When the new covenant appeared. What is the new covenant

The Bible is one of the oldest records of the wisdom of mankind. For Christians, this book is the revelation of the Lord, the Holy Scriptures and the main guide in life. Studying this book is a must spiritual development both the believer and the non-believer. Today, the Bible is the most popular book in the world, with over 6 million copies in total.

In addition to Christians, adherents of a number of other religions recognize the sacredness and divine inspiration of certain biblical texts: Jews, Muslims, Baha'is.

The structure of the Bible. Old and New Testament

As you know, the Bible is not a homogeneous book, but a collection of a number of narratives. They reflect the history of the Jewish (God's chosen) people, the activities of Jesus Christ, moral teachings and prophecies about the future of mankind.

When we talk about the structure of the Bible, two main parts should be distinguished: the Old Testament and the New Testament.

– general Holy Bible for Judaism and Christianity. The books of the Old Testament were created between the 13th and 1st centuries BC. The text of these books has come down to us in the form of lists in a number of ancient languages: Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin.

In Christian doctrine there is the concept of "canon". Those writings that the church has recognized as inspired by God are called canonical. Depending on the denomination, a different number of texts of the Old Testament are recognized as canonical. For example, Orthodox Christians recognize 50 scriptures as canonical, Catholics 45, and Protestants 39.

In addition to the Christian, there is also a Jewish canon. Jews recognize as canonical the Torah (Pentateuch of Moses), Nevi'im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Scriptures). It is believed that Moses was the first to write the Torah directly. All three books form the Tanakh - the "Jewish Bible" and are the basis of the Old Testament.

This section of the Holy Letter tells about the first days of mankind, the Flood and the further history of the Jewish people. The narrative "brings" the reader to the last days before the birth of the Messiah - Jesus Christ.

There have been discussions among theologians for a very long time whether Christians need to observe the Law of Moses (ie, the prescriptions given by the Old Testament). Most theologians are still of the opinion that the sacrifice of Jesus made it unnecessary for us to comply with the requirements of the Pentateuch. A certain part of the researchers came to the opposite. For example, Seventh-day Adventists keep the Sabbath and do not eat pork.

The New Testament plays a much more important role in the life of Christians.

is the second part of the Bible. It consists of four canonical gospels. The first manuscripts date back to the beginning of the 1st century AD, the latest - to the 4th century.

In addition to the four canonical gospels (from Mark, Luke, Matthew, John), there are a number of apocrypha. They touch on previously unknown facets of the life of Christ. For example, some of these books describe the youth of Jesus (canonical - only childhood and maturity).

Actually, the New Testament describes the life and deeds of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Savior. Evangelists describe the miracles performed by the Messiah, his sermons, as well as the finale - martyrdom on the cross, which atoned for the sins of mankind.

In addition to the Gospels, the New Testament contains the book of the Acts of the Apostles, the epistles and the Revelation of John the Theologian (Apocalypse).

Acts tell about the birth and development of the church after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In fact, this book is a historical chronicle (real people are often mentioned) and a geography textbook: territories from Palestine to Western Europe. The apostle Luke is considered its author.

The second part of the Acts of the Apostles tells of Paul's missionary work and ends with his arrival in Rome. The book also answers a number of theoretical questions, such as circumcision among Christians or the observance of the Law of Moses.

Apocalypse These are the visions recorded by John that the Lord gave him. This book tells about the end of the world and the Last Judgment- the final point of the existence of this world. Jesus himself will judge mankind. The righteous, resurrected in the flesh, will receive eternal heavenly life with the Lord, and sinners will go into eternal fire.

The Revelation of John the Theologian is the most mystical part of the New Testament. The text is overflowing with occult symbols: Woman clothed in the sun, number 666, horsemen of the Apocalypse. For a certain time, precisely because of this, the churches were afraid to bring the book into the canon.

What is the gospel?

As already known, the Gospel is a description of the life path of Christ.

Why did some of the Gospels become canonical, while others did not? The fact is that these four Gospels have practically no contradictions, but simply describe slightly different events. If the writing of a certain book by the apostle is not questioned, then the church does not prohibit acquaintance with the apocrypha. But such a gospel cannot become a moral guide for a Christian either.

There is an opinion that all the canonical Gospels were written by the disciples of Christ (the apostles). In fact, this is not so: for example, Mark was a disciple of the Apostle Paul and is one of the seventy Equal-to-the-Apostles. Many religious dissidents and conspiracy theorists believe that the churchmen deliberately hid the true teachings of Jesus Christ from people.

In response to such statements, representatives of traditional Christian churches (Catholic, Orthodox, some Protestant) respond that first you need to figure out which text can be considered the Gospel. It was to facilitate the spiritual search of a Christian that a canon was created that protects the soul from heresies and falsifications.

So what's the difference

Considering the foregoing, it is easy to determine how the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Gospel are still different. The Old Testament describes events before the birth of Jesus Christ: the creation of man, the Flood, Moses receiving the law. The New Testament contains a description of the coming of the Messiah and the future of mankind. The gospel is the main structural unit of the New Testament, directly talking about life path the savior of mankind - Jesus Christ. It is because of the sacrifice of Jesus that Christians are now able to disobey the laws of the Old Testament: this obligation has been redeemed.

Today we have the New Testament. Then we start looking at it.

Interpretation of the New Testament

The name "New Testament" comes from Latin name“Novum Testametum”, which in turn is a translation from the Greek “He caine Diatheke”.

The Greek term was used more in the sense of "last will or testament". Since it is the "testament" that is the most the best example this document, the Latin word “Testamentum” was used, which in Russian translation is “Testament”.

Covenant It is a contract that includes two active parties. The covenant obliges to fulfill the promise to both parties, without the right to make a mistake.

An example of such a covenant is the place in Scripture, which describes the adoption of the law by the people of Israel on Mount Sinai. It follows from this that the New Testament is a description of a new contract between God and people, through Jesus Christ. The Lord God puts forward conditions that a person can accept or reject, but cannot influence their changes.

At the time when a person accepts the terms of the covenant, then together with God they are obliged to fulfill all the requirements according to the concluded “contract”.

God gives us a choice. Lets go in free swimming. But he always lends a helping hand

“The New Testament embodies the revelation of the holiness of God in a perfectly righteous Son, who gives those who receive this revelation the authority to be sons of God by making them righteous” ( John 1:12 ).

The covenant consists of 27 parts written nine different authors. These documents were written over a period of 50 years, probably between 45 and 100 AD.

NEW TESTAMENT- a theological term that, like the Old Testament, contains a double concept, meaning: 1) an agreement between God and man and 2) a collection of texts that are an expression of this agreement. According to A.P. Lopukhin, in the first sense, N.Z. represents the establishment of such a relationship between God and man, according to which man, redeemed from original sin and its consequences by the voluntary death of Jesus Christ, entered into a completely different phase of development and, having passed from a slavish, subordinate state to a free state of sonship and grace, he received new strength to achieve the ideal of moral perfection set for him. AT ancient world the relationship between God and man was based, as it were, on the ordinary conditions of a legal contract, and the development of mankind was placed, as it were, in ordinary earthly conditions; in the NZ this human development was recognized as insufficient. Man, powerless to save himself, was saved by the God-man, who took upon himself the sin of the whole world, and therefore his subsequent development is no longer conditioned only by the fulfillment of the precepts of the law; a new principle is put forward - faith as a means of actively assimilating the redemptive merits of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament was limited to one chosen people and expressed in an earthly theocracy; NZ proclaimed a law of grace for all mankind; hence his theocracy received a different meaning - a spiritual "kingdom not of this world." Both covenants have corresponding legislation; The Old Testament found its main expression in the Decalogue, or the Ten Commandments, with their accompanying moral and ceremonial decrees, NZ - in the Sermon on the Mount of Jesus Christ.

In the second sense, the New Testament refers to a collection of books in which the entire history of the founding of the New Testament Church, as well as the foundations of its doctrine, is set forth. These books fall into three classes: 1) historical, 2) instructive, and 3) prophetic. The first include the four Gospels and the book of the Acts of the Apostles, the second - seven conciliar epistles (Ap. 2 Peter, Apostle 3 John, one each by Apostle James and Apostle Jude) and 14 epistles of St. app. Paul: Romans, Corinthians (2), Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians (2), Timothy (2), Titus, Philemon and Hebrews. The prophetic book is the Apocalypse, or the Revelations of John the Evangelist. The collection of these books constitutes the New Testament canon.

More about N.Z.: Gospel, Hebrews Epistle, Ephesians, James Epistle, John First Epistle, John Second Epistle, John the Third Epistle, Jude Epistle, Messages, Apocalypse, Jesus Christ, Maria, John the Baptist, John the Evangelist, Jacob Alfeev, James Zebedee, Jacob the Righteous, Judas Apostle; Judas, brother of Jesus; Judas Iscariot.

Definitions, meanings of the word in other dictionaries:

A large dictionary of esoteric terms - edited by d.m.s. Stepanov A.M.

Christianity is by far the most widespread religion in the world. According to international statistics, the number of its adherents exceeds two billion people, that is, about a third of the entire population of the globe. It is not surprising that it was this religion that gave the world the most replicated and famous book - the Bible. Christians, in terms of the number of copies and sales, has been leading the TOP bestsellers for one and a half thousand years.

Composition of the Bible

Not everyone knows that the word "bible" is just plural form The Greek word "vivlos" means "book". Thus, we are not talking about a single work, but about a collection of texts belonging to different authors and written in different eras. The extreme time thresholds are estimated as follows: from the XIV century. BC e. according to the II century. n. e.

The Bible consists of two main parts, which in Christian terminology are called the Old Testament and the New Testament. Among the adherents of the church, the latter prevails in its significance.

Old Testament

The first and largest part of the Christian Scriptures formed long before the Old Testament Books are also called the Hebrew Bible, as they are sacred in Judaism. Of course, for them the adjective "old" in relation to their writing is categorically unacceptable. Tanakh (as it is called in their environment) is eternal, unchanging and universal.

This collection consists of four (according to the Christian classification) parts, which bear the following names:

1. Legislative books.
2. Historical books.
3. Teaching books.
4. Prophetic books.

Each of these sections contains a certain number of texts, and in different branches of Christianity there may be a different number of them. Some books of the Old Testament can also be combined or divided among themselves and within themselves. The main version is considered to be an edition consisting of 39 titles of various texts. The most important part of the Tanakh is the so-called Torah, which consists of the first five books. Religious tradition claims that its author is the prophet Moses. The Old Testament was finally formed around the middle of the first millennium BC. e., and in our era is accepted as a sacred document in all branches of Christianity, except for most Gnostic schools and the Church of Marcion.

New Testament

As for the New Testament, it is a collection of works born in the bowels of the emerging Christianity. It consists of 27 books, the most important of which are the first four texts, called the Gospels. The latter are biographies of Jesus Christ. The rest of the books are the letters of the apostles, the book of Acts, which tells about the early years of the life of the church, and the prophetic book of Revelation.

The Christian canon was formed in this form by the fourth century. Prior to this, many other texts were distributed among various groups of Christians, and even revered as sacred. But a number of church councils and episcopal definitions legitimized only these books, recognizing all the rest as false and offensive to God. After that, the "wrong" texts began to be massively destroyed.

The process of canon unification was initiated by a group of theologians who opposed the teachings of presbyter Marcion. The latter, for the first time in the history of the church, proclaimed a canon of sacred texts, rejecting almost all the books of the Old and New Testaments (in its modern edition) with a few exceptions. To neutralize their opponent's preaching, church authorities formally legitimized and sacramentalized the more traditional set of scriptures.

However, in different Old Testament and New Testament have various options text codification. There are also some books that are accepted in one tradition but rejected in another.

The doctrine of the inspiration of the Bible

The very essence of sacred texts in Christianity is revealed in the doctrine of inspiration. The Bible - the Old and New Testaments - is important for believers, because they are sure that God himself led the writers of sacred works, and the words of the scriptures are literally a divine revelation that he conveys to the world, the church and each person personally. This belief that the Bible is God's letter addressed directly to every person encourages Christians to constantly study it and look for hidden meanings.

Apocrypha

During the development and formation of the canon of the Bible, many of the books that were originally included in it later turned out to be "overboard" of church orthodoxy. This fate befell such works as, for example, Hermas the Shepherd and the Didache. Many different gospels and apostolic letters were declared false and heretical only because they did not fit into the new theological trends of the orthodox church. All these texts are united by the general term "apocrypha", which means, on the one hand, "false" and, on the other hand, "secret" writings. But it was not possible to completely eradicate the traces of objectionable texts - in canonical works there are allusions and hiding quotes from them. For example, it is likely that the lost and rediscovered Gospel of Thomas in the 20th century served as one of the primary sources for the sayings of Christ in the canonical gospels. And the generally accepted Judas (not Iscariot) directly contains quotations with references to the apocryphal book of the prophet Enoch, while asserting its prophetic dignity and authenticity.

Old Testament and New Testament - the unity and differences of the two canons

So, we found out that the Bible is made up of two collections of books of different authors and times. And although Christian theology considers the Old Testament and the New Testament as one, interpreting them through each other and establishing hidden allusions, predictions, types and typological connections, not everyone in the Christian community is inclined to such an identical assessment of the two canons. Marcion did not reject the Old Testament out of nowhere. Among his lost works were the so-called "Antitheses", where he contrasted the teachings of the Tanakh with the teachings of Christ. The fruit of this distinction was the doctrine of two gods - the Jewish evil and capricious demiurge and the all-good God the Father, whom Christ preached.

Indeed, the images of God in these two testaments differ significantly. In the Old Testament, he is presented as a vengeful, strict, harsh ruler not without racial prejudice, as one would say today. In the New Testament, on the contrary, God is more tolerant, merciful, and generally prefers to forgive rather than punish. However, this is a somewhat simplified scheme, and if you wish, you can find the opposite arguments in relation to both texts. Historically, however, churches that did not accept the authority of the Old Testament ceased to exist, and today Christendom is represented in this respect by only one tradition, apart from various reconstructed groups of Neo-Gnostics and Neo-Marcionites.

Story

In pre-Christian times, the same concept of the New Testament, or the New Union (in the sense of union with God) was used by members of the Jewish Qumran community in relation to themselves.

The earliest texts of the New Testament are considered to be the Epistles of the Apostle Paul, and the most recent are the works of John the Evangelist. Irenaeus of Lyons believed that the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Mark were written at the time when the apostles Peter and Paul were preaching in Rome (60s AD), and the Gospel of Luke a little later. In addition, according to Jerome: “Matthew ... was the first in Judea for those who believed from circumcision, compiled the Gospel of Christ, in Hebrew letters and words, who then translated it into Greek is not well known” (De vuris inlustribus III).

New Testament books

List of New Testament books

Russian title	latin title	Greek title	Reduction			Original language
			Rus.	Full	Min.
Gospel of Matthew	Evangelium secundum Matthaeum	Κατά Ματθαίον	Matt	Mt	Mt	Greek (Koine)
Gospel of Mark	Evangelium secundum Marcum	Κατά Μάρκον	Mk	Mark	M,Mk	Greek (Koine)
Gospel of Luke	Evangelium secundum Lucam	Κατά Λουκάν	OK	Lk	L,Lk	Greek (Koine)
Gospel of John	Evangelium secundum Ioannem	Κατά Ιωάννην	Ying	Jn	Jn, Jo	Greek (Koine)
Acts of the Holy Apostles	Actus Apostolorum	Πράξεις τῶν Ἀποστόλων	Acts	Acts	A	Greek (Koine)
Epistle to the Romans	Epistula ad Romanos	Επιστολή προς Ρωμαίους	Rome	Rom	Ro	Greek (Koine)
1st Epistle to the Corinthians	Epistula I ad Corinthios	Α΄ Επιστολή προς Κορινθίους	1 Cor	1 Cor	1C	Greek (Koine)
2 Corinthians	Epistula II ad Corinthios	Β΄ Επιστολή προς Κορινθίους	2 Cor	2 Cor	2C	Greek (Koine)
Epistle to the Galatians	Epistula ad Galatas	Επιστολή προς Γαλάτες	Gal	Gal	G	Greek (Koine)
Epistle to the Ephesians	Epistula ad Ephesios	Επιστολή προς Εφεσίους	Eph	Eph	E	Greek (Koine)
Epistle to the Philippians	Epistula ad Philippenses	Επιστολή προς Φιλιππησίους	Flp	Phil	Phi	Greek (Koine)
Epistle to the Colossians	Epistula ad Colossenses	Επιστολή προς Κολοσσαείς	Col	Col	C	Greek (Koine)
1st Epistle to the Thessalonians	Epistula I ad Thessalonicenses	Α΄ Επιστολή προς Θεσσαλονικείς	1 Thess, 1 Sol	1 Thess	1Th	Greek (Koine)
2 Thessalonians	Epistula II ad Thessalonicenses	Β΄ Επιστολή προς Θεσσαλονικείς	2Thes, 2Sol	2 Thess	2Th	Greek (Koine)
1st Epistle to Timothy	Epistula I ad Timotheum	Α΄ Επιστολή προς Τιμόθεον	1 Tim	1 Tim	1T	Greek (Koine)
2 Timothy	Epistula II ad Timotheum	Β΄ Επιστολή προς Τιμόθεον	2Tim	2 Tim	2T	Greek (Koine)
Epistle to Titus	Epistula ad Titum	Επιστολή προς Τίτον	Titus	Tit	T	Greek (Koine)
Epistle to Philemon	Epistula ad Philemonem	Επιστολή προς Φιλήμονα	Flm	Filem	P	Greek (Koine)
Hebrews	Epistula ad Hebraeos	Επιστολή προς Εβραίους	EUR	Heb	H	Greek (Koine)
The Epistle of James	Epistula Iacobi	Επιστολή Ιακώβου	Jacob	Jas	Ja	Greek (Koine)
1 Peter	Epistula I Petri	Α΄ Επιστολή Πέτρου	1Pet	1 Pet	1P	Greek (Koine)
2 Peter	Epistula II Petri	Β΄ Επιστολή Πέτρου	2Pet	2 Pet	2P	Greek (Koine)
1st John	Epistula I Ioannis	Α΄ Επιστολή Ιωάννου	1In	1 Jn	1J, 1Jn	Greek (Koine)
2 John	Epistula II Ioannis	Β΄ Επιστολή Ιωάννου	2In	2 Jn	2J, 2Jn	Greek (Koine)
3 John	Epistula III Ioannis	Γ΄ Επιστολή Ιωάννου	3In	3 Jn	3J, 3Jn	Greek (Koine)
The Epistle of Jude	Epistula Judae	Επιστολή Ιούδα	Jude	Jude	J	Greek (Koine)
Revelation of John the Evangelist	Apocalypse Ioannis	Αποκάλυψη του Ιωάννη	open	Rev	R	Greek (Koine)

Canonization of the New Testament

New Testament books were canonized christian church at the Ecumenical Councils. Problems arose only with two books. In the East, the Revelation of John the Theologian was considered too mystical a book (it is still not read at divine services), and in the West they doubted the authorship of one of the Epistles of Paul.

The question of the inclusion of the Apocalypse of John in the canon has long been a matter of great controversy. The local church council of Laodicea (364) approved the New Testament canon in the composition of 26 books that make it up now, without the Apocalypse. After that, the issue of the New Testament canon was discussed at two more local councils, Hippo (393) and Carthage (397), and was finally adopted by the second rule of the Fifth-Sixth Council (Trullo) (692).

A large number of works of original Christian literature have been found to be apocryphal.

Language problem

Early Christianity spoke the language of the society from which it emerged. At the time of Jesus Christ, the most widely spoken languages ​​in the Holy Land were Greek (Koine), Aramaic, and, to a limited extent, Hebrew ( Mishnaic Hebrew), which was used mainly as the language of worship. Most researchers believe that the original texts of the New Testament were written in the Koine Greek dialect, which was the lingua franca in the provinces of the Roman Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 1st century AD. e. The texts were later probably translated from Greek into other languages ​​(Latin, Syriac, Coptic). It has been suggested, including by some of the 3rd century Church Fathers, that the Gospel of Matthew was originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic, while the Epistle to the Hebrews was originally written in Hebrew and then translated by the Evangelist Luke into Greek. However, such assumptions have not found serious support among modern experts, who, based on the literary aspects of the texts of Matthew and the Epistle to the Hebrews, conclude that these works were also directly created in Koine.

A large minority of scholars regard the Aramaic version of the New Testament as the original, and regard the Greek texts as translations. In particular, some sirologists believe that the New Testament was originally written in the Galilean dialect of Aramaic (which is closely related to Syriac).

Textology

The number of known manuscripts of the New Testament far outnumbers that of any other ancient document (24,000 for the New Testament and 643 for the Homer Iliad, the next most known text in the list). At the same time, the time interval between the writing of the original and the date of the earliest surviving manuscript of the New Testament is much shorter than this figure for copies of the works of classical authors (20-30 years for the New Testament versus 1400 years for the most ancient reliable list of Sophocles' plays that are considered to have come down to us). in fact, exactly).

Early manuscripts

The most ancient known surviving manuscripts of texts of the New Testament date back to the year 66 after the birth of Christ (an excerpt from chapter 26 of the Gospel of Matthew) and 125-130 years. The most ancient full list New Testament (in Codex Sinaiticus) - IV century.

The ancient manuscripts of the New Testament texts are generally classified into four types. At the same time, some well-known manuscripts combine elements of several of these types of text:

• The Alexandrian type of text is considered the best and most trustworthy in the preservation of the original. It includes the Vatican Codex 1209, the Codex Sinaiticus, the Bodmer papyrus, and others.
• The Western type of text is characterized by the greatest volume and a tendency to paraphrase. Documents of this type include Beza Code, Washington Code, Claremont Code, etc.
• The Caesarian type of text is considered to be a mixture of Alexandrian and Western types. Among examples of this type is the Code of Corideti.
• The Byzantine type of text represents the form of most manuscripts. Examples of this type include the Gospels in the Codex Alexandrinus, Textus Receptus.

Studying the New Testament

• Textual criticism of the New Testament develops theories of the origin and development of the New Testament text
• Exegesis or exegesis

see also

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Notes

1. S.S. Averintsev. // Philosophical encyclopedia. In 5 volumes - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia. Edited by F. V. Konstantinov. 1960-1970.
2. //Explanatory Bible or a commentary on all the books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Edition of the successors of A. P. Lopukhin. - T. 8. - St. Petersburg. , Free Supplement to the magazine "Wanderer" for 1911. 1911. - S. 1-25.
3. (unavailable link since 14-06-2016 (1016 days)) // Men A.V. Bibliological Dictionary: In 3 vols. - T. 2: K-P. - M .: Alexander Men Foundation. - 2002. - 560 p.: ill.
4. Sventsitskaya I. S.. - M .: Politizdat, 1980. - 198 p.
5. See also Abbreviations of Bible Books.
6. . Retrieved March 10, 2010. .
7. Harris, Stephen L. Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985.
8. Donald Guthrie, New Testament Introduction (Leicester, England: Apollos, 1990), pp. 37-40
9. R. Price - Searching for the Original Bible - 2007 p. 22 - World of the Bible Ministries ISBN 978-0-7369-1054-5
11. G. Ernest Wright. Biblical Archeology. / Biblical Archeology, Philadelphia. - 1960.
12. (The Origin of the Bible, F.F. Bruce, J.I. Packer, Carl F.H. Henry, Philip Comfort, Tyndale House Publishers, 2003)
13. "The first blow dealt to critics of the authenticity of the 4th Gospel was the discovery in 1935 of a fragment of the Ying codex (Papyrus *Ryland No. 457) relating to 125-130." From the Bibliological Dictionary of Priest Alexander Men (published in 3 vols. by the Men Foundation. - St. Petersburg, 2002.) www.krotov.info/library/bible/comm/ioann.html
14. McDowell, Josh. [Text]: source evidence, facts, documents of Christianity: [Translation] / Josh McDowell. - M .: Chicago: Sovaminko: SGP, B.g. (1992). - 318, p. - (To help Bible students). - ISBN 5-85300-038-1
15. (See also A. G. DUNAEV Book review: Carsten Peter Thiede. Jésus selon Matthieu: La nouvelle datation du papyrus Magdalen d'Oxford et l'origine des Évangiles. Examen et discussion des dernières objections scientifiques. P. : François-Xavier de Guibert, 1996 - www.danuvius.orthodoxy.ru/Tiede.htm)

Texts and translations

• (other Greek)
• (1822 edition published by the Russian Bible Society)
• Russian Bible Society (RBS)
• Bishop Cassian
• in Zaoksky (edited by M. P. Kulakov)

Literature

• Bruce M. Metzger., (library of Father Yakov Krotov)
• Vladimirov A., / Apostles. - M.: Belovodie, 2003. - S. 9-25 ISBN 5-93454-037-8
• Lopukhin A.P.,.// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
• Sventsitskaya I., Trofimova M. Apocrypha of ancient Christians

A passage characterizing the New Testament

On the banks, on the dam, in the pond, everywhere there was white, healthy, muscular meat. Officer Timokhin, with a red nose, wiped himself on the dam and felt ashamed when he saw the prince, but decided to turn to him:
- That's good, your Excellency, you would please! - he said.
“Dirty,” said Prince Andrei, grimacing.
We'll clean it up for you. - And Timokhin, not yet dressed, ran to clean.
The prince wants.
- Which? Our prince? - voices began to speak, and everyone hurried so that Prince Andrei managed to calm them down. He thought it better to pour himself in the shed.
“Meat, body, chair a canon [cannon fodder]! - he thought, looking at his naked body, and shuddering not so much from the cold, but from disgust and horror, incomprehensible to him, at the sight of this huge number of bodies rinsing in a dirty pond.
On August 7, Prince Bagration wrote the following in his camp at Mikhailovka on the Smolensk road:
“Dear sir, Count Alexei Andreevich.
(He wrote to Arakcheev, but he knew that his letter would be read by the sovereign, and therefore, as far as he was capable of doing so, he considered his every word.)
I think that the Minister has already reported on leaving Smolensk to the enemy. It hurts, sadly, and the whole army is in despair that the most important place was abandoned in vain. I, for my part, asked him personally in the most convincing way, and finally wrote; but nothing agreed with him. I swear to you on my honor that Napoleon was in such a bag as never before, and he could lose half the army, but not take Smolensk. Our troops have fought and are fighting like never before. I held on with 15,000 for over 35 hours and beat them; but he did not want to stay even 14 hours. It's a shame and a stain on our army; and he himself, it seems to me, should not live in the world. If he conveys that the loss is great, it is not true; maybe about 4 thousand, no more, but not even that. At least ten, how to be, war! But the enemy lost the abyss ...
What was it worth to stay two more days? At least they would have left; for they had no water to drink for men and horses. He gave me his word that he would not retreat, but suddenly sent a disposition that he was leaving into the night. Thus, it is impossible to fight, and we can soon bring the enemy to Moscow ...
Rumor has it that you think about the world. To reconcile, God forbid! After all the donations and after such extravagant retreats, make up your mind: you will turn the whole of Russia against you, and each of us, out of shame, will make him wear a uniform. If it has already gone like this, we must fight while Russia can and while people are on their feet ...
You have to lead one, not two. Your minister may be good in the ministry; but the general is not only bad, but trashy, and he was given the fate of our entire Fatherland ... I, really, go crazy with annoyance; Forgive me for writing boldly. It can be seen that he does not love the sovereign and wishes the death of all of us who advise to make peace and command the army to the minister. So, I am writing you the truth: prepare the militia. For the minister in the most skillful way leads the guest to the capital. Adjutant Wolzogen is giving the whole army a big suspicion. He, they say, is more Napoleonic than ours, and he advises everything to the minister. I am not only courteous against him, but I obey like a corporal, although older than him. It hurts; but, loving my benefactor and sovereign, I obey. It’s only a pity for the sovereign that he entrusts such a glorious army. Imagine that with our retreat we lost people from fatigue and more than 15 thousand in hospitals; and if they had attacked, it would not have happened. Say for God's sake that our Russia - our mother - will say that we are so afraid and why we give such a good and zealous Fatherland to bastards and instill hatred and shame in every subject. What to be afraid of and who to be afraid of?. It's not my fault that the minister is indecisive, a coward, stupid, slow and everything has bad qualities. The whole army is crying completely and scolding him to death ... "

Among the innumerable subdivisions that can be made in the phenomena of life, one can subdivide them all into those in which the content predominates, others in which the form predominates. Among these, in contrast to rural, zemstvo, provincial, even Moscow life, one can include life in St. Petersburg, especially salon life. This life is unchangeable.
Since 1805 we have been reconciling and quarreling with Bonaparte, we have made constitutions and butchered them, and the salon of Anna Pavlovna and the salon of Helene were exactly the same as they had been one seven years, the other five years ago. In the same way, Anna Pavlovna spoke with bewilderment about the successes of Bonaparte and saw, both in his successes and in the indulgence of European sovereigns, a malicious conspiracy, with the sole purpose of unpleasantness and anxiety of that court circle, of which Anna Pavlovna was a representative. In the same way, with Helen, whom Rumyantsev himself honored with his visit and considered a remarkably intelligent woman, just as in 1808, so in 1812, they spoke with enthusiasm about a great nation and a great person and looked with regret at the break with France, which, according to the people who gathered in the salon Helen, should have ended in peace.
Recently, after the arrival of the sovereign from the army, there has been some excitement in these opposing circles in the salons and some demonstrations have been made against each other, but the direction of the circles has remained the same. Only inveterate legitimists from the French were accepted into Anna Pavlovna's circle, and here the patriotic idea was expressed that it was not necessary to go to the French theater and that the maintenance of the troupe cost as much as the maintenance of the whole building. The military events were eagerly followed, and the most beneficial rumors for our army were spread. In Helen's circle, Rumyantsev, French, rumors about the cruelty of the enemy and the war were refuted and all Napoleon's attempts at reconciliation were discussed. In this circle, those who advised too hasty orders to prepare for departure to Kazan court and women's educational institutions, under the auspices of the Empress mother, were reproached. In general, the whole matter of the war was presented in Helen’s salon as empty demonstrations that would very soon end in peace, and the opinion of Bilibin, who was now in St. think they'll solve the problem. In this circle, ironically and very cleverly, although very carefully, they ridiculed the Moscow delight, the news of which arrived with the sovereign in St. Petersburg.
In Anna Pavlovna's circle, on the contrary, they admired these delights and talked about them, as Plutarch says about the ancients. Prince Vasily, who occupied all the same important positions, was the link between the two circles. He went to ma bonne amie [his worthy friend] Anna Pavlovna and went dans le salon diplomatique de ma fille [to his daughter's diplomatic salon] and often, during incessant moving from one camp to another, he got confused and said to Anna Pavlovna that it was necessary to speak with Helen, and vice versa.
Shortly after the arrival of the sovereign, Prince Vasily began talking with Anna Pavlovna about the affairs of the war, cruelly condemning Barclay de Tolly and being indecisive about whom to appoint as commander in chief. One of the guests, known as un homme de beaucoup de merite [a man of great merit], told that he saw Kutuzov, who was now elected head of the St. Petersburg militia, sitting in the state chamber to receive warriors, cautiously expressed the assumption that that Kutuzov would be the person who would satisfy all the requirements.
Anna Pavlovna smiled sadly and noticed that Kutuzov, apart from troubles, had given nothing to the sovereign.
“I spoke and spoke in the Assembly of the Nobility,” interrupted Prince Vasily, “but they did not listen to me. I said that his election to the head of the militia would not please the sovereign. They didn't listen to me.
“It’s all some kind of mania to frond,” he continued. - And before whom? And all because we want to ape stupid Moscow delights, ”said Prince Vasily, confused for a moment and forgetting that Helen had to laugh at Moscow delights, while Anna Pavlovna had to admire them. But he immediately recovered. - Well, is it proper for Count Kutuzov, the oldest general in Russia, to sit in the chamber, et il en restera pour sa peine! [His troubles will be in vain!] Is it possible to appoint a man who cannot sit on horseback, falls asleep at the council, a man of the most bad morals! He proved himself well in Bucarest! I'm not talking about his qualities as a general, but is it possible at such a moment to appoint a decrepit and blind person, just blind? The blind general will be good! He doesn't see anything. Play blind man's blind man... sees absolutely nothing!
Nobody objected to this.
On the 24th of July it was absolutely right. But on July 29, Kutuzov was granted the princely dignity. Princely dignity could also mean that they wanted to get rid of him - and therefore the judgment of Prince Vasily continued to be correct, although he was in no hurry to express it now. But on August 8, a committee was assembled from General Field Marshal Saltykov, Arakcheev, Vyazmitinov, Lopukhin and Kochubey to discuss the affairs of the war. The committee decided that the failures were due to differences of command, and, despite the fact that the persons who made up the committee knew the sovereign's dislike for Kutuzov, the committee, after a short meeting, proposed appointing Kutuzov as commander in chief. And on the same day, Kutuzov was appointed plenipotentiary commander of the armies and the entire region occupied by the troops.
On August 9, Prince Vasily met again at Anna Pavlovna with l "homme de beaucoup de merite [a person of great dignity]. L" homme de beaucoup de merite courted Anna Pavlovna on the occasion of the desire to appoint a female trustee educational institution Empress Maria Feodorovna. Prince Vasily entered the room with the air of a happy winner, a man who had achieved the goal of his desires.
– Eh bien, vous savez la grande nouvelle? Le prince Koutouzoff est marechal. [Well s, you know the great news? Kutuzov - field marshal.] All disagreements are over. I'm so happy, so glad! - said Prince Vasily. – Enfin voila un homme, [Finally, this is a man.] – he said, significantly and sternly looking around at everyone in the living room. L "homme de beaucoup de merite, despite his desire to get a place, could not help but remind Prince Vasily of his previous judgment. (This was impolite both in front of Prince Vasily in Anna Pavlovna's drawing room, and in front of Anna Pavlovna, who was just as joyfully received the news; but he could not resist.)
- Mais on dit qu "il est aveugle, mon prince? [But they say he is blind?] - he said, reminding Prince Vasily of his own words.
- Allez donc, il y voit assez, [Eh, nonsense, he sees enough, believe me.] - said Prince Vasily in his bassy, ​​quick voice with a cough, that voice and cough with which he resolved all difficulties. “Allez, il y voit assez,” he repeated. “And what I am glad about,” he continued, “is that the sovereign has given him complete power over all the armies, over the entire region, a power that no commander in chief has ever had. This is another autocrat,” he concluded with a victorious smile.
“God forbid, God forbid,” said Anna Pavlovna. L "homme de beaucoup de merite, still new to court society, wishing to flatter Anna Pavlovna, shielding her former opinion from this judgment, said.
- They say that the sovereign reluctantly transferred this power to Kutuzov. On dit qu "il rougit comme une demoiselle a laquelle on lirait Joconde, en lui disant: "Le souverain et la patrie vous decernent cet honneur." [They say that he blushed like a young lady who would have read Joconde, while told him: "The sovereign and the fatherland reward you with this honor."]
- Peut etre que la c?ur n "etait pas de la partie, [Maybe the heart did not quite participate,] - said Anna Pavlovna.
“Oh no, no,” Prince Vasily interceded fervently. Now he could not give in to Kutuzov to anyone. According to Prince Vasily, not only Kutuzov was good himself, but everyone adored him. “No, it cannot be, because the sovereign was so able to appreciate him before,” he said.
“God only grant that Prince Kutuzov,” said Anpa Pavlovna, “takes real power and does not allow anyone to put spokes in his wheels—des batons dans les roues.
Prince Vasily immediately realized who this nobody was. He whispered:
- I know for sure that Kutuzov, as an indispensable condition, said that the heir to the Tsarevich should not be with the army: Vous savez ce qu "il a dit a l" Empereur? [Do you know what he said to the sovereign?] - And Prince Vasily repeated the words, as if said by Kutuzov to the sovereign: “I cannot punish him if he does badly, and reward him if he does well.” O! This smartest person, Prince Kutuzov, et quel caractere. Oh je le connais de longue date. [and what character. Oh, I've known him for a long time.]
“They even say,” said l “homme de beaucoup de merite, who still did not have court tact, “that the most illustrious made it an indispensable condition that the sovereign himself did not come to the army.
As soon as he said this, in an instant Prince Vasily and Anna Pavlovna turned away from him and sadly, with a sigh at his naivety, looked at each other.

While this was happening in Petersburg, the French had already passed Smolensk and were moving closer and closer to Moscow. The historian of Napoleon Thiers, like other historians of Napoleon, says, trying to justify his hero, that Napoleon was unwittingly drawn to the walls of Moscow. He is right, as are all historians who seek an explanation of historical events in the will of one person; he is just as right as the Russian historians who assert that Napoleon was attracted to Moscow by the skill of the Russian generals. Here, in addition to the law of retrospectiveness (recurrence), which represents everything that has passed as a preparation for an accomplished fact, there is also reciprocity that confuses the whole thing. A good player who loses at chess is sincerely convinced that his loss was due to his mistake, and he looks for this mistake at the beginning of his game, but forgets that in his every step, throughout the whole game, there were such mistakes that no one his move was not perfect. The error to which he draws attention is noticeable to him only because the enemy took advantage of it. How much more complicated than this is the game of war, taking place under certain conditions of time, and where not only the will directs lifeless machines, but where everything springs from the innumerable clash of different arbitrariness?
After Smolensk, Napoleon was looking for battles for Dorogobuzh at Vyazma, then at Tsarev Zaimishch; but it turned out that due to the innumerable clash of circumstances to Borodino, a hundred and twenty miles from Moscow, the Russians could not accept the battle. From Vyazma, an order was made by Napoleon to move directly to Moscow.
Moscou, la capitale asiatique de ce grand empire, la ville sacree des peuples d "Alexandre, Moscou avec ses innombrables eglises en forme de pagodes chinoises! [Moscow, the Asian capital of this great empire, the sacred city of the peoples of Alexander, Moscow with its countless churches, in the form of Chinese pagodas!] This Moscou haunted Napoleon's imagination. On the march from Vyazma to Tsarev Zaymishch, Napoleon rode on horseback on his nightingal english pacer, accompanied by guards, guards, pages and adjutants. Chief of Staff Berthier lagged behind in order to interrogate a Russian prisoner taken by the cavalry. He galloped, accompanied by the translator Lelorgne d "Ideville, caught up with Napoleon and stopped the horse with a cheerful face.