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Christianity - a description of religion

Christianity is one of the three so-called. world religions (along with Buddhism and Islam). Has three main areas: Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Protestantism. It is based on faith in Jesus Christ as God-man, Savior, the embodiment of the 2nd person of the triune Deity (Trinity). The communion of believers to Divine grace occurs through participation in the sacraments. The source of the doctrine of Christianity is the Holy Tradition, the main thing in it is the Holy Scripture (the Bible); as well as the "Symbol of Faith", decisions of ecumenical and some local councils, individual creations of the church fathers.

Christianity arose in the 1st century AD among the Jews of Palestine, and immediately spread to other peoples of the Mediterranean. In the 4th century it became the state religion of the Roman Empire. By the 13th century, all of Europe was Christianized. In Russia, Christianity spread under the influence of Byzantium from the 10th century. As a result of the schism (separation of churches), Christianity in 1054 split into Orthodoxy and Catholicism. Protestantism emerged from Catholicism during the Reformation in the 16th century. The total number of Christians in the world exceeds 1 billion.

Christianity [from the Greek. Christ is the Anointed One, the Messiah; according to the testimony of the New Testament text of Acts of the Apostles 11:26, formed on the basis of the Greek language with the use of the Latin suffix, the noun christianoi - adherents (or followers) of Christ, Christians, first came into use to denote the supporters of the new faith in the Syrian-Hellenistic city of Antioch in 1 century .], one of the world religions (along with Buddhism and Islam), one of the so-called. "Abrahamic" (or "Abrahamic") religions, successive in relation to biblical monotheism (along with Judaism and Islam).
Cultural context of early Christianity

Christianity - a description of religion

Christianity arose in the 1st century in Palestine in the context of the messianic movements of Judaism, with which, however, it soon found itself in a state of conflict (the exclusion of Christians from synagogue life after 70, resulting in the drafting of formal curses against Christians as "heretics"). Initially, it spread among the Jews of Palestine and the Mediterranean diaspora, but from the first decades it gained more and more followers among other peoples ("pagans"). Until the end of the Roman Empire, the spread of Christianity took place mainly within its borders, with a special role played by the eastern outskirts - Asia Minor, the land of those 7 churches that in the Revelation of John the Theologian (Ch. 2-3) symbolize the fate of the Ecumenical Church; Egypt is the cradle of Christian monasticism and Christian scholarship and philosophy that flourished in the urban environment of Alexandria; It should also be noted the importance of such "buffer" territories between the Roman Empire and Iran (Parthian, later Sassanian Empire), as Armenia (which officially adopted Christianity somewhat earlier than the famous Edict of Milan 313 of the Roman Emperor Constantine).

The linguistic situation of early Christianity was complex. Jesus' sermon sounded in the spoken language of the then Palestine - Aramaic, which belonged to the Semitic group and is very close to the Syrian (there is information about the Aramaic original of the Gospel of Matthew; Semitologists are inclined to admit that the oldest Syrian version of the Gospels is only partly a translation from Greek, and partly retains memories about the original form of Jesus' utterances (cf. Black M. An Aramaic approach to the Gospels and Acts. 3rd ed. Oxford, 1969). However, the language of interethnic communication in the Mediterranean space was a different language - Greek (the so-called Koine); the texts of the most sacred book of Christianity - the New Testament were written.Therefore, the history of Christian culture (in contrast to the culture of Islam) begins on the border of languages ​​and civilizations; characteristic of the ancient tradition, according to which the Apostle Peter preached, having a translator Mark (future evangelist). literature was created for a long time in Greek, that x characterizes the cosmopolitan environment of the early Christian community, which was dominated by immigrants from the East (Christian Latin, which was to become the sacred language of the Catholic branch of Christianity in symbolic connection with papal Rome, makes its first steps not so much in Rome as in North Africa).
Creed. Teaching about God.

Christianity (like Islam later) inherited the idea of ​​one God, matured in the Old Testament tradition, having His cause in Himself, in relation to Whom all persons, beings and objects are creations created from nothing, and all-goodness, omnipotence and omnipotence are unique attributes. The personal understanding of the Absolute, inherent in the Bible, received a new development in Christianity, expressed in two central dogmas of Christianity, which constitute its most important difference from Judaism and Islam - the Trinity and the Incarnation. According to the dogma of the Trinity, the inner life of the Divine is a personal relationship of three "Hypostases" or Persons: the Father (beginningless Origin), the Son, or the "Word" - the Logos (the semantic and formalizing Principle) and the Holy Spirit (the "life-giving" Principle). The Son is born from the Father, the Holy Spirit "proceeds" from the Father (according to the Orthodox teaching) or from the Father and the Son (the so-called filioque, a feature of Catholic doctrine, also assimilated by Protestantism and became the common property of Western confessions); but both "birth" and "procession" take place not in time, but in eternity; all three Persons have always been ("eternal") and equal in dignity ("equal"). Christian "Trinitarian" doctrine (from Lat. Trinitas - Trinity), developed in the era of the so-called. the Fathers of the Church ("patristics", which flourished in the 4th - 5th centuries) and explicitly rejected only in some ultra-Protestant denominations, demands "not to confuse Persons and not to divide the Essence"; in the accentuated delimitation of the levels of the essential and the hypostatic - the specificity of the Christian Trinity in comparison with the triads of other religions and mythologies (for example, the trimurti of Hinduism). It is not fusion, nondifferentiation, or duality; The persons of the Christian Trinity are thought to be accessible to mutual communication precisely because of their unconditional "hypostatic" self-identity, and they have this identity due to mutual openness in love.
The doctrine of the God-man (Christology)

The image of a semi-divine Mediator between the divine and human planes of being is known to a wide variety of mythologies and religions. However, Jesus Christ is not a demigod for the Christological dogma, that is, some intermediate being below God and above man. It is for this reason that the incarnation of God is understood in Christianity as a one-time and unique, which does not allow any reincarnations in the spirit of pagan, Eastern or Gnostic mysticism: “Christ died once for our sins, and after his resurrection from the dead he no longer dies!” - this is the thesis defended by Blessed Augustine against the doctrine of eternal return ("On the City of God" XII, 14, 11). Jesus Christ is the "Only Begotten", the only Son of the One God, not to be included in any number, like, say, the fundamental plurality of bodhisattvas. (Therefore, for Christianity, attempts to accept Christ as one of many are unacceptable, to include Him in a number of prophets, teachers of mankind, "great enlightened ones" - from sympathetic trends of late antique syncretism, through Manichaeism and Islam, who gave Christ the status of the predecessor of their prophets, right up to Theosophy and other "esoteric" doctrines of modern and contemporary times).

This increases the acuteness of the paradox inherent in the doctrine of the incarnation of God: the absolute infinity of God is embodied not in an open series of partial incarnations, but in a single "incarnation", so that the omnipresence of God is contained within one human body(“In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” - Epistle of the Apostle Paul to Colossians 2: 9), and His eternity is within the limits of a unique historical moment (the identity of which is so important for Christianity that it is specifically mentioned in the Niceo-Constantinople Creed: Christ crucified “Under Pontic Pilate,” that is, during the time of such and such a governor, a mystical event is not just empirically, but doctrinal correlated with a date, with a world-historical, and therefore secular chronology, cf. also the Gospel of Luke 3: 1) ... Christianity rejected as heresies all doctrines that tried to smooth out these paradoxes: Arianism, which denied the "co-originality" and the ontological equality of the Son to the Father, Nestorianism, which divided the divine nature of the Logos and the human nature of Jesus, monophysity, on the contrary, speaking about the absorption of the human nature of Jesus by the divine nature of the Logos ...

The doubly paradoxical formula of the 4th Ecumenical (Chalcedonian) Council (451) expressed the relationship between the divine and human natures, preserving their fullness and identity in the God-manhood of Christ - “truly God” and “truly man” - with four denials: “unmixed, unconverted, indivisible, is inseparable. " This formula outlines the paradigm of the relationship between the divine and the human, universal for Christianity. Ancient philosophy developed the concept of non-passivity, non-affitability of the divine principle; Christian theological tradition assimilates this concept (and defends it against the heresy of the so-called Patripassian), but it thinks precisely this non-passiveness that is present in the suffering of Christ on the cross and in His death and burial (according to the Orthodox liturgical text, sharpening the paradox, according to the crucifixion and before the Resurrection, the personal hypostasis of Christ is simultaneously localized in a variety of ontological and mystical planes of being - “in the tomb of the flesh, in hell with a soul like God in paradise with a robber and on the throne ... with the Father ...”).
Anthropology

The human situation is thought of in Christianity as sharply contradictory. In the original, "primordial" state and in God's final plan for man, mystical dignity belongs not only to the human spirit (as in ancient idealism, as well as in Gnosticism and Manichaeism), but also to the body. Christian eschatology teaches not only about the immortality of the soul, but about the resurrection of the transfigured flesh - in the words of the Apostle Paul, “the spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:44); in a situation of controversy of the late antique era, this brought on Christianity the ridicule of pagan Platonists and paradoxically sounding accusations for us of excessive love for the bodily. The ascetic program, formulated by the same Paul in the words “I pacify and enslave my body” (ibid., 9:27), has as its goal ultimately not the rejection of the spirit from the body, but the restoration of the spirituality of the body, violated by sin.

The Fall, that is, the first act of disobedience to God, committed by the first people, destroyed the likeness of man - this is the weight of the so-called. original sin. Christianity has created a sophisticated culture of judging one's own guilt (in this respect, such literary phenomena of the era of the Church Fathers as Augustine's "Confession" and the confessional lyrics of Gregory the Theologian are characteristic); the most revered Christian saints considered themselves great sinners, and from the point of view of Christianity they were right. Christ defeated the ontological power of sin, “redeemed” people, as if redeeming them from slavery from Satan by His sufferings.

Christianity highly appreciates the cleansing power of suffering - not as an end in itself (the ultimate purpose of man is eternal bliss), but as the most powerful weapon in the war against the evil of the world. Therefore, from the point of view of Christianity, the most desirable state of a person in this life is not the calm painlessness of the Stoic sage or the Buddhist "enlightened one", but the tension of struggle with oneself and suffering for everyone; only “accepting his cross,” a person, according to the Christian understanding, can overcome evil in himself and around him. “Humility” is viewed as an ascetic exercise in which a person “cuts off” his willfulness and through this, paradoxically, becomes free.

The descent of God to man is at the same time the demand for the ascent of man to God; a person should not only be brought to obedience to God and fulfill the commandments, as in Judaism and Islam, but transformed and elevated to the ontological level of divine being (the so-called "deification", especially clearly thematic in Orthodox mysticism). “We are now children of God; but it has not yet been revealed what we will be. We only know that (...) we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is ”(First Epistle of the Council of John 3: 2). If a person does not fulfill (at least after going through difficult afterlife trials, called in Orthodox tradition"Ordeals", and in catholic tradition“Purgatory”) of its mystically high purpose and fails to respond to the sacrificial death of Christ, then it will be rejected for all eternity; there is ultimately no middle ground between unearthly glory and destruction.
The teaching of the sacraments

Associated with the concept of the incomprehensibly high plan of God for man is the concept of “sacrament”, which is alien to other religions, as a completely special action that goes beyond the limits of ritual, ceremony; if rituals symbolically correlate human life with divine being and thus guarantee stability of balance in the world and in man, then the sacraments (Greek mysterion, Latin sacramentum), according to the traditional Christian understanding, actually introduce the divine presence into human life and serve as a guarantee of the coming "deification" breakthrough eschatological time.

The most important of the sacraments recognized by all religions are baptism (initiation, which introduces into Christian life and suppresses, according to the teachings of Christianity, the action of the inertia of original sin) and the Eucharist, or communion (eating bread and wine, according to church faith, invisibly transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ for the essential union of the believer with Christ, so that Christ "lived in him"). Orthodoxy and Catholicism recognize 5 more sacraments, the sacramental status of which is denied by Protestantism: chrismation, which aims to convey to the believer the mystical gifts of the Holy Spirit and, as it were, crowning Baptism; repentance (confession before a priest and absolution); ordination or ordination (ordination, giving not only the authority to teach and "pastoral" to lead believers, but also - in contrast to the purely legal status of a rabbi in Judaism or a mullah in Islam - primarily the power to perform the sacraments); marriage, understood as participation in the mystical marriage of Christ and the Church (Epistle to Ephesians 5: 22-32); unction (accompanied by prayers anointing with oil the body of a seriously ill person as a last resort to return to life and at the same time a parting word to death). The concept of the sacrament, always corporeally concrete, and the ethics of asceticism are subordinated in Christianity to the idea of ​​the high purpose of all human nature, including the bodily principle, which must be prepared for eschatological enlightenment and asceticism, and the action of the sacraments. The ideal of ascetic-sacramental being is the Virgin Mary, precisely thanks to her virginity, realizing in her physical being the Mother of God the sacramental presence of the Divine in the human world. (It is characteristic that in Protestantism, where the experience of the sacrament is weakening, the ascetic institution of monasticism, as well as the veneration of the Virgin Mary, naturally disappears).
Christianity and monarchy

The administration of the Roman Caesars has long viewed Christianity as a complete denial of the official norm, incriminating Christians with “hatred of the human race”; refusal to participate in pagan rituals, especially in the religious and political cult of the emperor, brought bloody persecutions on Christians. The impact of this fact on the specific emotional atmosphere of Christianity was quite profound: persons who were subjected for their adherence to Christianity death penalty(martyrs) or imprisonment and torture (confessors) were the first in the history of Christianity to be revered as saints, the ideal of a martyr (correlated with the image of the crucified Jesus Christ) became the central paradigm of Christian ethics, which considers the whole world as being under the unrighteous authority of the “prince of this world” (Satan, see the Gospel of John 14:30; 16:11, etc.), and proper behavior is a peaceful resistance to this power and, insofar as acceptance of suffering. At the same time, the universally civilizing character of the Roman Empire was in tune with the universal spirit of Christianity, which appeals to all people; early Christian authors 2-3 centuries. (who are usually called apologists, since they apologized for their faith in the face of persecution and attacks) called in their writings, often formally addressed to the bearers of power, for reconciliation between the Church and the empire.

Having become at the beginning of the 4th century, thanks to the initiative of Emperor Constantine, an officially permitted (and by the end of the same century, the dominant) religion in the Roman Empire, Christianity is for a long time under the patronage, but also under the tutelage of state power (the so-called "Constantine era"); the boundaries of the Christian world for some time roughly coincide with the boundaries of the empire (and the Greco-Roman civilization), so the position of the Roman (later Byzantine) emperor is perceived as the dignity of the only supreme secular "primate" of all Christians in the world (on whose initiative, in particular, the Ecumenical cathedrals of 4-7 centuries, recognized not only by Catholics, but also by Orthodox). This paradigm, representing an analogy to the Caliphate in early Islam and revived by the need for religious wars with Islam, is theoretically significant even at the end of the Western Middle Ages - for example, for Dante Alighieri's treatise On Monarchy (1310-11). Moreover, it defined the Byzantine ideology of the sacred state and, in part, some traditions of the Orthodox branch of Christianity (cf. in Muscovite Rus the idea of ​​“Moscow of the third Rome”). In the western half of the Roman Empire, the weakness and then the collapse of statehood led to the rise of the power of the Roman bishop (pope), who also took over secular functions and argued with the imperial principle about essentially the same theocratic paradigm.

But even against the background of the sacralization of the throne, reality constantly created conflicts between the Christian conscience and power, reviving the Christian ideals of martyrdom and “confession” that are relevant for any era, that is, moral resistance to power (such key figures of saints for the Christian tradition as John Chrysostom in the early Byzantine epoch, Thomas Becket and John of Nepomuk (d. 1393), in the context of medieval Catholicism and Metropolitan Philip in Russian Orthodoxy, are associated precisely with the fulfillment of Christian duty in the face of repressions from monarchs who are completely "of the same faith").
Ancient denominations

The political and ideological context, changing depending on the conditions of the era and culture, determined the logic of successive church divisions ("schism"), as a result of which discord between Churches and religions (confessions) arose. Already in the 5-7 centuries, in the course of clarifying the doctrine of the unification of the divine and human nature in the person of Jesus Christ (the so-called Christological disputes), the so-called. "Non-Chalcedonites" (from the name of the 4th Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon) - Christians of the East who lived outside the Greco-Latin language zone; The Nestorians, who did not recognize the 3rd Ecumenical Council (431), enjoyed significant influence until the late Middle Ages in Iran and further to the East from Central Asia to China [now the so-called communities. Assyrians ("Aysors"), scattered from the Middle East to the United States, as well as the "Christians of St. Thomas "in India]; the Monophisites who did not recognize the 4th Ecumenical Council (451), who prevailed in the Jacobite (Syrian), Gregorian (Armenian), Coptic (Egyptian) and Ethiopian Churches; Monothelites, the remnant of which is the Maronite Church of Lebanon, which re-united with the Catholics. At present (after scientific and analytical work, one of the initiators of which back in the 19th century was the Russian church scholar Vasily Vasilyevich Bolotov), ​​among Catholic and Orthodox theological experts, the prevailing attitude towards the "non-Chalcedonian" Churches as being separated is not so much due to real doctrinal differences, how much under the influence of linguistic and cultural misunderstandings and political conflicts.

By 1054, the division of the Orthodox (centered in Constantinople) and Catholic (centered in Rome) Churches was officially proclaimed and in the 13th century; behind it was the conflict between the Byzantine ideology of the sacred state and the Latin ideology of the universal papacy, complicated by doctrinal (see above about filioque) and ritual differences. Attempts at reconciliation (at the 2nd Council of Lyons in 1274 and especially at the Council of Florence in 1439) did not have long-term success; their result was the paradigm of the so-called. "Uniatism", or "Catholicism of the Eastern rite" (a combination of the Orthodox ritual and church-everyday tradition, including the Creed without filioque, with the recognition of the ecumenical primacy of Rome), which most often led to a psychological aggravation of the confessional conflict (especially the Brest Union among Ukrainians and Belarusians) , as is often admitted from the Catholic side; nevertheless, it should be borne in mind that for about 10 million Christians around the world, “Uniatism” has long been an inherited tradition that has suffered through conflicts. In Russia, the most important Orthodox country after the death of Byzantium in 1453, the tendency inherent in Byzantine Christianity to identify the church, kingdom and people and to the associated sacralization led in the 17th century disputes about the norm of ritual practice to schism, as a result of which the so-called the Old Believers (which itself was fragmented into many "confessions").
Reformation

In the West, at the end of the Middle Ages, the papacy provoked a protest both "from above", from the secular authorities, with whom it entered into a dispute about powers, and "from below" (Lollards, Hussites, etc.). On the threshold of the New Age, the initiators of the Reformation - Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin and others - rejected the papacy as a reality and ideology; destroying the unity of Western Christianity, the Reformation gave rise to many Protestant denominations, etc. denominations. Protestantism created a culture with its own specific traits: a particular interest in the Bible (including Old Testament), Bible readings in the family circle; shifting the emphasis from church sacraments to preaching, and from personal obedience to spiritual “primates” and the practice of regular church confession - to individual responsibility before God; a new business ethic that evaluates frugality, order in business and self-confidence as a kind of asceticism, and success as a sign of God's favor; everyday respectability, equally distant from monastic austerity and aristocratic splendor. Such a culture brought up people of strong-willed, initiative, internally solitary - the human type, which played an important role in the formation of early capitalism and the civilization of the modern era in general (akin to the famous concept of "Protestant ethics" by Max Weber). It is not without reason that the Protestant North of Europe (which the United States will later join) as a whole is ahead of the Catholic South in terms of industrialization, not to mention the Orthodox East (and in the development of traditional capitalism in pre-revolutionary Russia, Old Believers play a special role in opposing the tsarist officialdom, who have developed features that represent the well-known analogy of "Protestant ethics").
Christianity and modern times

However, with all the contrasts and conflicts that emerged in the 16-17 centuries. in bloody religious wars, in the further development of the confessional branches of Christian culture, some common properties can be traced. And the creators of the Protestant education system like the "mentor of Germany" Melanchthon, and such extreme champions of Catholicism as the Jesuits (and piarists), subjectively striving to oust each other, objectively develop and enforce new system school affairs, less repressive than the previous one, more focused on competition between students and on aesthetic education; Wed the phenomenon of the Jesuit school theater, which also influenced the Ukrainian-Russian Orthodox culture of the 17th century, in particular, the poetry of Saint Demetrius of Rostov, which in itself was one of the manifestations of the Orthodox reception of baroque-scholastic forms of culture in Kiev (Metropolitan Petro Mohyla, and Kiev-Mohyla Academy created by him) and then in Moscow (Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy). We can note, for example, the similarities in the methods of public preaching in two dissimilar movements that arose in the 18th century - the Catholic Congregation of Redemptorists and such extreme representatives of English Protestantism as the Methodists.

The secularizing tendencies of the modern era were consistently revealed by the anti-clerical wing of the Enlightenment: not only the practice of the Church was disputed, but also the teaching of Christianity as such; in opposition to it, the self-sufficient ideal of earthly progress is put forward. The so-called "alliance of the Throne and Altar" came to an end, to which the idea of ​​a Christian theocracy was reduced (if the early bourgeois revolutions took place under the banner of the Reformation, then during the Great French Revolution a campaign of "de-Christianization" was already carried out, anticipating the "militant godlessness" of Russian Bolshevism); passed the "Constantine era" of Christianity as a state religion. The customary concept of “Christian (Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, etc.) nation” has been challenged; all over the world, Christians live next to non-believers, and today, if only due to the massive migration of labor, and next to other believers. Christianity today has an experience unparalleled in the past.

Since the 19th century in Protestantism, and especially in Catholicism, there has been a tendency to develop, on the basis of Christian teaching, a social doctrine that meets the tasks of the time (Pope Leo XIII's encyclical "Rerum novarum", 1891). The liturgical practice of Protestantism, and since the 2nd Vatican Council (1962-65) and Catholicism, has been looking for conformity to new models of human self-awareness. Similar attempts by Russian post-revolutionary "Renovationism" failed both because of the greater strength of Orthodox conservatism and because the leaders of "Renovationism" compromised themselves with opportunism during the time of anti-church repressions. The question of the legitimate relationship between "canon" and innovation in Christian culture is today of paramount importance for all Christian denominations. The reforms and shifts caused a sharp reaction from extreme traditionalists, who insisted on the obligatory letter of Holy Scripture (the so-called fundamentalism - a term that arose as a self-name for groups of American Protestants, but is now used broadly), to the immutability of the rite (the movement of Catholic "integrists" who rejected the 2nd Vatican cathedral, and in Orthodox Greece - "old calendarists"). On the opposite pole, there are tendencies (especially in some Protestant denominations) to revise the doctrinal foundations for the sake of smooth adaptation to the ethics of modern liberalism.

Modern Christianity is not the religious self-determination of a homogeneous society, not the heritage of ancestors, "sucked up with mother's milk" by descendants, but rather the faith of missionaries and converts; and in this situation, Christianity can be helped by the memory of its first steps - in the space between ethnic groups and cultures.
Ecumenism

A new factor in the life of Christianity in the 20th century was the ecumenical movement for the reunification of Christians of different faiths. It is conditioned by the situation of Christianity as a faith re-offering itself to the non-Christian world; a person who, in the act of personal choice, becomes a Christian, is less and less likely to inherit the skills of the confessional culture of his ancestors, but on the other hand, the mutual accounts of confessions, going back centuries, are becoming less and less relevant for him. The popular English Christian writer Clive Staples Lewis wrote a book with the characteristic title "Simply Christianity" (Russian translation in the book: Lewis KS Love. Suffering. Hope. M., 1992); This title aptly expresses the need of the era in raising the question of the essential core of Christian teaching, seen through all the particular features of a particular historical type. The danger of oversimplification and impoverishment in this mindset is obvious. But a certain measure of simplification becomes an adequate response to the harsh reality of a radical challenge to Christianity and totalitarianism and secular relativism. The variety of theological positions at depth is replaced by a division in two - for or against Christ. Christians of various denominations, who found each other as companions in fate in the Stalinist and Hitlerite camps - this is the deepest "ecumenical" experience of the century. At the same time, intellectual honesty, by no means forcing one to abandon doctrinal beliefs, obliges to see in real story and the life of different confessions, on the one hand, according to the well-known formula of Berdyaev, the sad "unworthiness of Christians", contrasting with the "dignity of Christianity", on the other hand, the deeds of sincere love for God and neighbor (akin to the call of Archbishop John Shakhovsky to see Orthodoxy in sectarianism ").

What is Christianity?

There are several world religions: Christianity, Buddhism, Islam. Christianity is the most widespread of these. Let's consider what Christianity is, how this creed arose and what are its features.

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

Christianity: emergence and spread

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

The story of Jesus Christ

The basis of religion was messianism - the hope for the savior of the world from everything bad in the world. It was believed that he was to be chosen and sent down to Earth by God. Jesus Christ became such a savior. The appearance of Jesus Christ is associated with legends from the Old Testament about the coming to Israel of the Messiah, who frees people from everything bad and establishes a new righteous order of life.

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

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

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

Development of Christianity

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

As a state religion, Christianity was first adopted by Great Armenia in 301, in the Roman Empire this happened in 313.

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

Features of Christianity

To better understand what Christianity is, you should consider in more detail some points associated with it.

Understanding God

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

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

Understanding a person in Christianity

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

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

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

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

Bible and ordinances

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

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

Sins in Christianity

All Christian faith is based on the 10 commandments. By violating them, a person commits mortal sins, thereby destroying himself. A mortal sin is one that hardens a person, alienates him from God, and does not cause a desire to repent. In the Orthodox tradition, the first type of mortal sins are those that lead to others. These are the famous 7 deadly sins: fornication, greed, gluttony, pride, anger, despondency, envy. Also, spiritual laziness can be attributed to this group of sins.

The second type is sins against the Holy Spirit. These are sins committed against God. For example, the hope for the kindness of God while unwilling to follow a righteous life, lack of repentance, struggle with God, resentment, envy of the spirituality of others, etc. This also includes blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

The third group - sins "crying to heaven." This is a "sin of Sodom", murder, insulting parents, oppression of beggars, widows and orphans, etc.

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

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

Christianity is one of the world's religions based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Christianity is one of the many religions. There are about three billion followers of Christianity.

The history of the emergence of religion.

Christianity originated in Palestine in the first century AD. The creator and disseminator of religion is Jesus Christ. He led the preaching work: he walked around the world and told the truth of God. How it was? (from the Bible)

Birth of Christ. The Mother of God (or the Holy Virgin Mary) gave birth to Jesus Christ, the son of God. The Mother of God was a devout woman. Once in a dream God came to her and gave her a son. She named her son Jesus Christ. Jesus was a demigod, half-man. They say he could heal people and many other miracles beyond the control of an ordinary person. When the boy grew up, he began to preach a new religious teaching - Christianity. The religion is obviously named after Christ.

The religion is based on several commandments. Jesus called to love your neighbor, to help the sick and disadvantaged, and spoke about others moral principles... He also talked about heaven and hell, about evil forces and angels, about the immortality of the soul.

He himself went around the world in search of disciples and followers. On the way, he helped everyone in need, never refused to help. Twelve apostles became his disciples. They were closer to Jesus than any other follower. These apostles received the gift of healing people. As you know, one of the twelve apostles turned out to be a traitor. Jesus had ill-wishers who desired the death of a demigod. Judas - a traitor agreed to transfer his teacher to ill-wishers for 30 silver coins. Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross.

Attributes of the Christian religion- cross, temple (church), icons, prayers, Bible, Gospel.

Religion Christianity has found many followers. But there was a split of the single religion into three streams: Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Protestantism. In fact, there are many more trends in Christianity, for example, Lutheranism, Calvinism and others. But these three currents are the largest and most significant in modern world... The schism was due to the different views on religion of several churches.

Orthodoxy.

Orthodoxy took shape in the Eastern Roman Empire. The founder of the current is considered to be Jesus Christ. Usually Orthodox Church- this is a temple with domes, usually of gold color, decorated with icons inside, it is customary to stand in the temple throughout the entire service. The minister of the church is called the priest.

Catholicism.

Catholicism appeared on the territory of the Roman Empire. It is considered to be a continuation of the early Christian religion. The Vatican is considered the center of government for all Catholic churches. The main pope is the pope of Rome. Catholic cathedrals are buildings with blue or white domes; it is customary to sit in them throughout the entire service.

Protestantism.

Protestantism is a relatively young trend. It appeared because many people in Europe were unhappy catholic church... Martin Luther instigated the emergence of the Protestant Church. The Protestant Church is very different from the above churches.

Christianity is one of the many religions with different streams. Whatever trend or religion you choose, remember, God is one.

Option 2

One of the largest world religions, and the most widespread, is Christianity. This religion, which has been in existence for more than 2 thousand years, is represented in all countries of the world.

What is the essence of Christianity

Christianity is a humane religion. A person according to her canons should lead a righteous life according to the 10 commandments, which are aimed at kindness and love for God and neighbors.

The Bible, especially the New Testament, is sacred for Christians. Christians believe in one God and his son Jesus Christ, who gave his life for the salvation of mankind and was crucified on the cross.

In his life, Jesus did only good deeds: he healed the sick, helped the poor. At the same time, he lived very modestly and did not covet wealth and power. The main thing for him was to save humanity and their souls. For this salvation, he sacrificed himself and Christians should take as an example this kindness and love for others, and also believe in his teaching.

When and where did Christianity originate

Christianity originated in the 1st century A.D. in the homeland of Jesus Christ, in Palestine, which was under the yoke of the Roman Empire. Rome, conquering new lands, established oppression unbearable for the peoples of these lands, and the struggle against Roman iniquities was suppressed. And with the birth of Jesus Christ, a new trend appeared in the struggle for justice, in which everyone, both rich and poor, was considered equal before one God. This movement in the name of Christ was called Christianity, and its followers were called Christians.

Christians were persecuted by the rulers, very cruelly dealt with them. Gathering in secret communities, mainly in caves, they were true to their ideals and refused to believe in the Roman gods and make sacrifices to them.

The sermons of Jesus Christ and his followers had a beneficial effect on the spread of this religion, and his martyrdom and miraculous resurrection further strengthened people's faith in one God. And not only the poor, but also the rich people took the side of Christianity, because they were satisfied with the ideas of humility and patience. So in 325, the emperor Constantine recognized this religion in Rome as the state one. As the years passed, religion spread throughout the world and began to dominate other religions.

Trends in Christianity

Although the ideas of Christianity are the same, there are differences in the essence of the doctrine. Christianity is divided into three branches: Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Protestantism. Within each branch, there is also a divergence in the teachings of the faith. But the essence of religion is one.

Report on Christianity

There are three major religious trends in the world, one of which is Christianity. Founded in Palistina in the 1st century AD, it preaches faith in the Son of God - Jesus Christ, who accepted a painful death on the cross to atone for human sins.

Christianity is professed by three church movements: Protestantism, Catholicism and Orthodoxy.

Historical scholars have not come to a consensus about the real existence of Jesus. A more plausible version is that the Son of God is a really existing historical person. This is proved by the chronicle of Josephus Flavius ​​"Antiquity" and many other historical sources. The New Testament describes events that have found their confirmation in archaeological sites.

On Mount Sinai, God revealed 10 commandments to the prophet Moses, the foundations of a Christian's life:

1. God is one and for man there should be no other Gods.

2. You cannot create an idol for yourself.

4. One day a week (seventh) must be dedicated to God.

5. Respect your parents.

6. You can not take the life of other people.

7. Don't commit adultery.

8. You can't take someone else's.

9. You cannot falsely accuse another person.

10. You cannot desire what the other person has.

The main sacred book for people of the Christian faith is the Bible, which consists of the Old and New Testaments. She is the bearer of the truth of the life of a believer, tells about the life of the Savior, tells the kingdom of the living and in the spring of life after death.

The New Testament consists of four narratives of the prophets (Matthew, John, Mark and Luke), as well as the "Apocalypse" of John the Evangelist and the "Acts of the Apostles".

In Christianity, there are seven rituals, they have the name of the sacrament. The person accepts church - baptism, bonds of marriage - a wedding, when committing a sin, a believer can bring repentance before God for the forgiveness of his transgression, for deliverance from illness there is a rite of blessing of oil, to establish a spiritual connection with God, a person takes communion.

In memory of the terrible torment and death of the son of God, Christians venerate the cross. It is used to decorate the domes of churches; after baptism, the believer wears it on his body.

Earlier in other states, Armenia adopted Christianity as the main religion. This event dates back to 301, then in 313 Emperor Constantine I proclaimed Christianity as the state religion in the Roman Empire, at the end of the IV century the Byzantine Empire also began to recognize Christianity as the main faith in the state.

In Russia, the spread of the faith about Christ began in the 8th century, and Prince Vladimir baptized Russia in 988.

The place of worship is the temple, which is dedicated either to a specific church holiday, or to a particularly revered saint, the day of commemoration of which is the patronal day for a particular church.

Faith in Christ is the most widespread in the world. According to UNESCO, it numbers more than 1.3 billion people. There are people who believe in Christianity in almost every part of the planet.

4, 5, 7, 9 grade

• Flute - message report (2, 3, 4, 5 grade in music)

  The flute is musical instrument, which belongs to the class of wind instruments. The history of the flute is not fraught with many mysteries. One of the versions of its origin is considered

World religions:

Christianity

Christianity is the most numerous religion in the world. According to the encyclopedia "Nations and Religions of the World" (Moscow, 1998, p. 860), in 1996 there were about 2 billion Christians in the world. Christianity originated in Palestine in the middle of the 1st century AD The first Christians by nationality were Jews, by the past religious outlook - Jews. But already in the second half of the 1st century, Christianity became an international religion. The language of international communication among the original Christians became the Greek language (as in the state of that time). From the point of view of clergymen, the main and only reason for the emergence of Christianity was the preaching activity of Jesus Christ, who was both God and man. Jesus Christ, say the ministers of the cult, in the form of a man came to earth and brought people the truth. His coming to earth (this happened coming is called the first, as opposed to the second, the future) is told in four sacred books, which are called the Gospels.

From the point of view of materialist historians, the main reason the emergence of Christianity was the difficult living conditions of the masses, who were looking for consolation in the new religion. At the same time, modern historians do not deny that there was a Christ the preacher (but not God) and that his preaching activity was one of the factors in the formation of a new religion.

The clergy say that the Gospels were written by two apostles of Jesus Christ, Matthew and John) and two disciples of two other apostles: Peter - Mark and Paul - Luke. The Gospels say that during the time when King Herod ruled Judea, a woman named Mary in the city of Bethlehem gave birth to a boy whom she and her husband named Jesus. When Jesus grew up, he began to preach a new religious teaching, the main ideas of which were as follows. First, one must believe that he Jesus is the Christ (the Greek word for Christ means the same as the Hebrew Messiah). And secondly, one must believe that he is Jesus - the son of God. Along with these two, the most frequently repeated ideas in his sermons, he promoted many others: about his future second coming, about the resurrection of dead bodies at the end of the world, about the existence of angels, demons, etc. In his sermon moral ideas occupied a significant place: about the need to love others, to help those in trouble, etc. He accompanied his teachings with miracles that proved his divine origin. In particular, he performed the following miracles: he healed a great many sick people by word or touch, raised the dead three times, turned water into wine once, walked on the water as if in a dry place, fed five thousand people with five bread cakes and two small fish, etc. a role in the Gospels is played by the story of the last days of the life of Jesus Christ. This story begins with the episode of his entry into Jerusalem. He was greeted by a multitude of people, for Jesus became famous for his numerous miracles .. People laid their clothes and palm branches on the road along which Jesus Christ rode and shouted "Hosanna!" The word “Hosanna” literally translated from Hebrew means “salvation” (wishing salvation to Jesus), but in its meaning it is a greeting of the type “Glory”).

One of important events in the life of Jesus Christ after his entry into Jerusalem there was the expulsion of the merchants from the Jerusalem temple. The situation of the expulsion of the merchants from the temple became a symbol of the removal of dishonest people from all holy and noble deeds. Jesus entered Jerusalem on the first day of the week (as Sunday is called in the Gospels), and on the fifth day of the week (that is, Thursday) there was a farewell Passover dinner (Jewish Passover was celebrated) of Jesus Christ with the apostles. Subsequently, Christian ministers of worship called this supper "the last supper." During the Last Supper, Christ's disciples ate bread and drank the wine that he gave them.

After the Passover dinner, Jesus Christ and his disciples (with the exception of one of them, Judas Iscariot, who left the dinner earlier) came first to the Mount of Olives, and then to the Garden of Gethsemane. There in the garden on the night from Thursday to Friday, Roman soldiers with the help of Judas Iscariot arrested Jesus Christ. The arrested man was taken to the house of the high priest. The ecclesiastical court accused him of blasphemy, and of encroachment on the royal throne (this encroachment was seen in the fact that he called himself “the king of the Jews”). Jesus Christ was sentenced to death. On Friday, Roman soldiers, who, according to the laws of the time, carried out the death sentences of the church court, crucified him on a cross, and he died. Early in the morning on the first day of the week, Jesus Christ was resurrected, and after a while ascended into heaven. The book “Acts of the Apostles” located in the Bible after the Gospels clarifies that the ascension to heaven took place on the 40th day after its resurrection. This is the main content of the gospel stories about Jesus Christ. People disagree on the truth of the gospel stories. Some believe that everything that is written in the Gospels took place in reality. Others, on the other hand, believe that in the Gospels, truth is mixed with fiction.

In the formation of the specific features of the new religion, according to historians, some other social circumstances also played a role. The existence of the imperial power contributed to the development and consolidation of the idea of ​​one God in heaven. Strengthening economic, political and ideological communication between peoples (as a result of the formation of the Roman Empire) formed and consolidated the idea of ​​an international God who cares about all people, regardless of their nationality. The crisis of the slave-owning society led the upper classes of society to disillusionment with the old religions, to the loss of faith in the gods, who could not prevent the deterioration of the position of the ruling classes. And many of the ruling classes pinned their hopes on the newly emerged religion as a mighty force that could support them. If you compare Christian religion with religions and philosophical teachings that already existed in the Roman Empire, then in some cases you can see something in common. Historians believe that these shared points suggest that the Christian religion had ideological sources. The most important of these is Judaism.

Christianity arose as an offshoot of Judaism. Christians consider the sacred book of the Jews Tanakh as their sacred book, but they call it differently: the Old Testament. The Christians supplemented the Old Testament with the New Testament, and together they compiled the Bible. From the Jewish religion, Christians adopted the idea of ​​the Messiah. The very word Christ is nothing more than a translation of the Hebrew word Messiah into Greek. A number of provisions that later entered the system of Christian religious and moral views were expressed by the Alexandrian philosopher Philo: about the innate sinfulness of people, about asceticism and suffering as means of saving the soul, that the Messiah is also God and that his name is Logos (this is the name in Christianity it became the second name of Christ, in translation from Greek into Russian Logos is the Word). From the Roman Seneca, Christians borrowed ethical ideas about the equality of all people before God, about the salvation of the soul as the goal of life, about contempt for earthly life, about love for enemies, about obedience to fate. The Qumran community (in the past - a confession in Judaism) promoted ideas about the first coming of the Messiah and the expected second, about the presence of human nature in the Messiah. These ideas also entered Christianity.

In the 1st century AD. on the territory of the Roman Empire, there were many national religions. By the end of the 5th century. these religions either receded into the background (as, for example, Judaism), or disappeared from the historical scene ( ancient greek religion). Christianity, on the other hand, turned from a small religious movement into the main, most numerous religion in the empire. According to historians, the victory of Christianity over other religions is explained by the following features.

First, its monotheism. All other religions in the empire, except Christianity and Judaism, were polytheistic. Under the conditions of the empire, monotheism looked more attractive.

Secondly, its humanistic moral content. Of course, there were certain humane moral ideas in other religions of that time as well. But in Christianity they were expressed more fully and more clearly, since the main authors of this religion (according to historians) were working people; and for workers, work and life without mutual respect and mutual assistance were simply impossible.

Third, the picture of the afterlife in Christianity looked more attractive to the lower classes of society than in any other religion. Christianity promised a heavenly reward, first and foremost, to all those who suffer in this life, all those who are humiliated and insulted.

Fourthly, only Christianity abandoned national barriers, promising salvation to everyone, regardless of nationality.

Fifth, the rituals in the religions that existed at that time were complex and expensive, and Christianity simplified and made the rituals cheaper.

Sixth, only Christianity criticized slavery in that it recognized the slave as equal before God with all other people. On the whole, Christianity has adapted better than other religions to new historical conditions.

The Christian religion has gone through two major stages and is now at the third stage of its history. Historians call Christianity of the first stage (1st-5th centuries) ancient Christianity, the second stage (6th-15th centuries) - medieval Christianity, the third stage (16th century - to the present) - bourgeois Christianity. In bourgeois Christianity, a special part of the stage stands out, which is called modern Christianity (the second half of the twentieth century).

The doctrine of official ancient Christianity took shape by the end of the 5th century. It was based on the Bible and decisions Ecumenical Councils and was described in the writings of prominent theologians of the 4th and 5th centuries (they, like the famous theologians of the subsequent time, are called “church fathers”). The creed of the official antique Christianity was adopted in whole or in part by all the later Christian confessions, but each of the confessions supplemented the creed of the ancient Christians with some of its specific religious teachings. These specific additions mainly distinguish one denomination from another.

God is the main author of the Bible. People helped him: about 40 people. God created the Bible through people: he inspired them exactly what to write. The Bible is a divinely inspired book. She is also called Holy Scripture and the Word of God. All Bible books are divided into two parts. The books of the first part, taken together, are called the Old Testament, the second part - the New Testament. Ancient Christians included 27 books in the New Testament. Some confessions in modern Christianity include 39 books in the Old Testament (for example, Lutheranism), others - 47 (for example, Catholicism), others -50 (for example, Orthodoxy) Therefore, the total number of books in the Bible in different confessions is different: 66, 74 and 77.

According to the doctrine of official ancient Christianity, there are three groups of supernatural beings in the world: the Trinity, angels and demons. The main idea of ​​the doctrine of the Trinity is the assertion that one God exists immediately in three persons (hypostases) as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. All persons of the Trinity can appear to people in physical and material bodies. So, on Catholic and Orthodox icons(and the Catholics and the Orthodox inherited the doctrine of the Trinity from the ancient Christians) The Trinity is depicted as follows: the first person is in the form of a man, the second face is also in the form of a man, and the third person is in the form of a dove. All persons of the Trinity have all the perfect qualities: eternity, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, all-goodness, and others. God the Father created the world with the participation of two other persons of the Trinity, and the forms of this participation are a mystery to the human mind. Christian theology considers the doctrine of the Trinity to be one of the most incomprehensible to the human mind.

In ancient Christianity, believers were supposed to honor the prophets. Prophets were people whom God gave the assignment and opportunities to proclaim the truth to people. And the truth that they proclaimed had two main parts: the truth about the right religion and the truth about the right life. In the truth about correct religion, a particularly important element was the story of what the future holds for people. Christians, like Jews, venerated all the prophets mentioned in the Tanakh (Old Testament), but in addition to them, they also venerated the prophets of the New Testament: John the Baptist and John the Theologian. The veneration of the prophets, as in Judaism, was expressed in them in the form of a respectful conversation about the prophets in sermons and in everyday life. But the ancient Christians, unlike the Jews, did not have any special ritual veneration of Elijah and Moses. Ancient Christians supplemented the veneration of the prophets with the veneration of the apostles and evangelists (the authors of the Gospels). Moreover, two evangelists (Matthew and John) were simultaneously apostles. In addition, according to the views of ancient Christians, John was considered at the same time a prophet.

The main idea of ​​the doctrine of the afterlife in Christianity is the idea of ​​the existence of heaven and hell. Paradise is a place of bliss, hell is a place of torment. The word "paradise" is taken from the Persian language. In the first, literal sense, it meant "wealth", "happiness." The word “hell” is taken from the Greek language (in Greek it sounds like “ades”) and in the first, literal meaning meant “invisible”. This word the ancient Greeks called the kingdom of the dead. Since, according to their ideas, this kingdom was underground, the word “ades” in the second meaning began to mean “the underworld kingdom”. Ancient Christians believed that heaven is in heaven (hence the synonym for heaven became the expression “the kingdom of heaven”), and hell is in the bowels of the earth. Modern Christian clergymen add to this that both heaven and hell are in a special supernatural space: they are inaccessible to people during earthly life. In literature, they usually write that, according to Christian teaching, God directs the righteous to heaven, and sinners to hell. Strictly speaking, according to Christian teaching, because of the original sin of Adam and Eve, all people are sinners (with the exception of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ). Therefore, according to Christians, the righteous are not the opposite of sinners, but their special part. Since the righteous differ from each other in the degree of righteousness, and inveterate sinners differ from each other in the depth of sinfulness, then the fate of all the righteous (in the degree and forms of bliss) and all sinners (in the degree and forms of torment) are not the same.

According to the canons of Christianity, the afterlife has two stages. First: from the death of the body to the second coming of Jesus Christ. The second stage will begin with the second coming of Jesus Christ, and it has no end. At the first stage, only human souls are in heaven and hell, at the second, souls will unite with resurrected bodies. Hell in both stages is in the same place, and heaven in the second stage will move from heaven to earth.

Ancient Christianity was the cradle of the main world religion of our time. In its further development, Christianity was divided into many denominations, but each of them relies on the inheritance received from ancient Christianity.

It is difficult to find such a religion that would have such a powerful influence on the fate of mankind as Christianity did. It would seem that the emergence of Christianity has been studied well enough. An unlimited amount of material has been written about this. Church authors, historians, philosophers, and representatives of biblical criticism have worked in this field. This is understandable, because it was about the greatest phenomenon, under the influence of which the modern Western civilization actually took shape. However, there are still many secrets kept by one of the three world religions.

Emergence

The creation and development of a new world religion has a complicated history. The rise of Christianity is shrouded in secrets, legends, assumptions and assumptions. Not much is known about the statement of this doctrine, which today is professed by a quarter of the world's population (about 1.5 billion people). This can be explained by the fact that in Christianity, much more clearly than in Buddhism or Islam, there is a supernatural principle, belief in which usually generates not only awe, but also skepticism. Therefore, the history of the issue has been subject to significant falsifications by various ideologues.

In addition, the emergence of Christianity, its spread was explosive. The process was accompanied by an active religious, ideological and political struggle, which significantly distorted historical truth. Disputes on this issue continue to this day.

The birth of the Savior

The emergence and spread of Christianity is associated with the birth, deeds, death and resurrection of just one person - Jesus Christ. The basis of the new religion was the belief in a divine Savior, whose biography is presented mainly by the Gospels - four canonical and numerous apocryphal ones.

In church literature, the emergence of Christianity is described in sufficient detail, in detail. Let us briefly try to convey the main events recorded in the Gospels. They claim that in the city of Nazareth (Galilee) the Archangel Gabriel appeared to a simple girl ("virgin") Mary and announced the forthcoming birth of a son, but not from an earthly father, but from the Holy Spirit (God).

Mary gave birth to this son during the time of the Jewish king Herod and the Roman emperor Augustus in the city of Bethlehem, where she went with her husband, the carpenter Joseph, to take part in the population census. The shepherds, notified by the angels, greeted the baby, who received the name Jesus (the Greek form of the Hebrew "Yeshua", which means "God the savior", "God saves me").

From the movement of the stars in the sky, the eastern sages - the Magi learned about this event. Following the star, they found a home and a baby in which they recognized Christ ("anointed one", "messiah"), and presented him gifts. Then the family, saving the child from the distraught King Herod, went to Egypt, returning and settled in Nazareth.

In the apocryphal Gospels, numerous details are told about the life of Jesus at that time. But the canonical Gospels reflect only one episode from his childhood - a trip to a holiday in Jerusalem.

The acts of the Messiah

Growing up, Jesus adopted the experience of his father, became a bricklayer and carpenter, after the death of Joseph, he fed and took care of the family. When Jesus turned 30, he met John the Baptist and was baptized in the Jordan River. Later he gathered 12 disciples-apostles ("messengers") and, walking with them for 3.5 years the cities and villages of Palestine, preached a completely new, peace-loving religion.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus established the moral principles that became the foundation of the worldview of the new era. At the same time, he performed various miracles: he walked on water, with the touch of his hand raised the dead (three such cases are recorded in the Gospels), healed the sick. He could also calm a storm, turn water into wine, "five loaves of bread and two fish" feed 5000 people to their fill. However, this was a difficult time for Jesus. The emergence of Christianity is associated not only with miracles, but also with the suffering that he experienced later.

Persecution of Jesus

No one perceived Jesus as the Messiah, and his family even decided that he “lost his temper,” that is, became frantic. Only during the Transfiguration did Jesus' disciples understand his greatness. But the preaching activity of Jesus provoked the irritation of the high priests, who were in charge of the Jerusalem temple, who declared him a false messiah. After the Last Supper, held in Jerusalem, Jesus was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver by one of his disciples-followers - Judas.

Jesus, like any person, besides divine manifestations, felt pain and fear, so he experienced “passions” with longing. Captured on the Mount of Olives, he was condemned by the Jewish religious court - the Sanhedrin - and sentenced to death. The verdict was approved by the governor of Rome, Pontius Pilate. During the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius, Christ was subjected to a martyr's execution - crucifixion. At the same time, miracles happened again: earthquakes swept, the sun darkened, and according to legend, "the coffins were opened" - some of the dead were resurrected.

Resurrection

Jesus was buried, but on the third day he was resurrected and soon appeared to the disciples. According to the canons, he ascended to heaven on a cloud, promising to later return in order to resurrect the dead, on The last judgment condemn the deeds of each, cast sinners into hell to eternal torment, and exalt the righteous to eternal life to "mountain" Jerusalem, the heavenly Kingdom of God. We can say that from this moment it begins amazing story- the emergence of Christianity. The believing apostles spread the new teaching throughout Asia Minor, the Mediterranean and other regions.

The day of the foundation of the Church was the holiday of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles 10 days after the Ascension, thanks to which the apostles were able to preach the new teaching in all parts of the Roman Empire.

Secrets of history

How the emergence and development of Christianity proceeded at an early stage is not known for certain. We know what the authors of the Gospels, the apostles, told about. But the Gospels differ, and significantly, with regard to the interpretation of the image of Christ. In John, Jesus is God in human form, the divine nature is emphasized by the author in every possible way, and Matthew, Mark and Luke ascribed to Christ the qualities of an ordinary person.

The existing Gospels are written in Greek, widespread in the world of Hellenism, while the real Jesus and his first followers (Judeo-Christians) lived and acted in a different cultural environment, communicated in Aramaic, common in Palestine and the Middle East. Unfortunately, not a single Christian document in the Aramaic language has survived, although early Christian authors mention the Gospels written in this language.

After the ascension of Jesus, the sparks of the new religion seemed to be extinguished, since there were no educated preachers among his followers. In fact, it so happened that the new faith was established throughout the planet. According to church views, the emergence of Christianity is due to the fact that mankind, having departed from God and carried away by the illusion of domination over the forces of nature with the help of magic, still looked for a way to God. The society, having passed a difficult path, "matured" to the recognition of a single creator. Scientists have also tried to explain the avalanche spread of the new religion.

Preconditions for the emergence of a new religion

Theologians and scientists have been fighting for 2000 years over the phenomenal, rapid spread of the new religion, trying to find out these reasons. The emergence of Christianity, according to ancient sources, was recorded in the Asia Minor provinces of the Roman Empire and in Rome itself. This phenomenon was due to a number of historical factors:

• Intensification of the exploitation of the peoples subjugated and enslaved by Rome.
• Defeated slave rebels.
• The crisis of polytheistic religions in Ancient Rome.
• Social need for a new religion.

Beliefs, ideas and ethical principles of Christianity were manifested on the basis of certain social relations. In the first centuries of our era, the Romans completed their conquest of the Mediterranean. Subjugating states and peoples, Rome destroyed along the way their independence, originality public life... By the way, in this, the emergence of Christianity and Islam are somewhat similar. Only the development of two world religions proceeded against a different historical background.

At the beginning of the 1st century, Palestine also became a province of the Roman Empire. Its inclusion in the world empire led to the integration of Jewish religious and philosophical thought from Greco-Roman. This was also facilitated by the numerous communities of the Jewish diaspora in different parts of the empire.

Why did the new religion spread in record time?

A number of researchers rank the emergence of Christianity as a historical miracle: too many factors coincided for the rapid, "explosive" spread of the new teaching. In fact, it was of great importance that this movement absorbed a wide and effective ideological material, which served it to form its own doctrine and cult.

Christianity as a world religion has developed gradually under the influence of various currents and beliefs of the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia. Ideas were drawn from religious, literary and philosophical sources. This:

• Jewish messianism.
• Jewish sectarianism.
• Hellenistic syncretism.
• Oriental religions and cults.
• Popular Roman cults.
• The cult of the emperor.
• Mysticism.
• Philosophical ideas.

Fusion of philosophy and religion

Philosophy played a significant role in the emergence of Christianity - skepticism, epicureanism, cynicism, stoicism. Philo's "middle Platonism" from Alexandria was also noticeably influenced. A Jewish theologian, he actually went into the service of the Roman emperor. Through an allegorical interpretation of the Bible, Philo sought to merge together the monotheism of the Jewish religion (belief in a single God) and elements of Greco-Roman philosophy.

The moral teaching of the Roman Stoic philosopher and writer Seneca was no less influential. He viewed earthly life as a threshold to rebirth in the other world. Seneca believed that the main thing for a person was the acquisition of freedom of spirit through the realization of divine necessity. That is why later researchers called Seneca the "uncle" of Christianity.

The dating problem

The emergence of Christianity is inextricably linked with the problem of dating events. An indisputable fact is that it arose in the Roman Empire at the turn of our era. But when exactly? And in what place of the grandiose empire that covered the entire Mediterranean, a significant part of Europe, Asia Minor?

According to the traditional interpretation, the birth of the main postulates falls on the years of Jesus' preaching work (30-33 AD). Scientists partially agree with this, but add that the doctrine was drawn up after the execution of Jesus. Moreover, of the four canonically recognized authors of the New Testament, only Matthew and John were disciples of Jesus Christ, were witnesses of the events, that is, they were in contact with the direct source of the teaching.

Others (Mark and Luke) have already accepted some of the information indirectly. Obviously, the formation of the doctrine was stretched over time. It `s naturally. After all, behind the "revolutionary explosion of ideas" in the time of Christ, there began an evolutionary process of mastering and developing these ideas by his disciples, who gave the teaching a complete look. This is noticeable when analyzing the New Testament, the writing of which lasted until the end of the 1st century. True, there are still different dating of books: the Christian tradition limits the writing of sacred texts to a period of 2-3 decades after the death of Jesus, and some researchers stretch this process until the middle of the 2nd century.

It is historically known that the teachings of Christ spread in Eastern Europe in the 9th century. The new ideology came to Russia not from some single center, but through different channels:

• from the Black Sea region (Byzantium, Chersonesos);
• over the Varangian (Baltic) Sea;
• along the Danube.

Archaeologists testify that certain groups of Russians were baptized already in the 9th century, and not in the 10th century, when Vladimir christened the Kievites in the river. Earlier, Kiev was baptized Chersonesos - a Greek colony in the Crimea, with which the Slavs maintained close ties. The contacts of the Slavic peoples with the population of ancient Taurida were constantly expanding with the development of economic relations. The population constantly participated not only in the material, but also in the spiritual life of the colonies, where the first exiles, Christians, were sent into exile.

Also, possible mediators in the penetration of religion into the East Slavic lands could be the Goths, moving from the shores of the Baltic to the Black Sea. Among them, in the IV century, Bishop Ulfilah spread Christianity in the form of Arianism, who was responsible for the translation of the Bible into the Gothic language. The Bulgarian linguist V. Georgiev suggests that the Proto-Slavic words "church", "cross", "Lord" were probably inherited from the Gothic language.

The third way is the Danube way, which is associated with the enlighteners Cyril and Methodius. The main leitmotif of Cyril and Methodius' teaching was the synthesis of the achievements of Eastern and Western Christianity on the basis of the Proto-Slavic culture. The enlighteners created the original Slavic alphabet, translated liturgical and church canonical texts. That is, Cyril and Methodius laid the foundations of the church organization on our lands.

The official date of the baptism of Rus is considered to be 988, when Prince Vladimir I Svyatoslavovich massively baptized the inhabitants of Kiev.

Conclusion

The emergence of Christianity cannot be briefly characterized. Too many historical mysteries, religious and philosophical controversies unfold around this issue. However, more important is the idea carried by this teaching: philanthropy, compassion, help to one's neighbor, condemnation of shameful acts. It does not matter how the new religion was born, it is important what it brought to our world: faith, hope, love.