The spread of Christianity in the world is brief. Christianity and its spread in the world
Stronger than any other religion and contributed to the emergence of the modern Western world. Even the modern method of chronology is one of the consequences of the penetration of Christianity into world culture.
How Christianity Spread
For a long time, Christianity remained a marginal movement of Judaism. It arose in Palestine in the 1st century AD, first spreading among the local population as one of the movements of Judaism, of which there were many at that time. Already in the first half century of its existence, Christianity became a popular creed among the many people who inhabited the Roman Empire. This was greatly facilitated by the adherents of the new teaching who traveled throughout the Roman Empire and those closest to it. According to legend, the disciples of Jesus Christ were directly involved in the dissemination of the teaching. Even persecution and the threat of the death penalty did not stop active preachers of the new religion.
Contrary to popular belief, the Roman Empire did not become the first Christian state, despite the fact that Emperor Constantine adopted Christianity shortly before his death and contributed to its spread throughout the country. The first was Great Armenia.
However, the role of Rome in the spread of Christianity is very great. It was thanks to the size of the empire that the territory of influence of the new religion expanded so rapidly.
How Armenia adopted Christianity
Before Armenia adopted Christianity, local residents were more than wary of the new religion. Christians, as well as those who helped them hide, were executed, since, according to the authorities, this belief could undermine the foundations of the state system and paganism.
According to Armenian legend, the pagan king Trdat, who executed the holy Hripsimean virgins after one of them refused to become his wife, became seriously ill from the shock caused by their execution.
His sister Khosrovadukht saw in a dream that only release from the prison of St. Gregory could cure him. After the freed Gregory was accepted into the army, the king was healed. Chapels were erected at the sites where the Hripsimean maidens died. Impressed by these events, King Trdat converted to Christianity along with his entire country.
The church hierarchy is an Armenian invention. In each land subordinate to Trdat and his vassals, a bishop was appointed.
Thus, Greater Armenia became the first Christian state, ahead of Rome, Greece and Ethiopia.
Spread of Christianity
In the first three centuries, the Christian Church only partially penetrated beyond the Roman Empire. When Christianity became the state religion of Rome, it became widely spread beyond its borders. The ways in which the new religion reached pagan countries were varied. Merchants who visited pagan countries on trade business brought Christianity there as well. The captives who came to the pagans enlightened them. Pagans who were captured by Christians became acquainted with Christianity and, returning home, became its distributors among their compatriots.
Preachers specifically went to the barbarians and set up missions there to convert the pagans, persuading them to accept Christianity. The first to accept Christianity were the inhabitants of countries adjacent to the borders of the empire. In Africa, Christianity began to spread among the Abyssinians (Ethiopians). The Abyssinian church was subordinate to the Alexandrian patriarch. In Asia, the inhabitants of the Caucasus adopted Christianity in the 4th century, and partly in the 6th century. In 457, the Patriarch of Constantinople Anatoly appointed an archbishop to Georgia. It became a Greek Peter, entitled Catholicos throughout Iveria (Eastern Georgia).
The spreader of Christianity in Armenia was Gregory, who received the title of Enlightener for his preaching activities. Throughout the struggle against heresy, the Armenian Church remained faithful to Christian teaching. Christianity penetrated into Persia in the 2nd century. from the border regions of the empire. In the IV-V centuries. There was a fierce struggle between Christianity and paganism in the country, which ended with the strengthening of Christianity. The beginning of Christianity in Arabia dates back to apostolic times. In the 4th century. Among the local nomadic tribes, some were already completely Christian. However, the emergence of Islam here stopped the further spread of Christianity in the countries of the East.
From the book Ante-Nicene Christianity (100 - 325 AD?.) by Schaff Philip From the book Early Christianity: Pages of History author Sventsitskaya Irina SergeevnaThe Spread of Christianity As mentioned above, Christianity from its very inception attracted people of different social and property status, although, of course, people from the lower classes of society predominated among Christians. In the II-III centuries. more and more
From the book History of Rome (with illustrations) author Kovalev Sergey Ivanovich From the book History of the British Isles by Black JeremyThe Spread of Christianity Having supplanted the religious diversity of Roman and post-Roman Britain, Christianity culturally linked the British Isles much more firmly to the continent. In 597, envoys from Pope Gregory the Great arrived in Canterbury, the capital of Kent.
From the book History of Korea: from antiquity to the beginning of the 21st century. author Kurbanov Sergey Olegovich§ 2. The spread of Christianity The first time Koreans encountered Christianity was during the Imjin War, when the Portuguese Catholic missionary Gregorio Cespedes arrived on the Korean Peninsula twice, in 1593 and 1597, with Japanese troops.
From the book History of Rome author Kovalev Sergey IvanovichThe emergence of Christianity and its spread The sum of these ideas constituted the ideological content of Christianity. The latter, as an independent movement, apparently began to take shape by the middle of the 1st century. n. e. It gradually began to separate from others
From the book Medieval Iceland by Boyer RegisSpread of Christianity Now let's turn to the Christianization of the country. People who doubt the reality and significance of this phenomenon will be interested to know how deeply Christianity has taken hold in Iceland. Over the course of several decades, the entire island was covered
From the book History of Religions. Volume 1 author Kryvelev Joseph AronovichSPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY The reasons that contributed to the rapid spread of Christianity are very diverse. The Hellenization of the East, which began from the time of Alexander and continued continuously thereafter, developed a relative unity of language and style
author Bolotov Vasily Vasilievich From the book Lectures on the History of the Ancient Church author Bolotov Vasily Vasilievich From the book Lectures on the History of the Ancient Church author Bolotov Vasily Vasilievich From the book History of the Christian Church author Posnov Mikhail EmmanuilovichChapter I. Spread of Christianity. Already in the 3rd century, Christianity took control of the state. The very idea of a single Catholic Church embracing the world developed, strengthened and came to fruition in close connection with the victorious Christian propaganda.
From the book Baptism of Rus' author Dukhopelnikov Vladimir MikhailovichThe formation and spread of Christianity Before this, we were talking about paganism, that is, polytheism. But by this period there already existed a religion that recognized a single Creator God - Judaism. It was professed by the people living in Palestine. The main sanctuary of the God of the Jews was
author Bolotov Vasily Vasilievich From the book Lectures on the History of the Ancient Church. Volume II author Bolotov Vasily Vasilievich From the book Lectures on the History of the Ancient Church. Volume II author Bolotov Vasily VasilievichSpread of Christianity in the world
christianity state religion
The birth of Christianity. Build, fork the faith
In the second half of the 1st century and the first half of the 2nd century, Christianity represented a number of communities consisting of slaves, freedmen, and artisans. In the second half of the 2nd century, Christian writers already noted the presence of noble and wealthy people in the communities. One of the important elements of the transition of Christianity to a fundamentally new level was its break with Judaism in the 2nd century. After this, the percentage of Jews in Christian communities began to steadily decrease. At the same time, Christians abandoned the Old Testament laws. The expansion of Christianity and the involvement of a large number of people of different faiths in Christian communities led to the fact that Christianity of this period was not a single church, but a huge number of trends, groupings, and theological schools. The situation was complicated by a large number of heresies, the number of which by the end of the 2nd century, the church historian of the end of the 4th century, Philastrius, puts the number at 156. In the second half of the 3rd century, a process of further centralization of the church took place, and by the beginning of the 4th century, several metropolises emerged from the existing dioceses, each of which united a group dioceses. Naturally, large church centers were created in the most important political centers of the empire, primarily in the capitals.
At the beginning of the 4th century, Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire. At this time, the church organization is strengthened and the church hierarchy is formalized, the highest and most privileged part of which is the episcopate. The emerging church organization, headed by influential bishops who constantly maintained contact with each other and gathered for their congresses (councils), grew into a major political force in the Roman Empire.
Strengthening Faith in the Roman Empire
The imperial power, sensing a dangerous rival in it, tried to destroy it in the context of a fierce class struggle during the crisis in the 3rd century. Emperor Decius (249-251) began persecuting Christians. Persecution continued under Valerian (253-260), and intensified significantly under Diocletian (284-305). The persecution did not break the Christian church organization, and its ineffectiveness showed that the new religion had a significant mass base. As the imperial power learned the essence of Christian ideology, the nature and significance of church activities, it became increasingly convinced that Christianity was a force that was capable of sanctifying the power of rulers and ensuring the obedience of the masses. Therefore, the empire gradually moves from attempts to break the church organization that seemed dangerous to it to a policy aimed at putting this organization into its service. At the beginning of the 4th century, when a fierce struggle for imperial power unfolded, the importance of the Christian Church increased even more. This was taken into account by Emperor Constantine I, who switched to a policy of relying on the church. Christianity was declared an officially permitted religion, and property previously confiscated for the benefit of the treasury was returned to the church.
Thus, the beginning of the transformation of Christianity into state religion; A world religion was established in the world empire. In 325, the emperor convened the first “Ecumenical Council” (Nicaea), consisting of representatives of the church elite. At the cathedral, the “Creed” was developed - a brief statement of the main dogmas of the Christian religion. At the council, the union of the church with the imperial power was formalized. The Church recognized the emperor as its head, the representative of Christ on earth. Soon after the death of Constantine (in 337), he was distinguished by extreme cruelty, staining himself with many murders, incl. After killing his son, wife and many relatives, the church declared him a saint. During his lifetime, Constantine himself did not break with paganism. An attempt under one of Constantine’s successors, Emperor Julian (361 - 363), who received the nickname “Apostate” from Christians, to return to paganism was unsuccessful: the time of the ancient religions of the ancient world had irrevocably passed. Emperor Theodosius I (379-395) ordered the closure of pagan temples. 3. Propagation of faith in the World.
Attempts to accept faith by Goths and Vandals
In 375, the Gothic king Vinitarius unexpectedly attacked the Ant Slavs, executing their leader Busa with his sons and 70 elders. The painful execution of the Slavs was more like a sacrifice. They were crucified. As for Christian vandals, their religious fanaticism even entered everyday speech - vandalism. They proved their Christianity by the ruthless destruction of Roman pagan culture. In 496 the Franks converted to Christianity according to the Roman model. Their king, Clovis, was also baptized with him and 3,000 soldiers. The adoption of the new faith did not tame the morals of the Franks. Clovis nevertheless continued to exterminate his rivals. Long decades of fratricidal wars between the Goths and Franks exhausted these related Germanic tribes. Kagal created such a complicated religion that it seemed specifically designed to give rise to currents fighting among themselves, involving other peoples in bloody wars.
Acceptance of Faith by Greater Armenia
At the beginning of the 4th century<#"justify">The arrival of faith in Northern Scotland
In 560 Christianity came to Northern Scotland. Around the same time, it was accepted by pawnshop residents of Northern Italy, and on the shores of Leman - Lake Geneva - the Christian state of Burgundy arose.
In 598, the Anglo-Saxon king Ethelbert of Kent converted to Christianity and chose Canterbury as his capital.
Acceptance of faith in some countries of northern Europe
In 630, Flanders (the old name of Belgium) and the Netherlands joined the Christian world, a little later - Bavaria.
In the 8th century, English monasteries began to produce zealous preachers of Christianity who went to the European mainland. One of them was Bishop Boniface, the founder of the first monasteries in Germany. In Hesse, he personally cut down the oak tree of the god Wotan, “to show the powerlessness of the demon.” The majority accepted the Christian god, but recognized only his primacy over others and secretly continued to honor their gods. Carried away by his zeal to spread the Christian faith, Boniface eventually played out. At the age of 75, he went to preach Christianity in the Frisian country (northeast Holland). In the tent where he was waiting for converts, he was overtaken by pagans hostile to him and finished him off in 755. But in the 9th century, baptism spread to all of Germany.
A little earlier, Christianity established itself in Franconia (the region of the eastern Franks).
In 772, King Charles began converting the North German Saxon tribe to Christianity. They steadfastly clung to paganism, protecting their independence in it. Kakrl began by cutting down the huge Irmensul tree, which the pagans called “the support of the universe.” The Saxons, scattered across regions and villages, did not offer resistance while the Frankish army was in their country. But as soon as Charles left, they destroyed churches and expelled bishops.
Both heirs of Rome - the Christian empire of Charles and Byzantium continued the Christianization of freedom-loving peoples. King Charles was called the “Great” by the church because, invading foreign lands of the Danube and Baltic Slavs, he exterminated them without exception, sparing no one: neither women, nor children, nor the elderly. The very nature of the attack was similar to the Old Testament punitive wars. Throughout his life, Karl made more than 50 campaigns, of which only 2 ended in defeat. The Velet tribe became especially famous in the fight against Christians. The Byzantine Emperor Justinian II destroyed the independent Slavic state of Sclavinia in the Balkans.
In 860, the Greek Askold baptized the first Russians in Kyiv. But Christianity has not yet become widespread in Kyiv and its environs. In 882, after the “baptism of Rus'”, the “de-baptism of Rus'” took place. It is known that Svyatoslav’s mother, Princess Olga, was a Christian. And Askold, and Dir, and Olga - all were baptized in Byzantium. However, a new faith had not yet arisen in Rus'.
Spread of religion in the Balkans
In 863, the Moravian prince Rostislav was baptized. Moravia was filled with “enlighteners.” Following Rostislav, Christianity spread to the Czech lands, where Borzhivoy reigned.
In 864, there was a crop failure in Bulgaria. To the famine were added diseases leading to pestilence. The helpful Byzantines convinced the Bulgarian Tsar Boris that the famine occurred “for sins.” And to reinforce their words, in order to further convince the king to accept the “light of true teaching,” they brought their troops into the country and forced the Bulgarians to be baptized.
In the late 60s of the 9th century, Christianity spread to Serbia and Croatia. By the 10th century, the Black Croats, Horutans (Slovenians), Taurian Rus, as well as the Don Slavs were subjugated to Christianity.
Establishment of Faith in Poland
In Poland, Christianity was established in 966 under Prince Mieszko I (963-992). While Poland remained a pagan country, it flourished. Having converted to Christianity under Pope John XIII (965-972), she fell into poverty. Mieszko ordered the destruction of the idols that he had so fervently worshiped before, confiscated the property of his subjects who continued to stubbornly defend the old faith, and ordered some of them to be sent to the stake. This fanatic, an obedient instrument in the hands of the high priest, donated considerable sums to the Holy See for the construction of new churches. Unhappy Poland was plundered, plundered, and ruined in the name of the interests of the Roman court. Prince Mieszko divided the Slavs into Western and Eastern. Polish lands came under the protection of the Pope.
Baptism of Rus'
In 988, Prince Vladimir began his long-planned goal - the baptism of Rus'. For the fourth time, starting with Askold. In the “Church Charter of St. Vladimir” dated 989, the punishment for sorcerers and witches is provided for - burning at the stake. The very nature of Christianization and Vladimir’s punitive campaigns again resembled the Old Testament genocide.
Introduction of the faith in Norway and Sweden
In Norway, Christianity was spread by King Tryggvi. His son, and later king Olaf Trygvesson (997-1000), will continue his father’s work. The first wave of baptism did not produce results. Everywhere attempts to introduce a new religion were resolutely rejected by the people. The Norwegian king Hakon the Good, who ruled in the middle of the 10th century, offered to be baptized and was decisively refused by us, we will abandon you and choose another leader who will rule us in such a way that we can freely profess the faith we want. "Olaf Trygvesson by force of arms introduces Christianity and humbles the people.
In Sweden, Christianity was adopted by King Olof Skötkonung in 1008; it was finally established only in 1248, and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania remained generally pagan until the end of the 14th century.
The Western and Eastern churches acted independently and independently of each other. The Western one drew into its circle of influence all the Roman and Germanic peoples, including the Slavs - Croats, Czechs and Poles. Eastern - Bulgarians, Serbs and Russians. Between these large areas there remained a small area that Christians had not reached - the lands lying east of the Baltic Sea, between the lower Vistula and the Gulf of Finland. There were pagan Finnish Estonian tribes and Lithuanian-Latvian tribes. But after 1200, Christianization overtook them too.
Introduction 3
1. The emergence of Christianity 4
2. The spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire 8
3. The division of Christian churches and their worldwide spread 11
Conclusion 24
References 25
Introduction
Christianity has come a long way before it became a world religion and spiritual foundation European culture. It originated in the 1st century AD, which we count from the Nativity of Christ, and was initially formed in the bosom of Judaism, as one of its sects. But the content of the sermon of Jesus of Nazareth went far beyond the national religion of the ancient Jews. It was this universal meaning of Christianity that made Jesus the Christ (Savior, Messiah) in the eyes of millions of people who find the semantic basis of their lives in the Christian faith.
Reading the Gospels (Good News), you are amazed not only by the amazing wisdom, but also by the figurative brightness of the Gospel sermons, imbued with a single spiritual meaning. This meaning goes far beyond rational thinking and therefore its interpretation subsequently caused fierce controversy. But one can hardly deny the internal unity of the sermons of the Gospel Jesus and at the same time their unity with his destiny, his way of the cross.
1. The emergence of Christianity
Christianity arose in Palestine in the 1st century. n. e. The undoubted closeness of early Christianity to the Jewish community of the Essenes is evidenced by the Scrolls found in 1947 in the Dead Sea area. The commonality of ideological principles among the Essenes and the original Christians can be traced in messianism - the expectation of the imminent coming of the Teacher of Righteousness, in eschatological ideas, in the interpretation of the idea of human sinfulness, in rituals, in the organization of communities and attitudes towards property (4, p. 136).
The relatively rapid spread of Christianity in the Asia Minor provinces of the Roman Empire and Rome itself was due to a number of socio-historical factors. The emerging crisis of the ancient order gave rise to general uncertainty about the future, a feeling of apathy and hopelessness. Antagonism intensified not only between slaves and freemen, but also between Roman citizens and provincial subjects, between the Roman hereditary nobility and the enriched horsemen. As a clear and understandable form of social protest against inhuman social orders, Christianity quickly turned into a powerful ideological current that no force could stop.
The Roman religion, like various religious teachings of the East, could not give comfort to the disadvantaged and, due to its national character, did not allow the idea of universal justice, equality, and salvation to be affirmed (1, p. 211). Christianity first of all proclaimed the equality of all people as sinners. It rejected the existing slave-owning social order and thereby gave rise to hope for deliverance from oppression and enslavement of desperate people. It called for the reconstruction of the world, thereby expressing the real interests of the disenfranchised and enslaved. It finally gave the slave consolation, the hope of gaining freedom in a simple and understandable way - through the knowledge of the divine truth that Christ brought to earth to forever atone for all human sins and vices.
Christian apologetics claims that, unlike all other religions of the world, Christianity was not created by people, but was given to humanity by God in a ready-made and complete form. However, the comparative history of religious teachings indicates that Christianity is not free from religious, philosophical, ethical and other influences.
Christianity adopted and rethought the previous ideological concepts of Judaism, Mithraism, ancient Eastern religions, and philosophical views. All this enriched and cemented the new religion, turning it into a powerful cultural and intellectual force, capable of opposing itself to all national-ethnic cults and turning into a mass supranational movement. The assimilation by early Christianity of the previous religious and cultural heritage did not at all turn it into a conglomerate of disparate ideas, but contributed to a fundamentally new teaching gaining universal recognition (6).
The Neoplatonism of Philo of Alexandria (c. 25 BC - c. 50 AD) and the moral teaching of the Roman Stoic Seneca (c. 4 BC - 65 AD) had a particularly noticeable influence on the foundations of Christian doctrine. ). Philo combined the concept of Logos in the biblical tradition, interpreted as the creative word, comprehended in revelation, and in the Hellenistic tradition, which considers Logos as an internal law directing the movement of the Cosmos. Philo's Logos is the sacred Word that allows one to contemplate Existence. There is no other way to know God, only through the Logos - the Word. Philo’s teaching about the innate sinfulness of all people, about repentance, about Being as the beginning of the world, about ecstasy as a means of approaching God, about logoi, among which the Son of God - the highest Logos and other logoi, called angels - served as one of the ideological prerequisites for Christian ideas about the hierarchy of spiritual principles had a noticeable influence on the formation of Christianity.
The moral teaching of Christianity, especially about the achievement of virtue, is close to the views of Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Seneca considered the main thing for every person to be the achievement of freedom of spirit through the awareness of divine necessity. If freedom does not flow from divine necessity, it will turn out to be slavery. Only obedience to fate gives rise to equanimity of spirit, conscience, moral standards, and universal human values. The affirmation of universal human values does not depend on state requirements, but entirely on sociability. By sociability, Seneca understands the recognition of the unity of human nature, mutual love, universal compassion, the care of each person for others like him, regardless of social status. Seneca recognized the “golden rule of morality” as a moral imperative, which sounded like this: “Treat those below you the way you would like to be treated by those above you” (4, p. 139). A similar formulation is contained in the Gospel of Matthew: “And in everything that you want people to do to you, do so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
Christianity was consonant with Seneca’s views on the transience and deceitfulness of sensual pleasures, caring for other people, self-restraint in the use of material goods, preventing the rampant passions that are disastrous for society and people, modesty and moderation in everyday life. He was also impressed by the principles of individual ethics formulated by Seneca. Personal salvation presupposes a strict assessment of one’s own life, self-improvement, and the acquisition of divine mercy.
The assimilation by Christianity of various elements of Eastern cults and Hellenistic philosophy did not impoverish, but enriched the new religion. That is why it relatively quickly entered the general flow of Mediterranean culture (4, p. 141).
As long as Christianity has existed, debates have continued about the identity of its founder. Stories about Jesus Christ, described in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as in the epistles and acts of the apostles, about God the Son, who appeared in the world in the form of a perfect man to take upon himself the sins of people and save them for eternal life, raised a lot of doubts. Ultimately, the debate about Jesus Christ led to the formation of two main schools - mythological and historical.
Representatives of the mythological school believe that science does not have reliable data about Jesus Christ as a historical figure. The gospel stories about him, written many years after the events described in them, do not contain a real historical basis. In addition, historical sources from the beginning of the 1st century. they say nothing about such extraordinary events as the resurrection from the dead, about the miracles performed by Christ, about his preaching activities. The mythological school considered one of the important arguments in favor of its point of view to be the non-Palestinian origin of Christianity, as well as the presence of analogies with tales of gods being born, dying and rising in other Eastern cultures, and the presence in the Gospels of a large number of contradictions, discrepancies, and inaccuracies (3).
The second - historical - school considers Jesus Christ to be a real person, a preacher of a new religion, who formulated a number of fundamental ideas that laid the foundation for Christian doctrine. The reality of Jesus is confirmed by the reality of a number of gospel characters, such as John the Baptist, the Apostle Paul, and others directly related to Christ in the gospel plot. Science now has a number of sources at its disposal that confirm the conclusions of the historical school. Thus, for a long time, the fragment about Jesus Christ contained in the Antiquities of Josephus was considered a later interpolation. However, the Arabic text of “Antiquities” found in 1971 in Egypt, written by the Egyptian bishop Agapius in the 10th century, gives every reason to believe that Flavius described one of the preachers known to him named Jesus, although Flavius’ description does not speak of those committed by Christ miracles and his resurrection is described not as a fact, but as one of many stories on this topic.
Representatives of both the mythological and historical schools made significant contributions to the publication of biblical texts, as well as other sources dating back to the first centuries of Christianity. In recent years, most religious scholars share the opinion of representatives of the historical school.
2. The spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire
By the middle of the 1st century. In Christianity, many different trends clearly emerged, which were in heated debate with each other and with external ideological competitors. Early Christian communities did not know the dogma and cult of later Christianity. The communities did not have special places for worship, did not know the sacraments or icons. The only thing that was common to all communities and all factions was the belief in a voluntary atoning sacrifice made once and for all for the sins of all people by a mediator between God and man.
With the growth of Christian cosmopolitanism and the formation of basic dogmatic ideas, the process of moving away from Judaism and breaking with it intensified. By the end of the 1st - beginning of the 2nd century, especially after the defeat of the Jewish uprisings against Rome and the isolation of Judaism, this gap apparently took final shape (4, p. 154).
The appearance of the clergy dates back to the 2nd century. and is associated with a gradual change in the social composition of early Christian communities. If earlier they united slaves and the free poor, then in the 2nd century. they already included artisans, traders, landowners and even Roman nobility. The wealthy part of Christians is gradually concentrating in their hands the management of property and the direction of liturgical practice. Officials, first elected for a fixed term and then for life, form the clergy. Priests, deacons, bishops, and metropolitans displace charismatics (prophets) and concentrate all power in their hands.
The change in the social composition of communities determined the evolution of their social orientation. There is an increasing departure from previous democratic trends, and the desire for an alliance with the imperial power is becoming more and more insistent. The imperial power, in turn, felt an urgent need to complement the world empire with a world religion. Attempts to transform one of the national religions, in particular the Roman one, into such a religion were unsuccessful. A new religion was needed, understandable to all peoples of the empire. The former persecution of Christianity by the Roman state at the beginning of the 4th century. were replaced by active support for the new religion. Emperor Constantine (c. 285 - 337), with his edict of 324, marked the beginning of the transformation of Christianity into the state religion of the Roman Empire. A year later, in 325, under his chairmanship, the first ecumenical council of Christian churches met in Nicaea, which played an important role in establishing the Christian doctrine (3).
None of the Christian dogmas appeared immediately in a completed form, and after the main dogmas were canonized and the cult, discussions around their content did not stop.
Both before and after the Council of Nicaea, there were intense Christological debates between various groups. The struggle centered around the interpretation of three main dogmas: the trinity of God, the incarnation and the atonement.
The Council of Nicea condemned the teaching of the Alexandrian presbyter Arius (256 - 336), who argued that God the Son is not consubstantial with God the Father. The Council established an understanding of the dogma, according to which God is defined as the unity of three persons (hypostases), where the son, eternally born from the father, is consubstantial with the father, is the true God and an independent person.
At the second - Ecumenical Council of Constantinople (381) not only the Arians, but also numerous other heresies were damned: Eunomians, Doukhobors, Savelians, Photinians, Appolinarians, etc. Eunomians, for example, refused to consider Christ God, they recognized him only as the highest created being.
At the beginning of the fifth century, a particularly heated debate flared up around the dogma of the incarnation. Part of the clergy, led by the Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius (d. c. 450), rejected the prevailing ideas about the birth of Christ from the Virgin Mary. Woman, the Nestorians argued, gave birth to man, not God. And only by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit did divinity move into him, and he became an instrument of salvation. The substantiation and defense of the dogma of the incarnation was given the main attention at the third - Ephesian (431) - ecumenical council, which approved six rules for the protection of this dogma (4, p. 157).
At the fourth - Chalcedon (451) - ecumenical council, the main attention was paid to substantiating the dogma of atonement and incarnation. Led by the Constantinople Archimandrite Eutyches (5th century), the Monophysites (one-naturalists) taught that in Jesus human nature was absorbed by the divine, and therefore recognized in him only one divine nature. The Council established the dogma of the Incarnation, according to which Christ was to be regarded both as true God and as true man; eternally born from God the Father according to divinity, he was born from the Virgin Mary according to humanity, divinity and humanity were united in him as a single person, unmerged and unchangeable (against the Monophysites), inseparably and inseparably (against the Nestorians). At the same time, Emperor Marcian issued laws severely punishing everyone who refused to recognize this dogma.
Only in the middle of the 6th century was the dispute over how to depict Jesus Christ resolved; The 82nd rule of the fifth - Constantinople II (553) - ecumenical council obliged to depict the Son of God in human form, and not in the form of a lamb. At the same time, it was required that in the new image the image of Christ should emphasize before the eyes of believers the full height of his humility, obedience, suffering and saving sacrifice.
Discord accompanied the establishment of the Christian cult. In the first centuries, the church categorically prohibited any depiction of saints. Church Council in Elvira at the beginning of the 4th century. established a rule according to which there should be no objects of veneration or worship on the walls. At the end of the 4th century. one of the church writers Eusebius (260-265 - 338-339) considered the use of icons to be idolatry. Against the worship of icons in the 7th century. Nestorians and Monophysites spoke out. Government orders were given prohibiting the use of icons. This dispute was resolved only at the seventh - Nicaea II (787) - ecumenical council. The Council approved the rule, according to which it was considered necessary to depict sacred persons and events and worship them (6, p. 544).
The process of formation of Christian sacraments and rituals directly related to them was even longer. At the end of the 5th century. The sacrament of baptism arose, and even later - the Eucharist (comunion). Then, over the course of several centuries, Christianity gradually introduced confirmation, unction, marriage, repentance and the accompanying confession, and the priesthood.
3. The division of Christian churches and their worldwide spread
Christianity did not represent a single religious movement. Spreading across numerous provinces of the Roman Empire, it adapted to the conditions of each country, to existing social relations and local traditions.
A consequence of the decentralization of the Roman state was the emergence of the first four autocephalous (independent) churches: Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. Soon the Cypriot and then the Georgian Orthodox Church separated from the Antioch Church. But the matter was not limited only to the division of Christian churches. Some of them refused to recognize the decisions of the ecumenical councils and the dogma they approved. In the middle of the 5th century. The Armenian clergy did not agree with the condemnation of the Monophysites by the Council of Chalcedon. Thus, the Armenian Church put itself in a special position, accepting a dogma that contradicts the dogma of orthodox Christianity.
One of the largest divisions of Christianity was the emergence of two main directions - Orthodoxy and Catholicism. This split has been brewing for several centuries. It was determined by the peculiarities of the development of feudal relations in the eastern and western parts of the Roman Empire and the competitive struggle between them (4, p. 162).
Orthodoxy. Currently, Orthodoxy is represented by a number of autocephalous (independent) churches: Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch (Syria, Lebanon), Jerusalem, Russian, Georgian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Cypriot, Hellenic (Greek), Polish, Romanian, Czechoslovak, American, etc. , there are autonomous Orthodox churches.
The limits of independence of autonomous churches are determined by an agreement with the autocephalous church that granted it autonomy. The heads of autonomous churches are elected by local councils and are subsequently approved by the patriarch of the autocephalous church. Patriarch of Constantinople is considered ecumenical, but is not given the right to interfere in the activities of other Orthodox churches.
Administratively, autocephalous churches are divided into exarchates, dioceses, vicariates, deaneries, and parishes. In addition, a number of autocephalous churches have missions, deaneries, and metochions under other Orthodox churches. All Orthodox churches have common doctrine, cult, and canonical activities.
Eastern Christianity existed in conditions of strong centralization of state power in Byzantium, and the church immediately turned out to be an appendage of the state, and its head was actually the emperor. Western Christianity gradually became an organization that sought to dominate all spheres of society, including the political sphere. The differences between Eastern and Western Christianity were also affected by the peculiarities of the development of spiritual culture.
Greek Christianity focused its attention on ontological and philosophical problems, while Western Christianity focused on legal ones. At the beginning of the 5th century. The Roman Empire split into Eastern and Western. The Eastern was a strong unified state, the Western was a fragmented conglomerate of principalities, soon conquered by the Germans. In the VI century. Constantinople liberated Rome from the barbarians; the latter became dependent on the Byzantine emperors. The Patriarch of Constantinople even began to call himself ecumenical, that is, the head of both the Eastern and Western churches. But the popes managed to turn the church into a noticeable economic force (the acquisition of Sicily and southern Italy) and increase its political prestige.
From the middle of the 7th century. Byzantium was attacked by the Arab Caliphate. The Caliphate captured Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Syria, and the Slavs captured the Balkan Peninsula. Under these conditions, Italy began to free itself from the dependence of Byzantium. Byzantium was weakened by political and ideological contradictions. In the 8th century The Roman Church is freed from the tutelage of Byzantium, and the Papal States are formed. From this period the power of the popes increased (6).
Between Rome and Byzantium in the 9th century. territorial disputes arose. Both churches laid claim to Sicily and Southern Italy. The aggravation of relations was facilitated by the adoption of Christianity by Moravia. Moravia adopted Christianity from Rome. But then, trying to get rid of the papal dictate, in 863 she invited a spiritual mission from Constantinople - Cyril and Methodius.
The Bulgarians refused to accept Christianity from Rome in 865. They were baptized by Byzantine priests. All this intensified the rivalry. The conflict between Rome and Constantinople grew, despite the fact that Byzantium was threatened by the Seljuks and Rome by a new power: the Normans.
Patriarch of Constantinople in the middle of the 11th century. there was Michael Cerullarius (d. 1058), who had previously been tonsured a monk and exiled to the provinces for palace intrigues, but was promoted under the new emperor Constantine, who elevated him to patriarchy, although Cerularius had little understanding of Christian doctrine. In 1053, due to the increase in the number of divine services according to the Western model, Cerullarius ordered the closure of Roman churches and monasteries in Constantinople. The dispute was over the issues of unleavened bread, “filioque” (Latin filioque - “and the son” - the procession of the holy spirit not only from God the Father, but also from God the Son), celibacy of the clergy, fasting on Saturday, etc. Pope Leo IX sent legates to Constantinople led by Cardinal Humbert. Neither Cerularius nor Humbert sought reconciliation. Cerularius declared the legates heretics. In turn, the legates cursed the Patriarch of Constantinople; On July 16, 1054, the final break between Western and Eastern Christianity occurred (6).
The formation of independent Orthodox churches began in the first centuries of the emergence of Christianity. In the 3rd century. The Alexandria and Antioch churches (Syria, Lebanon) stood out, then the Jerusalem church. In the 5th century The Church of Constantinople acquires a leading position. At the end of the 3rd century. Eastern Christianity was adopted by Armenia in the 4th century. - Georgia, in the 9th century. - Moravia and Bulgaria.
The penetration of Orthodoxy into Kievan Rus began in the middle of the 10th century, but it officially became the state religion in 988. Orthodoxy was a religion that could serve the interests of establishing feudalism. Kievan Rus had closer trade and cultural ties with Byzantium, where Orthodoxy dominated; the grand ducal elite was impressed by the subordination of the church to secular power and the opportunity to perform divine services in their native language.
In the middle of the 10th century. Kievan Rus was a strong feudal state with a high level of development of crafts and trade, spiritual and material culture. Tribal polytheism could not contribute to the strengthening of the new social system, and at the same time the centralized grand-ducal power; it lost the ability to be a social integrator and regulator. All ancient Slavic gods are tailored according to tribal standards. Therefore, the gods of some tribes had no meaning for other tribes. What was needed was the unifying idea of one God. Rus' needed a religion with a single God, devoid of ethnic differences, free from tribal traditions. The Christian God met these requirements.
The need for a new religion was dictated by a number of international reasons. Rus' maintained constant contacts with Byzantium and Western Europe, where Christianity already dominated. To strengthen such contacts, a common ideological platform was also needed: after all, the Russians were considered “barbarians.” The introduction of a new religion corresponded to the needs of social progress.
An important role is Prince of Kyiv Vladimir I Svyatoslavich (d. 1015). He was an outstanding reformer: he carried out administrative, religious, fiscal, military and other reforms. When accepting Christianity, he showed an understanding of historical necessity, the will to carry out a difficult task, and firmness in overcoming resistance.
After the adoption of Christianity, already under Vladimir’s son Yaroslav the Wise (c. 978 - 1054), a metropolitanate was created in Kyiv, headed by Metropolitan Leonty, sent by a Greek. Yaroslav founded the Cathedral of St. Sofia, Kiev-Pechersk Monastery (1051, from 1598 Lavra). The Russian metropolitanate began to be divided into dioceses headed by bishops - mostly Greeks. Already under Vladimir, the church began to receive “tithes” and soon turned into a major feudal lord. Monasteries appeared that performed colonization, defensive, cultural and other functions.
From the 12th century The church and princes began to fight for independence from Byzantium. In the 15th century Byzantium was on the eve of the loss of independence. In 1589, on the initiative of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich (1557 - 1598), a local council was convened with the participation of the Eastern patriarchs, at which Metropolitan Job (d. 1607) was elected patriarch. From that time on, the church began to gain greater independence.
A distinctive feature of Orthodoxy is that since the time of the first seven ecumenical councils it has not added a single dogma to its doctrine, unlike Catholicism, and has not abandoned any of them, as was the case in Protestantism. This is precisely what the Orthodox Church considers one of its main merits, testifying to its fidelity to original Christianity. Orthodoxy attaches dogmatic significance not only to one of the most important sacraments - baptism, but also to all others (communion, repentance, priesthood, confirmation, marriage, consecration of oil) and related rites.
Rituals and symbols constitute the content of all liturgical practice or cult. It is necessary to perform a number of rituals: say prayers, make the sign of the cross, bare your head in front of the icon, kneel, listen to teachings, and participate in divine services.
Catholicism. Catholicism is the largest denomination of Christianity. It is predominantly distributed in Western, Southwestern and Central Europe (Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary), Latin America and the USA. Catholicism is practiced by part of the population of the Baltic states (in Lithuania, in the southeast of Latvia), as well as the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus (4, p. 164).
The basis of the doctrine of Catholicism is the Holy Tradition. The Catholic Church considers all books included in the Latin translation of the Bible (Vulgate) to be canonical. Only the clergy is given the right to interpret the texts of the Bible. Sacred tradition is formed by the decisions of the 21st council, as well as the judgments of the popes on church and worldly issues.
Following the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and other decisions of the first seven councils, the Catholic Church creates its own understanding of a number of dogmas. At the Council of Toledo in 589, an addition was made to the creed about the procession of the Holy Spirit not only from God the Father, but also from God the Son (lat. filioque - “and son”).
In the salvation of people burdened with original sin, Catholic doctrine assigns a special role to the church. It is designed to help a person compensate for the lost ability to achieve eternal salvation. This mission is carried out with the help of the treasury of supererogatory deeds, that is, the surplus of good deeds performed by Jesus Christ, the Mother of God and the saints. As Christ's vicar on earth, the pope manages this treasury of supererogatory affairs, distributing them among those who need them.
Catholicism recognizes seven sacraments: communion (Eucharist), baptism, penance, confirmation, unction, priesthood and marriage. The sacrament of baptism is carried out by pouring water, while in Orthodoxy only by immersion in water. The sacrament of anointing (confirmation) is performed upon reaching the age of seven or eight.
In addition to the recognition of the existence of heaven and hell, common to Christian movements, the Catholic Church formulated the doctrine of purgatory - an intermediate place where the souls of sinners are purified by going through severe trials. The dogma of purgatory was adopted by the Council of Florence in 1439 and confirmed in 1562 by the Council of Trent.
Catholicism is characterized by sublime veneration of the Mother of God - the Virgin Mary. In 1854, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary was adopted, and in 1950, the dogma of the bodily ascension of the Mother of God was adopted, according to which the Most Holy Theotokos, Ever-Virgin, was taken to heaven “with soul and body for heavenly glory.” In 1954, a special holiday dedicated to the “Queen of Heaven” was established. In Catholicism, the cult of angels, saints, icons, relics is preserved, canonization (canonization) and beatification (raise to the rank of blessed) are carried out. The center of religious and ritual rituals is the temple, decorated with paintings and sculptures on religious themes.
The head of the Catholic Church, the vicar of Jesus Christ, the supreme ruler of the Vatican State is the Pope. The special status of the popes is justified by their inheritance of power transferred by Jesus Christ to the Apostle Peter, who, according to church tradition, was the former first bishop of Rome. The pope is elected for life by a conclave of cardinals. According to the dogma of the Catholic Church, adopted by Vatican Council I in 1870, the pope is considered infallible in matters of faith and morals.
The international center of the Roman Catholic Church and the residence of the Pope is located in the Vatican. The Vatican State (area 44 hectares, about 1 thousand citizens) has its own coat of arms, flag, anthem, guard, and maintains diplomatic relations with more than 100 countries of the world. There are over 400 thousand priests in the Catholic Church. Among the special duties of the Catholic clergy is celibacy. An important position in the Catholic Church belongs to monasticism, organized in congregations and brotherhoods. Currently, there are about 140 monastic orders, whose activities are led by the Vatican Congregation for Sanctified Life and.
Protestantism. Emergence Protestantism arose as a result of the Reformation (lat. reformatio - transformation, correction) - a movement in a number of European countries aimed at transforming the church in the spirit of evangelical ideals and eliminating everything that in medieval Catholicism the reformers saw as a departure from these ideals. In England XIV - XV centuries. "Lollards" - "poor priests" - preached the teachings of Oxford University professor John Wycliffe (1320 - 1384), who demanded the subordination of the English Church in civil matters to the king. Wyclif opposed the extortions of the popes from England, rejected the material nature of “transubstantiation,” doubted the right of the hierarchy to forgive sins and issue indulgences, and insisted on the priority of Holy Scripture over church tradition. Wycliffe's ideas influenced the views of Prague University professor Jan Hus (1369-1415), who preached the church's renunciation of wealth and the sale of indulgences. The burning of Huss at the stake on July 6, 1415, according to the verdict of the Council of Constance, caused outrage in the Czech Republic (4).
The priority of the Holy Scriptures over tradition and the demand for communion for the laity not only with bread, but also with wine became the ideological foundations of the powerful national movement of the Hussites. The five crusades waged against them from 1420 to 1431 were defeated. Therefore, the Basel Council concluded an agreement with the moderate Hussites on November 30, 1433 and allowed the laity in the Czech Republic to receive communion under both types.
In the Hussite movement, a contradiction emerged that was significant for the further development of the Reformation, reflecting the heterogeneity of the social base of this movement. The nobility and wealthy townspeople sought to secularize church properties. They interpreted the requirement to adhere to the Holy Scriptures in the spirit of preserving everything in dogma, ritual and life that did not directly contradict the Bible. This moderate reformist group was called “Chashniki” (“Kallikstinians”). Supporters of the radical group, whose social base were the peasantry and the urban poor, demanded unconditional adherence to the Holy Scriptures and the abolition of everything that was not confirmed by its text. They were called "Taborites" - after the name of the city of Tabor, which they founded on a hill on which sermons were held and which was called Tabor ("Tabor") Mountain. The Taborites rejected the dogmas of transubstantiation, purgatory, the doctrine of the intercession of saints, eliminated the veneration of icons and relics, luxury in worship, and put forward a demand for religious tolerance. The defeat of the Taborites in 1434 in the battle against the united forces of the Catholic nobility and the Chashniki, the abolition of the agreement with the Hussites by Pope Pius II in 1462 did not stop the movement of peasants and townspeople for the transformation of the church, which culminated in the era of the Reformation in the 16th - 17th centuries.
The trade in indulgences was the reason for the speech of the German theologian M. Luther (1483-1546), professor at the University of Wittenberg; On October 31, 1517, he nailed 95 theses on the remission of sins to the door of the church in Wittenberg. In them, Luther put forward the principle of internal repentance, which should become the whole life of a Christian, and criticized the doctrine of indulgences, purgatory, prayer for the dead and salvation through the merits of the saints. Subsequently, M. Luther rejected papal authority, the special grace of the priesthood and its mediation in salvation, and put forward a demand to simplify rituals and subordinate the church to the sovereigns.
All this met the interests of the burghers and part of the nobility, who, under the leadership of M. Luther and his associate F. Malankhton (1497 - 1560), formed the moderate direction of the German Reformation. The peasant-plebeian strata, led by T. Münzer (1490-1525), also joined the reform movement in Germany.
Adopted by the Anabaptists (from the Greek anabaptizo - I immerse again), who demanded the secondary baptism of adults into the faith and advocated a free church, Münzer's teaching about the "Kingdom of God on earth" was a dream of a society without private property. The centers of the Reformation in Switzerland were the cities of Zurich and Geneva, where W. Zwingli (1484 - 1531) and J. Calvin (1509 - 1564) carried out a radical transformation of the church structure. Some sovereigns were also interested in the reform, dissatisfied with the concentration of land holdings and wealth in the church, the payment of large sums of money to the popes and their interference in politics. A group of German princes carried out evangelical reforms in their dominions. In 1529, they declared a “protest” against the abolition by the Speyer Reichstag of the right to decide the question of the religion of their subjects, which they achieved in 1526. The origin of the term “Protestantism” is connected with this event, which began to be used to designate a set of Christian denominations genetically related to the Reformation (3).
Lutheranism. Churches, later called Lutheran or Evangelical, took shape in the northern German principalities. Lutheranism recognizes the authority of the Apostolic and Nicene-Constantinople Creed, and has its own doctrinal books - the Augsburg Confession (1530), the catechisms of M. Luther, the Book of Concord (1580). Lutheranism retains the episcopate, special ordination, liturgy, and two sacraments: baptism (of infants) and communion. Back in 1526, the “German Mass and the Follow-up of Divine Services” was created, and a prayer book with the ritual of baptism was translated into German. There are no icons in Lutheran churches, but the crucifix, clergy vestments and altar are preserved.
Lutheranism is influential in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and the USA. Currently, about 75 million people belong to it out of a total of 408 million Protestants. In 1947, the Lutheran World Union was created, which is supported by about 50 million believers.
Calvinism. The most consistent embodiment of democratic demands was found in Zwinglianism and Calvinism, which in the middle of the 16th century. merged into the Swiss Reformed Church. Unlike Lutheranism, Reformation does not have a universally binding creed; the Bible is considered the only source of doctrine. The number of religious documents is not limited. Authoritative for theologians and preachers remain the “Instructions in the Christian Faith” (1536 - 1559), written by J. Calvin, which systematizes the ideas of M. Luther and other reformers, “Church Establishments” (1541), “Geneva Catechism” (1545), and also "Scottish Confession" (1560), "Westminster Confession of Faith" (1547), etc.
The Reformed rejected almost all the external attributes of the cult (icons, candles, cross). Baptism and communion are considered symbolic rites. The sermon is the central element of the worship service, which also includes the singing of psalms and prayers. Of great importance in the Calvinist doctrine is the doctrine of predestination, election, according to which God chose some to eternal bliss, others to destruction. A person is saved because he is chosen for salvation and receives the gift of faith and is born again.
The doctrine of predestination was repeatedly softened by Calvinist theologians. Theologians of the major Reformed churches now interpret predestination as the omniscient foreknowledge of man's destiny by God, and that justification cannot be influenced by works but must be regarded as the result of grace.
Religions based on Calvinism were adopted by Protestants in France (Huguenots), the Netherlands, and in some areas of Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Calvinist ideas played a significant role among Protestants in England, who demanded
radical "cleansing" (hence the Puritans) of the English church, they won a dominant position in Scotland. Calvinists in Scotland and England advocated the abolition of the episcopate. Presbyterian congregations are led by elected elders and pastors who make up consistories and presbyteries, as well as regional, provincial and national synods or assemblies. An even more radical church reform was carried out by Congregationalists, who considered the local community (congregation) to be an independent church with the right to its own confession of faith.
The desire for unification, which has intensified in Protestantism since the end of the 19th century, led to the formation of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches adhering to the Presbyterian structure (1875), and the International Congregational Council (1891). There are about 40 million Presbyterians and 3 million Congregationalists in the world. There are especially many followers of Calvinism in Switzerland, Holland, England, Scotland, Germany, the USA, Canada, and Australia.
Conclusion
So, to summarize the work, we note the following key points.
Christianity arose in Palestine in the 1st century. n. e. The relatively rapid spread of Christianity in the Asia Minor provinces of the Roman Empire and Rome itself was due to a number of socio-historical factors.
Christianity adopted and rethought the previous ideological concepts of Judaism, Mithraism, ancient Eastern religions, and philosophical views. All this enriched and cemented the new religion, turning it into a powerful cultural and intellectual force, capable of opposing itself to all national-ethnic cults and turning into a mass supranational movement.
Christianity formed new meanings of nature and human existence. These meanings were based on the justification of human creativity and freedom, which could not but affect the entire European history. Of course, at first Christian freedom was realized mainly in the spiritual and moral sphere. But then it found a practical field for its implementation and began to be expressed in the transformation of nature and society, in the construction of the foundations of a legal state that respects human rights and freedoms. The very idea of inalienable human rights and freedoms could only appear in Christian culture. Christianity formed new meanings of nature and human existence, which stimulated the development of new art and became the basis of natural science and humanitarian knowledge.
Bibliography
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2. Komissarova E.Ya. Religion and culture. – Magnitogorsk: MGPI, 1994.
3. Men A. History of religions. – M.: Eksmo, 2003.
4. Religious Studies / Ed. I.N. Yablokova. – M.: Gardarika, 1998.
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7. Yakovlev E.G. World religions. M., 1995.
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Christianity and its spread in the world.
Introduction
1. Origin of Christianity
3. The struggle for the image of Christ
4. Rivals of Christianity
5. Bishops and their power
6. Emperor Constantine
7. Orthodoxy.
8. Catholicism.
9. Protestantism.
10. Spread of Christianity
11. Christianity today.
Conclusion
Introduction
A huge, essentially unlimited number of books, articles and other publications have been written about the origins of Christianity. Christian authors, enlightenment philosophers, representatives of biblical criticism, and atheist authors worked in this field. This is understandable, since we are talking about a historical phenomenon - Christianity, which created numerous churches, has millions of followers, occupied and still occupies a large place in the world, in the ideological, economic and political life of peoples and states. Christianity - (from the Greek Christos - anointed) is one of the so-called world religions (along with Buddhism and Islam). Christianity is widespread in the countries of Europe, America, Australia, and also as a result of active missionary activity - in Africa, the Middle
East and in a number of regions of the Far East. There are no exact data on the number of followers of Christianity. The main ideas of Christianity: the redemptive mission of Jesus Christ, the upcoming second coming of Christ, the Last Judgment, heavenly reward and the establishment of the kingdom of heaven. So what is Christianity? In short, it is a religion based on the belief that two thousand years ago God came into the world. He was born, received the name Jesus, lived in Judea, preached, suffered and died on the cross as a man. His death and subsequent resurrection from the dead changed the fate of all mankind. His preaching marked the beginning of a new, European civilization. For Christians, the main miracle was not the word
Jesus, and He Himself. The main work of Jesus was his being: being with people, being on the cross.
Christians believe that the world was created by one eternal God, and created without evil.
The basis of the dogma and worship of Christianity is the Bible, or Holy Scripture. The experience of the prophets of the Jewish people, who communicated with God, and the experience of people who knew Christ in His earthly life, made up the Bible. The Bible is not a statement of faith or the history of mankind. The Bible is a story about how God searched for man.
The Christian Church included Hebrew in the Bible Old Testament; The exclusively Christian part of the Bible is the New Testament (it includes the 4 Gospels telling about Jesus Christ, the “Acts of the Apostles”, the letters of the apostles and the Apocalypse). The common feature that unites Christian denominations, churches, and sects is only faith in Christ, although even here there are differences between them.
Main branches of Christianity:
1. Catholicism;
2. Orthodoxy (there are 15 Orthodox independent churches and several autonomous churches.);
3. Protestantism (includes 3 main movements: Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglicanism - and a large number of sects, many of which have become independent churches: Baptists, Methodists, Adventists and others.).
Origin of Christianity
Christianity arose in Palestine in the 1st century. AD, which, like the entire Mediterranean, was part of the Roman Empire. Its relationship with Judaism, as already mentioned, is manifested in the fact that the first part of the Bible,
The Old Testament, the holy book of both Jews and Christians (The second part of the Bible, the New Testament, is recognized only by Christians and is the most important for them). The undoubted proximity of early Christianity to the Jewish community of Essen is also evidenced by the scrolls found in 1947 in the area
Dead Sea. The commonality of ideological principles among the Essenes and the original Christians can be traced in messianism - the expectation of the imminent coming of the Teacher of Righteousness, in eschatological ideas, in the interpretation of the ideas of human sinfulness, in rituals, in the organization of communities and attitudes towards property. The relatively rapid spread of Christianity in the Asia Minor provinces of the Roman Empire and in Rome itself was due to a number of socio-historical factors. The emerging crisis of the ancient order gave rise to general uncertainty about the future, a feeling of apathy and hopelessness. Antagonism intensified not only between slaves and freemen, but also between Roman citizens and provincial subjects, between the Roman hereditary nobility and the enriched horsemen.
The Roman religion, like various religious teachings of the East, could not give comfort to the disadvantaged and, due to its national character, did not allow the idea of universal justice, equality, and salvation to be affirmed.
Christianity proclaimed the equality of all people as sinners. It gave the slave consolation, the hope of gaining freedom in a simple and understandable way - through the knowledge of the divine truth, which Christ brought to earth to forever atone for all human sins and vices.
Christian apologetics claims that, unlike all other religions of the world, Christianity was not created by people, but was given to humanity by God in a ready-made and complete form. However, the history of religious teachings shows that Christianity is not free from religious, philosophical, ethical and other influences. Christianity adopted and rethought the previous ideological concepts of Judaism, Mithraism, ancient Eastern religions, and philosophical views. All this enriched and cemented the new religion, turning it into a powerful cultural and intellectual force, capable of opposing itself to all national and ethnic cults and turning into a mass national movement. The assimilation by early Christianity of the previous religious and cultural heritage did not at all turn it into a conglomerate of disparate ideas, but contributed to a fundamentally new teaching to gain universal recognition.
The Neoplatonism of Philo of Alexandria (c. 25 BC - c. 50 AD) and the moral teaching of the Roman Stoic Seneca (c. 4 BC - 65 AD) had a particularly noticeable influence on the foundations of Christian doctrine. ).
Philo combined the concept of Logos in the biblical tradition, which considers Logos as an internal law directing the movement of the Cosmos. Logos
Philo is the sacred Word that allows us to contemplate Existence. A different way of knowledge
God does not exist, only through the Logos - the Word. Philo's teaching about the innate sinfulness of all people, about repentance, about Being as the first principle of the world, about ecstasy as a means of approaching God, about logoi, among which
The Son of God - the highest Logos and other logoi, called angels - served as one of the ideological prerequisites for Christian ideas about the hierarchy of spiritual principles, and had a noticeable influence on the formation of Christianity.
The moral teaching of Christianity, especially about the achievement of virtue, is close to the views of Lucretius Annaeus Seneca. Seneca considered the main thing for every person to be the achievement of freedom of spirit through the awareness of divine necessity. If freedom does not flow from divine necessity, then it will turn out to be slavery. Only obedience to fate gives rise to equanimity of spirit, conscience, moral standards, and universal human values. The affirmation of universal human values does not depend on state requirements, but entirely on sociability. By sociability, Seneca understands the recognition of the unity of human nature, mutual love, universal compassion, the care of each person for others like him, regardless of social status. Seneca recognized the golden rule of morality as a moral imperative, which sounded as follows:
“Treat those below you the way you would like to be treated by those above you.”
A similar formulation is found in the Gospel of Matthew:
“And in everything that you want people to do to you, do so to them.”
Christianity was consonant with Seneca’s views on the transience and deceitfulness of sensual pleasures, caring for other people, self-restraint in the use of material goods, preventing the rampant passions that are disastrous for society and people, modesty and moderation in everyday life. He was also impressed by the principles of individual ethics formulated by Seneca. Personal salvation presupposes a strict assessment of one’s own life, self-improvement, and the acquisition of divine mercy.
The assimilation by Christianity of various elements of Eastern cults and Hellenistic philosophy did not impoverish, but enriched the new religion. That is why it relatively quickly entered the general flow of Mediterranean culture.
As long as Christianity has existed, debates have continued about the identity of its founder. Stories about Jesus Christ described in the Gospels of
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as in the letters and acts of the apostles about
God the Son, who appeared into the world in the form of a perfect man to take upon himself the sins of people and save them for eternal life, caused a lot of doubts.
It turned out that even the information they reported was questionable. After all, it has been established that they are not first-hand, although the persons considered to be their authors should have known everything told there from personal observations. Meanwhile, these supposed eyewitnesses of the events, as well as their friend and chronicler Luke, all used other people's sources. So, for example, Matthew and Luke included in their
The Gospels contain almost the entire text of Mark, etc.
Today we already know how to explain this. The Gospels were not written by Matthew, or Mark, or John, or perhaps even Luke. They were created or collected from various written sources and oral traditions by other authors unknown to us, whose true names we will probably never know. Even the Catholic Church was forced to admit that the question of authorship
The Gospels are by no means closed, and one cannot object to further scientific research on this problem. Participants 2 Vatican Council, discussing
The “Constitution of Revelation” rejected the following clause by a majority vote:
“God’s church has always maintained and maintains that the authors of the Gospels are those whose names are named in the canon of sacred books, namely: Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John." Instead of listing these names, they decided to write in “holy authors.”
So, the authors of the Gospels were not eyewitnesses of the events. These were compilers who drew their information from the folklore tradition of Christian communities, where even then, by combining facts with legends, a certain stereotype of the biography of Jesus was created, called by some researchers the “proto-gospel” or “proto-gospel”. The Synoptic Gospels are based on such a common source, and this explains their similarity, which served as the basis for the belief that their authors, being eyewitnesses of events, independently narrate what actually happened. It is curious that even the Gospel of John did not shake this conviction. It was created in a completely different environment, outside the influence of the synoptic model and gives a completely different image of Jesus.
It is important to emphasize the insignificant significance of the Gospels as sources of information about the true biography of Jesus. But there are two works in the New Testament that, due to their genre, seem more hopeful. This is, first of all, “The Acts of the Holy Apostles”, as well as a collection of messages attributed to St. Paul, St. James, St. John and St. Judas.
Let's talk first of all about the messages, which represent an important source for studying the history of Christianity.
Philological research has shown that of the fourteen letters of Paul, only a part can be considered authentic. Some researchers consider only four messages to be authentic. This point of view was formulated in the middle of the last century by the famous professor of theology in Tübingen Ferdinand
Baur, who, after a philological analysis of the texts, came to the conclusion that Paul was the author only of the letters to the Corinthians, Galatians and Philemon.
This conclusion, with only one amendment, was confirmed by modern biblical scholars from the city of Edinburgh: professor of theology MacGregor and his collaborator Morton. In their linguistic research, they used a computer and, based on mathematical calculations, irrefutably established that the unity of language and style connects the five epistles: Romans, Corinthians (both epistles), Galatians and Philemon. There is no doubt that they were written by one person. And since, on the basis of a number of signs that we will not dwell on here, it is considered proven that the author of two letters (the first letter to the Corinthians and the letter to the Galatians) is St.
Paul, then we have to recognize him as the author of the other three.
As for the remaining letters attributed to Paul, it is already clear that they belong to unknown authors who, according to the custom of that time, called themselves by the name of the apostle in order to give greater significance to their arguments. Messages to
Timothy and Titus, for example, date back to the first half of the 2nd century: they reflect a situation in Christian communities that was simply impossible during Paul’s lifetime. It talks about the fight against heresies that arose when Paul was no longer alive.
What are the authentic letters of Paul? In short, we can say that the author raises a number of doctrinal and moral problems that worried Christian communities at that time. But the main goal of the author of the epistles is to preach a theological idea, which, although it had already begun to emerge among Christians as a result of the syncretic influence of various Hellenistic movements, only Paul consistently developed and expounded.
The main thing in his teaching is the belief that Jesus Christ is God, who, for the sake of atonement for the original sin of mankind, allowed himself to be crucified, was resurrected, ascended to heaven and will return any day to establish the kingdom of God on earth.
In this concept, Jesus, as a specific historical figure, was naturally relegated to the background. Paul, absorbed in his own idea, was not interested in the earthly side of Jesus' life. In his messages, he always calls him “Christ,” which means messiah, or son of God, savior and son of man.
The possibility of such an interpretation of Jesus was made easier for Paul by the fact that he did not know Jesus personally and therefore did not find himself in the position of those Jews from the Gospel of John who asked with horror and amazement: “Do not
Is this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?” How does he say: “I came down from heaven?” (6:42)
All that Paul knew about Jesus he heard from others, mainly from his zealous followers, who in their enthusiastic memoirs portrayed him as a superhuman being. This abstract interpretation, in which Jesus was deprived of specific features and became exclusively the embodiment of a theological idea, led to the fact that Jesus the man is almost completely absent from Paul's letters.
As for the remaining messages, many scholars (especially the German biblical scholar Marxen) directly state that none of them belong to the author indicated in the canon. This, as experts say,
“pseudo-epigrapha”. It can no longer be established who attributed the authorship to their respective apostles: the authors themselves or later scribes.
It is possible that the messages were anonymous for some time, which contributed to the occurrence of such errors or deliberate hoaxes. Some exception here is the first letter of St. John, for it is obvious that it was written by the author of the fourth Gospel.
All of the above does not mean, however, that the messages of the New Testament are not valuable for historians and religious scholars. Their official authors turned out to be fictitious, but not their content. We find in them a reliable, living story, written hot on the heels of events, about various phenomena characteristic of everyday life, customs and social relations in Christian communities scattered around the world.
The authors of the messages, although hidden under the mask of fictitious names, are historically reliable. After all, they really existed and passionately fought for this new person. But these were not apostles. They did not know Jesus personally and cannot be considered eyewitnesses of his life and deeds. Therefore, there is nothing in the messages that could be useful for reconstructing the biography of Christ.
“The Acts of the Apostles” is the only primary source extant on the history of Christianity before the 3rd century, covering an extremely important thirty years
- the period from the crucifixion of Jesus to the appearance of St. Paul in 61 - 63 years.
We know how eventful this period was and how decisive it was in the history of the new religion, so it is not surprising that scientists were very intrigued by the question of how true the pictures depicted in the “Acts of the Apostles” are, and whether this work can be considered a reliable source.
First of all, the question arose about the author of this work and the time of its creation. It is considered beyond doubt that the Acts of the Apostles is a continuation of the Gospel of Luke and, together with this gospel, constitutes a single composition by the same author, divided into two volumes corresponding to the two scrolls of that time. This can be seen at least from the first sentence
“The Acts of the Apostles,” which says: “I wrote the first book to you, Theophilus, about everything that Jesus did and taught...”
There are other arguments in favor of the common authorship of these two books of the New Testament. Philologists have established, for example, the identity of style and vocabulary, not to mention the fact that the author devotes both books to the same person, a certain
Theophilus. It is also significant that the prologue to the “Acts of the Apostles” is, as it were, a repetition of the last chapter of the Gospel of Luke, that is, a link connecting both parts of the narrative into one whole.
According to church tradition, the author of both books is Luke, secretary and physician of St. Pavel. But it is unlikely that it will ever be possible to accurately establish the identity of the author of the Gospel of Luke, and therefore of the Acts of the Apostles.
The question of the time of creation of the “Acts of the Apostles” turned out to be simpler, although this was not without difficulties. There is not a single hint in the text of the work about the destruction of Jerusalem, and some biblical scholars have found this circumstance sufficient to conclude that the Acts of the Apostles was written before the year 70. However, they lost sight of the fact that the “Acts of the Apostles” is the second part of the Gospel of Luke, that this is, in essence, one work written by one author. Meanwhile, in the text of the Gospel there are references to the destruction of Jerusalem and even to the repressions to which the followers of Christ were subjected by the Emperor Domitian, who reigned in 81-96. And since the Acts of the Apostles were written later, or at least at the same time as the Gospel, they should be dated to around the year 90.
The fight for the image of Christ
Ultimately, the debate about Jesus Christ led to the formation of two main schools - mythological and historical.
Representatives of the mythological school believe that science does not have reliable data about Jesus Christ as a historical figure.
The Gospel stories about him, written many years after the events described in them, do not contain a real historical basis. In addition, as historical sources of the beginning of the 1st century. they say nothing about such extraordinary events as the resurrection from the dead, about miracles, perfected by Christ, about his preaching activities. One of the important arguments in favor of its point of view, the mythological school considered the non-Palestinian origin of Christianity, as well as the presence of analogies with legends about gods being born, dying and resurrecting in other eastern cultures, the presence in
The Gospels contain a large number of contradictions, inaccuracies, and discrepancies.
The second - historical - school considers Jesus Christ to be a real person, a preacher of a new religion, who formulated a number of fundamental ideas that laid the foundation for Christian doctrine. The reality of Jesus is confirmed by the reality of a number of gospel characters, such as
John the Baptist, Apostle Paul, and others directly associated with
Christ in the Gospel plot. Science now has a number of sources at its disposal that confirm the conclusions of the historical school. Thus, for a long time contained in the “Antiquities” of Josephus Flavius (37-after
100) the fragment about Jesus Christ was considered a later interpolation. In the third chapter of the 18th book we will talk about the Roman procurator
Pontius Pilate and, by the way, the following is said: “At that time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if he can be called a man, for he was a miracle worker, a teacher of people who joyfully accepted the truth he proclaimed, and found many adherents among Jews and Greeks. It was Christ. Although, according to the denunciation of noble people of our people, Pilate ordered him to be crucified, his disciples, who loved him, remained faithful to him... Christians get their name from him, the sect of which has not ceased since then...” However, found in 1971 in
Egypt Arabic text of “Antiquities” by an Egyptian bishop
Agapius in the 10th century, gives every reason to assume that Flavius described one of the preachers known to him named Jesus, although Flavius’ description does not talk about the miracles performed by Christ and his resurrection is described not as a fact, but as one of the many stories on this topic .
Representatives of both the mythological and historical schools made significant contributions to the publication of biblical texts, as well as other sources dating back to the first centuries of Christianity. In recent years, most religious scholars share the opinion of representatives of the historical school
Spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire
Apart from Palestine and Syria, the new religion achieved its most impressive successes in the cities of Asia Minor, the Baltic Peninsula and Italy - independent communities of followers of Jesus Christ arose there, already separated from local synagogues. Almost the entire population of some Asia Minor provinces converted to Christianity.
Tradition, confirmed by the latest research, reports the successful preaching of the Apostle Peter in Asia Minor, and later in Egypt and Rome. His closest associate and continuator of the mission in Egypt was the holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark.
The work of his fellow apostles in Asia Minor was continued by St. John the Theologian.
The center of his preaching was the city of Ephesus, from where he also led the life of Christian communities in the Asian Minor cities of Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira,
Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.
Tradition also tells us about the preaching works of other apostles. So,
Matthew, after preaching in Judea, Syria and Persia, ended his life as a martyr in Ethiopia. Apostles Bartholomew and Judas Thaddeus suffered martyrdom after preaching in Armenia. In the lands north of Asia Minor, the Apostle Andrew preached, who, according to legend, reached the Dnieper to the place where Kyiv later grew up.
According to legend, the Apostle Philip preached in Phrygia, Thomas in India,
Jacob Alpheus - in Syria and Egypt, St. Apostle Simon the Zealot - in the Caucasus, on the territory of present-day Abkhazia.
The spread of Christianity was continued by the closest disciples and successors of the apostles, who, while their teachers were still alive, accompanied them on missionary journeys.
Despite persecution, Christianity spread quickly. After all
The Roman Empire, a cruel persecutor of Christians, united many peoples into one community, which greatly facilitated the preaching of the Gospel within the Greco-Roman world. The Mediterranean also favored the spread of Christianity. Already in the 2nd century. it was brought to Gaul by the disciples of Polycarp of Smyrna.
The teaching of Christ spread first in the east, among Jews and Greeks, in the countries of Greek speech. The Gospels were written in Greek. For the first hundred and fifty years there were few followers of Christianity in Rome and the western part of the empire. The Greeks accepted Christianity more quickly because they were softer in morals and more educated. Christian teaching did not differentiate between people based on their origin. The Apostle says that there is neither Greek nor Jew, neither free nor slave, but all are one in Christ.
Christians at first formed small friendly societies. Members of these societies gathered for prayer and general conversation, usually in the evening, in memory of
The Last Supper of Christ. A fraternal meal took place, during which they received communion. Then they began to postpone communion to the morning following the meal.
The meals were prepared using general contributions; many added gifts to their contributions for the benefit of the poor; they wanted to cleanse their souls through alms and charitable deeds. The poor were called “the precious treasures of the church.”
Christians also considered the liberation of a slave a holy deed. “To ransom a slave means to save a soul.” The Christian bishop Cyprian taught: “You must see Christ in your captive brothers and redeem Him who ransomed us from death; you must snatch from the hands of the barbarians Him who snatched us from the devil.”
Christians celebrated three days a week: Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, in memory of the captivity of Christ, His martyrdom and resurrection. On holidays, they did not decorate the doors and streets with flowers, did not dance in circles, and this was noticeable to those around them.
By the middle of the 1st century. In Christianity, many different trends clearly emerged that were in heated debate with each other and with external ideological competitors. Early Christian communities did not know the dogma and cult of later Christianity. The communities did not have special places for worship, did not know the sacraments or icons. The only thing that was common to all communities and groups was the belief in a voluntary atoning sacrifice made once and for all for the sins of all people by a mediator between God and man.
With the growth of Christian cosmopolitanism and the formation of basic dogmatic ideas, the process of moving away from Judaism and breaking with it intensified. By the end of the 1st - beginning of the 2nd century, especially after the defeat of the Jewish uprisings against Rome and the isolation of Judaism, this gap apparently took final shape.
The change in the social composition of communities determined the evolution of their social orientation. There is an increasing departure from previous democratic trends, and the desire for an alliance with the imperial power is becoming more and more insistent.
The imperial power, in turn, felt an urgent need to complement the world empire with a world religion. Attempts to transform one of the national religions, in particular the Roman one, into such a religion were unsuccessful. A new religion was needed, understandable to all peoples of the empire.
Among the Christians there were people of strict custom who considered it impossible to enter into any communication with the worshipers of the gods. They said that theater and games should be avoided, because this is the work of the devil, the pomp of idolatry. A Christian should not be a sculptor, because he will have to depict gods, and should not run schools, because he will have to explain the myths about the gods. He cannot be a soldier, because the banners are consecrated by unholy rites. You cannot hold any position, because otherwise you would have to make a sacrifice in front of the people, swear an oath in front of the statue of the emperor, etc.
When zealous Christians loudly refused to sacrifice, to bow before the image of the emperor, they were taken into custody and condemned to execution. Sometimes a crowd of people, under the impression of some misfortune, such as an earthquake, attacked Christians and beat them. The people were ready to see the cause of misfortune in the “godlessness” of Christians, in the fact that Christians, by denying the gods, brought wrath on everyone.
The former persecution of Christianity by the Roman state at the beginning of the 6th century. were replaced by active support for this new religion. Emperor Constantine (c. 285-337), with his edict of 324, marked the beginning of the transformation of Christianity into the state religion of the Roman Empire. A year later, in 325, under his chairmanship, the first ecumenical council of Christian churches met in Nicaea, which played an important role in the establishment of Christian doctrine.
Already in the 2nd century. the great Christian writer St. Martyr Justin Philosopher could note that “there is no longer a people in the world among whom they would not offer praise to the Father and Creator of all good things in the name of Jesus Christ.”
Rivals of Christianity.
One of the strongest rivals of Christianity was Gnosticism. The main difference between these systems was that among the Gnostics, God is absolute in his perfection and that is why he is not a creator. The world is a world of evil, controlled by demons, therefore it was created not by God, but by a creator (demiurge), embodying Evil, sometimes, by the way, identified with the Jewish Yahweh.
The advantage of the Gnostic teaching was that it did not receive a strictly canonical design. That is why Gnostic ideas and movements could exist both within Judaism and within Christianity, feeding many sects with which Christians waged a long and fierce struggle for three centuries (from II-VI).
The victory of Christianity over Gnosticism was due to the fact that Gnosticism transferred protection from world evil mainly to the area of astrology, demonology, angelology and magic, while Christianity promised salvation through the atonement of sins by the sacrificial death of Christ and preached internal self-improvement based on faith. Since the main thing for the Gnostics was the intuitive knowledge of truth, and not behavior in real world, their ethical views were uncertain, and the theories were unsteady, so the flourishing of Gnostic and semi-Gnostic teachings occurred in the first half of the 2nd century, when Christianity had not yet gained the necessary strength.
Another serious rival of Christianity was Mithraism - the Cult of the god Mithra.
Like Christianity, Mithraism addressed itself primarily to the lower strata of the population, burdened with all sorts of hardships created by the Roman Empire.
Like Gnosticism, Mithraism never had a written canon. At the head of the Mithraic system was Infinite Time, analogous to the god of the Gnostics. Good and evil principles fought in the world, Mithra was also a demiurge
(creator), but unlike the demiurge of the Gnostics, good: he was a mediator between the divine forces of the universe and man, a protector of man and a role model in life. He promised the righteous posthumous bliss after the Last Judgment.
Mithraism was a religion that was much easier to adapt to the traditional polytheistic religions and social values of the Roman Empire than Christianity, and yet the image of Jesus was clearer and more attractive than following the obviously mythological, supernatural
Mithra. Therefore, Mithraism did not survive the 5th century, and the descendants of its adherents, like most Gnostics, joined Christian communities.
Smaller rivals to Christianity were such religious and mystical communities as the Orphics and Hermeticists. Moreover, they could not resist it - Orphism - because of its polytheism and extreme isolation, Hermeticism - because of its too abstract and partly magical character.
Bishops and their power
Two hundred years after the beginning of Christian preaching, there were many Christians in the West: they were in the courtyard and in the army, among rich people. Large sums of money were made up of various contributions in Christian communities. In the cities, Christians built large churches. The communities sent letters to each other and helped each other. To lead all these affairs, they chose bishops from among themselves. The bishop soon became the most respected and powerful person in the community. He managed large church property. People turned to him to resolve disputes and lawsuits instead of going to a judge. A Christian who went to another country with a testimony from a bishop received a warm welcome from his fellow believers: he was given shelter, his feet were washed, and he was seated in the first place at the table.
Some bishops in large or old cities, Antioch, Alexandria,
Jerusalem, enjoyed special honor. The opinions of these patriarchs or popes were especially listened to. The bishop of Rome was of all importance, because Rome was considered the eternal city, the head of the world.
Christian communities had spread by 300 throughout all areas of the Roman Empire. The bishops sought to establish order in all communities, one teaching, one ritual. When a dispute arose between communities about how to understand the teaching, the bishops gathered together with the elders for meetings; at these synods they tried to establish agreement. Anyone who deviated in any way from the established order or teaching was considered a heretic, i.e. "schismatic"
“cutting off” themselves from the general church. Heretics were excommunicated from the church, i.e. were declared deprived of salvation.
Emperor Constantine
By the time of Diocletian, Christians were a major force in the empire. In some places the old gods and their altars were abandoned. Emperors and their governors saw how great the power of bishops was. It seemed to them that the church was distracting both people and wealth from serving the empire. Even 50 years before Diocletian, strict decrees were issued against Christians; their meetings were prohibited, they were threatened with confiscation of their property. Under Emperor Valerian, presbyters and bishops, around whom believers crowded, were severely persecuted: exile or execution awaited them. Many years have passed since then, during which Christians could live in peace.
Towards the end of Diocletian's reign, these decrees were renewed, and even more severe measures were added to them. At first they threatened to exclude from among the troops and officials all who refused to make a sacrifice to the genius of the emperor. Diocletian then ordered the Christians' books to be burned and their churches and houses of worship to be destroyed.
The persecution of Christians was unsuccessful. Although some wavered and handed over the books, the majority remained firm; preachers spoke and loudly proclaimed their faith. Christians clung even more tightly to the suffering bishops and listened more closely to their words. Diocletian renounced the power of the emperor during persecution.
The son of his fellow ruler, Constantine (311-337), also an Illyrian by birth, who ruled the westernmost fourth part of the empire, first reconciled with the Christians, then went over to their side. Ten years after Diocletian's persecution, Constantine, by decree in Milan, allowed Christians to freely profess their faith. The victims received their property back.
Constantine then began to give an advantage to the Christians. In your army
Constantine introduced a new cruciform banner: at the top of it were depicted the initial letters of the name of Christ; There was an inscription on it: “This way you will win.” It was allowed to depict a cross on imperial coins. Constantine began to especially bring bishops closer to him. He allowed them to participate in court, resolve litigation; allowed slaves to be freed in churches. Constantine freed the clergy from taxes and the heavy duty of delivering grain to the treasury. He invited bishops to his table and generously gave gifts to churches.
Bishops became the main pillar of his administration. Konstantin raised his children in Christianity.
ORTHODOXY
The word “Orthodoxy” is a translation, a tracing paper, of the Greek word
"orthodoxy". Orthodoxy, thus, in the literal sense of the word, in contrast to false, is a correct (right) doctrine. It is in this meaning that this word has been used since the era of the Ecumenical Councils (IV-VIII centuries), when representatives of all churches, protecting Christian teaching from ideas (religious and philosophical) and doctrines that distort it, formulated the position of the original faith. These formulations expressed Orthodox teaching, and the churches that contained it were also Orthodox.
In the 11th century The Roman Catholic Church unilaterally included in the general church confession of faith (“Creed”) a fundamentally new statement about the Holy Trinity (the so-called “Filioque”), which was one of the reasons for the “Great Schism.” From that time on, the Eastern churches began to be called Orthodox, and all Western dioceses (regions) subordinate
Rome, ended up in the Roman Catholic or simply Catholic Church.
Currently, there are 15 Autocephalous (i.e., independent) churches, including the Russian one, containing the Orthodox faith common to all of them.
What are the features of this faith that sets it apart from the currently numerous Christian denominations (confessions)?
Sacred Tradition
Although all Christian confessions are based on the Bible, the understanding of it and Christian teaching in general varies among Christians of different branches. The criterion for the correct understanding of the Holy Scriptures for Catholics is ultimately the word of the pope; for Protestants, it is the conviction of the founder of a given denomination, this or that theology, and even the personal opinion of the believer himself; for Orthodox Christians, the only reliable criterion is the so-called Holy Tradition. The essence of this criterion is that only tradition or tradition can be an indisputable guarantor in the understanding of the Bible, and therefore the truth of the faith. Sacred Tradition has allowed Orthodoxy to remain faithful to original Christianity.
Sobornost
A distinctive feature of Orthodoxy is its doctrine of the catholicity of the Church.
Sobornost is the Slavic equivalent of the Greek term “catholicity”, generally accepted in various Christian confessions. In the Orthodox understanding, conciliarity means a certain organic unity of the Church (i.e., all local churches and all believers taken together), in which any local church (or individual believer), unilaterally introducing something fundamentally new for Christian teaching, thereby excluding himself from church unity and taking the path of schism. The main theme of Orthodoxy: in the main thing - unity, in the secondary - freedom, in everything - love.
The rescue
The main idea of the Christian religion is the salvation of man from what gives rise to misfortune, suffering, illness, war, death, and all the evil in the world.
Christianity calls sin the generating cause of evil, i.e. an act of a person directed against conscience, God, against the moral law, which constitutes exclusively the dignity and beauty of man among the world of living beings. Sin disfigures a person, destroying the nature of the soul internally and often externally, as a result of which all human activities acquire an abnormal character.
“Christianity claims that salvation was revealed by Jesus Christ, who, being the Son of God, became incarnate and became Man, through voluntary suffering on the Cross, killing the sinfulness of human nature and resurrecting it for eternal life. Salvation lies in faith in him. This general Christian position is interpreted differently in different Christian confessions: Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Lutheranism, Reformation, etc. The differences relate to the following three main provisions in the doctrine of salvation: atonement or the meaning of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross; the Kingdom of God as the goal of human salvation; spiritual life as a condition for human salvation.
Redemption.
In its teaching about salvation, Orthodoxy proceeds from the understanding: “God exists. Love"
Orthodoxy does not share the dominant legal concept of atonement in Catholicism and Protestantism, which states that Christ’s sacrifice was conditioned by the need to satisfy God’s justice for the sin of Adam and his descendants, who, having violated God’s law, offended Him and thereby earned themselves eternal punishment. Christ took upon Himself this punishment, thus redeeming (i.e. redeeming) humanity from righteous wrath
God the Father.
Kingdom of God.
Western Christianity has an understanding ultimate goal the life of a believer - the Kingdom of God as a place where a Christian, redeemed by Christ from punishment for his sins, will receive from God after the general resurrection the opportunity of endless bliss. Orthodoxy does not share this understanding. From the Orthodox point of view, jurisprudence in the understanding of the Kingdom of God distorts the essence of Christianity, which calls a person to spiritual perfection, likeness to God and not to seek pleasure, even if it is spiritual.
By the Kingdom of God (otherwise, salvation), Orthodoxy understands the state of the soul, cleansed from all evil and acquiring the properties indicated in the Gospel, and not the external justification of a person at the judgment of God, not a reward
(payment) for good deeds.
Spiritual life.
Spiritual life in Orthodoxy is understood as a life like God, for “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” According to the New Testament Revelation, the most essential property of God is love, and it also constitutes the entire essence of spiritual life. The Apostle Paul emphasizes the paramount importance of love in the following wonderful words, known as the “hymn of love”: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, then I am a sounding gong, or a sounding cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries, and have all knowledge and all faith, so that I can move mountains, and not... I have love, then I am nothing.
And if I give away everything that is named and give my body to be burned, but do not have love, it is of no benefit to me.”
The main property of true love is selfless sacrifice.
True love is incompatible with hatred of any one person.
The one who loves rejoices, the one who hates suffers. This is the essence of Jesus' call
To love Christ and your enemies. Life without love loses both joy and meaning - this is a fairly well-known truth. But how to make love a constant property of the soul, independent of any living conditions, is the main question for every person.
Orthodoxy points out the need to avoid the illusion of love,
“egoism in disguise,” when love for another is nothing more than a search for one’s own satisfaction and pleasure. Such pseudo-love develops egoism in a person, destroying and crippling the personality, making it ultimately incapable of true love and, therefore, of what is called happiness.
Asceticism
In Orthodoxy, special, exclusive attention is paid to the acquisition of humility - a property that is opposed to pride, the basis and source of selfishness and all human passions. Pride alienates a person from all others, makes him asocial, deprives him of love, i.e. God. A person cannot live without love, without spiritual communication with others, and therefore pride, like a prison wall, locking a person in itself, inevitably kills him. The danger of pride is very great for an ascetic. His spiritual life is always associated with experiences of deep joy, with the development of completely new abilities and the discovery of enormous powers hidden from the ordinary person. If the ascetic does not set all this as the goal of his life, if he does not get carried away, is not tempted, does not “fall”, but in humility continues his feat of selfless striving for
In truth, he reaches a state of extreme godlikeness and becomes the lamp of his land, his people.
Orthodox church calendar
The Orthodox church calendar is complex in composition. It differs from the secular calendar in three main ways.
Firstly, the church lives according to the Julian calendar (named after Emperor Julius Caesar), i.e. to what was in effect during the times of early Christianity. Nowadays, the Gregorian calendar is widespread in the world (named after Pope Gregory XIII, who carried out the calendar reform in 1582), which corrected the lag of more than 11 minutes in the calculation of time in the Julian calendar. This is the lag that existed in the 16th century. 10 days, in the 20th century. has already amounted to
13 days. Therefore, holidays and the memory of saints in the Church are designated by other days and often by a different month than is generally accepted. So, St. George
The Victorious is celebrated in the old way, i.e. according to the church calendar, April 23, which corresponds to May 6 according to the new style. The Nativity of Christ, celebrated according to the old style on December 25, falls on January 7 of the generally accepted calendar.
Secondly, the year of the church calendar begins not on January 1, from the middle of winter, but from September 1 (old style, September 14 new), from the beginning of autumn. On this day the Church traditionally marks the beginning of the “new summer”,
(of the year). The entire circle of annual holidays begins in September, with Christmas
Theotokos, and ends in August. Dormition Mother of God.
Thirdly, among the most significant. 12 holidays, called twelve (from the ancient Slavic name for the number 12 - twelve), along with those that have exact dates, there are some of the most revered, which are movable. Separated by a certain, constant number of days from Easter, they change their dates annually.
Yearly holiday circle
The most important holiday of the year, “holidays, celebration of celebrations”, -
Easter, or the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, when Christians celebrate his victory over death, which is the guarantee of the eternal “blessed” life (immortality of the soul) of a person. Easter is celebrated in the spring, in April or May, on different days. It is preceded by a long period of 40 days of Lent.
(Quenterday), ending with Holy Week (seven-day week), when believers remember the suffering of Christ on the cross, his death and burial. A week before Easter, on Sunday, which in Rus' is called
Palm, the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem is celebrated, when the Savior, according to the testimony of all the evangelists, entered this city on the eve of suffering and death on the cross.
On the fortieth day after the Resurrection of Christ, the Ascension is celebrated
The Lord's day is the day when, according to the writings of the evangelists, he ascended to heaven. On the fiftieth day after Easter comes the holiday of Pentecost. The day of the descent of the holy spirit on the apostles, or Trinity. In Rus', the holiday of the Trinity coincides with the completion of field work and is celebrated by “curling the birch tree” - decorating temples and dwellings with greenery and flowers. The Saturday before Trinity is known as Parents' Saturday, when deceased relatives are remembered.
On the first Sunday after Trinity, the Orthodox Church celebrates the Feast of All Saints, after which Peter's Fast begins on Monday. It has different durations in different years, until the day of Peter and
Paul on July 12. On the second Sunday after Trinity, a holiday is celebrated
All Russian saints.
In addition to transitional holidays, which are not fixed by exact numbers and depend on the date of Easter, the remaining twelve holidays are celebrated on constant days. These include:
The Nativity of Christ (January 7 of the new style) with five pre-holiday days and six post-holiday days. This is the biggest winter holiday; in Rus' it coincides with Christmastide, when traditional carols were sung, fortune telling and games were held. Christians celebrate Christmas with charitable deeds to help the sick, old and orphans, decorate Christmas trees in homes and squares, organize a holiday for children, and make gifts for relatives and those in need. Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve, is the day of preparation for Christmas.
The holiday is preceded by the Nativity Fast (from November 28), which continues
40 days and also includes Christmas Eve.
Epiphany (January 19, new style), or Epiphany. In a day
At Baptism, the water is consecrated and used by believers “for every benefit in abundance.”
The Meeting of the Lord (February 15, new style) is celebrated by the Church on the fortieth day after Christmas as the meeting (Old Slavonic “meeting”) of the baby Jesus in the Jerusalem Temple with the elder Simeon, who recognized him as the Messiah - the Savior of the world.
Annunciation Holy Mother of God(April 7, new style) recalls how, according to the Gospel of the Apostle Luke, the Archangel Gabriel, coming to Nazareth to the Virgin Mary, informed her that the Holy Spirit had descended on her and she would give birth
Savior Jesus.
Transfiguration of the Lord, Savior (August 19, new style). This is the memory of the Gospel event, when shortly before the suffering of the cross, Christ on Mount Tabor in Palestine during prayer was illuminated by a miraculous light and was transformed when the voice of God the Father was heard. This was supposed to testify to the divinity of Jesus. On this day the consecration of the first fruits takes place.
The Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 28, new style) is celebrated as the day of remembrance of the Mother of God, who died in Jerusalem and was buried in
Gethsemane. The Church glorifies the Mother of God as the ideal of humility and purity. Before
With the Dormition, from August 14, two weeks of the Dormition Fast were established.
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 21) is one of the holidays
The Mother of God, born of Joachim and the barren and elderly Anna.
Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord (September 27, new style). On this day, Christians commemorate the Cross on which Christ was crucified, as a symbol of the throne where a sacrifice was made to atone for the sins of people.
The introduction of the Most Holy Theotokos into the temple (December 4, new style) marks, as it were, a second spiritual birth, when she was given to be raised in the Old Testament temple of God and to prepare to become a mother
Savior of the world.
Orthodox churches in modern world
Unlike adherents of Catholicism belonging to the same church,
Roman, headed by one high priest - the Pope of Rome, the Orthodox churches preserve the early Christian traditions of polycentrism, i.e. belong to several churches. In modern conditions, in countries where there are a large number of adherents of Orthodoxy, churches sometimes have a national character or, while preserving historical traditions, are supranational.
The oldest independent ones are the Constantinople,
Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem churches, headed by patriarchs.
The most numerous among the Orthodox churches is the Russian Orthodox Church, headed by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', which also unites the Ukrainian and Belarusian Orthodox churches. The Russian Orthodox Church includes believers of many nationalities in our country and abroad, in particular in Western Europe, America, Japan
(Autonomous Church of Japan), etc.
The Romanian, Bulgarian, Serbian churches, headed by patriarchs, are also autocephalous. Georgian Church with a Catholic Patriarch at its head, Greek (Helladic), Polish; Czechoslovak and other Orthodox churches, headed by metropolitans and archbishops.
There is also a separate
Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, now headed by the Metropolitan.
Russian Orthodox Church in the 20th century.
By the beginning of the 20th century. The Orthodox Church was the largest religious organization in Russia: Orthodox Christians made up about 70% of the population. The words “Russian” and “Orthodox” were often used interchangeably.
CATHOLICISM
In the modern world, the Roman Catholic Church has more than 900 million followers, which far exceeds the number of followers of other branches of Christianity. The Latin tradition of Western Christianity is known as the Catholic (from Greek - universal) church, but it is more accurate to use the term Roman Catholic Church. The head of this church is the Pope - this has been the case since the 3rd - 4th centuries. Bishops of Rome began to call themselves.
From the 6th century this term was assigned to the head of the Christian community of the “eternal city,” Rome, the capital of a huge empire. Roman bishops calling themselves
“vicars of God on earth,” put themselves in a privileged position, claiming honorary (according to legend, the Church of Rome was founded by the apostles Peter and Paul) and legal (as the church of the capital of the empire) primacy among all Christian churches.
The term “Latin” emphasizes that the use of Latin as the official language of the Western Roman Empire determined the connection between the history of this Christian tradition and the history of the peoples and states of the Western
Europe. The Latin tradition of Western Christianity can be traced back to approximately the 4th century.
The Christianized peoples of the empire became Roman citizens and recognized the special position of the Church of Rome. Europe west of the line
Scandinavia-Carpathians-Danube was turning into an integral Christian community, bound by a common Latin language and recognition of the supremacy of the papal throne. This Western European community in the Middle Ages recognized itself as a “Christian kingdom.”
The formation of the Latin tradition went simultaneously with the processes of division
The Roman Empire into Western and Eastern and the decline of imperial power in the West. In the previously united Christianity from the 4th - 5th centuries, as we have already said, two directions began to separate: Western (Latin) and Eastern
(Greek Orthodox). The formal division occurred in 1054, when Pope Leo IX and the Byzantine patriarch Michael Cerullarius, who refused to recognize Rome's claim to supremacy over the Greek Church, imposed an anathema on each other.
From V - VI centuries. The role of the Roman high priests began to strengthen: their economic and political power increased. First in Italy, and then far beyond its borders, the jurisdiction of the Papal Ecclesiastical Region expanded.
Trying to assert its supremacy not only over church hierarchies, but also over secular feudal rulers, the papacy painstakingly created its Latin Roman Catholic spiritual-secular empire. The tactics of allying with the winner and proselytizing the conquerors brought success to the papacy during the Middle Ages: evangelization of the Normans, “acts of God through the Franks,” alliance with the German emperors, the Crusades, the Reconquista and the Conquest. In medieval Western Europe, the Roman Catholic Church became the support of the entire feudal system. Skillfully using the threat of excommunication and securing its spiritual and secular privileges with the legal norms of Latin canon law and papal bulls, the papacy tried to unite a fragmented Europe mired in 6 internecine wars into a single theocratic monarchy under the rule of the pope.
The peoples of Western Europe converted to Christianity in masses, as a whole community at once, so the Roman Catholic Church developed as the church of an entire people, an entire state entity. Accordingly, the jurisdiction of the national empire extended to the entire population without exception. Until the 16th century this was a mandatory norm, and only after the Reformation was it possible to achieve legal sanction for the possibility of different religions of the population of one European country. The arrogant uniformitarianism of Latin Christianity and the persecution of other believers and dissenters it generated were inherited by many Protestant churches. Therefore Luther and
The reformers themselves often called Calvin the Wittenberg and Geneva popes, respectively,
A huge role in the formation of a single cultural fiefdom of the peoples of Western
Europe played Latin, the official language of law, religion and education. Long after Latin had lost its function as a spoken language, its importance and role in the church, court, and university remained. religion with
“special” language contributed to the concentration of power and might in the hands of a special religious class - the Catholic clergy, which placed itself in a privileged position in relation to all other believers.
The medieval idea that the European “Christian Kingdom”, with its capital at Rome, could be expanded to the limits of everything through secular expansion
“known world”, received its real embodiment in the XV - XVI centuries. along with the exploration of the Atlantic and the beginning of European colonial expansion. It allowed
The Roman Catholic Church will compensate in the New World for the losses that the Reformation inflicted on the European continent.
The split in the Latin tradition of Western Christianity led to the victory of the reformers and the creation in the 16th century. northern, or Protestant, tradition of Western Christianity. From this time on, churches of the Latin tradition concentrated in the south of Western Europe. Crusades under sail dominated the seas in the 16th century. Portugal and Spain allowed the establishment of churches of the Latin tradition not only in Central and Southern (Latin)
America, but also in many areas of the African coast and certain regions of Asia.
Missionary activity and colonial expansion” XIX – XX centuries. contributed to an even wider geographical distribution Roman Catholic churches. Immigration from Ireland, Italy and other European countries with a Latin tradition of Christianity led to the formation of Latin Christian enclaves in North America, Australia and other regions with a dominant Protestant influence.
In the 19th century The activities of the Roman Catholic Church became significantly politicized, which was associated with colonial expansion, the formation of political parties and the development of labor and socialist movements in European countries. At the First Vatican Council 1869-1870. Pope Pius IX, who a few years earlier published the “Syllabus, or
A complete enumeration of the main errors of our time,” sought, on the one hand, to raise the authority of the pope and Catholic teaching in matters of religion, politics and ideology, and on the other, to determine the position of the church in relation to new scientific, social and political trends and ideas.
The Council condemned these teachings (rationalism, pantheism, socialism, etc.) and the democratic demands of social movements (freedom of speech, press, etc.), and also adopted a decree on the infallibility of the Pope (vicar
“Christ”) when he speaks officially on issues of faith and morals.
The latter decision led to the departure of some Catholics from the church and the formation of an independent Old Catholic Church. These small churches operate today in several Western European countries and the United States.
The rapid quantitative growth of Catholic churches in Latin America and
Africa led to the Vatican developing a new political strategy aimed at strengthening its positions in former colonial and dependent countries. The Latin tradition of Western Christianity entered a period of qualitative change.
The Roman Catholic Church has accumulated vast experience in propaganda work. Today, under the control of Catholics, there are numerous printing houses and publishing houses, radio stations and television companies, international and parish newspapers and magazines, general and special religious literature are published. Much has been written about the Vatican's financial empire.
Active religious and secular Catholic organizations provide the Church with the opportunity to work with believers of all ages. Has a strong position
The Roman Catholic Church at all levels of education.
Prestigious educational institutions, especially the Jesuit orders, enjoy a privileged position in the field of higher education. Various forms of charitable activities are well organized and structured. Extensive work is being done in the field of health care: health education, servicing hospitals, nursing homes and leper colonies.
The Roman Catholic Church gives priority to tradition, i.e. along with
Using the Bible, the works of the Fathers of the Church and the decisions of the first Ecumenical Councils, it raises to the level of indisputable authority for believers the official documents prepared by the pope and the highest bodies of the central church government. The Roman Catholic Church did not recommend (until II
Vatican Council) believers study the Bible independently, insisting on reading in the presence of a clergyman who gives the official interpretation. Only in the hierarchy of Latin Christianity are there cardinals.
The sacrament of confirmation (from Latin - anointing) is carried out at the age of 7 - 13 years. The Eucharist is celebrated not on leavened bread (as with the Orthodox), but on unleavened bread (wafer). The sign of the cross is not performed from right to left, as with the Orthodox, but from left to right.
Uniate churches are adjacent to the Roman Catholic Church, i.e. national Christian churches that signed a union (from Latin - union) with
Vatican. Uniate churches accept the doctrine and leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, but retain national characteristics in worship and ritual practice. Uniate churches adhere to various rites: Greek, Chaldean, Armenian, Maronite, Syrian and Coptic.
PROTESTANTISM
Protestantism is one of the three main movements of Christianity that arose in Northern Europe at the beginning of the 16th century. during the Reformation. In 1529, a group of heads of small state entities (mainly German states) and representatives of free cities participating in the work of the Imperial Diet in Speyer, where the majority of delegates were Catholics, issued an official protest against the Diet, aimed at suppressing movements for the reform of the Roman Empire. Catholic Church.
Chronologically, the reform movement that swept Western Europe coincided with the crisis of the feudal system and the early bourgeois revolutions.
Anti-feudal protests of the broad masses and movements of the emerging bourgeoisie acquired religious overtones. It is almost impossible to separate religious demands from socio-economic and political demands: everything was closely intertwined in religious terms
The Reformation led to the deepest crisis in the history of the Roman Catholic Church; a significant part of the believers broke away from the Latin tradition of Western Christianity, forming a new, Protestant, or northern, tradition of Western Christianity.
The term “northern tradition” is introduced because this direction of Christianity is characteristic primarily of the peoples of Northern Europe and
North America, although almost today Protestant churches are spread throughout the world. The term “Protestant” is not a special term, and the participants in the Reformation themselves more often called themselves reformers or evangelists.
The Reformation, which caused a split in Western Christianity, ended with the refusal to recognize the supremacy of the Pope and the use of Latin as the only officially permitted language for religious communication. If the distinctive feature of Catholicism is a strictly centralized hierarchical church, then the uniqueness of Protestantism lies in the existence of many different independent Christian movements, churches, communities and sects, autonomous in their religious life. This does not preclude their association at the national or international level under the principle of a common purpose or one denomination. The thesis of one of the fathers of the Reformation, Martin, can help to explain this multiplicity to a certain extent.
Luther, who, defending his positions, asserted: “I stand on this and cannot do otherwise.” Recognition of the Holy Scripture as the only source of doctrine could not but lead to subjectivity in its interpretations.
The northern, or Protestant, tradition of Western Christianity is a national, local, local tradition. Among the leaders of the early Reformation
XVI century The central place is occupied by the Catholic priest, professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg, Martin Luther (1483 - 1543), who in 1517. published 95 theses justifying the need for reforms in the Roman Catholic Church. From criticizing the sale of indulgences practiced by the church, Luther moved on to criticize the foundations of Catholic doctrine and the papacy and set out the principles on which the reformed Christian church should be built. In response to accusations of heresy, Luther publicly burned the papal bull excommunicating him from the church. He became the leader of the religious opposition in Germany. The ideologist and leader of the Swiss reformers of the early period was the priest W. Zwingli (1484 - 1531), who presented his theses on the principles of reform of the Roman Catholic Church. Zwingli belonged to the more radical wing of the Reformation, consistently implementing in the church he led the principle of self-government, election and removal of clergy at a general meeting of all members of the community.
An even more radical leader of the peasant-plebeian movement of the Reformation was Thomas Münzer (1490 - 1525), executed after the defeat of the militia he led during the Peasant War in Germany.
Mass popular movements of the radical Reformation - plebeian Anabaptism - denied the church hierarchy, demanded individual freedom and an end to state interference in the life of the church, Anabaptists
(“re-baptized”) demanded a second, conscious baptism already in adulthood.
Closer to other Protestant churches, both in organizational structure and doctrine, is the Roman Catholic Church. Anglican Church.
Having emerged in England during the Reformation (under King Henry VIII, who was declared the head of the church), this church retained Catholic rituals and spiritual hierarchy. Its doctrine combines the Catholic doctrine of the saving power of the church with the Protestant doctrine of salvation by personal faith. In the cult practice of the Anglican Church, many elements of the Latin tradition of Christianity are preserved. The foundations of Anglican dogma and ritual are contained in the Book of Common Prayer, an official collection of prayers and liturgical instructions adopted in 1549.
The Anglican Church is a state church; its head, the English monarch (king or queen), appoints bishops on the recommendation of a commission; the primate (from Latin - primacy) of the church is the archbishop
Canterbury. Since the independent Anglican churches operate in
16 countries, then in order to give inter-church contacts a permanent character, once every 10 years Lambeth Conferences are held in London, in which Anglican bishops participate.
In general, the formation of the northern tradition of Western Christianity, with all the diversity of its local forms, took place on the basis of new religious principles common to all. They boil down to the following.
1 The only and exclusive source of doctrine is the Sacred
Scripture. The Bible must be translated into local languages. Independent reading and interpretation of the Bible is the responsibility of every believer. Authority
Tradition in matters of faith is denied.
2. Divine grace is possessed not only by the clergy (through episcopal ordination), but also by all believers, every person who believes in the atoning sacrifice of Christ. This eliminated the boundary between the laity and the clergy, and the very need for hierarchy disappeared.
3. Salvation is achieved not by good works, but only and exclusively by personal faith in God.
4. Only two sacraments are recognized: baptism and communion; they have a predominantly symbolic meaning. Among Lutherans, marriage, ordination, unction, and confirmation are considered simple rites. Most Protestant churches do not recognize the worship of saints, the veneration of relics, icons, sculptures of saints, or even the cross.
5. The cult, rituals and appearance of the church are becoming cheaper and simpler. Elements of pomp and luxury in worship, church decoration (removal of icons, statues, relics, altar, etc.), and in the clothing of clergy are rejected.
Worship comes down to the pastor's sermon, congregational prayer, and congregational singing of psalms; it is conducted in local languages.
6. Celibacy (from Latin - celibacy) of the clergy is rejected. Monasticism is declared unnecessary and useless - monasteries should be closed and prohibited.
7. Denial of the hierarchical structure of the church and the supreme power of the Pope that is common to all. The democratic structure of the church is built from the bottom up on the foundation of a general meeting of all church members, where everyone can take part in the discussion of both material and theological issues. Communities, or congregations, of believers are autonomous in decision-making and activities; they are governed by consistories elected by the general meeting for a certain period of time (pastor, deacon and elders (presbyters) from among the laity). Provincial consistories send delegates to the regularly convened provincial synod. The next level is the national synod, etc.
The principles underlying the Protestant tradition contributed to the active development by Protestant theologians of issues related to such concepts as “revelation,” “faith,” and “psychology of faith.” During the Age of Enlightenment, Protestant theology influenced the emergence and development of rationalism.
Many Protestant churches are actively involved in the movement for the unification of all Christian denominations. This movement is called ecumenical (Greek “ecumene” - world, Universe) and has as its goal the restoration of Christian unity lost during the Middle Ages.
SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY.
Foreign Europe.
The Christian religion penetrated into Europe soon after its inception.
However, at first the influence of this religion was small, and its spread was limited to the Mediterranean regions. Christianity penetrated into Central European countries somewhat later, and into the north and east of Europe only in the 7th-12th centuries.
With the division of Christianity in the 11th century. to the western and eastern branches of the country
Southwestern, Western, Central and Northern Europe followed Rome,
East and South-East - beyond Constantinople. The Reformation movement that unfolded in Europe in the first half of the 16th century further complicated the religious picture in this part of the world: along with Catholics and Orthodox Christians, Protestants also appeared. Protestantism established itself in a number of areas
Central and Western Europe, as well as throughout the north.
Since then, the geography of various religious movements in Europe has not undergone significant changes. Protestantism still prevails among believers in Northern European countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark,
Iceland) and individual countries Western and Central Europe (
Great Britain, Northern Ireland, eastern Germany). In Western and Central European countries like the Netherlands, the western part
Germany, Switzerland, Protestantism in various forms is professed by approximately half of the believers.
In the countries of South-Western Europe (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Malta), as well as in some Western countries (Ireland, France, Belgium,
Luxembourg), Central (Austria) and Eastern Europe (Poland, Czech Republic,
Slovakia, Hungary) the majority of believers are Catholics.
Orthodoxy predominates among believers in Southeastern Europe (Romania,
Bulgaria, Greece), as well as Russia. In Yugoslavia, in addition to the Orthodox, there are many Catholics.
Finland.
Christianity entered Finland in the 12th century. During the Reformation era, Lutheranism spread in this country, professed by 90.5% of the population.
Most Lutherans are members of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church.
There are also followers of the Swedish Lutheran Church. The second most followed church organization in the country is the Finnish Orthodox Church.
In Sweden, Christianity was introduced in the 9th century. Since the Reformation, Lutheranism has completely dominated the country (Lutherans make up approximately 95% of the population). Despite the proclamation of freedom of religion, the Lutheran Church in Sweden has been given a state character.
Norway
Norway Was converted to Christianity in the 9th century. From the 16th century The Lutheran Norwegian Church, which is considered the state church, reigns supreme in the country (according to official data, 94% of the population belongs to this church). In 1877, the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church in Norway branched off from the state church, but the number of its followers is small. The independent Evangelical Lutheran church congregation is even smaller in number. Other Protestant church organizations and sects also have a relatively small number of members; there are only 15 thousand Catholics.
Quite early, at the very beginning of the 8th century, Christianity established itself in Denmark.
After the Reformation, Lutheranism became the official religion of the country. The state Evangelical Lutheran People's Church of Denmark belongs to
94% of the country's population (interestingly, only 3% of the population regularly attends church). Catholicism is professed by 28 thousand people. There are also a small number of Orthodox Christians and Muslims (among the immigrants).
Iceland
The Christianization of the population in this country occurred at the beginning of the 11th century. After
After the Reformation, most believers became Lutherans. The Evangelical Lutheran Church is a state church in the country. It includes 97% of Iceland's population. Most of the remaining believers are followers of two independent Protestant groups: the Free Church and the Independent Congregation of the Free Church.
Great Britain
Already in the 3rd century, i.e. even before the Anglo-Saxon invasion, Britain was a Christian country. In the first half of the 16th century. The Church of England declared itself independent from Rome. Nevertheless, some believers remained faithful to Catholicism. At different times, many different church groups and sects separated from the Church of England. In Scotland, during the Reformation, Calvinism (in the form of Presbyterianism) established itself, which became the main religion of the country.
There are currently two state churches in the UK:
Church of England (Anglican) and Church of Scotland (Presbyterian).
The Church of England currently has 27 million followers (not counting the Anglicans in Wales, where the Anglican Church is not a state church). The Church of Scotland has 953,000 adult members. In addition to state-owned churches, there are also so-called free churches in Great Britain.
Methodist church organizations have the largest number of followers.
There are quite a large number of Catholics living in Great Britain. There are more than 5 million of them in the United Kingdom. Over half of Catholics are Irish. The most significant Catholic groups are there (except Northern
Ireland) in Glasgow, Cardiff, Liverpool, Birmingham and London. There are also small groups of Orthodox Christians (mostly from Eastern European countries) and Armenian Gregorians (Armenians).
The Isle of Man, a self-governing possession of Great Britain, has a largely Anglican population. At the same time, there are adherents of other Protestant churches and sects on the island.
On the island of Jersey (one of the Channel Islands, a self-governing possession of Great Britain) the Church of England is state. There are representatives of other Protestant movements on the island (Methodists, Baptists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians) and Catholics. The Church of England is state and for the population of the island of Guernsey - the second of
The Channel Islands, also a self-governing possession of Great Britain.
In addition to the Anglicans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Congregationalists, Baptists, members of the Elim Church, and Catholics live on the island.
Ireland
Ireland adopted Christianity in the 5th century. It has always been considered one of the bastions of Catholicism. Roman Catholics make up 94% of the country's total population. Of the Protestants, the most numerous are Anglicans (98 thousand), followed by Presbyterians (16 thousand) and Methodists (6 thousand).
Christianity penetrated into France at the beginning of the new era. It is generally believed that the vast majority of the country's population (about 90%) adheres to Catholicism
There are more than 800 thousand Protestants in France. Most of them are Reformed. They are united in three churches: the Reformed Church of France (400 thousand), the Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine (42 thousand) and the Independent Evangelical Reformed Church (10 thousand). Lutherans in France form two churches: the Church of the Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine (230 thousand) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of France (45 thousand). Reformed people are most numerous in Paris, Normandy and near Marseille, Lutherans are in Alsace and
Lorraine. Other Protestant groups are small.
There are also Armenian-Gregorians (180 thousand), Orthodox (150 thousand, mostly Russians and Greeks), Mormons (15 thousand), and Old Catholics (3 thousand) in the country.
In the small principality of Monaco, located on the Mediterranean coast, 90% of the population adheres to Catholicism. There are also Anglicans and other Protestants.
Netherlands
In the territory of modern Netherlands, Christianity began to spread from the end of the 7th century. After the Reformation, most of the population converted to Protestantism, but Catholicism remained in the south.
Protestants make up 34% of the population in the Netherlands, Catholics - 40%.
Catholics are especially numerous in the south of the country, where in the Northern provinces
Brabant and Limburg they make up 90-95% of the population. There are also many of them in the provinces of North Holland, Overijssel and Gelderland. Protestants are divided into a number of churches and sects. The Reformed churches have the greatest influence.
The most important of them is the Dutch Reformed Church. The majority of the country's Reformed people belong to it.
The Christianization of Belgium took place from the end of the 7th century. Currently, the vast majority of believers in the country are Catholics (approximately 90% of the total population). The number of Protestants is small. The United Protestant Church of Belgium operates in the country (created in 1978 as a result of the unification of the Lutheran confession of the Protestant Church of Belgium, the Reformed Church of Belgium and the Belgian district of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands).
Among the foreigners living in Belgium there are 20 thousand Orthodox Christians.
Luxembourg
The majority of Luxembourg's population is Catholic (96%). There are few Protestants, mainly Lutherans (4 thousand, or 1% of the population). Some residents
During the census, Luxembourgs either declared themselves atheists or refused to indicate their religious affiliation.
Germany
West Germany
To the territory on which the Western
Germany, Christianity penetrated back to the 4th century. The Reformation split German Christians into two groups: some of them remained adherents of the Roman Catholic Church, others adopted Protestantism in the Lutheran or Calvinist form. Back in the 19th century. An attempt was made to unite the Lutheran and Reformed churches in individual German states (while preserving the religious characteristics of each church community included in the association). United churches began to be called evangelical.
After the formation of a unified German state, it was created
Evangelical Church of the Union, however, not all local evangelical (Lutheran-Reformed) organizations were included in its composition. In 1948 An even wider association was created - the Evangelical Church in Germany, which included the already mentioned Evangelical Church of the Union, the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany, created in 1948, and a number of independent territorial Evangelical Lutheran and Evangelical Reformed churches.
The Roman Catholic Church also enjoys great influence. It includes 46% of the country's population. Catholicism occupies a particularly strong position in the west and south of the country - in the Saarland (74% of the population), Bavaria
(70%), Rhineland-Palatinate (56%) and North Rhine-Westphalia (52%). There are also small groups of Orthodox Christians in Germany.
East Germany
In East Germany, unlike West Germany, Catholicism does not play a significant role (8% of the population adheres to it). Among Protestants, Lutherans predominate, but there are also many Reformed ones. There are also small groups of Old Catholics and Orthodox Christians in the country, as well as about 5 thousand Jews.
A significant part of the population of East Germany does not profess any religion.
Protestantism predominates in Berlin (70% of the population). There are Catholics (12%) and Jews (5 thousand) in the city.
Switzerland
In Switzerland, the Reformation appeared in a peculiar form of Calvinism. It was in Geneva that the work of John Calvin took place. In 1980 Protestants made up 44% of the total population of the country (including foreigners), Catholics -
48%. Among Swiss citizens, the ratio of the two main faiths is somewhat different: Protestants - 55%, Catholics - 43%. The vast majority of Protestants in Switzerland are Reformed. There are 19 independent Reformed churches in the country, organized mainly by cantons.
There are also Old Catholics in Switzerland (Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland - 20 thousand followers, or 0.3% of the population).
Liechtenstein
In the small principality of Liechtenstein. located between Switzerland and
Austria is predominantly Catholic (88% of the total population). Protestants living in the principality (7%) are concentrated mainly in the area of the capital of the principality -
Vaduz.
In the territory of modern Austria, Christianity began to spread from the end of the 3rd century. Currently, the dominant trend in the country is Catholicism. Catholics make up 89% of the population, Protestants - 6%.
Most Austrian Protestants are Lutherans. Lutherans are concentrated mainly in the south of Upper Austria, north-west Styria, west
Carinthia and southern Burgenland. There are approximately 25 thousand Old Catholics in Austria.
Portugal
Christianity first penetrated into Portugal in the 4th century. Now the majority of the country's population (98%) adheres to Catholicism. There are also a number of Protestant groups.
In Spain, Christianity has existed since the 4th century. n. e., however, during the period of the Arab conquest, the position of this religion was greatly displaced.
The vast majority of Spanish believers are Catholics (according to official church data, they make up 98% of the country's population). There are also Protestants in the country: Baptists, members of the Spanish Evangelical Church, supporters
Spanish Evangelical Alliance.
In the small principality of Andorra, located in the Pyrenees, between France and
In Spain, almost all believers adhere to Catholicism.
In Malta, the Roman Catholic Church is the state church and enjoys enormous influence. The vast majority (98%) of the country's population belongs to Catholicism. There are very small groups of Protestants. There is a small group of Judaists.
Italy is one of the first European countries in whose territory Christianity spread widely. Catholics make up the vast majority of the country's population. There is also a Greek Catholic Church in Italy that works among Greeks and Albanians living in Italy. There are also Orthodox Christians. There are about 100 thousand Protestants in the country (most in
Piedmont). These are followers of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God (55 thousand), Lutherans (6 thousand), Seventh-day Adventists (5 thousand), Baptists (5 thousand), Methodists (4 thousand), supporters of the Salvation Army, etc.
San Marino
In the small republic of San Marino, surrounded on all sides by territory
In Italy, the vast majority of residents (95%) are Catholics.
Greece, like Italy, adopted Christianity very early. Communities of Christians appeared on its territory already in the 1st century. AD, and in the II-III centuries. the new religion spread throughout the country. In the 11th century, after the split of the Christian Church, Greece became one of the strongholds of its eastern branch - Orthodoxy. Now the Greek Orthodox Church is the state church in Greece. It unites 97% of the country's population. Catholicism was not widespread in Greece.
Yugoslavia
In Yugoslavia (Christianity was introduced into the modern territory of this country in the 9th century) there is currently significant religious diversity. Orthodoxy is professed by 41% of the population, Catholicism - 32%, Protestantism - about 1%, Islam - more than 12%.
Protestants are represented in Yugoslavia primarily by Lutherans and Reformed people. In addition to Lutherans and Reformed people, there are Adventists, Pentecostals, Baptists, and Methodists in the country.
Christianity and Islam are widespread in Albania. Christianity began to spread in this country since the 2nd-3rd centuries. n. e., Islam began to be introduced in the 17th century, after the Turkish conquest. The majority of the country's believers are Muslims. Christianity is represented by the Orthodox Church, of which more than 20% of Albanian believers consider themselves followers, and the Roman Catholic Church, which includes about 10% of the entire believing population.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, where Christianity penetrated in the 9th century, became one of the strongholds of Orthodoxy in the early Middle Ages. And now 85% of the country’s believers belong to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, 3% of believers, mainly in the south and east of the country, profess Islam. A small number of residents of the country (50 thousand)
- Catholics. There are also Protestant communities (16 thousand members). These are Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists and Reformed Adventists, Methodists, Pentecostals, Reformed, Congregationalists.
The penetration of Christianity into Romania dates back to the 4th century. Currently, approximately 85% of believers are Orthodox. The bulk of them are united
Romanian Orthodox Church. Adjacent to the Orthodox are a small group of Old Believers (descendants of immigrants from Russia). A fairly significant number of believers (1.2 million) adhere to Catholicism. This is primarily a part of the Hungarians and Germans living in Romania and a small number of Romanians. Among Protestants, the most numerous are the Reformed.
The Hungarians were converted to Christianity in the 11th century. In the 16th century Most of the Hungarians adopted Protestantism, but in the 17th century, during the period of the Counter-Reformation, Catholicism triumphed again and now about two-thirds of the Hungarian believers are Catholics. In the eastern regions of the country there lives a group of Greek Catholics. Most of the remaining believers are Protestants. The largest group of them is formed by the Reformed (2 million). The number of Lutherans is also significant (500 thousand); the number of followers of other Protestant denominations is small. Nazarenes.
Czech Republic and Slovakia
In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Christianity established itself in the 9th century, although there is reason to believe that it penetrated into some areas somewhat earlier. The majority of believers currently adhere to Catholicism. Of the Protestant movements, Lutheranism occupies the strongest position.
The Slovak Lutheran Church unites some of the Slovak believers.
In Poland (Christianity established itself in this country in the 10th century), the overwhelming majority of believers are Catholics. There is a relatively small group of Greek Catholics in the country. In Poland there are a number of churches that, for one reason or another, separated from the Roman Catholic Church. Protestantism is represented by a number of its movements and sects.
FOREIGN ASIA
Asia is the part of the world where all the largest religions on the globe originated: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Confucianism, Shintoism. However, the fate of these religions was different. Some of them spread widely in other parts of the world (Christianity, Islam, Judaism), while others remained mainly Asian religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Confucianism, Shintoism).
Currently, Islam is the most widespread religion in South-West Asia.
Two countries in the area are non-Muslim: Cyprus, where Christians predominate, and Israel, where the majority of residents practice Judaism.
Cyprus is one of two predominantly Christian countries in Asia.
(other Philippines). Christianity penetrated the island in the 1st century. AD
The vast majority of the population - Greeks - adheres almost exclusively to Orthodoxy. There is an autocephalous system on the island
The Orthodox Church of Cyprus, whose influence is very great. Orthodox believers make up 77% of the island's population. Other religious groups are small. These are Maronites (3 thousand), Roman Catholics, Armenian Gregorians (3.5 thousand), Anglicans, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists, etc.
Philippines
The Philippines is mainly a Christian country (since the 16th century). The vast majority of the Filipino population adheres to Christianity. The bulk of Filipino Christians are Catholics (84% of the country's total population). In 1901, the Philippine Independent Church, sometimes called the Aglipayan Church after its founder Bishop Aglipay, broke away from Roman Catholicism. It unites 5% of the population. This church is the most influential in Luzon.
Protestants make up 6% of the population. Followers of the largest Protestant church organization - the United Church of Christ on
The Philippines (the church united the Reformed, Presbyterians and some other Protestant groups) has 475 thousand people. Among other Protestants, first of all, Methodists, Seventh-day Adventists, and Baptists should be noted. Smaller groups form the Anglicans, different groups Pentecostals, members of the Philippine Missionary Churches of Christ.
Currently, several groups of religions are widespread among the peoples of the African continent: local traditional cults and religions, Islam, Christianity, to a lesser extent Hinduism, Judaism and some others.
A special place is occupied by syncretic Christian-African churches and sects.
The spread of Christianity in Africa began in the 2nd century. AD
It initially spread to Egypt and Ethiopia, and then along the coast of North Africa. At the beginning of the 4th century. A movement arose among Christians in Africa to create an African church independent of Rome. In the 5th century the Monophysite Church was formed, uniting Christians of Egypt and
Ethiopia. From the 7th century In North Africa, Christianity is gradually being replaced by Islam. At present, original Christianity has been preserved only among part of the local population of Egypt, among the majority of the population of Ethiopia, etc. small group in Sudan.
In the 15th century, with the arrival of the Portuguese conquerors, the second period of the spread of Christianity began in Africa, but in a Western direction. Catholic missionaries appear along with the conquistadors. The first attempts to Christianize Africans were made on the Guinea coast, but they were ineffective. The activities of missionaries in
Congo, but here Christianity spread mainly among the tribal aristocracy. During the XVI-XVIII centuries. Christian missionaries made repeated attempts to spread their influence to the peoples of Africa, but to no avail.
The third stage in the spread of Christianity in Africa begins in the middle
XIX century This was a period of colonial expansion, when Western European countries began to seize vast territories on the African continent. At this time, missionary activity sharply intensifies. The Roman Catholic Church creates special orders and missionary societies.
After the Second World War, the fourth period in the history of the Christianization of Africa begins. This period takes place in conditions of a general crisis of the colonial system and the achievement of independence by many African countries.
Of the Protestant organizations of churches and sects, the Dutch Reformed were the earliest to begin missionary activity in Africa - from the middle of the 17th century. in the south of the continent, Anglicans and Methodists - from the beginning of the 19th century.
Christianity is currently professed by 85 million people. About 8 million of them are immigrants from Europe or their descendants. Adherents of certain directions in Christianity are distributed as follows: Catholics - over 38%, Protestants - about 37%, Monophysites - more than 24%, the rest - Orthodox and Uniates. Christians are most concentrated in countries
East Africa - over a third (35% of the population), the same in West
Africa. In South Africa, Christians make up a quarter of the region's population, and there are about three times fewer Catholics than Protestants. Half of all African Protestants come from two countries - South Africa (27%) and Nigeria (22%).
Christian African churches and sects are organizations that broke away from Western churches and sects and created their own dogma, their own rituals, ceremonies, etc., combining traditional elements of beliefs and cults with elements of Christianity.
According to some estimates, there are 9 million adherents of Christian African churches and sects throughout Tropical Africa, which is 3% of the population of this region.
Before the start of European colonization, the indigenous population of America (various groups of Indians, as well as the Eskimos) adhered to various local cults. Totemistic beliefs persisted among many Indian peoples. Magic performances played a significant role.
Since the time of European colonization (i.e., from the end of the 15th century), Christianity began to gradually penetrate into America. In Central and South America, where the Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors mainly operated, Christianity penetrated in the form of Catholicism; in North America, which was under the control of the British, French and Dutch, Protestantism was introduced along with Catholicism.
Currently, the vast majority of the American population is Christian.
South America is heavily dominated by Catholics. They make up the majority of the population in all countries, with the exception of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), where Protestantism is widespread, as well as Guyana and Suriname, which are distinguished by their diverse religious composition. Catholicism is the main religion also in all countries Central America and in Mexico. IN
In the West Indies, the religious composition varies markedly from island to island. In countries formerly belonging to Spain and France (Cuba, Puerto Rico,
Dominican Republic, Haiti, etc.), as well as in the current French colonies (Guadeloupe, Martinique), the majority of residents adhere to Catholicism, while in countries that have been under domination for a long time
Great Britain (Jamaica, Barbados, etc.), the bulk of the inhabitants are Protestants. There are many Protestants and Catholics in the USA and Canada, but the first place in the number of believers in these two states still belongs to Protestantism.
There are relatively few followers of local cults left in America, and their number is constantly decreasing (due to converts to the Christian faith).
USA
The picture of the religious affiliation of the population in the United States is very complex. In terms of the abundance of sects and independent church organizations, this country ranks first in the world. Although almost all church groups in the United States keep systematic records of their membership, determining the religious composition of the population is very difficult. They lie in the fact that US churches and sects adhere to different criteria when determining the number of their members. Thus, the Roman Catholic Church, and more recently also
The Episcopal Church and many Lutheran church organizations count all those who are baptized. Jewish communities consider all Jews to be members.
The majority of Protestant organizations shows the number of only
“full members”, i.e. persons who have reached a certain (usually 13 years of age) age. This shows that official data on the number of various religious groups in many cases do not make it possible to determine the proportion of a particular religious group in the entire population countries.
Of the individual church organizations, the largest number of followers has
Roman Catholic Church. Catholics in the United States are primarily descendants of immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Poland and other countries with a predominantly Catholic population. In addition to Catholics of the Latin rite in the United States, there are also Catholics of the Eastern rites (the so-called Uniates). Among the Uniates, Greek Catholics predominate. The overwhelming majority are Ukrainians, Romanians, Italian Greeks, Hungarians, Croats, a small number of Belarusians and Russians.
Baptists form the largest group among US Protestants. There are 27.1 million full members of Baptist communities. They are united by a number of independent church organizations, of which the more or less significant are
Southern Baptist Convention (13,790 thousand members).
There are a number of Old Catholic church organizations in the United States. The largest of them is
North American Old Roman Catholic Church (English Rite)
- numbers 61 thousand. In addition, the country also has the Polish National Catholic Church, which is Old Catholic in its doctrine.
There are 4.9 million followers of Orthodoxy in the United States.
However, there is no single Orthodox Church in the country, but there is a significant number of separate Orthodox national churches, and sometimes even within the same national group the Orthodox are fragmented into several church organizations.
The vast majority of the population (89%) are Catholics. Protestants make up about 4% of the population, among them most are Baptists (363 thousand) and Presbyterians (233 thousand). There are also followers of the Swedish Free Mission (80 thousand), Seventh-day Adventists (53 thousand), Methodists (40 thousand), and various Pentecostal groups.
Brazil
In Brazil, the largest Latin American country, Catholics make up the majority of the population (90%). There are 7.9 million Protestants in this country.
The largest group is formed by Lutherans (2.1 million, mostly Germans). In addition, there are Baptists (1.1 million).
Venezuela
In Venezuela, Catholics also make up the majority of the population (96%).
There are few Protestants.
Colombia
In Colombia, the Roman Catholic Church is considered the state church. 96% of the total population belongs to it. The total number of Protestants is 90 thousand people. The largest Protestant groups are the Seventh-day Adventists
(16 thousand), Presbyterians (15 thousand), followers of the Evangelical churches
(11 thousand), Baptists (10 thousand), Pentecostals.
In Ecuador, the vast majority of the population belongs to Catholicism
(94%). Protestants - 19 thousand. A significant part of them are followers
Christian and Missionary Alliance.
The majority of Peru's population (93%) is Catholic. Protestants -128 thousand.
Of the Protestant groups, the most significant are the Seventh-day Adventists
(33 thousand), Pentecostals (12 thousand, including the Assemblies of God - 7 thousand,
Pentecostal autonomous churches - 5 thousand), Methodists (9 thousand). adherents of the Peruvian Evangelical Church (8 thousand), Nazarenes (5 thousand), Baptists (5 thousand), followers of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (4 thousand), Presbyterians (3 thousand), Lutherans (3 thousand), adherents Pilgrimage Church of Holiness (2 thousand), 5 thousand Jews also live in Peru.
In Bolivia, the majority of the population (94%) is Catholic. Lives in the country
43 thousand Protestants. The most numerous of them are Seventh-day Adventists (11 thousand), Baptists (8 thousand), Quakers (6 thousand), followers
Bolivian Indian Mission (6 thousand), Methodists (3 thousand), Pentecostals (3 thousand, including followers of the Assemblies of God - 2 thousand), Nazarenes (2 thousand). There are 750 Jews in Bolivia.
In Chile, the majority (86%) of the inhabitants belong to Catholicism. According to church organizations, Protestants are 880 thousand. The main group of Chilean Protestants are Pentecostals (according to official church sources, 700 thousand).
Argentina
In Argentina, the majority of the population (92%) is Catholic.
There are over 400 thousand Protestants in this country. Of these, 188 thousand are Lutherans.
(mostly Germans and Danes).
Paraguay
In Paraguay, Catholicism is the state religion. Catholics make up the majority (about 90%) of the population. Protestants - 25 thousand.
The largest groups are formed by Baptists (11 thousand).
AUSTRALIA AND OCEANIA
By the time Europeans entered Australia and Oceania, the population of this part of the world adhered to various local cults. Australia and Oceania were home to a large number of peoples and tribes that differed markedly from each other both in their level of socio-economic development and in their economic and cultural characteristics. Because of this, the traditional beliefs of the Australian and Oceanic peoples were quite diverse.
Traditional beliefs in most of Australia and Oceania were gradually replaced by Christianity, which began to spread following the penetration of colonialists. The earliest missionary work began was in the Mariana Islands. Already in the second half of the 15th century. Catholic missionaries arrived on individual islands of this archipelago, accompanied by Spanish soldiers. Preachers who belonged to the Jesuit order began to unceremoniously interfere in the lives of the indigenous people and made repeated attempts to forcibly baptize their children. When the islanders began to resist the annoying “guests,” the Jesuits used the soldiers who arrived with them to mercilessly kill the local residents. The bloodbath led to the almost complete extermination of the adult male population of the Mariana Islands.
Protestant missionaries entered this part of the world much later.
The first attempts to begin missionary work in Oceania were made by Protestants at the end of the 18th century, when individual preachers landed on the islands of Tonga and Society. However, the widespread development of missionary activities
(both Protestant and Catholic) received only in the 19th century, when they settled on all more or less significant Oceanic islands and atolls.
Very quickly, intense rivalry arose between Protestant and Catholic missionaries. Rival ministers of religion set their adherents against each other, which led to bloody clashes in some archipelagos. A particularly fierce struggle between Catholics and Protestants took place on the islands of Society, Wallis, Rotuma, and Loyalty.
The missionaries are rightly called the harbingers of the colonial enslavement of the Oceanian peoples. It was they who prepared the colonial seizure of many of the archipelagos of Oceania.
Wherever missionaries appeared, they tried to completely eradicate the old pagan culture and introduce Christian customs, often completely alien to the aborigines. In this effort, preachers often reached the point of complete obscurantism. For example, Spanish missionaries on Easter Island destroyed most of the tablets with the ancient writing of the islanders.
Of course, all this does not mean that among the missionaries there were no honest people who treated the indigenous population well and sincerely wished them well.
It should also be noted that some aspects of missionary work (for example, teaching the islanders to read and write) objectively contributed to raising the cultural level of local residents. However, in general, the activities of missionaries in
Oceania should be rated negatively.
As already indicated, at present the vast majority of the indigenous population of Australia and Oceania are Christians. It should, however, be emphasized that very often the affiliation of local residents with the Christian religion is very formal. They usually do not delve into the intricacies of religious doctrine and, moreover, often remain faithful to their ancient traditions and rituals. Often, especially among peoples who have recently converted to Christianity, one can observe a kind of dual faith, when the prescriptions of both the old and the new religion are observed.
The above-mentioned struggle between Protestants and Catholics brought more victories to the former than to the latter. In addition, among those who immigrated to Australia and
In the oceans of Europeans, Protestants outnumbered Catholics. As a result, Protestantism became more influential than Catholicism in this part of the world. At the same time, Protestants, unlike Catholics, as is known, do not represent unity in organizational terms, but are divided into a significant number of movements and sects. In Australia and Oceania, the most influential Protestant movements are Anglicanism, Methodism, Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, Reformedness, and Congregationalism.
There are also Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, Pentecostals and other Protestant sects.
Protestantism is adhered to by the entire population of Pitcairn, the majority of the Christian population of Australia, New Zealand, Norfolk, Papua New
Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Nauru, Tuvalu, Tokelau,
Western and Eastern Samoa, Tonga, Niue, Cook Islands, French
Polynesia, slightly more than half of the Christians of Kiribati and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, a significant part of the inhabitants of New
Caledonia (together with its subordinate islands) and Hawaii.
The Anglican Church is the most significant Protestant movement in Australia and Oceania in terms of the number of its adherents. The vast majority of Anglicans are descendants of English settlers in Australia and
New Zealand. Anglicanism also occupies a leading position in Norfolk. Among the indigenous population, there are significant Anglican groups in Melanesia - primarily in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.
There are quite a lot of Methodists in New Zealand, they sharply predominate among Christians in Fiji and Tonga.
Presbyterians are most numerous in New Zealand and also in Vanuatu
(In this country Presbyterianism ranks first in the number of followers).
Christianity today.
Over the centuries of the spread of Christianity throughout the world, it has assimilated into different cultures, often displacing old pagan beliefs.
Every year we receive more and more accurate information about the state of affairs in Christendom. However, it should be noted that every church has more members than active believers, and in some cases membership turns out to be purely symbolic. The number of people who regularly attend church in Britain (less than 10%) is lower than in many other countries, but repeated surveys confirm that around 70% of people profess to believe in God and pray regularly.
In the United States, about 42% of the population regularly goes to church. In Italy, about 33% of residents regularly attend mass, and 85% claim membership in the Roman Catholic Church. In France, the church is regularly attended by about
13% of the population.
Christianity originated in the Middle East and also appeared in North Africa in its earliest stages. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, there was a noticeable revival of the missionary movement; as a result, the Christian Church took root on all continents and exists in almost all countries. The Christian faith continues to spread, but the center of gravity is rapidly shifting: from Europe and (to a lesser extent) the USA to Africa,
Asia and Latin America. Demographic trends in these countries suggest that the 21st century church will be increasingly composed of younger, more energetic, and poorer people who are not white.
Modern problems.
Over the past few decades, churches have been involved in debates on the following topics:
-Is a “just war” possible in the nuclear era;
-terrorism: whether the “freedom fighter” is a soldier or a criminal;
-population explosion: food and other resources, world trade and “third world” debts;
-ecology and integrity of Creation;
- drug abuse;
-human sexuality, including homosexuality;
-pregnancy: status and protection of the human embryo;
- animal rights;
-marriage, cohabitation, divorce and family problems;
-AIDS, the problem of abortion;
-living in a society where there are many cultures and beliefs.
Conclusion
Dogmas are eternal and inexhaustible. The stages of their revelation in the consciousness and history of the church, definitions, are milestones on which are inscribed guiding, unmistakable instructions on where and how living Christian thought, individual and collective, should confidently and safely go. The history of religion, and in particular Christianity, is the unfolding of the stages of the ever-increasing revelation of God in the destinies of earthly humanity, and even more precisely - in the destinies of some of its parts, i.e. individual peoples.
Getting acquainted with the official history of the development of the Earth, we see how, against the backdrop of constant wars and struggles for power, teachings appear that try to show each person his true face, goals and objectives, and place in cosmic evolution. Such teachings are world religions, and in particular Christianity: they adhere to it and, I think, will adhere to it for many years and maybe even centuries.
Bibliography:
1. Encyclopedia for children (religions of the world). Publ. “Avanta+” 1996
2. Religions of the world. Publishing house “Enlightenment” 1994
3. “Christianity.” Publishing house Bargain. "Grand" house 1998
4. The search for hope and the spirit of consolation (essays on the history of religion). Publishing house
MSHA 1991
5. An atheist's handbook. 8th edition.
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