perplexed as to how He (being such) rejoices over the good, turns away from the evil, is angry with sinners, and when they repent, is merciful to them: then in response to this it must be said that God does not rejoice and is not angry, for joy and anger are passions. It is absurd to think that God would feel good or bad from human affairs. God is good and does only good things, but does not harm anyone, always remaining the same. And when we are good, we enter into communication with God, out of similarity with Him, and when we become evil, we move away from Him, out of dissimilarity with Him. Living virtuously, we become God's, and when we become evil, we become rejected from Him, and this does not mean that He has anger against us, but the fact that our sins do not allow God to shine on us, but unite us with tormenting demons. If then through prayers and good deeds we receive permission from our sins, this does not mean that we have pleased God and changed Him, but that through such actions and our turning to God, having healed the evil that exists in us, we again become able to taste God’s goodness; so to say: God turns away from the wicked is the same as saying: the sun is hidden from those deprived of sight" (Philokalia).

Also worthy of attention is the simple reasoning on this matter by St. Feofan Vyshensky the Recluse:

“The righteous will go into eternal life, and the demonized sinners will go into eternal torment, into community with demons. Will these torments end? If Satan’s malice and satanism end, then the torment will end. Will Satan’s malice and satanism end? Let’s see and see then. .. Until then, let us believe that just as eternal life has no end, so the eternal torment that threatens sinners will have no end. No fortune telling proves the possibility of ending Satanism. What Satan did not see after his fall! How many powers of God have been revealed! How he himself is amazed by the power of the Cross of the Lord! How all his cunning and malice are still amazed by this power! And everything numbs him, everything goes against him: and the further he goes, the more he persists. No, there is no hope for him to improve! What if there is no hope for him? ", then there is no hope for people who are maddened by its action. This means that it is impossible not to end up in hell with eternal torment."

The writings of venerable Christian ascetics show that the higher moral consciousness rises, the sharper becomes the sense of moral responsibility, the fear of offending God and the consciousness of the inevitability of punishment for deviating from God’s commandments. But the hope in God’s mercy also grows, and each of us should be comforted by hoping for it and asking for it from the Lord.

Kingdom of Glory

With the end of this age and the transformation of the world into a new, better world, the eternal Kingdom of God, the kingdom of glory, will open.

Then the “kingdom of grace” will end - the existence of the Church on earth, the militant Church; The heavenly Church will enter this kingdom of glory and merge with the Heavenly Church. " And then the end, when He will hand over the Kingdom to God and the Father, when He will abolish all authority and all authority and power; for He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy will be destroyed - death... When everything is subdued to Him (the Father), then the Son Himself will submit to Him who subdued everything to Him, so that God will be all in all"(1 Cor. 15:24-28). These words should be understood as the fulfillment of the mission of the Son, received by Him from the Father and consisting in bringing humanity to God through the Church. Then the Son will reign in the kingdom of glory together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, And " His kingdom will have no end“, as the Archangel preached to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:33). “For,” as St. says. Cyril of Jerusalem, “He who reigned before he overthrew his enemies, will he not reign all the more after he defeats them?” (St. Cyril of Jerusalem).

Death will have no power in the kingdom of glory. " The last enemy will be abolished, death... then the word that is written will come true: death is swallowed up in victory" (1 Cor. 15, 26; 15, 54) " And there will be no more time"(Rev. 10:6).

The eternal blessed life is figuratively presented in Revelation, chapter 21. " And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth have passed away, and the sea is no more". In the future kingdom everything will be spiritual, immortal and holy.

The main thing is that those who have reached the future blessed life and become " partakers of the divine nature"(2 Pet. 1:4), will be participants in that most perfect life, the source of which is in God alone. In particular, future members of the kingdom of God will be honored, like the angels, to see God (Matthew 5:8), will contemplate His glory not as " through a dark glass, not fortune-telling, but face to face"(1 Cor. 13:12) - and not only contemplate, but also participate in it themselves, shining like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43), being" joint heirs with Christ", sitting with Christ on the throne and sharing with Him His royal majesty (Rev. 3:21; 2 Tim. 2:11-12).

As symbolized in Revelation, " they will no longer hunger or thirst, and the sun will not scorch them and no heat will burn them, for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will feed them and lead them to living springs of water; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes"(Rev. 7:16). As the prophet Isaiah says: " The eye has not seen, the ear has not heard, and it has not entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him."(Isa. 64:4; 1 Cor. 2:9). Bliss in God will be all the more desirable because it will be endlessly eternal:" and the righteous will go into eternal life"(Matthew 25, 46).

However, this word in God, according to the thoughts of the holy fathers of the Church, will have its own degrees, according to the moral dignity of each, which can be concluded from the words of Holy Scripture: " In My Father's house are many mansions" (John 14:2); " everyone will receive their reward according to their labor"(1 Cor. 3:8); " star differs from star in glory"(1 Cor. 15:41).

St. Ephraim the Syrian says: “Just as everyone enjoys the rays of the sensual sun according to the purity of visual power and impression, and just as from one lamp illuminating a house, each ray has its own place, while the light is not divided into many lamps, so in the future age all the righteous will be established inseparably in a single joy, but each, in his own measure, will be illuminated by a single mental sun and, according to the degree of dignity, will draw joy and joy, as if in one air and place. And no one will see the measure of the highest and the lowest, so that, looking on the superior grace of another and on one’s own deprivation, not to have in this for oneself a reason for sorrow and anxiety. Let this not happen where there is neither sorrow nor sighing, but everyone, according to the grace due to him, in his own measure will rejoice internally, and according to outwardly, everyone will have one contemplation and one joy" (about the heavenly abodes).

We conclude this presentation of the truths of the Christian Orthodox faith with the words of Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow in his “Course of Dogmatic Theology”:

“Grant us, Lord, always, to all of us, the living and unceasing memory of Your future glorious coming, Your last, terrible judgment on us, Your most righteous and eternal reward for the righteous and sinners, and in the light of it and Your gracious help, lived chastely and righteously and piously in this present age(Tit. 2, 12); and thus we will finally achieve an eternally blissful life in heaven, so that with all our being we can glorify You, with Your beginningless Father and Your all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, forever and ever.”

Application

On new trends in Russian philosophical and theological thought, from the point of view of the dogmas of the Orthodox Christian faith

The Question of Dogmatic Development

The topic of dogmatic development has long been the subject of discussion in theological literature: is it possible to recognize, from the church point of view, the development of dogmas or not? In most cases, the dispute here is essentially about words; The discrepancy arises due to the fact that different meanings are put into the term “development”: is “development” understood as the disclosure of what is already given, or as the discovery of something new? The general view of theological thought agrees that the church consciousness from the apostles to the end of the life of the Church, being guided by the Holy Spirit, is one and the same in its essence. Christian teaching, the volume of Divine Revelation, are unchanged. The doctrine of the Church does not develop, and over the centuries the church’s identity does not become richer, deeper and broader than it was among the apostles, and is not subject to additions. Although the Church is always led by the Holy Spirit, we do not see and do not expect new dogmatic revelations in the history of the Church.

This view of dogmatic development is inherent, in particular, in Russian theological thought of the 19th century. The apparent difference in the judgments of different individuals depended on the discussion situation. In discussions with Protestants, it was natural to defend the right of the Church to develop dogmas, in the sense of the right of Councils to establish and sanction dogmatic provisions. In discussions with Roman Catholics it was necessary to object to the willful dogmatic innovations made by the Roman Church in modern times and, thus, to the principle of creating new dogmas not committed by the ancient Church. In particular, the Old Catholic question in the second half of the 19th century, with an attempt to bring Old Catholics closer to Orthodoxy, with both sides pushing away from the Vatican dogma of papal infallibility, strengthened in Russian theological thought a restrictive point of view on the issue of dogmatic development, which did not approve of the establishment of new dogmatic definitions.

In the 80s we encountered a different approach to this issue. Vladimir Solovyov, who was inclined to unite Orthodoxy with the Roman Church, wanting to justify the dogmatic development of the Roman Church, defends the idea of ​​developing the dogmatic consciousness of the Church. “The Body of Christ,” he argues, “changes and improves,” like any organism; the original “deposit” of faith in the history of Christianity is revealed and clarified; “Orthodoxy is not maintained by antiquity alone, but lives forever by the Spirit of God.”

Solovyov was encouraged to defend the point of view of “development” not only by his sympathy for the Roman Church, but also by his own religious and philosophical constructs. These were his thoughts about Sophia - the Wisdom of God, about God-manhood as a historical process, and others. Fascinated by his metaphysical system, Soloviev in the 90s began to teach the doctrine of “eternal Femininity,” which, he says, “is not just an inactive image in the mind of God, but a living spiritual being, possessing all the fullness of powers and actions. The entire world and the historical process is the process of its realization and embodiment in a great variety of forms and degrees... The heavenly object of our love is only one, always and for everyone the same - the eternal Femininity of God..."

Thus, a number of new concepts began to enter Russian religious thought. These concepts did not cause much resistance in Russian theological science, since they were expressed more as philosophical thoughts than theological ones.

Solovyov knew how to inspire interest in religious problems in wide circles of Russian educated society with his literary and oral speeches. However, this interest was combined with a deviation from the true Orthodox way of thinking. This was expressed, for example, at the St. Petersburg “Religious and Philosophical Meetings” of 1901-1903. Here the questions were raised: “Can the dogmatic teaching of the Church be considered complete? Can we not expect new revelations? How can new religious creativity in Christianity be expressed, and how can it be reconciled with the Holy Scriptures and Tradition of the Church, the definitions of the Ecumenical Councils and the teachings of the Holy Fathers ?" Particularly characteristic were the debates about “dogmatic development.”

In Russian religious and social thought, since the beginning of the current century, there has been an expectation of the awakening of a “new religious consciousness” on Orthodox soil. Thoughts began to be expressed that theology should not be afraid of new revelations, that dogmatics should make wider use of a rational basis, that it cannot completely ignore modern personal prophetic inspiration, that the range of basic problems of dogmatics should be expanded, so that dogmatics itself represents a complete philosophical and theological system worldview. The unique ideas expressed by Solovyov received further development and modifications; among them, the sophiological problem came first. Outstanding representatives of the new trend were the priest Pavel Florensky ("The Pillar and Ground of Truth" and other works), Sergei Bulgakov, later an archpriest (his later sophiological works: "The Light of the Night", "The Burning Bush", "Hypostasis and Hypostasis", "Friend" Bridegroom", "Lamb of God", "Comforter", "Revelation of John" and others).

In connection with these requests, it is natural for us to pose the question ourselves: does dogmatic science, in its usual construction, satisfy the need of a Christian to form a holistic worldview? Doesn't dogmatics, if it refuses to recognize the principle of development, remain a lifeless collection of disparate dogmas?

It must be said with all confidence that the range of revealed truths included in the accepted systems of dogmatic theology makes it possible to form a high and at the same time clear and simple worldview. Dogmatic theology, built on the foundation of solid dogmatic truths, speaks of a Personal God, inexpressibly close to us, who does not need intermediaries between Him and creation, about God in the Holy Trinity, " Who is above all, and through all, and in us all"(Eph. 4:6) - above us, with us and in us; about God, who loves His creations, is humane and condescending to our weaknesses, but does not deprive His creatures of freedom, speaks about man and humanity, his high purpose and high spiritual possibilities and at the same time about his sad present moral level, his fall; represents the path and means to return to the lost paradise, opened by the incarnation and death on the cross of the Son of God, and the path to achieving eternal blissful life. All these are vital truths. Here faith and life, knowledge and its application in action are inseparable.

Dogmatic science does not pretend to fully satisfy the inquisitiveness of the human mind. There is no doubt that only a small part of the knowledge about God and the spiritual world is revealed to our spiritual gaze by Divine Revelation. We see, according to the words of the apostle, " as if through a dark glass, fortune-telling"(1 Cor. 13:12). Countless mysteries of God remain closed to us.

But it must be said that attempts to expand the boundaries of theology on a mystical or rational basis, which appeared both in ancient and modern times, do not lead to a more complete knowledge of God and the world. These constructions lead into the jungle of subtle mental speculation and expose thought to new difficulties. The main thing is that vague discussions about the inner life in God, as we see them among some theologians who have taken the path of philosophizing in theology, are not in harmony with the feeling of reverence, with the consciousness and feeling of closeness to the holiness of God, and drown out this feeling.

However, these considerations do not at all deny any development in the dogmatic field. What is subject to development in it? The history of the Church shows that the number of dogmas in the narrow sense of the word gradually increased. It was not dogmas that developed, but the area of ​​dogmas in the history of the Church expanded until it reached its limit, given by the Holy Scriptures. In other words, the number of truths of faith that received precise formulation at Ecumenical Councils or generally approved by Ecumenical Councils has increased. The work of the Church in this direction consisted of precisely defining dogmatic provisions, explaining them, substantiating them on the word of God, confirming them by Church Tradition, and declaring them binding on all believers. In this work of the Church, the scope of dogmatic truths remains essentially always the same. But in view of the invasion of heterodox opinions and teachings, the Church sanctions some dogmatic provisions - Orthodox and rejects others - heretical. It cannot be denied that thanks to dogmatic definitions, the content of faith became clearer in the consciousness of the church people and the church hierarchy itself.

Theological science is subject to further development. Dogmatic science can diversify in methods, be replenished with material for study, use more widely or already use data from exegesis (interpretation of the text of Holy Scripture), biblical philology, church history, patristic writings, as well as rational considerations; may respond more fully or weakly to heresies, false teachings and various currents of modern religious thought. But theological science is an external subject in relation to the spiritual life of the Church. It only studies the work of the Church and its dogmatic and other definitions. Dogmatic theology, as a science, can develop on its own, but cannot develop and improve the teaching of the Church (an approximate analogy can be seen in the study of the work of a writer: Pushkin studies are growing, but this does not increase the amount of images and thoughts put into his works by the poet). The flourishing or decline of theological science may or may not coincide with the general level, rise or decline of spiritual life in the Church in one or another historical period. The development of theological science can be delayed without harming the essence of spiritual life. Theological science is not called upon to lead the Church as a whole: it must itself seek and strictly adhere to the guidance of church consciousness.

It is given to us to know what is necessary for the good of our souls. Knowledge about God, Divine life and Divine providence is given to people to the extent that it has a direct moral, life application. The apostle teaches us this when he writes: " Since His Divine power has given us everything we need for life and piety... then you, applying every effort to this, show virtue in your faith, in virtue prudence, in prudence abstinence, in abstinence patience, in patience piety, in piety brotherly love, in brotherly love there is love"(2 Pet. 1:3-7). For a Christian, the most essential thing is moral improvement. Everything else that the word of God and the Church gives him is a means to this main goal.

Philosophy and theology

The view penetrates into modern theological thought that Christian dogmatic theology must be completed, “fertilized,” illuminated by philosophical justification and must absorb philosophical concepts.

“To justify the faith of our fathers, to elevate it to a new level of rational consciousness...” - this is how Vladimir Solovyov defines his task at the beginning of one of his works (“The History and Future of Theocracy”). There would be essentially nothing reprehensible in a problem formulated in this way. However, one must be wary of mixing two areas - dogmatic science and philosophy, a confusion that is ready to lead to confusion and to obscuring their purpose, their content and their methods.

In the first centuries of Christianity, church writers and Church Fathers widely responded to the philosophical ideas of their time and themselves used the concepts developed by philosophy. Why? By this they built a bridge from Greek philosophy to Christian philosophy. Christianity acted as a worldview that should replace the philosophical views of the ancient world, as standing above them. Having become the official state religion in the 4th century, it was called upon by the state itself to replace all previously existing systems of worldviews. This can explain that at the First Ecumenical Council, in the presence of the emperor, a dispute between Christian teachers of the faith and the “philosopher” took place. But more than just a replacement was needed. Christian apologetics took upon itself the task of mastering pagan philosophical thought and directing its concepts into the mainstream of Christianity. Plato's ideas appear before Christian writers as a preparatory stage in paganism for Divine revelation. In addition, Orthodoxy had to fight Arianism not so much on the basis of the Holy Scriptures, but philosophically, since Arianism adopted its main error from Greek philosophy, namely, the doctrine of the Logos as a principle mediating between God and the world, standing below the Divinity Himself. But with all this, the general direction of all patristic thought was such that all the truths of the Christian faith were based on the foundation of Divine revelation, and not on rational abstract conclusions. St. Basil the Great in his treatise “What benefits can be derived from pagan writings” gives examples of how to use the edifying material contained in them.

With the general spread of Christian concepts, interest in Greek philosophy gradually fades away in the patristic writings. This is understandable. Theology and philosophy differ primarily in their content. The Savior's preaching on earth proclaimed to people not abstract ideas, but new life for the Kingdom of God; The preaching of the apostles was the preaching of salvation in Christ. Therefore, Christian dogmatic theology has as its most important subject a comprehensive consideration of the doctrine of salvation, its necessity and the paths to it. In its main content, theology is soteriological (from the Greek word for “salvation”). Questions of ontology (the essence of being) - about God in Himself, about the essence of the world and the nature of man - are treated by dogmatic theology in a very limited form. This happens not only because in such a limited form (and about God - in a hidden form) they are given to us in the Holy Scriptures, but also for psychological reasons. Silence regarding the inner life in God is an expression of a living feeling of the omnipresence of God, reverence for Him, fear of God. In the Old Testament, this feeling led to the fear of calling the very name of God. Only in the rise of reverent feeling does the thought of the Church Fathers at certain moments rise to the contemplation of intradivine life. The main area of ​​their speculation is the truth of the Holy Trinity revealed in the New Testament. Christian Orthodox theology as a whole follows this line.

Philosophy is directed along a different line. She is mainly interested in questions of ontology: about the essence of being, about the unity of being, about the relationship between the absolute beginning and the world in its concrete phenomena, and so on. Philosophy, by its nature, comes from skepticism, from doubting what our perceptions tell us and, even coming to faith in God (in its idealistic direction), talks about God “objectively”, as an object of cold knowledge, an object subject to rational consideration, definition, clarification of its essence, its relationship as an absolute being to the world of phenomena.

These two areas - dogmatic theology and philosophy - also differ in their methods and sources.

The source of theology is Divine revelation, contained in Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition. The fundamental character of Holy Scripture and Tradition rests on our faith in their truth. Theology studies and collects the material found in these sources, systematizes it, gives it an appropriate distribution, using in this work the same techniques that experimental sciences use.

Philosophy is rational, abstract. It does not come from faith, like theology, but is based either on the indisputable fundamental principles of reason, deriving further conclusions from them, or on the data of science or universal knowledge.

Therefore, it can hardly be said that philosophy is capable of raising the religion of the fathers to the level of knowledge.

However, these differences do not fundamentally deny the cooperation of these two areas. Philosophy itself comes to the conclusion that there are boundaries that human thought by its very nature is not able to cross. The very fact that the history of philosophy throughout almost its entire length has two currents - idealistic and materialistic - shows that its construction depends on the personal preset of the mind and heart, in other words, it rests on foundations that lie beyond the border of provability. What lies beyond the boundaries of provability is the realm of faith, negative, irreligious faith, or positive, religious faith. For religious thought, this “lying above” is the sphere of Divine revelation.

At this point there is the possibility of connecting two areas of knowledge: theology and philosophy. This is how religious philosophy is created; in Christianity - Christian philosophy.

But Christian religious philosophy has a difficult path: to combine freedom of thought, as a principle of philosophy, with fidelity to dogmas and the entire teaching of the Church. “Follow the free road where your free mind leads you,” says the duty of the thinker; “Be faithful to Divine truth,” the duty of a Christian inspires him. Therefore, one can always expect that in practical implementation the compilers of systems of Christian philosophy will be forced to sacrifice, wittingly or unwittingly, the principles of one area in favor of another. Church consciousness welcomes sincere experiments in creating a harmonious philosophical and Christian worldview. But the Church looks at them as private, personal constructions and does not sanction them with its authority. In any case, a clear demarcation between dogmatic theology and Christian philosophy is necessary, and any attempts to transform dogmatics into Christian philosophy must be rejected.

Notes on the religious and philosophical system of V. S. Solovyov

The impetus for new trends in Russian philosophical and theological thought was given, as stated, by Vladimir Solovyov, who set himself the task of “justifying the faith of the fathers” before the minds of his contemporaries. Unfortunately, he made a number of direct deviations from the Orthodox Christian way of thinking, many of which were adopted and even developed by his successors.

Here are a number of points from Solovyov that are striking in their difference and even direct deviation from the doctrine professed by the Church.

1) Christianity is presented by him as the highest stage in the consistent development of religions. According to Solovyov, all religions are true, but one-sided; Christianity synthesizes the positive aspects of previous religions. He writes: “Just as external nature is only gradually revealed to the mind of humanity, as a result of which we must talk about the development of experience and natural science, so the divine principle is gradually revealed to human consciousness and we must talk about the development of religious experience and thinking... Religious development is a process positive and objective, this is the real interaction of God and man - a divine-human process. It is clear that not one of its stages, not one of the moments of the religious process can in itself be a lie and delusion. False religion is a contradictio in adjecto."

2) The teaching about the salvation of the world, as given by the apostles, has been pushed aside. According to Solovyov, Christ came to earth not to save the human race, but came to elevate it to the highest level in the order of the consistent revelation of the divine principle in the world, the ascension and deification of humanity and the world. Christ is the highest link in the series of theophanies (epiphanies), crowning the former theophanies.

3) The attention of Solovyov’s theology is directed to the ontological side of being, i.e. the life of God in Himself, and, due to the lack of data in the Holy Scriptures, thought resorts to arbitrary constructions - rational or based on imagination.

4) A being is introduced into Divine life, standing on the border between the Divine and created worlds, called Sophia.

5) The difference between male and female principles is introduced into Divine life. In Solovyov it is somewhat obscured. Father Pavel Florensky, following Solovyov, introduces Sophia this way: “This is a great, royal and feminine Being who, being neither God, nor the eternal Son of God, nor an angel, nor a holy man, receives veneration from both the finalizer of the Old Testament and the Founder New" ("The Pillar and Ground of Truth").

6) A spontaneous principle of striving is introduced into the Divine life, forcing God the Logos Himself to participate in a certain process, subordinating Him to the process that should raise the world from a state of pure materiality and inertia to the highest, most perfect forms of being.

7) God, as the Absolute, God the Father, is presented as distant and inaccessible to the world and man. He withdraws from the world, contrary to the word of God, into the inaccessible region of being, which, like absolute being, does not have contact with relative being, with the world of phenomena. Therefore, according to Solovyov, a Mediator is needed between the Absolute and the world. Such a Mediator is the “Logos” incarnate in Christ.

8) According to Solovyov, the first Adam united in himself the divine and human natures, similar to their relationship in the God-manhood of the incarnate Word, only he violated this relationship. If so, then the deification of man is not only the grace-filled sanctification of man, but is the restoration of God-humanity in him, the restoration of two natures. But this does not agree with the entire teaching of the Church, which understands deification only as grace. “It never was and never will be,” says the reverend. John of Damascus, “another man, consisting of Divinity and humanity,” besides Jesus Christ.

9) Solovyov writes: “God is the omnipotent Creator and Almighty, but not the ruler of the earth and the creatures that come from it... Divinity... is incommensurable with earthly creatures and can have a moral and practical relationship to them (power, domination, control) only through the mediation of man, who, as a divine-earthly being, is commensurate with both the Divine and material nature. Thus, man is a necessary subject of the true rule of God" ("History and Future of Theocracy"). This statement is unacceptable from the point of view of the glory and power of God and, as stated, is contrary to the word of God. Yes, it does not answer even simple observation. Man subjugates nature not in the name of God, as a mediator between God and the world, but for his own purposes and selfish needs.

Some points of discrepancy between Solovyov’s views and the teachings of the Church noted here show the unacceptability of Solovyov’s religious system in its entirety for the Orthodox consciousness.

Teaching about the wisdom of God in the word of God

The word “Sophia”, “Wisdom”, is found in the sacred books of both the Old (in Greek translation) and the New Testament.

In the New Testament Scriptures it is used in three meanings:

1) in the usual broad sense of wisdom, rationality: " But Jesus increased in wisdom and age and in love..." (Luke 2:52); " And wisdom is justified by all her children"(Luke 7:35);

2) in the meaning of the wise economy of God, expressed in the creation of the world, in the providence for the world and in the salvation of the world from sin: " Oh, the abyss of wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God!... who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who was His adviser?" (Rom. 11, 33-34); " we preach the wisdom of God, secret, hidden, which God ordained before the ages for our glory"(1 Cor. 2:7);

3) in relation to the Son of God, as the Hypostatic Wisdom of God: " we preach Christ crucified... Christ, God's power and God's wisdom" (1 Cor. 1, 23-24); " who became wisdom from God to us"(1 Cor. 1:30).

In the Old Testament Holy Scripture we find wisdom in many places. And here are the same three meanings of this term. Wisdom is especially spoken of in the book of Proverbs and in two non-canonical books: the Wisdom of Solomon and the Wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach.

1) In most cases, human wisdom is presented here as a gift from God that should be exclusively treasured. The very names “Wisdom of Solomon”, “Wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach” - show in what sense - namely, in the sense of human wisdom - this word must be understood here. Other Old Testament books contain individual episodes that specifically depict human wisdom, for example, the famous judgment of Solomon. The above-mentioned books introduce us to the direction of thought of the inspired teachers of the Jewish people. These teachers instill in the people to be guided by reason, not to succumb to blind inclinations and passions, and to adhere firmly in their actions to the dictates of prudence, prudence, the moral law, and the firm foundations of duty in personal, family and social life. Much of the thought in the book of Proverbs is devoted to this topic.

The title of this book, “The Book of Proverbs,” warns the reader that it will encounter figurative, metaphorical and allegorical modes of presentation. In the introduction to the book, after indicating the topic “On Reason, Wisdom and Punishment,” the author expresses the confidence that “ the intelligent... will understand the parable and the intricate speech, the words of the wise and their riddles"(Proverbs 1:6); that is, he will understand the figurativeness, the influx, the mystery of words, without taking all the images in the literal sense. And indeed, in further discussions, an abundance of images and personifications is revealed the wisdom that a person is capable of possessing. "Acquire wisdom, acquire reason... say to wisdom: you are my sister, and call reason your relatives"that is, make him your "close one" (Proverbs 7:4); " Don't leave her and she will protect you; love her, and she will protect you; value it highly, and it will exalt you; she will glorify you if you cleave to her, she will place a beautiful crown on your head, she will protect you with a crown of sweetness..."(Prov. 4, 55; 6, 8-9). She " calls at the gate at the entrance to the city, at the entrance to the door"(Proverbs 8:3). The book of the Wisdom of Solomon contains the same kind of thoughts about human wisdom.

Of course, all these speeches about wisdom can in no way be understood as a teaching about personal wisdom - the soul of the world, in the Sophian sense. A person owns it, acquires it, loses it, it serves him, its beginning is called “the fear of the Lord”; next to wisdom they are also called “reason” and “punishment”, “knowledge”.

2) Where does wisdom come from? She, like everything in the world, has one source - in God. " The Lord gives wisdom, from His mouth knowledge and understanding"(Proverbs 2:6). - God" is a guide to wisdom and a corrector of the wise"(Wis. 7, 15).

To this wisdom of God, wisdom in God Himself, refers to the second group of sayings. Thoughts about wisdom in God alternate with thoughts about wisdom in man.

If the dignity of reason and wisdom is so high in man, how majestic they are in God Himself! The writer resorts to the most majestic expressions possible in order to present the power and greatness of God's wisdom. He makes extensive use of personification here too. He speaks of the greatness of God's plans, which, according to our human understanding, seemed to precede creation; since the wisdom of God lies at the basis of everything that exists, so it is first of all, before everything that exists. " The Lord had me as the beginning of His path, before His creatures, from time immemorial, from the beginning I was anointed, from the beginning, before the existence of the earth. I was born when there were no deeps yet, when there were no springs abundant with water... I was born before the mountains were erected, before the hills... When He prepared the heavens, I was there..."The author speaks about the beauty of the world, expressing figuratively the same thing that was said about creation in the book of Genesis (" everything is very good"). He speaks on behalf of wisdom: " Then I was an artist with Him, and I was a joy every day, rejoicing in His face all the time."(Proverbs 8:22-30).

In all the above and similar images of wisdom, there is no reason to see in the literal sense some kind of spiritual being, personal, different from God Himself, the soul of the world or the idea of ​​the world. The images given here do not correspond to this: the ideological “essence of the world” could not be called “present” at the creation of the world (Wisdom 9:9), - only something extraneous to the Creator and the created can be present; equally, it could not be an instrument of creation if it itself constituted the soul of the created world. Thus, in the above expressions it is natural to see personifications, although they are so expressive that they are close to hypostasis.

3) Finally, the writer of the book of Proverbs prophetically ascends in thought to the pre-image New Testament economy of God which will be revealed in the preaching of the Savior of the world, in the salvation of the world and man, and in the creation of the New Testament Church. This pre-image is found in the first verses of the 9th chapter of the book of Proverbs: " Wisdom built herself a house, hewed out its seven pillars, slaughtered the sacrifice, dissolved wine in her cup..." and so on (Proverbs 9: 1-6). This majestic image is equal in power to the prophecies about the Savior of the Old Testament prophets. Since the economy of salvation was accomplished by the Son of God, the holy fathers of the Church, and after them the Orthodox interpreters of the book in general, attribute the name of the wisdom of God , essentially belonging to the Holy Trinity as a whole, to the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God, as the Executor of the Council of the Holy Trinity.

By analogy with this place, those images of the book of Proverbs, which were indicated above, relating to wisdom in God (Proverbs 8), are interpreted in application to the Son of God. When the Old Testament writers, to whom the mystery of the Holy Trinity was not fully revealed, express: “ You created all things with wisdom“, - then for the New Testament believer, for the Christian, under the name of “Word” and under the name of “Wisdom” the Second Person, the Son of God, is revealed.

The Son of God, as the Hypostasis of the Holy Trinity, contains within Himself all the divine properties in the same completeness as the Father and the Holy Spirit. But, as having revealed these properties to the world in its creation and in its salvation, He is called the Hypostatic Wisdom of God. With the same reason, the Son of God can be called both Hypostatic Love (St. Simeon the New Theologian) and Hypostatic Light (“ walk while there is Light"(John 12:35)), and Hypostatic Life ("for you gave birth to Hypostasis" - canon of the Annunciation, canto 8) and Hypostatic Power of God (" we preach... Christ, the power of God..."(1 Cor. 1:24)).

You should also pay attention to chapter 7 of the book of the Wisdom of Solomon. Here about the wisdom given to man by God, it is said that it acts - " She is a rational spirit, holy, only-begotten, many-parted, subtle, easily mobile, light, pure, clear, harmless... humane, carefree, omnipotent, all-seeing..., the radiance of the ever-present light..." (Wis. 7, 22-30). In these words, the truth about the Holy Spirit, about His good power, spilled by Him throughout the world, and about His grace, bestowed by Him and enlightening, is revealed to the Christian - already slightly revealed to the pious Old Testament writer. a believer.

The properties of the “Spirit of Reason” indicated here: holy, philanthropic, omnipotent, all-seeing, can also be applied to the concept of “idea of ​​the world” or “soul of the world.”

Sophia, the wisdom of God

"I remember the days of old"(Ps. 143:5).

It is not the ideas of the philosophical construction of the so-called “Sophianism” that are intended to occupy some of the reader’s attention with these lines. The recently fashionable system of “Sophianism” is apparently losing its former interest and can hardly remain viable for long.

We are occupied by another subject of thought that directly concerns each of us, the question of our soul, our life: this subject is our mind.

“Majestic mind”, “guidance of reason”, “light of reason”, and at the same time - “mind of the heart”, “intelligent eyes of the heart” - “Give me intelligent eyes of the heart, may I not sleep in death”: so often our Christian teachers of life , fathers and ascetics of the Church, express themselves by speaking about the importance of reason in our actions and in the formation of our whole life worldview. It says here that reason is the light of the human soul, its highest value, clear, and at the same time deeply mysterious. The area of ​​the mind is much wider than the brain; it permeates our entire being; in a way hidden to us, it acts throughout the entire body. Reason is a creative force inherent in our nature by the Creator. He is at the same time the source and leader of all the activities of our body. It unites our entire psyche, and if all of it, then it also includes our “faith”, faith as an ability, regardless of its content, faith as “trust”, as life force, for, what would have happened, if you didn’t believe in tomorrow? A person is not omniscient, and he “trusts” himself to the experience of others, communication with everything that surrounds him. Reason and faith are not two parallel elements in a person, but two properties of the soul that interpenetrate. The highest form of faith is religious faith. And a true worldview cannot be established in a person’s consciousness, the worldview that gives meaning to his life, if he bases it only on his own knowledge or even on the knowledge achieved by others. The consistency that a person achieves in the field of knowledge and faith has long been called “wisdom”, expressed by the Greek “vous” - “mind”, as the highest point of rationality, - by the Latin “sapientia”. Therefore, in the Christian understanding, faith is included in the concept of “reason”, as a part of the whole.

Wisdom is not learned in the wealth of knowledge, but in the harmony of knowledge and faith, both at the lowest level of human knowledge and at the highest. The passion for the cultural achievements of modern times, since the era of enlightenment, has upset the balance of human consciousness in this sense. The positive method of science, naturally suitable in the exact sciences, in the field of dead matter, where mathematical measurements with mathematical conclusions are applied, has extended its principles to “living life”; people began to build a universal worldview on it. Thus, the recognition of spiritual principles in the world began to be rejected, and the empty space in this worldview began to be explained by the incompleteness of scientific achievements.

The process of the sequence of creation of the world from simple to complex, from lower to higher in the history of the world, by the command of God and the forces given by God, is inscribed on the first page of the book of Genesis, this ancient but great sacred monument of the human worldview, preserved by a small branch of the human race - the Jewish people. And the Old Testament Bible, in its entirety, presents us with a living history of the ascension and improvement of both religious ideas and the deepening of moral concepts. The following excursion into one of the sections of the Bible - the teaching books - will help us have this idea.

Modern science, based on the principle of evolution, does not reject the facts of degradation. And isn’t the materialistic worldview that dominates these days an expression of such degradation? The word “evolution” itself means “development”. But in a broad sense, development understood is of two types: one - towards the fullness of life, vitality, as a living plant develops; the other is in the direction of belittlement, as happens with a roll of paper or a ball of thread.

The atheistic view looks at the mind as the result of a mechanical process, covering up the process of its development over millions of years.

Religious consciousness says:

“We can think because there is an infinite thought, just as we breathe because there is an infinity of air space. This is why bright thoughts about any object are called inspiration. Our thought constantly flows precisely under the condition of the existence of an infinitely thinking Spirit” (St. right John of Kronstadt).

Is it possible to give a higher idea of ​​the dignity of reason than that expressed in the quoted words of the holy righteous father John?

"I will remember the days of old." Let us remember this time the thoughts about reason, about wisdom, three thousand years ago, that belonged to the people of the Old Testament church.

About "ordeals"

Our presence among the population, although Christian, but with many different concepts and views in the field of faith, encourages us to at least occasionally respond to the themes of our faith when they are raised and interpreted from a non-Orthodox point of view by persons of other confessions, and even by Orthodox Christians who have lost solid Orthodox soil under your feet.

In the limited circumstances of our existence as a small church branch, we are unfortunately unable to fully respond to such presentations or answer questions; however, sometimes we feel such a need in ourselves. In particular, we have reason to determine the Orthodox view on the issue of “ordeals,” which constitutes a topic or one of the topics in a book in English called “Christian Mythology.” “Ordeals” are the experiences of the Christian soul immediately after the death of a person, as these experiences are presented by the fathers of the Church and Christian ascetics. In recent years, critical approaches to a number of our church views have become more noticeable, attributing features of primitive views, a naive worldview, or piety, using words such as “myths,” “magic,” or similar ones.

It is our duty to respond to such views.

The topic of “ordeals” is not, in fact, the subject of Orthodox Christian theology: it is not a dogma of the Church in the precise sense. It constitutes material of a moralizing, educational nature, one might say - a pedagogical nature. In order to approach it correctly, it is necessary to understand the foundations and spirit of the Orthodox worldview. “For what man knows the things that are in a man, except the spirit of man that dwelleth in him? Likewise, no man knoweth the things of God, except the Spirit of God?” You need to get closer to the Church yourself," in order to know what has been given to us from God"(1 Cor. 2:11-12).

In this matter the basis is: We believe in the Church. The Church is the heavenly-earthly Body of Christ, destined for the moral perfection of the members of its earthly part and for the blissful, joyful, but always active life of its hosts in its Heavenly sphere. The Church on earth glorifies God, unites believers and educates them morally, in order in this way to ennoble and elevate earthly life itself, personal, its children and public; the main thing is to help them achieve eternal life, in God, in achieving holiness, without which " No one will see the Lord"(Heb. 12:14). For this, we need our constant ecclesiastical communion, us earthly, with the Heavenly Church. In the Body of Christ, all its members are in interaction. The Lord, the Shepherd of the Church, has, as it were, two flocks: heavenly and earthly (Message Eastern Patriarchs of the 17th century). " If one member suffers, all members suffer with it; if one member rejoices, the rest of the members rejoice with it". The Heavenly Church is rejoicing; but at the same time it will suffer for its fellow earthly members. St. Gregory the Theologian gave the name to the earthly Church of his time “suffering Orthodoxy”: this remains so to this day. This communication is valuable and necessary for the common task, so that we " Everything was returned (grown) into the One from Whom the whole Body, composed and copulated through all kinds of mutually fastening bonds, with the action of each member to its own extent, receives an increase for the creation of itself in love"(Eph. 4:16). The goal of everything is deification in the Lord, may there be "God - all in all." And the earthly life of a Christian is - should be - a place of spiritual growth, ascension, ascension of the soul to Heaven. Yes, we We deeply mourn that, with the exception of a few, we, knowing our path, stray far from it because of attachment to purely earthly things, and although we are ready to repent, we continue to live in negligence and laziness. However, there is no “spiritual” in our souls tranquility”, which is inherent in Western Christian psychology, established on a certain “moral minimum”, which gives a comfortable mental disposition for pursuing one’s everyday interests.

Meanwhile, exactly where the line of “peace of mind” ends, there opens up a field for improvement, for the inner work of a Christian. " If, having come to know God, we sin voluntarily, then there is no longer a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrible expectation of judgment and the fury of fire, ready to devour our opponents... It is terrible to fall into the hands of the living God!"(Heb. 10, 26-27, 31). Passivity and carelessness are unusual for the soul: without rising, we thereby fall down. Meanwhile, rising requires tireless vigilance of the soul, and moreover, struggle. With whom should we fight? Is it with ourselves only? - " Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in high places."(Eph. 6:12).

Here we come to the topic of ordeals.

It is no coincidence, it is not in vain that the Lord’s Prayer ends with the words: “ Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" About this evil one, the Lord in another conversation told His disciples: " I saw Satan fall from the sky like lightning".. Cast down from heaven, he thus became an inhabitant of the lower sphere, the “prince of the powers of the air,” the prince of the “legion” of unclean spirits.” When the unclean spirit leaves a person", but will not find peace for himself, returns to the house from which he came, and finding it unoccupied, swept and tidied, " He goes and takes with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and live there; and for that person the last thing is worse than the first. So it will be with this evil generation“, the Lord said in conclusion (Matthew 12). Is it only with that generation? And about the crumpled woman healed on one of the Sabbaths, did not the Lord answer: “ Should not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years, have been released from her bonds on the Sabbath day?“The apostles do not forget about these enemies of ours in their instructions. “You once lived,” writes the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians, “ according to the custom of this world, according to the will of the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who is now working in the sons of disobedience..."Therefore and now" put on the whole armor of God, so that you can stand against the wiles of the devil"(Eph. 6:11-12), for" the devil, like a roaring lion, seeks someone to devour"(1 Pet. 5:8).

What is written, what the word of God warns about, applies to us, and applied to previous generations. And therefore the obstacles to salvation are the same. Some - in our own negligence, in our own self-confidence, in carelessness, in selfishness, in bodily passions; others - in the temptations and seducers that surround us: in living people and in the invisible dark forces that surround us. Therefore, in our personal, home daily prayers, we ask God not to allow us even to “evil haste,” i.e. to success in business, such as would come from the help of dark forces. In general, in personal prayers and in public worship, we never lose the thought of the transition to another life after death.

In apostolic and early Christian times, when there was more enthusiasm among Christians, when the difference between the pagan world and the Christian world was clearer, when the suffering of the martyrs was itself the light of Christianity, less care was required to maintain the spirit of Christians by simple preaching. But the Gospel is maximum! The demands of the Sermon on the Mount were not intended for the apostles alone. And therefore, in the writings of the apostles we no longer read simple instructions, but also warnings before the future, when we must give an account.

"Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil..." "So that you may be able to withstand on the evil day and, having overcome all, to stand..."(Eph. 6)" We must know that if we, having known God, sin arbitrarily, then there is no longer a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrible expectation of judgment and the fury of fire, ready to devour our opponents." "It is terrible to fall into the hands of the living God!"(Heb. 10)" Be merciful to some, and save others with fear, tearing them out of the fire, reprove with fear, abhorring even clothing that is defiled by the flesh."(Jude 1:22-23)" It is impossible for those who were once enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift and became partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the future age, and fell away, to renew them again with repentance, when they again crucify the Son of God within themselves and mock Him"(Heb. 6:4-6).

This is how it was in the apostolic age. When the Church, having received freedom of confession, began to be replenished by masses of people, when the general inspiration for faith began to weaken, the need for strong words, for denunciations, for calls for spiritual vigilance, for the fear of God and fear of one’s fate became more acute. And among the most zealous archpastors, among the collections of their pastoral teachings, we read the formidable words of pictures of the future judgment awaiting us after death. These words are intended to admonish sinners and, obviously, were pronounced during periods of general Christian repentance, before Lent. In them, the truth of “the truth of God,” the truth that nothing unclean will enter the Kingdom of Holiness, is clothed in picturesque, partly tributary, close to earthly, vitally familiar images to everyone. The saints themselves called these images of the judgment immediately following death “ordeals.” The tables of tax collectors and tax collectors were, obviously, checkpoints on the further journey to the city, to its central part. Of course, this word in itself does not introduce us to its religious meaning. In patristic speech it denotes a short period of the posthumous report of the Christian soul about its moral content.

Already the 4th century gave us examples of such living, picturesque appeals to the flock.

Let no one flatter himself with vain words, for " disaster will suddenly overtake you"(1 Thess. 5:3) and will create a revolution like a storm. A strict angel will come and forcibly lead your soul, bound by sins. So, think about the last day... imagine confusion, shortness of breath and the hour of death, the approaching judgment of God, hastening angels, terrible confusion of the soul, tormented by conscience with a pitiful look at what is happening, finally - the necessary inevitability of long-distance migration" (St. Basil the Great. In "An Experience of Orthodox Theology with a Historical Presentation" by Bishop Sylvester). St. Gregory the Theologian, who dealt with a large flock only for short periods, limits himself to general words, saying that “everyone is a sincere judge of himself, because of the judgment awaiting him.”

A brighter picture is found in St. John Chrysostom: “If we,” he says, “going to some foreign country or city, demand guidebooks, then how many assistants and leaders do we need in order to pass unhindered the elders, the authorities, the aerial myrrh rulers, the persecutors, the publican chiefs! "That is why the soul, flying away from the body, often rises and then descends, and fears and trembles. The consciousness of sins always torments us, especially at that hour when we are about to be taken to the trials and terrible judgment there." And then Chrysostom gives moral instructions for the Christian way of life. As for the deceased babies, he puts the following words into their mouths: “The holy angels peacefully separated us from our bodies, and we, having good guides, safely passed by the air authorities. The crafty spirits did not find in us what they were looking for, they did not notice , what they wanted. Seeing a body without sin, they were put to shame; seeing an immaculate soul, they were ashamed; seeing an undefiled tongue, they fell silent. We passed by and put them to shame. The net was broken, and we were delivered. Blessed is God, who did not let us into their trap" ( Word 2, On the memory of the departed).

The Orthodox Church also represents Christian martyrs and martyrs as comfortably and freely reaching the heavenly palaces. In the fifth century, the idea of ​​a direct trial of the soul after its exit from the body, or a private trial preceding the general Last Judgment, was even more fully combined with the idea of ​​ordeals, as we see in St. Cyril of Alexandria in his “Sermon on the Exodus of the Soul,” summing up images of this kind among the previous fathers of the Church. It is absolutely clear to everyone that purely earthly images are attracted to an object of a spiritual nature in order for the image imprinted in memory to awaken the human soul. “Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant, for he will be searched by the vigilant.” At the same time, in these paintings, the sinfulness inherent in fallen man is revealed in its different types and forms, and this encourages man to analyze his own spiritual content. In the instructions of Orthodox ascetics, the types and forms of sinfulness have some of their own special imprint; in hagiography - also corresponding to its own (In ascetic instructions, sometimes passions and evil demons are almost identified: spirits that settle in the bodies of living people are the causative agents of passions; passions become not only physical ailments, but also spiritual ones, and therefore continue to remain in the soul the lures of earthly passions even after death. Therefore, one can imagine the ordeal, as well as the internal personal struggle in the soul stripped of the body). Thanks to the availability of the lives of saints, the legend of the ordeal of rights became especially famous. Theodora, depicted in detail by St. Vasily the New in his dream vision. Dreams generally express the mental state of the given person himself, and in special cases they are genuine visions of the souls of the deceased in their earthly form. This legend has signs of both. Thoughts about the participation of good spirits, our guardian angels, and on the other hand, the spirits of evil in heaven, in the destinies of people find confirmation: in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus immediately after death was carried by angels to Abraham's bosom; “The unrighteous rich man,” according to another parable, heard: “You fool, this night your soul will be taken from you”; “They will be tormented,” apparently, by none other than the same “spirits of wickedness in high places.”

That the soul immediately upon separation from the body enters the sphere of determining its future fate, says simple logic, is confirmed by the word of God. " Men must die once, then the judgment", we read from the Apostle Paul (Heb. 9:27); the court is private, independent of the general Ecumenical Court.

The doctrine of the private judgment of God is included in the circle of dogmatic Orthodox theology. As for the ordeals, our Russian compilers of general systems of theology limit themselves to this, one might say, clichéd remark: “All sensual earthly images, under which a private court is represented in the form of ordeals, although in their basic thought they are completely correct, nevertheless must be accepted (as the Angel himself who appeared to him instructed St. Macarius of Alexandria), only for the weakest depiction of heavenly things" (see Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow, Bishop Sylvester, rector of the Kiev Theological Academy. Archbishop Philaret of Chernigov in his two-volume work does not touch upon Dogmatic Theology this topic in general).

If we talk about the terrifying nature of pictures of ordeals, are there really not enough of them in the New Testament Scriptures and in the speeches of the Lord Himself? Are we not frightened by the simplest question: “Who came in here in non-wedding clothes?”

We respond to discussions about ordeals, to material that is secondary in the field of our Orthodox thought, because it provides an opportunity to illuminate the essence of our church life. Our Christian, church, prayer life is a continuous interaction with the heavenly world. It is not a simple “Calling of the Saints”, as it is often formulated. It is a communication of love. This way" the whole body of the Church, being united and held together by its constituents and connections, grows with the age of God"(Colossians 2:19). We are through the Church" We approached the heavenly Jerusalem and the hosts of angels, the triumphant council and the church of the firstborn, and God the Judge of all, and the spirits of the righteous who have reached perfection"(Heb. 12:22-23). ​​Our prayer connections go in all directions. We are commanded: " Pray for each other". We live in the axioms of faith: “Whether we live or die, we are always the Lord’s.” Love will never cease." "Love covers a multitude of sins"(1 Pet. 4:8). - There is no death for the soul. Life in Christ is the world of prayer. It permeates the entire body of the Church, connects every member of the Church with the Heavenly Father, members of the earthly Church among themselves and members of the earthly with the heavenly. Prayers - threads of the Living tissue of the church body. The prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much(James 5:16). The twenty-four elders in heaven at the throne of God fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and a bowl full of incense, " which are the prayers of the saints", i.e. They offered prayers from the earth to the throne of heaven.

We need intimidation; they can and should protect us from bad deeds. But the same Church inspires us that the Lord is generous and merciful, long-suffering and abundantly merciful, and regretting the evils of men, taking upon Himself our infirmities. And in the Heavenly Church there are our intercessors, helpers, and prayer books. Most Pure Mother of God - Our Protection. Our prayers themselves are the prayers of the saints, written down by them, coming from their tender hearts in the days of their earthly life; the creators of prayers can feel this, and they themselves, thus, become closer to us. These are our daily prayers for ourselves. This is the whole circle of church services - daily, weekly, and holiday. All this writing is not of armchair origin. Air enemies are powerless against such help. If only we had faith. And if only our prayers were warm and sincere. There is more joy in heaven over one who repents than over others who no longer require repentance. How persistently the Church teaches us in church, so that “the rest of our life in peace and repentance” will end for us! Teaches: - To remember our Most Holy, Most Pure, Most Blessed Lady Theotokos with all the saints, and then with full hope, commit ourselves and each other and our whole life to the holy will of Christ our God. But with all this cloud of heavenly patrons, we are pleased with the special closeness of our guardian angels to us. They are meek. Sometimes they rejoice over us, sometimes they mourn over our failures. And we are full of hope for them in our state when the soul is separated from the body and we need to enter into a new life - in the light or in the darkness? Are you happy or sad? Therefore, every day we pray to our angels for the coming day: “Deliver me from every wicked enemy who opposes me.” And in special canons of a penitential nature, we pray for them not to leave us now and after death. “I see with my spiritual gaze you, my dweller, interlocutor, holy angel, observing, accompanying, abiding and offering salvation to me always...” “When my humble soul is unharnessed from the body, may the same one be covered, my mentor, by your bright and sacred wings.” . - “When the terrible voice of the trumpet raises me to judgment, then become quiet and joyful near me, taking away my fear with the hope of salvation.” - “How red with this kindness and sweet and cheerful, the sun is a fertile mind, I will brightly appear to you with a smiling face and joyful outlook, when the imam takes off from the earth.” - “May I see you at the right hand, accursed by my soul, coming, bright and quiet, my intercessor and representative, who always disappeared from me in need of my spirit, and seeking me out the bitter enemies who drive away” (Canon to the Guardian Angel, John the Monk, Priestly Prayer Book).

Thus, the Holy Church, with the host of its builders: the apostles, great saints, reverend ascetics, having as its Shepherd our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, created and gives us the fullness of means for our spiritual improvement and the achievement of eternal blissful life in God, overcoming our carelessness and frivolity with fear and threatening warnings, and at the same time, instilling in us a spirit of cheerfulness, bright hope, surrounding us with holy heavenly leaders and helpers. The church and liturgical regulations have given us a direct path to achieving the Kingdom of glory.

Among the Gospel images, the Church especially often reminds us of the parable of the prodigal son and devotes one week in the annual cycle of liturgical services to this memory, so that we know the boundless love of God and that the sincere, tender, tearful repentance of a believer overcomes all obstacles and all ordeals along the way to the Heavenly Father.

Brief church historical information

Fathers, Church Doctors, and Church Writers of the First Millennium Mentioned in This Book

The time of their life and activity (indicated by the year of their death).

Before the Edict of Milan	Year of death
Priest-martyr Clement, third ep. Roman	101
Priest-martyr Ignatius the God-Bearer, ap. Antiochian	107
Martyr Justin the Philosopher	165
Priest-martyr Polycarp, kn. Smirnsky	167
Priest-martyr Irenaeus, bishop Lyonsky	202
(Titus Flavius) Clement, Rev. Alexandrian about	220
Tertullian, Rev. Carthaginian about	223
Origen, teacher Alexandrian	254
Priest-martyr Cyprian, bishop Carthaginian	258
After the Edict of Milan (313)
Rev. Ephraim Sirin	372
St. Athanasius the Great, bishop. Alexandrian	373
St. Basil the Great, bishop. Caesarea Capadocia	379
St. Cyril, bishop. Jerusalem	386
St. Gregory the Theologian, Nazianzen, arch. Constantinople	390
Rev. Macarius the Great, Egyptian	390
St. Gregory, bishop Nyssa	395
St. Ambrose, Bishop Mediolansky	397
St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop. Constantinople	407
Blazh. Augustine, bishop Ipponese	430
St. Cyril, bishop. Alexandrian	444
St. Theodoret, bishop. Kirsky	458
Rev. Maxim the Confessor	662
Rev. John of Damascus around	750
Rev. Simeon, New Theologian about	1120

Ecumenical Councils

The first (Nicene 1st) - 325, regarding the heresy of Arius - under the Archbishop of Constantinople Metrophanes, Pope Sylvester, Emperor Constantine the Great, the number of fathers - 318.

The second (Constantinople 1st) - 381, regarding the Macedonian heresy - under the Archbishop of Constantinople Gregory the Theologian, Pope Damasus, Emperor Theodosius the Great. The number of fathers is 150.

Third (Ephesus) - 431, regarding the heresy of Nestorius (the heresy of Theodore Bishop of Mapsuet, supported by Nestorius, Archbishop of Constantinople); under Archbishop Cyril of Alexandria, Pope Celestine, Emperor Theodosius the Less. The number of fathers is 200.

Fourth (Chalcedonian) - 451, regarding the heresy of the Monophysites (Eutichios, Archimandrite of Constantinople, Dioscorus, Bishop of Alexandria, and others); under the Patriarch of Constantinople Anatoly, Pope Leo the Great, Emperor Marcian. The number of fathers is 630.

Fifth (Constantinople 2nd) - 553, on the issue of “three chapters” related to the heresy of Theodore Mapsuetsky and Nestorius condemned at the Third Ecumenical Council; under the Archbishop of Constantinople Eutyches, Pope Virgil, Emperor Iusinian the Great. The number of fathers is 165.

Sixth (Constantinople 3rd) - 680, regarding the heresy of the Monophysites; under Patriarch George of Constantinople, Pope Agathon, Emperor Constantine Pogonat. The number of fathers is 170.

Seventh (Nicene second) - 787, regarding the heresy of the iconoclasts; under Patriarch Tarasius of Constantinople, Pope Adrian, Emperor Constantine and Empress Irene. The number of fathers is 367.

Heresies that troubled the Christian Church in the first millennium

Even the briefest overview of heretical movements in Christianity (from the first days of the Church) is useful in that it shows how diverse, next to the general Church Catholic teaching and the “rule of faith,” deviations from the truth, which very often took on a sharply offensive character and caused a difficult struggle inside the Church. In the first three centuries of Christianity, heresies spread their influence over relatively small areas; but from the 4th century some of them captured about half of the empire and caused a huge strain on the forces of the Church, involving it in the fight against them; Moreover, when some heresies gradually faded away, others arose in their place. And if the Church remained indifferent to these deviations, then what would happen (humanly speaking) to Christian truth? But the Church, with the help of messages from bishops, exhortations, excommunications, local and regional councils, and from the 4th century - Ecumenical Councils, sometimes with the assistance, sometimes with the opposition of state power, brought out of the struggle unshakable the “rule of faith”, and preserved Orthodoxy intact. This was the case in the first millennium.

The second millennium did not change the situation. There are many more deviations from Christian truth, divisions and sects than in the first millennium. Some currents hostile to Orthodoxy are distinguished by no less passionate proselytism and hostility towards Orthodoxy than was observed in the era of the Ecumenical Councils. This shows how vigilant it is in preserving Orthodoxy. Particular vigilance in preserving dogmas requires the false path now emerging from the circles of extra-church Christianity, unacceptable for the Orthodox Church, to achieve a good goal - neglect of the dogmatic side of the Christian faith to achieve the unity of the entire Christian world.

I-III centuries

Judaizers

The Ebionites (from the name of the heretic Ebion or from the Hebrew word “Ebion” - poor) considered Jesus Christ a prophet like Moses and demanded from all Christians strictness in fulfilling the law of Moses; Christian doctrine was looked upon as an addition to the law of Moses.

The Nazarenes believed in the Divinity of Jesus Christ, but insisted on the fulfillment of the Mosaic Law by Jewish Christians, without demanding this from non-Jewish Christians (moderate Ebionites).

Ebionite Gnostics. Their teaching arose from the teaching of the Jewish sect of the Essenes, who lived beyond the Dead Sea (excavations at Qumran), combined with elements of Christianity and Gnosticism. The Essenes considered themselves the guardians of a pure religion, revealed to Adam, but subsequently obscured by Judaism. The Gnostic Ebionites recognized the restoration of this religion by Christ as the bearer of the Divine Spirit; the Gnostic element was expressed in their view of matter as an evil principle, and in the preaching of severe asceticism.

Gnosticism

At the core Gnostic systems lies the idea of ​​​​creating higher religious and philosophical knowledge, by combining Greek philosophy and the philosophy of the Alexandrian Jew Philo with Eastern religions, especially with the religion of Zoroaster. In this way, the Gnostics developed various systems that assumed an unconditional solution to all questions of existence. They gave fantastic symbolic forms to metaphysical constructions. Having become acquainted with Christianity and even accepted it, the Gnostics did not abandon their fantastic constructions, trying to combine them with Christianity. This is how numerous Gnostic heresies arose among Christians.

Gnostics of the Apostolic Age

Simon the Magus, using the techniques of magic, gave himself away " for someone great"(Acts 8:9) - "the highest Aeon", in the Gnostic sense. He is called the ancestor of all heretics.

Cerinthos, Alexandrian; his teaching is a mixture of Gnosticism and Ebionism. He lived for some time in Ephesus when the Apostle John the Theologian was there.

The Docetes recognized only the illusory humanity in Christ, since they considered flesh and matter, in general, to be evil. They were denounced by the Apostle John the Theologian in his epistles.

The Nicolaitans (Rev. 2:14-15), based on the Gnostic demands for mortification of the flesh, allowed debauchery.

In post-apostolic times

Gnostics of Alexandria(Basilides the Syrian and the Jew Valentinus and their followers), based on dualism, or the recognition of two principles of being, considered matter to be an inactive, inert, dead, negative principle, while

Syrian Gnostics, accepting the same dualism, recognized matter as the active principle of evil (in the religion of Zoroaster - “Ahriman”). Tatian, a former student of St., also belonged to this trend. Justin the Philosopher, who preached strict asceticism. The offspring of the Syrian Gnostics were the antinomians, who allowed licentiousness for the sake of weakening and killing the principle of evil - flesh, matter.

Marcionites (named after Marcion, the son of a Syrian bishop who excommunicated his son for Gnosticism). The creator of the heresy, Marcion, taught that the world is ruled, on the one hand, by the good God, the spiritual principle, and on the other hand by Satan, as the ruler of matter. In Jesus Christ, according to the teachings of Marcion, the good God Himself descended to earth, taking upon Himself a ghostly body. The Marcionites taught that the knowledge of God is inaccessible. The heresy persisted until the 6th century.

Carpocrates and his followers belittled the Divinity of Jesus Christ. His sect is one of the many “antinomistic” sects - deniers of the moral law (the law that limits the free spirit).

Manichaeism

Manichaean heresy, like Gnosticism, was a mixture of elements of Christianity with the principles of the religion of Zoroaster. According to the teachings of Manes, who gave rise to this heresy, the struggle in the world of the principles of spirit and matter, good and evil, light and darkness constituted the history of heaven and earth, in which the activity of: a) the life-giving Spirit, b) the impassive Jesus and c) the suffering Jesus was manifested - "Souls of the World". The dispassionate Jesus, having descended to earth, took on only the appearance of a man (Docetism), taught people and promised the coming of the Comforter. The promised Comforter appeared in the person of Manes, cleansed the teachings of Jesus, which had been perverted by people, and opened the Kingdom of God. Manes preached strict asceticism. Accused of distorting the religion of Zoroaster, Manes was killed in Persia. This heresy spread mainly in the Western half of the Roman Empire and was especially strong in the 4th and 5th centuries.

Antitrinitarian heresy

This heresy, also called monarchians, arose on the basis of philosophical rationalism; heretics did not recognize the doctrine of three Persons in God. It had two branches: dynamites and medalists.

Dynamites falsely taught that the Son of God and the Spirit of God are Divine Powers. (Paul of Samosata, bishop of Antioch, 3rd century, belonged to them).

The modalists, instead of teaching the Trinity of Persons, falsely taught the revelation of God in three successive forms; they were also called patripassians, since they brought up the idea of ​​​​the suffering of God the Father. (A prominent representative of this heresy was Sabellius, a former presbyter of Ptolemais, in Egypt).

Montanism

The name of this heresy was given by Montanus, an unlearned man who imagined himself to be a Paraclete (Comforter). Lived in the second century. In contrast to the anti-Trinitarians, the Montanists demanded the complete subordination of reason to the dictates of faith. Their other distinguishing features were the severity of asceticism and the rejection of the “fallen” in persecution. The ascetic spirit of the Montanists endeared them to the learned presbyter of Carthaginian Tertullian, who joined them, although he ended his life somewhat moving away from this heresy. The Roman bishops Eleutherius and Victor were also inclined towards Montanism. Montanists recognized the doctrine of a thousand-year earthly kingdom of Christ (chiliasm).

(The teaching of chiliasm was held, in addition to the Montanists, by some other heresies, such as the Ebionites. Some teachers of the Church were also inclined towards this teaching until the Second Ecumenical Council, at which chiliasm was condemned).

IV-IX centuries

Arianism

The Arian heresy, which troubled the Church for a long time and greatly, had as its original culprit the Alexandrian presbyter Arius. Arius, who was born in Libya and was a student of the theological Antiochian school, who avoided any abstraction in the interpretation of the dogmas of faith (as opposed to the contemplative spirit and mystical inclination of the Alexandrian school), purely rationally interpreted the dogma of the incarnation, relying on the concept of the One God, and began to falsely teach about the inequality of the Son of God with the Father and the created nature of the Son. His heresy captured the Eastern half of the empire and, despite condemnation at the First Ecumenical Council, persisted almost until the end of the 4th century. After the First Ecumenical Council, Arianism was continued and developed by: Anomei, or strict Arians, Aetius, a former deacon of the Church of Antioch, and Eunomius, who was the bishop of Cyzicus before his excommunication. Aetius and Eunomius brought Arianism to its final heretical conclusions, developing the doctrine of a different nature of the Son of God, not similar to the nature of the Father.

Heresy of Apollinaris the Younger

Apollinaris the Younger - a learned man, former bishop of Laodicea (from 362). He taught that the God-manhood of Christ did not contain a full human nature - recognizing the three-component nature of man: spirit, unreasonable soul and body, he argued that in Christ there is only a human body and soul, but a Divine Mind. This heresy was not widespread.

Heresy Macedonia

Macedonius, Bishop of Constantinople (about 342), who falsely taught about the Holy Spirit in the Aryan sense, namely, that the Holy Spirit is a ministering creation. His heresy was condemned at the Second Ecumenical Council, which was convened about this heresy.

(At the Second Ecumenical Council, the heresies of the Eunomians, Anomeans, Eudoxians (Arians), Semi-Arians (or Doukhobors), Sabellians, etc. were also anathematized.

Pelagianism

Pelagius, a native of Britain, a layman, an ascetic (beginning of the 5th century) and Celestius the presbyter denied the heredity of Adam's sin and the transfer of Adam's guilt to his descendants, believing that every person is born innocent and only, thanks to moral freedom, easily falls into sin. Pelagianism was condemned at the Third Ecumenical Council along with Nestorianism.

Nestorianism

The heresy is named after Nestorius, the former archbishop of Constantinople. The predecessors of Nestorius in false teaching were Diodorus, a teacher of the Antiochian theological school, and Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuet (died in 429), whose student Nestorius was. Thus this heresy came out of the Antiochian school. Theodore of Mopsuetsky taught about the “contact” of two natures in Christ, and not their union at the conception of the Word.

Heretics called the Blessed Virgin Mary the Christ Mother, and not the Mother of God. Heresy was condemned at the Third Ecumenical Council.

The heresy of the Monophysites, or the heresy of Eutyches

The Monophysite heresy arose among the Alexandrian monks and was a reaction to Nestorianism, which belittled the Divine nature of the Savior. Monophysites believed that the human nature of the Savior was absorbed by His Divine nature, and therefore recognized only one nature in Christ.

In addition to the elderly Constantinople Archimandrite Eutychius, who gave rise to this non-Orthodox teaching, it was defended by Dioscorus, the Archbishop of Alexandria, who forcibly carried out this heresy at one of the councils, thanks to which the council itself received the name of the robber. Heresy was condemned at the Fourth Ecumenical Council.

Monothelite heresy

Monothelitism was a softened form of Monophysitism. Recognizing two natures in Christ, the Monothelites taught that in Christ there is one will, namely, the Divine will. Supporters of this teaching were some of the Patriarchs of Constantinople who were subsequently excommunicated (Pyrrhus, Paul, Theodore). Honorius, the Pope, supported him. This teaching was rejected as false at the Sixth Ecumenical Council.

Iconoclasm

Iconoclasm was one of the most powerful and long-lasting heretical movements. The iconoclastic heresy began in the first half of the 8th century and continued to trouble the Church for more than a hundred years. Directed against the veneration of icons, it also affected other aspects of faith and church structure (for example, the veneration of saints). The severity of this heresy was enhanced by the fact that a number of Byzantine emperors energetically contributed to it for reasons of domestic and foreign policy. These emperors were also hostile to monasticism. The heresy was condemned at the Seventh Ecumenical Council in 787, and the final triumph of Orthodoxy took place in 842 under the Patriarch of Constantinople Methodius, when the day of the “Triumph of Orthodoxy” was established, observed by the Church to this day.

A few words about the author, Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky

Protopresbyter Mikhail Pomazansky, one of the greatest theologians of our time, was born on November 7, 1888 (on the eve of the feast of the Archangel Michael), in the village of Koryst, Rivne district, Volyn province. His parents came from hereditary priestly families. At the age of nine, Mikhail Pomazansky was enrolled in the Klevan Theological School, after which he entered the Volyn Theological Seminary in Zhitomir, where Bishop Anthony Khrapovitsky paid special attention to him.

From 1908 to 1912 O. Mikhail studied at the Kyiv Theological Academy. In 1918, he married Vera Fedorovna Shumskaya, the daughter of a priest, who became his faithful and inseparable companion. From 1914 to 1917 O. Mikhail teaches Church Slavonic at the Kaluga Theological Seminary. The revolution and the subsequent closure of theological schools returned him to his homeland in Volyn, which at that time was part of Poland. From 1920 to 1934 O. Mikhail taught at the Rivne Russian Gymnasium. During those same years, he collaborated with church publishing houses. In 1936, he accepted the priesthood and was included in the clergy of the Warsaw Cathedral as the first assistant protopresbyter. He held this position until 1944. After the end of the war, Fr. Mikhail lived in Germany for four years.

In 1949, he arrived in America and was appointed teacher at Holy Trinity Theological Seminary in Jordanville, where he taught Greek and Church Slavonic languages ​​and dogmatic theology. Peru o. Mikhail owns a number of brochures and many articles in “Orthodox Rus'”, “Orthodox Life” and the magazine “Orthodox Path”. Most of these articles were included in the collections “On life, on faith, on the Church (two volumes, 1976) and “Our God is in heaven and on earth, create everything as He pleases” (1985). But the most famous of them is Many of his works are used in the now republished “Orthodox Dogmatic Theology” (1968 and 1992), which became the main textbook on dogmatics in all American seminaries in the second half of the twentieth century.

Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose)

Protopresbyter Mikhail Pomazansky:

Theologian in the ancient tradition

Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky is unique among modern Orthodox theologians. Even at the age of 90, he wrote theological works, but more importantly, he received his theological formation not in today's theological schools, which to some extent reflect the theological doubts and divisions of modern Orthodoxy, but in the pre-revolutionary Russian Theological Academy, in that time when Orthodoxy was united in spirit, when it was rooted in centuries-old traditions and did not suffer, as often happens with Orthodox theological literature of our days, from an “identity crisis.”

Some modern Orthodox writers are so little aware of the peculiarity of Orthodoxy that they lead people to the erroneous opinion that Orthodoxy is almost no different from Western confessions, and that if a few more “joint theological commissions” come up with a few more “joint statements” of faith, we will again We will be one with everyone and will even be able to share the same sacraments. This is the goal of various meetings and activities of the “ecumenical movement.”

On the other hand, the reaction to this movement, even when it manifests itself under the auspices of the “patristic revival,” is twofold. Some define Orthodoxy so narrowly that they proclaim that all Orthodox Christians, except a small group, are devoid of grace. Others are breaking ties with their roots, declaring that today only a few Orthodox theologians are beginning to free themselves from the “Western captivity” that supposedly captivated Orthodoxy in recent centuries.

Both of these extremes lead to the danger of losing the Orthodox consciousness. Perhaps the fatal test for representatives of these extremes is a question of continuity. Do they teach the same teachings that they received from their teachers in the faith, who in turn received this faith from their teachers - and so in unbroken continuity with the past? Most often, extremists will have to admit: no, they themselves “correct” the mistakes of their mentors: that, for example, the theology of the 19th century is too narrow and anti-Western, or (the opposite extreme), too “scholastic” and Western; that some respected Orthodox theologians of previous centuries are “outdated” and are not applicable to modern “ecumenical” Christianity, or (the opposite extreme), they are “Westerners” who “did not understand the true Orthodox teaching” and should be rejected as Orthodox authorities .

Meanwhile, the genuine Orthodox tradition still continues to try to maintain its integrity among these contradictory currents. Fortunately, this tradition has a way, with God's help, to protect itself from extremes that try to throw it off course. Self-preservation and self-continuation of the Orthodox tradition is not something that requires help from “brilliant theologians”; this is the result of the continuity of the “conciliar consciousness” of the Church, which has led the Church from the beginning of its existence. It was this conciliar consciousness that preserved the integrity of Russian Orthodoxy in the 1920s, when it seemed that the extreme reforms of the “Living Church” were sweeping the Church and many of its leading hierarchs and theologians. This same conciliar consciousness, as it has been for almost 2000 years, is still working today and will continue to protect the Church of Christ during the trials of our days. The exponents of this consciousness are most often not “outstanding theologians”, who are as easily led astray as any person, but for the most part humble workers in the vineyard of Christ - people who would be extremely surprised and even embarrassed if anyone paid too much attention to their works or would even call them “theologians”.

One of these humble workers of the Russian Church was Protopresbyter Mikhail Pomazansky.

Father Mikhail was born on November 7/19, 1888 in the village of Koryst, Volyn region in Western Rus'. His ancestors were parish priests for generations. The simple church life of Fr.’s childhood. Mikhail left its mark on his entire future life. He himself said that the churchliness of his childhood influenced him more than the theological schools he attended.
Years of study Fr. Michael's theological school and seminary (1901-1908) coincided with the Russo-Japanese War and the first Russian revolution of 1905 - that revolution that threatened Russia with the loss of the Orthodox way of life. This event clearly showed church people like Father Michael the need to remain faithful to the Orthodox tradition. At this time, the great hierarch of the Russian Church was appointed to the Volyn See - Bishop (later Metropolitan) Anthony Khrapovitsky - a highly educated clergyman, an ardent preacher, a faithful son of the Church and an ardent Russian patriot. At the same time, he was an opponent of routine and neglect in church life, a warm-hearted, warm person who had a particularly close contact with and influence on young people - especially on future priests and monks. Bishop Anthony had a great influence on the soul of the young student Michael.

Father Mikhail entered the Kiev Theological Academy in 1908 and graduated in 1912. The Kiev Academy for many years was the center of defense of Orthodoxy in Western Rus', especially against the Latins, and from its bowels came five metropolitans, who were later canonized. During his years of study, Fr. Michael within the walls of the Academy emphasized the need for fundamental knowledge of theology and history. None of the Academy professors of that time were particularly eloquent or “popular.” For his dissertation, Fr. Mikhail chose a historical topic: “Features of the Church’s services in Western Rus' according to printed books of the 17th century.” Here he was able to study in detail the issue of “Western influence” in the Russian Church.

After graduating from the Academy, Fr. Mikhail spent two years in southern Russia as a missionary among the sects there. This experience made him a zealous student of the New Testament, which the sectarians distorted for their own purposes, but which, if correctly understood, contains the profound teaching of the Orthodox Church. In 1914 he was appointed teacher at the Kaluga Theological Seminary, near Moscow. Here he lived for three years, before the start of the revolution. After the seminary was closed, he and his family (he married the priest’s daughter Vera Fedorovna Shumskaya, and they had several children) returned to their native places in the south of Russia.

According to the agreement between the Polish and Soviet governments, the native village of Fr. Mikhail ended up within Poland, just a few kilometers from the Soviet border. Mikhail got a job as a teacher of Russian language, literature, philosophy and Latin at the Russian gymnasium in Rovno. Thanks to this work, he was able to provide his children with a secondary education and only after that, in 1936, he took holy orders.

His first assignment was to the clergy of the Cathedral in Warsaw, where he served as a diocesan missionary. When services in the upper church of the cathedral began to be held in Ukrainian, Fr. Michael and other clergy of the parish moved to the lower church of the cathedral, where services were performed in Church Slavonic. By the end of the Second World War, Fr. Mikhail and his family ended up in Germany. Here about. Michael came under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia under the omophorion of Metropolitan Anastassy.

Back in Warsaw, Father Michael was the unofficial editor of the church newspaper “Slovo”, and after its closure, the official editor of the magazine “Sunday Reading”. During these years (1936-1944) he also wrote articles in the "Bulletin of Orthodox Theologians" in Poland.

In Germany about. Mikhail was entrusted with the publication of the official organ of the Russian Church Abroad, “Church Life,” and he was engaged in this until his departure to America in August 1949. From that time on, he lived at the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, teaching at the seminary from 1950 and composing numerous articles for monastic publications. During these years he wrote a seminary textbook on Dogmatic Theology.

A wide range of written works by Fr. Michael covers a variety of church topics: apologetics, defense of the faith against modern deviations (“Sophianism” of Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov, ecumenism, “renovationism” in liturgical theology, etc.), church holidays and services, aspects of the teachings of the Holy Fathers (especially two instructive comparisons the teachings of St. Basil the Great about the days of creation and St. Simeon the New Theologian about grace with the teachings of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt) and much more.

Of particular importance to modern Orthodox Christians, surrounded by heterodox Christians, are his careful comparisons (especially in Orthodox Dogmatic Theology) of the beliefs of Orthodox, Roman Catholics and Protestants, especially distinguishing between what outwardly appears to be the same. It's all about. Mikhail explains without any irritation against non-Orthodox people (and this irritation is especially characteristic of many modern polemical writers). He first fairly explains the essence of their teachings, and then objectively sets out the Orthodox teaching - this helps the Orthodox understand their faith much better.

In all his works, Fr. Michael does not try to find something “new” in the Orthodox tradition or to stand out with his sharp criticism - these are frequent shortcomings of modern academic theology. On the contrary, he tries to present his humble and clear reflections on the richness of Orthodox teaching, which he accepts as established and tested by theologians and ordinary Christians for centuries before him. Even when, for the sake of truth, he is forced to express criticism of any view, whether in the Orthodox Church or outside it, he does this with such delicacy and nobility that it is impossible to take offense at him.

Most of all, in the works of Fr. Michael, we see a feature of genuine Orthodox theology, which so often goes unnoticed in our cold, rational age. Theology is not a matter of arguments, proofs and refutations; this, first of all, is the human word about God in accordance with the revealed teaching of Orthodoxy. Consequently, the first task of theology is to inspire, to warm the heart, to lift man above petty earthly pursuits to look at the divine beginning and end of all things - to give man strength and encouragement to strive and draw closer to God and our heavenly fatherland. This is undoubtedly the task and spirit of the theology of three outstanding Orthodox Theologians: St. ap. and the Evangelist John the Theologian, St. Gregory the Theologian and Rev. Simeon, the New Theologian. They may be said to have set the tone for Orthodox theology, and this remains the tone and task of theology even in our cold-hearted and analytical days.

Theology of Fr. Mikhail maintains this warm and encouraging tone. He is not the only person who, for this purpose, tried to write about Orthodox theology, but one of the few from the old generation, which is quickly disappearing, who can serve as a “link” between us and the true theology of the Holy Fathers. These words would have embarrassed Fr. Michael, but this would be another sign that he was indeed completely imbued with the true spirit of Orthodox theology. May the younger generation learn from him!

©“Russian Shepherd” number 31, 1998. This article is a preface to the English translation made by Fr. Seraphim Rose of Fr. Michael’s book “Orthodox Dogmatic Theology”, 1984. Translation of an article by M. Makrish.

* The text is based on the book: Protopresbyter Mikhail Pomazansky. Orthodox dogmatic theology. M., Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, Publishing House "Dar", 2005, - printed according to the publication: Prot. Mikhail Pomazansky. Orthodox dogmatic theology. In a condensed presentation. ( Corrected and expanded by the author in 1981) Platina, 1992.
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Individual eschatology is associated with the moment of death. General eschatology refers to the end of history, which in the Christian vision is associated with the second coming of Christ, the stopping and disappearance of time, the complete victory over Satan and evil and the transition of the universe into eternity.

Christianity believes that the history of both humanity and the universe is a finite phenomenon. Their end is the ultimate reality towards which all events are directed. Eschatology and the Second Coming have two aspects: joyful, associated with the coming of God, and terrible, associated with the fact that God will appear as a judge. The Last Judgment is conceived as the triumph of God's justice, revealed against the backdrop of judgment over all of human history.

The Bible states that calculating the timing of the Second Coming is impossible and unnecessary, although a number of indirect signs can be used to make assumptions about its approach. St. Augustine believed that the eschatological period began with the founding of the church, whether it lasted a few years or many centuries. At the moment of the Second Coming, the dead will be resurrected bodily, i.e. their souls will receive flesh (this is a very important point, since Christian anthropology believes that man, unlike an angel, was originally conceived as clothed in flesh, and sin does not come from the flesh as such, but from its weakness and from the passions of the soul). The righteous will receive their bodies glorified those. purified and more perfect. Here one can see the difference between Christian ideas about man and, for example, the philosophy of Plato and the Neoplatonists, according to which the body is only a “dungeon of the soul” from which one needs to escape. Similar views are common among Gnostics.

The Church insists on the fundamental finitude of human history, the inevitability of the onset of an apocalyptic period preceding the end. The coming of Christ is associated with the appearance Antichrist, his adversary, who will persecute and spiritually seduce Christians by obvious and hidden means.

The book is primarily devoted to eschatology in the Bible "Apocalypse" of John, having a complex structure and full of very complex images that require very careful interpretation. Thus, the words about the “thousand-year kingdom of God”, which can be established in apocalyptic times, are left to the discretion of theologians. There is no definitive interpretation of these words. The Church has repeatedly warned that if we are seriously prepared for the end of history, we should avoid “apocalyptic hysteria” and ridiculous predictions. Various options were not accepted by the official creed millenarianism(from lat. mille – thousand), or chiliasma – the teaching that the Second Coming of Christ is associated with the establishment of a special, everlasting kingdom. The point of view that goes back to St. Augustine, that by this kingdom in the Bible we must understand the period of the church that has already come. Millenarianism is accepted mainly in radical Protestant communities, and is also held by some theologians as a private opinion.

Christianity retains faith in the justice of God and the posthumous fate of people. The immortal soul is installed either in hell(place of torment), or in paradise(place of eternal bliss). Posthumous fate, on the one hand, is determined by the justice of God, on the other, by the deeds and thoughts of a person who, already on earth, outlines his path and his future state. Bliss is understood as purely spiritual, associated with the sight of God, who himself is absolute good and perfection. Heavenly bliss is not thought of as vulgar idleness or bodily pleasure.

Sinners in hell receive, in essence, what they were striving for; hell is not interpreted by the church as some kind of “vindictiveness” of God. The opinion is expressed that a sinner transferred to heaven will suffer even more there, since being there is incompatible with his personality. Hell is a state in which there is absolutely no God. The Church rejected the doctrine of the temporary torment of hell expressed by Origen at the turn of the 2nd–3rd centuries. The torments of hell are eternal, and this brings an element of realism and even tragedy into Christianity.

A person is brought to an individual trial immediately after death (there is also a version of the understanding found among Orthodox authors that this trial is preliminary in nature, and the stay until the Last Judgment is in some respects temporary), but at the end of history there must also be Last Judgment. This is not just a duplication of a sentence already passed, but God’s judgment over the entire history of mankind, where people must see all the historical justice of God.

The Church recognizes the practice of prayers for the dead (remembrance), which can be performed both during the liturgy and in private. Accordingly, the existence of an intermediate category of the dead is recognized (hell excludes prayers, and heaven makes them unnecessary). These are considered souls that are unworthy of hell, but due to the imperfection of life, cannot immediately enter heaven. In Catholicism this condition is called purgatory it is these souls who are waiting for prayers for them. Being in purgatory is sometimes defined by earthly time, but this definition is conditional, since there is no earthly time and space beyond earthly boundaries. In Orthodoxy, the analogue of purgatory is ordeal, through which the soul of the deceased passes. The issue of prayers for unbaptized infants is controversial. They are not prohibited, but they are not remembered at temple services. There is a theological opinion that their souls do not deserve suffering, but they also do not taste joy, since, having not received the grace of Baptism, they simply cannot contain it.

It is interesting to note that heaven in the Christian view not only does not abolish the personality (like nirvana in Buddhism), but also does not level out personal qualities. Each person receives a reward consistent with his life and personality structure (“as much as he can hold,” just as vessels of different sizes can be filled to the brim with different volumes of liquid). It is no coincidence that in Christian iconography heaven is often depicted as a hierarchically arranged structure. In general, Christian theology often says that heaven and hell are not so much a certain place in space as a state. At the same time, hellfire is considered not just a beautiful image, but a real phenomenon, albeit of a special nature.

Death is both a joyful (meeting with God and deliverance from an imperfect earthly life) and a terrible (judgment) event. The manifestation of grief for the deceased, especially excessive grief, is considered cowardice, lack of faith, and unreasonableness, since the meeting of the righteous with God is the best fate; only the torment of condemned sinners is terrible. St. John Chrysostom(344–407) said that Christian funerals differ from pagan ones in that there is no crying. It is no coincidence that funeral rituals sometimes involve white people, i.e. festive vestments (black ones symbolize precisely spiritual mourning, associated not with the departure itself, but with the need to answer to the supreme judge, hence a number of “formidable” prayers and hymns dedicated to this, for example the Catholic Dies irae - Day of Wrath).

Death is also seen as having pedagogical significance for the living, encouraging them to realize the transience of the earthly. Some saints kept burial-related items on display and often prayed and meditated in the cemetery.