Orthodoxy and Christianity are two different things. Orthodoxy is a branch of Christianity

Orthodoxy is not Christianity. How historical myths appeared

The Greek Catholic Orthodox (Right Faithful) Church (now the Russian Orthodox Church) began to be called Orthodox only on September 8, 1943 (approved by Stalin's decree in 1945). What, then, was called Orthodoxy for several millennia?

“In our time, in modern Russian vernacular, in the official, scientific and religious designation, the term “Orthodoxy” is applied to anything related to the ethno-cultural tradition and it is necessarily associated with the Russian Orthodox Church and the Christian religion ( Judeo-Christian Religion - ed.).

To a simple question: "What is Orthodoxy" any modern person, without hesitation, will answer that Orthodoxy is the Christian faith that was adopted by Kievan Rus during the reign of Prince Vladimir the Red Sun from the Byzantine Empire in 988 AD. And that Orthodoxy, i.e. The Christian faith has existed on Russian soil for more than a thousand years. Scientists from historical science and Christian theologians, in confirmation of their words, declare that the earliest use of the word Orthodoxy in the territory of Russia is recorded in the “Sermon on Law and Grace” of 1037-1050 by Metropolitan Hilarion.

But was it really so?

We advise you to carefully read the preamble to the federal law on freedom of conscience and on religious associations, adopted on September 26, 1997. Note the following points in the preamble: “Recognizing the special role orthodoxy in Russia...and further respecting Christianity , Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and other religions…”

Thus, the concepts of Orthodoxy and Christianity are not identical and carry completely different concepts and meanings.

Orthodoxy. How historical myths appeared

It is worth considering who participated in the seven councils of the Christian ( Judeo-Christian - ed.) churches? Orthodox holy fathers or still Orthodox holy fathers, as indicated in the original Word on Law and Grace? By whom and when was it decided to replace one concept with another? And was there ever any mention of Orthodoxy in the past?

The answer to this question was given by the Byzantine monk Belisarius in 532 AD. Long before the baptism of Russia, this is what he wrote in his Chronicles about the Slavs and their rite of visiting the bath: “Orthodox Slovenes and Rusyns are wild people, and their life is wild and godless, men and girls lock themselves together in a hot, overheated hut and exhaust their bodies .... »

We will not pay attention to the fact that for the monk Belisarius, the usual visit by the Slavs to the bath seemed something wild and incomprehensible, this is quite natural. For us, something else is important. Pay attention to how he called the Slavs: Orthodox Slovenes and Rusyns.

For this one phrase alone, we must express our gratitude to him. Since with this phrase the Byzantine monk Belisarius confirms that the Slavs were Orthodox for many hundreds ( thousands - ed.) years before their conversion to Christianity ( Judeo-Christian - ed..) faith.

The Slavs were called Orthodox, because they RIGHT praised.

What is "RIGHT"?

Our ancestors believed that reality, the cosmos, is divided into three levels. And it is also very similar to the Indian system of division: Upper World, Middle World and Lower World.

In Russia, these three levels were called like this:

>The highest level is the level of Rule orrule.

>Second, middle levelReality.

>And the lowest level isNav. Nav or Non-reveal, unmanifested.

>World governis a world where everything is right orideal upper world.This is a world where ideal beings with higher consciousness live.

> Reality- this is our manifest, obvious world, the world of people.

>And the world Navi or Not-reveal, unmanifested, it is the negative, unmanifested or lower or posthumous world.

The Indian Vedas also speak of the existence of three worlds:

>Upper world is a world dominated by energy goodness.

>Middle world covered passion.

>Lower world is immersed in ignorance.

There is no such division among Christians. The Bible is silent on this.

Such a similar understanding of the world also gives a similar motivation in life, i.e. it is necessary to aspire to the world of Rule or Goodness. And in order to get into the world of Rule, you need to do everything right, i.e. by the law of God.

Words such as "truth" come from the root "right". Truth- that which gives right. “Yes” is “to give”, and “rule” is “higher”. So, the "truth" is what gives the right. Control. Correction. Government. Right. Not right. Those. the roots of all these words is this "right". “Right” or “right”, i.e. the highest beginning. Those. the meaning is that the concept of the Rule or the higher reality should underlie the real management. And real management should spiritually elevate those who follow the ruler, leading his wards on the paths of rule.

>Details in the article:Philosophical and cultural similarities of Ancient Russia and Ancient India" .

The substitution of the name "orthodoxy" is not "orthodoxy"

The question is, who and when on Russian soil decided to replace the terms Orthodoxy with Orthodoxy?

It happened in the 17th century, when the Moscow Patriarch Nikon initiated a church reform. The main goal of this reform by Nikon was not to change the rites of the Christian church, as it is now interpreted, where it all comes down to supposedly replacing the sign of the cross with a two-fingered one with a three-fingered one and walking the procession in the other direction. The main goal of the reform was the destruction of dual faith on Russian soil.

In our time, few people know that before the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in Muscovy, there was dual faith in the Russian lands. In other words, the common people professed not only orthodoxy, i.e. Greek Rite Christianity that came from Byzantium, but also the old pre-Christian faith of their ancestors ORTHODOXY. This is what worried Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov and his spiritual mentor, the Christian Patriarch Nikon, most of all, for the Orthodox Old Believers lived by their own principles and did not recognize any power over themselves.

Patriarch Nikon decided to put an end to dual faith in a very original way. To do this, under the guise of a reform in the church, allegedly due to the discrepancy between Greek and Slavic texts, he ordered to rewrite all liturgical books, replacing the phrases "orthodox Christian faith" with "Orthodox Christian faith." In the Readings of the Menaia, which have survived to our times, we can see the old version of the entry "Orthodox Christian Faith." This was Nikon's very interesting approach to reform.

Firstly, it was not necessary to rewrite many ancient Slavic, as they said then charaty books, or chronicles, which described the victories and achievements of pre-Christian Orthodoxy.

Secondly, life during the time of dual faith and the very original meaning of Orthodoxy were erased from the memory of the people, because after such a church reform, any text from liturgical books or ancient chronicles could be interpreted as the beneficial influence of Christianity on Russian lands. In addition, the patriarch sent a memo to the Moscow churches about the use of the sign of the cross with three fingers instead of the two-fingered one.

Thus began the reform, as well as the protest against it, which led to a schism in the church. The protest against Nikon's church reforms was organized by the former comrades of the patriarch, archpriests Avvakum Petrov and Ivan Neronov. They pointed out to the patriarch the arbitrariness of actions, and then in 1654 he arranged a Council at which, as a result of pressure on the participants, he sought to hold a book right on ancient Greek and Slavic manuscripts. However, Nikon's alignment was not with the old rites, but with the modern Greek practice of that time. All the actions of Patriarch Nikon led to the fact that the church split into two warring parts.

Supporters of the old traditions accused Nikon of trilingual heresy and pandering to paganism, as Christians called Orthodoxy, that is, the old pre-Christian faith. The split engulfed the entire country. This led to the fact that in 1667 the great Moscow cathedral condemned and deposed Nikon, and anathematized all opponents of the reforms. From that time on, adherents of the new liturgical traditions began to be called Nikonians, and adherents of the old rites and traditions began to be called schismatics and persecuted. The confrontation between the Nikonians and the schismatics at times reached the point of armed clashes until the royal troops came out on the side of the Nikonians. In order to avoid a large-scale religious war, part of the higher clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate condemned some of the provisions of Nikon's reforms.

In liturgical practices and state documents, the term Orthodoxy began to be used again. For example, let's turn to the spiritual regulations of Peter the Great: “... And like a Christian Sovereign, orthodoxy and everyone in the church, the Holy Guardian of piety ...”

As we can see, even in the 18th century, Peter the Great is called the Christian sovereign, guardian of orthodoxy and piety. But there is not a word about Orthodoxy in this document. Nor is it in the editions of the Spiritual Regulations of 1776-1856.

Education of the ROC

Based on this, the question arises, when did the term Orthodoxy begin to be officially used by the Christian Church?

The fact is that in the Russian Empire did not have Russian Orthodox Church. The Christian church existed under a different name - "Russian Greek Catholic Church". Or as it was also called "Russian Orthodox Church of the Greek Rite".

Christian church called The Russian Orthodox Church appeared during the reign of the Bolsheviks.

At the beginning of 1945, by decree of Joseph Stalin, a local council of the Russian church was held in Moscow under the leadership of responsible persons from the State Security of the USSR and a new Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia was elected.

It should be mentioned that many Christian priests, who did not recognize the power of the Bolsheviks, left Russia and abroad continue to profess Christianity of the Eastern Rite and call their church none other than Russian Orthodox Church or Russian Orthodox Church.

In order to finally move away from well crafted historical myth and to find out what the word Orthodoxy really meant in ancient times, let's turn to those people who still keep the old faith of their ancestors.

Having received their education in Soviet times, these pundits either do not know, or carefully try to hide from ordinary people, that even in ancient times, long before the birth of Christianity, Orthodoxy existed in the Slavic lands. It covered not only the basic concept when our wise ancestors praised the Rule. And the deep essence of Orthodoxy was much larger and more voluminous than it seems today.

The figurative meaning of this word included the concepts when our ancestors Right praised. That's just it was not Roman law and not Greek, but our own, native Slavic.

It included:

>Clan Law, based on the ancient traditions of culture, horses and foundations of the Family;

>Community law, creating mutual understanding between various Slavic families living together in one small settlement;

>Mine law that regulated the interaction between communities living in large settlements, which were cities;

> Weight law, which determined the relationship between communities living in different cities and towns within the same Vesey, i.e. within the same area of ​​​​settlement and residence;

>Veche law, which was adopted at a general meeting of all the people and observed by all clans of the Slavic community.

Any Law from Generic to Veche was arranged on the basis of the ancient Konov, the culture and foundations of the Family, as well as on the basis of the commandments of the ancient Slavic gods and the instructions of the ancestors. It was our native Slavic Law.

Our wise ancestors commanded to preserve it, and we are preserving it. From ancient times, our ancestors praised the Rule and we continue to praise the Law, and we keep our Slavic Law and pass it on from generation to generation.

Therefore, we and our ancestors were, are and will be Orthodox.

change on wikipedia

Modern interpretation of the term ORTHODOX = Orthodox, appeared on Wikipedia only after this resource was funded by the UK government. In fact, Orthodoxy translates as rightBelieve, Orthodox translates as orthodox.

Either Wikipedia, continuing the idea of ​​the “identity” Orthodoxy=Orthodoxy, should call Muslims and Jews Orthodox (because the terms orthodox Muslim or Orthodox Jew are found in all world literature), or still recognize that Orthodoxy=Orthodoxy and in no way refers to Orthodoxy, as well as the Christian Church of the Eastern Rite, called since 1945 - the Russian Orthodox Church.

Orthodoxy is not a religion, not Christianity, but a faith

Any Indian follower Vedanta knows that his religion, together with the Aryans, came from Russia. And the modern Russian language is their ancient Sanskrit. It's just that in India it changed to Hindi, but in Russia it remained the same. Therefore, Indian Vedism is not fully Russian Vedism.

Russian nicknames for gods Vyshen (Rod) And Roof (Yar, Christ) became the names of Indian gods Vishnu And krishna. The encyclopedia is slyly silent about this.

Witchcraft is the everyday understanding of Russian Vedism, which includes the elementary skills of magic and mysticism. "Fight against witches" in Western Europe in the XV-XVI centuries. was a struggle with the Slavs, who prayed to the Vedic gods.

The Russian god corresponds to the Christian god-father Genus, not at all Jehovah-Yahweh-Sabaoth, which among the Masons is the god of darkness and death of Russia Mary. Myself Jesus Christ on many Christian icons is designated as Yar and his mother Maria- how Mara.

The word "devil" is of the same root as Virgo. This is the prince of darkness, Masonic Sabaoth, which is otherwise called Satan. There are no "servants of God" in the Vedic religion either. And only the desire of the West to belittle Russian Vedism and force the Russians to abandon their gods, in which the Russians believed for hundreds of thousands of years, led to the fact that Russian Christianity became more and more pro-Western, and the followers of Russian Vedism began to be considered "servants of the devil." In other words, in the West, all Russian concepts have been turned inside out.

After all, the concept "Orthodoxy" originally belonged to Russian Vedism and meant: "Right glorified".

Therefore, primitive Christianity began to call itself "orthodox", but the term then passed to Islam. As you know, Christianity has the epithet "Orthodox" only in Russian; on the rest, it calls itself "orthodox", that is, precisely "orthodox".

In other words, today's Christianity has secretly appropriated a Vedic name that is deeply rooted in the Russian mind.

The functions of Veles, to a much greater extent than St. Blaise, were inherited by St. Nicholas of Myra, nicknamed Nicholas the Wonderworker. (See the result of the research published in the book: Uspensky B.A.. Philological research in the field of Slavic antiquities .. - M .: MGU, 1982 .)

By the way, on many of his icons it is inscribed in implicit letters: MARY LIK. Hence the original name of the area in honor of the face of Mary: Marlikian. So actually this bishop was Nicholas of Marlic. And his city, which was originally called " Mary"(that is, the city of Mary), now called Bari. There was a phonetic change of sounds.

Bishop Nicholas of Myra - Nicholas the Wonderworker

However, now Christians do not remember these details, hushing up the Vedic roots of Christianity. For now Jesus in Christianity is interpreted as the God of Israel, although Judaism does not consider him a god. And Christianity does not say anything about the fact that Jesus Christ, as well as his apostles, are different faces of Yar, although this is read on many icons. The name of the god Yar is also read on Shroud of Turin .

At one time, Vedism reacted very calmly and fraternally to Christianity, seeing in it just a local growth of Vedism, for which there is a name: paganism (that is, an ethnic variety), like Greek paganism with another name Yara - Ares, or Roman, with the name of Yar is Mars, or with Egyptian, where the name Yar or Ar was read in the opposite direction, Ra. In Christianity, Yar became Christ, and Vedic temples made icons and crosses of Christ.

And only over time, under the influence of political, or rather, geopolitical reasons, Christianity was opposed to Vedism, and then Christianity everywhere saw manifestations of "paganism" and led a fight with him not to the stomach, but to the death. In other words, she betrayed her parents, her heavenly patrons, and began to preach humility and humility.

>Details in the article:V.A. Chudinov - Proper education .

Secret writing on Russian and modern Christian icons

In this way Christianity within the framework of ALL RUSSIA was adopted not in 988, but between 1630 and 1635.

The study of Christian icons made it possible to identify sacred texts on them. Explicit inscriptions cannot be attributed to their number. But they absolutely include implicit inscriptions associated with Russian Vedic gods, temples and priests (mims).

On the old Christian icons of the Mother of God with baby Jesus there are Russian inscriptions in runes, saying that these are the Slavic Goddess Makosh with the baby God Yar. Jesus Christ was also called CHORUS or HORUS. Moreover, the name CHORUS on the mosaic depicting Christ in the Church of Christ Hora in Istanbul is written like this: “NHOR”, that is, ICHORS. The letter I used to be written as N. The name IGOR is almost identical to the name IKHOR OR KHOR, since the sounds X and G could pass into each other. By the way, it is possible that the respectful name HERO also came from here, which later entered many languages ​​practically unchanged.

And then the necessity of masking the Vedic inscriptions becomes clear: their discovery on the icons could lead to the accusation of the icon painter of belonging to the Old Believers, and for this, according to Nikon's reform, could be punished by exile or the death penalty.

On the other hand, as it now becomes clear, the absence of Vedic inscriptions made the icon a non-sacred artifact. In other words, it was not so much the presence of narrow noses, thin lips and large eyes that made the image sacred, but just the connection with the god Yar in the first place and with the goddess Mara in the second place, through implicit reference inscriptions, added magic and miraculous properties to the icon. Therefore, icon painters, if they wanted to make an icon miraculous, and not a simple artistic product, were OBLIGED to supply any image with the words: FACE OF YAR, MIM OF YAR AND MARY, TEMPLE OF MARY, YARA TEMPLE, YARA RUSSIA, etc.

Nowadays, when the persecution on religious charges has ceased, the icon painter no longer risks his life and property by making implicit inscriptions on modern icon paintings. Therefore, in a number of cases, namely in the cases of mosaic icons, he no longer tries to hide such inscriptions as much as possible, but transfers them to the category of semi-explicit ones.

Thus, the Russian material revealed the reason why explicit inscriptions on icons moved into the category of semi-explicit and implicit ones: a ban on Russian Vedism, which followed from reforms of Patriarch Nikon . However, this example gives grounds for speculating about the same motives for masking obvious inscriptions on coins.

In more detail, this idea can be expressed as follows: once the body of a deceased priest (mime) was accompanied by a funeral golden mask, on which there were all the relevant inscriptions, but made not very large and not very contrasting, so as not to destroy the aesthetic perception of the mask. Later, instead of a mask, they began to use smaller objects - pendants and plaques, which also depicted the face of a deceased mime with corresponding discreet inscriptions. Even later, portraits of mimes migrated to coins. And such images were preserved as long as the spiritual power was considered the most significant in society.

However, when power became secular, passing to military leaders - princes, leaders, kings, emperors, images of authorities, and not mimes, began to be minted on coins, while images of mimes migrated to icons. At the same time, the secular authorities, as more rude, began to mint their own inscriptions weightily, rudely, visibly, and obvious legends appeared on the coins. With the advent of Christianity, such explicit inscriptions began to appear on icons, but they were no longer made with the runes of the Family, but with the Old Slavonic Cyrillic font. In the West, a Latin script was used for this.

Thus, in the West there was a similar, but still somewhat different motive, according to which the implicit inscriptions of mimes did not become explicit: on the one hand, the aesthetic tradition, on the other hand, the secularization of power, that is, the transfer of the function of governing society from priests to military leaders and officials.

This allows us to consider icons, as well as sacred sculptures of gods and saints, as substitutes for those artifacts that previously acted as carriers of sacred properties: golden masks and plaques. On the other hand, icons existed before, but did not affect the sphere of finance, remaining entirely within religion. Therefore, their production has experienced a new heyday.

Orthodoxy(from the Greek "correct service", "correct teaching") - one of the main world religions, represents the direction in Christianity. Orthodoxy took shape in the first millennium from R. X. under the leadership of the bishop's chair Constantinople capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Orthodoxy is currently professed 225-300 million person all over the world. In addition to Russia, the Orthodox faith has become widespread in Balkans and Eastern Europe. Interestingly, along with the traditionally Orthodox countries, adherents of this direction of Christianity are found in Japan, Thailand, South Korea and other Asian countries (and not only people with Slavic roots, but also the local population).

Orthodox believe in God the Trinity, into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is believed that all three divine hypostases are in inseparable unity. God is the creator of the world that he created from the beginning sinless. Evil and sin while being understood as distortion world ordained by God. The original sin of Adam and Eve's disobedience to God was redeemed through incarnation, earthly life and suffering on the cross God the Son Jesus Christ.

In the understanding of the Orthodox Church- it is one divine-human organism led by the Lord Jesus Christ, uniting the society of people Holy Spirit, Orthodox Faith, Law of God, hierarchy and Sacraments.

The highest level of the hierarchy priests in Orthodoxy is the rank bishop. He leads church community on its territory (eparchy), performs the sacrament ordination of clergy(consecrations), including other bishops. succession of ordinations continuously ascends to the apostles. More elder bishops are called archbishops and metropolitans, and the supreme one is patriarch. Lower rank of the church hierarchy, after the bishops, - presbyters(priests) who can perform all Orthodox sacraments except for ordination. Next come deacons who themselves do not commit sacraments, but help in this to the presbyter or bishop.

Clergy subdivided into White and black. Priests and deacons related to white clergy, have families. Black the clergy is monks who make a vow celibacy. The rank of a deacon in monasticism is called a hierodeacon, and that of a priest is called a hieromonk. Bishop can be only representative black clergy.

Hierarchical structure Orthodox Church accepts certain democratic procedures management, in particular encouraged criticism any clergyman, if he retreats from the Orthodox faith.

Freedom of the individual refers to essential principles Orthodoxy. It is believed that meaning of spiritual life man in finding the original true freedom from the sins and passions by which he is enslaved. The rescue possible only under grace of God, on condition free will believer their efforts on the spiritual path.

For gaining there are two ways to save. First - monastic, consisting in solitude and renunciation of the world. This is the way special ministry God, the Church and neighbors, associated with the intense struggle of man with his sins. The second way of salvation- this service to the world, first of all family. The family in Orthodoxy plays a huge role and is called small church or house church.

Source of domestic law Orthodox Church - the main document - is sacred tradition, which contains the Holy Scriptures, the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures compiled by the Holy Fathers, theological writings of the Holy Fathers (their dogmatic works), dogmatic definitions and acts of the Holy Ecumenical and Local Councils of the Orthodox Church, liturgical texts, iconography, spiritual succession expressed in the works of ascetic writers , their instructions about the spiritual life.

Attitude Orthodoxy to statehood builds on the assertion that all power is from God. Even during the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, the Apostle Paul commands Christians to pray for power and honor the king not only for the sake of fear, but also for the sake of conscience, knowing that power is the establishment of God.

To the Orthodox sacraments include: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Repentance, Priesthood, Honorable Marriage and Unction. Sacrament eucharist or communion, is the most important, it contributes bringing man closer to God. Sacrament baptism- this man's entry into the Church, deliverance from sin and the opportunity to start a new life. Confirmation (usually follows immediately after baptism) consists in giving the believer blessings and gifts of the Holy Spirit which strengthen a person in spiritual life. During Unction the human body anointed those sanctified with oil, which makes it possible to get rid of bodily ailments, gives remission of sins. Unction- associated with forgiveness of all sins committed by a person, a petition for liberation from diseases. Repentance- forgiveness of sin sincere remorse. Confession- gives fertile opportunity, strength and support to cleansing from sin.

Prayers in Orthodoxy can be like home and general- church. In the first case, a person before God opens his heart, and in the second - the power of prayer increases many times, since the saints and angels who are also members of the Church.

The Orthodox Church believes that the history of Christianity before the great split(separation of Orthodoxy and Catholicism) is the history of Orthodoxy. In general, relations between the two main branches of Christianity have always developed quite difficult, sometimes reaching open confrontation. Moreover, even in the 21st century early talk about complete reconciliation. Orthodoxy believes that salvation can only be found in Christianity: at the same time non-Orthodox Christian communities considered partially(but not completely) deprived of God's grace. IN difference from Catholics Orthodox do not recognize the dogma of papal infallibility and his supremacy over all Christians, the dogma of Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, the doctrine of purgatory, dogma about bodily ascension of the Mother of God. An important difference between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, which had a serious impact on political history, is the thesis about symphonies of spiritual and secular authorities. Roman Church stands for full ecclesiastical immunity and, in the person of his High Priest, possesses sovereign temporal power.

The Orthodox Church is organizationally community of local churches, each of which uses full autonomy and independence on its territory. There are currently 14 Autocephalous Churches, for example, Constantinople, Russian, Greek, Bulgarian, etc.

Churches of the Russian tradition adhering to old rites, generally accepted up to Nikonian reform, are called Old Believers. Old Believers were subjected to persecution and oppression, which was one of the reasons that forced them to lead secluded lifestyle. Old Believer settlements existed in Siberia, on the North European part Russia, by now the Old Believers have settled around the world. Along with performance features Orthodox rituals, other than requirements Russian Orthodox Church (for example, the number of fingers with which they are baptized), Old Believers have special way of life, for example, do not drink alcohol, do not smoke.

In recent years, due to globalization of spiritual life(the spread of religions around the world, regardless of the territories of their initial origin and development), it was believed that orthodoxy like a religion loses the competition Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Catholicism, insufficiently adapted for the modern world. But probably, preservation of true deep religiosity, inextricably linked with Russian culture, and there is the main mission of orthodoxy, which will allow in the future to acquire salvation for the Russian people.

After the feast of the Assurance of Thomas, where we saw the closest disciples of Christ gathered together and - after the new appearance of the Teacher - united by faith in His resurrection from the dead, the Church pays tribute to those who were much less noticeable. These are the secret followers of Jesus Joseph and Nicodemus, as well as the women now known to us under the name of myrrh-bearing women.

Let us return to the events of the Passion of the Lord. On that day, only one of the Twelve stood at the cross of his Master; the other, on the contrary, denied Him, the third - and completely became a traitor. The rest fled. But not so did the myrrh-bearing women and Joseph and Nicodemus.

Were they afraid? Men, no doubt. But Joseph overcomes his fear, goes to Pilate, asks for the body of the executed criminal. Nicodemus joins him and they remove the Master's body from the cross.

Were the myrrh-bearers afraid? We do not know this for sure, but I think - no, we were not afraid. The worst thing in their lives had already happened - and it didn't matter what happened next. "More" in those days is a meaningless word. The sun has set and darkness has fallen.

But the disciples of Christ, contrary to what would seem to be common sense, strive to properly prepare the One whom they loved for the last journey. All these incense will not help the dead - but they do not reason, but follow the dictates of the heart.

On that day, they did not have time to do everything that was supposed to be done according to the custom of the Jews - and now, as soon as the Sabbath day ends, they again hasten to the tomb. And they receive a reward: they are the risen Christ.

It is difficult for us to imagine their joy and exultation - for this we need to experience what they experienced. However, it is worth at least realizing with the mind: their feat (which they themselves would never call by such a word) and the reward received for it (which none of them considered themselves worthy) - all this would be impossible and unnecessary, if not for one thing: their love for Christ.

It would seem that all this is obvious and there is no need to talk about the same thing for the hundred and first time. But the Gospel is a book for all time, and it is given to us not only so that we learn historical facts, but also so that we can try on what we read about.

What are we, believers and church people? Yes, everything seems to be fine with us. We go to church, pray, fast, confess, take communion, take our children to Sunday school, sometimes even read the Gospel - all is well. We try to convert unbelieving relatives—and sometimes succeed. We go on pilgrimages to holy places, and in a terrible hour we are ready to defend our shrines. We know that without God it is not up to the threshold, and therefore we strive to sanctify our whole life, we do not miss the opportunity to fall to the source of grace.

So, everything is fine with us: we go to the temple and pray to God. But wait. After all, it was so ten, and twenty, and twenty-five centuries ago. Pious Jews also went to the temple and prayed to God. They also read the Scriptures

they also made pilgrimages.

Moreover, after all, today's Jews, Muslims, and pagans also pray - and, perhaps, according to their faith, they receive what they ask for.

How are we different from them? Because we are Orthodox? The fact that “we rightly glorify God” - and therefore we have hope for salvation, and all the rest will burn in hell? If so, then, according to the words of the apostle Paul, we are the most miserable people on earth.

For in vain did Christ come, die, and rise again: nothing has changed in our lives. As before, we love those who love us, as before, we pray to “our” God, as before, we are confident in the God-chosenness of our people.

Are we Orthodox? Good! We will continue to satisfy our religious needs, we will fall with righteous anger at those who question this right of ours. Let us dream of Holy Russia, which in itself, thanks to mysterious genetic processes, guarantees us our Orthodoxy and rootedness in tradition. Good luck.

But something doesn't add up here. And the point is not even in theology, but in simple school grammar. If “Orthodox” is an adjective, where is the noun? Bakery - shop, vegetable - shop, the second - a dish. And the Orthodox?

Yes, there is such a word: Christian. For some of us, this word is almost a curse: we are Orthodox, and Christians are heretics: Catholics and Protestants.

But there is no escape: if you are Orthodox, then you are a Christian. And this word, which we do not like so much, is formed from another word, which we easily mutter during prayer - but it should be more precious to us than all others. – Christ!

Yes, it is Christ, God made man. It was He who cruelly denounced the Pharisees - zealots of traditions, keepers of the traditions of the elders, "nationalists in the good sense of the word." It was He who proclaimed the principle: the Sabbath is for man, and not man for the Sabbath. It was He who did not favor those who build tombs for the prophets. It was He who commanded His disciples to love their enemies. It was He, crucified on the cross, beaten and bloody, showered with ridicule and mockery, praying for His executioners and judges to the Father: “Forgive them, Father, for they do not know what they are doing!”

And we are very uncomfortable with all this. Simply put, it's uncomfortable. This Man breaks our whole life - so comfortable, so well-established, so magnificent. Why did he come? Why all this suffering? Why such outrageous obedience? Why all this fatness? After all, he himself said: My Father can provide Me even now with more than twelve legions of angels! And he didn't use it! And - unreasonable, irresponsible, unpedagogical! - allowed to be committed a terrible sin and blasphemy, which did not exist and, fortunately, will not happen again in world history: deicide!

(However, Dostoevsky is absolutely right: at any moment of human history, Christ is doomed to die. And if He came in our time, He would be crucified with the same inevitability as two thousand years ago. Because, as the then high priest rightly noted, “ It is better for one man to die than for the whole nation to perish.

So this Man - that was His decision - died. However, when He died, He was resurrected. And having risen, He completely politically incorrectly stepped foot on death, cast down the devil, devastated hell - in short, deprived all our enemies of power. There are no more barriers between man and God - except for our own passions and sins, and even those Christ nailed to the Cross. And we are called to respond to the sacrificial love of Christ - to respond with love for Him and, no less important, with love for those others - friends and enemies, believers and unbelievers - for whom He also died.

All this (at least in theory) we know. And those who stood at the Cross, sympathizing with the suffering Teacher, those who removed His body from the Cross, those who buried Him, knew nothing of this (and if they knew, they could not contain it). But they did not need to know anything: knowledge was replaced by love. And it was love not for tradition, not for religion, not for national shrines, not for an abstract almighty God - they loved the desecrated and murdered Jesus of Nazareth, in whom they saw the Son of God.

And to their love, to their fidelity, they received an answer that surpassed all understanding:

CHRIST IS RISEN!

What is the difference between Orthodoxy and Christianity?

1. In Orthodoxy, the Commandments are violated, and they are based on icons and relics, in fact, Orthodoxy was created on this.
2. in that Orthodoxy is a religion and faith based on knowledge. Christianity is a religion based on Jewish traditions and laws. At the head of Christianity there is always a chief godfather, he is also a shepherd who grazes a flock of sheep. In Orthodoxy, a man is himself and a shepherd and a sheep. ROC-Orthodox Christians hide behind the guise of Orthodoxy
3. Christians are Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants, etc. There are many currents within Christianity, Orthodoxy is one of the oldest.
4. Orthodoxy is currently a branch of Christianity, but initially it was the only Christian religion. The Catholic and Protestant branches appeared already in the Middle Ages and since then everything has changed there many times.
   Orthodoxy in Greek sounds like "orthodoxy". And indeed, for 2 thousand years, no canons of Orthodoxy have changed. The texts of prayers that sound today were approved at the First Ecumenical Council. Divine services, temples, vestments of priests, sacraments and rituals, rules have not changed since those days. The most enduring of the branches of Christianity.
5. Christianity lives as Jesus commanded. But Orthodoxy does not do this, they only call Christ their Lord, but they do not live by his law.
6. Christianity can only be Christianity. Not everyone who calls himself a Christian is one. Read the New Testament and understand everything for yourself.
7. The Lord Jesus Christ created the One Ecumenical Apostolic Church, in which Christ was and remains the High Priest (Heb. 4:14-15). The word Orthodoxy began to be used in the 3rd century to distinguish the true Church from heresies. Thus, from the 3rd century, the Church of Christ began to be called Orthodox in Greek orthodox. It is from her that the ROC originates. In 1054 there was a split, the Catholics separated, Protestantism arose after the 16th century. That is, Christ did not create all these "Christian" confessions and denominations, they are impostors, that's why there are so many of them, each with its own doctrinal system and cult practice.
8. Orthodoxy is an offshoot of Christianity
9. Orthodoxy is true Christianity and Christianity is Orthodoxy, namely when people correctly praise God.
10. Christianity in its three main forms Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism recognizes one God in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. According to Christian doctrine, this is not the recognition of three gods, but the recognition that these three Persons are one (New British Encyclopedia). Jesus, the Son of God, never claimed to be equal or consubstantial with his Father. On the contrary, he said: I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I (John 14:28). Jesus also told one of his disciples: I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God (John 20:17). The Holy Spirit is not a person. The Bible says that the early Christians were filled with holy spirit. In addition, God promised: I will pour out my spirit on all flesh (Acts 2:14, 17). The Holy Spirit is not part of the Trinity. It is the active power of God.
11. Knowledge is needed, not religion. Full, harmonious knowledge, like our ancient ancestors. "Religion is the opium of the people." Faith - I know Ra, it means bright KNOWLEDGE.
    Orthodoxy - glorifying Rule, by definition, has nothing to do with any religion. This is the Slavic-Aryan, Vedic worldview. The concept of Orthodoxy was transferred from the Slavic-Aryan, Vedic worldview, only to apply such a concept to religions is not only incompatible, but unacceptable. It is contrary to any religious world view. And it was taken because at the time of the emergence of religions, people believed in Orthodoxy, and they could not have imposed a different worldview, except by deception and forced by force. In the future, deception and the imposition of religions by force (Christianity incl.) under the guise of Orthodoxy are no longer mentioned, disorienting people.
12. in the name and origin ... and the same .... d
13. Christianity has many faces. In the modern world, it is represented by three generally recognized areas of Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Protestantism, as well as numerous movements that do not belong to any of the above. There are serious disagreements between these branches of one religion. Orthodox consider Catholics and Protestants to be heterodox associations of people, that is, those who glorify God in a different way. However, they do not see them as completely devoid of grace. But the Orthodox do not recognize sectarian organizations that position themselves as Christian, but have only an indirect relation to Christianity.

    Who are Christians and Orthodox
    Christians are followers of the Christian denomination, belonging to any Christian stream of Orthodoxy, Catholicism or Protestantism with its various denominations, often of a sectarian nature.

    Orthodox Christians whose worldview corresponds to the ethno-cultural tradition associated with the Orthodox Church.

    Comparison of Christians and Orthodox
    What is the difference between Christians and Orthodox?

    Orthodoxy is an established dogma, having its own dogmas, values, centuries-old history. Christianity is often passed off as something that, in fact, is not. For example, the White Brotherhood movement, active in Kyiv in the early 90s of the last century.

    Orthodox believe that their main goal is the fulfillment of the Gospel commandments, their own salvation and the salvation of their neighbor from the spiritual slavery of passions. World Christianity at its congresses declares salvation on a purely material plane from poverty, disease, war, drugs, etc., which is external piety.

    For the Orthodox, the spiritual holiness of a person is important. Evidence of this is the saints, canonized by the Orthodox Church, who have shown the Christian ideal in their lives. In Christianity as a whole, the spiritual and sensual prevail over the spiritual.

    Orthodox consider themselves co-workers with God in the matter of their own salvation. In world Christianity, in particular, in Protestantism, a person is likened to a pillar who does not have to do anything, because Christ did the work of salvation for him on Golgotha.

    At the heart of the doctrine of world Christianity lies the Holy Scripture record of Divine Revelation. It teaches how to live. The Orthodox, like the Catholics, believe that Scripture is separated from Holy Tradition, which clarifies the forms of this life and is also an unconditional authority. Protestant currents have rejected this claim.

    A summary of the foundations of the Christian faith is given in the Creed. For the Orthodox, this is the Niceno-Tsaregrad Creed. The Catholics introduced into the wording of the Symbol the concept of filioque, according to which the Holy Spirit proceeds both from God the Father and from God the Son. Protestants do not deny the Nicene Creed, but the Ancient, Apostolic Creed is generally accepted among them.

    Orthodox especially revere the Mother of God. They believe that she did not have personal sin, but was not deprived of original sin, like all people. After the ascension, the Mother of God bodily ascended into heaven. However, there is no dogma about it. Catholics believe that the Mother of God was also deprived of original sin. One of the dogmas of the Catholic faith is the dogma of the bodily ascension of the Virgin Mary into heaven. Protestants and numerous sectarians do not have a cult of the Theotokos.

    TheDifference.ru determined that the difference between Christians and Orthodox is as follows:
    Orthodox Christianity is contained in the dogmas of the Church. Not all movements that pose as Christians are, in fact, so.
    For the Orthodox, inner piety is the basis of a correct life. Outward piety is much more important for contemporary Christianity in the bulk of it.
    The Orthodox are trying to achieve spiritual holiness.

Creating the world, the Great Creator endowed man with the most unique gift - freedom. Man was created in the image and likeness of God, and freedom is precisely his god-like property.

The Perfect Personality creates an imperfect being, but endows it with this greatest gift. The Lord knew that, using this gift, a person would fall away from Him, but he still left the right to choose. Did God regret that he rewarded a person with this “unbearable” burden? Nothing like this! This is evidenced by all subsequent sacred history, which is literally permeated with evidence of Divine trust.

“When the water of the global flood returned again to the borders of the shores ...” The Lord gives humanity one more chance, again, trusting and not taking away freedom. Abraham was in freedom of choice, because he could not follow the Lord into the space of death (what a feat for an ancient person to leave his native place!). There were no kings for the holy people in God's plan - but when the Jews, following the example of the pagans, decided to have a king for themselves, the Lord did not interfere with this (a reminder, by the way, to Orthodox monarchists who shout with all their mouths about the God-established monarchical system). And these are just a few examples from Scripture.

And finally, the greatest example of freedom, love and trust is the Gospel. God eventually trusts the people of his own Son, whom they ... crucified.

And still, from more than two thousand years of experience of church life, we know that God not only did not take away, but even added freedom to us. And the apostle Paul, who was once a strict zealot of the Law, and then became a man of the spirit, beautifully wrote about this.

From Judaism, which was very captious about external rites, Christianity grew up, which, with its attitude to the freedom of the individual, sharply contrasts with other religious systems. The Church has retained in itself a unique gift - respect for human dignity. And her attitude to the image and likeness of the Almighty cannot be different!

But freedom in the Christian sense is not at all the one that the modern world is screaming about. The freedom of Christians is, ultimately, freedom from sinful passions, freedom to contemplate the Divine. And modern man, boasting of his imaginary freedom, in fact, is often a slave to a lot, when the soul is bound by the chains of passions and the shackles of sins, and the likeness of God is trampled into the mud.

True freedom comes when a person joins the Holy Spirit, having passed through the paths of repentance and purification. As the same apostle Paul aptly said: “The Lord is a Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17). True freedom cannot be acquired without the Holy Spirit!

Freedom of the spirit is a heavy burden

But how is freedom revealed in the Church of Christ in practical terms? First, the minimum number of fixed rules. Only the foundations of the faith, the so-called dogmas (the most important of which are listed in the Creed), are strictly defined and unchangeable in the Church. Even the Holy Scriptures differed at different times both in late insertions and in the presence or absence of certain books in the biblical corpus. (For example, the Eastern Church did not accept the Apocalypse for a very long time, and the Synodal Bible does not know the Fourth Book of Maccabees, which was included in the oldest manuscripts of the Septuagint).

One of the greatest ascetics of Athos, Gregory of Sinai, defining the boundaries of church institutions, remarked: “Purely confessing the Trinity in God and the duality in Christ – in this I see the limit of Orthodoxy.”

But for the practice of salvation, Christianity offers a lot of everything: ascetic rules, prohibitions, compulsions and actions that serve only one thing - to bring a person closer to God. All this is not imposed in full as something mandatory, but is offered for voluntary and individual perception.

The main thing is not the external rank, but the Lord God, but without much of what the Church has accumulated in its experience, it can be extremely difficult to reach the heavenly palaces. However, all these accumulations are not a goal, but a means, and if the means in a given and specific case does not help (and it cannot be universal!), It means that something needs to be changed in the spiritual life, and not go from year to year. year in a vicious circle.

Not everyone hears through the centuries the words that “He gave us the ability to be ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit, because the letter kills, but the spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). And if they do, then this burden is probably heavy - to walk before the Lord in freedom of spirit. Maturity, a responsible approach, prudence, knowledge of the foundations of faith, respect and love for one's neighbor are needed.

The growth of a person in spirit and truth need not necessarily be accompanied by the suppression of all his personal aspirations. Despite this, in modern Russian church reality, freedom is often equated almost with sin. Absolutely Christian concepts such as "freedom of the individual", "civil rights", "gender equality", "freedom of speech" are interpreted as ideological sabotage by the enemies of the Church and the state. Along with the mention of these terms in certain church (and more often near-church) media, photographs of gay parades, naked feminists with axes and pedophiles are published. As if fundamental civil rights, growing from the depths of Christianity, are limited only by these negative phenomena!

But those times are not far off when we were promised to be shown on TV the “last priest”, and an open confession in the faith meant the path of martyrdom or confession. Yes, somehow I forgot everything ...

"Helping the Repentant"

Freedom of speech began to interfere with us. We somehow began to reject freedom in general, both in ideology and in the construction of personal spiritual growth. The lives of many of our brothers and sisters are tied with chains of various prescriptions, many of which have no basis in Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition. It was precisely these cases that Christ repeatedly spoke about: “He answered and said to them: why do you also transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matt. 15:3), “but in vain they worship me, teaching doctrines, the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:9), “and said to them: Is it good that you revoke the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition?” (Mark 7:9), “making the word of God obsolete by your tradition, which you established; and you do many things like this” (Mark 7:13).

This can be clearly demonstrated by some of the brochures from the cycle “To Help the Penitent”, after reading which a Christian runs the risk of falling into one of the most terrible sins - despondency. It is understandable, because how can one not lose heart when one gets the impression that all life is a complete sin and blackness? To what is gleaned from the brochures, the advice of the local young priest is added, and even the old woman in the temple whispers something “to help” - and as a result, the person feels like a kind of Prometheus, chained to the rock of life.

Of course, not all of us are based on Scripture. There is also a legend. But Tradition is Sacred. And this is not a beautiful epithet: the word "sacred" indicates that the tradition is sanctified in the Church by the action of the Holy Spirit. But there is something completely different: certain traditions and ideas that also have the right to exist, but in no way should be perceived as something super-obligatory, eternal and unshakable.

How to determine what is sacred and what is just tradition? Very simple. After all, there is only one Author of Scripture and Tradition - the Holy Spirit. This means that Holy Tradition must always correspond or at least not contradict Scripture.

"Adepts of severity" and their stranglehold

As an example, let's take the statement that spouses should abstain from intimacy during fasting. What does Scripture say about this? And Scripture says the following: “Do not deviate from one another, except by agreement, for a time, for the exercise of fasting and prayer, and [then] be together again, so that Satan does not tempt you with your intemperance. However, I said this as a permission, and not as a command” (1 Cor. 7:5).

An ideal example of the Christian attitude to the individual: everything is put in its place, and the maximum degree of freedom is given. But already in the early Church there were adherents of the "hard line". It was for them that two great fathers of the Church (the 4th canon of Dionysius and the 13th canon of Timothy of Alexandria) made an extended comment, confirming the freedom of choice of spouses in this difficult matter. In the monuments of ancient Russian literature - "Teachings of the Archbishop of Novgorod Elijah (John) (March 13, 1166)" and "Questioning Kirik" - the practice of mandatory and forced refusal from married life during Great Lent is condemned in every possible way.

But soon other winds blew, and even now, in private and public conversations, some clergy categorically forbid their family flock to touch each other during fasting. A few years ago, a learned monk, who spoke in the press with the Open Secret that there were no such prohibitions, was subjected to such a barrage of censures that he was forced to justify himself and "soften the form of statements." This is how the "adepts of rigor" hold on to human traditions - with a stranglehold.

In general, the entire intimate sphere of married life is fertile ground for all sorts of conjectures and prejudices. There is a full range of everything: and "sinful postures and types of intimacy." (This is in "a bed with a candle" to the legal spouses! Talmudists stand aside and nervously bite their elbows ...) And "the sinful use of condoms and other non-abortive contraceptives." (Give birth and give birth, while forgetting that we give birth not into biomass, but into the Kingdom of Heaven or into eternal perdition. And that in addition to giving birth, it is also necessary to educate a person as a worthy member of the Church and society. Like many priests, I I know examples of abandonment of children in large families).

If at confession a priest "bites" into the subject of the confessor's intimate life, one has to doubt his spiritual and sometimes mental health.

But it is necessary to keep in mind one more aspect: through twitching the strings of the secret and intimate aspects of a person’s life, one can get a certain access code for manipulating and controlling him - a Pharisaic trick as old as the world, which has nothing to do with the teachings of Christ.

Fashionable sentence for an Orthodox woman

Sometimes our freedom is “pinched” on trifles…

Thus, one well-known archpriest and preacher recently began to take bread from the hosts of the Fashion Sentence program and came to grips with issues of modern fashion. Here, of course, he is far from a pioneer: a well-known theme - women must look like this, men - like this, and children should be just like that, and everything is desirable, to walk in formation.

Some personal stereotypes, ideas, projections, and even deep complexes and desires are pushed through under the guise of church prescriptions. Where neither Christ, nor the apostles, nor the men of the apostles intervened, some modern preachers go out of their way. They will give advice for all occasions, and in the end they will even tell who will be saved and who will not (I'm not kidding!), making a decision for the Lord God. It is truly said: “And it became with them the word of the Lord: commandment upon commandment, commandment upon commandment, rule upon rule, rule upon rule, here a little, there a little, so that they will go and fall on their backs, and be broken, and fall into a net. and they will be caught” (Is. 28:13-14).

In conclusion, I would like to say once again that Christianity is not a chain of endless prohibitions and suppressions. It is a religion of free and voluntary ascent to God. The Lord does not force anyone, does not break through the knee, but desires "that all people be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:4).

“Stay therefore in the freedom which Christ has given us, and do not again be subjected to the yoke of bondage” (Gal. 5:1). Let us, brothers and sisters, carefully and deeply study our faith, pray with zeal, without losing discretion and sanity, respecting and appreciating every person, for a person is the image and likeness of God.

Portal "Orthodoxy and the World" andindependent service "Sreda" hold a series of discussions about parish life. Every week a new theme! We will ask all relevant questions to different priests. If you want to talk about the sore points of Orthodoxy, your experience or vision of problems, write to the editor at [email protected]