Concise Bible. New Testament. New Testament Gospel in the New Testament year of publication

Books of the New Testament Matt. - From Matthew the Holy Gospel Mark. - From Mark the holy gospelLk. - Holy Gospel from Luke. - From John the holy gospel of Acts. - Acts of the Holy Apostles James. - Epistle of James 1 Pet. - First Epistle of Peter 2 Pet. -

Servants of the new covenant Must we, however, introduce ourselves to you again? And do we, like some, need any letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 Such a letter for us is you yourself. It is written in our hearts and is easily recognized and read by everyone. 3 And it is clear that you are

The next stage in the process of formation of the New Testament canon is the formation of canonical lists and early translations, although, as already said, the division into these stages is relative, since in different places these processes took place in different time, and their boundaries are very blurred. However, despite the fact that citation and the formation of canonical lists occurred almost in parallel, we make this division for convenience in understanding these processes.

Before moving directly to the structure of the New Testament, it is useful to consider some of the events that contributed to its formation.

Firstly, the development of heresies, and especially Gnosticism, was an important factor. This movement tried to combine a mixture of pagan beliefs and ideas with Christian teachings.

Representatives of Gnosticism were divided into several movements, but nevertheless they remained a serious threat to Christianity, since, assigning a more or less central place to Christ, they considered themselves Christians. In addition, the Gnostics claimed to own both Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition and allegedly expounded their teachings based on them, which also made it difficult to defend the church.

This situation prompted Christians to establish a canon of New Testament books in order to deprive the Gnostics of the opportunity to classify their works as authoritative Scripture.

Secondly, another heretical movement that influenced the formation of the canon was Montanism. This movement arose in the second half of the 2nd century in Phrygia and quickly spread throughout the church. It can be characterized as an apocalyptic movement that strived for a strictly ascetic life and was accompanied by ecstatic manifestations. The Montanists insisted on the continuous gift of inspired prophecy and began to record the oracles of their major prophets.

This led to the proliferation of a whole series of new writings and, consequently, to a serious distrust on the part of the church towards apocalyptic literature in general. Such circumstances even led to doubts regarding the canonicity of the Apocalypse of John. In addition, the Montanist idea of ​​constant prophecy forced the church to seriously think about closing the canon altogether.

Thirdly, canonization was influenced by persecution from the state. The persecution of Christians began almost in the 60s AD, but until 250 they were random and local in nature, but after that it became an element of the policy of the Roman imperial government. Particularly severe persecution began in March 303, when Emperor Diocletian ordered the liquidation of churches and the destruction of Scripture by fire. Thus, keeping the Scriptures became dangerous, so Christians wanted to know for sure that the books they were hiding under pain of death were indeed canonical. There were also other, smaller factors, such as the suppression of the canon of the Old Testament by the Jewish Sanhedrin in Jamnia around 90 A.D., or the Alexandrian custom of compiling a list of authors whose works for a given literary genre were considered exemplary, they were called canons, etc.

So, with the assistance of the above factors, canonical lists of New Testament books were formed in different places. But it is interesting that the very first published list was the canon of the heretic Marcion, who nevertheless played a large role in the formation of the canon of the New Testament.

Composition of the New Testament

There are a total of 27 sacred books in the New Testament:

four gospels,

book of the Acts of the Apostles,

seven conciliar messages,

fourteen letters of the apostle Paul

and Apocalypse ap. John the Theologian.

Two gospels belong to two of the 12 apostles - Matthew and John, two - to the disciples of the apostles - Mark and Luke. The Book of Acts was also written by the disciple of the Apostle Paul, Luke. Of the seven conciliar epistles, five belong to the apostles from among the 12 - Peter and John, and two - to the brothers of the Lord in the flesh, James and Jude, who also bore the honorary title of apostles, although they did not belong to the 12. The fourteen epistles were written by Paul, who, although he was called late by Christ, nevertheless, as called precisely by the Lord himself to serve, is an apostle in the highest sense of the word, completely equal in dignity in the Church with the 12 apostles. The Apocalypse belongs to one of the 12 apostles, John the Theologian.

Thus, it can be seen that there are eight writers of all New Testament books. The great teacher of languages, the apostle, worked most hard in compiling the scriptures. Paul, who founded many churches that required written instruction from him, which he taught in his epistles.

Some Western theologians suggest that the present composition of the New Testament books is not complete, that it does not include the lost epistles of the Apostle Paul - 3rd Corinthians (supposedly written between the 1st and 2nd epistles to the Corinthians, to the Laodiceans , Philippians (2nd) Moreover, it is impossible to admit that the Christian Church, which treated the apostles and in particular the Apostle Paul with such respect, could completely lose any of the apostolic works.

Recognition by church councils

This is the final stage in the canonization of the New Testament. There is a lot of information about this period, but we will try to describe only the most important. In this regard, it is worth noting three key figures in Western and Eastern Church, as well as some cathedrals.

The first key figure of the East in this period is Athanasius, who was Bishop of Alexandria from 328 to 373. Every year, according to the custom of the Alexandrian bishops, he wrote special Festive messages to the Egyptian churches and monasteries, which announced the day of Easter and the beginning of Lent. These messages were distributed not only in Egypt and the East and therefore they made it possible to discuss other issues besides Easter. Especially important for us is the 39th Epistle (367), which contains a list of the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments. According to Athanasius, the Old Testament consisted of 39 books, and the New Testament of 27 works that make up the modern Bible. He says this about these books:

These are the sources of salvation, and those who thirst will be filled with the words of life. Only in them is the divine teaching proclaimed. Let no one add anything to them or subtract anything from them. So, Athanasius was the first to declare the canon of the New Testament to exactly coincide with those 27 books that are now recognized as canonical. But, despite this, in the East hesitations in recognizing anti-legomena lasted much longer. For example, Gregory of Nazianzus did not recognize the canonicity of the Apocalypse, and Didymus the Blind did not recognize the 2nd and 3rd epistles of John, and in addition he recognized some apocryphal books. Another famous church father, John Chrysostom, did not use the epistles: 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude and the Apocalypse.

It is also worth noting the statistics conducted by the Institute for New Testament Text Research in Munster. They describe the number of surviving Greek manuscripts of various New Testament books. These data indicate that the Gospels were the most read, followed by the Epistles of Paul, followed, with a slight lag, by the Council Epistle and the Book of Acts, and at the very end - the Apocalypse.

Thus, it can be concluded that in the East there was no clarity regarding the extent of the canon, although, in general, it was accepted by the 6th century, and all the New Testament books were generally read and enjoyed authority, although to varying degrees.

Jerome (346 - 420) is one of the significant figures of the Western Church. He gave her the best early translation of the Holy Scriptures in Latin language- Vulgate. In his works, he occasionally spoke out about books that raised doubts, showing their authority. For example, about the Epistle of Jude, he writes that many people reject it because of its reference to the apocryphal Book of Enoch.

Thus, it demonstrates that this book has gained authority. Jerome has similar passages in support of all the other disputed books: the epistles of James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Hebrews, and the Revelation of John. In another of his works, the Epistle to Paulinus, Jerome listed all 27 New Testament writings as a list of holy books.

It should be noted, however, that these were local councils and, although from that moment on 27 books, no more and no less, were accepted by the Latin Church, not all Christian communities immediately accepted this canon and corrected their manuscripts.

So, we can say that all 27 books of the New Testament were accepted as the Word of God, although there were always some people and communities that did not accept some of them.

Abeltin E.A.

The chapter on the New Testament will present information about the main stages of Christ’s earthly life, the interpretation of his teachings, and materials for school study of the most important parables told by Him. But the material in the chapter is, of course, broader than the school curriculum, for it is necessary to include biblical texts recommended school curriculum, into a certain historical, moral, event context associated with a fairly systematic understanding of the New Testament as a whole.

It is also advisable to become familiar with the origin, structure and relationship of the books of the New Testament.

What are the books of the New Testament? The earliest division of the Bible, dating back to the times of the first Christians, was the division into two unequal parts, called the Old and New Testaments.

This division of the composition of biblical books was due to their relationship to the main subject of the Bible, i.e. to the personality of the Messiah: those books that were written before the coming of Christ and only prophetically prefigured Him were included in the Old Testament, and those that arose after the coming of the Savior into the world and are devoted to the history of His redemptive ministry and the exposition of the foundations established by Jesus Christ and His St. the apostles of the Church, formed the New Testament.

All these terms, i.e. the word “testament” itself, as well as the adjectives “old” and “new” associated with it, are taken from the Bible itself.

What is the composition of the New Testament? The New Testament contains a total of 27 sacred books: four gospels, the book of the Acts of the Apostles, seven conciliar epistles, fourteen epistles of the Apostle Paul and the Apocalypse of St. John the Theologian.

Two gospels belong to two of the 12 apostles - Matthew and John, two - to the colleagues of the apostles - Mark and Luke. The Book of Acts was also written by a colleague of the Apostle Paul, Luke. Of the seven conciliar epistles, five belong to the apostles from among the 12 - Peter and John, and two - to the brothers of the Lord in the flesh, James and Jude, who also bore the honorary title of apostles, although they did not belong to the ranks of the 12.

The fourteen epistles were written by Paul, who, although he was called late by Christ, nevertheless, as called by the Lord himself to serve, is an apostle in the highest sense of the word, completely equal in dignity to the 12 apostles. The Apocalypse belongs to the apostle from among the 12, John the Theologian.

How are New Testament books divided by content (genre)? According to their content, the books of the New Testament are divided into 3 sections (categories): 1) historical, 2) instructive, 3) prophetic.

The historical books are the four gospels and the book of the Acts of the Apostles. They set out the story of the life of Jesus Christ and talk about the activities of the apostles who spread the teachings of Christ throughout the world and created many Churches.

Edifical books are apostolic epistles, which are letters written by the apostles to different churches. In these letters, the apostles explain various confusions regarding the Christian faith and life that arose in the churches, rebuke the readers of the epistles for various disorders they committed, convince them to stand firmly in the positions of the Christian faith and expose the false teachers who distorted the teachings of Christ.

There is only one prophetic book in the New Testament: this is the Apocalypse or Revelation. John the Theologian. John wrote Revelation on the island of Patmos, where he was in exile. He began work at the behest of an angel. The Apocalypse depicts the future second coming of Christ, the last terrible judgment. The canonization of the books of the New Testament took quite a long time - in three stages. Only by the second half of the 4th century is the canon finally established in the form in which it currently exists.

In what language were the books of the New Testament written? Throughout the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus Christ and the apostles, Greek was the dominant language: it was understood everywhere, and spoken almost everywhere. It is clear that the Scriptures appeared precisely on Greek, although their authors, with the exception of Luke, were Jews. However, this was not the classical Greek language in which native Greek writers wrote during the heyday of Greek culture. It is a language close to the ancient Attic dialect, which included many Aramaic words and words from other languages.

The Slavic translation of the New Testament from the Greek text was made by St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius in the second half of the 9th century and, together with Christianity, came to us in Russia under St. Prince Vladimir. Of the copies of this translation that have survived, the Ostromir Gospel, written in the middle of the 2nd century for the mayor Ostromir, is especially remarkable. Then, in the 14th century, Saint Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow, translated the books of the New Testament at the time when St. Alexy was in Constantinople.

In 1499, the New Testament, along with all biblical books, was corrected and published by Metropolitan Gennady of Novgorod. Separately, the entire New Testament was printed for the first time in the Slavic language in Vilna in 1623. Then, like other biblical books, it was corrected in Moscow at the synodal printing house and, finally, published along with the Old Testament under Empress Elizabeth in 1751.

First of all, the gospel was translated into Russian in 1819, and in its entirety the New Testament in Russian appeared in 1822, and in 1860 it was published in a revised form. In addition to the Synodal translation into Russian, there are also translations of the New Testament published in London and Vienna. In Russia their use is prohibited.

What are the characteristics of each gospel and how do they relate? The ancient Church looked at the depiction of the life of Christ in the four Gospels not as different books or narratives, but as one Gospel, one book in four types. Therefore, the name of these Scriptures was established in the Church - “The Four Gospels”.

The Fathers of the Church dwell on the question: why exactly did the Church accept not one gospel, but four? John Chrysostom says about this: "...couldn't one evangelist write everything that was needed? Of course, he could, but when four wrote, they did not write at the same time, not in the same place, without communicating and without agreeing with each other, they wrote in such a way that everything seemed to be spoken with one mouth, then this serves as the strongest proof of the truth. You will say: “However, the opposite happened, for the four gospels are often exposed in disagreement.” This is exactly what a sure sign of truth. For if the gospels had exactly agreed with each other in everything, even regarding the words themselves, then none of the enemies would have believed that the gospels were not written according to ordinary mutual agreement. Now the slight disagreement between them frees them from any suspicions. For what they say differently regarding time or place does not in the least harm the truth of their narrative. In the main thing, which forms the basis of our life and the essence of preaching, not one of them disagrees with the other in anything or anywhere - in that God became man, performed miracles, was crucified, resurrected, and ascended to heaven.

Each of the four gospels has its own characteristics, and John's gospel is the most prominent. But the first three have extremely much in common with each other, and this similarity involuntarily catches the eye even when reading them briefly. This phenomenon of similarities and differences in the synoptic gospels has long attracted the attention of interpreters of Scripture, and various assumptions have long been made to explain this fact. A more correct view seems to be that the three evangelists - Matthew, Mark and Luke - used a common oral source to narrate the life of Christ. At that time, evangelists and preachers about Christ went everywhere preaching and repeated in different places in a more or less extensive form what was considered necessary to offer to those entering the Church. Thus a certain famous type oral gospel and this is the type we have in written form in our synoptic gospels.

Of course, at the same time, depending on the goal that this or that evangelist had, his gospel took on some special features, characteristic only of his work. At the same time, we cannot exclude the assumption that the older gospel was known to the evangelist who wrote later. Moreover, the difference between the weather forecasters should be explained by the different goals that each of them had in mind when writing their gospel.

The Synoptic Gospels differ in very many ways from the Gospel of John the Theologian. So they depict almost exclusively the activity of Christ in Galilee, and John depicts mainly the stay of Christ in Judea. In terms of content, the synoptic gospels also differ significantly from the gospel of John. They give, so to speak, a more external image of the life, deeds and teachings of Christ and from the speeches of Christ they cite only those that were accessible to the understanding of all the people.

John, on the contrary, misses a lot from the activity of Christ, for example, he cites only six miracles of Christ, but those speeches and miracles that he cites have a special deep meaning and extreme importance about the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, while the weather forecasters portray Christ as the founder of the kingdom of God and therefore direct the attention of their readers to the kingdom he founded. John draws our attention to the central point of this kingdom, from which life flows along the peripheries of this kingdom, i.e. on Jesus Christ Himself, whom John portrays as the Only Begotten Son of God and as the Light for all mankind. That is why the ancient interpreters called the Gospel of John primarily spiritual, in contrast to the synoptic ones, as depicting predominantly human life, the human side in the person of Christ, i.e. the gospel is bodily.

It is important that with the help of these stories a person comes to know the One whom they reveal. And it is not so important whether we will be able to reconstruct for ourselves the complete history of His life on the basis of clearly incomplete information. There is an opinion in the theological community that for some fairly compelling reason (perhaps to prevent us from getting too carried away by “Christ in the flesh”) God was not willing to allow the compilation of a complete earthly biography of His Son. The 29 years of His life, when He grew up and His Personality was formed, are passed over in silence, which is broken only once, and moreover in a short text of 12 verses in Luke.

A collection of books that is one of the two parts of the Bible, along with the Old Testament. IN Christian doctrine The New Testament is often understood as an agreement between God and man, expressed in the collection of books of the same name, according to which man, redeemed from original sin and its consequences by the voluntary death on the cross of Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world, entered into a completely different, compared to the Old Testament, stage of development and, having moved from a slave, subordinate state to a free state of sonship and grace, received new strength to achieve the ideal of moral perfection set for him, as necessary condition for salvation.

The original function of these texts was to announce the coming of the Messiah, the resurrection of Jesus Christ (in fact, the word Gospel means “Good News” - this is the news of the resurrection). This news was meant to unite his students, who were in a spiritual crisis after the execution of their teacher.

During the first decade, the tradition was passed down orally. The role of sacred texts was played by excerpts from the prophetic books of the Old Testament, which spoke of the coming of the Messiah. Later, when it turned out that there were fewer and fewer living witnesses, and the end of everything was not coming, records were required. Initially, glosses were distributed - records of the sayings of Jesus, then - more complex works, from which the New Testament was formed through selection.

The original texts of the New Testament, which appeared at various times since the second half of the 1st century AD. BC, were most likely written in the Koine Greek dialect, which was considered the common language of the eastern Mediterranean in the first centuries AD. e. Gradually formed during the first centuries of Christianity, the canon of the New Testament now consists of 27 books - four gospels describing the life and preaching of Jesus Christ, the book of the Acts of the Apostles, which is a continuation of the Gospel of Luke, twenty-one epistles of the apostles, as well as the book of Revelation of John the Theologian (Apocalypse ). The concept of "New Testament" (lat. Novum Testamentum), according to extant historical sources, was first mentioned by Tertullian in the 2nd century AD. e.

Gospels

(Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)

Acts of the Holy Apostles

Epistles of Paul

(Romans, Corinthians 1,2, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians 1,2, Timothy 1,2, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews)

Council messages

(James, Peter 1,2 John 1,2, 3, Jude)

Revelation of John the Evangelist

The earliest of the texts of the New Testament are considered to be the epistles of the Apostle Paul, and the latest are the works of John the Theologian. Irenaeus of Lyons believed that the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Mark were written at the time when the apostles Peter and Paul were preaching in Rome (60s AD), and the Gospel of Luke a little later.

But scientific researchers, based on an analysis of the text, came to the conclusion that the process of writing the Novogt Testament lasted about 150 years. The first epistle to the Thessalonians of the Apostle Paul was written around the year 50, and the last, at the end of the 2nd century, was the second epistle of Peter.

The books of the New Testament are divided into three classes: 1) historical, 2) educational and 3) prophetic. The first include the four Gospels and the book of the Acts of the Apostles, the second - the seven cathedral epistles of 2nd St. Petra, 3 ap. John, one by one. James and Jude and the 14 Epistles of St. Apostle Paul: to the Romans, Corinthians (2), Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians (2), Timothy (2), Titus, Philemon and Jews. The prophetic book is the Apocalypse, or the Revelation of John the Theologian. The collection of these books constitutes the New Testament canon.

The messages are answers to pressing questions of the church. They are divided into cathedral (for the entire church) and pastoral (for specific communities and individuals). The authorship of many messages is doubtful. So Paul definitely belonged: To the Romans, both to the Corinthians and to the Galatians. Almost exactly - to the Philippians, 1 to the Thessalonians, to Timothy. The rest are unlikely.

As for the Gospels, Mark is considered the oldest. from Luke and Matthew - they use it as a source and have much in common. In addition, they also used another source, which they call quelle. Due to the general principle of narration and complementarity, these gospels are called synoptic (co-surveying). The Gospel of John is fundamentally different in language. Moreover, only there Jesus is considered the embodiment of the divine logos, which brings this work closer to Greek philosophy. There are connections with the works of Qumranite

There were many gospels, but the Church selected only 4, which received canonical status. The rest are called apocritic (this Greek word originally meant “secret”, but later came to mean “false” or “counterfeit”). The Apocrypha are divided into 2 groups: they may slightly diverge from church tradition (then they are not considered inspired, but they are allowed to be read. Tradition may be based on them - for example, almost everything about the Virgin Mary). Apocrypha that strongly deviates from tradition is prohibited even from reading.

The Revelation of John is essentially close to the Old Testament tradition. Various researchers date it either 68-69 years (an echo of the persecutions of Noron) or 90-95 (from the persecutions of Dominican).

The full canonical text of the New Testament was established only at the Council of Carthage in 419, although disputes regarding Revelation continued until the 7th century.

The New Testament is the main book of Christians. It is generally accepted among Christians that even if there are errors in the Old Testament, the New Testament is written in such a way that there is nothing to complain about. Supposedly this is a book of “eternal truths.”

Metropolitan Anthony, a minister of the Russian Orthodox Church, said the following about studying the Bible:

“It’s better to start with the New Testament. Experienced pastors recommend getting acquainted with the Bible through the Gospel of Mark (that is, not in the order in which they are presented). It is the shortest, written in simple and accessible language. Having read the Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John, we move on to the book of Acts, the Apostolic Epistles and the Apocalypse (the most complex and most mysterious book in the entire Bible). And only after this can you begin to read the Old Testament books. Only by reading the New Testament can it be easier to understand the meaning of the Old Testament.”.

This is not a point of view, but a common recommendation. Many Christians are not familiar with the Old Testament, although the OT is the foundation. Without the Old Testament there is no meaning in the New. Also, in order to understand the problem, you need to familiarize yourself with the history of the formation of Christianity (article “The Emergence of Christianity”); understand that initially Christianity was a Jewish sect, but over time the situation changed and a religion was formed. The New Testament is not exactly a continuation of the Old, since the Jews generally did not accept the new teaching.

However, the appearance of the New Testament is natural, since the last books of the prophets of the Old Testament are filled with prophecies about the imminent coming of the Messiah. It is not surprising that at that time there were indeed enough “false messiahs”. Numerous sects considered their teachers to be messiahs.

The material briefly outlines biblical mythology. The New Testament contains mostly different books about the same event, so they should be considered as one story, and not divided into chapters - first the version of one apostle, then the second.

The meaning of the New Testament

God wanted to make a new covenant with people, as mentioned in the last prophetic books of the Old Testament. If in the past God was not original and simply made a covenant through one prophet or another, then this time he was offended by people so much that he decided that he needed to atone for their sins.

But how? Destroy several million people and again find the “chosen one” who will convert the Jews to Judaism? Not original. God came up with an interesting idea for redemption. It turns out that God is not entirely alone. Formally he is one, but in reality there is some kind of trinity. There is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

For some reason, this is not mentioned in the Old Testament, but that’s okay - only heretics and atheists notice the contradictions. In short, all these three characters are one person. How can God forgive people? Easily. He sent himself to death and thus decided that the sins of people were forgiven. To whom did he himself atone for the sins of people? In front of. The prophets of the Old Testament assured (and God allegedly spoke to them) that a man would come who would liberate the Jewish people, and not a mortal version of God.

Christmas

God could not just appear in the form of a man; he had to be born from a mortal virgin, otherwise the Old Testament prophecies would be empty. It was important for the authors to fit the story of Jesus into the prophecies of the Old Testament. But there was a problem: at that time there was no Bible in its modern form - there were fragments, often incorrect paraphrases. This eclecticism is the basis of the myth of the birth of God.

Jesus must not only atone for sins, but also be the messiah. In theory, the prophet Elijah should have told people about him, and Jesus should have been called Emmanuel, but nothing like that happened. The Messiah must appear in the family of Mary and Joseph. The strange thing here is this: Jesus must certainly be from the tribe of David, but among the Jews it was customary that only the male tribe should be taken into account, therefore Joseph is a descendant of David. Jesus' name in the Bible was " Son of Joseph", although he was not Joseph's son.

Now about the birth of the god-man. Joseph and Mary did not have an intimate relationship. One day the angel Gabriel told Mary that she would soon give birth to the messiah. In this she was helped by the holy spirit, which in the past was known mainly only for hovering over water.

The angel told Mary: “He will be great and will be called the son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father; and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.”. In general, the dove “found her”, that is, fertilized her. The angel also added that Jesus would have a forerunner named John. The Forerunner is a relative of Jesus.

Regarding the prophecy: Isaiah said that a virgin would give birth to the Messiah. This means that his father cannot be a commoner. It is unlikely that the Old Testament authors believed that God would be a father, but for the evangelists there were no particular contradictions.

Maria's husband didn't understand why she was pregnant at first. He even wanted to kick her out of the house, but in a dream, an angel explained everything to Joseph: the long-awaited messiah was in Mary’s womb. As most evangelists believed, God was born in Bethlehem; a popular version says that in the stable, since there were no places in the hotel.

Now the question is: when was he born? If you believe Matthew, then during the period of King Herod, who reigned from 36 to 4 BC. e., and if you believe Luke, then during the census in 6-8. So 1 year AD e. - a convention, this contradicts the biblical stories. Why do they say that after all, 1 year AD? e. - Christ's birthday? This is what Abbot Dionysius decided in the 6th century.

After the birth of Jesus, miracles begin: the shepherds, who were not far from the stable where God was born from an immaculate virgin, saw an angel who announced the birth of the savior, after which they noticed the “heavenly army” glorifying God. Then the shepherds reached the birthplace of the Messiah and told his parents everything.

At the same time, some wise men, having seen the star, decided that it symbolized the birth of the king of the Jews. What the Magi have to do with the king of the Jews is unknown. It is unlikely that they congratulated the parents of the same Herod the Great with the same zeal. The Magi followed the prophecy of Balaam, who said: “A star rises out of Jacob, and a rod rises out of Israel.”. True, there is no logic here. The Magi are pagans; they are probably indifferent to both the king of the Jews and the Jewish religion.

Also, the Magi somehow quickly got to King Herod first, and then to Jesus. They asked King Herod: “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? for we saw his star in the east and came to worship him.”. Herod told them, since the scribes had familiarized him with the prophecies.

The Magi found God and gave him gold, myrrh and incense. Herod, on reflection, decided to kill his competitor, because he believed that this messiah would take his place. In general, he ordered the killing of all infants under 2 years of age in Bethlehem, and the holy family immediately found out about this (an angel prompted) and left these places. They fled to Egypt to again confirm the Old Testament prophecy of Hosea: "He called my son out of Egypt". After the imminent death of Herod, the holy family settled in Nazareth so as not to contradict the prophecies.

The Gospel of John is different in that nothing is written there at all about these events. It states: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”. John called Christ "Logos", probably influenced by Greek philosophy.

Jesus before baptism

Jesus went through all the standard rituals for a Jew (circumcision on the 8th day, visiting the temple on the 40th day). Again, the way the holy family moves in the Bible is very interesting. Moses led the people for many years, and the family was governed as quickly as if they were carried from point to point by an angel.

Despite the fact that Jesus was born “immaculate,” Mary was considered unclean for 40 days - such are the traditions. Also, Jesus had to be redeemed, saved from priestly service, since the first-born from the tribe of Levi was bound to become a minister of the cult.

In the temple, all sorts of “elders” addressed the family, who saw God’s anointed in the baby. They all expected Jesus to free the Jews from oppression.

The following is about Jesus when he was 12 years old. Apparently, the authors considered that the details of the life of the god-man before the age of 12 were of no interest. The story of Jesus is connected with the Passover in Jerusalem, where the family arrived. When the parents went home, they believed that Jesus had gone home with relatives. In fact, he remained in Jerusalem. After some time, the parents returned to Jerusalem and searched for Jesus for 3 days.

Jesus was discovered in the temple among the clergy; Jesus discussed with the clergy; he knew religion as well as anyone else, which is not surprising. There Mary turned to her son: "Child! what have you done to us? Behold, your father and I sought you with great sorrow. He [Jesus] said to them: Why did you seek me? or did you not know what I should have in what belongs to my father?”. After this story, Jesus and his parents returned to Nazareth.

Forerunner

John the Baptist is the predecessor of Jesus; he is even his relative. Apparently, the forerunner fulfilled the role that the Old Testament prophets attributed to Elijah, because he never descended from heaven. Some clerics believe that he had the spirit of Elijah.

The Forerunner was born into the family of the priest Zechariah. The same angel Gabriel warned about his birth. The parents did not expect a child, since they were old, and Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth was considered barren. Elizabeth was visited by Mary, the mother of Jesus, with whom Gabriel also managed to talk at that time.

John the Baptist preached the imminent coming of the Messiah, which was a typical phenomenon for that time. He was also distinguished by asceticism: he lived in the deserts and wore clothes made of camel hair, ate locusts and sap from palm trees or fig trees. He differed from the Old Testament prophets in that he baptized people in the waters of the Jordan. People repented of their sins, then after baptism their sins were forgiven. Many people believed that John was the messiah, but he always answered that the messiah would come soon.

The ascetic finished poorly. The Forerunner condemned the marriage of Herod and Herodias. The reason is that Herod took his brother's wife. After which Herodias decided to destroy the prophet and directly stated this to Herod. But he believed that John was a true prophet, so he did not kill him, but took him into custody.

Herodias nevertheless achieved her goal: during the celebration of Herod’s birthday, her daughter danced, after which Herod promised to fulfill any desire of the dancer. The daughter asked her mother, and she advised to deprive the forerunner of his head. Herod had to fulfill his promise.

Messiah Jesus

From the age of 12 to 30, Jesus did who knows what. But at 30 I decided to be baptized. He went to the forerunner, and he said “Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world... And I have seen and testified that this is the son of God.”. Here's what happened after John baptized Jesus: “The sky was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove, and there was a voice from heaven, saying: You are My Beloved Son; I am well pleased with you!”

Then Jesus went into the desert, where “I was tempted by the devil and did not eat anything during these days, but after they were over, I was hungry at last.” He didn’t eat for 40 days, that’s what fasting is. The devil did not stop, but Jesus did not give in. The devil is clearly stupid, because he did not understand that he was trying to “seduce” his own creator. The devil, in particular, promised Jesus “all kingdoms” if he took his side. Naturally, a ridiculous proposal.

Christ's first "miracle" was turning water into wine at a wedding party. He then preaches to the people and to the synagogue. The main message is the coming of the messiah. He remembers the prophets, and then points out that everything has already been accomplished: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”.

Christ foretold the end of the world, since the prophecies constantly said that the coming of the Messiah meant that the world would soon end, there would be judgment. Call: “...The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel".

But there are no exact dates, because, for example, the Gospel of Mark states: “But no one knows about that day or hour, not the angels of heaven, not the son, but only the father.”. However, Jesus still notes that although no one knows the exact hour and day, nevertheless: “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things happen.”. That is, everything had to happen in the near future.

Not everyone accepted the words of Jesus; apparently, they did not even want to consider him a prophet, which was normal, since many scoundrels, if they did not call themselves the messiah, then certainly a prophet. The main task is the liberation of the Jews. Since they could not free themselves by force, what remained was “spiritual liberation.” And when there is demand, there is always supply.

Jesus responded to criticism this way: "no prophet is accepted in his own country". This is strange, considering other fictional stories about the Old Testament prophets. Many were quite accepted. However, Jesus was considered a heretic in the synagogue. The son of God was not only kicked out of the synagogue, but also taken to the top of the mountain in order to be thrown off. How was Jesus saved? There are no special details, the Bible says: “but He passed through the midst of them and departed”.

Unfortunately, the biblical narrative is such that Jesus instantly moves from one city to another, many events are not given much significance. In this regard, the New Testament is even worse than the Old.

Jesus had disciples. He simply collected them, without details. He approached certain people and called to him. They walked. Two fishermen - Simon (whom Jesus called Peter) and Andrew heard from Jesus “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”, and then they immediately dropped their nets and went after the unknown. There was no need to convince anyone then. Jesus gathered the rest of his disciples in approximately the same way: people responded to the call and abandoned everything - work, property and family.

Only one person doubted Jesus - Nathanael, the future apostle Bartholomew. He was invited by his friend Philip to go with Jesus, and he asked: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”. However, after meeting Christ, Nathanael immediately changed his mind and joined the messiah. All the disciples immediately recognized that Jesus was the son of God and the king of Israel, although he certainly was not a king.

At one point, the Messiah singled out his main supporters - the apostles. There were 12 of them. This symbolized Jesus preaching to the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus also had followers (he later chose 70 disciples), but the apostles are higher than ordinary believers. Jesus awarded the apostles with abilities, e.g. "to cure diseases". It is clear that they will heal using rituals. All Jesus taught them was a few dogmas and magic tricks. Then the apostles must spread the word of God, that is, repeat what they heard from Jesus, but they heard little, the time of their acquaintance was a short period.

The names of the chosen ones: Peter, Andrew, James Zebedee, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the Canaanite and Judas Iscariot. Among the apostles, Jesus singled out Peter (one might say, the right hand of Christ), James and John. It was them who he once took to the mountain, where the Old Testament prophets Moses and Elijah met with them, and then from heaven the apostles heard the voice of God, who called Jesus his son.

Sermon on the Mount

Christ's main sermon is considered something extraordinary, as if he said something there that really convinces people to believe in him. Let's see what the propaganda of Christianity is, which supposedly convinced thousands of people.

First, let us present the commandments of Christ. Beatitudes:

1. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for yours is the Kingdom of God.
2. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.
3. Blessed are those who weep now, for you will laugh.
4. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they excommunicate you and revile you and call your name dishonorable because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

Commandments of grief:

1. Woe to you, rich people! for you have already received your consolation.
2. Woe to you who are now satiated! for you will hunger.
3. Woe to you who laugh now! for you will mourn and lament.
4. Woe to you when all people speak well of you! For this is what their fathers did to the false prophets.

There is nothing interesting in these commandments, since the very situation of the Jews in those years was clearly deplorable. If there were rich people in this environment, they were despised by the rest, since Rome imposed taxes on everyone, and the rich, to one degree or another, served the hated government. Let us not forget that these were times when Jews organized uprisings against Roman authority. In such a war, the servant of power is the enemy.

Jesus said that he in no way came to break the laws and commandments of Moses: “Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfill.”.

However, the New Testament is the way to the kingdom of heaven, where there is no suffering; where there is only joy, bliss and service to God. Those who obey Jesus unquestioningly will end up in heaven, while the rest will end up in hell. Thus, the most just God clarified the position about hell, and if individual Old Testament prophets claimed that afterlife no, then she appeared with Jesus. The highest reward awaits those who suffer for preaching the teachings of Christ.

Despite claiming that Jesus is a law enforcer, he did change some laws. Christ considers the well-known position of Moses “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” to be incorrect: “Love your enemies... and pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other to him as well.».

Jesus demands that alms be given to the poor, and this must be done secretly, without showing off. God says to Christians: "Judge not lest ye be judged". Jesus quite often lashed out at the rich, saying that all their wealth was of no value, it needed to be distributed to the poor, otherwise the entrance to the kingdom of heaven was closed to them.

For Jesus, also, stupidity is not only wealth in itself, but also work, as well as family ties, etc.: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your Father in heaven feeds them. Aren't you much better than them?. Actually, the main thing that Christians must do is to preach the teachings of their god, otherwise it will be difficult to get into heaven. Ideally, they can leave their family, quit their jobs, give away all their wealth to the poor, and simply preach the “word of God.” What will they live on? Well, the heavenly father will not leave them, just like the birds.

What about tomorrow? Jesus answers: “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things: enough for each day is its own care.”. Actually, the logic of the Messiah is clear, because he also preached the imminent end of the world. What's the point of starting a family and making money when the world is about to end?

Jesus' call to his followers:

“Do not think that I came to bring peace to earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword,

For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies are his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever loves a son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”

The son of God also taught people the main prayer - “Our Father.” It can be cited, since it is truly a basic Christian prayer:

“Our Father who art in heaven! Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”.

There is no point in reading a prayer if believers do not forgive the sins of others. This is actually all the divine wisdom. Jesus reinforced the power of his words with action, since after the sermon a man with leprosy came to him, Jesus healed the man with his touch, and, of course, they began to trust him more.

The Sermons on the Mount are what Christians talk about, what is supposedly of value to them. However, if we consider the situation, it is obvious that we are talking about hypocrisy. No one, or almost no one, follows the commandments of Jesus; even clergymen ignore these provisions. Jesus is essentially an antisocial man, and anyone who would consistently carry out his will would be a despised person in almost any society. Such a person would not be considered highly spiritual, but a madman or a criminal.

The Doctrine of Heaven

Jesus Christ “opened paradise” for souls, which was closed after the fall of the first people. It is not surprising that Jesus spoke about this constantly, emphasizing the novelty of his teaching, which attracted people. Jesus said: angels will separate the righteous from the wicked, some will remain in bliss, while others will face eternal torment. Of course, this “innovation” is cruelty to a greater extent than in the Old Testament, where sinners, according to the book of Ecclesiastes, simply died: no judgment, no eternal torment.

Getting to heaven is difficult. Jesus often touched on this point in his parables. In particular, he repeatedly pointed out that an important step in this matter is the sale of property. It is almost impossible for a rich person to go to heaven: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”. Jesus told the story of the beggar Lazarus, who after his death went to heaven, and the rich man who did not share food with him went to hell. What is striking about this story is that Lazarus went to heaven, apparently, only because he was a poor man, since he certainly was not a Christian.

Jesus also said that not only Jews would go to heaven: “Many will come from the east and the west and lie down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.”.

Teachings of Jesus

Jesus substantiated the need for a new teaching and polemicized with Orthodox Jews who did not consider him the messiah. Jesus used parables to popularize his teachings. For example, in the parable of the Pharisee (religious fanatic) and the publican (tax collector), it is said that while praying in the temple, the Pharisee considered himself better than the rest. The fact is that he kept the commandments and despised those who ignored them. He also despised the publican praying in the temple. The publican only asked for forgiveness. Jesus said that the publican is closer to God “than that one: for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted”.

Jesus also had to tell what was evidence of the end of the world. Firstly, certain banners in heaven, secondly, the persecution of his followers, thirdly, wars. When humanity practically destroys each other, the son of man will gather all nations around himself, then divide people into righteous and sinners.

The righteous are distinguished not only by their worship of God, but also by their deeds. Jesus said what to do: feed the poor, shelter strangers, give clothing to the naked, visit the sick and prisoners. All these things are done “in the name of God.” Consequently, hell awaits those who do not do this and who do not serve God. The same applies to people who formally pray, but you won’t expect any good deeds from them. However, this position holds true for only three of the four gospels. The Gospel of John nevertheless indicates that the main thing is not works, but faith in Jesus.

The Messiah was asked strange questions. For example, the Sadducees asked: There is a tradition according to which, after the death of a man, his wife passes to his brother. What if there are 7 brothers, and they all died, but the wife remained? Whose wife will it be after the resurrection? Jesus first answered: “ God is not the god of the dead, but the god of the living.", and then said that after the resurrection of the institution there would be no family.

Once the god-man was asked: is it necessary to give tribute to the hated government in the person of Caesar? Jesus then said to the Pharisees: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's". From which it follows that Jesus’ rebellion was “spiritual”; he did not intend to liberate the Jews in the literal sense. However, he did not feel any special love for power; he treated it only as a necessary and temporary evil.

Jesus argued that it was more important to save the soul, and not to fulfill the commandments of Moses, for which the Jews despised him. Of course, it seemed to them that Jesus was a false prophet, even a sectarian. When the scribe asked Jesus what the first commandment was, he answered “love of God,” and “The second is like this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself; on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”.

As you can see, Jesus lied earlier when he claimed that he came to fulfill the law of Moses and not to break it. The commandments of Jesus are different from the rules that God gave to Moses.

Miracles

Jesus, like many Old Testament prophets, became famous not only for his sermons, but also for his miracles. The gospel pays special attention to this. Jesus, of course, did not make any effort, because he is God - the creator of the world. Sometimes he needed to touch a person to heal leprosy, and sometimes the person was healed when he touched his clothes. Jesus healed many sick people. Moreover, it was emphasized several times that these people became sick not because they sinned, but precisely for the reason that Jesus could demonstrate the “glory of God.”

Miracles supposedly prove the divinity of Jesus. However, for some reason they do not prove the divinity of Elijah, Elisha or Moses. The most famous “miracles” are walking on water, calming a storm, and he also fed several thousand people with a few loaves of bread.

The Messiah also practiced exorcism. He went to the demoniacs who lived in caves and decided to cast out the demons. When the demons realized that they would be expelled from people in any case, they had to negotiate with God: “And the demons asked Him: if you drive us out, then send us into the herd of swine.”. Jesus fulfilled the request, and then these pigs (unclean animals) threw themselves into the sea. The reaction of the swineherd is not written in the Bible. Such a story was needed to explain the source of mental disorders. In the Old Testament, what’s funny is that it was not the demon who was responsible for this, but God. For example, it was God who sent an evil spirit to King Saul.

By the way, almost all diseases were explained in exactly the same way - either the wrath of God or a demon took possession. Therefore, the recipe for all diseases is faith in God. And if a believer gets sick, then this is explained by the fact that he “believed wrong,” or “God’s test,” because everything is God’s will.

The New Testament must show that Jesus is stronger than demons. Although this is meaningless, since Jesus is the creator of demons, who can simply wish - and they will disappear forever. But he holds them for something, this is “divine wisdom.”

Jesus also raised the dead; for example, at a funeral procession he simply said to the dead man: “Young man! I’m telling you, get up!”. It is clear that he stood up, there could be no other option. In the Bible everything works like a clock.

Conspiracy against Jesus

After Jesus raised Lazarus, who had been dead for a long time and was already decaying, a conspiracy against him matured among the priests and Pharisees. Their goal is to destroy Jesus. And this is actually strange, since if the miracles were real, then they should have recognized Jesus, if not as a god or a messiah, then at least as a prophet. But to them he is a false prophet.

It is already obvious that the story of Jesus was coming to an end, since he himself said many times that his path was sacrifice. Jesus went to Jerusalem, where he was about to be killed.

On the way, Jesus ordered a donkey and a donkey to be brought in to reaffirm the Old Testament prophecy. The Messiah rode into the city on a donkey. For some reason, many people praised Jesus in the city, which is strange.

Jesus then reinforced his enemies' desire to destroy him. He burst into the temple and drove out all the sellers. Was this action justified? More likely no than yes, since ritual sacrifices in the Jewish temple are necessary for those who want to be cleansed of sins. Therefore, the merchants in the temple did not contradict religious teachings in any way.

In this act, Jesus showed that he did not care about his own commandments. He despised the merchants, not “loved them.” He justified his actions as follows: “My house will be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.”. Although the Old Testament still emphasizes the importance of ritual actions.

Here we must also add: Jesus had entered churches many times before, but did nothing. This pogrom was demonstrative to provoke enemies. Moreover, this was done on the eve of Easter, when people from different parts of the country go to church. It was for this purpose that money was exchanged in the temple, so that not only local residents could make a donation.

Jesus, with his radical actions, broke with classical Judaism, which became more obvious every time. Jew and disciple of Christ - different people. It was not without reason that Jesus himself appeared in Jerusalem on the eve of Easter, because in this way he sacrifices himself for the sins of people, a sacrifice in front of himself.

Surprisingly, Jesus received great support within a few days; This is no longer a handful of followers, but crowds of fanatics who were imbued with the new teaching in just a couple of days.

Judas Iscariot betrays Jesus during this period. The reason for the betrayal is ambiguous. The evangelists Mark and Matthew believe that it was a matter of love of money, especially since Judas was responsible for the money of the apostles, but John, who constantly contradicts the stories of other evangelists, believed that Satan had entered Judas, and Jesus did not drive out Satan, since he knew the outcome in advance its mission. Luke adhered to a similar version: “ Satan entered into Judas».

Judas came to Jesus' enemies and offered his help. This is a pointless matter because Jesus did not hide. But they accepted Judas’ help and even paid him 30 pieces of silver for his betrayal. Again, this is connected with Old Testament prophecies. The book of Zechariah states: “ And the Lord said to me: throw them into the church storehouse - the high price at which they valued Me! And I took thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter.”

Jesus already knew then that his days were numbered, he even once asked Mary, the sister of the resurrected Lazarus, to pour myrrh on his head; he was already preparing himself for burial. Celebrating the last Passover, Jesus gathered his disciples for an evening meal. There he washed their feet, showing humility. The fact is that back then only slaves did this. By the way, crucifixion is also a common punishment for slaves.

During the meal, Jesus noticed that one of the disciples was a traitor. Naturally, they denied. But Jesus clearly betrayed the enemy: “Jesus answered: the one to whom I dip a piece of bread and give it.”. He gave bread to Judas Iscariot with the words “What are you doing, do it quickly”. However, none of the apostles, except Judas himself, understood the hint. Soon Judas left the apostles.

The meal continued without him. Jesus said that the bread was his body and the wine was his blood. This is the first communion, as considered in the Christian church. Jesus briefly repeated other elements of Christian worship and emphasized: “Do this in remembrance of me”.

Then Jesus and the apostles went to Mount Elion, where he warned his followers: you will all abandon me. Peter declared that he would never renounce Christ, but the god-man promised that it would be Peter who would deny him three times.

Arrest, trial and execution

Jesus took three followers with him to the Garden of Gethsemane: Peter, James and John. He talks with them about the suffering that lies ahead, although earlier he said that there is no need to be afraid of suffering, since the Holy Spirit is nearby and eternal life in paradise is guaranteed.

In the garden, an angel addressed Jesus and his disciples, foreshadowing the suffering of Christ. But this is not news, because Christ himself constantly spoke about this. Judas and his troops soon approached the place. This story is strange and doesn’t really look like betrayal. The fact is that since Jesus became popular, they already knew him by sight, moreover, he did not hide at all. Therefore, the story that they allegedly found Jesus because Judas kissed him is a farce.

Jesus was detained and then taken to the high priest and other clergy. The goal of the Sanhedrin is to find a pretext for the official authorities to execute the Messiah. Jesus was asked provocative questions and when he admitted that God was his father “The high priest tore his clothes and declared: he is blaspheming! What more need do we have for witnesses?”.

All the witnesses immediately said that Jesus deserved to die. The disciples fled at this time, and Peter actually denied Jesus three times.

The decision of the Sanhedrin: the case should be considered by the Roman governor Pilate. Accusation: Jesus called himself the king of the Jews and deserves death. Pilate talked with Jesus and did not find anything seditious in his views. He sent Jesus to Herod, the son of the infant killer. At first, Herod treated Christ well and asked to show a miracle, because this should not have been difficult for Jesus, since he constantly healed everyone. But Jesus ignored Herod’s requests, which angered him. Herod sent the messiah back to Pilate.

Pilate kept trying to free Jesus; he did not want to consider him a criminal, especially because of such a trifle. Here we need to make some digression and note that the biblical Pilate completely contradicts the historical Pilate; there is a lot of evidence about him. Philo of Alexandria wrote about Pilate: "naturally tough, stubborn and ruthless... depraved, brutal and aggressive, he raped, abused, repeatedly killed and constantly committed atrocities".

Josephus claimed that Pilate despised the Jews and even introduced Roman standards with the image of the emperor everywhere. Pilate's approach: it is better to execute 1000 innocent people than to let 1 guilty person go free. It was installed precisely in order to suppress Jewish unrest, to suppress it in a harsh manner. There is no question that Pilate would enter into any theological discussions and disputes with the Pharisees. If Jesus had existed, then Pilate would probably have sentenced him to death without hesitation just for the suspicion that he was calling himself a king.

But let's return to the biblical story. There Pilate found a trick to save Jesus. Allegedly, the Roman authorities observed the custom according to which on Easter day the ruler frees one of those sentenced to death (this has nothing to do with real history, the criminals were destroyed in any case, and the opinion of the Jews was ignored). Pilate turned to the Jews: who is better to free - Jesus or Barabbas? Barabbas is a murderer and rebel, dangerous to Rome.

Of course, the crowd chose Barabbas. The fact is that Barabbas is a hero for the Jews because he fought against the occupiers. And Jesus is a heretic who called himself god. But the Roman authorities could not release the rebel, much less the murderer. But in the New Testament story, of course, the authorities free Barabbas. Pilate did not save Jesus. He washed his hands of it and ordered the execution of the Messiah.

It is unknown why the soldiers mocked Jesus. They placed a crown of thorns on his head and gave him a cane. They laughed and said: “Rejoice, King of the Jews!”. Which is strange, because in those conditions the king of the Jews is, in any case, a puppet. The soldiers also spat at the newly-minted king, which, of course, is one of the most cruel tortures. It should be noted that these events are described by the evangelists in different ways.

When the soldiers had mocked Jesus enough (mostly spitting and insults), they took him to Calvary, and put the cross on him. The crowd this time sympathized with Jesus. Two thieves were crucified on the spot with Jesus. Strange, but on the cross, at the request of Pilate, they wrote "This is Jesus, the king of the Jews". Did the pious Pilate really decide to play a joke on the God-man? Here, again, there is a reference to the Old Testament, where it is said that the Messiah certainly had to become a king. But despite this inscription, Jesus was not a king.

While Jesus was on the cross, books told him: “save yourself, if you are so great” and in the same spirit. They seemed to doubt the supernatural abilities of Jesus, although it was because of them that they decided to destroy him.

One of the criminals, who hung next to Christ, mocked him, and the second repented, and Jesus promised eternal life in the kingdom of heaven for this. Near Jesus at that moment there was only one disciple - John, as well as his mother.

Death and life after death

Jesus, by his death, atoned for the sins of people before himself. His last words: “Father! I commend my spirit into your hands". After the death of Jesus, strange events occurred. This is worth quoting:

“And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook; and the stones dissipated; and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were resurrected, and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many.”

The apparition of the dead is one of the most comical episodes in the New Testament. It's just a pity that there are no details. But after this the centurion, who was near the body of Christ, noted: “Truly he was the son of God!”. Soon Jesus was buried in a cave, all the necessary funeral rites were performed, including embalming the corpse, that is, they deprived Christ of his entrails: “Nicodemus, who had previously come to Jesus at night, also came and brought a composition of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred liters. So they took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in swaddling clothes with spices, as the Jews are wont to bury.”.

During his lifetime, Jesus warned everyone that he would resurrect in three days. So the Pharisees turned to Pilate with a request to place a guard near the tomb. Otherwise, as the Orthodox believed, the disciples would simply steal the body and begin to lie to everyone that Jesus had supposedly risen. Pilate compromised here too.

But after a while the women went to the tomb of Christ. But when they approached the place, the stone that closed the cave was open. There was no body in the cave itself, but there was a young man on the spot who stated: “You seek Jesus crucified; he has risen, he is not here.”

Then an angel told the women that Jesus was waiting for his disciples in Galilee. They got scared and ran away: “His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was white as snow; Fearful of him, those who were guarding trembled and became as if they were dead.”.

The evangelists are confused in their testimony, since in one place the women were afraid and did not tell anyone about it (Mark), and in another they told the apostles (the rest of the evangelists). The guards did not notice the disappearance of the corpse and for some reason left their post without permission. The Jews offered the guards money so that they would tell everyone that the corpse was stolen by the disciples of Christ.

To dispel this myth, the evangelists said that Jesus met several people separately (for example, Peter, Mary Magdalene, etc.), although not everyone immediately recognized him. Apparently there is little difference between a person with internal organs and without them. Jesus appeared 8 times, but there was nothing special about these appearances. These events are described dryly. First, Jesus sat down with some of the disciples and ate bread with them. Moreover, they didn’t recognize him at first either. The apostles (almost all) also met with the messiah: “The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had commanded them, and when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but others doubted. And Jesus approached and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

The main skeptic was the Apostle Thomas; for some reason he did not believe in the resurrection, although he was one of the main followers of Christ, who must unconditionally believe in the Messiah and his prophecies. Thomas said this to the other apostles who had already seen Jesus: “Unless I see in his hands the marks of the nails, and put my finger into the marks of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”.

After a while, Jesus appeared and told Thomas what he needed to do: "not to be an unbeliever, but a believer". Of course, after this Thomas recognized the divinity of Christ, but Jesus considered that unbelief was a terrible sin: “You believed because you saw me; Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed". This story is just for those who doubt the divinity of Christ and the fact of his existence. This does not seem serious now, but in the years of writing it was probably actually considered an argument. The author of this story adds: “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and believing you may have life in his name.”.

After the resurrection, Jesus' main call: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; and whoever does not believe will be condemned.". This call means that Christianity ceases to be a Jewish sect, but becomes a separate teaching about the salvation of the soul. A Jew who does not accept Christ will not be saved. Peter becomes the head of the new cult; Jesus says that the main task Petra - "to feed his sheep".

On the fortieth day, Jesus appeared before the apostles, once again said that they need to spread the word of God, and then literally (not in the spiritual sense, as some theologians like to say) ascended to heaven: “and a cloud took him out of their sight”.

Acts of the Apostles

The book "The Acts of the Apostles" describes the activities of Christians after the ascension of Jesus. The task of the apostles was determined by Jesus - the propaganda of Christianity. Moreover, if at first the apostles still tried to convert the Jews, then they realized that this was not particularly effective, so they decided: it was better to preach the new teaching to the pagans.

Jesus helped them greatly in this, because one day an interesting event happened to the apostles and disciples: “Cloven tongues of fire, and one rested on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues.”. For the Bible, such explanations are the norm. The apostles believed that true believers can also communicate in different languages, Jesus grants this to them. And in modern times there are sects that make similar claims. Only they speak not different languages, but their native language and gibberish.

Peter, preaching among the Jews, noticed that Jesus was not just the messiah, but also god. After a short speech, 3 thousand Jews were baptized. This is not a fable, but this is how, according to the evangelists, a community appeared in Jerusalem. Actually, this is no different from the Old Testament stories about how someone came to a wasteland and “founded a city.” Again, many accepted Christianity precisely because of miracles: “And many wonders and signs were performed through the apostles in Jerusalem... And the Lord added daily to the church those who were being saved.”.

But the church in those years, of course, was not at all what it is now. Then this is just a circle of fanatics who were waiting for the second coming. There were no priests there. The apostles and disciples who talked about paradise, the Messiah, the second coming. Of course, this community is closer to a sect in the modern sense than to an organized religion. The main rite in those years was baptism. The remaining rituals were just being formed.

The community lived according to the commandments of Christ: “and they sold their estates and all kinds of property, and distributed it to everyone, depending on the need of each... they took food with joy and simplicity of heart, praising God and being in the love of all the people”.

The Christian community did not care about family, work and everything else. If, say, the husband became a Christian, but the family adheres to a different faith, then there was nothing shameful in leaving the family.

The principle of renunciation of property was strictly observed. The Bible specifically tells the story of Ananias and Sapphira. These people converted to Christianity and sold their property. They were then supposed to give the proceeds to the Christian community, but when Ananias gave the money to Peter, the apostle noticed that Ananias was a liar because he was trying to deceive God. What is the reason? Ananias did not give all the money to the head of the community. He decided that he had the right to keep part of the proceeds just in case.

After Peter’s words, Ananias died at that very second. After a while, Ananias’ wife came to Peter. Peter asked a provocative question about money, and Sapphira lied, just like her husband. After which she died immediately. Probably Jesus himself, that is, the only God, killed these people. This is exactly the story for those who refused to give money to the church.

As can be understood from this story, we were talking about radical proselytes. In the New Testament, they once again erroneously point to a certain omnipotence of the Sanhedrin (the highest religious institution of the Jews), which in reality did not exist, since the Romans would not have allowed the Jews to control domestic policy in the region to people with alien views.

But since we are talking about myths, we will still take into account that the power of the Sanhedrin was almost limitless. The Jewish priests wanted to destroy the apostles, since for them, of course, they were almost no different from Christ, for they also possessed magical abilities and converted people to a new faith. Once the apostles were captured and were about to be killed, but they managed to beat them, after which they released them.

Meanwhile, the number of Christians grew, the structure changed. Deacon Stefan appeared, who “performed great wonders and signs among the people”. The Jewish priests became interested in Stephen's activities. This time they sentenced Stefan to death and soon stoned him to death. Among them was someone named Saul, who would become one of the key Christian figures. Stephen is called the "first martyr."

Then the persecution began. Again, Christian authors exaggerate the influence and power of the Jewish priests, who seemed to have a free hand, although in fact the Romans controlled the situation in the city, and if anyone could start persecution, it would be them. But it is Saul who acts as the persecutor, he: “he tormented the church, entering houses and dragging away men and women, handing them over to prison”. Just like Samson.

These fictitious persecutions are supposedly the reason why Christianity spread to many countries around the world, as Christians fled to different parts of the empire. This is the beginning of widespread missionary activity. Peter in Palestine became famous (naturally, only in the Bible) for miracles. He not only healed the sick, but also healed the dead. Apparently, in terms of the set of miracles he did not differ from Christ.

In general, the Bible describes stories where different people, imaginary authorities, won the favor of different peoples (for example, the Samaritans, Ethiopians). The scheme is simple: they preach the doctrine to the crowd, and then perform miracles in front of the crowd, thus reinforcing their words. Apparently, there was little faith.

Especially at this time, the importance is emphasized that preaching is possible not only among Jews. Although this has been said before, the authors of the gospel constantly repeat this rule and even “sanctify” it. So, one day the pagan Cornelius appeared to Peter and asked him to come to his home, since he had recently communicated with an angel. Peter: “I entered the house and found many gathered. And he said to them: ...God has revealed to me that I should not consider any person filthy or unclean.”.

This was necessary in order to convince many preachers that there was no longer God's chosen people; that chosenness is determined precisely by faith in Christ, regardless of origin.

Herod Agrippa I took up arms against Christians, ordered some of the apostles to be killed, and Peter to be taken into custody. Peter was caught, but he quickly escaped from prison with the help of magic tricks and an angel.

This is where Saul (Paul) comes into play. He was a religious fanatic, a supporter of Judaism. For some reason, the persecution of Christians was important to him, because he lived “breathing threats and murder on the disciples of the Lord”. Acted on instructions from the Sanhedrin. When he was once again looking for fugitive Christians, a light dawned on him and the following happened: “Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting Me? He said: Who are you, Lord? The Lord said: I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.".

After this story, Saul was baptized under the name Paul and became a major proponent of Christianity. Soon he began preaching the teachings of Christ, and did this right in the synagogues. The Jews, of course, wanted to destroy the traitor, who had been one of the most active persecutors in the past. Because of the threat to his life, Paul left his native land and went to preach Christianity to the pagans. The Bible claims that Paul's missionary work was successful; for example, in Cyprus, he baptized not only ordinary pagans, but even the Roman proconsul. Paul communicated with pagans in different places easily, because thanks to God he could communicate in different languages.

And everything would have been fine if it had not been for the Jews, who constantly persuaded everyone against Paul. It is surprising how much authority the Jews enjoyed even in cities where there were few of them. Therefore, Pavel was kicked out from different places and was almost killed several times.

Over time, a conflict arose among the supporters of Christ, as many former Jews said that a Christian should be circumcised according to the Jewish rite, since this was the will of God, which no one canceled. The preachers had to return to Jerusalem to finally resolve this issue. Still, this was already a compromise, since the former Jews considered it possible that anyone who accepts Christ could become a Christian.

In Jerusalem there was also no clear answer to this question. Neither God nor angels intervened in the matter. But the Apostle Peter put an end to it. The head of Christians at that time stated that circumcision is not obligatory for everyone and obliged this “discovery” to be disseminated.

Paul preached in Greece, but not very successfully. There also the Jews hindered his activities. In general, the acts of the apostles are clearly aimed at inciting hatred towards the Jews. IN real life At that time, the Jews could not persecute anyone. And since the Acts were not written in the middle of the 1st century, as the evangelists try to imagine, but much later, the scripture itself reflects precisely the confrontation between Jews and Christians.

Although Paul was not a disciple of Christ, he nevertheless became not just an apostle, but, probably, the second person in the Christian community (after Peter). In terms of miracles, he was not inferior to others. Some people even took him for a god. But the apostle’s activity ended in Rome, where history ended. Various legends were invented about Paul, of which there is not even a hint not only in the Bible, but also in historical sources. In reality, Paul’s activities are fictitious, since he allegedly created many communities, but in reality, communities appeared much later than his alleged activities.

Epistles of Paul

Epistles are necessary for the Christian cult in order to consolidate certain provisions that have developed historically, with the authority of one or another apostle. IN letter to the romans Paul lays out the foundations of Christianity and his history.

A special place is occupied by the issue of converting pagans to Christianity. Paul reproaches the former pagan supporters of Christianity for the fact that, having accepted Christ, they did not completely say goodbye to their past beliefs. And also, of course, they did not devote themselves completely to Christ.

Paul also emphasized that God does not choose people according to the principle of righteousness; he can choose a sinner, just like Paul himself: “So pardon does not depend on the one who wishes, nor on the one who strives, but on God who has mercy.”, “And whom he predestined, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”.

The apostle insists on determinism, that is, God acts independently of the desires of man and can punish both the righteous and the sinner. This largely repeats the dialogue between God and Job.

But the apostle's key message is that Christians must submit to authority, any authority. This, of course, contradicts the Old Testament ideas about authority. Paul says: “Let every soul be subject to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God; the existing authorities have been established by God. Therefore, he who resists authority resists God's institution. And those who resist will bring condemnation upon themselves.”

This is an important step for the reconciliation of Christians with the authorities, who in the past were, if not hostile towards the authorities, then indifferent. The teaching of Paul differs radically from the teaching of Christ in that Christ did not consider it important to comply with all the norms of the state and authorities, which he constantly confirmed. Paul states: “One must obey not only out of fear of punishment, but also out of conscience.”. This applies to any government in general. The slave must submit to the master, which is also required by Paul.

It doesn’t matter if this master oppresses and kills his slaves. This test is simple, but the slave will go to heaven. In short, Paul demonstrated to the upper class that Christianity was the right tool. Few are surprised that in the future Christianity was imposed by force, especially on slaves. Also, the imaginary disciple of Christ separately devoted lines to how people should pay taxes. This is so important to Jesus' teaching!

This message is indeed a significant contribution because the Christian church has become more of a church according to the teachings of Paul than according to the teachings of Christ. You can compare the Sermon on the Mount and the letters of Paul, and then look at the church.

IN letter to the Corinthians Paul is addressing neophytes who not only accepted Christianity, but split into sects. Naturally, Paul emphasized that his teaching was the only true one, and he used Christ as a cover (this is what any sectarian did too): “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul?”.

But they all had supposedly serious reasons. After all, some considered it important to fast, some were preparing for the imminent end of the world, and some served the authorities. Naturally, conflict here is inevitable. After all, how will people get along in one community if some believe that the oppressors need to be fought, and others believe that the oppressors need to be served? Or, for example, some sell their property and help the poor, while others get rich and take away the last things from the poor. But Paul insists on unity.

The Apostle Paul did not agree that everyone should adhere to asceticism, not start a family and only preach. Paul, unlike Christ, was not a proponent of antisocial behavior. And by this he attracted many pagans to his side. The number grew, but there was little consistency.

The imaginary disciple of Christ emphasized that the issue of asceticism is everyone’s personal choice. Christ, of course, did not talk about any choice. Paul also said strangely about fasting: “Food does not bring us closer to God: for whether we eat, we gain nothing; If we don’t eat, we don’t lose anything.”.

To promote Christianity, Paul makes “eternal truths,” dogmas and rules less binding, although in the past, especially in the Old Testament tradition, these rules were considered unshakable. But most importantly, Paul abandoned the standard preaching of the later Jewish prophets and Jesus. He stopped condemning the rich, this is due to the fact that the rich joined the community more often, but they did not intend to limit their consumption. At best, they could throw handouts to Christian leaders like Paul. The apostle thought that this was not bad.

The apostle also helps slave owners. He said to the slave: “If you are called to be a slave, do not be embarrassed; but if you can become free, then use the best. For a servant called in the Lord is a freeman of the Lord; likewise, he who is called free is a servant of Christ.”.

Corinthians also talks about worship. At that time there were no priests and Christian worship was a strange thing. People gathered and “spoke in different languages” that no one understood. These, of course, were not different languages, but gibberish. Pavel thought that this was stupid, but if someone still starts such conversations, then “If someone speaks in an unknown language, speak two, or many three, and then separately, and explain alone.”.

At that time there were no special rules, and instead of preaching, people simply came out and spoke. Like some angel or god communicated with them in their delirium - that’s what they were saying. It just so happened that women were tolerated in some communities. Pavel quickly corrected this: “Let your wives be silent in the churches, for it is not lawful for them to speak, but to be in subjection, as the law says.”. It can be seen that many times Paul ignores the law, but not in this case.

Paul elevated the dogma to an absolute: “God is love.” He emphasizes: “Love is long-suffering, it is kind, love does not envy, love is not arrogant, is not proud, does not act rudely, does not seek its own, is not irritated, does not think evil, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”. That is, without love, a person can donate his property, help the poor, but will not be saved.

Epistle to the Galatians associated with another split. At first Paul preached among the Galatians, but after he left, the people doubted that Paul had come to fulfill the laws of Moses. In which, undoubtedly, they were right. Paul continually created his laws under the guise of Christ. The Galatians declared that Christians were obligated to obey the laws of Moses.

Moreover, the neophytes noticed that Paul himself had no right to change his teaching. These contradictions were obvious even to them. They also noted that Paul was not a true apostle, since he joined the disciples after the death of Christ, and before that he was generally a persecutor.

Paul answered them: “The gospel which I preached is not that of men, for I received it... not from man, but through the revelation of Jesus Christ... When God... was pleased to reveal his son in me, so that I might preach it to the Gentiles, - I did not consult flesh and blood.".

Thus, Paul emphasized that he is a true apostle and Christians should listen to him, and not to any “false apostles.” But the evidence is unconvincing even for superstitious people. Paul talks about the laws of Moses : “A person is not justified by the works of the law, but only by faith in Jesus Christ”. Consequently, the laws of Moses are of no value at all after the coming of Jesus Christ: “There is no longer Jew nor Gentile; neither slave nor free; there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”.

IN letter to the Thessalonians Paul spoke to the neophytes about the resurrection and second coming of Christ. It just so happened that these people, who initially believed, suddenly began to doubt some issues.

For example, some supporters of Christ believed that the second coming would not happen very soon (while others were sure that if not today, then tomorrow), which rather indicates that the events did not take place in the 50s . n. e., and after 100-150 years, when such disputes were just relevant. Paul responds to Christians regarding the resurrection and coming: “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not warn those who are dead, because the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”.

Thus again Paul corrects the dogmas left by Jesus. The second letter to the Thessalonians had to be written due to the spread of the idea of ​​the imminent coming. Fanatics sold their property and awaited the coming. Paul understood that this was hindering the spread of religion, so he tried to get rid of the destructive phenomenon.

He stated that the coming would take place unknown when, although Christ promised that it would be soon. Paul condemned those people who abandoned family and work, he adds: “If anyone doesn’t want to work, don’t eat”. And Christ spoke about birds, which God helps, and even called to be equal to them. In general, Paul declared more and more insistently each time that a Christian must be a citizen and live like everyone else, not ignore the worldly; he was engaged in the socialization of fanatics.

Paul's little line about the future has been embellished by various theologians over time: “There will come first [before the second coming] a falling away... and the man of sin, the son of perdition, will be revealed.”. In fact, this gave rise to fairy tales about the Antichrist, which continue to this day.

IN letters to Timothy talks about the formation of the Christian church. Once the community has become large, it is necessary to unify the cult. At first, people simply spoke out, and then clergymen appeared, who are higher than the rest and who must be obeyed in the same way as a master and a sovereign. The hierarchy of the church is as follows: the head is the bishop, then the presbyter, and then the deacon. The rest should listen to them. The task of the head of the church, the bishop, was to manage the affairs of the community, including being responsible for the material support of the church.

The presbyter developed cult rules and dogmas, systematized everything, and the deacon simply performed the cult, as the presbyter told him. It must be emphasized that these initial clergy had nothing to do with those of today. The difference there is significant, primarily for the reason that all communities are decentralized and each could have its own cult rules. At that time it was not considered something heretical.

Council messages

The cathedral messages basically repeat the myths of the Old Testament and tell how great God is. These messages are of no interest. There are mantras repeated many times like:

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for the anger of man does not bring about the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all uncleanness and the remnant of malice, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”.

The Epistle of Jude says that Christians are full of false prophets. Moreover, Judas believes that false prophets are also supporters of early Christianity, that is, people who talk about the imminent coming of Christ. This ceased to be relevant after the letters of Paul.

Apocalypse of John

John's task is to describe what will happen before the second coming of Christ. The Apocalypse differs from other gospel texts and is similar to later Old Testament prophecies. This is a controversial book of the New Testament, as it was not recognized as canonical for some time.

The book of John talks about the state of the community. Judging by the story, the text was written before the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles, since there was no hierarchy in the community yet. John talks about the heads of communities and exposes their vices. For example, he notes that one community had a woman called Jezebel as its leader, who called on her followers “to commit fornication is to eat something sacrificed to idols”. It is for this that John condemns her, and not because she is a woman - the head of the community.

John often says about false apostles that there are too many of them. Judging by the stories, he would have called Paul a false apostle, since he corrected the foundations of the cult. The only problem is that everyone addressed the believers on behalf of God or angels; these figures were not particularly different in any way.

Moreover, John classified himself and similar people as Jews, not Christians. We are talking about a messianic Jewish sect, where they considered themselves “true Jews”, who soon began to call themselves Christians. But John despised ordinary Jews and “heretics,” because “they say about themselves that they are Jews, but they are not, but a synagogue of Satan”.

But terrible things were happening in the communities. John spoke about idolatry, and about debauchery, and about all other pious vices that are still inherent in believers today, especially the heads of religious organizations.

John still held the point of view that the coming was soon, since Jesus: “stands at the door and knocks”. It is not surprising that this book was not immediately recognized, since in other books the apostles called for abandoning such an idea.

John then describes his encounter with God. It's about vision. God resembles a king, as he sits on a throne surrounded by elders and mutant animals, we are talking about the so-called tetramorphs. The book states:

“Around the throne are four animals, full of eyes in front and behind. And the first living creature was like a lion, and the second living creature was like a calf, and the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. And each of the four animals had six wings around, and inside they were full of eyes; and they have no rest day or night, crying out: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, who is, and who is to come.”

This repeats the Old Testament story of the prophet Ezekiel, who saw similar creatures. God had a book with seven seals that only a lamb could open, and after he opened it, John saw the future.

John goes on to describe: the horsemen of the apocalypse are destroying the world. But their methods are standard - famine, wars, earthquakes, etc., which are commonplace, so Christians believed that the end of the world would come soon. The apostle also testifies that before the end of the world, persecution of the followers of Christ will begin. They are organized by a known persecutor who has “temporarily disappeared.”

This is related to the number 666. John writes: “He who has understanding, let him count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man; its number is six hundred and sixty-six.". This is a code. The most common version is the encrypted name Nero. Reasons - the Greek version of the name is written in Hebrew letters, and then the sum of the numerical values ​​of the letters is calculated (one letter could mean 50, etc.), resulting in 666. This conclusion was reached not only by biblical critics, but also by some Western theologians. There were other versions, in particular, kings, emperors and even popes were called the Antichrist.

John had Nero in mind when he wrote that the one who would return was “wounded but healed.” He also wrote: “Seven kings, of which five have fallen, one is, but the other has not yet come, and when he comes, he will not be long. And the beast that was and is not is the eighth, and from among the seven, and will go to destruction.”. Then they believed that Nero had not actually died, but would soon return. This makes sense because after Nero's death there were several false Nero's. In general, the main villain for the Jewish sect, to which the author of the text considered himself, is Nero.

At the very end, the supporters of the Messiah will, of course, be saved: “They shall hunger no more, nor thirst, neither shall the sun beat upon them, nor any heat: for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and lead them unto living springs of water; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.".

But after this, angels with trumpets will appear. They trumpet - humanity is being destroyed using sophisticated methods in the style of the Old Testament. Immediately a third of the earth is cut off, and the seas turn to blood. Then other events are described when the angels finish off the rest, all those who were not chosen by God, who is love. After the seventh sound of the trumpet, the kingdom of God comes “forever and ever.”

Strange, but this is not entirely true, because after the announcement of the kingdom of God, the chosen ones are attacked by a dragon with seven heads and other monsters, but God will destroy them to show his glory. Then the long-awaited judgment of God begins. Believers were saved, but unbelievers and supporters of Satan "thrown into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone" forever and ever.

After this, God will create a new earth and a new sky, and will even live with people and serve them in some way: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death; there will be no more crying, no crying, no sickness.”. Similar sweet promises from God have been heard before. What else is remarkable about this kingdom of heaven? The trees bear fruit as many as 12 times a year. There will not even be night and there will be no need for a lamp, God himself will be a lamp: “And there will be no night there, and they will have no need of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God illuminates them; and they will reign forever and ever".

Actually, people had such dreams back then. And suffering at that time was a common thing for the majority, so faith in Christ was an outlet, truly the opium of the people. People were not afraid of the end of the world, but dreamed of it, because they hated the world.

Afterword

The New Testament did not become part of the Old for the reason that it fundamentally contradicts Judaism. Jesus could claim to be a prophet, but God was too much, as it seemed to the Jews. It is also worth adding that time itself dictated the conditions. After all, at a certain period of time, the writing stopped: neither today, nor 500, nor 1000 years ago, no prophets appear; all the characters lived in a certain “golden age”, when God still revealed himself to at least a limited circle of people. All modern prophets are clients psychiatric hospitals, formerly insane asylums.

Christianity borrowed a lot from pagans and philosophers, which attracted many, but not the Jews. Moreover, as history shows, what attracted people was not the teaching of Christ itself, but the interpretation of this teaching, which is reflected in the letters of the Apostle Paul, who contradicted Jesus, rejected many dogmas and was generally a supporter of unification. It would be even more logical if the movement was called not Christianity, but Paulianism.

Leo Tolstoy wrote about this:

“Where the Gospel recognizes the equality of all people and says that what is great in the sight of men is an abomination before God, Paul teaches obedience to authorities, recognizing their institution from God, so that whoever resists authority resists God’s institution.

Where Christ teaches that a person must always forgive, Paul calls for anathema on those who do not do what he commands, and advises giving water and food to a hungry enemy so that by this act he will heap hot coals on the head of the enemy, and asks God should punish Alexander Mednik for some personal settlements with him.

The Gospel says that people are all equal; Paul knows the slaves and commands them to obey their masters. Christ says: do not swear at all and give to Caesar only what is Caesar’s, and do not give what is God’s - your soul - to anyone. Paul says: "Let every soul be subject to the higher authorities; for there is no authority except from God; but the authorities which exist are established by God." (Rom. XIII, 1,2)

Christ says: “Those who take the sword will perish by the sword.” Paul says: "The ruler is God's servant, for your good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is God's servant..., an avenger to punish those who do evil." (Rom. XIII, 4.)".

This teaching was accepted by those in power because, firstly, it fosters loyalty, and secondly, it promotes centralization and unification, which was important in the period when Christianity appeared. Actually, without the views voiced in Paul’s letters, the teachings of Christ would probably have sunk into oblivion, like the rest of the radical Jewish sects, each of which had its own messiah. And so Christianity became an ideological support ruling class(spiritual bond) for many years, partly maintaining this situation today, although the authority is no longer the same, because ideological apparatuses of the state appeared, which took almost everything social functions religion.

Sources

Sources

1. How to read the Bible correctly. URL: http://www.pravoslavie.ru/82616.html
2. Messianic movements. URL: http://www.eleven.co.il/article/12736
3. 3. Fifth procurator of Judea. URL: www.vn-borisogleb.ru/sovetuem_pochitat/pyatyij_prokurator_iudei.html
4. Kryvelev I. Book about the Bible, 1959, p. 120.
5. Right there. P. 122.
6. Tolstoy L. Why Christian peoples in general and especially the Russian people are now in distress. URL: http://az.lib.ru/t/tolstoj_lew_nikolaewich/text_0690.shtml