The emergence of Christianity. Christianity: briefly about religion What is Christianity in brief

The most powerful, influential and numerous of all the main ones existing today, ahead of Buddhism and Islam, is Christianity. The essence of religion, which breaks down into so-called churches (Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and others), as well as many sects, lies in the veneration and worship of one divine being, in other words, the God-man, whose name is Jesus Christ. Christians believe that he is the true son of God, that he is the Messiah, that he was sent to Earth for the salvation of the world and all humanity.

The religion of Christianity originated in distant Palestine in the first century AD. e. Already in the first years of its existence it had many adherents. The main reason for the emergence of Christianity, according to clergy, was the preaching activity of a certain Jesus Christ, who, being essentially a half-god, half-man, came to us in human form in order to bring people the truth, and even scientists do not deny his existence. About the first coming of Christ (the second of the Christian world is just awaiting) four sacred books have been written, which are called the Gospels. The sacred writings written by his apostles (Matthew, John, as well as Mark and Luke, disciples of the other two and Peter) tell about the miraculous birth of the boy Jesus in the glorious city of Bethlehem, about how he grew up, how he began to preach.

The main ideas of his new religious teaching were the following: the belief that he, Jesus, really is the Messiah, that he is the son of God, that there will be his second coming, there will be the end of the world and the resurrection from the dead. With his sermons, he called for loving one's neighbors and helping those in need. His Divine origin was proven by the miracles with which he accompanied his teachings. Many sick people were healed by his word or touch, he raised the dead three times, walked on water, turned it into wine and fed about five thousand people with just two fish and five cakes.

He expelled all merchants from the Jerusalem Temple, thereby showing that dishonest people have no place in holy and noble deeds. Then there was the betrayal of Judas Iscariot, accusations of deliberate blasphemy and brazen encroachment on the royal throne and a death sentence. He died, being crucified on the cross, having taken upon himself torment for all human sins. Three days later, Jesus Christ was resurrected and then ascended to heaven. About the religion Christianity says the following: there are two places, two special spaces that are inaccessible to people during earthly life. and paradise. Hell is a place of terrible torment, located somewhere in the bowels of the earth, and heaven is a place of universal bliss, and only God himself will decide who is sent where.

The religion of Christianity is based on several dogmas. The first is that the Second is that he is trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). The birth of Jesus occurred by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; God became incarnate in the Virgin Mary. Jesus was crucified and then died to atone for human sins, after which he was resurrected. At the end of time Christ will come to judge the world and the dead will rise. Divine and human natures are inextricably united in the image of Jesus Christ.

All religions of the world have certain canons and commandments, but Christianity preaches to love God with all your heart, and also to love your neighbor as yourself. Without loving your neighbor, you cannot love God.

The religion of Christianity has its adherents in almost every country, half of all Christians are concentrated in Europe, including Russia, one quarter in North America, one sixth in South America, and significantly fewer believers in Africa, Australia and

What is Christianity?

There are several world religions: Christianity, Buddhism, Islam. Christianity is the most widespread of them. Let's look at what Christianity is, how this doctrine arose and what its features are.

Christianity is a world religion that is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as described in the New Testament of the Bible. Jesus acts as the Messiah, the Son of God and the Savior of men. Christianity is divided into three main branches: Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism. Adherents of this faith are called Christians - there are approximately 2.3 billion of them in the world.

Christianity: emergence and spread

This religion appeared in Palestine in the 1st century. n. e. among the Jews during the reign of the Old Testament. Then this religion appeared as a creed addressed to all humiliated people who desire justice.

The Story of Jesus Christ

The basis of the religion was messianism - the hope of a savior of the world from everything bad in the world. It was believed that he had to be chosen and sent to Earth by God. Jesus Christ became just such a savior. The appearance of Jesus Christ is associated with legends from the Old Testament about the coming of the messiah to Israel, freeing people from all bad things and establishing a new righteous order of life.

There are different data about the genealogy of Jesus Christ, and there are various debates about his existence. Believing Christians adhere to the following position: Jesus was born by the immaculate Virgin Mary from the Holy Spirit in the city of Bethlehem. On the day of his birth, Jesus was worshiped by the three wise men as the future king of the Jews. Jesus' parents then took Jesus to Egypt, and after Herod's death the family moved back to Nazareth. At the age of 12, during Easter, he lived in the temple for three days, talking with the scribes. At the age of 30 he was baptized in the Jordan. Before Jesus began his public service, he fasted for 40 days.

The ministry itself began with the selection of the Apostles. Next, Jesus began to perform miracles, the first of which is considered to be turning water into wine at a wedding feast. He then spent a long time engaged in preaching work in Israel, during which he performed many miracles, including the healing of many sick people. Jesus Christ preached for three years, until Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples, betrayed him for thirty pieces of silver, handing him over to the Jewish authorities.

The Sanhedrin condemned Jesus, choosing crucifixion as punishment. Jesus died and was buried in Jerusalem. However, after death, on the third day he resurrected, and when 40 days had passed, he ascended into heaven. On Earth, Jesus left behind his disciples, who spread Christianity throughout the world.

Development of Christianity

Initially, Christianity spread in Palestine and the Mediterranean, but already from the first decades, thanks to the work of the Apostle Paul, it began to be popularized in the provinces among different nations.

Greater Armenia first adopted Christianity as a state religion in 301; in the Roman Empire this happened in 313.

Until the 5th century, Christianity spread in the following states: the Roman Empire, Armenia, Ethiopia, Syria. In the second half of the first millennium, Christianity began to spread among the Slavic and Germanic peoples, in the XIII-XIV centuries. - among Finnish and Baltic ones. Later, missionaries and colonial expansion popularized Christianity.

Features of Christianity

To better understand what Christianity is, we should take a closer look at some points related to it.

Understanding God

Christians honor the one God who created people and the Universe. Christianity is a monotheistic religion, but God combines three (the Holy Trinity): the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is one.

The Christian God is perfect Spirit, intelligence, love and goodness.

Understanding man in Christianity

The soul of man is immortal, he himself is created in the image and likeness of God. The purpose of human life is spiritual improvement, life according to God's commandments.

The first people - Adam and Eve - were sinless, but the Devil seduced Eve, and she ate an apple from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. Thus man fell, and after this the men worked tirelessly, and the women gave birth to children in agony. People began to die, and after death their souls went to Hell. Then God sacrificed his son, Jesus Christ, to save righteous people. Since then, their souls after death go not to Hell, but to Paradise.

For God, all people are equal. Depending on how a person lives his life, he ends up in Heaven (for the righteous), Hell (for sinners) or Purgatory, where sinful souls are purified.

Spirit dominates matter. Man lives in the material world, while achieving an ideal destination. It is important to strive for harmony between the material and spiritual.

Bible and sacraments

The main book for Christians is the Bible. It consists of the Old Testament, inherited from the Jews, and the New Testament, created by the Christians themselves. People of faith must live according to what the Bible teaches.

Christianity also uses sacraments. These include baptism - initiation, as a result of which the human soul unites with God. Another sacrament is communion, when a person needs to taste the bread and wine, which personify the body and blood of Jesus Christ. This is necessary for Jesus to “live” in a person. There are five more sacraments used in Orthodoxy and Catholicism: confirmation, ordination, church marriage and unction.

Sins in Christianity

The entire Christian faith is based on the 10 Commandments. By violating them, a person commits mortal sins, thereby destroying himself. A mortal sin is considered to be one that hardens a person, alienates him from God, and does not evoke a desire to repent. In the Orthodox tradition, the first type of mortal sins are those that entail others. These are the well-known 7 deadly sins: fornication, greed, gluttony, pride, anger, despondency, envy. This group of sins also includes spiritual laziness.

The second type is sins against the Holy Spirit. These are sins committed against God. For example, hope for the kindness of God while not wanting to follow a righteous life, lack of repentance, struggle with God, bitterness, envy of the spirituality of others, etc. This also includes blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

The third group is sins that “cry out to heaven.” This is the “sin of Sodom,” murder, insult to parents, oppression of the poor, widows and orphans, etc.

It is believed that one can be saved by repentance, so believers go to churches, where they confess their sins and promise not to repeat them. A method of purification, for example, is. Prayers are also used. What is prayer in Christianity? It represents a way of communicating with God. There are many prayers for different occasions, each of which is suitable for a particular situation. You can say prayers in any form, asking God for something hidden. Before saying a prayer, you need to repent of your sins.

If you are interested in Christianity, as well as other religions, you may be interested in these articles.

). This is the most significant thing that distinguishes Christianity from all other religions.

In other religions, the founder was none other than a preacher of a new or old and long-forgotten teaching. Therefore, in all other religions, the founder does not have the exclusive significance that the Lord Jesus Christ has in Christianity. There the founder is a teacher, a herald of God, proclaiming the path of salvation. And no more. The teacher is only the trumpet of God, the main thing is the teaching that he conveys from God. Therefore, the founder in other religions is always in the background in relation to the teaching he proclaims, the religion he founded. The essence of religion does not depend on it; it is, so to speak, replaceable. Religion would not have suffered at all if it had been proclaimed by another teacher or prophet. For example, Buddhism could easily exist if it were proven that Buddha never existed, but that there was another founder. Islam could have existed calmly if someone else had turned out to be Muhammad instead. This applies to all religions because the functions of the founders of these religions were their teachings that they offered to people. Teaching was the essence of their ministry.

Could Christianity have been founded, for example, by Saint John the Baptist? He could talk about moral teaching, about some truths of faith, but there would not be the most important thing - Sacrifice! Without the Sacrifice of the God-Man Jesus Christ there is no Christianity! One can understand now why all the fire of negative criticism was aimed at the abolition of Christ as a really existing person! If He did not exist, if there was no One who suffered for us. Whoever accepted death on the cross, Christianity immediately crumbles. The ideologists of atheism understood this very well.

So, if we want to express the essence of Christianity not just in one word - Christ, then let's say this: it consists in the Cross of Christ and His Resurrection, through which humanity finally received the possibility of a new birth, the possibility of rebirth, the restoration of that fallen image of God, the bearers of which we are . Since, according to the so-called natural nature, we are not capable of unity with God, for nothing damaged can participate in God, then for unity with God, for the realization of God-manhood, a corresponding recreation of human nature is necessary. Christ restored it in Himself and gave the opportunity to do the same to each of the people.

Another important aspect that makes up the essence of Christianity is the correct spiritual structure of man. And here Christianity offers something that fundamentally distinguishes it from the teachings of all other religions. Firstly, the doctrine of God, secondly, an understanding of the essence and purpose of human spiritual life, then the doctrine of the Resurrection and much more.

So, the first thing that is unique to Christianity and not to other religions is the assertion that God is love. In other religions, the highest that religious consciousness has achieved in the natural order is the idea of ​​God as a righteous, merciful judge, just, but nothing more. Christianity affirms something special: that God is love and only love. Unfortunately, this Christian understanding of God has difficulty finding its way to the consciousness and heart of man. God-love is in no way perceived by the “old” human consciousness. Moreover, the image of God the judge is found in the Gospel, and in the apostolic epistles, and in the patristic works. But what are the specifics of using this image? It has an exclusively edifying and pastoral character and refers, according to the words of the saint, “to the understanding of people who are more rude.” As soon as the question concerns the presentation of the essence of the understanding of God, we see a completely different picture. It is stated with complete certainty: God is love and only love. He is not subject to any feelings: anger, suffering, punishment, revenge, etc. This idea is inherent in the entire Tradition of our Church. Here are at least three authoritative statements. Reverend: “God is good and impassive and unchanging. If anyone, recognizing as benevolent and true that God does not change, is perplexed, however, how He, being such, rejoices in the good, turns away the evil, is angry with sinners, and when they repent, is merciful to them, then this must be said that God neither rejoices nor is angry, for joy and anger are passions. It is absurd to think that the Divine would be good or bad because of human affairs. God is good and does only good things. Harming does not harm anyone, remaining always the same. And when we are good, we enter into communication with God because of our similarity with Him, and when we become evil, we separate from God because of our 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 was angry with us, but that our sins do not allow God to shine in us, but unite us with demons tormentors. If, through prayers and acts of kindness, we then gain permission from our sins, this does not mean that we have pleased or changed God, but that through such actions and our turning to God, having healed the evil that exists in us, we again become capable of tasting 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.”

Saint: “For that it is ungodly to regard the nature of God as subject to any passion of pleasure, or mercy, or anger, no one will deny this, even those who are little attentive to the knowledge of the truth of Existence. But although it is said that God rejoices over His servants and is angry with rage at the fallen people, because He has mercy (see:), but in each of these sayings, I think, the generally accepted word loudly teaches us that through our properties the providence of God adapts to our weakness, so that those inclined to sin through fear of punishment restrain themselves from evil, those who were previously carried away by sin do not despair of returning through repentance, looking at His mercy.”

Saint: “When you hear the words “rage” and “anger” in relation to God, then do not understand anything human by them: these are words of condescension. The deity is alien to all such things; it is said this way in order to bring the subject closer to the understanding of cruder people.”
You can give as many such quotes as you like. They all say the same thing as the Apostle James: “When tempted, no one should say: God is tempting me; because God is not tempted by evil and He Himself does not tempt anyone, but everyone is tempted, being carried away and deceived by his own lust” ().
This is a completely new understanding of God, unique in the history of mankind. Truly, only the Revelation of God could give such a teaching about God, for nowhere in natural religions do we find such a thing. This was unthinkable in natural religions. And although Christianity has existed for two thousand years, even among Christians it is hardly acceptable. The old, passionate man who dominates our soul seeks earthly truth, punishing evildoers and rewarding the righteous, and therefore the greatest revelation of God that God is love and only love is in no way accepted by human consciousness. Out of love and only out of love, and not for “satisfaction” with the so-called Truth of God, not for “ransom,” God sent His Only Begotten Son.

The second feature of Christianity (at present it is more correct to say Orthodoxy) concerns the essence of human spiritual life. Christianity is entirely aimed at healing the soul, and not at earning bliss and paradise. The monk points out: “Careful fulfillment of the commandments of Christ teaches a person (that is, reveals to a person) his weaknesses.” Let us pay attention to what is emphasized by the Monk Simeon: fulfilling the commandments makes a person not a miracle worker, a prophet, a teacher, not worthy of any awards, gifts, supernatural powers - which is the main consequence of the “fulfillment” of the commandments in all religions and even the goal. No. The Christian path leads a person to something completely different - to a person seeing the deepest damage of the human being, for the sake of healing of which God the Word became incarnate and without the knowledge of which a person is, in principle, incapable of either correct spiritual life or accepting Christ the Savior.

How different Christianity is from other religions! How short-sighted are those who talk about a common religious consciousness, that all religions lead to the same goal, that they all have a single essence. How naive all this sounds! Only a person who does not understand Christianity at all can talk about this.

In Christianity, “deeds” reveal to a person his true state - a state of deepest damage and fall: from whatever side you touch me, I am completely sick. Only in the consciousness of this weakness does a person develop correct spiritual strength. Then a person becomes strong when God enters into him. How strong did the Apostle Peter feel? And what? What does the Apostle Paul write about himself? “I prayed to God three times.” Result: “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” It turns out that only through knowing myself, as I really am, does the Lord enter into a person, and then a person really gains strength: “Even if the sky falls on me, my soul will not tremble,” said Abba Agathon. What is promised to man? Saint John Chrysostom says: “God promises to lead us not into paradise, but into heaven itself, and he does not proclaim the Kingdom of Paradise, but the Kingdom of Heaven.” The monk writes: “The crowns and diadems that Christians will receive are not creations.” It is not something created that a renewed person receives, he receives God Himself! Deification is the name of our ideal. It is the closest unity of man with God, it is the fullness of the revelation of the human personality, it is that state of man when he truly becomes the son of God, God by grace. What a colossal difference between Christianity and other religions!

Perhaps the most important thing that Christianity speaks about and what distinguishes it from other religions and without which Christianity cannot exist is its greatest dogma, expressed in the main Christian holiday, Easter, - the dogma of the Resurrection. Christianity does not simply say that the Christian soul is united with God, that the soul will experience certain states. No, it claims that man is a soul and a body, a single spiritual-physical being, and deification is inherent not only in the soul, but in the soul and body. In a renewed person, everything changes, not only the soul, mind, feelings, but also the body itself.

Christianity speaks of resurrection as a fact that will follow as a result of the Resurrection of Christ. Everyone of Christ cannot help but rise again! Remember how provocative the Apostle Paul’s sermon on the Resurrection sounded in the Areopagus. The sages perceived it as a fairy tale, a fantasy. But Christianity affirms this as one of its central tenets. The message of the Resurrection permeates all Christian consciousness throughout all 2000 years. The greatest saints, who achieved the illumination of God and the enlightenment of the mind, affirmed this truth with all the strength and categoricalness. It is unique in the history of the religious consciousness of mankind.

Christianity is a religion that is not outside of us and which we can contemplate as a kind of speculative object, considering the similarities and differences between it and other objects. Christianity is inherent in man by nature. But a person becomes a Christian only when he sees that he cannot get rid of the passions and sins that torment him. Remember, in Dante’s Inferno: “My blood burned so with envy that if it were good for another, you would see how green I turn.” Here it is, torment. Any passion brings suffering to a person. And only when he begins the Christian life does he begin to see what sin is, what passion is, what horror it is, and he begins to see the need for God the Savior.

In human consciousness there is a constant struggle between the old and the new man. Which God will a person choose: the God of Christ or the god of the Antichrist? God alone will save and heal me, give me the opportunity to become a true son of God in unity with the Son the Word incarnate. Another falsely promises me all the blessings of earth for a moment in time. What will you choose, man?

But in any case, remember that it is not rose-colored glasses or the “wisdom” of an ostrich that buries its head in the sand in the face of imminent danger that will save you from the world of passions (i.e., suffering) living in the soul, but only a courageous and honest look at yourself yourself, your so-called strengths and the awareness of your deep spiritual poverty will reveal to you true salvation and the true Savior - Christ, in whom lies all your goodness of eternal life.

Lecture 2

Today I’m thinking of considering with you a question that, of course, can never be considered, but we’ll try anyway. About, what is Christianity? The question that you all know so well, you were probably already tired of, and suddenly the same thing happened again. But you know, we really study so many disciplines, so many different issues related to Christianity, and when they ask: well, could you state the essence. Still, what is the essence of your faith? This is where a difficulty may arise. Now in our time, it is especially important to talk about what makes our faith interesting? What makes up its core? What follows from this faith? Why is ours exactly like this, based on this faith? So, today I will try to talk about the most important thing. Then we will talk about other things. But for now I’ll say about this: so our topic today is “The Essence of Christianity.”

However, I still didn’t say one remark. The essence of Orthodoxy, if possible, and we will talk about this as a topic, differs from the essence of Christianity. Not at all because they are different things. Initially, these are not different things at all. Same. However, now, two thousand years later, Orthodoxy has begun to be considered as one of the directions of Christianity. One of the branches, along with many others, and precisely from this perspective, has to talk about the specific features of Orthodoxy, but of course this will be discussed another time. Now let’s try to talk about the essence of Christianity. What do all religions talk about? What are they calling for? And what do all worldviews assert?

To answer this question, it seems to me that you just need to look at yourself a little. To look at others from this point of view, what is a person looking for, what is he striving for, what does he want? I'm not talking about our immediate desires, of which we have countless. That's not what we're talking about at all. But if we think about the most important thing, that these are our every-minute wants and desires, where do they come from? And where are they heading? Where is our entire soul directed by itself? I think there is a word to express this. From the very beginning to the very end, that is, humanity and man. He always seeks and strives for what is called, if we take a philosophical term, then we can say he strives for good. If we take the term, so to speak, well, worldly or something, he always strives for happiness. This good, happiness, bliss in the religious lexicon is often called the Kingdom of God. And remember, by the way, the Kingdom of God is not paradise. And the Kingdom of God, where is it? According to the Gospel, there is something inside you. This idea of ​​good has been expressed in various ways in philosophy. I don’t want to talk about it now, I’ll just mention it. Philosophers always talk about the search for truth, but what is truth? I hope you know, Pilate didn’t know, but how could he know? The truth is you know what it is, what actually exists is the truth, what is and what is not, then what kind of truth is it if not. This is a hoax, not the truth. Truth is what “is.”

But what is “is”? You will notice that when we approach some complex machine, we want to know how it works. And what needs to be done here and how to do the right thing so that it works in the right direction and not against me. Otherwise I’ll press something wrong and she’ll run at me and even crush me. This is the truth, what it is, this knowledge of the correct, well, direction of life, if we touch life, the correct functioning, when we touch the action of some machine. Correct, i.e., correct knowledge of the laws as they are, so as not to make mistakes. For, acting according to the law, that is, following the laws of our existence, I will apparently not only feel good, but I can receive a lot of useful things for myself as a result of this correct life. If I suddenly, unexpectedly, without knowing, begin to act contrary to the laws, it is absolutely clear what consequences may occur. Look here, for example, all the crises that exist, for example, the most vivid and understandable one, the environmental crisis, what is the cause? A person. The wrong way of development, what we call progress. We treat nature incorrectly, use it incorrectly, develop our civilization incorrectly, we do something incorrectly, we poison the atmosphere, water, pump out resources, harm ourselves, violate the ozone layer, etc.. It turns out that when we act not true, we can expect, and this will certainly happen, the most negative consequences. Oh, how great is the knowledge of truth!

Knowing what really is and how it is when we know it. Imagine if we really know everything well: what is existence? What corresponds to our nature? What is our nature? Then, apparently, on this path, we can only achieve good, because satisfaction, the correct satisfaction of human needs brings him good. I have been talking about these things for so long for a very simple reason, I want to show that the philosophical search for truth, the human desire for truth and justice, the desire of every living being for pleasure and, ultimately, everything that is called these concepts. It's the same thing. It all lies in the idea or concept of good, bliss, happiness. This is the center, the main point towards which all the forces of the human soul are directed. And so every human worldview, take the history of philosophy, every religion, this is precisely what has its center, focus, core, I think that no one will object to this at all. This is simply a property of human nature, but based on this, and this is very important, based on this, we can discuss with you how this issue is resolved and, i.e., how Christianity understands this, this is happiness, this is good, to which a person strives with his soul.

What special does Christianity say here, how does it differ from other views? There are things in Christianity that we will not find anywhere, and things are not just some, you know, elements, cogs, no, no, fundamental things, so serious that it is impossible to overestimate them. The first thing this is connected with is not even the idea of ​​God - no, the idea of ​​God is present in many religions, not even with the idea of ​​eternal life, this thought is also present in different forms. There are other things, and the first thing I would like to talk about is understanding a person.

It’s just that in Dubna, some apparently follower of the Sikhs gave me this collection with a large portrait of one of the holy Sikhs of our time. Now he is in Moscow and would really like to meet here and with us, I say, well, it would be possible, but we’ll see. A certain Sikh Baba and a third word, well, in general, Babaji, to put it simply. I looked at something, some articles, his appeal to the peoples of Russia, his appeal to the whole world (this is quite interesting. Can you imagine, a person is appealing all over the world), to the peoples of Russia and in particular, what does he write there? Actually, there is nothing surprising for me. But I would like to draw your attention to what is the fundamental doctrine, or something, from which all subsequent conclusions flow. This is a statement that by nature a person is that person, a real person, he is healthy, but a number of factors of a different order interfere with the implementation of this health. Moreover, they violate this sanity and make him unhappy in this world. Why am I talking about this? Christianity presupposes an unprecedented understanding of man, in the history of pan-religious consciousness, if Baba Sikh says that there is one religion, and all other religions, i.e., the entire set of religions, are something other than disciplines, individual disciplines in some school. That the leaders, organizers, founders of religions, they are all united, and this is a conclusion, then I will tell you that he is deeply mistaken, they don’t know. You know, it was interesting to read him, why, this is what we call natural understanding of God. They are natural religions, without revelation, how they think, what they feel: “in general, we are good, but we don’t know how to live, we need to know how to live and he tells us how, in order for us to become all good.” Christianity asserts something else, by the way, a very unpleasant thing, and I fully understand why Christianity is not so often accepted sincerely, for the most part it is accepted this way out of custom, and it is very rarely accepted sincerely with full understanding. Here's one of the reasons. Christianity claims that man was created by God. Many religions admit this with pleasure and say that he was created beautiful - magnificent! But further, they claim that due to the Fall, human nature has changed profoundly, to put it mildly, to put it more strongly - human nature has been affected at the root. Her life was struck at the root; she became mortal, and the fact that we see the manifestation of death in ordinary life is, in fact, nothing more than a visible expression of the defeat of human nature that has occurred in general, in man. This defeat, this damage, this distortion is called by various terms. Well, in theology the term has been adopted as “original sin,” which means that in this case we are not talking about sin as an act committed by our ancestors, but as the state into which our human nature fell as a result of falling away from God. For a more, well, perhaps vivid perception of this moment, I give the following example: what will happen to a person, to a diver who has plunged into the waves of a beautiful sea and is connected by a hose, to a ship so that he can breathe and feed on oxygen? What will happen to him if he is indignant at the fact that he is required from above to rise or do both. He will take a knife and cut the hose to become free. "Oh, give me, give me freedom." This is exactly what happened, Christianity claims, there was a severance of man’s living connection with God, what kind of connection? Spiritual! To understand what is spiritual? You know how sometimes a breakup with a person happens, we know everything, it seems like nothing, the breakup suddenly, it becomes alien.

This, unfortunately, sometimes happens in marriage, when people suddenly feel that they are complete strangers, they were relatives and suddenly it happened, well, no matter the reasons, we are not talking about, they suddenly become complete strangers. This feeling is internal, it cannot be conveyed in any words, but it is a fact and they say that this fact is terrible. So here there was a violation of the internal connection between man and God. This hose connecting a person to the source of life turned out to be broken. What follows? We can imagine that irreversible processes take place in the body; irreversible, I emphasize, beyond some point they are not reversible. And then it’s already a disaster. Christian doctrine describes what happened to man; it says that the properties of the soul were split into independently functioning parts. In particular, they talk about three main properties: mind, heart and body. For some reason, a number of fathers point to this most of all, although they write that humanity turned out to be, human nature, fragmented into thousands of parts. It's true - everything is fragmented. But the main components, we will say, are these three, sometimes they are divided into two, like the spiritual, or soul and body. The fact itself, in general, is that this teaching of the fathers does not come from some kind of philosophical, I would say, speculation; no, our very life, real life, testifies to the fact that in our human nature there is some kind of fundamental and strange flaw. This is evidenced magnificently by both the history of mankind and the life of each individual person. What does human history tell us? I will now try to show that the teaching of the fathers about the splitting of human nature is not just some kind of idea, it is not an idea, but this, if you like, is a fact confirmed by the entire history of human existence on earth, as far as we know it. What, I repeat, does humanity always strive for? Well, of course, fortunately, naturally, in which it sees happiness in security, in peace, in harmony, in justice, injustice always causes indignation, however, it is quite obvious what has been happening to humanity throughout history, just the opposite, brother kills brother, Cain is already killing Abel, why? What's the matter? Envy, that's it, envy, but what is it? There is not enough land, there is plenty, only this is paradise, there was still earthly envy, a terrible thing, about which, many millennia later, he writes: “And no more destructive passion than envy arose in human souls.” He kills his own brother, and then more.

It is enough for us to read the history of the ancient world, the Bible, which speaks about peoples, then about the Jewish people, it is enough to read the stories of other peoples: it is striking that incessant wars, terrible exploitation, violence, slavery, murders. My God, civilization replaces civilization, in what way, through violence and wars. Humanity, where is the reason? It turns out that everyone is looking for happiness, in what way? Creepy. And if we take the life of an individual person, in my opinion, there’s nothing better to say here, everyone knows when these passions and desires completely darken our life, completely ruin it, out of nothing everything seems good for a person - no, he envyes and suffers, he is vain (he is not praised) and suffers. Well, you eat to your health, no, you have to overeat so much that the poor thing doesn’t know what to do. They carry him out on a stretcher, excuse me, is this what a smart person does?

Yes... Where is the mind, where is the mind? Well, why, what, but there is no intelligence at all, the most intelligent creature turns out to be the craziest. You understand perfectly well that there are countless illustrations that can be given here. They all testify to one, amazing madness of the human mind. About the amazing heartlessness of the human heart, about the amazing mockery of our body over our mind, over our conscience. Indeed, our mind, heart and will turned out to be like a pike, a crayfish and a swan. The human being turned out to be truly fragmented and sick. Christianity affirms a terrible thing. The one about whom they say: “Man sounds proud,” it turns out that it is not only not proud, but shameful to talk about this creature, he is naked, and poor, and wretched. And the saddest thing, this is worse than even what has been said, the saddest thing: that a person does not see this, he sees himself as good, he sees himself as healthy, and he proves this at every step with all his behavior, with all his reactions to any comments, to any remark that will be made to him. Christianity says that this is the state of defeat of man, of human nature, and the bearer of this nature is each of us. After all, we are talking here not about personal sin, but about the defeat of nature. And so Christianity says that each of us, each of the people, being the bearer of this defeat, finds himself in such a state that he is unable to change it. You can hold it, you can decorate something, something for a while, maybe for a long time, but all this lives in me, if I don’t get irritated now, it doesn’t mean that in a moment I won’t turn out to be a completely different person. So that even no one can find out, that’s what Christianity says. That's what it claims. We can say that this damage that occurred as a result of the Fall of man, it is already hereditary in nature. Christianity says - yes, this is the sting of death, this is a figurative expression, or better yet, this is the bad nature that arose in Adam and Eve in the first people, after the Fall, it has already become the norm for each of their subsequent descendants. It is a fact. A fact, on the one hand, of Christian doctrine, on the other hand, confirmed by the whole life of the world.

This is what Christianity is about. This makes it stand out from all religions. And of all systems of thought, this idea of ​​original sin is completely absent in other religions. She's gone. It is completely unacceptable to a non-religious consciousness, this thought does not exist, but just think, just imagine, a person is already stricken with a fatal disease, but he does not believe in it, makes grandiose plans, what will come of it all? A philosopher looks from the side and says: “Yes, you poor man. You have nothing left to live, but what are you doing?” Imagine if the psyche is damaged and this sick person is delirious, and God knows what he is saying, but what will a healthy person say? “My God, what are you doing?” Our progress, of which humanity is so proud, has ultimately led us to a state that is now spoken of with great tension, spoken of as something terrible. If humanity is now unable to move onto a different path of life, then we face imminent death, in so many ways in life. This is the situation. No person can change himself, remake himself - no, it is impossible to heal. That is why Christianity claims that to change this situation, not human, but superhuman forces are required. If the Divine does not come and help us get rid of this hereditary disease, then humanity awaits death, death, we are not talking about just physical death, but spiritual death. Who can deliver me from passions? Well, what can you do to avoid envy? It’s easy to say don’t envy, but how can I not envy, well, how can I not envy if he was awarded, look how, but I’m not. Well, how can you not be jealous, you will turn green, it’s true, all this is easy to say, but difficult to do. So the first thing Christianity comes from is the understanding of man’s present state, as a damaged being. And this is where the most important Christian dogma stems. Which expresses the whole essence of Christianity and on which Christianity stands, and without which there is simply no Christianity. Christianity claims that Christ the God-man is none other than God, God the Word, or the Son of God. He incarnates, i.e. takes upon himself, (hear yourself!), this human nature, sick, mortal. And through suffering, through death, it restores this human nature. In yourself. This restoration in oneself has colossal consequences for all subsequent life, for an opportunity opens up that did not exist in humanity until that time. He gives the opportunity for spiritual birth to every person who understands who he is and accepts Him: to receive the seed of new life in himself.

If our present state, deeply painful and mortal, was, so to speak, well: a natural consequence of the fall of the first people, and we are born into it without any consent and our will and our arbitrariness. That is already a birth, a new spiritual birth, it is associated with the consciousness and will of a person. Associated with his personality, with his personal conversion and what he recognizes as truth and only if he recognizes the truth in Christ, if only he sees the Savior in him, then this spiritual birth can take place. Then the process of rebirth begins in this person, the process of spiritual restoration, the process of that life that makes it possible for a person to become familiar with the true good. After all, the good or happiness that humanity is looking for turns out to be simply amazingly insane. Here is another piece of evidence, perhaps, of the deep damage of a person. Amazingly insane. Look at what mental and physical, mental and spiritual forces people spent on achieving so-called happiness, how many crimes they often commit in order to achieve happiness. Don’t they understand such a simple thing: man, you don’t know at what moment you will leave this earth, this world. Who knows? Name it? No one knows. So where is your mind? When you know for sure that you will die, knowing for sure, you will give all your strength, often violating both human and Divine laws, to acquire something that bursts in the blink of an eye, like a soap bubble, where is such a mind? Every day you bury people and you know. Madness. It’s impossible to describe the state of a person before execution, before the death penalty, when someone gives him candy, wow, what bliss, incredible. Isn’t this what humanity does when, before death, it wants to acquire this, that, the third, it wants to enjoy this, that, the other, the fourth, before death! Where is the mind? It is clear that there are only two fundamental worldviews - there is God and eternal life, or there is no God and there is no eternal life, but if in the first case the meaning is revealed, then in the other case everything is closed, and only gloomy nonsense remains. Remember we talked about the credo of atheism “Believe, man, eternal death awaits you” and you don’t know at what moment. So, Christianity, in contrast to this madness, (truly madness!) you begin to understand why the apostles write that “the wisdom of this world is madness before God”, truly madness. Christianity speaks about something completely different, it says yes, there is good, there is this happiness, life and the meaning of life can only be in life, and this life opens here when it is possible to defeat death. Now we are not touching on those moments of how, what and why, now we are talking about the essence. Christianity proclaims that Christ conquers death in Himself; by His Resurrection He testifies to this and gives every person the opportunity to join, through Himself, eternal life. If there is a prospect of eternal life, then I believe: there is happiness. If eternal life is happiness, but if they tell me that I, now they gave me a piece of gold to hold, hold, well, hold it, now in a minute we will take it away from you.

And does anyone call this happiness? I will say, excuse me, what kind of sadist is this who mocks me? They put the royal crown on you, how good it is, that’s enough, my dear, and now give me your head along with the crown. Christianity, speaking about eternal life and speaking about Christ, as the source of this immortality, opens the way for man to the source of good, to the source of happiness, and it turns out that it does not lie in these things of this world, for all this will pass, it lies in the depths of humanity souls.

The Kingdom of God is within you

This is how it is achieved, how it is acquired, this happiness, this good, what means are required for this, what is given by Christ, what is required, this is a different question about this, I hope we will talk with you, but now I would like exactly this , I can tell you about this that Christianity is unique in the sense that it speaks of a completely different nature of understanding both happiness itself and the means of achieving it. Christianity also warns every person: look at yourself, know that your nature is sick. Know, don’t trust your thoughts to everyone. The only rule you should have is to treat another person as the Gospel says, thereby you will do the right thing. By doing this, you will loosen the soil in your soul, on which the fruits of the good that every person strives for can grow. This is the whole essence of Christianity, and you know how many incorrect interpretations there are. Oh - oh, I think that it will be interesting for us to talk about them, because sometimes a positive disclosure of a question turns out to be psychologically insufficient and then it sometimes cannot point out all those sides that simply need to be seen for a better understanding of it . So I now want to tell you and talk a little about some things that are associated with an incorrect understanding of the essence of Christianity. I would name you several of these things, each of which, it seems to me, deserves attention. The first, historically the first, and which remains important in the sense of its knowledge, remains to this day a deep misconception regarding Christianity, as a kind of continuation of the Old Testament religion, even Judaism. You remember, Christianity was called a Jewish sect, and Roman historians understood Christianity this way. And in the beginning, it was really difficult, since all the preachers turned out to be, in the majority of cases, Jews. At the very first stages, literally, they even, many of them, remember the apostles, even visited the Jerusalem Temple, even made sacrifices, the process was still in its infancy. There was still no clear understanding and clearly expressed idea of ​​what had happened. And many saw in Christianity something other than the continuation and development of the Old Testament religion. However, further history showed very interesting things. Firstly, and this can be the most unpleasant thing: Judaism rebelled against Christianity, rebelled with all the means at its disposal. Not only there, in Palestine, but ambassadors from Palestine went to all nations, wherever the Jews were scattered. There are very interesting things, in his conversation with Tryphon the Jew, rabbinic Judaism is reported to send messengers everywhere and these messengers reach not only the Jews of the Diaspora, they go further, they go to the rulers, the cruel destruction of Christianity. By the way, now for some reason they don’t talk about it, it’s not customary, you see, they only talk about something else from the oppression of Jews by the Christian Church. There were terrible persecutions against Christianity. A conflict has arisen, Justin the Philosopher says that “nevertheless we do not hate you, we do not hate you either, and we pray for you that God will nevertheless reveal the truth to you,” but the fact remains the same. At present the situation remains very strange.

When the Reformation took place, Judaism raised its head, you know that Protestantism with its... by the way, one of the first was the fight against icons, with images, Calvinist churches and now if you come in, I went in, they are no different from the synagogue, just nothing, conversion to the Old Testament is intensifying and now it can be stated that Western Christianity is entirely and completely under the influence of the Old Testament, all Christian truths are interpreted through the Old Testament, especially moral truths, you will not find “irine” in the West, you will not find only “shalom” ", well, peace, both, and "shalom" peace and "irine" peace. Christian organizations called “shalom” are not “irene”, but these things are completely different things, completely different concepts. The Old Testament world is earthly prosperity, “shalom” is earthly prosperity, what kind of prosperity is there if there is war, no prosperity. “Irene” speaks of the spiritual world, thanks to which only true and earthly prosperity is possible, not pagan, but true, completely different things, at present there is a very strong Judaization of Christianity in the West, in this regard the Pope is especially zealous, the impression is that he goes at the head of everyone. Some of his statements are simply amazing, even what he says: either a person does not want to think, or he bows to that financial power, but it is simply pathetic and not pleasant. Under the Vatican there are papal councils, one of the papal councils for Christian unity, the other papal council for dialogue with other religions. There are two papal councils that deal with these issues, a dialogue with Judaism is ongoing, in the papal council for Christian unity, i.e. again it turns out: Christianity and Judaism turn out to be one and the same. We go back to the first century, but the question arises, why? Answer, we have one Bible, so forgive me, is it only about the Bible? The essence of Christianity is Christ. For Judaism, Christ, that is, who is he? false mission, do you hear? With one Bible, so how then can we argue here, this is a completely different religion. Babaji says that Jesus is a prophet, of course these are other religions, they do not say that he is a false mission, it even says here - a false mission or from the speech of John Paul 2 in the Vatican in October 1997. there was a symposium “The Roots of Anti-Judaism in the Christian Environment” and this is what he said there: “this people is called and led by God, the Creator of heaven and earth. Therefore, its existence does not belong only to the sphere of natural or cultural phenomena, in the sense in which man develops his natural resources with the help of culture. (that is, it means like everyone else, all other peoples), the existence of this people. This fact is supernatural, this is the people of the covenant and it always remains so, and no matter what, even when people are not faithful,” what is this?

Poor Christ, when he says: “They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and will lie down with Abraham and Isaac, and the sons of the kingdom will be cast out.” He clearly understood nothing when he said: “Behold, your father is the devil, and you do the lusts of your father,” how mistaken he was. Or the parable about the winegrowers who understood what they were talking about, but the Pope doesn’t know this, right? Never read the Holy Scriptures? When such terrible things happen, even if the people are not faithful, that means the crucifiers of Christ, it turns out that they still remain?

Does Judas mean, having betrayed Christ, it doesn’t matter to him, God is faithful to him? What he says? So this is one of the deep misconceptions. I don’t know if he really has this delusion or if it’s just a conscious act. God is his judge, but we are talking about a misconception now, one of the deepest misconceptions: to understand Christianity as some kind of continuation of the Old Testament. The Old Testament was only “a shadow, hear, an image of future blessings,” an imperfect image, which is why John Chrysostom says: “The Old Testament lags behind the New, like the earth from heaven.” But the fact is in the 20th century, again after two thousand years of existence of Christianity, it is again, in the West at least, we don’t have it yet, but it will be, but not yet. Christianity is again being considered as a Jewish sect, for which I congratulate you. The second understanding of Christianity, an incorrect understanding, is associated with its philosophical perception; Christianity is considered simply as a new doctrine, a new teaching that communicated to humanity a lot of new ideas that it simply did not know. We'll talk about this later. Indeed, this teaching is a unique fact in relation to so many truths proclaimed by Christianity. Just the understanding of God as one God in the Trinity already speaks volumes, i.e. Christianity is that new teaching that should transform the world. Why is this perception of Christianity wrong? For a very simple reason, the biggest fact is what?

That most Christians simply do not know anything about this teaching. They know about Christ Jesus, they know the Cross, they know something, very little, they don’t know any theological subtleties, and they don’t even see a special, some kind of meaning, something deep, philosophers and thinkers admire, the people simply believe. How many martyrs we know became saints without knowing any of these subtleties of doctrine at all. The point is not at all in the teaching, but in the fact of this supernatural phenomenon in the world of God himself. After the appearance of God the Word Incarnate, another colossal appearance of God, the Holy Spirit, took place, the action of which was and remains amazing. Do you remember what happened after the descent of the Holy Spirit, what gifts of the Holy Spirit did people receive? Until the most amazing ones, they spoke foreign languages, well, that’s a different question. I want to say that, of course, the essence of Christianity is not in doctrine. If this were so, Christ would be no different from the same Buddha, from the same Confucius, from the same Muhammad, from the same Zarathustra, from the same Pythagoras or Socrates, etc., or Moses, all the teachings could would present John the Baptist. The essence of Christianity is the Sacrifice of Christ, which is why the Cross remains a symbol of Christianity. The Cross, for it is a symbol of Sacrifice, is not a teaching at all. The teaching is what is necessary for accepting this Sacrifice of the Cross, which is combined with the understanding of this Sacrifice of the Cross. We could not understand this Sacrifice of the Cross if it were not revealed by God to the Trinity, we could not simply understand it. Those. the teaching is secondary and Christ, first of all, is not a Teacher at all, is he a Teacher? Yes, but not in the first place, first of all he is the Savior, and the Teacher in the second place, therefore any other teacher and founder of the religion can be replaced and it does not matter who the founder was. Muhammad or Buddha or another, some disciple, Moses or Joshua, and in the end what difference does it make, no difference. God can speak through everyone. In Christianity, if you say that Jesus Christ did not exist, everything falls apart instantly, it is not a matter of teaching. If they said that Christ did not exist, and Paul presented the teaching, all Christianity does not exist, because I repeat once again, the Sacrifice of Christ is the essence of Christianity, and not the teaching of people, any of the prophets could teach. How incorrect is the perception of Christianity as the new Law of God, this is the ritual-legalistic perception of Christianity, it is nothing more than the inertia that actually comes from the Old Testament and not only from it, from Judaism, but also pagan religions. You know, a person is very impressed by what? Do you want to be saved? I want to. But as? Christianity says that a person needs to change into the image of Christ. It is very difficult, as we have already said. I can’t overcome envy or vanity, but there is another way. The Church, to help a person, gives a lot of means to help him.

Temples are opened, Divine services are organized, traditions of various Divine services are held, there are prayer services, memorial services, akathists, all sorts of troparia, rites, and so on. Posts are established, individual rules, and so on. All these are means that should help a person, in what way? In changing yourself. So this tendency arises, these means, means of help, salvation, to be perceived as necessary and sufficient conditions for the salvation of a person, i.e. if I am baptized, I go to church, and there I confess and receive communion when necessary, give notes, receive prosphoras, serve prayer services, keep fasts - that’s all. And if I also read morning and evening prayers, everything is as it should be. And then you won’t approach me anymore, why? Because I am the right person, not like others. There is a good phrase, I liked it so much, I can’t: “He’s rubbish, he’s rubbish, but he keeps repeating things like other people.” Amazing. This is a ritualistic - legalistic perception of Christianity, reducing its essence and fulfillment to this set of all means, forgetting that this was established by the church as an auxiliary means for fulfilling the commandments, and the commandments consist of something else. “Anthony, you eat little, and I don’t eat at all, you sleep little, and I don’t sleep at all, the devil says to Anthony - this is not how you defeated me,” and Christ said something completely different, “Blessed are the pure in heart,” the pure in heart. This is the ritualistic-legalistic perception of Christianity, a terrible thing that is especially striking, this is such a primitive folk consciousness, it literally kills a person. It’s easy to become righteous here, but then trouble comes, such righteous people are a terrible thing, the main thing is that you can’t do anything with them, it’s not for nothing that they say, Holy Satan, exactly, exactly, does everything, everything as it should be and don’t go near him. I'll tell you, this is one of the terrible threats to Christian consciousness, one of the terrible diseases that unfortunately exists in every church, moreover, in every religion, even. You need to fight this with all the strength of your soul. You always need to know the commandments of Christ. This is what we must fulfill; all church institutions are only auxiliary means. Which turn out to be useful only when we consider them precisely as a means to fulfill the commandments. What good is it if I fast, eat minnows, and kill a man? What it is? Another misperception of Christianity, do you look meek or not yet meek? Meekness shines from your faces, well then, until next time.

The truth of Christianity

Christianity is the only religion that has precisely objective arguments testifying to its unearthly origin, its Divine origin, and therefore its truth, because if it is Divine, therefore, it is true. And so I would like to present the arguments, more or less in full and in a single, integral picture. I have already told you that, as it seems to me, and as far as I know, other religions simply do not have such arguments. And therefore, it is the emphasis on this issue that has a very great apologetic, or, I would say, simply preaching, significance for you and me. So, what are the arguments that support the thesis of the Divine origin of Christianity?

Historical argument

Christianity arose under conditions of severe persecution, its ancestor - the founder - was subjected to the most severe execution and death. The impression this made on the disciples is described in the Gospel quite well. For the sake of Jewish fear, they even gathered in a separate room, so that God forbid someone would hear or find out.

What's next? Then the same line was continued. We see: the followers of Christ are persecuted, arrested, tortured, executed, and in the end they ensure that the emperor of the central Roman government passes the most cruel laws in relation to Christianity. I must admit that it is simply amazing, almost incredible, because the Roman Empire is an empire of all religions. The religions of the conquered peoples were incorporated into the Roman Empire. The statues of the gods were brought to Rome to a special building called the Pantheon, where representatives of these religions could come and worship; everything was allowed, the most disgusting religions existed there. Only in relation to Christianity were such harsh measures taken.

It is often said that this happened only because Christians refused to make sacrifices in front of the statues of the emperors, that they did not recognize the religious cult of the Caesars. This is what Bolotov writes, for example, which really surprises me, since he was a very prominent historian. But the Jews also did not recognize this cult, they also did not make sacrifices, they also did not bow to the emperors and did not honor them - and they were not subjected to any repression for this. After all, Christianity was initially considered by the Roman authorities as some kind of Jewish sect - and nothing more.

And suddenly a law came out according to which Christianity was considered as a “religion of illicite”, i.e. religion is illicit, i.e. illegal. And on the basis of this law, only for the reason that a person was called a Christian, he was executed. These are the conditions under which Christianity spread. This law was in effect at short intervals until 313; the massacre of Christians continued for about three centuries. But this persecution ended with the triumph of Christianity in the Byzantine Empire. How could this happen?

It is amazing how religion could survive and exist in such conditions. It is enough to transfer this situation to the conditions of our time, and it will become clear that this is simply unthinkable. It is clear that some were hiding, some did not identify themselves, some existed secretly, but soon everything would have stopped, because people accepted Christianity under pain of a cruel death penalty. “Christians to the lions!” – remember this motto? This is what it meant to accept Christianity. This is only possible now: “Perhaps I’ll get married in Yelokhovsky Cathedral...”. Be baptized? Please. They pay, you are baptized, although he does not know how to be baptized himself. And before, the death penalty threatened everyone, terrible torture. The question arises: what could have caused the spread of Christianity, its preservation and even the acquisition of a dominant position in the Roman Empire? What human could it help here? Let them name it. Oh, how interesting it would be to listen to these historians, what they would say. Just read the lives of the martyrs. After all, it was not just the death penalty, but the terrible torture that always accompanied the execution, because forced renounce Christianity. They didn’t renounce. The same story happened here in Russia, in connection with the revolution in 1917. Soloukhin writes that by 1922, 390 thousand of the clergy were destroyed, i.e. monastics and those who are ordained. I repeat that they could, could have declared that they were renouncing God, Christ, and they would immediately become an example for everyone, newspapers would write about them, they would talk on the radio, but they would not renounce.

We will not find a single religion in the world that was preserved and spread under such conditions. There are small groups, sects, nothing more, and these sects existed under conditions of completely different persecution. There is simply nothing like it. Take any sects now, even in the West: they calmly move to other countries where the laws allow them. And there is no question of the death penalty, and even torture.

As our ancient apostles wrote: “Why are you judging us? We are the most loyal citizens of the empire, loyal not out of fear, but out of conscience.” And indeed, Christians could well “boast” that they were the most decent people in the empire. They served in the army, were commanders, and were found in all spheres of society. The pagans even said: “Look how they (Christians) love each other.” Can we say the same now? And not just each other. In Alexandria, plague patients were thrown out onto the street, afraid to touch them. And only some strange people walk around the city and collect these corpses, clear the streets and take them somewhere for burial, then they themselves die, they themselves get sick. “Who are these strange people?” - “These are some Christians...” This is in relation to the pagans, and not just to each other.

How can we explain this phenomenon? The Book of the Acts of the Apostles reports some amazing things that do not fit into the framework of ordinary consciousness. Those who accepted Christianity and were baptized often simply did not know what was beginning to happen to them. They were filled with great joy, nothing special seemed to happen to them; that’s all - they were immersed, baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, nothing special, it seems. Moreover (and this amazed everyone), they acquired special talents that truly shocked everyone. They began to speak foreign languages, without ever studying them, they healed the sick, cast out demons, with just one word, with one touch. They predicted events and became prophets. These people were no longer afraid of any death or torture. “This torment is a joy to Thy servants,” - this is the leitmotif that sounds, runs like a red thread, through the mass of acts of martyrdom. What it is? Fanaticism? On such a scale, why would it be? What paralyzed you with the fear of death and torture? There are no natural explanations for this fact, do you hear, no. There is only one explanation left - supernatural. Yes, what the Acts of the Apostles write about, in the simplest, most artless language, without any pathos, without enthusiasm, is simply reported and nothing more, what the subsequent history of the Christian church reports, narrating the lives of the great saints, directly testifies: “Yes, everyone, He who accepted Christianity, who consciously accepted it, was filled with what in Christianity is called the Holy Spirit. Filled with the Spirit of God.”

This Spirit of God acted both on the person himself and on those around him. We know a lot of facts when torturers threw down their weapons and declared in front of the judge: “I am a Christian.” How did this happen? They were shocked, how weak women, sometimes children (remember? - Faith, Hope, Love), even children showed such amazing examples of courage. Let them explain this by some natural causes and find a religion that could stand next to Christianity in this way. Look at other religions, how they arose. This is either paganism, coming as a natural stream from the distant depths of consciousness of human history; if it is a new religion, then let us see how they usually arose. Completely calm, well, the same Buddhism. A vivid illustration: Buddha was a revered figure everywhere, who was received with pleasure, and was considered an honor to communicate with him. Or take Islam, how did it spread? Fire and sword.

No, in fact there is no one to put next to Christianity. It is simply impossible to explain how, during almost 300 years of persecution, Christianity not only was not destroyed, but also became the religion of the majority. This is one of the very bright, objective moments indicating that Christianity lives not by a human idea, not just by a philosophical conviction that the Lord Jesus Christ is God, the Savior, this is not the opinion that Christianity “perhaps” is true. No. Because only a few will die for their opinion, but millions will never die.

Doctrinal argument

The bulk of the course was devoted to this argument. Its essence lies in pointing out the decisive difference between the dogmatic truths of Christianity both from the entire complex of ideas that form the content of the consciousness of pagans, and from the root principles of philosophizing reason. We are talking, I repeat, about a sharp divergence, sometimes reaching the point of incompatibility.

We are convinced of this by a number of examples. Take the dogma of the Trinity. We compared it with the ideas that existed in the Roman Empire - nothing in common. Completely different ideas even about salvation: not here, not in this world, not material well-being, not a state social paradise on earth, no, no, but “the Kingdom of God is within you.” The Savior is not Augustus, not a monarch, not an emperor, not a conqueror, not a virtuous man who, in all his glory and majesty, reigns over us in peace and gives us prosperity, no, no, but this is the image of a slave: “We preach Christ crucified to the Jews temptation, to the Hellenes - madness"

That is, for the pagan consciousness there is simply no worse option to be found - how unnatural it is for him. Temptation and madness in all Christian truths, specifically Christian ones. Take, for example, the Incarnation. In paganism, there are as many incarnations of various gods as you like. However, if we compare them, there is nothing in common. Or rather, there is as little in common as there is between a doll and a child. Is there anything in common here? Yes... there is something. But a doll is just a doll and will remain a doll.
Just as dogmatically, the truths of Christianity are decisively different from the ideas by which humanity lived, contemporary with the era of its birth. What common features characterize these Christian truths?

There are a number of very important points here. First of all, it should be emphasized that Christian truths are not logically deducible from philosophical and religious ideas, both Jewish and pagan. The dogmas of Christian doctrine are neither the result of a logical conclusion from previous worldviews, nor the fruit of any “refinement” of the corresponding forms of consciousness. Neither the dogma of the Trinity, nor the dogma of the Incarnation, nor the dogma of salvation through the cross and suffering, much less the position about the union of human and divine natures in Christ, find any significant similarity in the pictures of pagan theogony and philosophical speculation. And when they started talking about the Resurrection, the pagans reacted as they should: “Go, Paul, we’ll listen to you another time, just go away from here, don’t bother us, we’ve heard enough of these fairy tales.” All Christian ideas are simply “wild” ideas; they are truly “crazy” for all these forms of consciousness. Of course, I’m talking about “insanity” in quotation marks, but that’s what I said: “Credo qui absurdo est,” i.e. I believe it because it is absurd, crazy, i.e. not logically connected. That is, the truths of faith do not contradict logic, but they do not follow logically, they cannot be logically justified somehow, that’s the point. By the way, not just anyone, but Engels said the wonderful words: “Christianity has entered into irreconcilable conflict with all the religions surrounding it.” What contradiction, what irreconcilable contradiction is he talking about? What, Christians took sticks, swords, spears and let’s fight with everyone? Nothing of the kind, it was Christianity that was distinguished by its surprisingly peaceful character. There is an irreconcilable ideological contradiction here, a religious contradiction. Engels expressed this perfectly; he specifically dealt with issues of Christianity, and this phrase says a lot. He said what all atheistic propagandists actually said until they came to their senses and understood: how did it arise then? And here they had a different line of thought: Christianity, they say, arose then and from somewhere.

But in fact he spoke the truth. Yes, all the basic Christian truths really came into irreconcilable contradiction with all the ideas of the world around him. I would also say that Christian truths are not only not logically deducible, they are not only fundamentally different from all ideological analogues of religious thoughts of that time, but they also do not repeat these ideas. Christian truths are not a repetition of what took place; there are no such ideas.

But there is another interesting point that is worth noting. Bohr (a famous physicist, one of the creators of quantum mechanics) distinguishes between two types of judgments: trivial and non-trivial judgments. Trivial are those propositions whose opposites are simply false. For example, white - black, courage - cowardice. We can find as many opposing judgments and statements as we want. These are trivial judgments, i.e. ordinary. Nontrivial ones are distinguished by the fact that their opposites are as true as the first. That is, we do not encounter logical inconsistency when 2x2=4 and 2x2=5. Here the opposite statements are equally true. The theory of relativity shows this well. Is the train moving or not moving? And this depends on from what position we look at it. If we say - it is moving, then we stand still, if we say - it is not moving, then we ourselves are in motion. Or take it in the field of elementary particles: at the same time it is also a wave, that is, something opposite to a particle. These are completely incompatible phenomena. A stone thrown into the water and a wave that comes from the stone. To better understand this phenomenon, which we do not know what to call, in some cases we will consider it as a particle, and in others as a wave, and this will be equally true. Christian truths have the same property of non-triviality. True judgments are non-trivial. Take for example the Christian dogma of God the Trinity. In general, Christianity believes in which God, one or not? “I believe in One God.” Christianity is a monotheistic religion, isn't it? Then, excuse me, three faces, or not? But three is not one. This is a rejection of unity?! True, this is the opposite judgment; Christianity affirms both. Why does he claim? You can affirm anything you want. In this case, the statement does not stem from some kind of voluntarism - what I want, that’s what I say, no. As in the field of particle physics, why do we say “particle and wave”? Because they observe both – this is a reflection of real facts.

And in Christianity we see absolutely the same thing, because it natural fact of revelation. Christianity, on the one hand, while maintaining pure monotheism, asserts that God is one, and at the same time, affirms His Trinity.

In a striking way, from this one point a picture suddenly reveals itself: yes, monotheism and suddenly – trinitarianism. Before this, the most we knew was that monotheism is associated with monohypostaticity, if monotheism means monohypostaticity. Here an amazing abyss opens up: the Father, the eternally born Son, the eternally outgoing Holy Spirit. Moreover, we never know what “eternally born” or “eternally born” means? Don't know. What is outgoing? Don't know. What's the difference between this? Don't know. All I know is that there is something different here. The difference is indicated, although we do not know what is happening. How it is eternally born and how it eternally comes out, we cannot know. This is truly a non-trivial statement. I think that N. Bohr, if he had thought about this a little, he would have been simply in amazing delight, but, however, it is possible that he spoke about this too.

It is curious that when they talk about the history of the Church (as a scientific and educational discipline), they almost always talk about stories heresies. What's the matter? But the fact is that you constantly want to correct Christianity. After all, what it says doesn’t fit into any corners, and therefore they begin to correct it... How could God really incarnate? And they begin to invent... no, it only seemed that He was incarnate, it only seemed that He suffered, nothing of the kind. In fact, God did not incarnate at all; He cannot incarnate like you. This is how the heresy of Docetism arises. Then another correction of Christianity comes: no, no, the man Jesus was born, of course, as it should be, he was born, but in Him, for His virtues, for His holiness, God - the Logos, who dwelt in Him - indwelt. Sometimes he stayed, and sometimes he left. Remember the Nestorian heresy? Everything seems to be “reasonable,” but the Fathers rebelled - heresy! Why heresy? For a very simple reason: it did not correspond to the facts set out in the Gospel. On this basis, various heretical points of view were rejected. You see, paganism constantly tried and is still trying to “correct” Christianity, to place it in the Procrustean bed of our logic, our thinking, and philosophical ideas. Hence heresy after heresy. Heresy is an attempt to “correct” Christianity.

But what kind of sages were they who could come up with such truths that all the philosophers in the world could not cope with them? Fishermen - and that says it all, nothing more needs to be said. So, fishermen - and such amazing depths. Well, did they come up with all this themselves? Of course no. This is not their teaching, these are simple people, not bookish, they only conveyed what they heard.. They conveyed as witnesses: “what we heard, what we touched,” writes John the Theologian, “we tell about the word, life to you". Tell me, is this not a serious argument? Where could such a teaching come from? From the mouths of such simple people, and among them only Paul was educated, and he was not one of the twelve. Where does all this come from? This reasoning alone is enough to recognize the supernatural origin of Christianity.

I would also stop at scientific and philosophical argument. It boils down to the fact that the truth of Christianity, like any other religion, like any scientific theory, can be confirmed by two things:

1. There must be facts that confirm its basic settings;

2. It must be possible to verify these statements. This is the so-called “verifiability principle”.

For example, many elementary particles were discovered decades before they were finally recognized as a scientific fact. More precisely, theoretical predictions were made about their existence, but the issue was considered finally resolved only when these predictions received experimental confirmation.

So, if we formally consider Christianity from a purely scientific point of view, a very interesting picture opens up. There is a huge, incalculable multitude of facts testifying to his supernaturalism. Let us remember the names of Xenia of St. Petersburg, and ask the question: did those huge mountains of facts, eyewitness accounts of the miracles they performed really take place or not? Or maybe it's better to just deny them?

Is there an opportunity to be convinced for yourself that God exists, there is this supernatural world, how to be convinced for yourself that the Kingdom of God is within us, how to be convinced that the Spirit, the God about whom Christianity speaks, transforms a person, i.e. . from a greedy, envious, vain, proud, glutton and drunkard makes a person pure, merciful, meek, temperate, etc.? Is it possible for a person to experience within himself the joy that Christianity speaks of? Yes, there is such a possibility. Christianity says that there is a real path, a path that is not purely speculative and not theoretical, but a path that has been tested and tested by a huge number of people. Many saints known to us showed amazing facts of this transforming action of God on people in themselves. This transformation affected everything: their mind, heart, body, even body. That is, if we approach it from a purely formal point of view, then Christianity as a scientific theory satisfies two basic requirements for any scientific theory. It turns out that these facts exist, I repeat, they are indisputable facts.

Let us pay attention to another point, also related to the scientific and philosophical argument. Christianity, despite the undoubted fact of its supernatural origin, does not at all lead a person away from all life’s problems into the realm of illusions and the ideal world. Christianity just opens up for a person the possibility of a correct approach to these problems. It provides a clear answer to all the most fundamental and vital questions of human existence. Christianity gives a person a complete worldview, and a worldview that does not distract a person from all the vital problems and tasks of this life; it gives a person extraordinary courage, joy and strength. Just think about this idea - “God is love” - what does that mean? This means that everything that happens to me (I’m not talking about the positive things that happen, which we accept with pleasure, but I’m talking about the negative things when we are scolded, offended, insulted, etc.), - all this is done not because this person, these people are such villains, God is their Judge, for me this is done because it is useful to me. All this is done according to the wise and loving providence of God, i.e. some good is being accomplished for me; what I accept as very unpleasant, bad, difficult, sorrowful, suffering, is actually good. For example, we sometimes don’t know that we are sick, i.e. that we have some kind of disease, we don’t know, but during the examination the doctor says: “You know, I’m sorry, but here you need to do something. This is absolutely necessary, otherwise the consequences may be irreversible and severe.” “Well, I agree. I surrender myself.” And you know, they start tormenting me; some kind of injections, procedures, bitter tablets, pills, and then, lo and behold, they announce: “Sorry, but an urgent operation needs to be done.” “Yes, I’m healthy, I’m good, but there’s no one better than me in the world!” “No, urgently to the operating table, and immediately!”

How do we evaluate this?.. Then we are often grateful to the doctor for forcing us to undergo treatment. The Christian faith gives us, I would say, amazing joy, joy in all our life's troubles, sorrows and sufferings. Christianity asserts: everything that happens to us is done out of love, out of that love that none of us has, even in relation to the closest person, for this is not just great love, but true love, i.e. the wise one who does not make mistakes, and we are often mistaken when we think that we love others. Here is unmistakable love.

Christianity is therefore an amazing religion of joy, optimism! Imagine that a dentist is treating you, or imagine that an executioner is drilling your tooth - is there a difference? Probably... When a surgeon cuts our stomach, or some bandit, is there a difference? Probably... So, all our enemies, enemies, insulters and haters are only blind instruments in the hands of the wise and all-good, loving will of God. This is what Christianity is! What a joy!

It is also worth noting that from a purely formal point of view, Christianity does not contain any provisions in its teaching that would contradict human conscience, or a reasonable attitude towards human life; on the contrary, Christianity calls specifically for living according to conscience, moreover, it elevates the moral principle to man to such a high level that even people who are very far from Christianity admit that they have never seen a more remarkable image in history, a more perfect image than the image of the Gospel Jesus. This is the image of a perfect person. This is the Christian ideal, this is Who we are guided by. Jesus is an amazing ideal: love, courage, and care for basic needs. Remember, there was a wedding, apparently the poor people didn’t have enough wine. What a sorrow this is for them, what a disappointment, what a reproach from others. What is He doing? Transforms water into wine, think about the worries, even about the simplest things. No, no, Christianity does not distract, does not interfere with life. Christian commandments are not an obstacle to a free life, far from it, Christ takes care of even the most basic human needs. Christianity does not contain any provisions, I repeat once again, that would contradict a reasonable attitude towards life, the principles of conscience, the principles of morality; this is not in Christianity. This is an argument, rather, an ethical one, an argument that directly says that Christianity is a religion against which we cannot say anything bad. But how it manifested itself in history, and how it realized and continues to realize itself in specific people, is a different question. Here we see different things, from stunning peaks of holiness and love, to Judas and the like. But this is a question of a different order. Christianity itself really surprises everyone who dispassionately begins to get acquainted with it, with its greatness, both moral and speculative, simply greatness as such.

Christianity (from the Greek Christos, literally - anointed one) is one of the three world religions that arose in the 1st century AD. in Palestine, in the center of which stands the image of the God-man - Jesus Christ, who atoned for the sins of humanity with his martyrdom on the cross and opened the way for the latter to reunite with God. In modern times, this term is used to characterize the three main directions of Christianity: Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Protestantism. Now, according to the UN, there are 1.5 billion Christians in the world, according to UNESCO 1.3 billion.

Unlike other religions, Christianity was given to man by God. Any Christian will tell you this, because this position is part of his faith, but people somewhat far from Christianity (or simply curious scientists), after conducting a comparative analysis of the history of religious teachings, came to the conclusion that Christianity has absorbed various ethical and philosophical ideas other religions, for example, such as Judaism, Mithraism and the views of ancient Eastern religions.

Christianity came out of the Jewish environment. One of the confirmations can be the following words of Christ: “Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets; I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:27) and the very fact that Jesus was born into the Jewish people, which within the framework of Judaism and waited for his Messiah. Subsequently, Judaism was rethought by Christianity in the direction of deepening the moral religious aspect, which established love for all things as the basic principle.

Jesus Christ is a historical figure. This is the opinion of representatives of one of the main schools studying this issue. Representatives of the other believe that Jesus is a rather mythological person. According to the latter, modern science is devoid of specific historical data about this person. In their eyes, the Gospels lack historical accuracy, since they were written many years after the events took place, repeat other eastern religions and suffer from a large number of contradictions. Actually, the historical sources of the beginning of the 1st century do not at all reflect either the preaching activity of Christ or information about the miracles he performed.
The historical school cites the following facts as evidence of the real existence of Jesus Christ: the reality of the characters spoken of in the New Testament, a number of historical sources containing information about Christ, the most famous of which is considered to be “Antiquities” by Josephus.
It is worth noting that in recent years, the majority of religious scholars, as well as Christians themselves, have taken the position that Jesus Christ really existed.

In Christianity, there are 10 basic commandments that a person must live by. Written on stone tablets, they were given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai.
1. I am the Lord your God... You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. Don't make yourself an idol.
3. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. Dedicate the seventh day to the Lord your God.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. Don't kill.
7. Do not commit adultery.
8. Don't steal.
9. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. Do not covet anything that your neighbor has.

The Sermon on the Mount is of great importance for Christian understanding and guidance in life. The Sermon on the Mount is considered to be the core of the teachings of Jesus Christ. In it, God the Son gave the people the so-called beatitudes (“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted,” “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (hereinafter - Matthew 5:3 -16) and revealed the understanding of the 10 commandments. Thus, the commandment “You shall not murder; whoever kills shall be liable to judgment” turns into “Whoever is angry with his brother without cause will be liable to judgment” (Matthew 5:17-37), “You shall not commit adultery” - in “...everyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart...” (Matthew 5:17-37) It was in the Sermon on the Mount that the following thoughts were heard: “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you.” you and pray for those who curse you" (Matthew 5:38-48; 6:1-8), "Judge not, lest you be judged..." (Matthew 7:1-14), "Ask, and it will be given to you "Seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you; for everyone who asks receives" (Matthew 7:1-14). "In everything therefore, whatever you want people to do to you, do so also to them; For this is the law and the prophets" (Matthew 7:1-14).

The Bible is the holy book of Christians. It consists of two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The latter, in turn, consists of four Gospels: Matthew, John, Mark and Luke, the Acts of the Apostles and the Revelation of John the Evangelist (known as the Apocalypse).

The main provisions of the Christian faith are 12 dogmas and 7 sacraments. They were adopted at the first and second ecumenical councils in 325 and 381. The 12 dogmas of Christianity are usually called the Creed. It reflects what a Christian believes in: in one God the Father, in one God the Son, in the fact that God the Son came down from heaven for our salvation, in the fact that God the Son was incarnate on earth from the Holy Spirit and Mary the Virgin, that God the Son was crucified for our sake, rose again on the third day and ascended into heaven to God the Father, at the second coming of God the Son for the judgment of the living and the dead, in the Holy Spirit, in the one Holy Catholic Apostolic Church, into baptism and, finally, into resurrection and future eternal life.
The seven Christian sacraments are currently recognized by both the Orthodox and Catholic churches. These sacraments include: baptism (acceptance of a person into the bosom of the church), anointing, communion (drawing closer to God), repentance (or confession), marriage, priesthood and consecration of oil (for deliverance from illness).

The symbol of the Christian faith is the cross. The cross in Christianity is adopted in memory of the martyrdom of Jesus Christ. The cross adorns Christian churches, clergy clothes, church literature and is used in the performance of Christian rituals. In addition, believers wear a cross (mostly consecrated) on their bodies.

An important place in Christianity is given to the veneration of the Mother of God. Four of the main Christian holidays are dedicated to her: the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, the Entry into the Temple of the Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary and the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, many churches were erected in her honor and icons were painted.

Priests did not appear in Christianity immediately. Only after the final break with Judaism and a gradual change in the social layer of early Christian society, a clergy appeared in the Christian environment, who took full power into their hands.

Christian sacraments and rituals were not formed immediately. The sacrament of baptism was determined only at the end of the 5th century, after which the sacrament of communion (Eucharist) was formed. Then, over the course of several centuries, chrismation, consecration of oil, marriage, repentance, confession and the priesthood gradually began to appear in Christian rituals.

For a long time, images of saints were prohibited in Christianity. Just as any objects of veneration were prohibited, in the worship of which a number of Christians saw idolatry. The dispute over icons came to a logical conclusion only in 787 at the seventh (Nicene) Ecumenical Council, which allowed the depiction of sacred persons and events associated with them, as well as the worship of them.

The Christian Church is a special divine-human organization. But it is in no way historical. The Christian Church is a mystical formation, which, along with God, includes both living and dead people, and, more simply, souls that, according to Christianity, are immortal. At the same time, modern theologians, of course, do not deny the social component of the Christian church, however, for them it is not the main point for determining its essence.

The spread of Christianity in Rome was associated with the crisis of ancient society. This socio-historical factor, which caused a sense of uncertainty in society in the ancient system of the world order and, as a result, criticism of ancient orders, had a direct impact on the spread of Christianity within the Roman Empire. The disunity between different layers of Roman society, which represented antagonistic pairs, for example, such as free people and slaves, Roman citizens and provincial subjects, also increased the general instability in society and helped the advancement of Christianity, which affirmed among needy people the idea of ​​​​universal equality and salvation in another world .

In the Roman Empire, Christians were always persecuted. From the very beginning of the emergence of Christianity and right up to the 4th century, this was the case, then the imperial power, sensing a weakening of control over the country, began to look for a religion that would unite all the peoples of the empire, and eventually settled on Christianity. In 324, the Roman Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire.

There has never been unity within Christianity. Representatives of the Christian faith constantly held discussions on Christological topics that touched upon three main dogmas: the trinity of God, incarnation and atonement. Thus, the first Council of Nicaea, having condemned the Arian teaching, which believed that God the Son is not consubstantial with God the Father, established a unified Christian understanding of this dogma, according to which God began to be defined as the unity of three hypostases, each of which is also an independent person. The third ecumenical council, called the Ephesian Council, in 431 condemned the Nesterian heresy, which rejected the idea of ​​​​the birth of Jesus Christ from the Virgin Mary (the Nestorians believed that a man was born from the Virgin Mary, and then the deity moved into him). The fourth (Chalcedon) Ecumenical Council (451) was dedicated to the substantiation of the dogma of atonement and incarnation, which affirmed the equal presence in the person of Christ of both human and divine, united inseparably and inseparably. The issue of depicting Jesus Christ was resolved even later - in the 6th century at the fifth (Constantinople) Ecumenical Council (553), where it was decided to depict the Son of God in the form of a man, and not a lamb.

There have been several major schisms within Christianity. Differences in religious views, as a rule, led to differences in the social and religious life of different Christian communities. Thus, in the 5th century in Byzantium, the teaching of the Monophysites arose, which did not want to recognize Christ as both man and God. Despite the condemnation of this teaching by one of the ecumenical councils (415), it spread to some Byzantine provinces, such as Egypt, Syria and Armenia.
One of the largest is considered to be the schism of the 11th century, which occurred during the division of the Roman Empire into Western and Eastern. In the first, in connection with the fall of the emperor's power, the authority of the Roman bishop (pope) greatly increased; in the second, where imperial power was preserved, the patriarchs of the churches were deprived of an approach to power. Thus, historical conditions formed the basis for the division of the once united Christian church. In addition, certain dogmatic and even organizational disagreements began between the two churches, which led to the final break in 1054. Christianity was divided into two branches: Catholicism (Western Church) and Orthodoxy (Eastern Church).
The last split in Christianity occurred within the Catholic Church during the Reformation. The anti-Catholic movement that formed in Europe in the 16th century led to the separation of several European churches from Catholicism and the creation of a new direction in Christianity - Protestantism.

A message about Christianity will briefly tell you a lot of useful information about one of the most influential religions in the world. The report on Christianity can be used during preparation for classes.

Message about Christianity

Christianity is an ancient religion whose history goes back more than 2000 years. Together with Islam and Buddhism, it is one of the world religions. Approximately 1/3 of the planet's inhabitants profess Christianity.

The religion originated in the 1st century AD. The territory where Christianity spread was the Roman Empire. More precisely, here the opinions of scientists are divided. Some believe that his homeland is Palestine, while others believe that the Jewish diaspora in Greece.

Prerequisites for the emergence of Christianity

Already by the 1st century BC. The Mediterranean was under the rule of the Roman Empire. She owned a large number of colonies, in which many nationalities lived, professing their own religious beliefs. For a long time there was no single religion in the vast empire. In 63 BC, Rome captured Judea and Syria. Jerusalem also became part of the empire. The people living in these territories professed an earlier Christianity, which, having no written sources, existed at first only in oral tradition. With the appearance of the first Christian documents “The Revelation of John” and “The Epistles of Paul” in the 1st century, persecution of the first Christians began by Emperor Nero. They were considered dissidents because they believed not in a pantheon of gods, but in a single savior.

After the execution under Tiberius of Jesus Christ, from whose name the name of the religion was derived, a superstition “harmful” for Rome began to spread throughout the empire itself. Christians were persecuted, mocked, given over to be torn to pieces by wild animals, crucified on crosses, burned at night to illuminate the streets. But it was not possible to suppress the spread of Christianity - political and social oppression by the colonial empire gave birth in the minds of people to the idea of ​​the existence of God, who, through the path of repentance in earthly life, will give life in paradise in heaven.

Until the 5th century, Christianity covered the geographical boundaries of the entire Roman Empire and the spheres of its cultural influence - Armenia, Ethiopia. Then it spread among the Slavic and Germanic peoples. In the XIII-XIV centuries, the religion was practiced by the Finnish and Baltic peoples. In modern times, its spread beyond Europe was facilitated by the activities of missionaries and colonial expansion.

Christianity basic ideas

Briefly, all the ideas of Christianity come down to the following:

1. God created the world - this is the main position of Christianity. This happened in 5508 BC (according to some sources).
2. Man has a spark of God - a soul. It is eternal and does not die after the death of the body. The first people created by God were given a pure and unclouded soul. But when Eve ate an apple from the tree of knowledge and gave it to Adam, original sin arose.
3. Original sin, which lies on all people, after the life of Adam and Eve, was atoned for by the death of Christ. A person leads a sinful life, violating the 7 commandments of God (pride, gluttony, reverence for neighbors, etc.)
4. To atone for sins, it is necessary to lead a righteous life - not to break God’s laws, repent of what you have done and pray for the redemption of the soul.
5. If a person leads an unrighteous life, then after death he will go to hell.
6. God is merciful. He forgives all sins committed if a person sincerely repents of what he has done.
7. The world is awaiting the Last Judgment, when the Son of Man will come to earth again and judge the dead and the living, separating the sinners from the righteous. And the end of the world will come.

Directions and currents of Christianity

Directions of modern Christianity:

1. Catholicism.This is the western branch of the religion, which was formed in 1054. The Church is headed by the Pope.
2. Orthodoxy. This is the eastern part of Christianity. Unlike Catholics, it does not have a single center and is divided into 15 independent churches.
3. Protestantism. This trend appeared in the 16th century during the European Reformation. Its founder was Martin Luther. Protestantism has several movements:

• Lutheranism. Originated in the 16th century. Founder Martin Luther. Liturgy, baptism and communion are recognized.
• Baptistism. It arose at the beginning of the 17th century. Founder John Smith. The main idea is that only adults who have consciously made their choice can be baptized. Rituals: marriage, baptism, communion and ordination.
• Pentecostalism.Arose in the 19th century in the USA. Recognizes the baptism of adults only. It is based on the belief that after Easter (on the 50th day) every Christian can receive various abilities from the Holy Spirit.
• Advendism. It arose in the 30s of the nineteenth century in the USA. Founder William Mueller. Lots of restrictions on relationships and food. They honor the Sabbath and engage in missionary activities.
• Jehovah witnesses. It arose in the 70s of the nineteenth century in the USA. Founder Charles Taze Russell.
• Calvinism. Founder John Calvin. The goal of a Christian is conscientious work and worldly asceticism.

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