1

Министерство образования и науки Российской Федерации

Государственное образовательное учреждение

высшего профессионального образования

«Санкт-Петербургский государственный

инженерно-экономический университет»

Посвящается 105-летию

Университета ИНЖЭКОН

И.А. Иванов

ИСТОРИЯ МИРОВЫХ РЕЛИГИЙ

Учебник

на английском языке

Санкт-Петербург

2011

2

УДК 272.111(075)

ББК 86.2я73

И20

Утверждено редакционно-издательским советом СПбГИЭУ в качестве

учебника по спец. 080102

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лов),

к.ф.н., проф. В.И.Данилов (СЗИ(ф)ГАНХиГС при Президенте РФ)

Иванов И.А.

И 20 История религии: учебник на англ. языке / И. А. Иванов. – СПб.:

СПбГИЭУ, 2011. – 359 с.

ISBN

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ISBN © СПбГИЭУ, 2011

3

Introduction

Religion is something that appears to be universal in human cul-

tures. In all the societies that we know about, there is some aspect of

ideology and behavior that we can identify as religious. While not all

people in a given society have the same ideas about religion, it is nev-

ertheless a shared phenomenon that is arguably central to human cul-

tural life.

The subject History of religions is a part of Religious studies –

academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs,

behaviors, and institutions which describes, compares, interprets, and

explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically-based, and

cross-cultural perspectives. So, Religious studies draws upon multiple

disciplines and their methodologies including anthropology, sociolo-

gy, psychology, philosophy, and history of religion. By using cross-

cultural research from all these disciplines, we explore the question of

how religion can be understood as a fundamental experience in human

cultural life.

The History of religions is not concerned with theological claims

apart from their historical significance. Some topics of this discipline

are the historicity of religious figures, events, and the evolution of

doctrinal matters.

Religious studies originated in the nineteenth century, when

scholarly and historical analysis of the Bible had flourished, and Hin-

du and Buddhist texts were first being translated into European lan-

guages. Today Religious studies is practiced by scholars worldwide.

In its early years, it was known as Comparative Religion or the

Science of Religion and, in the USA, there are those who today also

know the field as the History of religion (associated with methodolog-

ical traditions traced to the University of Chicago in general, and in

particular Mircea Eliade, from the late 1950s through to the late

1980s).

The field is known as Religionswissenschaft in Germany and

Sciences de la religion in the French-speaking world. In Russia there

are two different disciplines – Science of Religion (Religiovedenie)

and History of religions. Among representatives of the Russian-

Soviet school of history of religion should be mentioned such names

4

as V. G. Bogoraz, D. Klementz, A. F. Anisimov, F. A. Kudravtsev, S.

A. Tokarev and, T. M. Mikhailov.

As for Science of Religion it is a systematic study of the com-

monalties and differences among the religions of the world; this study

seeks to establish a set of principles and categories that can be used

systematically to understand the universal and particular features of

religions (in the plural) and to determine whether they are sub-types of

religion (in the singluar).

On the other hand historians of religion take yet a different ap-

proach. They seek to understand what religious people claim and what

religions are about, partly by talking to religious people, partly by

studying religions historically, and partly by comparing religions with

one another. They put the question of religious truth to one side and

consider religion simply as something human beings say and do.

(However, many historians of religion have hoped eventually to dis-

cover religious truth as well.) Historians of religion sometimes say

that in putting aside the question whether the claims of religion are

true, they are ―bracketing‖ it. They borrow this term loosely from a

field in philosophy known as phenomenology, which talks about

―phenomena‖ – that is, about ―what appears‖ to the senses and the

mind – rather than about whether those appearances are true. The Brit-

ish-American scholar of religions Ninian Smart (1927–2001) once re-

ferred to this attitude as ―methodological agnosticism‖: Scholars are

free to believe what they will, but as scholars they think as if they

were agnostics. In treating religion this way, historians of religion

generally claim that there is something called religion which is sui ge-

neris, a Latin phrase meaning ―in a class by itself.‖

These scholars mean that just as it is possible to study society as

society, literature as literature, and music as music, so it is possible to

study religion in and of itself, rather than as belonging to some other fi

eld such as psychology or sociology. The Rumanian-born French-

American historian of religion, Mircea Eliade (1907–86), once put it

this way: ―a religious phenomenon will only be recognized as such if

it is grasped at its own level, that is to say, if it is studied as something

religious. To try to grasp the essence of such a phenomenon by means

of physiology, psychology, sociology, economics, linguistics, art or

any other study is false; it misses the one unique and irreducible ele-

ment in it – the element of the sacred‖ (Patterns in Comparative Reli-

5

gion, p. 13). A word that is often used in these discussions is reduc-

tionism. Historians of religion reject any approach that tries to ―re-

duce‖ religion to religion, history of something that is not religion.

Many people find that this position makes sense, but many scholars

find it debatable. Historians of religion are interested in any way of

understanding religion that adopts this position. Most historians of re-

ligion have also been interested in psychology, sociology, and anthro-

pology. What they have meant by the psychology and sociology of re-

ligion has, however, often been somewhat different from the kinds of

psychology and sociology taught in American high schools and uni-

versities.1

As it is well known, it was the 19th century English anthropolo-

gist, Sir Edward Tylor, who first coined the term animism for the ear-

liest period of magico-religious thinking. In his 1871 work ―Primitive

Culture‖ Tylor made the distinction between the concepts soul and

spirit, declaring that only human beings had soul, while spirit was an

abstract notion that could be related to a wide spectrum of natural

phenomena2. The English scholar was of the opinion that animism

must have developed from the dream experience, where people gener-

ally feel as if they existed independently of their bodies, flying. In

short, the soul takes "journeys" outside the body. During such dream

journeys they could see dead relatives, friends, or their spirits. This

Tylor‘s notion of religion as a belief in souls and spirits was reformu-

lated by James George Frazer as ―a belief in powers higher than man

and an attempt to propitiate or please them‖.

Before Religious studies became a field in its own right (e.g.,

flourishing in the US as of the late-1960s), several key intellectual

figures explored religion from a variety of perspectives. One of these

figures was the famous pragmatist William James. His book The Va-

rieties of Religious Experience examined religion from a psychologi-

cal-philosophical perspective and is still influential today. His essay

The Will to Believe defends the rationality of faith. A German sociolo-

gist Max Weber studied religion from an economic perspective in

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905), his most 1 The Encyclopedia of world religions / Robert S. Ellwood, general editor; Gregory D. Alles,

associate editor. New York – DWJ Books LLC – 2007. P.379. 2 Tylor E. B. Primitive Culture, vol. 2. London. 1871. PP. 194-195.

6

famous work. As a major figure in sociology, he has no doubt influ-

enced later sociologists of religion. Emile Durkheim also holds con-

tinuing influence as one of the fathers of sociology. He explored Prot-

estant and Catholic attitudes and doctrines regarding suicide in his

work Suicide. In 1912 he published his most memorable work on reli-

gion, Elementary Forms of the Religious Life in which he defined reli-

gion as ―a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred

things, that is to say set apart and forbidden, beliefs and practices

which unite into one single moral community, called a church, all

those who adhere to them.‖ This definition, which also includes some

reference to beliefs in its idea of the sacred, particularly emphasizes

the way religion works to keep people together, giving them a sense of

community.

A more modern version of this idea is that offered by Clifford

Geertz, in his 1966 article “Religion as a Cultural System”. He saw

religion as ―(1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish power-

ful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3)

formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) cloth-

ing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the

moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.‖ Rather like Durk-

heim, Geertz sees religion as something that has a function in society,

but his idea of its function is to provide a world view that seems giv-

en, basic, because of its social context and the way it is presented. It is

a view of the world that just ―seems‖ right.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the term religious studies became com-

mon and interest in the field increased. In universities new depart-

ments were founded and influential journals of religious studies were

initiated (for example, Religious Studies and Religion).

In the 1980s, in both Britain and America, the decrease in stu-

dent applications and diminishing resources in the 1980s led to cut

backs affecting religious studies departments. Later in the decade, re-

ligious studies began to pick up as a result of integrating religious

studies with other disciplines and forming programs of study that

mixed the discipline with more utilitarian study.

In the past several decades, however, scholarly attention has in-

creasingly turned away from trying to conceptualize religion to re-

flecting on the act of conceptualization itself. One might say that it has

turned away from treating religion as a thing to treating it as a word,

7

concept, or category. At least three topics deserve consideration in this

regard: the history of religion, strategies of definition, and the differ-

ent discursive purposes that lead humans to conceptualize religion.

We should mention here some influential figures who studied re-

ligions: James Frazer, The Golden Bough (1890); William James, The

Varieties of Religious Experience (1902); Max Weber, The Protestant

Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905); Emile Durkheim, The Ele-

mentary Forms of the Religious Life (1912); Sigmund Freud, Totem

and Taboo (1913); Rudolf Otto, The Idea of the Holy (1917); Gerardus

van der Leeuw, Religion in Essence and Manifestation (1933); Carl

Jung, Psychology and Religion: West and East (1938); Joseph Camp-

bell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces (1949), The Power of Myth

(1988); Alan Watts, Myth and Ritual in Christianity (1953); Mircea

Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane (1957); Huston Smith, The Reli-

gions of Man (1958) (retitled The World's Religions in 1991 edition);

Clifford Geertz, The Religion of Java (1960); Wilfred Cantwell Smith,

The Meaning and End of Religion (1962); E.E. Evans-Pritchard, Theo-

ries of Primitive Religion (1965); Peter L. Berger, The Sacred Canopy

(1967); Ninian Smart, The Religious Experience of Mankind (1969);

Victor Turner, The Ritual Process (1969); J.Z. Smith, Map is not Ter-

ritory: Studies in the History of Religions (1978); T.Asad, Genealo-

gies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and

Islam (1993) E. O. James, The Ancient Gods (1960). B. Malinowski,

Magic, Science and Religion (1948); P. Radin, Primitive Religion: Its

Nature and Origin (1937). W. Schmidt, The Origin and Growth of Re-

ligion (1935). E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture, 2 v. (1873). Besides

them other books for study are as follows: P.D. Chantepie de la

Saussaye, Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte, 2 vol. (1887–89; Eng.

trans. of vol. 1, Manual of the Science of Religion, 1891), which

includes classification problems at the beginning of vol. 1; C.P. Tiele,

Elements of the Science of Religion, 2 vol. (1897–99), a classic work

by an important scholar on this subject; and F. Max Muller,

Introduction to the Science of Religion (1873), another classic work.

Of more recent origin is Gustav Mensching, Die Religion:

Erscheinungsformen, Strukturtypen und Lebensgesetze (1959), a

popular manual of the history of religions that includes a long section

on classification problems.

8

Methodologies

A number of methodologies are used in Religious Studies. Me-

thodologies are hermeneutics, or interpretive models, that provide a

structure for the analysis of religious phenomena. So the most popular

are Functionalism and Phenomenology.

Functionalism, in regard to religious studies, is the analysis of

religions and their various communities of adherents using the func-

tions of particular religious phenomena to interpret the structure of re-

ligious communities and their beliefs. A major criticism of functional-

ism is that it lends itself to teleological explanations. An example of a

functionalist approach is understanding the dietary restrictions con-

tained in the Pentateuch as having the function of promoting health or

providing social identity (i.e. a sense of belonging though common

practice).

Phenomenology is the most influential approach to the study of

religion in the twentieth century. The term was first used by Pierre

Daniel Chantepie de la Saussaye in his work Lehrbuch der Religion-

geschichte (1887). Chantepie‘s phenomenology catalogued observable

characteristics of religion much like a zoologist would categorize an-

imals or an entomologist would categorize insects.

One of the phenomenologists, E. Husserl introduced the term

eidetic vision to describe the ability to observe without ―prior beliefs

and interpretations‖ influencing understanding and perception. His

other main conceptual contribution is the idea of the epoch: setting

aside metaphysical questions and observing phenomena in and of

themselves.

The most systematic and thorough example of phenomenology,

Gerardus van der Leeuw‘s Religion in Essence and Manifestation

(1933):

Firstly, argues van der Leeuw, the student of religion needs to

classify the religious phenomena into distinct categories: e.g. sacrifice,

sacrament, sacred space, sacred time, sacred word, festivals, and

myth.

Secondly, scholars then need to interpolate the phenomena into

the their own lives. That is to say, they need to empathetically try and

understand the religion from within.... The life examined by the reli-

gious studies scholar, insists van der Leeuw, needs to ―acquire its

9

place in the life of the student himself who should understand it out of

his inner self.‖

Thirdly, van der Leeuw stresses perhaps the fundamental phe-

nomenological principle, namely epoch, the suspension of value-

judgements and the adoption of a neutral stance.

Fourthly, scholars need to clarify any apparent structural rela-

tionships and make sense of the information. In so doing, they move

towards a holistic understanding of how the various aspects of a reli-

gion relate and function together.

Fifthly, this leads naturally to a stage at which ―all these activi-

ties, undertaken together and simultaneously, constitute genuine un-

derstanding: the chaotic and obstinate reality thus becomes a manife-

station, a revelation‖ (eidetic vision).

Sixthly, having thus attained this general grasp, there is a conti-

nual need to make sure that it tallies with the up-to-date research of

other disciplines, such as archaeology, history, philology etc. For van

der Leeuw, as for other phenomenologists, the continual checking of

one‘s results is crucial to the maintenance of scholarly objectivity. In

order to avoid degeneration into fantasy, phenomenology must always

feed on facts.

Finally, having gone through the above six stages, the phenome-

nologist should be as close as anyone can be to an understanding of

the 'meaning' of the religious phenomena studied and be in a position

to relate his understanding to others.

In this course book we will study religious phenomena according

to their division in historical context and their spreading in the World.

Also we will observe modern religious situation, new religious

movement, and religion in Russia.

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Unit I. The Essence and Origin of Religion

1.1. Definitions and classification

1.1.1. Derivation of the word “religion”

The derivation of the word religion has been a matter of dispute

from ancient times.

1. The Latin philosopher Cicero, in his De natura deorum de-

rives religion from relegere (to treat carefully): ―Those who carefully

took in hand all things pertaining to the gods were called religiosi,

from relegere.‖

2. Another derivation, one that suits the idea of religion in its

simple beginning, is that given by Lactantius, in his Divine Institutes.

He derives religion from religare (to bind): ―We are tied to God and

bound to Him [religati] by the bond of piety, and it is from this, and

not, as Cicero holds, from careful consideration [relegendo], that reli-

gion has received its name.‖

3. The third one belongs to St. Augustine, in his City of God, he

derives religio from religere in the sense of recovering: ―having lost

God through neglect [negligentes], we recover Him [religentes] and

are drawn to Him.‖ This explanation, implying the notion of the Re-

demption, is not suited to the primary idea of religion. St. Augustine

himself was not satisfied with it, for in his Retractions, he abandoned

it in favour of the derivation given by Lactantius. He employs the lat-

ter meaning in his treatise On the True Religion, where he says: ―Reli-

gion binds us [religat] to the one Almighty God.‖

4. St. Thomas Aquinat, in his Summa, gives all three deriva-

tions without pronouncing in favour of any. The correct one seems to

be that offered by Lactantius. Religion in its simplest form implies the

notion of being bound to God.

In tracing the history of religion from classical antiquity to the

present, the German Catholic theologian Ernst Feil discusses three

successive meanings of the term. So small a number hardly does jus-

tice either to the history of religion or to Feil‘s detailed studies of it,

but they do serve as a rough initial guide.

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According to E.Feil, the core meaning of religio in antiquity was

―careful, scrupulous observation, full of awe‖3. In other words, reli-

gion denoted a set of moral actions or a species of justice –

specifically, proper behavior in the matter of actions directed to the

gods or God. During the European Middle Ages a more specific ver-

sion of this definition became important. Religio designated not some-

thing that everyone had or did but a particular mode of life oriented to

the service of God; namely, the life of Christians. This sense is still

preserved today when English-speakers use the noun to refer to Catho-

lic priests, monks, and nuns as ―religious.‖

Thus we see that the etymology of the Latin word religio is dis-

puted. Some have tried to connect religio with other Latin terms (rele-

gere, religare, reeligere, relinquere), but each scholar has been influ-

enced by his personal ideas, and no accord has been reached. Philo-

logical investigation of the use of the word has revealed some interest-

ing aspects of Roman religiosity, which was characterized by a scru-

pulous attention to all signs or manifestations of invisible powers or

forces. But the problem becomes much more complicated when one

wishes to examine the phenomenon of religion in cultures that do not

use the Latin word.

The languages that have an equivalent general term are rare, and

the terms selected for comparison have turned out, ordinarily, to be

descriptions merely of one of the duties considered essential by the re-

spective civilization. In fact, there are very few cultures in which the

question of the essence of religion has been formally raised; as a gen-

eral rule, each takes its own religion as an obvious norm.

Furthermore, the same thing happened in the development of the

science of religions itself. In the 19th century some scholars main-

tained that there were peoples without religion, until it was recognized

that such investigators had simply failed to find religion, as they them-

selves conceived religion, among certain primitive tribes.4

Besides the term religion there is a notion faith (in Latin fides,

meaning trust, confidence, reliance) which is a term today commonly

used alongside ‗religion‘, sometimes assumed to be the essential ele-

ment to the religious life; sometime in fourteenth- and fifteenth- 3 Feil E., On the Concept of Religion. Binghamton, – N.Y. – 2000. P. 18.

4 New Catholic Encyclopedia / Ed. By B.Marthaler, Vol.12 – Thomson Gale – New York –

2003 – P.55.

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century Europe seems to be the first time we find "faith" used as a

synonym for ‗religion‘. In the modern sense, faith (as in Wilfred

Cantwell Smith's notion of "faith in transcendence") is often juxta-

posed to the social or institutional sense of religion (what W. C. Smith

termed the "accumulated tradition"), as in the distinction between

"spiritual" and "religious" when the latter is assumed to denote the

merely secondary, external, institutional, or ritual elements whereas

the former denotes what is assumed to be the personal and core ele-

ment that is merely symbolized or manifested in the institution.

1.1.2.The notion “religion” in other languages

Sanatana-dharma is a compound Sanskrit term meaning the

eternal or cosmic system of duties (dharma is system of social obliga-

tions, as in people ‗doing their dharma‘), implying a universal moral

order comprised of countless beings all diligently carrying out their

proper social and ritual action; it is the term used by some practition-

ers of Hinduism to refer to their cultural practices as unchanging and

divinely sanctioned.

As for a Russian term vera it is connected with Avestian verb

―var‖ (to believe) and a noun ―vareiia‖ (faith).

Li – Chinese term, associated with Confucianism, that names the

rules of propriety (or proper form) associated with carrying out ritual

and which influence all social interaction.

Eusebia – ancient Greek term for the quality one was thought to

possess if one properly negotiated the various social expectations and

duties required based upon such factors as ones social rank, gender,

birth order, generation, occupation, etc. Often translated as ‗piety‘

(from the Latin pietas), it is not to be confused with the modern sense

of ‗religion‘, insomuch as the quality of eusebia resulted from ones

proper behaviors toward the gods (such as performing a ritual in the

prescribed manner at the appropriate time and place) but also from

those behaviors involving ones social superiors, equals, and inferiors.

Pietas – the Latin term, from which we derive the English word

‗piety‘, that is commonly (although perhaps misleadingly) translated

by many people today as ‗religion‘. In the classical world, ‗piety‘, like

eusebia and din, denoted a quality that resulted when one fulfilled

ones social obligations and dutues, which involved everything from

13

properly performing rituals toward the gods to treating ones superiors,

peers, and inferiors properly – that is, according to custom and the ac-

cepted rule of propriety. The common assumption today, prevent in

the Euro-North American world and especially within the Christian

tradition, that ‗religion‘ denotes an inner faith or experience therefore

interiorizes or privatizes that which, in antiquity, was considered a

public trait linked to observable behaviors one would or would not

perform satisfactorily.

In Muslim culture there is a special term din. This Arabic term is

translated into English usually as ‗religion‘. It is thought that the term

dates to a much earlier idea of an actual debt that must be settled on a

specific date, which in turn led to such other meanings and usages as:

the idea of following an established series of customs for settling

debts; the act of guiding someone in a prescribed direction to carry out

required action; the act of judging whether such a prescriptions have

been followed properly; and, finally, visiting retribution upon one who

has failed to follow the required prescriptions. If this etymology is

persuasive, then the link from the earlier notion of an actual debt to

the later notion of the manner in which Allah judges human beings

can be understood as a rather sensible development of the concept.

1.2. Origin and Evolution of Religion

The analysis has eventually led to the question – at least in sim-

plified form – of the origin and historical variations in religion. Since

the prehistoric documentation is obviously inadequate by its very na-

ture, it is necessary to employ ethnological comparisons as much as

possible to clarify origins. It may be stated without qualification that

no culture, however primitive and backward, has been found that does

not have ideas on divinity, spirits, human survival, and supernatural

forces, along with corresponding rites. The problem of religion seems

indeed to be identical with the problem of man (hominization).

The whole evolution of religion seems to be summed up in a di-

versification of syntheses and proportions of the same universal ele-

ments. Apart from a few notable exceptions, a certain parallelism is

evident between the inordinate development, on the one hand, of mag-

ic, animism, fertility rites, and finally, polytheism, and on the other,

the cultural changes that have produced civilizations that became

14

more and more complex in their economic and political techniques.

The great civilizations belong to general history rather than to the his-

tory of religions since they, in particular, have only developed further

a political and philosophical heritage that was constituted in its entire-

ty before history.

Revealed religions alone pose specific problems, since they con-

stitute conscious reactions against the tendencies of evolution. The

Bible, and to some extent Zarathushtra, go very definitely against the

trend of their contemporary milieus. All else that can be said on these

subjects falls in the sphere of philosophy and theology, and not in that

of sciences such as anthropology and sociology.

One of the oldest in the history of religion conceptions on the

origin of religion is known as euhemerism. This approach seeks to

establish a historical basis for mythical beings and events. Euhemer-

ism is named for Euhemerus, a Greek mythographer who first estab-

lished the tradition. Euhemerus is chiefly known by his Sacred Histo-

ry, a work in which he asserted that the Greek gods were originally

heroes and conquerors who had earned a claim to veneration because

of their benefactions to mankind.

The early Christian Church Fathers adopted an attitude of mod-

ified Euhemerism, according to which classical mythology was to be

explained in terms of mere men who had been raised to superhuman,

demonic status because of their deeds. By this means Christians were

able to incorporate myths from the culturally authoritative classical

past into a Christian framework while defusing their religious signi-

ficance – the gods became ordinary humans.

The word euhemeristic is applied to such explanations of reli-

gion and mythology. There is some element of truth in this approach,

for, among the Romans, the gradual deification of ancestors and em-

perors was a prominent feature of religious development. Thus,

among some peoples, it is possible to trace family and tribal gods back

to great chiefs and warriors. But it is not accepted by scholars as the

sole explanation of the origin of gods.

Investigations in cultural anthropology and the comparative

study of religion have led scholars to advance numerous and varied

theories to account for the origins and universality of religious phe-

nomena in human societies.

15

We have to observe some main trends in the development of

these theories and a consideration of some of the principal religious

ideas and practices found in primitive societies.

Mid-20th-century investigations of religion in preliterate or bare-

ly literate societies reveal a renewed emphasis on the nature and

meaning, rather than on the origin and social function, of religion. In-

terpretative studies of religious symbolism, myth and mythology, ri-

tual, sacraments, and sacrifice, made by reputable anthropologists,

have appeared with increasing frequency. This shift in emphasis can

be explained partly in terms of the sociology of knowledge and partly

as reflecting a growing realization of the inadequacy of theoretical

frameworks once considered as established.

1.2.1. Evolutionist Hypothesis

Many early students of primitive religion were savants belonging

to the 19th

century European middle class, from whose perspective the

socio-economic history of mankind appeared to be a triumphal march

toward ever-greater material prosperity and rational enlightenment.

It was natural for them to regard Charles Darwin and T. H.

Huxley as their major ‗prophets‘ and to view the history of thought as

an evolutionary process of emancipation from magical and religious

categories, through those of increasing philosophical refinement, to

unchallenged scientific rationalism.

Sir Edward Tylor, for example, in Primitive Culture (2 v. Lon-

don, 1871) held that religion began with universal belief in ghosts and

spirits (animism) and that by degrees men arrived at the notion of one

universal Spirit animating all things. Tylor‘s scheme left no room for

revelation but only for progressive generalization as human society

embraced ever-wider social aggregates. Sir James George Frazer, in

the manner although not with the matter of his positivist predecessor

Auguste Comte, claimed in The Golden Bough (2 v. London, 1890)

that mankind had passed through three broad intellectual stages: mag-

ic, religion, and science. According to Frazer the earliest men thought

that by magical procedures, imitating natural processes or utilizing the

―law of sympathy‖, they could compel events to comply with their de-

sires. It was when such procedures did not work that they invented re-

ligion. They conceived religion not as the manipulation of impersonal

16

supernatural powers immanent in phenomena but as the supplication

of supernatural persons. Spell became prayer, and the kill became the

sacrifice. Religion explained more cogently than magic why its prac-

tices sometimes failed to bring about the desired results. Since deities

and spirits were persons, they possessed the attributes of persons; they

had likes and dislikes toward mortals, they could give or withhold fa-

vors at will. Ethically, Frazer argued, religion was on a higher level

than magic, since the success or failure of a prayer might hinge on the

moral state of the petitioner. Nevertheless, religion also failed men,

since their attempts to persuade the divine beings to give them bene-

fits were frequently uncertain in their outcome.

Finally, the vanguard of mankind, having learned all too slowly

from past errors, had discovered the scientific method, which gave

understanding of the real causes of events, by which the events could

be controlled. Religion for Frazer, like the state for Marx, was to

wither away in the sun of this scientific enlightenment. This was a

doctrine that scientists of Frazer‘s time found flattering.

In the early 20th

century scientific humanists such as Sigmund

Freud and Émile Durkheim continued to speculate about the origin

and evolution of religion.

Freud‘s etiological myth is well known. He derived religion (and

even culture) from the dominance of the father in a postulated primor-

dial horde and from remorse (commemorated in sacramental rituals of

many types) when the father was murdered, out of sexual jealousy, by

the young males. This was the origin of the Oedipus complex and of

all subsequent religious development.

E.Durkheim found in totemism of the Australian aboriginal va-

riety the earliest form of religion. The animal eaten by the totemic

group was in his view the master symbol of that group itself. Through

its consumption each member of the group partook of its unifying

power, and all became ―members of one another‖ instead of a mere

assemblage of separate individuals. For Durkheim totemism was a

stage of social evolution through which all more advanced societies

had passed. Successive religious refinements, such as animism, po-

lytheism, and monotheism, were but modalities of the totemic prin-

ciple: all man‘s gods are but man-created symbols of society itself.

All these theories had one common feature: they treated religion

as an illusion that originated in ‗the childhood of the race‘ and passed

17

through successive stages until men had either outgrown it completely

or so tinged it with philosophical and ethical elements as to make it a

‗religion of humanity‘ divested of its supernatural ‗errors‘.

1.2.2. Functionalist Hypothesis

Scientific cultural evolutionism – which was inconsistent with

the Marxist view that ‗‗force is the midwife of progress‘‘– received a

sharp setback in the West as a result of World War I and its conse-

quences. It recovered somewhat in the materialistic evangelism of

Leslie White and his school of American neoevolutionists. But the

millions of dead and the mutual barbarities wrought by ‗‗civilized‘‘

men in the war made progress appear less inevitable than the earlier

Darwinians had supposed.

Practical Interest in Cultural Anthropology. It became apparent

that change was not always ‗‗progressive‘‘ but might lead to anarchy

and anomie. Those Western nations especially that governed large im-

poverished colonial populations became concerned to maintain their

stability rather than encourage radical changes that might have a vio-

lent outcome. Great Britain, in particular, developed the notion of in-

direct rule in its overseas territories, whereby a share of political and

judicial authority was delegated to indigenous leaders, to chiefs,

headmen, and religious functionaries. In order to rule through these

authorities it became necessary to understand to some extent the struc-

ture of the social systems in which they operated. Consequently some

encouragement was given to anthropological research.

Anthropologists came to see their task as ―exhibiting the syste-

matic interconnections‖ in the social relationships and social institu-

tions found in the tribal societies at any given time. Emphasis was laid

on the ―social function‘ of a given institution in contributing to the

‗cohesion‘ of the total system. Students of primitive religion sharing

this bias, such as Bronislaw Malinowski and A. R. Radcliffe-Brown,

saw religion, especially in its ritual aspect, as what has been described

as ―a sort of all-purpose social glue,‖ for cementing together fractured

social relationships or for binding together different types of institu-

tions.

In the Trobriand Islands of the western Pacific Malinowski en-

deavored to show how magical ritual served to coordinate and regulate

18

cooperative human behavior in a variety of hazardous and uncertain

social and economic undertakings, such as open-sea fishing, agricul-

ture, and overseas trading expeditions. Radcliffe-Brown argued that

ritual expresses in its symbolism certain values, upon the acceptance

of which the proper functioning of society depends.

Functionalist analyses stressed the close interdependence of so-

ciety and religion, the latter being regarded as a kind of servomechan-

ism to the former. The question asked was always: what is the func-

tion of a given religious belief, or ritual performance, or myth in the

maintenance of social solidarity? In such an intellectual climate it was

not considered meaningful to inquire about the meaning but only

about the function of such phenomena. Differences between religions,

as expressed in doctrine, symbolism, and liturgical forms, were re-

duced to the single functional requirement that ―religion makes for so-

cial cohesion (or social solidarity)‖.

Anthropologists have begun to concede a greater degree of au-

tonomy, and even validity, to religious systems. This has been due

partly to the study of religion in pluralistic and changing societies, in

which its function in maintaining social solidarity is by no means so

obvious as in isolated traditional communities. The proliferation of

new sects, the rise of millenarian movements, the persistence of reli-

gious forms in groups undergoing rapid changes in social structure –

all these have underlined the need for a new approach based on a con-

sideration of what is meant by religious beliefs and symbols. The

work of such philosophers and sociologists as A. N. Whitehead, E.

Cassirer, Suzanne Langer, and P. A. Sorokin in the field of symbol-

ism, and the anthropological field studies of E. E. Evans-Pritchard,

Godfrey Lienhardt, and Clifford Geertz have been crucial in restoring

to its former prominence the notion that ‗‗ritual is a language for say-

ing things which are felt to be true and important but which are not

susceptible of statement in scientific terms‖5.

The preoccupation of earlier scholars with functional aspects of

religion may well be attributable to certain features of social organiza-

tion in small-scale communities living close to the margin of bare sub-

sistence and possessed of only limited technological equipment. The

5 Beattie J., Other Cultures. London. 1964. P.239.

19

major types of human purposive activities that are broadly classified

as religious, political, legal, economic, etc., in preliterate societies are

hardly specialized as separate associational structures (each with its

appropriate sets of beliefs, aims, concepts, techniques, and proce-

dures) but remain, as it were, embedded in the total community.

Social relationships in such communities tend to be multiplex,

i.e., each serves a plurality of interests at the same time. Thus an elder

may be at once head of a lineage (in the kinship system), headman of

a village (in the politico-jural system), overseer of the village‘s pro-

ductive and distributive activities (in the economic system), and priest

of the ancestral cult (in the religious system). These aspects of life

overlap, interpenetrate, and concern the same persons.

Thus all types of activities are saturated, as it were, with reli-

gious and moral implications, at any rate more fully than in modern

societies characterized by a complex division of labor, in which social

relationships, increasingly associational in type, tend to serve single

interests.

Objective comparative study of religious systems indicates that a

major note of religious belief and practice is the achievement of what

might be called subliminal unity. This type of unity is quite distinct

from the reconciliation of interests, rational and utilitarian, that may

be brought about by legal, political, or economic institutions.

It relates rather to the establishment, through prayer, liturgical

action, sacrifice, communion rites, and the use of symbolism, of a

state of rapport or corporate solidarity between Deity or Spirit (wheth-

er singular or conceived of as a unanimous group) and a congregation-

ing-worship, on the one hand, and between the individual members of

that congregation, on the other. When the congregation is identical

with the kin group, the local community, the polity, and the economic

unit, the function of its religious institutions may easily be mistaken

for ―the promotion or maintenance of social solidarity.‖

Yet it is not the fact of unity but the nature, or quality, or dimen-

sion of unity that is in question. At what level of being or experience

do the participants in ritual seek to be bound together? What is the

meaning, rather than the function, of their joint worship?6

6 New Catholic Encyclopedia / Ed. By B.Marthaler, Vol.12 – Thomson Gale – New York –

2003 – P.65.

20

1.3. Common characteristics of religions

Religions all share certain common traits. These include, but are

not limited to: (1) the tradition and maintenance of the belief system;

(2) the use of myth and symbol; (3) a concept of salvation; (4) sacred

places and objects; (5) sacred actions or rituals; (6) sacred writings;

(7) the sacred community and place of worship; (8) the sacred expe-

rience; (9) codes of ethical behavior; (10) a priesthood or clergy to

lead the believers; (11) usually a god, goddess, or group of deities to

which believers pray and worship; and (12) often a leader or founder

who gains almost godlike status.7

William Alston defines religion by means of what he characte-

rizes as ―religion-making characteristics‖: 1. Belief in supernatural be-

ings (gods). 2. A distinction between sacred and profane objects. 3.

Ritual acts focused on sacred objects.4. A moral code believed to be

sanctioned by the gods. 5. Characteristically religious feelings (awe,

sense of mystery, sense of guilt, adoration), which tend to be aroused

in the presence of sacred objects and during the practice of ritual, and

which are connected in idea with the gods. 6. Prayer and other forms

of communication with gods. 7. A worldview or a general picture of

the world as a whole and the place of the individual therein. This pic-

ture contains some specification of an overall purpose or point of the

world and an indication of how the individual fits into it. 8. A more or

less total organization of ones life based on the worldview. 9. A social

group bound together by the above.8

1.3.1. Essence of religion

Historically religion was not adequately described as ―the kno-

wedge acquired by the finite spirit of its essence as absolute spirit‖

(Hegel), nor as ―the perception of the infinite‖ (Max Muller), nor as ―a

determination of man‘s feeling of absolute dependence‖ (Schleier-

macher), nor as ―the recognition of all our duties as divine commands‖

(Kant), nor as ―morality touched by emotion‖ (Mathew Arnold), nor

as ―the earnest direction of the emotions and desires towards an ideal 7 O‟Neal M. J., Jones J. S., World Religions: Almanac / Edited by Thomson Gale – New

York – 2007. P. 10. 8 Alston W. P. ―Religion.‖ // Encyclopedia of Philosophy, vol.7. – New York, – 1967.

21

object recognized as of the highest excellence and as rightly para-

mount over selfish objects of desire‖ (J. S. Mill). These definitions, in

so far as they are true, are only partial characterizations of religion.

In inquiring an essence of religion among Western religion scho-

lars there have been attempts to define religion in a manner that avoids

the ―reductionism‖ of the various sociological and psychological dis-

ciplines that reduce religion to its component factors. A prominent

one has been the analysis of religions of varied nature in terms of the

presence of an awareness of the sacred or the holy. First proposed by

Schleiermacher, this approach found its most notable expression in

Rudolf Otto‘s The Idea of the Holy (1917). Analyzing the biblical ac-

counts of the experience of the prophets and saints in their encounters

with God, Otto defines the essence of religious awareness as awe, a

unique blend of fear and fascination before the divine. Thus Isaiah,

upon becoming aware of the presence of the living God (Yahveh) in

the temple sanctuary, cried out, ―Woe is me, for I am undone!‖

Isaiah‘s response expresses both creaturely fear of his creator and his

own sense of sinfulness before God‘s absolute righteousness. Yet he

does not flee but remains to worship and to become the bearer of a

prophetic message to his people. In Otto‘s terms, Isaiah and others

like him sensed the mysterium tremendum, the ―wholly otherness‖ of

the divine being. And for Otto this was the prototype of all truly reli-

gious experience.

Otto‘s conception of the essential nature of religious experiences

may be acceptable in the context of Western theism, though this type

of religious experience seems relatively rare or else is smothered by

the religious apparatus that envelops it. But even in Otto‘s own writ-

ings the application of this concept to primitive and Asian religions

seems difficult. In primitive religions any sense of the divine in the

mode of Isaiah seems missing despite the early attempt of Andrew

Lang to find a ―high god‖ tradition in primitive antiquity. Here reli-

gion is scarcely distinguishable from magic; rites seem primarily used

for the fulfillment of physicial needs; and fear rather than awe predo-

minates. Sacred and profane are inappropriate terms to apply to this

cultural continuum. Of course, it must be said that the powers that are

feared, placated, and used, in turn, do have their invisible and esoteric

dimensions with which some rites attempt to make contact.

22

Nor does this definition of religion as the experience of the awe-

inspiring wholly other seem to fit Asian religions. To be sure, at the

popular level much religion consists of placation and use of spirits and

superhuman powers and various rituals reminiscent of theism. But in

their own selfdefinitions Buddhism and Hinduism, for example, seem

to have little or no sense of a radically other and ultimate being.

In fact, the basic thought and action model here is that of man‘s

oneness with his environing universe. He seeks to live religiously in

organic harmony with the ultimate, and the highest level of religious

experience tends toward a mystical monism, though with Eastern qua-

lifications. Immanence of the sacred rather than its transcendence is

emphasized. Thus Hinduism, Buddhism, and Daoism characteristical-

ly find the truly transcendent within the human self itself. The divi-

nized, exteriorized forms given to the holy in theistic religions – and

in the popular forms of their own faiths – are viewed as temporary and

practically expedient but essentially false means for the final enligh-

tenment of the ignorant.

The most recent and influential formulation of sacredness as the

unique and irreducible essence of all religious experience has been

that of Mircea Eliade. He has refined and expanded Otto‘s use of the

term extensively. No longer is the sacred to be sought almost exclu-

sively in the God-encounter type of experience; it is abundantly ex-

emplified in the symbolisms and rituals of almost every culture, espe-

cially the primitive and Asian cultures. It is embodied as sacred space,

for example, in shrines and temples, in taboo areas, even limitedly in

the erection of dwellings in accordance with a sense of the axis mundi,

an orientation to the center of the true (sacred) universe. Indeed, struc-

tures often symbolically represent that physically invisible but most

real of all universes – the eternally perfect universe to which they seek

to relate fruitfully. This sense of sacredness often attaches to trees,

stones, mountains, and other like objects in which mysterious power

seems to be resident. Many primitive rituals seek to sacramentally re-

peat the first moment of creation often described in myth when pri-

mordial chaos became recognizable order. Sacred time – that is, eter-

nal and unfragmented time – is made vitally present by the reenact-

ment of such myths. In The Sacred and the Profane (New York, 1951)

Eliade writes, ―Every religious festival, every liturgical time,

represents the reactualization of a sacred event that took place in a

23

mythical past, in the beginning‖ (pp. 68–69). It is a matter of opinion

whether Eliade‘s portraiture of the experience of the sacred, much

more elaborate and extended than here stated, escapes the limitations

of Otto‘s view and represents a viable way of defining and describing

the religious mode. Sociologists and anthropologists question its veri-

fiability in actual cases as well as Eliade‘s interpretation of his data.

To them sacredness is an ideal construct, not a genuine cultural or ex-

periential entity. Linguists, psychologists, and philosophers also ques-

tion the identifiability of such a distinctive entity in patterns of lan-

guage, experience, and thought patterns. For all of these critics the re-

ligious experience is a compound of cultural entities and experiences,

not a separable thing in and of itself.9

1.3.2. Classification of religions

Scholars always tried and try to classify religions. Their

objective was to systematize and bring order to a vast range of

knowledge about religious beliefs, practices, and institutions. It was

important especially with the increased knowledge of the world‘s

religions and the use of modern methods of scientific research in the

last two centuries. The classification of religions involves: (1) the

effort to establish groupings among historical religious communities

having certain elements in common or, (2) the attempt to categorize

similar religious phenomena to reveal the structure of religious

experience as a whole.

Principles of classification

The criteria employed for the classification of religions are far

too numerous to catalogue completely. Virtually every scholar who

has considered the matter has evidenced a certain amount of

originality in his view of the interrelationships among religious forms.

Thus, only some of the more important principles of classification will

be discussed.

9 Encyclopedia of Religion / Ed. by Jones L., vol.11. – N.Y. – 2006 – P.532.

24

Normative

Perhaps the most common division of religions – and in many

ways the most unsatisfactory – distinguishes true religion from false

religion. Such classifications may be discovered in the thought of

most major religious groups and are the natural, perhaps inevitable,

result of the need to defend particular perspectives against challengers

or rivals. Normative classifications, however, have no scientific value,

because they are arbitrary and subjective, inasmuch as there is no

agreed method for selecting the criteria by which such judgments

should be made. But because living religions always feel the need of

apologetics (systematic intellectual defenses), normative

classifications continue to exist.

Geographical

A common and relatively simple type of classification is based

upon the geographical distribution of religious communities. Those

religions found in a single region of the earth are grouped together.

Such classifications are found in many textbooks on comparative

religion, and they offer a convenient framework for presenting man‘s

religious history.

The categories most often used are: (1) Middle Eastern

religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism, and

a variety of ancient cults; (2) Far Eastern religions, comprising the

religious communities of China, Japan, and Korea, and consisting of

Confucianism, Taoism, Mahayana (―Greater Vehicle‖) Buddhism, and

Shintō; (3) Indian religions, including early Buddhism, Hinduism,

Jainism, and Sikhism, and sometimes also Theravāda Buddhism and

the Hindu- and Buddhist-inspired religions of South and Southeast

Asia; (4) African religions, or the cults of the tribal peoples of black

Africa, but excluding ancient Egyptian religion, which is considered

to belong to the ancient Middle East; (5) American religions,

consisting of the beliefs and practices of the Indian peoples indigenous

to the two American continents; (6) Oceanic religions – the religious

systems of the peoples of the Pacific islands, Australia, and New

Zealand; (7) Classical religions of Greece and Rome and their

Hellenistic descendants. The extent and complexity of a geographical

25

classification is limited only by the classifier‘s knowledge of

geography and his desire to seek detail and comprehensiveness in his

classification scheme. Relatively crude geographical schemes that

distinguish Western religions (usually equivalent to Christianity and

Judaism) from Eastern religions are quite common.

Ethnographic-linguistic

Max Müller, often called the ―Father of the history of religions,‖

stated that ―Particularly in the early history of the human intellect,

there exists the most intimate relationship between language, religion,

and nationality.‖ This insight supplies the basis for a genetic

classification of religions (associating them by descent from a

common origin), which Müller believed the most scientific principle

possible. According to this theory, in Asia and Europe dwell three

great races, the Turanians (including the Ural-Altaic peoples), the

Semites, and the Aryans, to which correspond three great families of

languages. Originally, in some remote prehistory, each of these races

formed a unity, but with the passage of time they split up into a

myriad of peoples with a great number of distinct languages. Through

careful investigation, however, the original unity may be discerned,

including the unity of religion in each case. Müller‘s principal

resource in developing the resulting classification of religions was the

comparative study of languages, from which he sought to demonstrate

similarities in the names of deities, the existence of common

mythologies, the common occurrence of important terms in religious

life, and the likeness of religious ideas and intuitions among the

branches of a racial group. His efforts were most successful in the

case of the Semites, whose affinities are easy to demonstrate, and

probably least successful in the case of the Turanian peoples, whose

early origins are hypothetical. Müller‘s greatest contribution to

scholarship, however, lay in his study of Aryan languages, literatures,

and comparative mythology.

Philosophical

The past 150 years have also produced several classifications of

religion based on speculative and abstract concepts that serve the

26

purposes of philosophy. The principal example of these is the scheme

of G.W.F. Hegel, a German philosopher, in his famous Lectures on

the Philosophy of Religion (1832). In general, Hegel‘s understanding

of religion coincided with his philosophical thought; he viewed the

whole of human history as a vast dialectical movement toward the

realization of freedom. The reality of history, he held, is Spirit, and the

story of religion is the process by which Spirit — true to its own

internal logical character and following the dialectical pattern of

thesis, antithesis, and synthesis (the reconciliation of the tension of

opposite positions in a new unity that forms the basis of a further

tension) — comes to full consciousness of itself. Individual religions

thus represent stages in a process of evolution (i.e., progressive steps

in the unfolding of Spirit) directed toward the great goal at which all

history aims.

Morphological

Considerable progress toward more scientific classifications of

religions was marked by the emergence of morphological schemes,

which assume that religion in its history has passed through a series of

discernible stages of development, each having readily identifiable

characteristics and each constituting an advance beyond the former

stage. So essential is the notion of progressive development to

morphological schemes that they might also be called evolutionary

classifications. Trends in the comparative study of religions have

retained the interest in morphology but have decisively rejected the

almost universal 19th-century assumption of unitary evolution in the

history of religion. The crude expression of evolutionary categories

such as the division of religions into lower and higher or primitive and

higher religions has been subjected to especially severe criticism.

Phenomenological

All the principles thus far discussed have had reference to the

classification of religions in the sense of establishing groupings

among historical religious communities having certain elements in

common. While attempts have been made to classify entire religions

or religious communities, in recent times the interest in classifying

27

entire religions has markedly declined, partly because of an emerging

interest in the phenomenology of religion.

This new trend in studies, which has come to dominate the field,

claims its origin in the phenomenological philosophy of E.Husserl, a

German Jewish-Lutheran scholar, and has found its greatest exponents

in the Netherlands. Phenomenology of religion has at least two

aspects. It is first of all an effort at devising a taxonomic

(classificatory) scheme that will permit the comprehensive cataloging

and classifying of religious phenomena across the lines of religious

communities, but it is also a method that aims at revealing the self-

interpretation by religious men of their own religious responses.

Phenomenology of religion thus rejects any overview of religion that

would interpret religion‘s development as a whole, confining itself

rather to the phenomena and the unfolding of their meaning for

religious men. Phenomenologists are especially vigorous in

repudiating the evolutionary schemes of past scholars, whom they

accuse of imposing arbitrary semiphilosophical concepts in their

interpretation of the history of religion. Phenomenologists also have

little interest in history for its own sake, except as a preliminary stage

of material gathering for the hermeneutical (critical – interpretive)

task that is to follow.

Theological

From theological attitude Biblical religions have traditionally

claimed that they have grasped religious truth better than other reli-

gions. Indeed, they have at times claimed to be the sole source of reli-

gious benefit.

A standard Christian formula runs, Extra ecclesia nulla salus,

―there is no salvation outside the Church.‖ Furthermore, Christians

have seen Christianity as the true continuation of ancient Judaism

named as the Old Testament Church. In the Christian Liturgical Ca-

lendar we can find a lot of celebrated names and events taken from the

Biblical history.

These religions certainly have a right to their claims to truth.

But when other religions are seen as threatening or mistaken, the typi-

cal approach to them is ―heresiology‖ and ―apologetics.‖ That is, it

becomes common to list the errors of other religions and defend the

28

truth of one‘s own. That is why we consider biblical religions as ex-

clusive ones.

Here we should analyze the notion ‗heresy‘. When Augustine of

Hippo (354–430) said that not every error is heresy, he was saying

something almost universally agreed in Christian history. The Spanish

theologian Isidore of Seville (c.560–636) explains that the Greek hae-

resis carries the sense of making a choice. Heretics are those who

‗holding perverse dogma, draw apart from the Church of their own

free will‘. He includes similar themes in his On Heresies, though it

covers fewer heresies than the Etymologies and discusses them more

briefly. In On Heresies, Isidore stresses that heretics are those who not

only think wrongly, but persist with determined wickedness (pertinaci

pravitate) in thinking wrongly. It is important that they are exercising

free choice when they opt for the wrong opinions; their fault is moral

as well as intellectual. By contrast, an orthodoxus is ‗a man upright in

faith‘ who is also living a good Christian life. Isidore tried to explain

the difference between the Church and the ‗sects‘. He explains that it

is a mark of the true Church that it is not, ‗like the conventicles of the

heretics‘, in huddles in different regions, but spread throughout all the

world, so that the same Church is to be found in every place. ‗Hud-

dles‘ are exactly what we shall see, in succeeding centuries, as groups

of ‗outlaws‘ from the faith meet secretly in one another‘s houses.

On the other hand in China and Japan it has been traditional for

people to practice more than one religion. In such an environment, one

religion may suggest that it is a more perfect statement of another reli-

gion. Japanese Buddhism and Shinto have made this claim about each

other. Many Hindus have taken a different approach. They have seen

all religions as different paths to the same goal. That is why we con-

sider eastern religions as inclusive and polyconfessonalist ones.

In the course of the 20th century, a movement of Ecumenism

appeared. Representatives of many religions have come together for

interreligious dialogue. The goal of this enterprise is not to convince

others of one‘s own religious truth. It is to listen to another person in

order to learn about that person‘s beliefs and practices. Advocates say

that if dialogue is to work, all participants must share their beliefs and

practices openly and honestly.

29

By the beginning of the 21st century, however, strong move-

ments often known as Fundamentalism were reasserting traditional

teachings of such religions as Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam, often

from an exclusionist position.10

Other principles

William James differentiated two types of religion according to

the attitude toward life – the religion of healthy-mindedness, which

minimizes or ignores the evil of existence, and that of morbid-

mindedness, which considers evil as the very essence of life.

Max Weber a German sociologist, distinguished between

religions that express themselves primarily in mytho-poetic ways and

those that express themselves in rational forms. The distinction comes

very close to that between traditional and historical religions, though

its emphasis is somewhat different.

Nathan Söderblom devised several classifications other than

the principal one discussed above. In his great work on primitive

religions, Das Werden des Gottesglaubens (―Development of the

Belief in God‖), Söderblom divided religions into dynamistic,

animistic, and theistic types according to the way primitive peoples

apprehend the divine. In other works (Einführung in die

Religionsgeschichte, or ―Introduction to the History of Religion,‖ and

Thieles Kompendium der Religionsgeschichte neu bearbeitet, or

―Tiele‘s Compendium of the History of Religion Revised‖) he

contended that Christianity is the central point of the entire history of

religions and, therefore, classified religions according to the historical

order in which they came into contact with Christianity. So he

grouped religions as rivals or non-rivals of Christianity. Still another

scheme may be seen in Söderblom‘s Gifford Lectures, The Living

God, in which religions were divided according to their doctrines of

the relation between human and divine activity in the achievement of

salvation. Thus, among higher religions there are those in which man

alone is responsible for salvation (Buddhism), God alone is

responsible (the Bhakti cults of India), or God and man cooperate.

10

The Encyclopedia of world religions / Robert S. Ellwood, general editor; Gregory D. Alles,

associate editor. New York – DWJ Books LLC – 2007. P.382.

30

A German famous scholar Wilhelm Schmidt (1868-1954) ela-

borated the theory of pramonotheism. In 1910 his book ―Die Stellung

der Pygmäenvölker in der Entwicklungsgeschichte des Menschen‖

(The Place of Pygmies in the Developmental History of Mankind) was

published. This ushered in a new era in the study of pygmies. His pri-

mary focus was dedicated to the concept of a High God or Supreme

Being as held by hunters and gatherers. He spelled this out in a series

of articles (―L‘origine de l‘Idée de Dieu‖) in the Anthropos (1908-

1910). He expanded this into a twelve volume work (1912-1955) titled

―Der Ursprung der Gottesidee‖ (The Origin of the Idea of God). There

he explained his theory of primitive monotheism – the belief that pri-

mitive religion in almost all tribal peoples began with an essentially

monotheistic concept of a high God – usually a sky god – who was a

benevolent Creator. He argued that all primitive cultures in the world

have that notion of a supreme god. They worship a single, high deity,

omniscient, and essentially similar to the God in Christianity. Here are

some typical beliefs that he noted: God lives in, or above, the sky; He

is like a man, or a father; He is the creator of everything; He is eternal;

He is all-knowing; All that is good ultimately comes from Him and He

is the giver of moral law; He judges people after their death; People

are alienated from him due to some misdemeanor in the past; There-

fore he is often supplanted in religions by gods which are "more ac-

cessible," yet religions often carry a distant memory of this "Sky-God"

with whom they have lost contact.

Based on his findings, Schmidt maintained that all peoples origi-

nally believed in one god. However, due to the rebellion against Him,

people alienated themselves from Him, and their knowledge of Him

was lost. What Schmidt was proposing was that primitive religions

were not polytheistic, as was believed, but that they started as mo-

notheistic. Thus, according to Schmidt, monotheism is the oldest reli-

gious system in the world. He strongly opposed S.Freud‘s formulation

of totemism as the oldest religion, claiming that many cultures in the

world have never passed through the stage of totemism at all. Freud,

in return, criticized Schmidt‘s work. Schmidt‘s theory has not been

widely accepted.

There were two enormous monographs dealing specifically with

the classification of religions. They are Duren J.H. Ward, The

Classification of Religions: Different Methods, Their Advantages and

31

Disadvantages (1909); and Fred Louis Parrish, The Classification of

Religions: Its Relation to the History of Religions (1941), containing a

full survey of classification schemes with brief characterizations of

each and the best bibliographical guide for pursuing the subject in

depth.

Thus according to Duren J.H. Ward‘s classification religious

mentalities can be divided into 9 groups:

1. Non-religious peoples should be mentioned first. Many re-

putable authorities claim to have discovered tribes devoid of religious

ideas. (See the works of Dr. Monnat, Sir Samuel Baker, David Living-

stone, Sir Messenger Bradley, and Sir John Lubbock.) The testimony

is disputed on the ground of its incompleteness and for other reasons,

hence I will place no peoples under this topic. Buddhism was at first

an atheistic religion – i. e., in any of the usual senses. So such an

atheism is not a denial of the existence of a Deity, but an absence of

any definite ideas on the subject.

2. Fetishism, the worship of simple and casually selected ob-

jects which have come to be regarded as possessing in some way a su-

perior power, such as stones, bones, shells, herbs, bits of wood, feath-

ers, weapons, etc. In general, this is the religious condition of those

peoples in the lowest stage of civilization, or the so-called savage

state.

3. Totemism (or Nature Worship), the religious regard of ob-

jects of nature in a somewhat larger and less servile way, as of moun-

tains, rocks, water, rivers, groves, trees, animals (serpents, cattle, etc.),

and, in higher forms, the heavens, sun, moon, etc. This form of wor-

ship is found with peoples a stage higher than the last.

4. Shamanism, in which the deities are of the most diverse cha-

racter, including the Fetishistic, Totemistic, and polytheistic orders;

but the method of approaching them is through magical formulas, in-

cantations, etc., the performance or recital of which is believed to ex-

ercise an authority over them. If properly carried out, it is believed to

extort from them the fulfillment of the applicant's wishes, whether

these be temporal present needs or the disclosure of future events.

5. Animism, or the worship of ancestral spirits, is the belief that

the soul after death has special opportunities for doing good or evil to

the living, and hence is to be honored or propitiated. It is very wide

32

spread and can scarcely be said to be the characteristic form of any

stage of development.

6. Polytheism, the worship of many gods. This is a term capa-

ble of covering the whole range of religion below monotheism, but

which is best used to designate a stage in which the gods are not long-

er natural objects, but entities or spirits in or independent of these. It is

the characteristic of the religion of peoples on the border of or some-

what advanced in civilization, the so-called civilized peoples, as dis-

tinguished from the enlightened above and savage below.

7. Dualism, the belief in two deities, one benevolent the other

malevolent, the form of religion that accounts for the good and the

evil of the world by referring each to a supreme cause having a nature

in accord with the character of its creations.

8. Monotheism, the faith that one all-wise, all-good, and al-

mighty being alone created, guides and governs the universe for ulti-

mate good ends. This Being is regarded as a spirit transcendent to or

over against the world of his creation. The type attained by the great

majority of peoples in the most enlightened nations.

9. Monism, the view that the universe is a real unity in which

the manifold diversity is only apparent; that the creating, guiding

power and intelligence is immanent in it and not above or over against

it; that the so-called material and spiritual are qualitatively the same

(by one school all being regarded as material, by another as spiritual,

and by yet others the whole being spoken of as an unknown essence).

This division has no representatives among nations or special peoples,

but has been and is held by various individuals and schools of thought

in various ages and various parts of the world. It embraces wide ex-

tremes, and must comprehend most of those included under the terms:

idealists, phenomenalists, materialists, organicists, mystics, spiritists,

etc11

.

11

Ward D.J.H., The Classification of Religions: Different Methods, Their Advantages and

Disadvantages.1909.

33

1.4. Ancient religions

Religions of the Ancient Near East

The religions of the Ancient Near East were mostly polytheistic,

with some examples of Henotheism (Atenism) and Monotheism (early

Judaism). Especially the Luwian pantheon exerted a strong influence

on the Ancient Greek religion, while Assyro-Babylonian religion in-

fluenced Achaemenid-era Zoroastrianism.

The history of the Ancient Near East spans more than two mil-

lennia, in the region now known as the Middle East, centered around

the Fertile Crescent. There was much cultural contact, so that it is jus-

tified to summarize the whole region under a single term.

The Ancient Near East includes the following sub regions: Me-

sopotamia (Sumer, Assyria, Akkad) with Assyro-Babylonian religion

and Mesopotamian mythology; Ancient Egypt with Ancient Egyptian

religion; the Levant (Canaan, Ugarit, Ebla, Mitanni) with Canaanite

religion; Anatolia (the Hittite Empire, Assuwa, Arzawa) with Hittite

mythology and Hurrian mythology; the Caucasus and the Armenian

Highland (Urartu) with their beliefs; Cyprus, Crete (Minoan civiliza-

tion) with Minoan religion.

Our earliest sources from 2000 BC allow glimpses of Mesopo-

tamian mythology and Egyptian mythology. The early Hittite religion

bore traits descended from Proto-Indo-European religion, but the later

Hittite religion becomes more and more assimilated to Assyria.

Ancient Greek religion was strongly influenced by Ancient Near

Eastern mythology, but is usually not included in the term. The Mys-

tery religions of Hellenism were again consciously connected with

Egyptian mythology.

There are broad practices that these religions often hold in com-

mon: purification and cleansing rituals, sacrifices, polytheism, state

sponsored religions (theocracy), divination, magic (invocations, amu-

lets). For divination they preferred: seeing animals, drawing lots, ob-

serving the liver of an animal, cloud-watching, watching birds in

flight, watching smoke, and divination through dreams.

Typically, Ancient Near Eastern religions were centered around

theocracies, with a dominating regional cult of the deity of a city-state.

There were also super-regional mythemes and deities, and the descent

to the underworld.

34

1.4.1. Judaism.

Judaism, religious culture of the Jews (also known as the people

of Israel) is one of the world‘s oldest continuing religious traditions.

The terms Judaism and religion do not exist in premodern Hebrew.

The Jews spoke of Torah, God‘s revealed instruction to Israel, which

mandated both a worldview and a way of life – Halakhah which de-

rives from the Hebrew word ―to go‖ and has come to mean the ―way‖

or ―path.‖ It encompasses Jewish law, custom, and practice. Premo-

dern Judaism, in all its historical forms, thus constituted (and tradi-

tional Judaism today constitutes) an integrated cultural system encom-

passing the totality of individual and communal existence. It is a sys-

tem of sanctification in which all is to be subsumed under God‘s rule

– that is, under divinely revealed models of cosmic order and lawful-

ness.

Judaism originated in the land of Israel (also known as Palestine)

in the Middle East. Subsequently, Jewish communities have existed at

one time or another in almost all parts of the world, a result of both

voluntary migrations of Jews and forced exile or expulsions.

A major concept in Judaism is that of the covenant (berith), or

contractual agreement, between God and the Jewish people. Accord-

ing to tradition, the God of creation entered into a special relationship

with the Jewish people at Sinai. They would acknowledge God as

their sole ultimate king and legislator, agreeing to obey his laws; God,

in turn, would acknowledge Israel as his particular people and be es-

pecially mindful of them. Both biblical authors and later Jewish tradi-

tion view this covenant in a universal context. Only after successive

failures to establish a covenant with rebellious humanity did God turn

to a particular segment of it. Israel is to be a ―kingdom of priests,‖ and

the ideal social order that it establishes in accordance with the divine

laws is to be a model for the human race. Israel thus stands between

God and humanity, representing each to the other.

The idea of the covenant also determines the way in which both

nature and history traditionally have been viewed in Judaism. Israel‘s

well-being is seen to depend on obedience to God‘s commandments.

On the Mount Sinai the God revealed the Moses the law that was

to govern the people of Israel forever after. It was a new and wider

covenant than the one the Lord had entered into with Abraham. It was

35

made with a people as a whole, and it demanded great sacrifice on the

part of the Israelites and total dedication to their God. It consisted of

613 commandments; 365 of them referred to forbidden things, and

248 to things that had to be done. The most important were the first

ten, referred to as the Ten Commandments. The rest of the command-

ments concerned circumcision, diet, marriage, charity, neighborly

love, the Sabbath, and other festivals.

We should understand that the Temple and the sacrifices in the

Old Testament had different meanings from those of the other reli-

gions of that time. The other nations of that time had a different view

of worship. They were attempting to satisfy their gods and even fulfill

their needs through the religious rituals performed in temples. Sacri-

fices came to be seen as a way of manipulating the gods. More and

more substantial offerings would accumulate more and more influence

on the gods. In this way the priests reached a point where they were

actually manipulating the gods and considered themselves (through

the rituals they performed) the keepers of universal order, providers of

fertility, wealth, victory over enemies, etc. The tendency to manipu-

late the gods is obvious in Vedic ritualism and was the cause for its

decline. Although human sacrifices (Purushamedha) were very rare in

Brahminism, the priests held the ropes of heaven and soon became

more important than the gods. After all, it was their sacrifices that kept

the universe properly functioning. No wonder that the Shramana tradi-

tion appeared as a revolt against this order.

In the Old Testament, the condition for maintaining a proper re-

lation with God was obeying and conforming to his revealed stan-

dards, not the performance of religious rituals that would empower

him to fulfill his divine attributes. Sacrifices were not necessary for

him, but for the sake of sinful people, as the solution for their trespass-

ing of the law. If not absolved, the sins of the people would bring

God‘s punishment on the nation. Therefore, the sacrifice had to per-

form its work in humans, not in God. This is why the tabernacle and

the sacrificial system was added to the covenant with Israel (in Ex-

odus 20-24), as a further grace. Although Israel also had, as the other

nations, a temple, priests and sacrifices, their role was different. God

commanded that they would not follow the pagan pattern: Be careful

not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, "How do

these nations serve their gods? We will do the same." You must not

36

worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshipping their

gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even

burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.

See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from

it (Deuteronomy 12, 29-32).

Out of the many sacrifices and religious feasts mentioned in the

Old Testament, of greatest importance and significance was the Day

of Atonement (Yom Kippur), described in Leviticus, 16. It was per-

formed once a year, only by the high priest and for the benefit of all

people. Its purpose was to remove all the sins committed during the

year and mark the rededication of the nation to God. First, the high

priest had to offer a bull as an atoning sacrifice for his own sins. Only

in this way was he considered cleansed of his sins and therefore capa-

ble of performing the atonement ritual for the nation. Then he took

two goats, one for the Lord and the other as scapegoat. The goat for

the Lord was slaughtered and the blood sprinkled on the atonement

cover, located in the Most Holy Place of the temple. As the high stan-

dards of God had been transgressed by the people, the act of the priest

symbolized the covering of the transgressions with blood, as ransom

price paid for their remission. Then the high priest had to “lay both

hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wicked-

ness and rebellion of the Israelites – all their sins – and put them on

the goat's head. He shall send the goat away into the desert in the

care of a man appointed for the task” (Lev. 21).

This symbolized the fact that the sins were carried away from the

people into the realm of Azazel, out of God‘s presence. The Israelites

thus learned that any trespassing of the Mosaic Law is a sin and any

sin demands a sacrifice, in order that God, the giver of the law, could

forgive the sinner. The principle at work was that the punishment for

sin had to be borne by an innocent animal, as substitute for the sinner.

In the Eastern religions this way of dealing with sins is absurd. In the

context where karma operates nothing can act as a substitute sacrifice.

The sinner must pay for his own sins in this or in further lives. But in

Judaism, through the ritual performed by the priest, it was clearly

shaped in the mind of any Jew the fact that his sins are forgiven only

due to the animal sacrifice, or more specifically, through its blood.

The animal became man‘s substitute in order to fulfill God‘s justice.

37

Although all forms of Judaism have been rooted in the Hebrew

Bible (referred to by Jews as the Tanach, an acronym for its three sec-

tions: Torah, the Pentateuch; Nebiim, the prophetic literature; and Ke-

tubim, the other writings), it would be an error to think of Judaism as

simply the ―religion of the Old Testament.‖ Contemporary Judaism is

ultimately derived from the rabbinic movement of the first centuries of

the Christian era in Palestine and Babylonia and is therefore called

rabbinic Judaism. Rabbi, in Aramaic and Hebrew, means ―my teach-

er.‖ The rabbis, Jewish sages adept in studying the Scriptures and their

own traditions, maintained that God had revealed to Moses on Sinai a

twofold Torah. In addition to the written Torah (Scripture), God re-

vealed an oral Torah, faithfully transmitted by word of mouth in an

unbroken chain from master to disciple, and preserved now among the

rabbis themselves. For the rabbis, the oral Torah was encapsulated in

the Mishnah (―that which is learned or memorized‖), the earliest doc-

ument of rabbinic literature, edited in Palestine at the turn of the 3rd

century. Subsequent rabbinic study of the Mishnah in Palestine and

Babylonia generated two Talmuds (―that which is studied‖; also called

Gemera, an Aramaic term with the same meaning), wide-ranging

commentaries on the Mishnah. The Babylonian Talmud, edited about

the 6th century, became the foundation document of rabbinic Judaism.

Early rabbinic writings also include exegetical and homiletical

commentaries on Scripture (the Midrashim) and several Aramaic

translations of the Pentateuch and other scriptural books (the see Tar-

gums). Medieval rabbinic writings include codifications of talmudic

law, the most authoritative of which is the 16th-century Shulhan

Arukh (Set Table) by Joseph ben Ephraim Caro. In Judaism, the study

of Torah refers to the study of all this literature, not simply of the Pen-

tateuch (―the Torah,‖ in the narrow sense).

Religious practices

The most universal of Jewish rituals is kashruth, the dietary

laws, for these are observed by the faithful in the very act of eating to

sustain life. In the revelation to Moses on Sinai, God distinguished be-

tween foods, prohibiting the eating of those things that were unclean,

and also forbade the Jews to boil a young animal in its mother‘s milk,

or to eat an animal's blood.

38

These biblical prohibitions are retained in the well known dietary

regulations still observed by Orthodox Jews, although contemporary

Reform Judaism has rejected these laws. Orthodox Jews do not eat

pork, shell fish, or other scavenger animals; the do not eat meat and

milk at the same meal; and they eat only animals slaughtered in a pre-

scribed manner that involves disposing of much of the blood. The

term kosher refers to food that may be eaten. Some of these laws, such

as the one prohibiting the eating of scavengers, are obviously based on

sound hygienic or economic reasoning; others are still the subject of

scholarly discussion.

As for prayer, traditionally, Jews pray three times a day: in the

morning (shaharith), afternoon (minhah), and evening (maarib). The

times of prayer are deemed to correspond to the times when sacrifices

were offered in the Jerusalem Temple. In this and other ways, rabbinic

Judaism metaphorically carries forward the structure of the destroyed

Temple cult. A company of ten men forms a congregation, or quorum

(minyan), for prayer.

The single required component of all Jewish worship services is

a series of benedictions called the Tefillah (―prayer‖); it is also known

as the Amidah, or ―standing‖ prayer, because it is recited standing, and

the Shemoneh Esreh, because it originally contained 18 benedictions.

On weekdays it is now composed of 19 benedictions, including 13 pe-

titions for welfare and messianic restoration. On see Sabbaths and fes-

tivals, these petitions are replaced by occasional prayers. A second

major rubric is the recitation of the Shema in the morning and even-

ing. All services conclude with two messianic prayers, the first called

Alenu, the second an Aramaic doxology called the Kaddish. As a sign

of devotion to God, the observant adult male Jew during weekday

morning prayers wears both a fringed prayer shawl (tallith; the fringes

are called zizith) and phylacteries (prayer boxes, called tefillin). Both

customs are derived from the scriptural passages that are recited as the

Shema, as is a third, the placing of a mezuzah (prayer box) on the

doorpost of one‘s house, a further reminder that God is everywhere.

As a gesture of respect to God, the head is covered during prayer, ei-

ther with a hat or a skullcap (kippah; Yiddish yarmulke). Pious Jews

wear a head covering at all times, recognizing God‘s constant pres-

ence.

39

The study of Torah, the revealed will of God, also is considered

an act of worship in rabbinic Judaism. Passages from Scripture, Mish-

nah, and Talmud are recited during daily morning services. On Mon-

day and Thursday mornings, a handwritten parchment scroll of the

Torah (that is, the Pentateuch) is removed from the ark at the front of

the synagogue and read, with cantillation, before the congregation.

The major liturgical Torah readings take place on Sabbath and festival

mornings. In the course of a year, the entire Torah will be read on

Sabbaths. The annual cycle begins again every autumn at a celebration

called Simhath Torah (―rejoicing in the Torah‖), which falls at the end

of the Sukkot festival. Torah readings for the festivals deal with the

themes and observances of the day. Thematically appropriate readings

from the Prophets (Haftarah, meaning ―conclusion‖) accompany the

Torah readings on Sabbaths and festivals. The public reading of Scrip-

ture thus constitutes a significant part of synagogue worship. In fact,

this appears originally to have been the primary function of the syn-

agogue as an institution.

The Jewish liturgical calendar carries forward the divisions of

time prescribed in the Torah and observed in the Temple cult. Every

seventh day is the Sabbath, when no work is performed. By this ab-

stention, the Jew returns the world to its owner, that is, God, acknowl-

edging that humans extract its produce only on sufferance. The Sab-

bath is spent in prayer, study, rest, and family feasting. An additional

(musaf) service is recited in the synagogue on Sabbaths and festivals,

corresponding to the additional sacrifice that is offered in the Temple

on these days.

The Jewish year includes five major festivals and two minor

ones. Three of the major festivals originally were agricultural and are

tied to the seasons in the land of Israel. Pesach (Passover), the spring

festival, marks the beginning of the barley harvest, and Shabuoth

(Weeks or Pentecost) marks its conclusion 50 days later. Sukkot (Ta-

bernacles) celebrates the autumn harvest and is preceded by a 10-day

period of communal purification. From an early date, these festivals

came to be associated with formative events in Israel‘s historical

memory. Passover celebrates the Exodus from Egypt. Shabuoth is

identified as the time of the giving of the Torah on Sinai. It is marked

by the solemn reading of the Ten Commandments in the synagogue.

Sukkot is still observed primarily as a harvest festival, but the harvest

40

booths in which Jews eat during the festival‘s seven days also are

identified with the booths in which the Israelites dwelt on their jour-

ney to the Promised Land. The ten-day penitential period before Suk-

kot is inaugurated by Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, and concludes

with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. According to tradition, the

world is judged each New Year and the decree sealed on the Day of

Atonement. A ram‘s horn (shofar) is blown on the New Year to call

the people to repentance. The Day of Atonement, the holiest day in the

Jewish year, is spent in fasting, prayer, and confession. Its liturgy be-

gins with the plaintive chanting of the Kol Nidre formula and includes

a remembrance of the day‘s rites (avodah) in the Temple.

The two minor festivals, Hanukkah and Purim, are later in origin

than the five Pentateuchally prescribed festivals. Hanukkah (Dedica-

tion) commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian

king Antiochus IV in 165 BC and the ensuing rededication of the

Second Temple. Purim (Lots) celebrates the tale of Persian Jewry‘s

deliverance by Esther and Mordecai. It occurs a month before Passov-

er and is marked by the festive reading in the synagogue of the Scroll

of Esther (megillah). Four fast days, commemorating events in the

siege and destruction of the two Temples in 586 BC and AD 70, com-

plete the liturgical year. The most important of these is Tishah b‘Ab,

or the Ninth of Ab, observed as the day on which both Temples were

destroyed.

Significant events in the life cycle of the Jew also are observed

in the community. At the age of eight days, a male child is publicly in-

itiated into the covenant of Abraham through circumcision (berith mi-

lah). Boys reach legal maturity at the age of 13, when they assume re-

sponsibility for observing all the commandments (bar mitzvah) and

are called for the first time to read from the Torah in synagogue. Girls

reach maturity at 12 years of age and, in modern Liberal synagogues,

also read from the Torah (bat mitzvah). In the 19th century, the mod-

ernizing Reform movement instituted the practice of confirmation for

both young men and women of secondary school age. The ceremony

is held on Shabuoth and signifies acceptance of the faith revealed at

Sinai. The next turning point in a Jew‘s life is marriage (kiddushin,

―sanctification‖). Even at the hour of greatest personal joy, Jews recall

the sorrows of their people. The seven wedding benedictions include

petitionary prayers for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the return of

41

the Jewish people to Zion. Also, at the Jewish funeral the hope for re-

surrection of the deceased is included in a prayer for the redemption of

the Jewish people as a whole. The pious Jewish male is buried in his

tallith.

Brief history of Judaism

The biblical literature and cognate archaeological materials pro-

vide the earliest information about the history of Judaism. Earliest

Israel was not monotheistic, but henotheistic: Worshiping only one

God themselves, the Israelites did not deny the existence of other gods

for other nations.

Pre-exilic Israel, first as a confederation of tribes and then as a

kingdom, celebrated as its formative experiences the redemption from

Egyptian bondage and, particularly, the conquest and settlement of the

land of Canaan (the land of Israel). Its deity was Yahweh, the god of

the patriarchs. Yahweh had redeemed the Israelites from Egypt and

brought them into the Promised Land. Yahweh was believed to bring

the rainfall that guaranteed a bountiful harvest or famine, drought, and

pestilence if the community proved unfaithful and recalcitrant. Israel

thus saw itself as dependent on God for its livelihood and obligated to

respond with sacrificial offerings of gratitude and propitiation.

The sacrificial cult ultimately was centralized in the royal sanct-

uary in Jerusalem, which later was rivaled by the northern sanctuaries

at Bethel and Dan. Opposition to syncretistic cultic practices at both

the northern (Israelite) and southern (Judean) sanctuaries and to social

injustices under the monarchies was voiced during this period by the

prophets, charismatic ―men of God.‖ They did not reject the sacrificial

cult per se, but merely what they saw as an exclusive, smug reliance

on it that ignored the moral dimension of Israelite society. Their warn-

ings were perceived to have been vindicated when first the northern,

then the southern, kingdoms were destroyed by foreign conquerors.

The exile of the Judeans to Babylonia in 586 BC was a major

turning point in Israelite religion. The prior history of Israel now was

reinterpreted in light of the events of 586, laying the foundation for

the traditional biblical Pentateuch, prophetic canon, and historical

books. The prophets Ezekiel and Deutero-Isaiah believed that Yahweh

had used the Babylonian Empire to punish the Israelites for their sins,

and he therefore had the power to redeem them from captivity if they

42

repented. A truly monotheistic religion developed, the God of Israel

now being seen as the God ruling universal history and the destiny of

all nations. The Babylonian exiles‘ messianic hope for a restored Ju-

dean kingdom under the leadership of a scion of the royal house of

David seemed to have been vindicated when Cyrus the Great, after

conquering Babylon in 539 BC, permitted a repatriation of subject

populations and a restoration of local temples. The restored Judean

commonwealth did not fully realize this hope, however, because the

Persians did not allow the reestablishment of a Judean monarchy, but

only a temple-state with the high priest as its chief administrator.

The introduction into the Middle East of Greek culture, begin-

ning with the conquests of Alexander the Great in 331 BC, put the in-

digenous cultures of the region on the defensive. The Maccabean re-

volt of 165 to 142 BC began as a civil war between Jewish Hellenizers

and offended nativists; it ended as a successful war for Judean politi-

cal independence from Syria. This political and cultural turmoil had a

major impact on religion. The earliest apocalyptic writings were com-

posed during this period. This genre of cryptic revelations interpreted

the wars of the time as part of a cosmic conflict between the forces of

good and evil that would end with the ultimate victory of God‘s le-

gions. Bodily resurrection at the time of God‘s Last Judgment was

promised for the first time to those righteous Jews who had been slain

in the conflict. We should mention here that in earlier Judaism, im-

mortality consisted solely in the survival of the individual‘s children

and people and in a shadowy afterlife in the netherworld, Sheol.

The Maccabean victories inaugurated an 80-year period of Ju-

dean political independence, but religious turmoil persisted. Members

of the Hasmonaean priestly family that led the revolt proclaimed

themselves hereditary kings and high priests, although they were not

of the ancient high priestly lineage. This, together with their Hellenis-

tic monarchical trappings, prompted fierce opposition from groups

such as the Qumran community, known to modern scholars from the

Dead Sea Scrolls. Led by dissident priests, this sect believed that the

Jerusalem Temple had been profaned by the Hasmonaeans and saw it-

self as a purified Temple exiled in the wilderness.

The Qumran group can probably be identified with the Essenes

described by Jewish historian Flavius Josephus and other ancient

writers. Josephus also described two other groups, the Sadducees and

43

the Pharisees, for whom no identifiable firsthand sources have been

found. The Pharisees (perushim, ―separatists‖), like the Qumrān

group, put forth their own traditions of biblical law, which were dis-

puted by the Sadducees, an aristocratic priestly group. The Pharisees

were the lineal forerunners of the rabbinic movement after AD 70. All

the religious factions of this period, particularly those opposed to the

Temple administration, appealed to the authority of Scripture, to

which each gave its own distinctive interpretation.

The Romans‘ destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70 and

their suppression of a second messianic revolt in 132 to 135 led by

Simon Bar Kokhba were catastrophes for Judaism of no less magni-

tude than the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BC. The priestly

leadership was decisively discredited. In this context the rabbinic

movement emerged. Because the Jewish people had lost control of

their political destiny, the rabbis emphasized their communal and spi-

ritual life. They taught that by conformity in daily life to the Torah as

elaborated in the rabbinic traditions – through study, prayer, and ob-

servance – the individual Jew could achieve salvation while waiting

for God to bring about the messianic redemption of all Israel. Some

rabbis held that if all Jews conformed to the Torah, the Messiah would

be compelled to come. Institutionally, the synagogue (which had ex-

isted before AD 70) and the rabbinic study house replaced the Temple

that had been destroyed.

The rabbinization of all Jewry, including the growing Mediterra-

nean and European Diasporas, was a gradual process that had to over-

come sharp challenges from the Karaites and other antirabbinic

movements. The Arab conquest of the Middle East in the 7th century

by Islamic Arab armies facilitated the spread of a uniform rabbinic

Judaism. Near the seat of the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdād, the heads

of the Babylonian rabbinical academies (geonim; plural of gaon,

meaning ―excellence‖) attempted to standardize Jewish law, custom,

and liturgy in accordance with their own practices, which they set

forth in their replies (responsa) to inquiries from Diaspora communi-

ties. Thus, the hegemony over Jewry passed from Palestine to Babylo-

nia, and the Babylonian Talmud came to be the most authoritative

rabbinic document.

In the cultural ambit of Islam, rabbinic Judaism encountered

Greek philosophy as recovered and interpreted by Islamic commenta-

44

tors. Rabbinic intellectuals began to cultivate philosophy to defend

Judaism against the polemics of Islamic theologians and to demon-

strate to other Jews the rationality of their revealed faith and law. Me-

dieval Jewish philosophy typically concerns the attributes of God, mi-

racles, prophecy (revelation), and the rationality of the command-

ments. The most notable philosophical interpretations of Judaism were

put forth by Babylonian gaon Saadia ben Joseph in the 9th century,

Judah Ha-Levi in the 12th century, and, preeminently, Moses ben

Maimon (Maimonides) in the 12th century (Guide for the Perplexed,

1190; translated 1881-1885). The exposure to systematic logic also af-

fected rabbinic legal studies in the Islamic world and is evident in nu-

merous posttalmudic codifications of Jewish law, the most famous be-

ing Maimonides‘ elegant Mishneh Torah.

Moses Maimonides tried to condense the basic beliefs of Ju-

daism into the form of a creed. It is still followed by the traditional

forms of Judaism.

1. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His

Name, is the Creator and Guide of everything that has been created;

He alone has made, does make, and will make all things.

2. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His

Name, is One, and that there is no unity in any manner like unto His,

and that He alone is our God, who was, and is, and will be.

3. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His

Name, is not a body, and that He is free from all the properties of mat-

ter, and that He has not any form whatever.

4. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His

Name, is the first and the last.

5. I believe with perfect faith that to the Creator, blessed be His

Name, and to Him alone, it is right to pray, and that it is not right to

pray to any being besides Him.

6. I believe with perfect faith that all the works of the prophets

are true.

7. I believe with perfect faith that the prophecy of Moses, our

teacher, peace be unto him, was true, and that he was the chief of the

prophets, both of those who preceded and of those who followed him.

8. I believe with perfect faith that the whole Torah, now in our

possession, is the same that was given to Moses, our teacher, peace be

unto him.

45

9. I believe with perfect faith that this Torah will not be changed,

and that there will never be any other Law from the Creator, blessed

be His name.

10. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His

name, knows very deed of the children of men, and all their thoughts,

as it is said. It is He that fashioned the hearts of them all, that gives

heed to all their works.

11. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His

Name, rewards those that keep His commandments and punishes those

that transgress them.

12. I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah;

and, though he tarry, I will wait daily for his coming.

13. I believe with perfect faith that there will be a revival of the

dead at the time when it shall please the Creator, blessed be His name,

and exalted be His Fame for ever and ever.

Medieval Judaism developed two distinctive cultures, Sephardic

(centered in Moorish Spain) and Ashkenazic (in the lands of the Holy

Roman Empire). Philosophy and systematic legal codification were

distinctly Sephardic activities and were opposed by the Ashkenazim,

who preferred intensive study of the Babylonian Talmud. The great

Rhineland school of Talmud commentary began with 11th-century

scholar Solomon ben Isaac (Rashi) of Troyes and continued with his

grandsons and students, known as the tosaphists, who produced the li-

terature of tosaphoth (―additions‖ to Rashi‘s Talmud commentary).

Throughout the medieval period, Judaism was continually revita-

lized by mystical and ethical-pietistic movements. The most signifi-

cant of these were the 12th-century German Hasidic, or ―pietist,‖

movement and the 13th-century Spanish Kabbalah, of which the most

influential work was Sefer ha-zohar (The Book of Splendor) by Moses

de León.

In Judaism there was an esoteric theosophy – the Kabbalah

(means "knowledge that is received") containing elements of Gnostic-

ism and Neoplatonism, that describes the dynamic nature of the god-

head and offers a powerful symbolic interpretation of the Torah and

the commandments. It began in small, elite scholarly circles but be-

came a major popular movement after the calamitous expulsion of the

Jews from Catholic Spain in 1492. The spread of the Kabbalah was

facilitated by the mythical, messianic reinterpretation of it made by

46

Isaac Luria of Safed. Lurianic Kabbalah explained to the exiles the

cosmic meaning of their suffering and gave them a crucial role in the

cosmic drama of redemption. Luria‘s ideas paved the way for a major

messianic upheaval, centered around the figure of Sabbatai Zevi,

which affected all Jewry in the 17th century. They also influenced the

popular 18th-century Polish revival movement called Hasidism.

Begun by Israel Baal Shem Tov, Hasidism proclaimed that,

through fervent, rapturous devotion, the poor, unlearned Jew could

serve God better than the Talmudist. Rabbinic opposition to Hasidism

was eventually mitigated in the face of a more serious threat to both

groups: the western European and the various modernizing move-

ments that it generated within Judaism.

The civil emancipation of European Jewry, a process compli-

cated by lingering anti-Jewish sentiment, evoked different reformula-

tions of Judaism in western and eastern Europe. In the west (particu-

larly in Germany) Judaism was reformulated as a religious confession

like modern Protestantism. The German Reform movement aban-

doned the hope of a return to Zion (the Jewish homeland), shortened

and aestheticized the worship service, emphasized sermons in the ver-

nacular, and rejected as archaic much Jewish law and custom. The

Reform rabbi took on many of the roles of the Protestant minister.

Early Reform theologians such as Abraham Geiger and Samuel Hold-

heim, influenced by German philosophers Immanuel Kant and Georg

Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, emphasized ethics and a belief in human

progress. Right-wing Reformers, led by Zacharias Frankel, favored

the retention of Hebrew and more traditional customs. Modern Ortho-

doxy, championed by Samson R. Hirsch in opposition to the Refor-

mers, sought a blend of traditional Judaism and modern learning.

In eastern Europe, where Jews formed a large and distinctive so-

cial group, modernization of Judaism took the form of cultural and

ethnic nationalism. Like the other resurgent national movements in the

east, the Jewish movement emphasized the revitalization of the na-

tional language (Hebrew; later also Yiddish) and the creation of a

modern, secular literature and culture. Zionism, the movement to

create a modern Jewish society in the ancient homeland, took firm

hold in eastern Europe after its initial formulations by Leo Pinsker in

Russia and Theodor Herzl in Austria. Zionism was a secular ideology

47

but it powerfully evoked and was rooted in traditional Judaic messian-

ism, and it ultimately led to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

In the late 1990s the total world Jewish population was 14.1 mil-

lion, of whom 5.9 million lived in the United States, 4.6 million in

Israel, and 700,000 each in France and Russia, the four largest centers

of Jewish settlement. About 500,000 Jews lived in Ukraine, 350,000

in Canada, 300,000 in the Great Britain, 250,000 in Argentina, and

100,000 in South Africa. These figures indicate that 42 percent of the

Jewish population resides in North America, followed by Asia with 29

percent, Europe (including Russia) with 18 percent, Latin America

with 8 percent, Africa with 2 percent, and Oceania with 1 percent.

1.4.2. Assyro-Babylonian religion

Identification of the gods and goddesses with heavenly bodies –

planets and stars, besides sun and moon – and to assigning the seats of

all the deities in the heavens is found in Assyro-Babylonian religion.

The personification of the two great luminaries – the Sun and the

Moon – was the first step in the unfolding of this system, and this was

followed by placing the other deities where Shamash and Sin had their

seats. This process, which reached its culmination in the post-

Hammurabic period, led to identifying the planet Venus with Ishtar,

Jupiter with Marduk, Mars with Nergal, Mercuri with Nabu, and Sa-

turn with Ninurta.

The system represents a harmonious combination of two factors,

one of popular origin, the other the outcome of speculation in the

schools attached to the temples of Babylonia. The popular factor is the

belief in the influence exerted by the movements of the heavenly bo-

dies on occurrences on earth – a belief naturally suggested by the de-

pendence of life, vegetation and guidance upon the two great lumina-

ries. The heavens presenting a constant change even to the superficial

observer, the conclusion was drawn of a connection between the

changes and the everchanging movement in the fate of individuals and

of nature as well as in the appearance of nature.

To read the signs of the heavens was therefore to understand the

meaning of occurrences on earth, and with this accomplished, it was

also possible to foretell what events were portended by the position

and relationship to one another of sun, moon, planets and certain stars.

48

Myths that symbolized changes in season or occurrences in nature

were projected on the heavens, which were mapped out to correspond

to the divisions of the earth.

All the gods, great and small, had their places assigned to them

in the heavens, and facts, including such as fell within the domain of

political history, were interpreted in terms of astral theology. So com-

pletely did this system in the course of time sway men's minds that the

cult, from being an expression of animistic beliefs, took on the colour

derived from the astral interpretation of occurrences and doctrines. It

left its trace incantations, omens and hymns, and it gave birth to as-

tronomy, which was assiduously cultivated because a knowledge of

the heavens was the very foundation of the system of belief unfolded

by the priests of Babylonia and Assyria.

Chaldaean wisdom became, in the classical world, the synonym

of this science, which in its character was so essentially religious. The

persistent prominence which astrology continued to enjoy down to the

border-line of the scientific movement of our own days, and which is

directly traceable to the divination methods perfected in the Euphrates

valley, is a tribute to the scope and influence attained by the astral

theology of the Babylonian and Assyrian priests.

As an illustration of the manner in which the doctrines of the re-

ligion were made to conform to the all-pervading astral theory, it will

be sufficient to refer to the modification undergone in this process of

the view developed in a very early period which apportioned the con-

trol of the universe among the three gods Anu, Enlil and Ea. Disasso-

ciating these gods from all local connections, Anu became the power

presiding over the heavens, to Enlil was assigned the earth and the at-

mosphere immediately above it, while Ea ruled over the deep. With

the transfer of all the gods to the heavens, and under the influence of

the doctrine of the correspondence between the heavens and the earth,

Anu, Enlil and Ea became the three ways (as they are called) on the

heavens.

The ways appear in this instance to have been the designation of

the ecliptic circle, which was divided into three sections or zones – a

northern, a middle and a southern zone, Anu being assigned to the

first, Enlil to the second, and Ea to the third zone.

The astral theology of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion, while

thus bearing the ear-marks of a system devised by the priests, suc-

49

ceeded in assimilating the beliefs which represented the earlier at-

tempts to systematize the more popular aspects of the religion, and in

this way a unification of diverse elements was secured that led to in-

terpreting the contents and the form of the religion in terms of the as-

tral-theological system.

From the beginning of the third millennium B.C., a flourishing

civilization existed on the lower banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates,

due to two neighboring peoples: the Akkadians and the Sumerians.

The land of Sumer was situated around the upper end of the Persian

Gulf, which in those days probably extended much further inland than

it does to-day, although this belief has recently been challenged. The

towns of Eridu to the south and Nippur to the north marked its ex-

treme limits: other towns were Lagash, Umma, Erech, Larsa and Ur.

The Sumerians had probably come from central Asia or the Siberian

steppes. The land of Akkad, which lay immediately to the north of

Sumer, was peopled by Semites who had probably come from north-

ern Syria. The site of the city, Agade, from which it took its name, has

not yet been identified. Its other principal towns were – from south to

north – Borsippa, Babylon, Kish, Kutha and Sippar. The question of

which of these two peoples was the older has been disputed, as has the

part attributable to each in the development of civilization. As to the

respective contributions of the two races to religion which is all that

concerns us here, it is probably most accurate to regard Assyro-

Babylonian religion as not primarily a Semitic religion but as one re-

sulting from the semitisation of an originally Sumerian or, to employ a

more general term, Asian basis. However that may be, there was indu-

bitably a reciprocal penetration between the religions of Sumer and

Akkad. Each city doubtless venerated its own divinities, but each also

welcomed those of neighboring cities. Conquerors, moreover, would

impose their own gods on regions subdued. In time, these new gods

would become identified with the indigenous gods and, if not actually

assimilated, form affiliations and relationships with them. It is this in-

termixture of the Akkadian and Sumerian pantheons, completed by the

contributions of later epochs, which constitutes Assyro-Babylonian

mythology.

The myth of the Creation is given to us in a series of seven tab-

lets which in the main come, like most of the other religious texts

which we shall make use of, from the library of Ashurbanipal in Ni-

50

neveh. Tablets date from the seventh century B.C., while there are

some pieces from Ashur going back to 1000 B.C. The work as we,

have it must be based on much older original texts. Water is the pri-

mordial element. From the fusion of sweet water (Apsu) and salt water

(Tiamat) arose all beings, beginning with the gods. The Apsu, which

is here personified, was a kind of abyss filled with water which encir-

cled the earth. The earth itself was a round plateau. This plateau was

bounded by mountains on which rested the vault of heaven, and it

floated on the waters of the Apsu. From the Apsu came the springs

which broke through the surface of the earth. The Apsu may be com-

pared to the River Oceanus of the Greeks, which Homer also called

the father of all things. Tiamat was a personification of the sea and

represented the feminine element which gave birth to the world. In the

continuation of the story she represents the blind forces of primitive

chaos against which the intelligent and organising gods struggle.

Lakhmu and Lakhamu were the first two to be born. They are rather

vague gods, and seem to be a pair of monstrous serpents. They gave

birth to Anshar the male principle, and to Kishar, the female principle,

who represented respectively, so some think, the celestial and the ter-

restrial worlds. In the same way the Greek gods were born of the un-

ion of Uranus, the sky, and Gaea, the earth. But while in Greek my-

thology Gaea played an important role Kishar does not appear again in

the story.

In the Epic of the Creation it will be noticed that the principal

role is played by Marduk; it is he who triumphs over Tiamat and or-

ganises the universe. This is explained by the Babylonian origin of the

poem, for Marduk was, as we shall later see, the great god of Babylon.

Now this is how the people of Sumer and Akkad explained the origin

of the world. In the beginning when 'the sky above had not been

named and the earth below was nameless' there existed only Apsu, the

primordial ocean, and Tiamat, the tumultuous sea. From their mingled

waters came forth first Mummu (the tumult of the waves) then a pair

of monstrous serpents. Lakhmu and Lakhamu, who in their turn gave

birth to Anshar, the celestial world, and to Kishar, the terrestrial

world. To Anshar and Kishar were born the great gods: Ann, the po-

werful; Ea, of vast intellect; and the other divinities. These latter were

the Igigi who peopled the sky, and the Anunnake who were scattered

over the earth and through the underworld.

51

Soon the new gods with their turbulence disturbed the repose of

old Apsu who complained to Tiamat: 'During the day I have no rest

and at night I cannot sleep.' The two ancestors argued about the anni-

hilation of their descendants. 'Why should we destroy all that we have

rnade?' asked Tiamat. 'Even though their way is troublesome!' But Ea,

who perceived all things, learnt of Apsu's design and by his magic in-

cantations was able to seize Apsu and Mummu.

Tiamat, enraged, gathered around her a certain number of the

gods and gave birth to enormous serpents 'with sharp teeth, merciless

in slaughter', to terrible dragons with glittering scales, to tempest-

monsters, savage dogs, to scorpion-men, furious hurricanes, fish-men

and rams. To command this troop she chose Kingu, to whom she gave

sovereignty over all the gods, pinning on his breast the tablets of fate.

Meanwhile Ea, who knew of Tiamat's plans, went to his father

Anshar. 'Tiamat, our mother,' he said, 'has conceived a hatred against

us. She is gathering an army together, she storms with fury.' Listening

to his son, Anshar was moved. He 'struck his thigh, he bit his lip, his

stomach knew no more rest'. At first he sent Anu against Tiamat, but

Anu lacked the heart to confront the goddess. Ea was no more coura-

geous. Then Ea summoned Bel-Marduk, 'the son who makes his heart

swell', and bade him to do battle with Tiamat, promising him the vic-

tory.

Marduk accepted, but first insisted that the assembled gods

should confer on him supreme authority. Anshar consented and at

once sent his messenger Gaga to Lakhmu and Lakhamu, as well as to

the other Igigi. All hastened to the Upshukina and, having kissed each

other, sat down to a banquet. After they had eaten bread and drunk

wine they prepared a princely dwelling for Marduk, the king. They

acknowledged his rule over all the world and accorded him the scep-

tre, the throne and the palu, giving him the unrivalled weapon which

repelled all enemies, 'Go', they said to him, 'and slay Tiamat. May the

winds carry her blood to secret places!' Thus invested Marduk took in

his right hand a bow, fixed the string, hung a quiver at his side, set

lightning before him and made a net in which to entangle Tiamat. He

loosed the winds which he posted beside him; then, taking his chief

weapon, the hurricane, he mounted his chariot - a terrifying tempest -

which was drawn by four swift and violent steeds, fearful in battle.

Thus 'arrayed in terror' he went forth to challenge Tiamat to battle.

52

They rose up, Tiamat and Marduk the Wise, among the gods. The Ep-

ic of the Creation (Tablet IV, vs. 93-104. Dhorme's translation), tells

us: They marched to war, they drew near to give battle. The Lord

spread out his net and caught her in it. The evil wind which followed

him, he loosed it in her face. She opened her mouth, Tiamat, to swal-

low him. He drove in the evil wind so that she could not close her lips.

The terrible winds filled her belly. Her heart was seized, She held her

mouth wide open. He let fly an arrow, it pierced her belly. Her inner

parts he clove, he split her heart. He rendered her powerless and de-

stroyed her life. He felled her body and stood upright on it. The death

of Tiamat spread confusion among her followers. Her auxiliaries fled

in disorder to save their lives, but Marduk caught them in his net and

took them all prisoner. With Kingu he threw them in chains into the

infernal regions.

Then, returning to Tiamat, he split her skull and cut the arteries

of her blood. And, as he contemplated the monstrous corpse, he

'conceived works of art'. He clove the body 'like a fish into its two

parts'. From one half he fashioned the vault of the heavens, from the

other the solid earth. That done, he organised the world. He con-

structed a dwelling-place for the great gods in the sky and installed the

stars which were their image; he fixed the length of the year and regu-

lated the course of the heavenly bodies. Thus the earth was formed.

Then 'in order that the gods should live in a world to rejoice their

hearts' Marduk created humanity. According to the Epic of the Crea-

tion Marduk moulded the body of the first man using the blood of

Kingu. A neo-Babylonian text from Eridu says that he was aided in

his work by the goddess Aruru who 'produced with him the seed of

mankind'. Finally there appeared the great rivers, vegetation and ani-

mals, wild and domestic. The work of creation had been achieved. The

essential privilege of the gods was immortality. But they had the same

needs and passions as mortals. They were subject to fear. During the

deluge the gods were disquieted to see the waters rise. They climbed

to the sky of Anu and there: The gods crouched like dogs; on the wall

they cowered. The gods were also greedy. When they forgathered they

never failed to feast and drink themselves into a state of boisterous in-

toxication. The Epic of the Creation says: They grow drunk with

drinking; their bodies are joyful, They shout aloud, their hearts exult.

They were equally fond of sacrifices. When Uta Napishtim was saved

53

from the Deluge and, in gratitude, placed offerings on the summit of

the mountain, 'the gods smelled the good odor, the gods swarmed like

flies above him who offered them sacrifice'. Like men the gods had

wives and families. They were celestial sovereigns and, like kings of

earth, had their courts, servants and soldiers. They inhabited palaces

situated either in regions above the sky, on the great Mountain of the

East, or in the subterranean depths of the underworld. Although each

had his own sphere of influence they would sometimes gather together

to debate common problems. They would then assemble in a hall

called the Upshukina. In particular they would congregate there at the

beginning of each year, on the feast of Zagmuk, in order to determine

men's destiny.

The gods thus formed a thoroughly organized and hierarchical

society. The divine hierarchy was not immediately established and

was often modified. The great primordial principle of fertility and fe-

cundity, at first worshipped by the Sumerians, was quickly dispersed

into a crowd of divinities who had no precise connection with each

other. Later, under the influence of national pride, the gods acquired

rank, the dignity of which corresponded to the importance in the coun-

try as a whole of the city in which they were particularly venerated.

Finally the official theologians of Babylon fixed the hierarchy of the

gods more or less definitely, dividing them into triads. The two prin-

cipal triads were those of the great gods Anu, Enlil and Ea, and of the

astral gods Sin, Shamash and Ishtar.

Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism, religion that arose from the teachings of the de-

votional poet Zoroaster, known as Zarathushtra to ancient Iranians,

who is regarded as the faith‘s founding prophet. Scholars believe that

Zoroaster lived sometime between 1750 and 1500 BC or 1400 and

1200 BC. The Zoroastrian scripture, called the Avesta, includes poems

attributed to Zoroaster. The religion continues to be practiced today by

Zoroastrian communities in India, Iran, the United States, Canada, and

other countries.

In his writings Zoroaster speaks of an ethical and moral opposi-

tion between Asha (―order‖), which he equates with righteousness,

and Drug (―confusion‖), which he equates with evil and the lie. Zo-

roaster personifies this dualism in a pair of spirits called Ahura Mazda

54

(―Wise Lord,‖ known as Ohrmazd in Middle Persian), and Angra

Mainyu (―Evil Spirit,‖ known as Ahriman in Middle Persian).

According to Zoroastrian doctrine, Ahura Mazda is a perfect, ra-

tional, and omniscient (all-knowing) entity. Thus, Zoroastrians believe

that Angra Mainyu created sin, disease, death, and similar evils. Ahura

Mazda is said to have created six Amesha Spentas (―Holy Immor-

tals‖), who represent aspects of material creation, in addition to other

minor spiritual beings who assist in protecting the world and all crea-

tures. Angra Mainyu is said to have produced numerous Daevas (de-

monic spirits), who represent aspects of pain, suffering, and death, to

attack Ahura Mazda‘s creations. Many of the spirits worshiped or re-

nounced by Zoroastrians also appear in early Hindu texts because the

ancient Iranians and Indians shared a religious and linguistic heritage.

Zoroastrians believe that Ahura Mazda created humans as allies

in the cosmic struggle against evil and that humanity will be resur-

rected and granted immortality once evil has been defeated. They fur-

ther view the material world as a trap into which evil has been lured

and in which evil will undergo defeat by divinities and humans work-

ing together. Zoroastrianism preaches that when someone dies his or

her soul undergoes individual judgment based on actions while alive.

If the soul‘s good deeds are greater than its evil deeds, it enters para-

dise. If the soul‘s evil deeds outweigh the good done while alive, it is

cast into hell to await the day of universal judgment. In cases where a

soul‘s good deeds equal its evil deeds, it is consigned to limbo.

Close to the end of time a savior will resurrect the dead, Zoroas-

trianism claims. Ahura Mazda will descend to earth with the other

good spirits. Each sinner, having already suffered in hell or limbo af-

ter death, will be purified. Thereafter, immortality will be granted to

all humans. Ahura Mazda, the holy immortals, and other divine beings

will annihilate the demons and force Angra Mainyu to scuttle back in-

to hell, which will then be sealed.

Zoroastrians regard fire as a pure creation, and thus fire became

the symbol of Zoroastrianism. Many Zoroastrian rites take place with-

in fire temples. A holy fire is kept constantly burning in an altar at

each of the major fire temples in India and in Iran. Smaller temples are

located in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the United States, Canada, and else-

where. Those smaller temples do not maintain holy fires, but a fire is

usually lit in an altar before the performance of acts of worship.

55

Priests called mobeds or magi oversee Zoroastrian rites. The ma-

gi originally formed a priestly clan among the Medes, an ancient Ira-

nian tribe. The magi adopted Zoroastrianism after the religion spread

widely among the ancient Iranians. Today, the office of priest passes

from father to son. A son who inherits the priesthood begins studying

Zoroastrian liturgies and rituals in childhood. A two-stage ceremonial

initiation, based on the degree of training undergone as a practicing

priest follows, usually by early adulthood.

Zoroastrian boys and girls undergo initiation into the faith be-

tween the ages of 7 and 15. The initiation ceremony, which symboliz-

es a spiritual rebirth, is known as the Navjote (―new birth‖) or Sedra-

Pushun (―donning the sacred undershirt‖). During this ceremony the

initiate puts on a white undershirt called the sedra or sudra, then ties a

holy cord known as the kusti or kushti around the waist. After initia-

tion Zoroastrians continue to wear the undershirt and cord every day.

The cord is ritually untied and retied with the recitation of prayers

each morning and before worship at fire temples. Use of the cord is a

practice that Zoroastrians share with Hindu Brahmins as a legacy of

their common Indo-Iranian heritage.

Following a practice introduced by the ancient magi, Zoroas-

trians in parts of India and Pakistan still expose the dead within circu-

lar funerary towers, which are popularly called towers of silence. Zo-

roastrians in other places now bury or cremate the deceased.

Zoroastrianism gradually emerged as the official religion of an-

cient Iran during the Achaemenid dynasty, which ruled from about

550 to 330 BC. Inscriptions from the reign of Darius I, from 522 to

486 BC, are full of the praise of Ahura Mazda. Darius stressed truth-

fulness and seems to have regarded the lie as a worldwide evil force.

Later, the Achaemenids officially approved the worship of other Ira-

nian divinities as part of Zoroastrianism. Artaxerxes II, who reigned

from 404 BC to 359 BC, had inscriptions produced that honored Ahura

Mazda, Mithra (a male divinity of contracts and later of fire), and

Anahita (a female divinity of water, fertility, and kingship). Under the

Achaemenids open-air fire altars were constructed. The earliest Zo-

roastrian temples may also date to the Achaemenid period.

When the Macedonian Seleucids ruled parts of western Iran,

from 312 BC to 175 BC, a merging occurred in the worship of Greek

and Zoroastrian divinities – for example, Zeus with Ahura Mazda and

56

Aphrodite with Anahita. Traditional Zoroastrianism was revived slow-

ly under the Parthian, or Arsacid, dynasty, which ruled from about 250

BC to AD 224. By the time of the Sassanian dynasty, from AD 224 to

651, Zoroastrianism had become the popular religion among most

groups in Iran and Central Asia and was practiced from the Middle

East to the western border of China. In general it was tolerant of its

Middle Eastern rivals, Judaism and Christianity. Sassanian Zoroas-

trianism produced unorthodox variants of traditional belief that also

proved popular – for example, the idea that Ahura Mazda and Angra

Mainyu were the warring offspring of Zurvan (time).

Arab Muslims conquered Iran and Central Asia during the 7th

century AD. Over the next six centuries most Zoroastrians converted to

Islam. A minority of Zoroastrians grouped together to practice their

religion in central and eastern Iran at cities such as Yazd and Kermān.

Others migrated; some went to China where the community eventual-

ly died out, while others moved to the west coast of India where they

became known as Parsis (Persians). Zoroastrians who continued to re-

side in Islamic Iran had to endure periodic persecutions and pay a spe-

cial tax to Muslim authorities until 1854, when Zoroastrians from In-

dia convinced the Qajar dynasty of Iran to abolish the religious tax.

During the 20th century the Iranian Zoroastrian community ex-

perienced a few decades of well-being under the Pahlavi dynasty,

whose rulers glorified Iran‘s pre-Islamic past. Approximately 60,000

Zoroastrians lived in Iran during the 1960s. During the late 20th and

early 21st centuries, under the Islamic Republic, the number of Zo-

roastrians in Iran declined as a result of increased conversion to Islam

and emigration to Europe and North America. Iranian Zoroastrians

currently number about 45,000 people, living mainly in the cities of

Tehrān, Kermān, and Yazd.

Zoroastrians who moved to India in the 10th century, on the oth-

er hand, prospered in a variety of professions, especially during the

colonial era of British rule. The Parsi Zoroastrians developed into an

urbanized middle class, adopted Western education and customs, and

played a central role in the creation of India‘s modern industrial infra-

structure. Parsis today number approximately 76,400 people in India.

From India Parsi Zoroastrians, like their Iranian coreligionists, have

spread worldwide.

57

In addition to the larger communities in India and Iran, today

there are about 20,000 Zoroastrians in Canada and the United States;

4,000 in England and Scotland, with a few thousand elsewhere in Eu-

rope; 2,800 in Pakistan; plus smaller groups in Australia, Africa, and

other Asian countries. In these communities the religion‘s principles

are still taught, basic rituals are practiced, and clerical and lay organi-

zations remain active.

1.4.3. Ancient Egyptian religion

It seems that the earliest representations of Eyptian deities ap-

peared about the middle of the fourth millennium, long before the ear-

liest hieroglyphs. In those days, the inhabitants of the Nile valley lived

in tribes. Each tribe had its own God, which was incarnated in the

form either of an animal, of a bird or of a simple fetish. There is a

fragment of a palette for grinding malachite in the Louvre on which

we see men of one of those early tribes setting forth to hunt. They are

bearded, unlike the clean-shaven men of later historical epochs, and

they wear only a belted loincloth. At the back of the belt is attached

the bushy tail of an animal. At their head marches their chief. In one

hand he brandishes a club. In the other he grasps the staff of a stan-

dard or totem pole, which bears a kind of perch for a falcon. On other

objects of the same class the hawk is replaced by an ibis, a jackal, a

scorpion, or perhaps by a thunderbolt, a bucranium, or two crossed ar-

rows on a shield. These are the Gods of the tribe who led their follow-

ers into battle and, when necessary, fought for them. Often, indeed,

one of the divine animal's paws is a human hand which grasps a wea-

pon to slaughter the enemy or an implement to attack his fortress.

These animal deities, however, gradually gave way to Gods in

human form, and at the end of his anthropomorphic evolution nothing

of the primitive animal is left except the head surmounting the body of

a man or woman. Sometimes the head, too, has become human and all

that remains are vestigial ears or horns.

From the second dynasty on, the divine types seem to have be-

come definitely fixed and to remain unchanged until the end of pagan-

ism. Like the hunters of the ancient tribes seen on the palette in the

Louvre, the Gods of the historical epoch are shown "dressed in short

58

loin-cloths ornamented by animals' tails. The Goddesses, like great la-

dies, wear a narrow robe, held at the shoulders by shoulder straps and

falling nearly to their ankles.

Gods and Goddesses alike often retain the head of the animal

from which they were derived. They wear heavy wigs, thanks to

which the transition between the snout of an animal or the beak of a

bird and their human bodies takes place so smoothly that our aesthetic

sense is scarcely violated and these hybrid beings seem almost real.

At other times the head is human, and in this case the shaven chin of

the God is adorned by an artificial plaited beard, which recalls the

bearded faces of the first Egyptians.

These divinities are distinguished and immediately identified by

their different head-dresses and by various attributes inherited from

the original fetish or from the primitive animal which surmounts their

heads. Sometimes too their names are written in hieroglyphic signs.

Like the ancient tribal chieftains, the Gods carry sceptres with one end

forked and the other decorated by, say, the head of a greyhound. God-

desses bear in their hand a simple stalk of papyrus.

By the time that the animals and fetishes of the prehistoric epoch

had become divinities in human form the nomad warriors whom they

once led into battle had long since settled down to till the soil. Their

Gods were installed in the towns they built, and were thus transformed

from tribal into local deities. Every town, village and district had its

God who bore the title: 'Lord of the City.‘ There he resided and

yielded priority of rank to no one. Conceived in the image of a man,

but of a man infinitely strong and powerful, he possessed a vital fluid

– the 'sa' – which he could renew at will by having another God, better

provided, lay hands on him. But he could not defend himself for ever

against old age, and sometimes he even died. He delighted in reveal-

ing himself to men, and he would become incarnate in the temple sta-

tue, in a fetish, or in a chosen animal which the initiated could recog-

nise by certain signs.

At first the God lived alone, jealous of his authority. But the

Egyptian could not conceive of life without a family and soon he mar-

ried off his God or Goddess and gave him or her a son, thus forming a

divine triad or trinity in which the father, moreover, was not always

the chief, contenting himself on occasion with the role of prince con-

sort, while the principal deity of the locality remained the Goddess.

59

This occurred at Dendera, where the sovereign was the Goddess Ha-

thor.

The God resided in the temple, which was his palace, with his

family and sometimes with other Gods whom he permitted to sur-

round him. Only Pharaoh, the king, whom he called his 'son' had the

right to appear in his presence. But as the king naturally could not of-

ficiate everywhere at once he delegated high priests to each sanctuary

to perform in his place the ceremonies of the cult, while numerous

priests and priestesses composed the domestic staff of the God and

administered his sometimes immense domains. On certain dates the

'Lord of the City' brought joy to his people by deigning to show him-

self to them in all his glory. Abandoning the deep shadows of the naos

(the inner sanctuary of the temple) where only Pharaoh's representa-

tive had the privilege of worshipping him daily, he would emerge ma-

jestically and be borne through the streets in his golden barque on the

shoulders of his priests.

In addition to such local gods, some of whom imposed their au-

thority over several provinces at a time and even throughout the entire

land, the Egyptians worshipped, though generally without cult, the

great divinities of nature: the Sky, the Earth, the Sun the Moon and the

mighty river which, in the words of Herodotus, created Egypt – the

Nile.

In the Egyptian language the word 'sky' is feminine. Thus the

Egyptians made the sky a goddess, Nut or Hathor, whom they

represented either as a cow standing with her four feet planted on

earth, or as a woman whose long, curved body touches the earth only

with the tips of her toes and fingers. It was the starry belly of the god-

dess which men saw shining in the night above them. Sometimes also

they imagined the sky as the head of a divine falcon whose eyes,

which he opened and closed alternately, were the sun and the moon.

The earth, on the contrary, is masculine. Thus it was a man lying

prone, from whose back sprouted all the world's vegetation. They

called him Geb, the earth-God.

The sun had many names and gave rise to extremely vast inter-

pretations. In his aspect of solar disk the sun was called Aten. Depend-

ing upon whether he rose, or climbed to the zenith, on he was given

the names Khepri, Ra or Atum. He was also call Horus and it was un-

der this name, joined with that of Ra, that later reigned over all Egypt

60

as Ra-Harakhte. It was claimed that he was reborn every morning of

the celestial cow like a suckling calf, or like a little child of the sky-

Goddess. He was also said to be a falcon with speckled wings flying

through space, or the right eye only of the great divine bird. Another

conception of him was that of an egg laid daily by the celestial goose,

or more frequently a gigantic scarab rolling before him the incandes-

cent globe of the sun as, on earth, the sacred scarab rolls the ball of

dung in which it has deposited its eggs.

The moon, too, was called by different names: Aah, Thoth,

Khons. Sometimes he was the son of Nut, the sky-Goddess. Some-

times he was a dog-headed ape, or an ibis; at others, the left eye of the

great celestial hawk whose right eye was the sun.

Not content with explaining the phenomena of the external

world, the priests of the principal sanctuaries busied themselves in

constructing cosmological systems to demonstrate how the Gods had

successively appeared and how all that exists had been created. We

have a fair knowledge of four of these systems which were taught in

the four great religious centres of Hermopolis, Heliopolis, Memphis

and Busiris. In each of these sanctuaries the priests attributed the work

of creation to the great local God.

In his own temple Thoth, Ra, Ptah and Osiris was each proc-

laimed to have created the world, but each in his own way. Sometimes

it was taught that the Gods had issued from the mouth of Demiurge

and that all had been created by his voice. Sometimes it was alleged

that they were bora when the creator spat or performed an even cruder

act. Again it was said that men had been engendered by his sweat or

by a flood of tears gushing from his eyes. Another explanation was

that men, together with the entire animal world, had emerged from the

sun-dried mud of the Nile. It was also taught that the Demiurge had

modelled them from the earth and fashioned them on a potter's wheel.

Like all people in antiquity the Egyptians explained everything

by the intervention of a God, and for them there was nothing which

was not capable of containing supernatural power. Consequently the

number of Gods worshipped in the Nile valley was considerable, and a

list found in the tomb of Thuthmosis III enumerates no fewer than

seven hundred and forty. Of most of them we know only the names

and it would serve no useful purpose to mention them here.

61

The most popular in Egyptian mythology are the gods and god-

desses associated with the Ennead (or company of gods) of Heliopolis

that is to say, with the cosmological system taught by the priests of

Heliopolis. Besides them there were the various divinities who con-

cerned themselves with men's birth or death; and finally who deified

humans among whom will be found the living Pharoah who was be-

lieved to be a veritable god.

As for veneration of animals, cats, indeed, were so venerated that

when a building caught fire the Egyptians, Herodotus tells us, would

neglect the fire in order to rescue these animals whose death to them

seemed more painful than any other loss they might sustain. When one

of the sacred animals died it was considered an act of great merit to

provide for its funeral; and in certain cases, such as the bull Apis, the

king himself made it his duty to take charge of the obsequies.

Pity for dead animals reached an almost unbelievable degree. To

give an idea of this it may be mentioned that crocodile ccmeteries

have been discovered where the reptiles were carefully mummified

and buried with their newly bom and even with their eggs. Animals,

birds, fish, reptiles of all kinds that were venerated by the ancient in-

habitants of the Nile valley were interred by the hundreds of thou-

sands. An example of the abundance of these corpses can be found at

Beni Hasan, where the cats' cemetery has been commercially ex-

ploited for the extraction of artificial fertiliser. Herodotus did not ex-

aggerate when he wrote that the Egyptians were the most religious of

men.

The following is a list, in alphabetical order, of those animals

whose heads were borne by certain gods. We have omitted the count-

less genii and lesser divinities who on tomb decorations and in illu-

strations of funerary papyri were also represented with animal heads.

Bull: Osorapis, Apis, Mont; Cat: Bast perhaps, Mut; Cow: Hathor, Isis

when identified with Hathor or Nut; Crocodile: Sebek; Dog-faced

ape: Hapi, Thoth at times; Donkey: Set (in later times); Falcon: Ra-

Harakhte, Horus, Mont, Khons Hor, Qebhsnuf; Frog: Heket; Hippo-

potamus: Taueret; Ibis: Thoth; Jackal: Anubis, Duamutef; Lion: Ne-

fertum, sometimes Lioness: Sekhmet, Tefnut (sometimes Mut and Re-

nenet); Ram with curved horns: Amon; Ram with wavy horns:

Khnum, Hershef or Harsaphes; Scarab: Khepri; Scorpion: Selket;

62

Serpent: Buto or Mertseger and Renenet; Vulture: Nekhebet; Wolf:

Upuaut, Khenti Amenti.

Another main feature of Egyptian religion is a focus on death

and afterlife. Let us overview some myths connected with it.

Osiris and Isis

At first Osiris was a nature God and embodied the spirit of vege-

tation which dies with the harvest to be reborn when the grain sprouts.

Afterwards he was worshipped throughout Egypt as God of the dead,

and in this capacity reached first rank in the Egyptian pantheon. Osiris

was identified by the Greeks with several of their own gods, but prin-

cipally with Dionysus and Hades. Hieroglyphic texts contain numer-

ous allusions to the life and deeds of Osiris during his sojourn on

earth; but it is above all that to Plutarch that we know his legend so

well.

The first son of Geb and Nut, he was born in Thebes in Upper

Egypt. At his birth a loud, mysterious voice proclaimed the coming of

the Universal Lord, which gave rise to shouts of gladness, soon fol-

lowed by tears and lamentations when it was learned what misfortunes

awaited him. Ra rejoiced at the news of his birth in spite of the curse

he had pronounced against Nut; and, having Osiris brought into his

presence, he recognized his great-grandson as heir to his throne.

Osiris was handsome of countenance, dark-skinned and tall than

all other men. When Geb, his father, retired to the heaven Osiris suc-

ceeded him as king of Egypt and took Isis, his sister as queen. The

first care of the new sovereign was to abolish cannibalism and to teach

his still half-savage subjects the art of fashioning agricultural imple-

ments. He taught them how to produce grain and grapes for man's

nourishment in the form of bread, wine and beer. The cult of the Gods

did not yet exist. Osiris instituted it. He built the first temples and

sculptured the first divine images. He laid down the rules governing

religious practice and even invented the two kinds of flute which

should accompany ceremonial song.

After this he built towns and gave his people just laws, thus me-

riting the name Onnophris – ―the Good One‖ – by which, as the fourth

divine Pharaoh, he was known.

63

Not satisfied with having civilised Egypt, he wished to spread

the benefits of his rule throughout the whole world. He left his regen-

cy to Isis and set forth on the conquest of Asia, accompanied by

Thoth, his grand vizier, and his lieutenants Anubis and Upuai. Osiris

was the enemy of all violence and it was by gentleness alone that he

subjected country after country, winning and disarming their inhabi-

tants by songs and the playing of various musical instruments. He re-

turned to Egypt only after he had travelled the whole earth and spread

civilization everywhere.

On his return Osiris found his kingdom in perfect order; for Isis

had governed wisely in his absence. But it was not long before he be-

came the victim of a plot organised by his brother Set, who was jeal-

ous of his power. Farther on we shall relate in detail (see Isis and Set)

how on the 17th Athyr, in the twenty-eighth year of the reign, Osiris

'the Good One' fell under the blows of the conspirators and how his

faithful wife found his body and bore it back to Egypt. For the mo-

ment it suffices to say that Isis, thanks to her powers of sorcery and

the aid of Thoth, Anubis, and Horus, succeeded in restoring her hus-

band's dead body to life. Osiris soon answered Set's accusations and

vindicated himself before the tribunal of Gods, presided over by Geb.

Resurrected and from thenceforward secure from the threat of

death, Osiris could have regained his throne and continued to reign

over the living. But he preferred to depart from this earth and retire to

the 'Elysian Fields' where he warmly welcomed the souls of the just

and reigned over the dead.

Such is the legend of Osiris. What we can guess of his actual

origin suggests that he was a fetish of a conquering clan which first

installed its God at Busiris in Lower Egypt. There he took the place of

the preceding Lord of the City, Andjeti, whose form he borrowed.

Perhaps he borrowed his name also, since later in Abydos in Upper

Egypt he became identified with Khenti Amenti, the wolf-God, and

became the great God of the dead, sometimes known as Osiris Khenti

Amenti, 'Lord of the Westerners' – that is, the dead, who dwell in the

west where the sun sets.

Here we can only indicate briefly the many cosmic interpreta-

tions which the myth of Osiris has been given. As a vegetation spirit

that dies and is ceaselessly reborn, Osiris represents the corn, the vine

and trees. He is also the Nile which rises and falls each year; the light

64

of the sun which vanishes in the shadows every evening to reappear

more brilliantly at dawn. The struggle between the two brothers is the

war between the desert and the fertile earth, between the drying wind

and vegetation, aridity and fecundity, darkness and light.

It was as god of the dead that Osiris enjoyed his greatest popu-

larity; for he gave his devotees the hope of an eternally happy life in

another world ruled over by a just and good king.

He was worshipped throughout Egypt in company with Isis, his

wife, and with Horus, his posthumous son, who formed with him a

trinity. But he was particularly venerated at Abydos where priests

showed his tomb to the innumerable pilgrims who visited it. Happy

were the favoured ones who were buried in the shadows of the august

sanctuary or who at least had a stela erected nearby in their name to

assure the benevolence of Osiris in afterlife.

Osiris is represented sometimes standing, sometimes seated on

his throne, as a man tightly swathed in white mummy wrappings. His

greenish face is surmounted by the high white mitre flanked by two

ostrich feathers which is called Atep, the crown of Upper Egypt.

Around his neck he wears a kind of cravat. His two hands, freed from

the winding sheet, are folded across his breast and hold the whip and

the sceptre in the form of a crook, emblems of supreme power.

Like many other Gods he delighted in incarnations. He appeared

not only in the form of various animals-the bull Onuphis, the sacred

ram of Mendes, the bird Bennu – but also in the 'Djed,‘ a simple fetish

which seems to have been his primitive form in the days when he led

his prehistoric followers into battle. The 'Djed' was originally the

trunk of a fir or some other conifer; but in classical times it was a kind

of pillar with four capitals, which certain texts alleged to be the God's

vertebral column, preserved in the famous sanctuary of Busiris.

Space is lacking to describe the festivals which marked critical

dates in the Osiris legend. They were publicly celebrated, and in the

course of the Mysteries then presented priests and priestesses would

mime the passion and resurrection of the God.

As for Isis (A Greek rendering of Aset, Eset), she was identified

by the Greeks with Demeter, Hera, Selene and even – because of a

late confusion between Isis and Hathor with Aphrodite. In later days

the popularity of Isis became such that she finally absorbed the quali-

ties of all the other Goddesses; but originally she seems to have been a

65

modest divinity of the Delta, the protective deity of Perehbet, north of

Busiris, where she always retained a renowned temple. Very soon she

was given as wife to Osiris, the God of the neighboring town. She

bore him a son. Horus, who formed the third member of the trinity.

Her popularity grew rapidly with that of her husband and son. This is

her legend as Plutarch tells it to us:

The first daughter of Geb and Nut was born in the swamps of the

Delta on the fourth intercalary day. Osiris, her eldest brother chose her

as his consort and she mounted to the throne with him. She helped him

in his great work of civilising Egypt by teaching women to grind corn,

spin flax and weave cloth. She also taught men the art of curing dis-

ease and, by instituting marriage, accustomed them to domestic life.

When her husband departed on his pacific conquest of the world she

remained in Egypt as regent. She governed wisely while awaiting his

return.

She was overwhelmed with grief at the news that Osiris had

been assassinated by their brother, the violent Set. She cut off her tore

her robes and at once set forth in search of the coffer in which the

good Osiris had been enclosed and which the conspiratorstors had cast

into the Nile.

This coffer had been carried out to sea by the waters of the Nile

and borne across the waves to the Phoenician coast where it came to

rest at the base of a tamarisk tree. The tree grew with such astonishing

rapidity that the chest was entirely enclosed within its trunk

Now Malcandre, the king of Byblos, gave orders that the tamari

should be cut down in order to serve as a prop for the root of his pa-

lace. When this was done the marvellous tree gave off so cxquisiste a

scent that its reputation reached the ears of Isis who immediatiely un-

derstood its significance. Without delay she went to Phoenica. There

the queen Astarte confided to her the care of her newborn son. Isis

adopted the baby and would have conferred immortality upon it had

its mother not broken the charm by her scream of terror upon seeing

the Goddess bathe the baby in purificatory flames. In order to reassure

her, Isis revealed her true name and the reason for her presence. Then,

having been presented with them of the miraculous tree, she drew

forth the coffer of her husband's bathed it in tears, and bore it back in

haste to Egypt where, to decieve Set, she hid it in the swamps of Buto.

Set, however, regained possession of his brother's body by chance and

66

in order to annihilalite forever cut it into fourteen pieces which he

scattered far and wide.

Isis, undiscouraged, searched for the precious fragments and

found them all except the phallus which had been greedily dcvoured

by a Nile crab, the Oxyrhynchid, forever accursed for this crime

The goddess reconstituted the body of Osiris, cunningly joined

the fragments together. She then performed, for the first time in histo-

ry, the rites of embalmment which restored the murdered God to eter-

nal life. In this she was assisted by her sister Nephthys, her nephew

Anubis, Osiris‘ grand vizier Thoth and by Horus, the posthumous son

whom she had conceived by union with her husband's corpse, miracu-

lously re-animated by her charms.

Afterwards she retired to the swamps of Buto to escape the wrath

of Set and to bring up her son Horus until the day when he should be

of an age to avenge his father. Thanks to her magic powers Horus was

able to overcome every danger which threatened him.

Isis in the Osirian myth, represents the rich plains of Egypt,

made fruitful by the annual inundation of the Nile which is Osiris,

who is separated from her by Set, the arid desert.

Her cult continued to grow in importance until it ultimately ab-

sorbed that of nearly all other goddesses. It even crossed the frontiers

of Egypt; seamen and merchants in the Graeco-Roman era carried her

worship as far as the banks of the Rhine.

In the Nile valley she kept her worshippers until well into Chris-

tian times. It was not until the middle of the sixth century, in the reign

of Justinian, that the temple of Philae her chief sanctuary in the ex-

treme south of the country was closed to her cult and turned into a

church.

Great festivals were celebrated in spring and autumn in honor of

Isis. The splendors of the processions which then took place have been

described to us by Apulcius who was an initiate in the mysteries of

Isis.

The Judges of the Dead and the Weighing of the Soul When, thanks to the talismans placed on his mummy and espe-

cially to the passwords written on the indispensable Book of the Dead

with which be was furnished, the deceased had safely crossed the ter-

rifying stretch of country between the land of the living and the king-

67

dom of the dead, he was immediately ushered into the presence of his

sovereign judge, either by Anubis or by Horus. After he had kissed the

threshold he penetrated into the 'Hall of Double Justice.‘ This was an

immense room at the end of which sat Osiris under a naos, guarded by

a frieze of coiled uraeus: Osiris, 'the Good One,‘ redeemer and judge

who awaited his 'son who came from earth.‘ In the centre was erected

a vast scale beside which stood Maat, Goddess of truth and justice,

ready to weigh the heart of the deceased. Meanwhile Amemait, 'the

Devourer' – a hybrid monster, part lion, part hippopotamus, part cro-

codile – crouched nearby, waiting to devour the hearts of the guilty.

All around the hall, to the right and to the left of Osiris, sat forty-two

personages. Dressed in their winding-sheets, each held a sharp-edged

sword in his hand. Some had human heads, others the heads of ani-

mals. They were the forty-two judges, each corresponding to a prov-

ince of Egypt; and each was charged with the duty of examining some

special aspect of the deceased's conscience.

The deceased himself began the proceedings and without hesita-

tion recited what has been called the negative confession. He ad-

dressed each of his judges in turn and called him by name to prove

that he knew him and had nothing to fear. For, he affirmed, he had

committed no sin and was truly pure.

Then followed the weighing of his soul, or psychostasia. In one

of the pans of the balance Anubis or Horus placed Maat herself, or

else her ideogram, the feather, symbol of truth. In the other he placed

the heart of the deceased. Thoth then verified the weight, wrote the re-

sult on his tablets and announced it to Osiris. If the two pans of the

balance were in perfect equilibrium Osiris rendered favorable judg-

ment. ―Let the deceased depart victorious. Let him go wherever he

wishes to mingle freely with the Gods and the spirits of the dead‖.

The deceased, thus justified, would lead from then on a life of

eternal happiness in the kingdom of Osiris. It is true that it would be

his duty to cultivate the God‘s domains and keep dykes and canals in

good repair. But magic permitted him to avoid all disagreeable labor.

For at burial he would have been furnished with ―Answerers‖ - those

little statuettes in stone or glazed composition which have been found

in tombs by the hundreds and which, when the dead man was called

upon to perform some task, would hasten to take his place and do the

job for him.

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1.4.4. Ancient Greek religion

The conception of the sky and the earth, considered as two pri-

mordial divinities, is common to all Indo-European peoples. In the

Rig-Veda the sky and the earth were already called ―the immortal

couple‖ and the ―two grandparents of the world‖.

The Great Goddess. The chief deity of the Aegeans was – like

that of many Asiatic cults – feminine. She was the Great Goddess, the

Universal Mother, in whom were united all the attributes and func-

tions of divinity. Above all she symbolised fertility, and her influence

extended over plants and animals as well as humans. All the universe

was her domain. As celestial goddess she regulated the course of the

heavenly bodies and controlled the alternating seasons. On earth she

caused the products of the soil to flourish, gave men riches, protected

them in battle and at sea guided them on their adventurous voyages.

She killed or tamed fierce beasts; and finally she also reigned over the

underworld: mistress of life, she was also sovereign of death.

The Great Goddess is represented, depending on the epoch, ei-

ther crouching or standing. Sometimes she is nude, sometimes dressed

like a Cretan woman. In the latter case she wears a flounced skirt and

her bosom is either entirely bare or covered with a corsage which

leaves her breasts exposed. Her head-dress varies: the hair may be

free, knotted with a simple fillet; it may be covered either by a sort of

turban decorated with flowers or aigrettes, or by a conical tiara in the

Oriental manner, or, again, by a very tall tiara in the shape of a topless

cone.

The Protectress of Athens. Perhaps the most characteristically

Greek of all the Olympians, Athene is also the most positively identi-

fied as having developed from an archaic local cult. The daughter of

Zeus, according to the Greeks, she sprang fully armed from his brow.

Warrior goddess, patroness of the arts, and the personification of intel-

ligence, she was a deity much revered and respected.

Besides this two other names of Cretan goddesses have been

preserved: Dictynna and Britomartis. In their legends the Greeks ap-

plied the two names to the same divinity. Dictynna, whom the Greeks

called the 'goddess of the nets', was perhaps the goddess of Mount

Dicte, a mountain in Crete which was later said to be the birthplace of

Zeus. She would, then, be the mother-goddess. Britomartis means 'the

69

sweet virgin', a denomination which could not very well be applied to

the Great Mother of the universe.

Gaea. The only divinity with well-defined features is Gaea, the

earth. According to Hesiod it seems likely that Gaea, from whom all

things issued, had been the great deity of the primitive Greeks. Like

the Aegeans and like the peoples of Asia, the Greeks must doubtless

have originally worshipped the Earth in whom they beheld the moth-

er-goddess.

The power of Gaea was also manifest in her gift of foretelling

the future. The Oracle of Delphi, before it passed into Apollo's hands,

had originally belonged to Gaea.

Later, as other divinities rose in the estimation of men, the role

of Gaea gradually became less important. Her cult, however, always

continued in Greece. She presided over marriages and was honoured

as pre-eminent among prophetesses. At Patras the sick came to consult

her. She was particularly venerated at Aegae, at Delphi and at Olym-

pia. She had sanctuaries at Dodona, Tegea, Sparta and at Athens, near

the Areopagus. She was offered first fruits and grain; but when she

was invoked as the guardian of the sanctity of oaths a black ewe was

immolated in her honour. She was commonly represented in the form

of a gigantic woman.

Orphic Cosmogonies

To the above popular cosmogony followers of Orphism opposed

other explanations of the origin of things. They claimed as their au-

thority the apocryphal writings attributed to Orpheus which seem ac-

tually to have been written by a priest named Onomacritus. The philo-

sophic and scientific pre-occupations which all these systems reflect,

the subtleties in which they delight, and the many abstractions which

they employ, remove them from the realm of the primitive. They are

metaphysical systems rather than mythology.

Taken as a whole this is roughly what they come to: the first

principle was Cronus, or Time, from which came Chaos, which sym-

bolised the infinite, and Ether, which symbolised the finite. Chaos was

surrounded by Night, which formed the enveloping cover under

which, by the creative action of the Ether, cosmic matter was slowly

organised. This finally assumed the shape of an egg of which Night

formed the shell. In the centre of this gigantic egg, whose upper sec-

70

tion formed the vault of the sky and whose lower section was the

earth, was born the first being, Phanes – the Light. It was Phanes who,

by union with Night, created Heaven and Earth. It was he also who

engendered Zeus.

The Titans, who formed the first divine race, had for the most

part no very clearly defined personality. The etymology of their name

which Hesiod gives (from a word meaning ―to stretch out‖, because

they had stretched out their hand against their father) is fanciful. Their

name probably derives from a Cretan word which meant ―king‖. In

Greece the Titans were honoured as the ancestors of men. To them

was attributed the invention of the arts and of magic.

Cyclopes and Hecatoncheires

In Hesiod the Cyclopes were storm genii, as their names indi-

cate: Brontes, thunder; Steropes, lightning; Arges, thunderbolt. As for

the Hecatoncheires or Centimanes – the hundred-handed – their names

are sufficient to characterise them. They, too, were three in number:

Cottus, the Furious; Briareus, the Vigorous; Gyges, the Big-limbed.

According to myths when Uranus was reduced to impotence,

Cronus liberated his brothers, the Titans – with the exception of to

Doom (Moros), to black Ker (Moera) and to Death; then to Sleep and

his retinue of Dreams. She then bore bantering Gaiety (Momus) and

wailing Misery (Oizus), and the Hesperides who guarded the golden

apples beyond the Ocean. Then came the Fates: Clotho, Lachesis and

Atropos, who when a mortal was born apportioned his share of good

and evil. Night also bore Nemesis, fearful to mortals, Fraud, Inconti-

nence, Old Age and Eris (Strife) who in turn gave birth to Sorrow,

Forgetfulness and Hunger, to Disease, Combat, Murder, Battles, Mas-

sacres, Quarrels, Lies and Equivocations, to Injustice and Oaths. Pon-

tus, the sea, united with Gaea, the earth, to produce Nereus the Truth-

ful, Thaumas the Monstrous, Phorcys the Intrepid and pretty-cheeked

Ceto and Eurybia with the heart of steel. To Nereus and Doris, daugh-

ter of the Ocean, were born fifty daughters, the Nereids. To Thaumas

and Electra were born Iris, the rainbow, and the Harpies with their fair

tresses. By Phorcys Ceto bore the Graeae (the Old Ones) who came

into the world with white hair, and the Gorgons who lived beyond the

Ocean in the land of the Hesperides. The Titans also begot children ei-

ther with their sisters or with nymphs. Oceanus and Tethys had three

71

thousand sons, the Rivers, and three thousand daughters, the Water

Nymphs, plus Metis (Wisdom), Tyche (Fortune), and Styx (the Infer-

nal River). To Hyperion and Theia were born Helios (the Sun), Selene

(the Moon) and Eos (the Dawn). Coeus and Phoebe engendered Leto

and Asteria. By Eurybia Crius had: Astraeus, Pallas and Perses. By the

Oceanid Clymene or, according to others, by Asia, lapetus fathered

Atlas, Menoetius, Epimetheus and Prometheus. Finally Cronus mar-

ried his sister Rhea, who gave him three daughters: Hestia, Demeter

and Hera; and three sons: Hades, Poseidon and Zeus.

The oracle which had predicted to Cronus that he would one day

be overthrown by one of his sons had not lied. As soon as Zeus had

reached manhood he planned to punish his father. Apollodorus tells us

that he summoned to his aid Metis, daughter of Oceanus. Metis gave

Cronus a draught that made him vomit up the stone and with it the

gods, his own children, whom he had swallowed. Vanquished by the

might of Zeus, Cronus was driven from the sky and cast to the very

depths of the universe and there enchained in the region which

stretches beneath the earth and the fruitless sea. This at least is what

Homer says; according to others Cronus was sent to the ends of the

earth to dwell in bliss, or plunged into mysterious slumber in distant

Thule. This famous stone was for long preserved at Delphi within the

walls of the tomb of Neoptolemus. The era of the Olympians now be-

gan.

The Revolt of the Titans

The Titans, with the exception of Oceanus, were jealous of the

new gods and wished to reconquer the kingdom of which they had

been dispossessed. Then the terrible struggle began. From their

stronghold on Mount Othrys the Titans launched furious attacks upon

Olympus. For ten years the outcome of the war remained doubtful.

Zeus descended into Tartarus where, guarded by the monster Campe,

the Hecatoncheires and the Cyclopes were kept prisoners. He set them

free and made them his allies. The Cyclopes gave him the thunderbolt

and the Hecatoncheires put their invincible arms at his service. Seiz-

ing in their enormous arms great boulders, they crushed the Titans.

Zeus, too, was unable to curb his warlike rage and joined in the fray.

From the heights of Olympus, Hesiod tells us, from the heights of the

heavens he hurled thunder and lightning. With unwearying hand he

72

flung bolt after bolt, and the air was rent with sound and fury. The fer-

tile earth shuddered and burned; vast forests flamed and all things

melted and boiled: the River Ocean, the immense sea and the entire

earth. Around the infernal Titans arose stifling mists and blazing air;

their bold glances were blinded by flashes of lightning. The fire even

reached Chaos, and from what the eye could behold and the ear dis-

tinguish one would have said that sky and earth were confounded, the

earth shaken on its very foundations, the sky crashing down from its

heights. Such was the mighty uproar of this battle among the gods! In

spite of their pride and courage the Titans were finally defeated and,

bound with chains, cast into the abysmal depths of the earth – as far

below its surface as is the earth itself from the sky.

The War of the Giants

Zeus had scarcely put down this dangerous revolt when he was

forced to undergo a new struggle, this time against the Giants. The

Giants had sprung from the blood of the mutilated Uranus and were

not only distinguished for their size. For these monstrous sons of the

Earth had legs like serpents and their feet were formed of reptiles'

heads. At the instant that they emerged from the entrails of the ground

at Phlegra, in the peninsula of Pallene, they appeared in glittering ar-

mour grasping enormous spears. Porphyrion and Alcyoneus were their

leaders. They at once attacked Olympus, whose mass dominated the

plain of Phlegra on the west. Islands, rivers, mountains, all gave way

before them. To reach the heights of Olympus the giants piled the sur-

rounding mountains one upon another, Ossa on Pelion. But grouped

around Zeus the gods with the exception of Demeter who took no part

in the struggle – stood their ground before the assailants. Apollo

struck down Ephialtes. Clytius fell under the blows of Hecate or He-

phaestus. The impetuous Ares pierced Pelorus and Mimas with his

sword. Poseidon pursued Polybutes across the sea, flung the island of

Nisyros on top of him and buried him.

The gods alone, however, could not triumph, for the oracle had

declared that the sons of Gaea would succumb only to the blows of a

mortal. This mortal was Hercules (Gk. Heracles), with whom Diony-

sus was sometimes associated. While Dionysus struck down Rhaetos

(or Eurytus), Hercules attacked Alcyoneus. At first the giant resisted

his blows. Hercules was astonished, but Athene revealed to him that

73

Alcyoneus was invulnerable as long as he stood on the soil which had

given him birth. The hero then seized the jiant in his arms and carried

him away from the territory of Pallene ind at once slew him. Porphy-

rion wished to avenge his brother, but Zeus inspired in him a sudden

passion for Hera. While the giant pursued Hera, Hercules pierced him

with a deadly arrow. From that moment the defeat of the giants was

assured. In vain Pallas and Enceladus attempted to struggle against

Athene; one after the other they were overcome. With the skin of Pal-

las Athene fashioned the aegis. As for Enceladus, she buried him un-

der the island of Sicily. And even today when the giant turns over, the

entire island quakes.

Gaea, however, could not resign herself to the defeat of herchild-

ren. Against Zeus she raised up afinal monster, Typhoeus, whom she

had borne to Tartarus. He was a terrifying creature whose hands

worked ceaselessly and whose feet were never still. From his shoul-

ders sprang a hundred horrible dragons' heads, each with a darting

black tongue and eyes which spurted searing flame. From his thighs

emerged innumerable vipers; his body was covered with feathers;

thick bristles sprouted from his head and cheeks. He was taller than

the tallest mountain. At sight of Typhoeus the gods were seized with

fear and fled-as far as Egypt. Only Zeus stood firm before the mon-

ster; but entwined in the myriad coils of the serpents he fell into the

hands of Typhoeus who cut the tendons of his hands and feet and im-

prisoned him in his den in Cilicia. Rescued by Hermes, Zeus renewed

the struggle. With his thunderbolts he overwhelmed Typhoeus, who

fled to Sicily, where under Etna the god crushed him.

Thus in the first ages of the world, when the elements were not

yet mastered and matter was still rebellious, there occurred terrifying

cataclysms which threatened to overthrow everything. The ground

writhed and trembled, the mountains crumbled or split apart to belch

forth enormous boulders and molten stone, rivers broke from their

courses, the seas rose and engulfed the earth. But the divine wisdom,

regulator of the universe, finally imposed its will over all these disor-

derly elements. The earth became firm, the volcanoes subsided, the

now well-behaved rivers again irrigated the plains and the tumultuous

sea no longer tossed its waves beyond the sands of its shores. Harmo-

ny was born anew and man, reassured, gave thanks to the god whose

might had triumphed over the forces of evil. The defeat of Typhoeus

74

assured the final and lasting supremacy of Zeus. From then on no se-

rious adversary dared to measure his strength with this god who had

vanquished all the powers of evil. His reign, established by triple vic-

tory, would never be seriously disturbed; and among the Olympians

Zeus maintained his rank ofuncontested master of gods and men.

The origins of Humanity

During the revolt of the Titans Prometheus had kept a prudent

neutrality and had even made overtures to Zeus when it seemed likely

that the war would be won by him. Thus Prometheus had been admit-

ted into Olympus and the circle of the Immortals. But he entertained a

silent grudge against the destroyers of his race and revenged himself

by favouring mortals to the detriment of the gods. He had, perhaps,

other reasons for his interest in the human race; for a tradition – rather

late, it is true – said that Prometheus was the creator of mankind. It

was he who with earth and water some said with his own tears – had

fashioned the body of the first man into which Athene breathed soul

and life. In Phocis the author Pausanias saw bits of hardened clay

which had the odour of human skin and which were plainly the resi-

due of the slime employed by Prometheus.

But it seems that this creation took place only after the earlier

race of man had been destroyed in the deluge. Current opinion actual-

ly attributed to mankind an older and nobler origin. ―Men and gods,‖

says Pindar, ―we are of the same family; we owe the breath of life to

the same mother.‖

The Four Ages of Man

The first men, who were contemporaries of Cronus, enjoyed

complete happiness. It was the Golden Age. Hesiod says: 'They lived

like gods, free from worry and fatigue; old age did not afflict them;

they rejoiced in continual festivity.' Their lot did not include immor-

tality, but at least 'they died as though overcome by sweet slumber. All

the blessings of the world were theirs: the fruitful earth gave forth its

treasures unbidden. At their death, men of the Golden Age became

benevolent genii, 'protectors and tutelary guardians of the living'.

After the Golden Age came the Silver Age, during which lived a

race of feeble and inept men who obeyed their mothers all their lives

(i.e. it was a matriarchal age). They were also agriculturalists, Hesiod

75

says. The men of the Bronze Age were robust as ash trees and de-

lighted only in oaths and warlike exploits. ―Their pitiless hearts were

as hard as steel; their might was untameable, their arms invincible.‖

They ended by mutually cutting each other‘s throats. From this gener-

ation, however, dated the discovery of the first metals and the first at-

tempts at civilisation.

After the Bronze Age Hesiod places the Heroic Age, peopled by

the valiant warriors who fought before Thebes and under the walls of

Troy. But the more widespread opinion was that after the Bronze Age

came the Iron Age – the contemporary age, a period of misery and

crime 'when men respect neither their vows, nor justice, nor virtue'.

Thus they explained the progressive degeneration of mankind.

The Theft of Fire: Pandora

As long as Cronus had reigned, gods and men had lived on terms

of mutual understanding. Hesiod says: ―In those days meals were tak-

en in common; men and the immortal gods sat down together.‖ Every-

thing changed with the coming of the Olympians. Over men Zeus as-

serted his divine supremacy. A meeting of gods and men was held at

Sicyon to determine which portion of victims offered in sacrifice was

owed to the gods. Prometheus, who was in charge of the partition, laid

out an enormous ox which he had cut up in his own way. He arranged

the flesh, the entrails and the most succulent morsels in the skin and

placed them on one side; on the other side he perfidiously laid the

fleshless bones which he had covered with a rich layer of fat. Zeus,

who was invited to take first choice, chose the bones; but when he had

removed the white, gleaming fat and discovered nothing but the ani-

mal's bones he fell into a rage. In his anger he withheld fire from the

unfortunate race who lived on earth. But the astute Prometheus went

to the island of Lemnos, where Hephaestus kept his forges. There he

stole a brand of the holy fire which he enclosed in a hollow stalk and

carried back to men. Another version of the story claims that he

lighted his torch at the wheel of the sun. Outraged by the theft, Zeus

sent a fresh calamity to men. He ordered Hephaestus to fashion clay

and water into a body, to give it vital force and human voice, and to

make therefrom a virgin whose dazzling beauty would equal that of

the immortal goddesses. All the divinities heaped their especial gifts

on this new creature, who received the name of Pandora. Hermes,

76

however, put perfidy into Pandora's heart and lies into her mouth. Af-

ter Zeus sent her as a gift to Epimetheus. Although his brother Prome-

theus had warned him against accepting any gift from the ruler of

Olympus, the imprudent Epimetheus was enchanted by Pandora's

beauty, welcomed her, and made a place for her among men. Unhappy

imprudence! For Pandora brought in her arms a great vase – which is

incorrectly called 'Pandora's Box'. She raised its lid, and the terrible

afflictions with which the vase had been filled escaped and spread

over the earth. Hope alone did not fly away. Thus, with the arrival of

the first woman, misery made its appearance on earth.

The Deluge: Deucalion and Pyrrha.

Zeus‘ rage was not appeased. In his anger he resolved to annihi-

late the human race by burying it beneath the waves of a deluge. But

once again Prometheus was on guard. He warned his son Deucalion

who, with his wife Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora, then

reigned in Thessaly. On the advice of his father, Deucalion con-

structed an ark and with his wife went aboard. For nine days and nine

nights they floated on the waters. On the tenth day the downpour

ceased and the two survivors disembarked on the crest of Mount Oth-

rys or Mount Parnassus. Deucalion offered up sacrifice to Zeus Phyx-

ius (protector of fugitives) and the god, touched by his piety, promised

to grant him his first wish. Deucalion asked Zeus to renew the human

race.

The human race was renewed and Zeus recovered from his an-

ger. Deucalion was regarded as the father of the Hellenes, the first

king and founder of towns and temples. It was he, they said, who built

the temple of Olympian Zeus at Athens, and nearby the temple his

tomb was pointed out.

The Torture of Prometheus

Although peace had been concluded between Zeus and mankind,

Prometheus had to pay cruelly for his trickery and thefts. At the com-

mand of Zeus, Hephaestus, assisted by Kratos and Bia, seized and

bound Prometheus with indestructible chains to one of the crests of

Mount Caucasus. There, 'an eagle with outstretched wings, sent by

Zeus, fed upon his immortal liver; as much as the winged monster de-

voured during the day, that much grew again during the night'. In spite

77

of the torture the Titan persisted in his attitude of revolt. Disdaining

complaints and humiliating prayers he never ceased to defy the lord of

Olympus and to express his hatred in violent outbursts. For was he not

in possession of a secret which dangerously concerned the future of

Zeus himself?

Finally after thirty years of suffering – others say thirty thousand

years – he was with Zeus' permission rescued by the divine Hercules,

who slew the eagle and broke the prisoner's chains. Prometheus then

revealed to Zeus his famous secret and warned him that if he contin-

ued to pay court to Thetis, daughter of Nereus, he would run the risk

of seeing a son born who would dethrone him. Not wishing to chance

the same misadventure that had befallen his father and his grandfather,

Zeus abandoned his amorous enterprise and allowed Thetis to marry a

mortal, Peleus.

Prometheus, however, could not acquire divine immortality un-

less some immortal consented to exchange destinies with him. Now

the centaur Chiron, whom Hercules had struck with a poisoned arrow,

was in despair lest his wound never healed. To put an end to his suf-

fering Chiron begged to be allowed to descend into Hades in the place

of Prometheus. Zeus consented, and from then on the son of lapetus

took his permanent place on Olympus. And the Athenians, who saw in

Prometheus the benefactor of mankind and the father of all the arts

and sciences, raised an altar to him in the gardens of the Academy.

Assembled on Olympus, the gods formed a society with its own

laws and hierarchy. First came the twelve great gods and goddesses:

Zeus, Poseidon, Hephaestus, Hermes, Ares and Apollo; Hera, Athene,

Artemis, Hestia, Aphrodite and Demeter. Beside them were ranged

other divinities, some of whom did not relinquish pride of place to the

great twelve. Such were Helios, Selene, Leto, Dione, Dionysus, The-

mis and Eos. Then, of a lower rank, forming as it were the courtiers of

the Olympians and sworn to their service, came: the Horae, the Moe-

rae, Nemesis, the Graces, the Muses, Iris, Hebe, Ganymede. It must be

pointed out that Hades, although a brother of Zeus, did not frequent

Olympus and, with the goddesses Persephone and Hecate, remained in

his subterranean empire.

Over this society Zeus reigned as sovereign ruler. If at times the

gods were tempted by rebellious impulses they were quickly reduced

78

to obedience. In Homer we see how Zeus speaks to them: 'Let no god,

let no goddess attempt to curb my will... or I shall seize him and cast

him into darkest Tartarus. Then will he recognise how much mightier

am I than all the gods! Come, then, try it, O gods! And you will dis-

cover with whom you have to deal. Hang from the heavens a golden

chain and attach yourselves all, gods and goddesses, to it, and no mat-

ter how hard you strive, you will not drag Zeus in his supreme wisdom

from the sky down to earth. But when, afterwards, I begin to pull I

shall draw you, you and the earth and the sea together, I shall draw

you up and roll the chain around the summit of Olympus and you will

all remain there suspended in the air.' Without quite carrying out this

threat Zeus nevertheless inflicted severe penalties on gods who had

displeased him. For instance he would make them serve as slaves to

mortals; such was the fate of Poseidon and Apollo. Therefore the gods

did not resist him and even the irascible Hera counselled prudence.

'Foolish that we are to lose our tempers with Zeus... He sits apart and

neither worries nor is disturbed; for he boasts of being incontest-ably

superior to the immortal gods in might and power. So resign your-

selves.'

Above the gods, however, and above Zeus himself hovered a su-

preme power to whom all were subject: Moros, or Destiny. Son of the

Night, Moros, invisible and dark like his mother, prepared his decrees

in the shadows and extended his inescapable dominion over all. Zeus

himself could not set aside his decisions and had to submit to them

like the humblest mortal. He had, moreover, no desire to set aside the

decisions of Destiny; for, being himself Supreme Wisdom, he was not

unaware that in upsetting the destined course of events he would in-

troduce confusion into the universe it was his mission to govern. Thus,

even when it was a matter of saving the life of his own son Sarpedon,

the hour of whose death the Fates had marked down, Zeus preferred to

bow his head and let what was ordained be fulfilled.

Death and the Afterlife in Greek Myths

Death was not a glorious thing for the ancient Greeks. In Hom-

er's epics, the dead are "pathetic in their helplessness, inhabiting draf-

ty, echoing halls, deprived of their wits, and flitting purposelessly

about uttering bat like noises." While undesirable when compared

with life on earth, this vague, shadowing existence was not generally

79

cause for fear of the afterlife. Only terrible sinners (like Tantalus, Ti-

tus and Sisyphus) were punished after death; similarly, only a select

few ended up in the paradisiacal Elysian Fields.

Hades. With the rare exceptions mentioned above, Hades was

the universal destination of the dead in Greek religion until the latter

half of the 5th century BC. Hades was a cold, damp and dark realm

that was guarded by the god of the same name. The "gates of Hades"

were guarded by the fearsome hound Cerberus, who wags his tail for

new arrivals but does not allow anyone to leave. Without proper buri-

al, one cannot enter the gates of Hades. The river Styx is the boundary

between earth and Hades, but Hades has other rivers as well (e.g.

Phlegethon, Acheron, Cocytus). A similar concept is found in Japa-

nese Buddhism in the Sanzu River, which the dead must cross on the

way to the afterlife.

Tartarus. In Greek religion, Tartarus was the deepest region of

the underworld, lower than Hades. Hesiod wrote that it would take an

anvil nine days to fall from heaven to earth and another nine to fall

from earth to Tartarus. Hades, not Tartarus, is the place of the dead

but some especially wicked characters have been imprisoned in Tarta-

rus to be punished. It is where Sisyphus, thief and murderer, must re-

peatedly push a boulder up a hill for eternity; where Ixion, who killed

his father-in-law, is attached to a flaming wheel; and where Tantalus

is kept just out of reach of cool water and grapes for sharing the se-

crets of the gods with humans. Tartarus is also where monsters and

other enemies have been cast after being defeated by the gods, includ-

ing the Cyclopes, the Titans and Typhus. In Roman mythology, Tarta-

rus was the eternal destination of sinners in general.

Elysium. Elysium (also called Elysian Fields or Elysian Plain)

was a paradise inhabited at first only by the very distinguished, but

later by the good. Elysium first appears in Homer's Odyssey as the

destination of Menelaus. It is located at the western ends of the earth

and is characterized by gentle breezes and an easy life like that of the

gods. Closely related to Elysium is Hesiod's Isles of the Blessed, men-

tioned in his Works and Days, which was located in the western

ocean.

Reincarnation. The notion that the human soul enters another

body upon death, though unfamiliar in popular Greek religion, was

widespread in Greek philosophy. The doctrine of transmigration is

80

first associated with the Pythagoreans and Orphics and was later

taught by Plato (Phaedo, Republic) and Pindar (Olympian). For the

former groups, the soul retained its identity throughout its reincarna-

tions; Plato indicated that souls do not remember their previous expe-

riences. Although Herodotus claims that the Greeks learned this idea

from Egypt, most scholars do not believe it came either from Egypt or

from India, but developed independently.

1.4.5. Ancient Slavonic religion

Known to the classical writers of the first and second centuries

as the Vanedi, a people living beyond the Vistula, the Balts and Slavs

originated the northeastern Indo-European languages spoken in central

and eastern Europe, the Balkans, and parts of north Asia. The Slavs

are generally subdivided into three linguistic and cultural groups: the

Western Slavs, including the Poles, Czechs, Moravians, and Slovaks;

the Eastern Slavs, made up of Russians, Ukrainians, and Belorussians;

and the Southern Slavs, comprising the Bulgars, Serbs, Croats, and

Slovenes. The closely related Balts are also divided into three groups:

Latvians, Lithuanians, and Prussians.

The mythological background can still be discovered in folklore

-in legends, tales, songs, proverbs and, above all, in exorcisms. For in

certain Slavonic countries exorcism of pagan origin is still currently

practised.

It was only in the 6th century A.D. that the Slavonic world began

to emerge distinctly from the varied and mobile ethnographic mass

which peopled the Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe. Very proba-

bly it was from the Carpathians that the Slavonic tribes dispersed in

various directions to form the three great groups which still exist,

namely the Southern Slavs, the Western Slavs and those of the East.

In general Slavonic mythology found no material expression de-

finite enough to present its divinities in precise form. It remained va-

gue and amorphous like the landscape of most of the countries inha-

bited by the Slavonic race.

At the basis of Slavonic mythology we find a primitive dualism

which had its source in the opposition between light, the creative

force, and darkness, the destructive force. This elemental opposition

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gave birth to two divine images which are found among the peoples of

the Western branch of the Slavonic world: Byelobog and Chernobog.

Byelobog is made up of the adjective 'byely' which means 'white', and

the noun 'bog' which means 'god'. The adjective 'cherny' on the other

hand means 'black'. Thus there is a white god, god of light and day,

and a black god, god of the shadows and of night: a god of good and a

god of evil, opposed one to the other.

Later, when anthropomorphic elements had penetrated the primi-

tive religion of the pagan Slavs, they personified the sky as the god

Svarog. The root of this name (svar means bright, clear) is related to

the Sanskrit. The sky (Svarog) gave birth to two children: the Sun,

called Dazhbog, and Fire, which was called Svarogich, meaning 'son

of Svarog'. John Malala, a Byzantine chronicler, sums up the mytho-

logical cosmogony of the pagan Slavs in these terms: ―After Svarog

reigned his son, named Sun who was also called Dazhbog... The Sun

is the king and son of Svarog; he is named Dazhbog, for he was a

mighty lord.‖

According to an old Slavonic myth Svarog, after reigning over

the universe, transmitted his creative sovereign power to his children.

In many Slavonic countries rural folk still retain a mystic respect for

fire, which has always had a sacred character. The old forbade the

young to swear or shout at the moment when the fire was being

lighted in the house. Legends and folk stories still retain poetic traces

of the ancient myths when they speak of the Fire Serpent, a winged

monster who breathed flames from his mouth.

The Russian savant Afanasiev says of Svarog‘s other son, Dazh-

bog, the sun: ―Svarog, as a personification of the sky, sometimes

lighted by the sun's rays, sometimes covered with clouds and brilliant

with lightning, was considered to be the father of the Sun and of Fire.

In the shadows of the clouds he would kindle the lightning's flame and

thus he appeared as the creator of celestial fire. As for terrestrial fire,

it was a divine gift brought to earth in the form of lightning. Hence it

will be understood why the Slav worshipped Fire as a son of Svarog.

Afterwards, splitting the clouds with flashing arrows, Svarog would

cause the sun to appear, or, in the metaphorical language of antiquity,

he would light the torch of the sun which had been extinguished by

demons of the shadows. This noetic conception was also applied to the

morning sun emerging from the veils of night. With the sunrise and

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the renewal of its flame the idea of its rebirth was connected. Svarog

was thus a divinity who gave life to the Sun and birth to Dazhbog.‖

According to Slavonic myths and legends the Sun lived in the

East, in a land of eternal summer and abundance. There he had his

golden palace from which he emerged every morning in his luminous

chariot, drawn by white horses who breathed fire, to cross the celestial

vault.

In Russian folklore the Sun possessed twelve kingdoms - the

twelve months or signs of the Zodiac. He lived in the solar disk and

his children on the stars. They were served by the ―solar daughters‖

Certain Slavonic myths and legends give an anthropomorphic inter-

pretation to the relationship between the Sun and the Moon. who

bathed them, looked after them and sang to them. The divine couple of

the Sun and the Moon gave birth to the stars. When the pair were in a

bad mood and not getting on well together an earthquake would result.

The Sun-god Dazhbog, great divinity of day and the light of day,

conqueror of the shadows, of cold and of misery became synonymous

with happiness. Men‘s destiny depended on him. He was just. He pu-

nished the wicked and rewarded the virtuous.

There is a legend according to which the two solar daughters,

the Auroras, stood at the Sun's side. The dawn – in Slavonic Zorya or

Zarya – was also believed to be a divinity. Aurora of the Morning

(Zorya Utrennyaya – utro meaning 'morning') opened the gates of the

celestial palace when the Sun set forth on his daily journey across the

heavens. Aurora of the Evening (Zorya Vechernyaya – vecher mean-

ing 'evening') closed them again when the Sun came home.

Pagan Slavs also believed in the god or the gods of the winds. In

certain legends there were as many as seven Winds. Among several

Slavonic tribes we find the worship of a god of the Winds named Stri-

bog. They also spoke of a Wind-god named Varpulis who formed part

of the retinue of the god Perun and caused the noise of the storm.

Erisvorsh was the god of the holy tempest. But the sound of these last

names suggests a Lithuanian or Teutonic origin.

The pagan Slavs worshipped the Earth as a special divinity, but

we have little information about either her appearance or her cult. We

only know that among the Russians she was called Mati-Syra-Zemlya

which means ‗Moist Mother Earth‘. Mythological and ritual memories

83

of belief in the Moist-Mother-Earth can be found in various customs

and practices of the Slav peasants.

The Earth was a supreme being, sentient and just. She could pre-

dict the future if one knew how to understand her mysterious lan-

guage. In certain parts of Russia the peasant would dig in the earth

with a stock or simply with his fingers, apply his ear to the hole and

listen to what the Earth said. If he heard a sound which reminded him

of the sound made by a well-filled sleigh gliding over the snow his

crop would be good. If, on the contrary, the sound was that of an emp-

ty sleigh his crop would be bad.

With the victory of Christianity the great divinities vanished. But

the dii minores, the little divinities, were able to escape the oblivion.

The Slavs preserved many pagan superstitions and beliefs well into

the twentieth century and peopled their material and spiritual world

with a countless crowd of little gods and goddesses, of spirits good

and evil.

The Domovoi is derived from the word dom meaning 'house' –

was the divinity or spirit of the-house. From superstition the Slav pea-

sant avoided calling him by his official name: some designated him by

the word 'grandfather' or 'master of the house' while others spoke of

'him' or 'himself. The Domovoi would become so much at home in the

house where he lived that he would be reluctant to leave it. When a

Russian peasant built a new izba, his wife, before moving in, would

cut a slice of bread and put it under the stove in order to attract the

Domovoi to the new house. The Domovoi loved to live near the stove

or under the threshold of the front door. As for his wife, called Doma-

nia or Domovikha, she preferred to live in the cellar. The Domovoi fo-

rewarned the inhabitants of the house of the troubles which threatened

them. Before the death of someone in the family he wept. He would

pull the wife's hair to warn her that her husband was going to beat her.

The Domovoi appeared among the Slavs only after the family

group became distinct from the tribal group. Previously there had been

a spirit of the tribe itself, called Rod or Chur, terms which are imposs-

ible to translate but which signified ancestor or forefather.

In the neighbourhood of the Domovoi there were other spirits

who may be considered as his near relations. Such were, for example,

the Dvorovoi (from the word dvor or yard) who was the spirit of the

yard; the Bannik (from the word banya or bath) who was the spirit of

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the baths and who lived in the little outhouse situated beside the izba,

where the peasants took their baths; the Ovinnik (from the word ovin

or barn) who was the spirit of the barn.

Only one domestic spirit was feminine. This was Kikimora who,

in some regions, passed for the Domovoi's wife. The numerous myths,

tales and legends about the Kikimora give no precise picture of her.

Sometimes her sole duty was to look after the poultry; sometimes she

took part in all household tasks, though only if the mistress of the

house was herself diligent and hardworking. If she was lazy, the Ki-

kimora gave her much trouble and tickled the children during the

night. The only way to make friends with the Kikimora again was to

go into the forest, gather ferns and prepare a fern-tea with which all

the pots and pans in the kitchen must then be washed.

The lands which the ancient Slavs colonised and peopled were

densely wooded. The colonisers had to cut their way across enormous

forests, filled with dangers and the unexpected. It was natural that they

should have run into the Leshy. Leshy, whose name is derived from

the word les, the forest, was the spirit of the forest.

If every forest was inhabited by a Leshy every field was ruled by

a Polevoi or Polevik. Pole meant 'field'. The Polevik liked to amuse

himself in the same fashion as the Leshy by misguiding belated travel-

lers. It could happen that he would strangle a drunkard who had gone

to sleep in his field instead of working in it. When this occurred the

Polevik was often helped by his children who would run along the fur-

rows, catching birds, which they would give to their parents to eat.

The Vodyanoi was a water sprite, as his name suggests; for it

comes from the word voda which means water. He was a malevolent

and dangerous divinity who inhabited lakes, pools, streams and rivers.

His favourite haunt was in the neighbourhood of mill-dams. Under the

great mill-wheel many Vodyanoi would sometimes forgather.

Also the Slavs believed that when a maiden drowned – either by

accident or on purpose – she became a Rusalka. This belief was com-

mon to all Slavonic peoples. But the image of this water-divinity was

not everywhere the same. One could say that she varied according to

climate and the colour of the sky and the waters.

We have already seen that on the edges of the Slavonic world

where the Slavs came in contact with other peoples, such as the Ger-

mans and the Scandinavians, their mythology lost its primitive and

85

rustic character, found fresh inspiration and took on new and less

naive forms. Certain Russian scholars are even inclined to distinguish

two mythologies – and almost two religions – among the pagan Slavs:

the one that we have just described, which was common to the great

masses composed of peasants, hunters, and fishermen and a second

which was the mythology of the upper classes, of town dwellers and

those who lived in fortified castles. In any case it is certain that the

Slavs of the Baltic coast and those of Kiev had a more highly devel-

oped mythology than that which was based on the mere worship of

elemental forces and the phenomena of nature. The Baltic Slavs -

those of the Isle of Riigen, the mouth of the Elbe, etc. – worshipped a

divinity named Svantovit. Some of the old chroniclers – Helmgolf,

Saxo Grammaticus, etc. – have left us almost contemporary descrip-

tions of Svantovit. In addition a statue of Svantovit was discovered in

1857 in Galicia on the banks of the river Zbruch. It was a crude and

simplified copy of the statue which once occupied his principal temple

at Arcona. The statue of Svantovit at Arcona, placed in a richly orna-

mented temple, was of great size. It had four heads facing in four di-

rections. Svantovit held in his right hand a bull's horn filled with wine.

Beside him hung an enormous sword, a saddle and bridle. In the tem-

ple there was a white horse. Each year the high priest would solemnly

examine the contents of the bull's horn which Svantovit held in his

hand; if much wine remained in it, that was a good omen – the year

would be fruitful and happy. But if the quantity of wine in the horn

had considerably diminished a year of famine and trouble must be ex-

pected. The white horse of Svantovit, maintained at the expense of the

temple and venerated like its divine master, also served to reveal the

future. The priests would fix in the ground several rows of spears and

drive the horse of Svantovit through them. If it made the course

smoothly without catching any of the spears with its hooves the future

promised well. A flag – a war banner – was kept in the temple. The

priests would show it to Svantovit's worshippers before they went to

war. Besides the priests, an armed detachment of three hundred men

was assigned to the temple of Svantovit. As well as Svantovit, the old

chroniclers mention, among the peoples of the western branch of the

Slavonic world, certain other divinities whose attributes were warlike:

Rugievit, who was armed with eight swords, seven hanging from his

girdle and the eighth in his right hand: Yarovit, who had a great gol-

86

den shield which was venerated as a holy object. He also had his own

banners, and the faithful would carry them and the shield when they

went into battle. Then there was Radigast, who grasped in his hand a

double-edged axe. On his chest he wore a bull's head and on his curly

head a swan with outstretched wings. He was a sure counsellor, god of

strength and honour. It is difficult to say if these gods were identical

with Svantovit or if they were distinct and individual divinities. All at

least had traits in common from which arose their character of gods of

warfare and the city. According to the testimony of an old chronicler,

Svantovit was considered to be the 'god of gods' and beside him all

others were no more than demi-gods. Like Svarog he was the father of

the sun and of fire. At the same time – as can be seen by his emblem,

the bull's horn filled with wine – he was the god of plenty. Above all,

however, he was a warrior and in war he always had his share of the

booty.

At the opposite end of the Slavonic world we find a divinity ana-

logous to Svantovit, namely the god Pyerun. The origin of this name

goes back to remotest Aryan times. Among the Hindus the god Indra

was surnamed Parjanya, a word which has the same root as Pyerun.

The word Pyerun is known in many Slavonic languages: Pyerun in

Russian, Piorun in Polish, Perun in Czech, Peron in Slovak. Among

the Lithuanians we often find the name Perkaunas. In the Mater Ver-

borum (1202) the name Pyerun is translated by the name Jupiter.

In the popular language of Poland we discover not only the se-

mantic origin of the name Pyerun but also an explanation of his my-

thological character. For in Polish piorun means 'thunder'.

Neither history nor tradition has preserved anything exact on the

subject of Pyerun's divine image. We only know that there was in

Kiev until the end of the tenth century a wooden idol of Pyerun. He

was incontestably the god of war. For not only was the thunderbolt

considered by the pagan Slavs to be the most redoubtable divine wea-

pon but old Russian chronicles explicitly state that there was a direct

connection between war and Pyerun. When the first princes of Kiev

brought a war with the Greeks to a conclusion by an honourable peace

their troops pledged their word by their weapons and invoked the

name of Pyerun.

We read in an old chronicle that Olga, one of the first sovereigns

of Kiev, 'led her warriors into batlle; and according to the Russian law

87

they swore by their arms and invoked Pyerun. Igor, prince of Kiev,

climbed the hill where the image of Pyerun stood and there placed his

arms, his shield and his god

In Procopius, the sixth century Greek historian, we find a curious

detail about Slavonic religion; it probably refers to Pyerun and permits

us to place his position among the other gods. 'He is the god who

wields the thunderbolt and they, the Slavs, recognise him as the sole

lord of the universe.' This warlike mythology in which foreign ele-

ments were mingled – for we must not forget that the 'principality' of

Kiev had been founded by Varyags, or Scandinavian warriors - was

not without its influence on the rustic mythology from which original-

ly it profoundly differed.

As an example of this influence the god Volos or Vyelyes may

be cited. Volos, 'god of cattle', who was of rustic origin and character,

was afterwards associated with Pyerun's warlike exploits. The monk

Nestor, author of the celebrated Chronicle, relates how the warriors of

the Princess Olga 'swore by their arms and invoked their god Pyerun

and Volos, god of the beasts'. In a treaty concluded between the

Greeks, and Prince Svyatoslav, the prince and his fighting men de-

clared: 'Let us be bound by our oath before the god in whom we be-

lieve – Pyerun – and before Volos, god of the beasts.'

As for Volos, 'god of the beasts', when he left Kiev, now under

triumphant Christian occupation, he returned to his rural habitat,

stripped of his military functions and attributes. And even when Chris-

tianity invaded the Slavonic countryside Volos was able to retain the

sympathy of the peasantry. In the nineteenth century Russian peasants

still kept the custom of 'curling Volos' hair'. During the harvest they

would leave one sheaf of corn in the field and 'curl' its ears – undoub-

tedly the survival of a pagan sacrifice.

In addition to the divinities already described, Slavonic mythol-

ogy offers a pair of extremely interesting and picturesque gods who

might be called gods of joy. Their names were Yarilo and Kupala. The

origin of the name Yarilo, transcribed as Erilo, may – it has been sug-

gested – be found in the Greek Eros. If this explanation were plausible

it would considerably simplify mythological research; for Yarilo was

a god of carnal love. But Yarilo probably derives from the adjective

yary, which means 'ardent, passionate, uncontrolled'. On the other

hand the word yarovoi is used in speaking of corn sown in springtime

88

as against ozimoi which signifies that which is sown in the autumn.

Thus in the name Yarilo we find linked the idea of spring regeneration

and that of sexual passion.

The cult of Yarilo was so widespread and deeply rooted among

certain Slavonic peoples that even as late as the eighteenth century the

orthodox bishop of Voronezh had to take very strict measures against

the people of his diocese who were given to it. From his sermons we

learn that the pagan Slavs venerated an ancient idol, Yarilo; and in his

honour they organised festivities and 'satanic games' which went on

for days. Popular legends from White Russia have preserved a curious

description of the outward appearance of the god Yarilo. He was

young and fair. He rode a white horse and was dressed in a white

cloak. On his head he wore a crown of wild flowers. In his left hand

he held a bunch of wheat ears. His feet were bare. Two elements en-

tered into the pagan rites consecrated to Yarilo, and also into the

popular festivals which were in Christian times celebrated in his ho-

nour. As a god of springtime and fecundity he was honoured in certain

Slavonic countries in spring, during the days of the first sowing. In

White Russia in the nineteenth century the village maidens would get

together and elect the most beautiful of their number who would be

dressed in the white garments of Yarilo, crowned with flowers and

mounted on a white horse. Around her gathered a khorovod (a curious

Slavonic derivative of the antique Greek 'chorus'). This was a long

circle of dancing girls crowned with freshly gathered flowers. The fes-

tival was celebrated on the newly sown fields in the presence of the

old men and women of the village. The khorovod would chant a song

which glorified the blessings of the god. 'Where he sets his foot, The

corn grows in mountains; Wherever he glances, The grain flourishes.'

In summer they celebrated the 'funeral' rites of Yarilo. This solemnity

was very widespread among Slavs of the east and west alike and for

centuries resisted all assaults by Christian preachers – above all in

Russia. During these festivals the men, women and girls would gather

together to eat, drink and dance. At sunset a straw idol of Yarilo

would be brought to the place where the festival was being held. It

was the image of the dead god. Like Yarilo Kupala was also a divinity

of joy. The name Kupala has the same root as the verb kupati which

means to bathe. This is explained by the fact that during the festivals

of Kupala, which were celebrated in June, they bathed in the rivers

89

and washed themselves with the 'dew of Kupala', dew which was ga-

thered during the night of the festival. The worship of water and the

belief in its mystic powers were one of the elements which composed

the cult of Kupala. This belief was very general among pagan Slavs.

Their folk tales often speak of 'dead water' and 'live water', each of

which had its miraculous power. When a legendary hero perished by

the sword of his enemy and his body lay stretched on the ground, cut

to pieces, the fairy sprinkled it with 'dead water' which allowed the se-

vered members to come together again. Then she sprinkled it with

'live water' and the hero was resuscitated. The ancient Slavs venerated

sacred springs, near which were often found places of prayer and sa-

crifice.

1.4.6. Ancient Far-East religions

Chinese Daoism

Daoism (or Taoism) is Chinese philosophy and religion, dating

from about the 4th century BC. Among native Chinese schools of

thought, the influence of Daoism on Chinese civilization has been

second only to that of Confucianism.

Daoism developed, along with Confucianism, during the War-

ring States period of Chinese history, from the 5th to the 3rd centuries

BC. This was one of the times when China‘s usually strong central

government was weak and civil wars were frequent among feudal

lords of small Chinese states. Daoist philosophy was a reaction against

the chaotic violence and the arbitrary laws and strict social hierarchy

in the states. It encouraged people to seek harmony with nature and

with other human beings through a simple life and through calm medi-

tation on the unity underlying all things in the universe.

The early Daoist philosophers were a relatively small number of

sages, such as Yang Zhu (Yang Chu); Laozi (Lao-tzu), the legendary

founder of Taoism; Zhuangzi (Chuang-tzu), Laozi‘s disciple; and Lie-

zi (Lieh-tzu). Their philosophy is expressed chiefly in two texts: the

poetic Daodejing (Tao-te Ching) and the Zhuangzi (Chuang-tzu). The

Daodejing, translated as the ―Book of the Dao and the De‖ or the

―Classic Book of the Way and Its Virtue,‖ has traditionally been attri-

buted to Laozi. The Zhuangzi, essays elaborating the Daodejing, is

named after the author of its first seven chapters.

90

Daoist philosophy is based on the Dao, an ancient Chinese con-

cept that means ―way,‖ ―path,‖ or ―natural working of the universe.‖

Daoists consider the Dao an original Oneness in things, an eternal un-

derlying foundation of being from which the many parts of the un-

iverse continuously spring and into which they continuously return.

The process occurs by means of the De, or energy, of the Dao.

Daoists explain the operation of the De in terms of two other an-

cient Chinese principles: the dark, negative, female yin and the bright,

positive, male yang. They believe the two opposing forces of yin and

yang combine in different proportions to produce all the endlessly va-

ried things in the universe, before these things return once more into

the Dao.

According to Daoist thought, human beings are an integral part

of the universe and, by nature, are in harmony with its operations. Un-

fortunately, they have fallen from this condition into self-assertive,

aggressive, competitive actions that lie outside the natural harmony of

all things. Thus, the ills of the world are produced. People perform in-

considerate and harmful acts toward their neighbors. As they organize

into societies, through turbulent competition a few grow wealthy and

many are forced into poverty. Oppressive rulers develop, and laws

seek to regulate the citizens by defining socially undesirable acts as

crimes. Communities and societies located close to one another com-

pete, causing war. Daoists believed that most of the organized efforts

to correct the situation – including the codes developed by Confucius

and Mozi (Mo-tzu) to regulate society, learning, or virtuous actions –

simply added to the disharmony by their aggressive striving to shape

people‘s actions.

The only true solution, in the Daoist view, must begin with the

individual‘s conscious refusal to participate in the turbulent, aggres-

sive, and assertive ways of life. This refusal is called wuwei (―not

doing‖). Wise individuals, then, seek to fulfill their potential harmony

with the Dao by a quiet and sensitive contemplation of the natural ten-

dency in things, making their life like a smooth-flowing river, clear

and undisturbed in its movement. They try always to do only as much

as their natural impulse requires, never straining for further achieve-

ment. They relate to other people in a spirit of natural kindness, toler-

ance, and humility, never striving to dominate them.

91

Daoists who become leaders leave their people free, so each one

can fulfill his or her individual nature. The highest social organization

desired by Daoists was a small state containing isolated and indepen-

dent villages of free individuals who would not compete with other

villages or states for land or trade and who would thus not feel the

need for war.

The Daoists felt that by being relatively inactive and humble,

like the Dao, the individual will be most truly active and in control, as

the Dao is. ―The Dao is ever inactive, and yet there is nothing it does

not do.‖ ―The way of Heaven is not to contend and yet to be able to

conquer.‖ The calm contemplative life led by believers sometimes in-

cluded meditation that led to a mystical experience of union with the

Dao. Daoist sages often withdrew to lonely mountain retreats for more

solitary contemplation. Throughout Chinese history, Daoism inspired

gentle, mystically inclined individuals, including many of China‘s

greatest painters and poets.

In modern times, religious Daoism has continued to merge with

Buddhism and other religions in China. China‘s Communist govern-

ment has suppressed individual Daoist sects. However, it recognizes

Daoism as a Chinese religion devoted to universal unity and peace,

and it has repaired some Daoist temples and monasteries that had been

closed or destroyed. Many Western scholars believe that Daoism is

still a strong force among the Chinese people, especially in rural areas.

Japanese religion Shinto

Shinto (from Japanese, ―the way of the gods‖) is Japanese cult

and religion, originating in prehistoric times, and occupying an impor-

tant national position for long periods in the history of Japan, particu-

larly in recent times. During its early period, the body of religious be-

lief and practice called Shinto was without a name and had no fixed

dogma, moral precepts, or sacred writings. Worship centered on a vast

pantheon of spirits, or kami, mainly divinities personifying aspects of

the natural world, such as the sky, the earth, heavenly bodies, and

storms. Rites included prayers of thanksgiving; offerings of valuables,

such as swords and armor and, especially, cloth; and ablutionary puri-

fication from crime and defilement.

92

In the late 6th century AD the name Shinto was created for the

native religion to distinguish it from Buddhism and Confucianism,

which had been introduced from China. Shinto was rapidly oversha-

dowed by Buddhism, and the native gods were generally regarded as

manifestations of Buddha in a previous state of existence. Buddhist

priests became the custodians of Shinto shrines and introduced their

own ornaments, images, and ritual. At the end of the 8th and the be-

ginning of the 9th centuries, the celebrated Japanese teacher Kūkai, or

(posthumously) Kobo Daishi, established a doctrine uniting Buddhism

and Shinto under the name of Ryobu Shinto (Japanese, ―the Shinto of

two kinds‖). In the new religion, Buddhism dominated Shinto, and

elements were adopted from Confucianism. The ancient practice of

Shinto proper virtually disappeared and was maintained only at a few

great shrines and in the imperial palace, although the emperors them-

selves had become Buddhists. The distinctively Shinto priests became

fortune-tellers and magicians.

Beginning in the 18th century, Shinto was revived as an impor-

tant national religion through the writings and teachings of a succes-

sion of notable scholars, including Mabuchi, Motoori Norinaga, and

Hirata Atsutane. Motivated by nationalistic sentiments that took the

form of reverence for Japanese antiquity and hatred for ideas and

practices of foreign origin, these men prepared the way for the dises-

tablishment of Buddhism and the adoption of Shinto as the state reli-

gion. In 1867 the shogunate was overthrown, and the emperor was

restored to the head of the government. According to revived Shinto

doctrine, the sovereignty of the emperor was exercised by divine right

through his reputed descent from the sun goddess Amaterasu Omika-

mi, who is considered the founder of the Japanese nation. Related be-

liefs included the doctrines that the Japanese were superior to other

peoples because of their descent from the gods, and that the emperor

was destined to rule over the entire world. Until the defeat of Japan in

World War II, these beliefs were of the utmost importance in assuring

popular support for the military expansion of the Japanese Empire.

Before 1946 Shinto took two forms: State, or Shrine, Shinto, a

patriotic nationalistic cult, identified with and financially supported by

the imperial Government; and Sectarian Shinto, a general term for a

number of sects founded by private persons and based on various in-

terpretations of traditional Shinto. State Shinto, as the official gov-

93

ernment cult, theoretically embodied the religious beliefs of the entire

Japanese people, and the number of its adherents was counted as the

total population of the empire. The cult centered on a great profusion

of shrines in all parts of the country, ranging from small wayside cha-

pels commemorating local spirits and families to great national sanct-

uaries, such as the Yasukuni Shrine, Tokyo, dedicated to the spirits of

soldiers who had died in battle for Japan. In 1946, during the Ameri-

can occupation of Japan following World War II, the cult was com-

pletely separated from the state by order of General Douglas MacAr-

thur, supreme commander for the Allied powers. Government finan-

cial support of State Shinto was eliminated, the former practice of

teaching cult doctrines in the schools was abolished, and the use of

Shinto symbols for nationalistic purposes was forbidden. At the same

time the emperor issued a statement renouncing all claims to divinity.

Sectarian Shinto, a religion of the same status as Buddhism and

Christianity, was unaffected by these changes. At the present time it

comprises 13 major and numerous minor sects. The principal sects are

divided into 5 main groups: those that continue with little modification

the traditions of ancient Shinto; those that emphasize adherence to

Confucian ethics; those that are predominantly devoted to faith heal-

ing; those that practice the worship of mountains; and those that are

primarily devoted to purification rites. In the mid-1990s 110 million

Japanese participated in the various Shinto sects, but those who pro-

fessed Shinto as their sole or major religion numbered only 3.4 mil-

lion. The Shinto sects have approximately 90,000 priests and about

81,000 shrines.

Control questions to Unit I:

1. What is derivation of the word ‗religion‘?

2. What are the theories of religion‘s origin?

3. What religion classification do you know?

4. What are the main belifs in Egyptian religion?

5. What are the main gods in Slavonic religion?

6. What are the main belifs in Greek mythology?

7. What is Shinto?

8. What is the Daoist practice?

9. Why Zoroastrizm is believed to be dualistic?

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Unit II. Buddhism

Indian religions are the related religious traditions that originated

in the Indian subcontinent, namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism,

Sikhism, and Ayyavazhi, inclusive of their sub-schools and various re-

lated traditions. They form a subgroup of the larger class of "Eastern

religions". Indian religions have similarities in core beliefs, modes of

worship, and associated practices, mainly due to their common history

of origin and mutual influence.

The documented history of Indian religions begins with histori-

cal Vedic religion, the religious practices of the early Indo-Aryans,

which were collected and later rdacted into the Samhitas, four canoni-

cal collections of hymns or mantras composed in archaic Sanskrit.

These texts are the central shruti (revealed) texts of Hinduism. The pe-

riod of the composition, redaction and commentary of these texts is

known as the Vedic period, which lasted from roughly 1500 to 500

BC. The late Vedic period (9th to 6th centuries BC) marks the begin-

ning of the Upanisadic or Vedantic period.

Hinduism is divided into numerous denominations which share

certain key concepts, which are interpreted differently by different

groups and individuals. Common traits can also be observed in both

the ritual and the literary sphere. For example, the head-anointing ri-

tual of abhiseka is of importance in three of these distinct traditions,

excluding Sikhism. Other noteworthy rituals are the cremation of the

dead, the wearing of vermilion on the head by married women, and

various marital rituals. In literature, many classical Hindu narratives

have Buddhist or Jain versions. All three traditions have notions of

karma, dharma, samsara, moksha and various yogas. Of course, these

terms may be perceived differently by different religions. For in-

stance, for a Hindu, dharma is his duty. For a Jain, dharma is righ-

teousness, his conduct. For a Buddhist, dharma is usually taken to be

the Buddha's teachings. Similarly, for a Hindu, yoga is the cessation of

all thoughts/activities of the mind.

The ten avatars of Vishnu .The god Vishnu is said to descend

ten times into our world during each cosmic cycle (mahayuga) in or-

der to restore the balance between good and evil. The number of his

incarnations varies from one Hindu writing to another. The Mahabha-

rata gives three lists of Vishnu's avatars: First there are mentioned

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four, then six, and finally there is a list of ten, in the form of: (1) swan,

(2) tortoise, (3) fish, (4) boar, (5) man-lion, (6) dwarf, (7) Bhargava

Rama, (8) Dasaratha Rama, (9) Krishna, and (10) Kalki. The Markan-

deya Purana 4,44-58 lists 12 avatars of Vishnu, the Garuda Purana

lists 19, while the Matsya Purana 47,32-52 lists 22. Since the time of

the Bhagavata Purana the number of avatars has been uniformly rec-

ognized as ten. Therefore we will use the best known list: (1) fish, (2)

tortoise, (3) boar, (4) man-lion, (5) dwarf, (6) Parasurama, (7) Rama,

(8) Krishna, (9) Buddha and (10) Kalki. The first nine have already

occurred and the last one is still to come. Let us give a brief descrip-

tion of each avatar, see what it had to achieve and how it was done.

The fish (Matsya). The Vedas were stolen from Brahma by a

demon, so the gods sent a flood on the earth to drown him and thus re-

cover the holy scriptures. Vishnu took the form of a fish, predicted the

coming deluge to the saint Manu and saved him together with his fam-

ily by leading his ship to safety.

The tortoise (Kurma). During the deluge that destroyed the

world the gods lost the cream of the milk ocean (amrita), by which

they renewed their youthfulness and avoided death. Gods and demons

together set about producing amrita by churning the ocean of milk, us-

ing a mountain as churning stick and the incarnation of Vishnu as a

tortoise for the pivot on which to rest it. Their action was successful

and the amrita recovered.

The boar (Varaha). Brahma was forced to grant the boon of

immortality to a demon that had performed austerities. Under the cov-

er of this boon, the demon persecuted both men and gods, stole the

Vedas from Brahma and dragged the earth under the ocean, down to

his dark abode. However, the demon forgot to mention the boar in his

list of gods, men and animals to which he could be invulnerable, so

Vishnu took the form of a huge boar, descended into the ocean, killed

the demon with his tusks, recovered the Vedas and released the earth.

The man-lion (Narasinha). A demon had obtained the boon of

invulnerability through asceticism from the attacks of men, beasts and

gods. He had the assurance from Brahma that he could not be killed

either day or night, inside or outside his house. This demon grew very

powerful, forbade the worship of all gods and substituted it with wor-

ship for himself. Vishnu took the form of half-man, half-lion (neither

man nor beast) and tore the demon into pieces in the evening (neither

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in the day nor in the night) in the doorway of his palace (neither inside

nor outside it).

The dwarf (Vamana). The king Bali had gained too much pow-

er by his sacrifices, so the gods were in danger of losing their heaven-

ly position to him. Therefore Vishnu was incarnated as a dwarf and

asked the king for the gift of three paces of land. Once they were ac-

cepted, the dwarf suddenly grew to an enormous size and covered all

the earth and the heavens by his paces and Bali was left to dwell in

hell.

Parasurama (Rama with the ax). The warrior caste (kshatriya)

was exercising tyranny over all men, especially over the Brahmins, so

the priestly caste was endangered. Vishnu came to earth as Parasura-

ma and exterminated the whole kshatriya caste with his ax. While he

was still on earth, the next avatar (Ramachandra) came and the two

had to struggle. Ramachandra defeated Parasurama in a trial of

strength and broke his bow. (Both the Ramayana and the Mahabhara-

ta recollect this episode. In the Mahabharata Parasurama is knocked

senseless by Ramachandra.)

Ramachandra (Rama) is the hero of the Ramayana epic. The

demon Ravana had practiced austerities in order to propitiate Brahma,

who had granted him immunity from being killed by gods, gandhar-

vas and demons. Under this protection, Ravana persecuted gods and

men. Vishnu took the human form of prince Rama, for Ravana was

too proud to ask for immunity from men. Many adventures followed

in Rama's trip to save his wife Sita, who was kidnapped by the demon

and taken to the Lanka Island. Rama raised an army of monkeys and

bears led by the monkey-god Hanuman and a great battle was fought

in front of the gates of the city. Rama used a magic weapon infused by

the power of many gods, killed Ravana and rescued his wife.

Krishna. The objective of Vishnu's incarnation as Krishna was

to kill the demon Kamsa, who had become a tyrannical king. He killed

children and banned the worship of Vishnu. Krishna's mission had

three phases: childhood, youth and middle age. During childhood he

performed many feats of strength, killing all demons sent against him

by Kamsa. In his youth, Krishna had many amorous adventures with

married cowgirls. At last, in his middle-age, he killed Kamsa and took

part in the Bharata war (the most famous episode is the one recol-

lected in the Bhagavad Gita). His mission accomplished, Krishna re-

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treated into the forest in meditation. A hunter mistook his foot for a

deer and shot it, thus piercing Krishna's one vulnerable spot and mor-

tally wounding him.

Buddha. The demons had stolen the sacrificial potions of the

gods and performed asceticism, so the gods could not conquer them.

Vishnu incarnated as a man of delusion in order to propagate false

ideas and lead them astray from their old faith. Buddha preached that

there is no creator, that the three major gods (Brahma, Vishnu and

Shiva) were just ordinary mortals, that there is no dharma, that death

is total annihilation, there is no heaven or hell and sacrifices are of no

value. Obviously, Buddha as avatar of Vishnu has no historical foun-

dation. He was a kind of devil's advocate who managed to weaken the

opponents of the gods. The demons became Buddhists, abandoned the

Vedas and consequently were killed by the gods. This story was first

presented in the Vishnu Purana (5th century AD) and is obviously an

attempt to subordinate Buddhism to Hinduism.

Kalki. The last avatar, who is still to come, puts an end to the

degenerated earth, accomplishing the final destruction of the wicked

and preparing the way for the renewal of creation and the resurgence

of virtue in the next mahayuga.

Buddhism

Buddhism, one of the major world religions, is founded in nor-

theastern India and based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama,

who is known as the Buddha, or Enlightened One. Originat-

ing as a monastic movement within the dominant Brahman tradition of

the day, Buddhism quickly developed in a distinctive direction. The

Buddha not only rejected significant aspects of Hindu philosophy, but

also challenged the authority of the priesthood, denied the validity of

the Vedic scriptures, and rejected the sacrificial cult based on them.

Moreover, he opened his movement to members of all castes, denying

that a person‘s spiritual worth is a matter of birth.

Buddhism today is divided into two major branches known to

their respective followers as Theravada, the Way of the Elders, and

Mahayana, the Great Vehicle. Followers of Mahayana refer to Thera-

vada using the derogatory term Hinayana, the Lesser Vehicle.

Buddhism has been significant not only in India but also in Sri

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Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma),

and Laos, where Theravada has been dominant; Mahayana has had its

greatest impact in China, Japan, Taiwan, Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia, Ko-

rea, and Vietnam, as well as in India. The number of Buddhists

worldwide has been estimated at between 150 and 300 million. The

reasons for such a range are twofold: Throughout much of Asia reli-

gious affiliation has tended to be nonexclusive; and it is especially dif-

ficult to estimate the continuing influence of Buddhism in Communist

countries such as China.

2.1. Buddha and his teaching

No complete biography of the Buddha was compiled until centu-

ries after his death; only fragmentary accounts of his life are found in

the earliest sources. Western scholars, however, generally agree on

563 BC as the year of his birth.

Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, was born in Lumbinī, Nepal,

near the present Nepal-India border, the son of the ruler of a petty

kingdom. According to legend, at his birth sages recognized in him

the marks of a great man with the potential to become either a sage or

the ruler of an empire. The young prince was raised in sheltered lux-

ury, until at the age of 29 he realized how empty his life to this point

had been. Renouncing earthly attachments, he embarked on a quest for

peace and enlightenment, seeking release from the cycle of rebirths.

For the next few years he practiced Yoga and adopted a life of radical

asceticism.

Eventually he gave up this approach as fruitless and instead

adopted a middle path between the life of indulgence and that of self-

denial. Sitting under a bo tree, he meditated, rising through a series of

higher states of consciousness until he attained the enlightenment for

which he had been searching. Once having known this ultimate reli-

gious truth, the Buddha underwent a period of intense inner struggle.

He began to preach, wandering from place to place, gathering a body

of disciples, and organizing them into a monastic community known

as the sangha. In this way he spent the rest of his life.

Buddhism analyzes human existence as made up of five aggre-

gates or ―bundles‖ (skandhas): the material body, feelings, percep-

tions, predispositions or karmic tendencies, and consciousness. A per-

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son is only a temporary combination of these aggregates, which are

subject to continual change. No one remains the same for any two

consecutive moments. Buddhists deny that the aggregates individually

or in combination may be considered a permanent, independently ex-

isting self or soul (atman). Indeed, they regard it as a mistake to con-

ceive of any lasting unity behind the elements that constitute an indi-

vidual. The Buddha held that belief in such a self results in egoism,

craving, and hence in suffering. Thus he taught the doctrine of anat-

man, or the denial of a permanent soul. He felt that all existence is

characterized by the three marks of anatman (no soul), anitya (im-

permanence), and dukkha (suffering). The doctrine of anatman made

it necessary for the Buddha to reinterpret the Indian idea of repeated

rebirth in the cycle of phenomenal existence known as samsara. To

this end he taught the doctrine of pratityasamutpada, or dependent

origination. This 12-linked chain of causation shows how ignorance in

a previous life creates the tendency for a combination of aggregates to

develop. These in turn cause the mind and senses to operate. Sensa-

tions result, which lead to craving and a clinging to existence. This

condition triggers the process of becoming once again, producing a

renewed cycle of birth, old age, and death. Through this causal chain a

connection is made between one life and the next. What is posited is a

stream of renewed existences, rather than a permanent being that

moves from life to life – in effect a belief in rebirth without transmi-

gration.

Closely related to this belief is the doctrine of karma. Karma

consists of a person‘s acts and their ethical consequences. Human ac-

tions lead to rebirth, wherein good deeds are inevitably rewarded and

evil deeds punished. Thus, neither undeserved pleasure nor unwar-

ranted suffering exists in the world, but rather a universal justice. The

karmic process operates through a kind of natural moral law rather

than through a system of divine judgment. One‘s karma determines

such matters as one‘s species, beauty, intelligence, longevity, wealth,

and social status. According to the Buddha, karma of varying types

can lead to rebirth as a human, an animal, a hungry ghost, a denizen of

hell, or even one of the Hindu gods.

Although never actually denying the existence of the gods,

Buddhism denies them any special role. Their lives in heaven are long

and pleasurable, but they are in the same predicament as other crea-

100

tures, being subject eventually to death and further rebirth in lower

states of existence. They are not creators of the universe or in control

of human destiny, and Buddhism denies the value of prayer and sacri-

fice to them. Of the possible modes of rebirth, human existence is pre-

ferable, because the deities are so engrossed in their own pleasures

that they lose sight of the need for salvation. Enlightenment is possible

only for humans.

The ultimate goal of the Buddhist path is release from the round

of phenomenal existence with its inherent suffering. To achieve this

goal is to attain nirvana, an enlightened state in which the fires of

greed, hatred, and ignorance have been quenched. Not to be confused

with total annihilation, nirvana is a state of consciousness beyond de-

finition. After attaining nirvana, the enlightened individual may con-

tinue to live, burning off any remaining karma until a state of final

nirvana (parinirvana) is attained at the moment of death.

“Even as, monks, the mighty ocean has but one taste, the taste of

salt, in the same way, monks, this teaching and discipline has but one

taste, the taste of liberation” (Udana 5.51) – with these words Gotama

Buddha (c. 563–483 BC) describes to the monks who follow him, his

teaching on salvation (liberation from suffering and rebirth). One of

the titles given to the Buddha was that of ―one who has crossed over

the difficult current of suffering and rebirth, and shown a way for oth-

ers to follow.‖ It is a metaphor for escape from the miseries of karma-

samsara (the ―current‖ of birth, death, and rebirth), to the far shore of

freedom, or release (nirvana). The term nirvana literally means the

blowing out of a candle flame – in this case the ―flame‖ of ego-selfish

karmic desires that cause one to be trapped in the suffering of karma-

samsara. To achieve this escape Buddhists speak of taking refuge in

the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma (his teaching), and the

Sangha (the monastic community he established). The taking of these

―Refuges‖ is what defines a person as Buddhist.

In theory, the goal of nirvana is attainable by anyone, although it

is a realistic goal only for members of the monastic community. In

Theravada Buddhism an individual who has achieved enlightenment

by following the Eightfold Path is known as an arhat, or worthy one, a

type of solitary saint.

For those unable to pursue the ultimate goal, the proximate goal

of better rebirth through improved karma is an option. This lesser goal

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is generally pursued by lay Buddhists in the hope that it will eventual-

ly lead to a life in which they are capable of pursuing final enlighten-

ment as members of the sangha.

The ethic that leads to nirvana is detached and inner-oriented. It

involves cultivating four virtuous attitudes, known as the Palaces of

Brahma: loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanim-

ity. The ethic that leads to better rebirth, however, is centered on ful-

filling one‘s duties to society. It involves acts of charity, especially

support of the sangha, as well as observance of the five precepts that

constitute the basic moral code of Buddhism. The precepts prohibit

killing, stealing, harmful language, sexual misbehavior, and the use of

intoxicants. By observing these precepts, the three roots of evil – lust,

hatred, and delusion – may be overcome.

Shortly before his death, the Buddha refused his disciples‘ re-

quest to appoint a successor, telling his followers to work out their

own salvation with diligence. At that time Buddhist teachings existed

only in oral traditions, and it soon became apparent that a new basis

for maintaining the community‘s unity and purity was needed. Thus,

the monastic order met periodically to reach agreement on matters of

doctrine and practice. Four such meetings have been focused on in the

traditions as major councils.

For several centuries after the death of the Buddha, the scriptural

traditions recited at the councils were transmitted orally. These were

finally committed to writing about the 1st century BC. Some early

schools used Sanskrit for their scriptural language. Although individu-

al texts are extant, no complete canon has survived in Sanskrit. In con-

trast, the full canon of the Theravadins survives in Pali, which was ap-

parently a popular dialect derived from Sanskrit.

The Buddhist canon is known in Pali as the Tipitaka (Tripitaka

in Sanskrit), meaning Three Baskets, because it consists of three col-

lections of writings: the Sutta Pitaka (Sutra Pitaka in Sanskrit), a col-

lection of discourses; the Vinaya Pitaka, the code of monastic discip-

line; and the Abhidharma Pitaka, which contains philosophical, psy-

chological, and doctrinal discussions and classifications. Together

these make up the Canon of Buddhist Scriptures as established by the

monastic orders first in oral and later in written form following the

Buddha‘s death. These scriptures are preserved in many different lan-

guage collections including: Pali, Tibetan, and Chinese – with the Pali

102

collection also available in Sanskrit. Scripture in Buddhism is not con-

sidered to be divine revelation but rather a human record of the Budd-

ha‘s Enlightenment and the path to it for those who want to follow

him. The Buddha‘s followers did split into various schools or denomi-

nations to which we will refer later. All schools accept a core collec-

tion of Sutras and Vinaya but differ in regard to the Abhidharma, with

each school offering its own Commentaries as to the meaning of the

Buddha‘s Sayings. The relation between the Buddhist scriptures and

salvation for monks is well stated by the contemporary scholar Yun-

Hua Jan: ―Through a regulated life in accordance with the Vinaya

rules, to study doctrinal statements attributed to the Buddha as pre-

sented in the sutras, to practice the teaching and to reflect on some of

the points in the light of the commentaries are the consistent directives

in Buddhist tradition. It is only through the threefold effort, the reli-

gious goal of Buddhahood or Nirvana might be attainable‖.

Rather than speaking in Sanskrit, the elite language of the Hindu

brahmins and the Vedas, the Buddha taught in the language of the

common people of his day. He made his teaching of the path to salva-

tion open to all, regardless of caste or gender. A study of the Sutras, or

sayings, the original teachings of the Buddha, indicates that he had de-

finite views regarding the Vedic revelation of the Hindus. In the

Buddha‘s view none of the teachers of the Hindu Vedic tradition have

experienced a direct vision of Brahman. Thus, the Vedic claim to

scriptural knowledge of Brahman is not trustworthy because it is not

founded on direct experience of Brahman. The Veda, therefore, cannot

be accepted as a revelation of truth. In his own religious experience,

Gautama rejected a faith acceptance of the Veda and went out in

search of a direct personal experience of reality. The words he spoke,

which became the Buddhist scriptures, were a description of his expe-

rience of striving for and finally achieving the state of nirvana.

As for human condition in his analysis of it Buddha adopted the

same starting point that Hindus assumed – namely that each of us is

obscured by ignorance that results from the karma created by freely

chosen actions and thoughts (especially our intentions) in this and

previous lives. This karma, which we have created for ourselves, is

stored up in our unconscious and acts as a veil of ignorance which

keeps us from seeing the truth. It is this karma that causes us to be re-

born and to repeat the beginningless and seemingly endless cycle of

103

birth, death, and rebirth. But the Buddha differs sharply from Hin-

duism in the answer he gives as to how to get release from karma-

samsara, this cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. However, before focus-

ing on the Buddha‘s answer, let us examine some points of emphasis

in the analysis of the human condition that are unique to Buddhism.

First, based upon his own experience, the Buddha emphasized

that each person has both the freedom and the responsibility to work

out his or her own path to salvation, or release. Indeed, we will keep

on being reborn until we do. But each of us has the power to liberate

ourselves from ignorance and the suffering it causes us by our own

personal effort and intelligence. Through the example of his own life

the Buddha has shown us the way to liberation (nirvana), yet we must

each tread the path for ourselves. Because of this emphasis on indi-

vidual responsibility, the Buddha allows complete freedom to his fol-

lowers. Nor did he try to control the Sangha (the Order of Monks and

Nuns) or want the Sangha to depend on him. Nirvana, taught the

Buddha, comes with our own realization of truth and does not depend

on the grace of a god, nor is it a reward for good behaviour or the

blind following of someone‘s teachings or scriptures as divine revela-

tion. Therefore, one‘s search for the path to release should always be-

gin with doubt, as did the experience of Gotama in questioning the

Hindu teaching within which he had been raised. The Buddha made

this clear in his discussions with the inhabitants of the town of Kala-

ma. They told the Buddha that they were left in doubt and perplexity

by the differing claims to truth of visiting holy men and Hindu teach-

ers (Brahmins). In his response the Buddha commended their doubt in

the face of such conflicting claims: “Yes, Kalamas, it is proper that

you have doubt . . . do not be led by reports, or tradition, or hearsay.

Be not led by the authority of religious texts, nor by mere logic or in-

ference, nor by considering appearances, nor by delight in speculative

opinions . . . nor by the idea: “this is our teacher.” But, O Kalamas,

when you know for yourselves that certain things are unwholesome

and wrong . . . then give them up . . . And when you know for your-

selves that certain things are wholesome and good, then accept them

and follow them.”

The Buddha rigorously extended this principle of doubting any

teaching or teacher by applying it to himself. His teaching should only

be accepted and followed if it proved to be true and trustworthy when

104

one tested it out for oneself. But to even ―try out‖ the Buddha‘s teach-

ing one must give it at least ―provisional acceptance.‖ It is rather like

trying to find one‘s way to an address in a foreign city. One asks di-

rections of a stranger who may reply, ―Go three blocks straight ahead,

at the stoplight turn right, pass three more traffic signals and it will be

on your right.‖ You follow these directions (give them ―provisional

trust‖) as long as they seem to be taking you to where you want to go.

But if they do not prove out in experience you reject them as false and

ask someone else for new directions or simply search out the address

on your own.

The spiritual quest is like that, said the Buddha, you have the

freedom, responsibility, and intelligence to test out each proposed an-

swer for yourself until the Truth reveals itself to you in your own

―testing-out‖ experience. That was the way the Buddha reached his

own enlightenment experience.

The fundamental characteristics of our ordinary human expe-

rience is that it is filled with ignorance and false views as to the truth.

There is no sin in the sense of disobedience to God or to some blindly

believed scripture. Rather, for Buddhism there is the karmic ignorance

caused by the many false views that assail us on all sides. To over-

come these false views one must begin by doubting them all. But one

must not get trapped in doubt for that would be to give up the search

for truth and end in nihilism. As Rahula puts it, ―As long as there is

doubt, perplexity, wavering, no progress is possible. It is also equally

undeniable that there must be doubt as long as one does not under-

stand or see clearly. But in order to progress further it is absolutely

necessary to get rid of doubt. To get rid of doubt one has to see clear-

ly.‖ To break out of this circle, one puts ―provisional faith‖ in the

Buddha and follows his teaching to see if it enables us to begin to see

more clearly. Only if it does should one continue to follow it – but al-

ways testing it out as one goes. It was in this spirit of equally testing

out all views that the Buddha exhibited an openness towards all other

religions and their teachings – and urged his followers to do the same.

A second point of emphasis about our human condition is that

the experience of being trapped by ignorance and within the confusion

of conflicting views is one of dukkha – which in English includes suf-

fering, frustration, and dissatisfaction. In his analysis of dukkha the

Buddha is like a physician diagnosing a sickness from which we all

105

suffer, although in our ordinary life we may not be aware that we are

ill. The Buddha described the dukkha from which we all suffer in

three ways.

First there is dukkha as ordinary suffering. This includes physi-

cal pain when we hurt ourselves, when a toothache starts or when we

are physically sick. It also includes the aches and pains of arthritis or

other ailments that assail us as we age. The pain involved in giving

birth to a baby, in sickness and finally in death is an inescapable part

of human experience. But this kind of ordinary physical pain is only

the first kind of dukkha.

The second, due to impermanence, is more psychological in na-

ture and is characterized by feelings of frustration and unhappiness.

This kind of dukkha occurs when an initial experience of pleasure

changes to pain – as when we sit down to a banquet of delicious food

and overeat ending up with a stomach ache because we have taken too

much. In our everyday experience, taught the Buddha, pleasure is pain

in the making. Pleasure is insatiable and therefore it always leaves a

desire for more, which in itself is a kind of unquenchable pain. In sex-

ual experience, for example, is one ever completely satisfied or sated

so that no more sex is pursued – or is one always left wanting more?

This lack of lasting happiness or satisfaction is a major part of dukkha.

And when it comes to clothes, houses, cars, computers – material pos-

sessions – we can always think of something else we need before we

will be satisfied. The neighborhood we live in changes over time in

ways we don‘t like. Unpleasant people move in next door. In our per-

sonal relationships a loved one may get sick or die. At work, the job

we enjoy may be taken away and a new one given that does not seem

so pleasant. In these and many other ways our everyday life, when we

stop to analyze it, is full of frustration – mental suffering or dukkha.

A third kind of dukkha is caused by the drives, lusts, greed, etc.

that lead one to acts and mental states that cause suffering. For exam-

ple, we become angry with our lover, mother, child, or sister rupturing

a relationship and leaving a deep unhappiness that fills our minds and

hearts. Our selfish desires (karmic impulses) cause problems in our re-

lationships with others, and even within ourselves leave us always

wanting more or better than what we have. With this diagnosis the

Buddha leaves no doubt that our ordinary human condition is an exis-

tence filled with dukkha or suffering. The wise person recognizes this,

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the fool does not. Realization of this is the spiritual first step – the

awareness that suffering (dukkha) is the universal human condition

and that it cannot be cured by the world‘s medicine of wealth, fame,

possessions, pills, etc.

We may try all these usual ways of dealing with our mental fru-

strations and physical pains but eventually – even though it may take

several lifetimes – we will get fed up with these alluring but ultimately

false remedies and search for a new understanding that will take us out

of this worldly ignorance and the seemingly endless suffering of birth,

death, and rebirth. That is when we are ready to seriously consider the

path to salvation or release from suffering (nirvana) taught by the

Buddha. The Buddha‘s role as a saviour amounts to revealing the path

and offering it to us. But then it is up to us. The way people respond

divides them into two groups – the ordinary persons and those who

become disciples (the arya). Buddhist scripture describes the ordinary

person as the one who has not heard the Buddha‘s teaching or been

changed by it, and identifies his self with an inner ego or soul.

The other kind of person, the arya or disciple of the Buddha, re-

cognizes dukkha or suffering for what it is and enters the path to re-

lease pioneered by the Buddha.6 In Buddhist teaching much emphasis

was put on changing from being an ―ordinary person‖ satisfied with

the everyday experience of the human condition to being an arya, one

who is installed in the Buddha‘s family and whose eyes are being

opened. Enlightenment or release from ignorance (nirvana) is de-

scribed by the Buddha as like being ―awakened‖ or ―having one‘s

eyes opened.‖ Like the Hindu moksa, it is an experience of ―inner in-

tuition‖ of knowing by direct acquaintance rather than knowing by de-

scription.

In summary, the Buddha‘s diagnosis of the human sickness

(karmic ignorance) in which we are all trapped through repeated re-

births is that it is composed of dukkha or suffering of two kinds: a)

wanting things you don‘t have; and b) wanting to get rid of something

you are currently stuck with, e.g. an unhappy marriage. It is our men-

tal attitude, not the experience itself, that causes our sense of suffering

– our desires, our anxieties. Nor should we think that science or tech-

nology will get us over our suffering. It may help to postpone disease

but it cannot stop the process of aging and the ultimate prospect of

death. The Buddha‘s prescription for this illness of human condition

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that we all experience is nothing less than a complete change in our

mental attitude and our self-understanding that comes when our eyes

are opened to the karmic ignorance of the false views in which we

have lived for many lifetimes – and look to continue living for life-

times into the future.

This radical change in lifestyle and self-perception is available to

all regardless of gender, age, caste group, or lifestage – educated or

uneducated. This is a remarkable basis for religion in that it involves

no authoritative scripture or doctrine, no divine grace, no dependence

on a God or divine being. Salvation is realized simply by one‘s own

effort. What the Buddha offers is a path, based on his own experience,

that led him to enlightenment (nirvana) and that one can try out for

oneself. This path is offered in his teaching of The Four Noble Truths

and The Eightfold Noble Path that together form the foundation of

Buddhist scripture.

2.2. Four Noble Truths

For Buddhism, as was the case for Hinduism, the truth taught by

the scriptures is beginningless and eternal. Like the rsis (as they are

understood within Hinduism), Gautama acts to clear away karmic ob-

structions that obscure the eternal truth. Other Buddhas have done this

before him, and will do it again after him. Revelation in this Buddhist

sense is parivartina – turning something over, explaining it, making

plain the hidden. This is the role of the Buddhas: to make visible the

timeless truth to the unenlightened; to point the way to nirvana. In the

Buddhist view each of us is a potential buddha obscured in karmic ig-

norance, but with the possibility for enlightenment within. This the

Buddha offers to us in his teaching of the Four Noble Truths.

Preached as the first teaching following his enlightenment experience

on the outskirts of the city of Banaras, The Four Noble Truths are

judged to contain the essence of the Buddha‘s vision of release. It is

held to be a middle path between the extreme of luxury, on the one

hand, and the extreme of asceticism on the other.

This middle path is reflected in the Vinaya, the rules Buddha es-

tablished for his monastic communities. The Four Noble Truths

should be taken like the Mahavakyas or summary sentences of the

Upanisads, not as the premises for a deductive system of logic or doc-

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trine, but as teachings to be meditated upon until the learner, in a flash

of insight (like the cartoon ―light-bulb‖ experience), suddenly

―catches on‖ and breaks through to another level of knowledge and

experience. As, for example, in the Buddha saying while teaching, ―so

and so has caught on!‖ The Buddha‘s teaching of The Four Noble

Truths is as follows:

The First Noble Truth of suffering (dukkha) is this: Birth is suf-

fering; aging is suffering; sickness is suffering; death is suffering; sor-

row and lamentation, pain, grief, and despair are suffering; association

with the unpleasant is suffering; dissociation from the pleasant is suf-

fering; not to get what one wants is suffering – in brief, the five ag-

gregates of attachment are suffering.

The Second Noble Truth of the origin of suffering is this: It is

this thirst (craving) which produces rebirth and re-becoming, bound

up with passionate greed. It finds fresh delight now here and now

there, namely, thirst for sense-pleasures; thirst for existence and be-

coming; and thirst for non-existence (selfannihilation).

The Third Noble Truth is the Cessation of suffering (Nirvana)

which we must realize.

The Fourth Noble Truth is the Noble Eightfold Path leading to

the realization of Nirvana: namely right view; right thought; right

speech; right action; right livelihood; right effort; right mindfulness;

right concentration.

As long as my vision of true knowledge was not fully clear in

these three aspects, in these twelve ways, regarding the Four Noble

Truths, I did not claim to have realized the perfect Enlightenment. But

a vision of true knowledge arose in me thus: My heart‘s deliverance is

unassailable. This is my last birth. Now there is no more re-becoming

(rebirth). This the Blessed One said. The group of five bhikkhus was

glad, and they rejoiced at his words. In the Buddha‘s teaching, thirst,

craving, or desire is the key component of our karma that causes re-

birth. By understanding and enacting his teaching of The Four Noble

Truths, the Buddha escapes the process of rebirth. His craving is gone,

he is no longer reborn, he has realized release, or nirvana.

The Four Noble Truths proclaim ―The Middle Path‖ in which the

body‘s needs are fed sufficiently for health but not indulged or

starved. The First Noble Truth is that all existence, when carefully

analysed, turns out to be suffering (dukkha). As outlined above this

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dukkha includes the physical pain involved in being born, getting sick

or hurt, growing old, and dying. It also includes the frustrations that

arise when pleasure turns to pain or when desires, lusts, etc., lead one

to acts and mental states that cause suffering. In ordinary life we are

unconscious or unaware of the suffering our daily existence entails –

we are like worms in the gutter who do not know where they are. But

when we become aware of our suffering and of the possibility of re-

lease, then it is as if we have only one foot in the gutter. The Second

Noble Truth is that this suffering (dukkha) is caused by one‘s own

acts, one‘s own karma, one‘s own ignorance, anger, lust, and desire. It

cannot be blamed on anyone else – nature, God, one‘s parents, or so-

ciety. The root cause of dukkha is one‘s notion of ―I‖ or ―me‖ and the

ego-selfish desires that our sense of ―I-ness‖ produces. The Third

Noble Truth is that there is a way to end this dukkha, or suffering, in

which we seem to be trapped. There is a way to achieve freedom from

slavery to one‘s desires, frustrations, and anxieties. Buddha freed him-

self through his enlightened discovery that the ―I,‖ ―Me,‖ or ―Ego‖ is

an illusion that does not ultimately exist. When we realize that there is

no permanent ego inside us, then we are freed from the selfish desires

and frustrations that our illusory ego generated – desires and frustra-

tions that caused our life to be experienced as dukkha. Minus ego and

its selfish desiring, our life is free of dukkha or suffering and that is

the enlightenment state realized by the Buddha – nirvana, conscious-

ness in which the flame of desire has been blown out. Thus, nirvana is

not some far-off heavenly or otherworldly state: it is simply this life in

this place minus egoselfishness. In the Buddha‘s experience, once

ego-selfishness and the dukkha it causes is removed, the reality that is

revealed is beautiful, harmonious, and compassionate. Just as the

Buddha realized nirvana through his own systematic endeavor, so he

has opened the path to nirvana for others.

The Fourth Noble Truth is really a practical path explaining how

to actualize the teachings of the first three truths. After showing that

our ordinary, or samsara experience of life is one of suffering or fru-

stration (dukkha), that the cause of this suffering is desire or ego-

selfishness, and that this egoselfishness can be got rid of, Buddha goes

on in the Fourth Truth to outline the means to achieve this – The

Eightfold Path. ―The Eightfold Path is equivalent to a shorter formula,

the Threefold Training, namely morality (right speech, action and li-

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velihood), wisdom (right views and intention) and concentration (right

effort, mindfulness and concentration).‖ Morality goes beyond mere

self-mortification because it focuses on the effects of one‘s acts on

others. Wisdom is the understanding of the teaching that results from

hard study and meditation. Study of the scripture is more demanding

than just the physical yogas of controlling one‘s breath or posture; it

requires a discipline of the mind. Concentration (samadhi) is achieved

by the cultivation of the specific skills that the Buddha learned from

various teachers during his search for release. The Middle Path result-

ing from this Threefold Training is itself a Yoga, a stringent discipline

that engages the whole person and causes one to turn away from the

worldly life. Because the ego-selfish karmic patterns are so deeply en-

trenched through repeated lifetimes, the Buddha created the monaste-

ries as places of retreat from ordinary life where monks who were se-

rious about changing these ego-selfish patterns by following The

Eightfold Path of the Buddha would be surrounded and have the sup-

port of like-minded colleagues.

Within the monastery they would also have the benefit of teach-

ers – those who were more advanced in the practice of the Eightfold

Path. Buddha clearly outlined the basis for life in the monastery in his

Vinaya – the rules for monastic life. Among other things these rules

allowed for only one meal per day (today often two meals are allowed

but they must be taken before noon) to be obtained from the house-

holders of a nearby town by going door to door with one‘s begging

bowl. Vinaya rules also specified no sexual activity in thought, word,

or deed so as to overcome the deeply rooted karmic patterns of sexual

desire built up through lifetimes of repeated sexual activity.

Since scripture records The Four Noble Truths and its initial ex-

egesis in The Eightfold Path and the Vinaya, or Monastic Rules,

Buddhist scripture may be said to provide the pathway from samsara

(rebirth) to nirvana (release). Scripture both points to the revelation

experience of the Buddha and provides a path by which others may

obtain enlightenment. The Buddha wrote nothing himself, and his

teachings were not written down for hundreds of years. Buddhist

scripture attempts to express in language the ―vision‖ or ―intuition‖ of

reality experienced by the Buddha. Scholars differ as to what degree

the scriptural descriptions can be taken as adequate verbalizations of

reality or the divine. We can say that although later Buddhist (Ma-

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hayana) Doctrine elaborates the idea of the silence of the Buddha and

maintains that nirvana is indescribable, ―nowhere does the early Ca-

non say that the content of the Enlightenment is nonintellectual, or

that it is inexpressible.‖

For the early Buddhist communities (e.g. the Theravada school),

Buddha‘s enlightenment consisted in the discovery of an experience

that could be communicated via scripture, and commented upon. Yet

when a seeker approached the Buddha and asked a series of questions

about ultimate truth – for example, ―Are the world and souls eternal,

noneternal, neither or both?‖ – the Buddha, in some scriptures, is said

to remain silent (although explaining his silence afterward to a dis-

ciple). Buddha‘s point would seem to have been that the language cat-

egories for existence or non-existence do not obtain at the level of nir-

vana – it is not so much a question of whether such ideas are true or

false, rather, that nirvana transcends them. Cessation of suffering

(dukkha) is not annihilation but the overflowing of transcendence –

the Buddha‘s experience of nirvana which he hinted at as being beau-

tiful, harmonious, and compassionate.

Buddha‘s parable of the poisoned arrow provides a helpful illu-

stration. A man has been struck by a poisoned arrow and a doctor has

been brought to the scene. But before the man will allow the doctor to

remove the arrow he wants to know: who shot the arrow; to what clan

he belongs, what wood the arrow was made from; what kind of feath-

ers were used on the arrow; and what kind of poison was on the tip.

Just as the man would die before his questions were answered, said

the Buddha, so also a person wishing to know the nature of his begin-

ningless karmic ignorance and the nirvana experience in words will

die before the Buddha would be able to describe it to him (Majjhimaa

– Nikaya Sutta, 63).

The different schools of Buddhism, especially the major division

into Theravada and Mahayana, established themselves on the basis of

different commentaries written to bring out the meaning intended by

the Buddha in his Sutras, or Sayings. All philosophical schools accept

a core collection of Sutras and the Vinaya, but focus, in their commen-

taries, on different Sayings of the Buddha as key to the realization of

salvation (nirvana).

Let us now examine these differing systematizations of the

Buddha‘s teaching of release.

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In Buddhism, morality in the world and the meditation one does

in retreat are seen to be directly connected. This is reflected in the pat-

tern the Buddha established for his monks. Two-thirds of the year they

were to be out in the world teaching, healing, and solving disputes,

while during the rainy season they were to withdraw into the monas-

tery for meditation. The Buddhist prescription as to how one realizes

release from rebirth (nirvana) is seen to require both of these activi-

ties. Good (purely motivated) deeds and a virtuous life are required

but alone are not enough. Leading a moral life is only one part of the

requirement for nirvana. The other component required is wisdom

(prajna). Wisdom in Buddhism involves a profound philosophical un-

derstanding of the human condition, which arises only through long

reflection and deep thought. As Keown puts it, ―It is a kind of gnosis,

or direct apprehension of truth which deepens over time and eventual-

ly reaches full maturity in the complete awakening experienced by the

Buddha.‖ Nirvana, then, is realized through a fusion of pure action, or

virtue, and wisdom (prajna). An early Buddhist text describes virtue

and wisdom as two hands which wash and purify each other. Buddhist

ritual actions, as in the Tibetan Buddhist dalliance of the scepter with

the bell in formal chanting, symbolize this same relationship. In phi-

losophy, however, differences arise over the analysis of the human

condition and the reality that makes up the wisdom (prajna) side of the

nirvana equation.

We will turn now to a brief overview of these philosophical dif-

ferences and their impact on how to realize nirvana. First, we will look

at the Theravada approach and second, the Mahayana.

2.3. The Theravada conception

The Theravada, or Early Buddhist approach is dominant in Sri

Lanka and South East Asia (e.g. Thailand, Cambodia, etc.). The The-

ravada scholars commented on all the scriptures but focused on the

Buddha‘s Sutras dealing with ―No-Soul‖ (anatman), the ―things‖ or

―elements‖ that make up a person (dharmas), and the fact that all of

reality is impermanent and in a state of constant change. Using these

ideas of the Buddha they developed a systematic philosophical de-

scription of what composed a person. The purpose of this philosophi-

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cal analysis was the therapeutic goal of convincing one that there is no

permanent self, ―I-ness‖ or ―ego‖ inside one‘s personality, but that the

idea of a self within is a delusion and part of the ignorance we all

share in our ordinary experience. Getting rid of this delusory notion of

self via the process of a philosophical analysis has the important the-

rapeutic purpose of removing one‘s belief in a permanent self which,

according to the Buddha‘s teaching of The Four Noble Truths, is the

cause of the ego-selfish desiring and frustration that is turning our ex-

perience of the world into dukkha or suffering and preventing us from

experiencing nirvana.

The false notion of soul, the Hindu idea of a permanently exist-

ing self or atman, is countered by the Buddha‘s teaching of anatman

or ―no-soul.‖ A major aspect of the Buddha‘s enlightenment expe-

rience was the realization that everything is impermanent. This condi-

tion of impermanence applies not only to mundane things around us

and our bodies, but also our sense of soul. Consequently, there is no

unchanging self at the center of our human nature and therefore no ba-

sis for the notion of ego and the selfishness it produces, which turns

our life into dukkha. We, like all other beings in the universe, are tran-

sitory and doomed to pass away in time – as we all realize when we

think of ourselves as aging and finally dying. This analysis of human

nature, however, gives rise to the question, ―If there is no soul or self,

then what is reborn?‖ – for Buddha did accept the Hindu idea of sam-

sara, or rebirth. The Theravada analysis answers this question by de-

veloping the Buddha‘s teaching of the dharmas (elements that make

up reality) into a comprehensive theory of human nature.

In response to the question ―If there is no soul what is reborn?‖

the Theravada scholars outlined a view of human nature as composed

of a series of dharmas or elements. These dharmas are the ―bits and

pieces,‖ as it were, that make one up. There are dharmas of body, feel-

ings, perceptions, thoughts or ideas, and consciousness that, when tak-

en together account for our whole personality and our daily expe-

rience. Just as when a mechanic takes all the bits and pieces apart that

make up an automobile, there is no ―car-essence‖ found at the center –

the car is created by all the ―bits and pieces‖ smoothly working to-

gether – similarly, when a human person is ―dissected‖ as it were, all

the dharmas or ―bits and pieces‖ that make one up are laid out on the

―operating table,‖ there is no self or soul (atman) found at the center.

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The notion of a self, ―I‖ or ―ego‖ is a delusion created by the smooth

functioning of all the parts, or dharmas of body, feelings, perceptions,

ideas, and consciousness that make one up.

The whole person is simply the sum of its parts. Nothing more,

no self or ego is found or is necessary. But if these dharmas that make

one up are impermanent, just like everything else in reality, then how

can they carry forward our identity as an individual person from mo-

ment to moment, let alone from this life to the next? To answer this

question the Theravada philosophers evoke the Buddha‘s teaching of

“dependent arising” (pratityasamutpada). The dharmas that make us

up as bits of body, feeling, perception, ideas, and consciousness like

all the rest of reality, are constantly changing. The idea of ―dependent

arising‖ is an explanation of how identity is maintained through this

process of constant change. The arising of a dharma (a part that makes

one up) at this moment is only possible because of its existence in a

previous moment of existence. That is, its arising now is dependent on

its having existed previously. And its possibility for arising as a dhar-

ma in a future moment is dependent on its existence in this present

moment.

Thus, even though each dharma ―dies or disappears‖ as the

present instant of time passes, its ―dying‖ provides the occasion for

the arising of a new dharma in the next moment in time. But this new

dharma is as it were ―in series with‖ and made possible by the arising

and subsiding of the previous dharmas in the series. It is this ―series

connection‖ or ―arising‖ that is dependent on previous ―point-instants‖

of existence (going backwards beginninglessly) that creates our expe-

rience of identity in the midst of constant change. The identity created

by the continuity of the series of changing dharmas of body, feelings,

etc. that make us up as persons is all that is needed to give us our

sense of identity from moment to moment, day to day, or life to life.

The existence of a permanent soul or self (atman) is shown to be un-

necessary and therefore a delusion.

Once this incorrect sense of self is removed from our selfpercep-

tion, the basis for ego-selfish desiring for things and experiences is al-

so removed, and our life is no longer colored by dukkha. The suffer-

ings and frustrations caused by ego-selfish desire vanish with the dis-

appearance of the delusory notions of ego and self. And with the re-

moval of the obstructing ignorance of a permanent self (atman), and

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the suffering and frustration it generated, the experience of nirvana

(reality minus the desires of ego-selfishness) arises. This, from the be-

ginning, was the therapeutic goal of the philosophical analysis of the

human person by the Theravada philosophers. When the illusion of

self and the flame of selfish desiring it produced was ―blown out,‖

through the twin processes of moral living and philosophical medita-

tion on the constituent parts of human nature, the desire that pushes

forward the dependent arising series of the dharmas disappears and the

cause for rebirth is removed.

A Buddhist scholar summarizes the gaining of enlightenment as

follows: ―Ignorance refers to the absence of correct knowledge. An

ignorant person does not know that impermanent phenomena are, in

fact, impermanent. He is unable to see things as they actually are. Ig-

norance is not an active quality. Rather, various delusions are pro-

duced when other mental activities are influenced by ignorance…

However, just as a dream ceases as soon as a person realizes that it is a

dream, so does ignorance disappear as soon as a person realizes that it

is ignorance. Consequently, the purpose of the doctrine of Dependent

Arising is fulfilled with the discovery of ignorance. Because ignorance

is the cause of mental formations, the cessation of ignorance results in

the cessation of consciousness and so on until the process results in

the cessation of old age and death.‖

The process of birth, death, and rebirth, and the constant suffer-

ing it produced, is ended and salvation, or nirvana, is realized. In the

Theravada tradition, a person who reached this level of nirvana reali-

zation is called an arhat (saint). An arhat imitates the example of the

Buddha, who following his realization of enlightenment devoted the

remainder of his life on earth to teaching, healing the sick, and stop-

ping conflicts between people. In the Theravada view an arhat through

selfeffort, has purged out all impurities such as desire, hatred, illwill,

ignorance, pride, and conceit, and attained the realization of nirvana.

An arhat is described as full of wisdom and compassion and after

death will not be reborn. From the Theravada perspective once the

Buddha or an arhat has died they can have no more influence on those

who are still living. As we will see, the Mahayana Buddhist view is

quite different in this regard.

In the Theravada view, meditation is essential to the realization

of enlightenment, and in the South Asian social environment, the

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peace and privacy required for meditation is generally not available.

The Buddha did not consider it impossible for a layperson to attain en-

lightenment, and a few cases are recorded in Buddhist scriptures in-

cluding the case of Buddha‘s own father. Tradition also suggests that

should a layperson become enlightened, such a person would find it

impossible to go on living in a worldly environment and would enter a

monastery within the day – as Buddha‘s father was said to have done.

However, laypeople are said to have made much spiritual progress

even to the point of living religious lives close to those monks or nuns,

but without joining the Sangha or monastic order. They followed the

same basic vows as those adopted by the Sangha, including the re-

nouncing of sexual and economic activity. But the Buddha‘s general

expectation was that the role of those in the householder stage of life

was to provide food and economic support to the monks and nuns, and

to follow a less stringent practice than was required for the attainment

of salvation. Laypeople were to observe five precepts: abstention from

killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, and intoxicants.

Nor, in traditional Theravada society, did laypeople have full

access to all of the Buddha‘s teachings. In general the Buddha‘s view

seems to have been that the full teaching was reserved for those who

were seriously enough interested in attaining salvation that they would

give up the householder life to become monks or nuns. Only then

would they have the time, privacy, quiet, and support needed for se-

rious meditation on the key teachings.

The rules and organization for the Sangha were given by the

Buddha in his Vinaya teaching. Persons over twenty years old could

receive full ordination and become monks or nuns. Those below the

age of twenty could be initiated and enter the Sangha as male or fe-

male novices, with a usual minimum age of fourteen, lowered in spe-

cial cases to seven. Of the approximately 250 rules in the Vinaya the

most important (four for monks, eight for nuns) deal with abstention

from sexual intercourse, stealing, taking human life, and lying about

one‘s spiritual achievements. Commission of any of these acts meant

lifelong expulsion from the order. Next in importance came a second

set of thirteen rules for monks and seventeen for nuns dealing with

such things as sexual offenses, false accusations against another monk

or nun, and attempts to cause schisms in the order. If a person com-

mits any of these acts, he or she is required to go before a meeting of

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the Sangha and confess his or her wrongdoings. Then for seven days

the sinner must live apart from the order and do penance. Then the or-

der may meet and readmit the person if they are satisfied with his or

her penance. A third set of rules dealt with offenses of undetermined

seriousness (with the seriousness determined by the evidence given by

witnesses) of monks found with women. A fourth set gives thirty rules

for monks and nuns relating to such matters as possession of robes

(only three are allowed), begging bowls, gold, silver, jewelry, and

medicine. If these rules are violated, the items in question must be sur-

rendered and the person confess his or her wrongdoing. A fifth set of

rules, numbering about ninety-two for monks and two hundred for

nuns, concern minor offenses such as speaking harshly or lying and

require confession. Three other sets of rules deal with acceptance of

inappropriate food, procedures for begging, eating, and preaching, and

finally rules for the resolution of disputes within the order.

Life within the monastery was designed to help monks and nuns

curb their desires and thus make progress toward nirvana. A typical

day would involve rising early and meditating. Later in the morning

one would go out to beg for one‘s food and then return to eat with the

other monks or nuns before noon (only one meal a day is generally al-

lowed and nothing is to be eaten after noon hour). In the afternoon one

could visit the homes of lay believers or go to the forest to meditate.

In the evening group discussions focusing on the Buddha‘s teachings

might be held in the monastery or one might have a meeting with

one‘s teacher. Finally one would withdraw to one‘s own room for

more meditation and go to sleep late at night. Six times each month

laypeople come to the monastery and the monks preach the teachings

of the Buddha to them. Twice each month the monks or nuns gather to

do this for themselves and to chant together the rules for monastic life

established by the Buddha – the pratimoksa. If this seems a very aus-

tere and ascetic monastic practice, one should remember that from

Buddha‘s perspective this was a ―middle way‖ between the extreme of

rigorous asceticism, such as was practiced by the Jaina monks of his

day, and the luxuries of worldly life. It was a path that would simply

sustain bodily life in such a way that the time and support for the vir-

tuous living and meditational practice needed for the realization of

nirvana were provided to the serious searcher.

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A major change in Theravada practice was initiated in nine-

teenth-century Ceylon when British missionaries brought the printing

press to Ceylon and engaged Buddhist monks to help them translate

and print the Christian scriptures. Some monks copied this idea and

set up their own printing presses. They began by publishing pamphlets

countering the attacks of the Protestant Christian missionaries on

Buddhism. But soon the monks moved on to the printing and distribu-

tion of Buddhist texts themselves. This opened up to Buddhist lay-

people the knowledge that up until then had been maintained by oral

transmission within the monastery, and had been the restricted special

knowledge of the monks. At the same time the Buddhist laity were

taking the lead in establishing village schools to compete with those

being set up by the Christian missionaries. In 1869 the first non-

monastic Buddhist school was organized in Ceylon. These schools and

the new printing presses combined to produce a lay reading public for

the first time in Buddhist circles in Ceylon.

In addition, following the model of British Protestant Colleges,

Buddhist Colleges were established admitting both monks and laity

into Buddhist Studies programs. This ―Protestantization‖ of Buddhism

was further aided and abetted by the arrival of Colonel Olcott and the

Theosophical Society in Ceylon in 1875. Olcott formally embraced

Buddhism, taking the Three Refuges and Five Precepts. As a colonel

and a judge, Olcott had a high profile. He was also an experienced or-

ganizer and united the different factions among Sinhalese Buddhism.

In 1881 he published in English his Buddhist Catechism, a summary

of the basic teachings to which he felt all the Buddhists in the world

should be able to subscribe. Various versions of this Catechism have

been used in the lay Buddhist movements in Ceylon which have fos-

tered the teaching of Buddhism outside the monasteries.

These organizations modeled themselves on Protestant Christian

institutions (e.g. the Young Men‘s Buddhist Association, modeled af-

ter the Y.M.C.A.). The Y.M.B.A. set up a national network of Budd-

hist Sunday Schools and commissioned, printed, and distributed the

Buddhist texts for them until these functions were taken over in the

1960s by the government.

In the late 1880s in Ceylon a person arose who became a nation-

al hero for the ―Protestant Buddhist‖ movement. Anagarika Dharma-

pala was born to a middle class family, educated in Anglican schools,

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but was taught and practiced Buddhism at home with his mother. He

met Colonel Olcott in 1880, acted as his interpreter, and worked for

the Theosophical Society until 1898 when they parted company. In

1891 Dharmapala visited Bodh Gaya, in Northern India – the place

where the Buddha attained his enlightenment. Bodh Gaya was then in

a derelict state and under Hindu control. Dharmapala established the

Maha Bodhi Society to win back for Buddhists ownership of Bodh

Gaya. This was accomplished after his death and today Bodh Gaya is

an important pilgrimage site for Buddhists worldwide. Regarding

Ceylon, Dharmapala introduced two important innovations. He intro-

duced a nationalist thrust into Buddhism in Ceylon, and he gave the

layperson a new status that went well beyond organizational leader-

ship.

Traditionally lay Buddhists did not meditate – that was reserved

for the monks in their pursuit of nirvana. But in 1890 Dharmapala

found an old text on meditation which he himself studied and had pub-

lished. He thus became the first Buddhist to learn meditation from a

book – a practice which he then commended to the Buddhist laity. In

his appropriation of the Protestant ethos into Theravada Buddhism in

Ceylon, Dharmapala created a new status halfway between a monk

and a layperson. Instead of the monk‘s yellow robe he wore a white

robe. He did not shave his head but he adopted a life of chastity and

ascetic practice. He publicly committed his life to Buddhism, but

without renouncing worldly activity. Dharmapala accepted the Chris-

tian criticism of monks as selfish. His revision of Buddhism was di-

rected not just to seeking his own salvation (the approach of the mo-

nasteries as he saw them) but for the general welfare of Buddhists

worldwide. In Dharmapala‘s view the Buddha‘s teaching of salvation

was open to laypeople, who could read his teachings and meditate, as

well as to monks and nuns. This ―Protestant Buddhist‖ approach con-

tinues to be practiced by the urbanized middle class, largely English-

educated, in Sri Lanka today. The major contribution of ―Protestant

Buddhism‖, namely, its emphasis on lay religiosity, is alive and well.

The layman should permeate his life with his Buddhism; this means

both that he should himself strive for nirvana, without necessarily en-

tering the Sangha to do so, and that he should do what he can to make

Buddhism permeate society. Meditation and the study of all the Budd-

ha‘s teachings (traditionally activities reserved for monks and nuns)

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are now available to laypeople, male and female, young and old, in

their search for salvation.

2.4. The Mahayana coception

Mahayana Buddhists have not limited their scriptures to the

teachings of this historical figure, however, nor has Mahayana ever

bound itself to a closed canon of sacred writings. Various scriptures

have thus been authoritative for different branches of Mahayana at

various periods of history. Among the more important Mahayana

scriptures are the following: the Saddharmapundarika Sutra (Lotus of

the Good Law Sutra, popularly known as the Lotus Sutra), the Vima-

lakirti Sutra, the Avatamsaka Sutra (Garland Sutra), and the Lankava-

tara Sutra (The Buddha‘s Descent to Sri Lanka Sutra), as well as a

group of writings known as the Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wis-

dom).

The origins of Mahayana are particularly obscure. Even the

names of its founders are unknown, and scholars disagree about

whether it originated in southern or in northwestern India. Its forma-

tive years were between the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD.

The Mahayana approach to salvation develops in conflict with

the interpretation of the Buddha‘s teaching by the Theravada, or Tra-

dition of the elders. The evolution of the Mahayana began after the

time of Buddha‘s death, continued through the Second Council during

Asoka‘s reign, and was almost complete by the 1st century BC. 30

Mahayana scholars in their commentaries focus on such passages in

the Sutras as the silence of the Buddha in response to questions of a

metaphysical nature (e.g. Is the world eternal or not? Will the Buddha

exist after death or not? Is the soul or self identical to or different from

the body?) or the Buddha‘s parable of the wounded man who wanted

to know all about the poisoned arrow stuck in his chest before he

would allow it to be removed. Early on the advocates of Mahayana

teachings were few in number and were branded as heretics and

breakers of the Orthodox Order of the Elders (the Theravada). How-

ever, by about the beginning of the Common Era the Mahayana had

become dominant, spreading from Northern India to China, and later

to Tibet and Japan. Major points of difference (or ―heresy‖ from a

Theravada perspective) included a desire to extend the Buddhist Ca-

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non of scripture to include new Sutras, or sayings of the Buddha, a

change in understanding of the nature of the Buddha himself, and the

attributing of imperfections to the Arhats.

The Arhats, the enlightened saints who have realized nirvana, are

described by one Mahadeva as open to ignorance, seduction, doubt,

etc. Parallel to this lowering of the Arhat‘s status is a raising of the

status of the Buddha to something more than just a purely human be-

ing. Although he was born in this world, he was, it is suggested, not

tainted by it. The popular literature that grew up after the Buddha‘s

death recounts his many virtuous deeds in previous lives as a Bodhi-

sattva, or one on the path to Buddhahood. Because of the merit the

Buddha built up in previous lives, his birth and life take on supra-

human qualities: he is conceived without sexual intercourse; he

emerges from his mother‘s right side without pain; and, as the text of

the Mahavatsu puts it, he merely appears to wash, eat, sit in the shade,

take medicine, etc., out of conformity to the ways of the world.

The Buddha is said to be omniscient, never to sleep but to be al-

ways in meditation. This finally leads to the teaching of some Ma-

hayana scholars that the Buddha‘s death was also a mere appearance –

in reality he remains present in this world out of compassion, helping

suffering humanity. Following this new image of the Buddha, the sal-

vation goal for humans to strive toward is not to become an Arhat but

to take the Bodhisattva vow (not to go into nirvana until all other be-

ings have realized release) and ―embark on the long path to a supreme,

totally superior Buddhahood.‖

The claim of the continued presence of the Buddha after his

death allowed Mahayana monks to associate the Buddha‘s name with

Sutras composed after his death – and therefore outside the closed ca-

non of the earthly utterances of the Buddha held to by the Theravada

tradition. Thus around the 1st century BC the above developments re-

sulted in the appearance of a new literature, the Mahayana Sutras,

which claim to be the word of the Buddha himself, composed in his

lifetime but concealed until later. Not the product of a single group or

movement, these new Sutras arose from different groups of monks,

nuns and, sometimes laypersons practicing within existing Buddhist

traditions.

These Sutras focus on the supremacy of the Buddha, the path of

the Bodhisattva, and concern for the well-being of all. These monks,

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nuns, and perhaps a small number of householders who accepted this

new literature formed a series of cults probably based on the different

Sutras. Some ―may have felt themselves in direct contact with a

Buddha who inspired them in meditation or in dreams. Sometimes

they proclaimed the Doctrine itself, embodied in the text, as the body

of the Buddha,‖ his everpresent ―Dharma-body,‖ which was judged

much superior to the relics of the historical Buddha (e.g. a tooth) that

had been placed in stupas, or burial mounds, and used as a focus for

Theravada worship. Although a minority within Indian Buddhism,

their numbers increased as time passed until they identified their ap-

proach to salvation as a Mahayana, or superior way.

The key characteristic of the Mahayana Sutras is that the Sutra is

not one object among others, but rather is the body of the Buddha, a

focus of celebration and worship on the model of relic worship. As

such the Mahayana Sutras are sacred books that are not only memo-

rized by repeated chanting, copied, and studied, but are also them-

selves objects of worship. Each monk or nun probably owned no more

than one or two Sutras which would be rapidly learned by heart

through repeated chanting and through use as a focus for meditation.

These texts were used as a basis for exposition by teachers in terms of

their own experience and their lineage of previous teachers traced

back to the Buddha himself. In this way the Mahayana Sutras, or sa-

cred texts, provided a basis for teaching, study, meditation, and wor-

ship by which one could realize nirvana. The sacred texts still function

this way in traditional Mahayana cultures such as Tibetan Buddhism,

where the Sutras also serve as the basis for the sacred art of the tradi-

tion.

The Mahayana Sutras vary in length from a few words to over

100,000 verses in the longest Perfection of Wisdom sutra, with the

longer ones likely having grown and developed over the centuries in

different countries (e.g. China). The earliest Mahayana Sutras seem to

be the Prajnaparamita Sutras, which probably originated in central or

southern India and became quite influential in northwest India during

the 1st century AD. There were distinguished four phases in the de-

velopment of the Prajnaparamita literature, beginning about 100 BC

and stretching over one thousand years. These texts seem to provide

the foundations for much Mahayana philosophical thought.

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The concept of prajna (wisdom) and its perfection developed in

these texts, refers to a combination of conceptual and non-conceptual

understanding gained through meditation, such as the non-conceptual

and direct awareness of sunya (the universal absence of any ultimate

existence as the true characteristic of all dharmas). Ultimate prajna, as

understood by Mahayana and the Prajnaparamita Sutra, refers to a

number of perfections to be mastered by the Bodhisattva as he or she

follows the long path to perfect Buddhahood, including giving (dana),

morality (sila), patience (ksanti), effort (virya), meditative concentra-

tion (dhyana), and wisdom (prajna). Wisdom (prajna) is often given

the primary emphasis, and within that the extension of the Buddha‘s

teaching of no-self to equal noessence is key. The central critique is of

the Theravada claim to have found some things that really ultimately

exist, i.e. dharmas. The radical Mahayana critique meant that anyone

attempting to practice these teachings in meditation had to engage in a

complete ―letting go‖ of all conceptual belief and iscursive analysis –

a giving up of all intellectual attachment which could be achieved on-

ly as the truth of emptiness was realized. This teaching, as basic to the

practice of the Bodhisattva in the perfection of nirvana, provided am-

ple grounds for a different philosophical interpretation to develop.

The great Indian philosopher Nagarjuna (2nd century AD) is

taken to be the founder of the Madhyamaka school (within the Ma-

hayana tradition) with his great work the Mulamadhyamakakarika. In

it Nagarjuna develops a critique of the Theravada theory of harmas as

the elements or parts that make up the whole person. Basing himself

on the silence of the Buddha in response to the unanswerable ques-

tions such as ―Does the self or soul exist after death or not?‖, Nagar-

juna criticized the Theravada philosophers‘ confidence that we could

conceptually know things just as they are. This approach was to ana-

lyze phenomena (e.g. a person) for the dharmas or essences (svabha-

va) that made them up. Such an analysis, said the Theravadas, resulted

in an absolutely true view of things, which they termed ultimate truth

(paramarthasatya), in contrast to the relative, commonsense beliefs of

the less insightful, which were termed relative truth or worldly con-

vention (samvrtisatya). The aim was to come to understand and accept

the correct view and then through meditation one could actualize its

meaning in one‘s daily life. Through this ―philosophical therapy‖ the

Theravada path aimed at a final awakening (nirvana) through a step-

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by-step process of understanding, meditation, and practice. The diffi-

culty with this from Nagarjuna‘s critical perspective was that the The-

ravada approach put conceptual knowledge at the center. Unless one

had an ultimately true view of things (paramarthasatya), one could not

hope to follow a meditation that would lead to release. Nagarjuna de-

constructed this Theravada approach. In reaction to the Hindu atman

(self is ultimately real), the Theravada Buddhists had made the mis-

take of swinging the pendulum to the opposite extreme and adopting a

dharma view, according to which the parts that make up the person

are ultimately real. Like the silence of the Buddha, Nagarjuna‘s aim is

to show the hollowness of all viewpoints and put an end to all at-

tempts to conceptualize reality through language, leaving only silent

meditation as the path to release. Nagarjuna‘s critique rests on the per-

ceived discontinuity between the way the world is and what philoso-

phy thinks the world to be.

The end of views such as ―ultimate‖ and ―conventional‖ leaves

the world as it really is – a sunyata or non-dual world in which there is

no philosophical or theological meddling but in which language still

participates. We speak, just as we act; but we do not cling to any ac-

tion or conceptual system. ―If there is no subject-object separation be-

tween language and object, between signifier and signified, then all

phenomena, including words, are tatha, ‗thusness.‘ That is why, as we

clearly see in the Zen tradition, language too participates in the reality

it manifests . . . [otherwise] how could so many Zen dialogues have

led to a realization on the part of the student.‖ This makes clear inter-

pretation of Nagarjuna as ending in a spiritual realization that is in one

sense beyond language, but in which language still participates – as

we see in Zen koan practice and some Tibetan or Japanese Jodo-

Shinsu mantra chanting.

We can mention here the ―Mind Only‖ school that develops as a

response to Nagarjuna and the Madhyamaka school – along with other

Mahayana developments such as the Tathagatagarbba (Buddha-

essence/Buddha-nature), the Chinese Hua-yen (Flower Garland tradi-

tion), the Lotus Sutra, and Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. While these de-

velopments were important to the philosophically minded nirvana

seekers, the larger number of Mahayana followers sought salvation

through religious practices based on the Bodhisattva path. During the

early centuries the Bodhisattva model was worked out in some detail

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beginning with the appearance of a strong motivation to become a

Bodhisattva in order to save others – the ―thought of enlightenment‖

or Bodhicitta experience. The person then seeks initiation as a Bodhi-

sattva and takes a vow to save all beings by leading them to nirvana

no matter how long it takes.

The aspiring Bodhisattva practices the six Mahayana virtues

(generosity, morality, patience, courage, meditation, and wisdom) and

progresses through a system of ten bhumis or stages. On reaching the

seventh stage it is held to be certain that one will reach nirvana, and

that it is impossible to fall back. Bodhisattvas who had reached the

higher stages were visualized as very powerful and virtually equiva-

lent to the Buddha in his ever-present or heavenly form. One who has

attained such a high status is Avalokitesvara (the Lord who looks

down in compassion) of whom the Tibetan Dalai Lamas are said to be

incarnations. Avalokitesvara is depicted with many arms reaching out

to help those who are suffering. In East Asia he changed sex and be-

came Kwan-yin in China, Kannon in Japan. Manjusri, another such

Bodhisattva of high attainment, carries the flaming sword of wisdom

which cuts through ignorance. Over the centuries a vast pantheon of

Buddhas and Bodhisattvas ―is conceived of as inhabiting a majestic

unseen universe. Just as our own world system was graced by a Budd-

ha, it seemed not unreasonable to suppose that others had been too.

The Mahayana therefore proceeded to invent names and characteris-

tics for these fictional Buddhas and located them in magnificent

Buddha-realms.‖ A common depiction shows a group of five Buddhas

in a circular pattern called a mandala. These mandalas can be fo-

cused upon, painted, or drawn in the sand as forms of meditation. A

typical arrangement places the historical Buddha at the center with

four celestial Buddhas seated around him: Amitabha (―Infinite Light‖)

to the west; Absobhya (―the Imperturbable‖) to the east; Ratnasamb-

hava (―the Jewel Born‖ representing Buddha as giver of gifts) to the

south; and Amoghasiddhi (―Infinite Success,‖ Buddha‘s miraculous

power to save) to the north. Some depictions show various Bodhisatt-

vas seated on petals in between. Amitabha, the western Buddha, be-

came the focus of a popular East Asian cult which formed around the

idea of a ―Pure Land‖ he was thought to inhabit. Amitabha (Amida in

Japan) took a vow that he would help anyone who called upon him

126

with true faith to ensure that they would be reborn in his Pure Land

(Sukhavati).

In contrast to the Theravada tradition where the most the Buddha

offered was his teaching and personal example and it was up to the

person to make their own effort to follow, here we find in Mahayana

practice the suggestion that salvation in the form of rebirth in the Pure

Land can be attained through faith in Amitabha and the grace he will

give. But even in this tradition some individual effort is still required,

for the Pure Land or western paradise of Amitabha is not the same as

nirvana. A person reborn there would still need to make a final effort

to gain full enlightenment. In fact the geographical and artistic repre-

sentations of the Pure Land as a magnificent western paradise may use

notions of faith and grace to begin with but are designed to eventually

give one the insight that ―If there are mountains in this world, and all

is flat in the Pure Land, that is because there are mountains in the

mind.‖ This impure world is indeed the Pure Land. It only appears

impure because of the impurities in our minds. ―Thus the real way to

attain a Pure Land is to purify one‘s own mind. Put another way, we

are already in the Pure Land if we but knew it… The Pure Land is

truly, therefore, not a ‗heavenly abode‘ but enlightenment itself.‖ This

is the result of the final self-effort that has to be made. In the Japanese

Jodo Shinshu tradition, it is the ―far end‖ of the simple congregational

and individual chanting of the nembutsu (Namu Amida Butsu, ―I sur-

render myself to Amida Buddha‖) that the most simple layperson can

do. The Jodo Shinshu tradition, which with its clergy, laity, and con-

gregational worship looks thoroughly ―protestantized,‖ offers a devo-

tional practice for purifying the mind that the most lowly layperson

can follow and yet, with sufficient sincerity of surrender, reach Nagar-

juna‘s realization that ―samsara is nirvana‖ – one‘s own impure mind

of this world, when purified, is the Pure Land of nirvana. This is only

―a short step from the Chan (Zen) notion that the Pure Land is the

tranquil, clear, radiant, pure Mind,‖ but in this Zen case a realization

to be reached by rigorous meditation on the flow of one‘s breath (za-

zen). In this great variety of ways Mahayana Buddhism offers paths to

salvation (nirvana) that serve monks, nuns, and laypeople alike.

Speculation about the eternal Buddha continued well after the

beginning of the Christian era and culminated in the Mahayana doc-

trine of his threefold nature, or triple ―body‖ (trikaya). These aspects

127

are the body of essence, the body of communal bliss, and the body of

transformation. The body of essence represents the ultimate nature of

the Buddha. Beyond form, it is the unchanging absolute and is spoken

of as consciousness or the void. This essential Buddha nature mani-

fests itself, taking on heavenly form as the body of communal bliss. In

this form the Buddha sits in godlike splendor, preaching in the hea-

vens. Lastly, the Buddha nature appears on earth in human form to

convert humankind. Such an appearance is known as a body of trans-

formation. The Buddha has taken on such an appearance countless

times. Mahayana considers the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gauta-

ma, only one example of the body of transformation.

The new Mahayana concept of the Buddha made possible con-

cepts of divine grace and ongoing revelation that are lacking in Thera-

vada. Belief in the Buddha‘s heavenly manifestations led to the devel-

opment of a significant devotional strand in Mahayana. Some scholars

have therefore described the early development of Mahayana in terms

of the ―Hinduization‖ of Buddhism.

By the 7th century AD a new form of Buddhism known as Tan-

trism had developed through the blend of Mahayana with popular folk

belief and magic in northern India. Similar to Hindu Tantrism, which

arose about the same time, Buddhist Tantrism differs from Mahayana

in its strong emphasis on sacramental action. Also known as Vajraya-

na, the Diamond Vehicle, Tantrism is an esoteric tradition. Its initia-

tion ceremonies involve entry into a mandala, a mystic circle or sym-

bolic map of the spiritual universe. Also important in Tantrism is the

use of mudras, or ritual gestures, and mantras, or sacred syllables,

which are repeatedly chanted and used as a focus for meditation. Va-

jrayana became the dominant form of Buddhism in Tibet and was also

transmitted through China to Japan, where it continues to be practiced

by the Shingon sect.

About the beginning of the Christian era, Buddhism was carried

to Central Asia. From there it entered China along the trade routes by

the early 1st century AD. Although opposed by the Confucian ortho-

doxy and subject to periods of persecution in 446, 574-77, and 845,

Buddhism was able to take root, influencing Chinese culture and, in

turn, adapting itself to Chinese ways. The major influence of Chinese

Buddhism ended with the great persecution of 845, although the me-

128

ditative Zen, or Ch‘an (from Sanskrit dhyana, ―meditation‖), sect and

the devotional Pure Land sect continued to be important.

Some seven centuries later Tibetan Buddhists had adopted the

idea that the abbots of its great monasteries were reincarnations of

famous bodhisattvas. Thereafter, the chief of these abbots became

known as the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lamas ruled Tibet as a theocracy

from the middle of the 17th century until the seizure of Tibet by China

in 1950.

Differences occur in the religious obligations and observances

both within and between the sangha and the laity.

1) From the first, the most devoted followers of the Buddha were

organized into the monastic sangha. Its members were identified by

their shaved heads and robes made of unsewn orange cloth. The early

Buddhist monks, or bhikkus, wandered from place to place, settling

down in communities only during the rainy season when travel was

difficult. Each of the settled communities that developed later was in-

dependent and democratically organized. Monastic life was governed

by the rules of the Vinaya Sutra, one of the three canonical collections

of scripture. Fortnightly, a formal assembly of monks, the uposatha,

was held in each community. Central to this observance was the for-

mal recitation of the Vinaya rules and the public confession of all vi-

olations. The sangha included an order for nuns as well as for monks,

a unique feature among Indian monastic orders. Theravadan monks

and nuns were celibate and obtained their food in the form of alms on

a daily round of the homes of lay devotees. The Zen school came to

disregard the rule that members of the sangha should live on alms.

Part of the discipline of this sect required its members to work in the

fields to earn their own food. In Japan the popular Shin school, a

branch of Pure Land, allows its priests to marry and raise families.

Among the traditional functions of the Buddhist monks are the per-

formance of funerals and memorial services in honor of the dead. Ma-

jor elements of such services include the chanting of scripture and

transfer of merit for the benefit of the deceased.

2) Lay worship in Buddhism is primarily individual rather than

congregational. Since earliest times a common expression of faith for

laity and members of the sangha alike has been taking the Three Re-

fuges, that is, reciting the formula ―I take refuge in the Buddha. I take

refuge in the dharma. I take refuge in the sangha.‖ Although techni-

129

cally the Buddha is not worshiped in Theravada, veneration is shown

through the stupa cult. A stupa is a domelike sacred structure contain-

ing a relic. Devotees walk around the dome in a clockwise direction,

carrying flowers and incense as a sign of reverence. The relic of the

Buddha‘s tooth in Kandy, Sri Lanka, is the focus of an especially pop-

ular festival on the Buddha‘s birthday. The Buddha‘s birthday is cele-

brated in every Buddhist country. In Theravada this celebration is

known as Vaisakha, after the month in which the Buddha was born.

Popular in Theravada lands is a ceremony known as pirit, or protec-

tion, in which readings from a collection of protective charms from

the Pali canon are conducted to exorcise evil spirits, cure illness, bless

new buildings, and achieve other benefits.

In Mahayana countries ritual is more important than in Therava-

da. Images of the buddhas and bodhisattvas on temple altars and in the

homes of devotees serve as a focus for worship. Prayer and chanting

are common acts of devotion, as are offerings of fruit, flowers, and in-

cense. One of the most popular festivals in China and Japan is the Ul-

lambana Festival, in which offerings are made to the spirits of the

dead and to hungry ghosts. It is held that during this celebration the

gates to the other world are open so that departed spirits can return to

earth for a brief time.

Control questions to Unit II:

1. What are different meanings of dharma?

2. What are 10 avatars of Vishnu?

3. Where was Buddhism spread?

4. What are the main notions of Buddhism?

5. What are the Four Noble Truths?

6. What are the main notions of Theravada Buddhism?

7. What are the main notions of Mahayana Buddhism?

8. What does it mean – Zen Buddhism?

9. What does it mean ―bodhisattva‖?

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Unit III. Christianity

Christianity is a triadological monotheistic religion centered on

the faith in the Holy Trinity. In a way, Christianity is a further stage of

Judaism. Many events that occurred or were predicted in Judaism

were either paralleled or fulfilled in Christianity. The Old Testament

of the Christian Bible is entirely Jewish history. The history of Ju-

daism is the story of Israel and God's attempt to prepare a particular

community of people to make his ways known to the rest of the world.

What separates the Christian from the Jews is belief in Jesus Christ as

the Son of God, and they story of Christianity is really the story of Je-

sus Christ and of the worship of Christ as Savior. In Christianity, the

―chosen people‖ of God are all those who believe in God and in Jesus

Christ, the Son of whom God sent to be their Savior.

3.1. Christology

Originally the term messiah came from Hebrew word mashiah

which means anointed one – an anointed agent of God appointed to a

task affecting the lot of the chosen people. Though the Hebrew verb

mashah was often used of the anointing of men as kings over Israel

(e.g., Saul, 1 Sam. 9:16; David, 2; Sam. 2:4, 7; Ps. 89:20; Solomon, 1

Kings 1:39, 45; Jehu, 1 Kings 19:16) or as priests (Aaron and his sons,

Exod. 40:15; 28:41), the title mashiah occurs less often. At first, it was

employed for unnamed historic kings of Israel (1 Sam. 2:10; Pss. 2:2;

20:6; 28:8; 84:9) or for named kings, Saul (1 Sam. 12:3, 5; 24:7), Da-

vid (2 Sam. 19:22; 22:51; 23:1; Pss. 18:50; 89:38, 51; 132:10, 17), So-

lomon (2 Chron. 6:42), Zedekiah (Lam. 4:20), and even for the pagan

king Cyrus (Isa. 45:1).

In the postexilic period, when the monarchy was no more, it was

used of the high priest (Lev. 4:3, 5, 16; 6:22). Rarely it was applied to

patriarchs or prophets (Ps. 105:15; 1 Chron. 16:22); once it may refer

to Israel itself (Hab. 3:13). David as God‘s chosen ruler of Israel was

the one after whom the dynasty was named (2 Sam.7:8-16). Yet once

the dynastic rule was interrupted, when Jehoiakim died and his corpse

was given ―the burial of an ass‖ (Jer. 22:19) and his son Jehoiachin

was carted off to Babylonian captivity, Jeremiah proclaimed that ―no

descendant of his shall sit upon David's throne‖ (36:30). He also

prophesied the restoration of the Davidic dynasty, however: ―Stran-

131

gers would no longer enslave‖ the people of Israel; ―instead they shall

serve the Lord, their God, and David, their king, whom I will raise up

for them‖ (30:9). Thus a future David was promised, but, significant-

ly, the title mashiah was not associated with his coming, even if he

was called a righteous shoot of David (Jer. 33:15). Ezekiel also proph-

esied, ―My servant David shall be king over them, one shepherd for all

of them‖ (37:24). None of the prophetic books of the Old Testament

uses mashiah as a title for such a coming king. In the second century

B.C., the future David becomes an anointed one. Jerusalem is to be

rebuilt after the passage of seventy weeks: ―until (one comes who is)

an anointed one, a prince‖ (Heb. mashiah, nagid, Dan. 9:25).

For the first time in the Old Testament the title appears, now in

the sense of a future, expected anointed leader. Within a short time af-

ter the final redaction of the book of Daniel, Palestinian Jews who

dwelt at Qumran recorded in their rule books their awaiting of the

coming of a Messiah, and even of three expected figures: ―They shall

be ruled by the original precepts by which the men of the Community

were first instructed, until there comes a prophet, and the Messiahs of

Aaron and Israel‖ (1QS 9:10-11). The prophet was the one promised

by Moses (Deut. 18:15, 18), the Messiah of Aaron was to be a priestly

figure, and the Messiah of Israel, a kingly, probably Davidic, figure. If

there had been no clear teaching about the coming of a Messiah in Old

Testament writings prior to the book of Daniel, the promise of a future

―David‖ and the Danielic promise of a coming anointed one, a prince

clearly fed into that Palestinian Jewish belief current at Qumran in the

first century B.C. about the coming of (an) individual(s) called Mes-

siah (with a capital M). This mention of an expected messianic figure

or figures in the Qumran literature is not isolated.

In the first-century B.C. Psalms of Solomon there is likewise the

expectation of a righteous king, taught by God, who will be their

―king, the Anointed of the Lord‖ (Gk. christos kyriou; 17:32). The au-

thor prays that Israel will be purified ―for the day of election, for the

manifestation of His Anointed‖ (Gk. christou autou;18:5). This ideal

king reflects the current opposition to the non-Davidic Hasmonean

dynasty. Similarly, the Similitudes of Enoch (1 Enoch 37-71), proba-

bly dating from the mid-first century B.C. but not attested in the Qu-

mran Aramaic form of the book, link the day of judgment with an ex-

pected heavenly figure, a ―Son of Man‖, also called a ―Messiah‖ (1

132

Enoch 48:10; 52:4). The exploration of the Danielic image, Son of

Man, is the real focus of attention in this work; yet it provides a transi-

tional usage between the corporate sense of ―Son of Man‖ (Dan.

7:13) and the use of this phrase for an individual in the New Testa-

ment (for Jesus), who is also called Messiah.

As for Jesus as Messiah we should say that the Greek christos

was used in the Septuagint (LXX) to translate Heb. mashiah. In the

earliest writings of the New Testament it has already become the

second name of Jesus: Greek. Iesous Christos (1 Thess. 1:11, 3; 5:9;

Gal. 1:1; 1 Cor. 1:1). Only Paul inverted the names, Christos Iesous (1

Thess. 2:14; 5:18), possibly because he perceived Christos rather as a

title than a name. In any case, he used it clearly as a title in Rom. 9:5,

identifying Jesus as the one who has fulfilled the Palestinian Jewish

expectations of old. This titular use is also found elsewhere at times in

New Testament writings: Acts 2:36 (―This Jesus whom you crucified,

God has made Lord and Messiah‖). In the earliest Gospel, Peter‘s con-

fession, ―You are the Messiah‖ (Mark 8:29), is immediately corrected

by Jesus‘ teaching that he is rather the suffering Son of Man (8:30-

31). At his interrogation before the Sanhedrin, when asked whether he

is ―the Messiah‖, he answers in Mark, ―I am‖ (14:62), but in the Mat-

thean parallel, his answer becomes, ―You have said so‖ (Matt. 26:64);

and Luke completely rewords the high priest‘s question (22:67).

In fact, it was probably the title on the cross that became the cat-

alyst for the use of Messiah as a title for Jesus crucified and raised

from the dead. Once it thus became a title for him, it was often used in

the Gospel tradition, even retrojected into episodes that logically pre-

dated its catalytic emergence. Luke uses for Jesus the Jewish expres-

sion, ―God‘s Messiah‖, even in the infancy narrative, and at several

other points (Luke 2:26; 9:20; 23:35; cf. Acts 3:18). Other episodes in

the Gospels depict Jesus arousing expectations that he is to be identi-

fied with a future ―deliverer‖ of the people: the entry into Jerusalem

(Mark 11:1-10) and the purging of the Temple (Mark 11:15-19).

So after the death and resurrection of Jesus, ―Messiah‖ took on a

specifically Christian meaning as a title that referred only to Jesus, and

it was used so frequently that its Greek form ―Christ‖ became his

second name. At times it was used alone as his name: Christ is the

crucified agent of God, who has ―died for our sins in accordance with

the scriptures‖ (1 Cor. 15:3). It was used along with other titles for

133

him: the risen ―Lord‖ (1 Cor. 12:3), and ―Savior‖ (Phil. 3:20), but

none of these occurs with the same frequency. Acts 3:19-22 may pre-

serve yet another early Christian use of ―Messiah‖ for Jesus, as one

expected to return in this capacity at the Parousia, a function else-

where ascribed to him as ―Lord‖ (1 Thess. 4:17; 1 Cor. 11:26; 16:22).

None of the uses of Messiah in Jewish writings of the period

evokes the suffering or death of the person so designated. The juxta-

position of the confession of Jesus as Messiah with his teaching about

the suffering Son of Man (Mark 8:27-33) undoubtedly brought it

about that Luke came up with the idea of the suffering Messiah: the

messiah had to suffer before entering his glory (Luke 24:26; cf. 24:46;

Acts 3:18; 17:3; 26:23). This Lucan notion is not derived from the

―suffering servant‖ (Isa. 52:13-53:12), who is never referred to as ―the

anointed One of God‖.

In the Old Testament books, several hundred prophecies about

the Messiah and His blessed Kingdom can be found. They are scat-

tered throughout almost all the books of the Old Testament, beginning

with the Five Books of Moses and ending with the last prophets Za-

chariah and Malachi. The Prophet Moses, King David, the Prophets

Isaiah, Daniel and Zachariah wrote the most about the Messiah. We

will mention only the most important prophecies, and along the way

will stress those main thoughts which are touched upon by them. Set-

ting these prophecies, for the most part, in chronological order, we

shall see how they gradually revealed to the Jews newer and newer

facts about the coming Messiah: about His God-person nature, about

His character and course of action, about many details of His life.

Sometimes, the messianic prophecies consisted of symbols and allego-

ries.

As an example let us observe the Prophecies of Daniel

The Patriarch Jacob coincided the times of the coming of the

Conciliator with the time that the descendants of Judah would lose

their political independence. The time of the coming of the Messiah

was defined more precisely by the prophet Daniel in his prophecy of

the seventy weeks.

The Prophet Daniel wrote the prophecy of the time of the Mes-

siah‘s coming while he and other Hebrews were in Babylonian captiv-

134

ity. The Hebrews were led into captivity by the Babylonian king Ne-

buchadnezzar, who destroyed the city of Jerusalem in 588 BC. The

prophet Daniel knew, that the 70 year time period of captivity pre-

dicted by the prophet Jeremiah (in the 25th

chapter of his book), was

coming to an end. Desiring a rapid return of the Hebrew nation from

captivity to its native land and the restoration of the Holy City of Jeru-

salem, St. Daniel often began to ask God for this in fervent prayer. At

the end of one of these prayers the Archangel Gabriel suddenly ap-

peared before the prophet and said, that God had heard his prayer and

will soon help the Hebrews restore Jerusalem. Along with this, the

Archangel Gabriel announced even more glad tidings, specifically,

that from the time of the issuance of the decree to restore Jerusalem,

the calculation of the year of the coming of the Messiah and the estab-

lishment of the New Testament would begin. Here is what the Arc-

hangel Gabriel said to the Prophet Daniel:

―Seventy times seven “weeks‖ has been designated for your

people and your Holy City, so that the crime might be veiled, the

sins sealed and lawlessness erased so that eternal truth would be

brought about and the prophet and prophecies would be sealed and

the Holy of Holies anointed. Therefore know and comprehend:

that from the moment that the decree is given for the restoration

of Jerusalem up until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ will be

7weeks and 62 weeks. The people shall return and streets and

walls shall be rebuilt in difficult times.

At the end of the time of 62 weeks Christ shall be delivered for

death, and shall no longer exist: but the city and temple shall be

ruined by the people of the commander who shall come and whose

end shall be as from the flood and until the end of the war there

shall be devastation. During one seventh shall affirm the New Tes-

tament for many, And in the half of the seventh sacrifice and offer-

ings shall cease, and at the entry of the sanctuary there shall be ab-

omination and desolation and a final predestined perdition shall

befall the ravager‖ (Dan. 9:24-27).

In this prophecy, the entire time from the decree to re-

store Jerusalem to the establishment of the New Testament and the

second destruction of this city is divided into three periods. The time

135

frames of each period are measured in ―week‖ years, i.e. seven-year

spans. The Hebrew word for ―week‖ is “shavua‖ and literally

means ―seven.‖ Seven is a holy number, symbolically meaning full-

ness, completeness.

The meaning of the given prophecy is this: for the Judaic nation

and for the holy city are determined 70 ―weeks‖ (70x7 = 490 years),

until the coming of the Holy of Holies (Christ), who will erase law-

lessness, bring eternal truth and fulfill all the prophecies. The order for

the new construction of Jerusalem and the temple will serve as the be-

ginning of these weeks, and the end – a second destruction of both. In

the order of events these weeks are divided in the following manner:

during the first seven ―weeks‖ (i.e. 49 years) Jerusalem and

the Temple will be rebuilt. Then, toward the end of the 62 weeks (i.e.

434 years) Christ will come, but He will suffer and will be put to

death. Finally, in the course of the last ―week‖ the New Testament

will be established and in the middle of this ―week‖ regular sacrifices

in the Temple of Jerusalem will cease, and there will be abomination

of desolation in the sanctuary. Then will come a people, guided by a

leader, who will destroy the holy city and the Temple.

It is interesting and instructive to trace, how in fact the historical

events unfolded in the time period designated by the Archangel Ga-

briel. The decree for the restoration of Jerusalem was issued by the

Persian king Artaxerxes of the dynasty Archaemenidae in 453 BC.

This momentous event is described in depth by Nehemiah in the

2nd

chapter of his book. The enumeration of Daniel‘s “weeks‖ should

begin from the moment of the issuance of this decree. By the Greek

method of numbering the years, this was the 3rd

year of the

76th

Olympiad, by the Roman method – the 299th

year after the found-

ing of Rome. The restoration of the walls and Temple was protracted

for about 40 or 50 years (seven ―weeks‖) because several heathen na-

tions, living in the regions neighboring Jerusalem, hindered the resto-

ration of this city in every possible way.

In accordance to the prophecy, the Messiah was to suffer for the

cleansing of human sins in the period between 69 and 70 weeks. If one

adds to the year of the issuance of the decree of the restoration

of Jerusalem 69 weeks, i.e. 483 years, then this equals the 30th

year of

the Christian method of numbering years. It was around this time,

from 30 to 37 AD, according to the prophecy, that the Messiah was to

136

suffer and die. The Evangelist Luke writes that the Lord Jesus Christ

came out to preach in the 15th

year of the rule of the Roman emperor

Tiberius. This coincides with the 782nd

year from the founding

of Rome or with the 30th

year after the birth of Christ. The Lord Jesus

Christ taught three and a half years and suffered in the 33rd

or 34th

year

of our era, precisely during the time, indicated by St. Daniel. The

Christian faith began to spread very quickly after the Resurrection of

Christ, so that, truly, the last, 70th

Week involved the establishment of

the New Testament among many people.

Jerusalem was destroyed a second time in the 70th

year of this

era by the Roman military leader Titus. During the siege

of Jerusalem by the Roman legions, complete chaos ruled this city be-

cause of the discord among the Judean leaders. As a result of this

strife, religious services in theTemple were conducted very irregular-

ly, and finally, in the Temple, as predicted by the Archangel to the

prophet Daniel, reigned “abomination of desolation.”

Jesus Christ in one of His discussions reminded Christians of

this prophecy and warned His listeners, that, when they will see in the

Holy Place “abomination of desolation,” they should run from Jerusa-

lem as soon as possible, because the end has come to it (Mat. 24:15).

Christians living in Jerusalem did just that, when the Roman armies,

due to the election of a new Emperor, by the order of Vespasian, tem-

porarily lifted the siege of the city and retreated. For this reason Chris-

tians did not suffer during the subsequent return of the Roman army

and destruction of Jerusalem and, in this manner, avoided the tragic

fate of many Judeans remaining in the city. The prophecy of Daniel

about the weeks comes to an end with the destruction of Jerusalem.

In this way, the coincidence of the given prophecy with the sub-

sequent historical events in the life of the Hebrew nation and with the

narration of the Gospel is astonishing.

Here it should be mentioned that the Hebrew rabbis very often

forbade their fellow countrymen to count the weeks of Daniel. The

rabbi of Gemar even subjected those Hebrews, who would calculate

the year of the coming of the Messiah, to the following curse: “May

the bones shake of those, who calculate the times… Perish all those

who calculate the end, for men will say, since the predicted end is here

and the Messiah has not come, he will never come!‖ (Sanhedrin

97b). The severity of this ban is understandable. For the Daniel weeks

137

point directly to the time of the activity of Christ the Savior, which for

those not believing in Him is unpleasant to admit.

In the Prophet Daniel we also find more prophetic evidence

about the Messiah, written in the form of a vision, in which the Mes-

siah is portrayed as the eternal Sovereign. This is written in the se-

venth chapter of his book. “I saw in the night visions, and be-

hold, One like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and

came to the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him.

And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all

people, nations, and languages, should serve Him: His dominion is an

everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom

that which shall not be destroyed” (Dan. 7:13:14).

This vision speaks of the final fates of the world, of the termina-

tion of the existence of the earthly kingdoms, of the last judgment of

the nations, gathered before the throne of the Ancient of Days, i.e.

God the Father, and of the beginning of the glorious time for the

Kingdom of the Messiah. The Messiah here is called ―Son of man,‖

which points to His human nature. As we know from the Gospels, the

Lord Jesus Christ often called Himself the Son of man, with this name

reminding the Jews of the prophecy of Daniel (Mat. 8:20, 9:6, 12:40,

24:30 and so on).

Thre are the prophecies of the other two great prophets Jeremiah

and Ezekiel, where the prophecies about the Kingdom of the Messiah

are listed. To conclude we also present the prophecy of Baruch, pupil

of Jeremiah, in which he writes of the coming of God to earth: “This

is our God, and there shall none other be of in comparison him. He

hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it unto Jacob

his servant, and to Israel his beloved. Afterward did he shew himself

upon earth, and conversed with men” (Bar. 3:36-38). Unfortunately,

in the times of the Babylonian captivity the Hebrew original of the

prophet Baruch was lost, which is why the Greek translation of his

book was placed on the list of non-canonical books. For this reason,

the prophecy of Baruch does not receive the prestige it deserves

among Biblical experts of other faiths.

The Christian confession that Jesus is Messiah played its prima-

ry role in Christian debates with Judaism. This role is already evident

in the missionary speeches of Acts (Acts 2:31-32, 36; 3:18; 5:42; cf.

138

17:3; 18:5, 28). Jesus‘ death is said to disqualify him in current belief

because the Messiah was to ―remain forever‖ (John 12:34). An uncer-

tain crowd of Palestinian Jews wonders whether Jesus might be mes-

siah (John 7:26-31; 10:24). Finally, Messiah is spoken as a confession

of faith in Jesus as Son of God and Savior by those who became be-

lievers (4:29; 11:27; 20:31). When Johannine Christians were ex-

communicated from the Jewish synagogue for their faith in Jesus, the

confession ―Jesus is Messiah‖ became the identifying mark of the true

Christian (9:22). It retained this function in the struggle against dissi-

dent Christians reflected in the Johannine Letters (1 John 2:22; 5:1).

Ecclesiastical teaching about Christ is called Christology. It is

based on the question that Jesus directed to his disciples in all three of

the Synoptic Gospels, ―Who do you say I am?‖ drew the response

from Peter, ―You are the Messiah, the Son of God‖. The full implica-

tions of Peter's reply remained to be worked out. ―Messiah‖, ―Son of

God‖, and so on, were all different appellations that could mean much

less than a divine and préexistent being. Other New Testament texts

taught the préexistence of the divine Son. Just how, though, humanity

and divinity coexist in Christ, and the meaning of each in relation both

to the Father and to the rest of humankind, were the subjects of fierce

debate throughout most of Christology during the first Christian mil-

lennium. Orthodox Christology, as it emerges in John of Damascus in

the 8th c, is the product of that long debate. The key refrain or leitmo-

tiv throughout the centuries of argument in Eastern Christendom is the

notion of deification, theosis. Christology is always linked to and ex-

pressive of an understanding of salvation that is articulated as early as

in Peter‘s epistle (2 Pet 1:4), that in Christ human beings become par-

takers of the divine nature which the Orthodox see as at least implicit

in other New Testament documents. (For example, the glory shared by

the Son and the Father is from eternity, and is given by Christ to his

followers (Jn 17:5, 22-24).

With this reading of the Christian Scriptures, the struggle over

Christology may be viewed as an attempt to keep in balance Christ's

humanity and divinity in such a way as to preserve both the paradox

of their union in his person (so toward the hypostatic union of Chalce-

don) and the possibility of human communion in the divine life. The

battle had obviously been joined by the time of the earliest Christian

writings: Paul struggles in his letters to the Corinthians against what

139

appears to be a nascent Christian gnosticism. The Johannine works are

clearly directed in part against a popular docetism, i.e., the notion that

Christ‘ flesh or humanity was a mere seeming or phantom. In the 2nd

с dualism was very prevalent in theancient world, whether in the so-

phisticated version of Plato‘s divide between sensible and intelligible

worlds or in the popular equation of matter with evil and the imma-

terial with good (which would show up with especial force in 3rd-

century Manichaeism). Dualism took shape in the gnostic movement.

The dualistic portrait of Christ as the manifestation, in the appearance

of flesh, of the realm of pure spirit found vigorous opponents in,

among others, Irenaeus of Lyons and Tertullian of Carthage. Irenaeus

insisted upon the full reality of the Word's coming in the flesh, his in-

carnation, and thus that Jesus, as the second Adam and model – as di-

vine Son – of the first, accomplished the recapitulation of all creation

and its redemption from the powers of sin and death. This triumph, he

continued, would become manifest at the Second Coming or Parousia.

In the 3rd century the Church Fathers were struggling with adop-

tionism, a doctrine associated particularly with Bishop Paul of Samo-

sata, and modalism, linked especially with the Roman presbyters,

Praxeas and Sabellius. Adoptionists argued that the man, Jesus, had

been adopted by God the Father at the moment of the former‘s bapt-

ism (cf. Mk 1:9-12). Modalists saw the three persons of the Trinity as

three moments in the revelation of the one divine person. On occasion

both adoptionism and modalism were combined, as in the case of Paul

of Samosata. Tertullian wrote extensively, particularly in his Against

Praxeas, in answer to the modalists, while Dionysius of Alexandria

chaired a local synod at Antioch in 261 that deposed Paul of Samosa-

ta. Of note for the future was the latter council‘s explicit condemna-

tion of the term homoousios (of the same substance), which Paul had

used in order to explain that the Word of God, as a mere aspect or

power of the Father and not as a separate person in his own right, had

been bestowed upon Jesus of Nazareth at his messianic anointing.

This early condemnation of homoousios would play a significant

role in the controversy of the 4th с regarding the Alexandrian presby-

ter, Arius, and the struggle over the Nicene Creed. Arius had proposed

that the Word of God incarnate in Christ was less than divine, a crea-

ture of the one God and Father. His understanding of salvation seems

in consequence to have been based upon a ―heroic‖ model of Christ as

140

trailblazer and exemplar. Against this view, first Alexander and then

Athanasius of Alexandria championed the teaching of Irenaeus: that

God himself had taken on humanity in order to make his creatures

participants in his divinity. The First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in

325 endorsed a creed that incorporated the word homoousios in order

to underline the Word‘s co-divinity or consubstantiality with the God

Father and so retain the traditional doctrine of theosis. Due to the

term‘s prior association with modalism, however, it was not accepted

readily by the Eastern bishops. Athanasius was quite wrong to brand

all of his opponents with the label, Arians.

Most of the educated, Greek-speaking episcopacy were theologi-

cal followers of Origen and embraced the latter's use of hypostasis

(usually translated now as person, but more literally meaning some-

thing closer to substance) for the three persons of the Trinity. In con-

sequence, though, they were obliged to assume Origen's subordina-

tionism as well, that is, the notion that Son and Spirit stand in a lesser,

subordinate relationship to God the Father. It was this tendency in

Origen's thought that contributed substantially to Arius‘s initial suc-

cess in persuading some – scarcely all – of the Eastern bishops to ap-

prove his program.

It required the singular genius of the Cappadocian Fathers to

find a solution incorporating both Athanasius‘s insistence on the full

divinity of the Son and Origen's terminology, an accomplishment

sealed by the endorsement of the expanded Nicene Creed at the

Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople in 381. Counter-Arian

arguments continued to play an important role in the Christian West;

and following the fall of the Western Empire its Gothic and Visigothic

masters were Arians. It is against this background, the need to insist

on Christ's divinity, that we are to understand the introduction of the

filioque clause into the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed at the Coun-

cil of Toledo in 589.

Debate in the 5th сentury took its start from the arguments that

Apollinaris of Laodicea had advanced during the counter-Arian de-

bates of the 4th сentury Apollinaris argued that the divine Word had

become incarnate not in a complete humanity, but merely in a physical

body. Gregory of Nazianzus had responded with the formula, “What

is not assumed is not saved”. Christ had to have been a complete hu-

man being for theosis to be a reality. Continuing this line of thought,

141

notable representatives of the Antiochene school such as Theodore of

Mopsuestia and Diodore of Tarsus so emphasized the completeness of

Christ's humanity as to throw the union between the assumed man (Je-

sus) and the divine Son into some doubt. Christ, at least to the critics

of this school, took on the aspect of a committee of two.

A pupil of Theodore‘s, Nestorius of Constantinople, was led in

428 to deny that Mary the Virgin could rightly be called Theotokos

(Birth-giver of God), but could only be considered as the bearer of

Christ, Christokos. This drew the formidable opposition of Cyril of

Alexandria, who saw Nestorius's distinction as threatening the unity of

the God-man and, in consequence, the believer's hope of deification.

Cyril won his case at the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus in 431.

His often unscrupulous and violent methods, however, together with

some real ambiguities in his theology, led to the secession of the

whole east, Syriac-speaking Church of Persia from communion with

the Church of the Byzantine Empire. Cyril's imprecise terminology,

together with his stature as the interpreter of the incarnation, led to

further difficulties following his death in 444. Later in the same dec-

ade, a Constantinopolitan archimandrite named Eutyches advocated a

union of God and man in Christ, which was, in effect, a blending of

the two wherein Jesus‘ humanity was seen as entirely swallowed up

by the glory of his godhead. The Tome of Pope Leo the Great was

written in response to Eutyches and served as the basis for the doctrin-

al definition at the Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon in 451.

Leo‘s balanced thought and phrasing stressed the completeness of

Christ's two natures, human and divine, and their union in the one per-

son or hypostasis of the Word.

Unfortunately, the pope‘s insistence on the phrase, in two na-

tures, led to great resistance on the part of the entire Church of Egypt

and much of that of Syria. The latter‘s standard of orthodoxy was the

phrase, “one nature of the incarnate Word”, which Cyril had often

used in the (mistaken) belief that it came from Athanasius – it was ac-

tually Apollinaris‘s invention. To the monophysites, Leo‘s phrase

smacked of Nestorius. The so-called monophysite heresy was thus not

so much a heresy as a schism. Monophysitism in fact, less the unhappy

Eutyches, was nothing more or less than a dogged clinging to the

thought and language of Cyril. The schism did, however, take the lo-

cal churches of Egypt, Ethiopia, Armenia, and substantial portions of

142

Syria out of communion with the imperial church. It thus constituted

an internal crisis of the Eastern Empire that the latter's emperors

sought over the following two centuries to address and repair. The

Emperor Justinian looked to assuage monophysite objections to Chal-

cedon by convoking the Fifth Ecumenical Council (Constantinople II,

A.D. 553) in order to affirm the theopaschism of Cyril‘s ―Twelve

Anathemas‖ of Nestorius, and thus to affirm that it is indeed the Word

of God who is the subject of all attribution in the incarnate Christ. His

initiative failed to solve the schism.

A later effort, sponsored by the Emperor Heraclius (610-645),

and articulated by the Patriarch Sergius of Constantinople, put forward

a compromise formula which, while stressing Chalcedon‘s ―two na-

tures‖, argued that in Christ there is only one activity and will, the di-

vine. This, the true heresy of monotheletism (mono, same, and thele-

ma, will), was resisted by Pope Martin I and, in particular, Maximus

the Confessor. Maximus asserted that the compromise betrayed a de-

fective anthropology, leaving no room for the necessary human re-

sponse to the divine initiative accomplished in Christ.

Deification, in short, is not an absolutely one-sided process. The

Son of God took on a complete humanity and restored the old Adam

entirely, but this meant first of all that the human will had to have

been redeemed and, secondly, that each believer is called upon to dis-

cover and exercise his or her personal will in acceptance of the salva-

tion accomplished once and for all in Jesus. Maximus‘s argument was

ratified, by the Sixth Ecumenical Council (Constantinople III, 681)

some nineteen years after his death in exile.

The 8th and 9th с debate over the holy icons and iconoclasm

might be taken as the conclusion to Christological debate in the East.

The arguments in particular of John of Damascus and Theodore of

Studion react against the iconoclasts' implicit denigration of matter as

adequate to theophany. Precisely because human and divine have been

made one in Christ, icons – and by extension, of course, all the sacra-

ments – are rendered not only possible, but necessary.

The perfect confession of the incarnation requires them. The

energies of God shine forth from the transfigured flesh of Christ and

in that flesh, that humanity or second Adam, embraces the whole

created universe of souls and bodies, of spirit and matter. This, the

presence of the eschaton in some sense already at work among us, is

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made known in the Church's sacraments and in the images she has

sanctioned for veneration. Here, too, in this Christological understand-

ing of the holy icons, we may find the seeds of the later work of Gre-

gory Palamas in defense of the holy hesychasts of Athos that con-

cluded the theological contributions of the Byzantine era – and that

continues to live at the center of Orthodox thought and piety today.

3.2. Main Christian ideas

God the Father is the fountainhead of the Holy Trinity. The

Scriptures reveal the one God is Three Persons – Father, Son, and Ho-

ly Spirit – eternally sharing the one divine nature. From the Father the

Son is begotten before all ages and all time (Ps. 2:7; II Cor. 11:31). It

is from the Father that the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds (Jn. 15:26).

God the Father created all things through the Son, in the Holy Spirit

(Gen. 1 and 2; Jn. 1:3; Job 33:4), and we are called to worship Him

(Jn. 4:23). The Father loves us and sent His Son to give us everlasting

life (Jn. 3:16).

Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, eternally

born of the Father. He became man, and thus He is at once fully God

and fully man. His coming to earth was foretold in the Old Testament

by the prophets. Because Jesus Christ is at the heart of Christianity,

the Orthodox Church has given more attention to knowing Him than

to anything or anyone else.

The Holy Spirit is one of the Persons of the Holy Trinity and is

one in essence with the Father. Orthodox Christians repeatedly con-

fess, "And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, Who

proceeds from the Father, Who together with the Father and the Son

is worshipped and glorified." He is called the "promise of the Fa-

ther" (Acts 1:4), given by Christ as a gift to the Church, to empower

the Church for service to God (Acts 1:8), to place God's love in our

hearts (Rom. 5:5), and to impart spiritual gifts (I Cor. 12:7-13) and

virtues (Gal. 5:22, 23) for Christian life and witness. Orthodox Chris-

tians believe the biblical promise that the Holy Spirit is given through

chrismation (anointing) at baptism (Acts 2:38). We are to grow in our

experience of the Holy Spirit for the rest of our lives.

Creation. Orthodox Christians confess God as Creator of hea-

ven and earth (Gen. 1:1, the Nicene Creed). Creation did not just come

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into existence by itself. God made it all. "By faith we understand that

the worlds were framed by the word of God" (Heb. 11:3). Orthodox

Christians do not believe the Bible to be a science textbook on crea-

tion, as some mistakenly maintain, but rather to be God's revelation of

Himself and His salvation. Also, we do not view science textbooks,

helpful though they may be, as God's revelation. The may contain

both known facts and speculative theory, but they are not infallible.

Orthodox Christians refuse to build an unnecessary and artificial wall

between science and the Christian faith. Rather, they understand hon-

est scientific investigation as a potential encouragement to faith, for

all truth is from God.

Sin literally means to "miss the mark." As St. Paul writes, "All

have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). We sin

when we pervert what God has given us as good, falling short of His

purposes for us. Our sins separate us from God (Isah. 59:1, 2), leaving

us spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1). To save us, the Son of God assumed our

humanity, and being without sin "He condemned sin in the

flesh" (Rom. 8:3). In His mercy, God forgives our sins when we con-

fess them and turn from them, giving us strength to overcome sin in

our lives. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our

sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9).

Incarnation refers to Jesus Christ coming "in the flesh." The

eternal Son of God the Father assumed to Himself a complete human

nature from the Virgin Mary. He was and is one divine Person, fully

possessing from God the Father the entirety of the divine nature, and

in His coming in the flesh fully possessing a human nature from the

Virgin Mary. By His Incarnation, the Son forever possesses two na-

tures in His one Person. The Son of God, limitless in His divine na-

ture, voluntarily and willingly accepted limitation in His humanity in

which He experienced hunger, thirst, fatigue – and ultimately, death.

The Incarnation is indispensable to Christianity – there is no Chris-

tianity without it. The Scriptures record, "Every spirit that does not

confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God" (I Jn.

4:3). By His Incarnation, the Son of God redeemed human nature, a

redemption made accessible to all who are joined to Him in His glori-

fied humanity.

Baptism is the way in which a person is actually united to Chr-

ist. The experience of salvation is initiated in the waters of baptism.

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The Apostle Paul teaches in Romans 6:1-6 that in baptism we expe-

rience Christ's death and resurrection. In it our sins are truly forgiven

and we are energized by our union with Christ to live a holy life. The

Orthodox Church practices baptism by full immersion. Currently,

some consider baptism to be only an "outward sign" of belief in Chr-

ist. This innovation has no historical or biblical precedent. Others re-

duce it to a mere perfunctory obedience to Christ‘s command (cf. Mat-

thew 28:19-20). Still others, ignoring the Bible completely, reject

baptism as a vital factor in salvation. Orthodoxy maintains that these

contemporary innovations rob sincere people of the most important

assurances that baptism provides – namely that they have been united

to Christ and are part of His Church.

New Birth is receipt of new life. It is how we gain entrance into

God's kingdom and His Church. Jesus said, "Unless one is born of wa-

ter and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (John 3:5).

From its beginning, the Church has taught that the water is the bap-

tismal water and the Spirit is the Holy Spirit. The new birth occurs in

baptism where we die with Christ, are buried with Him, and are raised

with Him in the newness of His resurrection, being joined into union

with Him in His glorified humanity (Acts 2:38; Rom. 6:3-4). The idea

that being "born again" is a religious experience disassociated from

baptism is a recent one and has no biblical basis whatsoever.

Salvation is the divine gift through which men and women are

delivered from sin and death, united to Christ, and brought into His

eternal kingdom. Those who heard St. Peter's sermon on the day of

Pentecost asked what they must do to be saved. He ans-

wered, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of

Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of

the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). Salvation begins with these three steps:

1) repent, 2) be baptized, and 3) receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. To

repent means to change our mind about how we have been, to turn

from our sin and to commit ourselves to Christ. To be baptized means

to be born again by being joined into union with Christ. And to re-

ceive the gift of the Holy Spirit means to receive the Spirit Who em-

powers us to enter a new life in Christ, to be nurtured in the Church,

and to be conformed to God's image. Salvation demands faith in Jesus

Christ. People cannot save themselves by their own good works. Sal-

vation is "faith working through love." It is an ongoing, life-long

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process. Salvation is past tense in that, through the death and Resur-

rection of Christ, we have been saved. It is present tense, for we

are "being saved" by our active participation through faith in our un-

ion with Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Salvation is also fu-

ture, for we must yet be saved at His glorious Second Coming.

Justification is a word used in the Scriptures to mean that in

Christ we are forgiven and actually made righteous in our living. Justi-

fication is not a once-for-all, instantaneous pronouncement guarantee-

ing eternal salvation, regardless of how wickedly a person might live

from that point on. Neither is it merely a legal declaration that an un-

righteous person is righteous. Rather, justification is a living, dynam-

ic, day-to-day reality for the one who follows Christ. The Christian ac-

tively pursues a righteous life in the grace and power of God granted

to all who continue to believe in Him.

Sanctification is being set apart for God. It involves us in the

process of being cleansed and made holy by Christ in the Holy Spirit.

We are called to be saints and to grow into the likeness of God. Hav-

ing been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, we actively participate in

sanctification. We cooperate with God, we work together with Him,

that we may know Him, becoming by grace what He is by nature.

Worship is the rendering of praise, glory, and thanksgiving to

God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All humanity is called to

worship God. Worship is more than being in the "great-out-of-doors,"

or listening to a sermon, or singing a hymn. God can be known in His

creation, but that does not constitute worship. As helpful as sermons

may be, they can never offer a proper substitute for worship. Most

prominent in Orthodox worship is the corporate praise, thanksgiving,

and glory given to God by the Church. This worship is consummated

in intimate communion with God at His Holy Table. As is said in the

Liturgy, "To Thee is due all glory, honor, and worship, to the Father,

and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of

ages. Amen." In that worship we touch and experience His eternal

kingdom, the age to come, and we join in adoration with the heavenly

hosts. We experience the glory of fulfillment of all things in Christ, as

truly all in all. Liturgy is a term used to describe the shape or form of

the Church's corporate worship of God. The word "liturgy" derives

from a Greek word which means "the common work." All the biblical

references to worship in heaven involve liturgy.

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Communion of Saints: When Christians depart this life, they

remain a vital part of the Church, the body of Christ. They are alive in

the Lord and "registered in heaven" (Heb. 12:23). They worship God

(Revelation 4:10) and inhabit His heavenly dwelling places (Jn. 14:2).

In the Eucharist we come "to the city of the living God" and join in

communion with the saints in our worship of God (Heb. 12:22). They

are that "great cloud of witnesses" which surrounds us, and we seek to

imitate them in running "the race set before us" (Hebrews 12:1). Re-

jecting or ignoring the communion of saints is a denial of the fact that

those who have died in Christ are still part of his holy Church.

Apostolic Succession has been a watershed issue since the

second century, not as a mere dogma, but as crucial to the preservation

of the faith. Certain false teachers would appear, insisting they were

authoritative representatives of the Christian Church. Claiming author-

ity from God by appealing to special revelations, some were even in-

venting lineages of teachers supposedly going back to Christ or the

Apostles. In response, the early Church insisted there was an authori-

tative apostolic succession passed down from generation to genera-

tion. They recorded that actual lineage, showing how its clergy were

ordained by those chosen by the successors of the Apostles chosen by

Christ Himself.

Apostolic succession is an indispensable factor in preserving

Church unity. Those in the succession are accountable to it, and are

responsible to ensure all teaching and practice in the Church is in

keeping with Her apostolic foundations. Mere personal conviction that

one's teaching is correct can never be considered adequate proof of

accuracy. Today, critics of apostolic succession are those who stand

outside that historic succession and seek a self-identity with the early

Church only. The burgeoning number of denominations in the world

can be accounted for in large measure by a rejection of apostolic suc-

cession.

Councils of the Church. A monumental conflict (recorded in

Acts 15) arose in the early Church over legalism, the keeping of Jew-

ish laws by the Christians, as means of salvation. "So the apostles and

elders came together [in council] to consider the matter" (Acts 15:6).

This council, held in Jerusalem, set the pattern for the subsequent call-

ing of councils to settle problems. There have been hundreds of such

councils – local and regional – over the centuries of the history of the

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Church, and seven councils specifically designated Ecumenical, that

is, considered to apply to the whole Church. Aware that God has spo-

ken through the Ecumenical Councils, the Orthodox Church looks par-

ticularly to them for authoritative teaching in regard to the faith and

practice of the Church.

Spiritual Gifts. When the young Church was getting under way,

God poured out His Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and their followers,

giving them spiritual gifts to build up the Church and to serve each

other. Among the specific gifts of the Spirit mentioned in the New

Testament are: apostleship, prophecy, evangelism, pastoring, teaching,

healing, helps, administrations, knowledge, wisdom, tongues, and in-

terpretation of tongues. These and other spiritual gifts are recognized

in the Orthodox Church. The need for them varies with the times. The

gifts of the Spirit are most in evidence in the liturgical and sacramen-

tal life of the Church.

Second Coming. Amid the current speculation in some corners

of Christendom surrounding the Second Coming of Christ and how it

may come to pass, it is comforting to know that the beliefs of the Or-

thodox Church are basic. Orthodox Christians confess with conviction

that Jesus Christ "will come again to judge the living and the dead,"

and that His "kingdom will have no end." Orthodox preaching does

not attempt to predict God's prophetic schedule, but to encourage

Christian people to have their lives in order so that they might be con-

fident before Him when He comes (I Jn. 2:28).

Heaven is the place of God's throne, beyond time and space. It is

the abode of God's angels, as well as of the saints who have passed

from this life. We pray, "Our Father, who art in heaven." Though

Christians live in this world, they belong to the kingdom of heaven,

and that kingdom is their true home. But heaven is not only for the fu-

ture. Neither is it some distant place billions of light years away in a

nebulous "great beyond." For the Orthodox, heaven is part of Chris-

tian life and worship. The very architecture of an Orthodox Church

building is designed so that the building itself participates in the reali-

ty of heaven. The Eucharist is heavenly worship, heaven on earth. St.

Paul teaches that we are raised up with Christ in heavenly places (Eph.

2:6), "fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of

God" (Eph. 2:19). At the end of the age, a new heaven and a new earth

will be revealed (Rev. 21:1).

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Hell. The Church understands hell as a place of eternal torment

for those who willfully reject the grace of God. The Lord once said,

"If your hand makes you sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into

life maimed, than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that

never shall be quenched – where their worm does not die, and the fire

is not quenched" (Mk. 9:44-45). He challenged the religious hypo-

crites with the question: "How can you escape the condemnation of

hell?" (Mat. 23:33). His answer is, "God did not send His Son into the

world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be

saved" (Jn. 3:17). There is a day of judgement coming, and there is a

place of punishment for those who have hardened their hearts against

God. It does make a difference how we will live this life. Those who

of their own free will reject the grace and mercy of God must forever

bear the consequences of that choice.

The Bible

The Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God (II Tim. 3:16),

and is a crucial part of God's self-revelation to the human race. The

Old Testament tells the history of that revelation from Creation

through the Age of the Prophets. The New Testament records the birth

and life of Jesus as well as the writings of His Apostles. It also in-

cludes some of the history of the early Church and especially sets

forth the Church's apostolic doctrine. Though these writings were read

in the Churches from the time they first appeared, the earliest listings

of all the New Testament books exactly as we know them today is

found in the 33rd Canon of a local council held at Carthage in 318,

and in a fragment of St. Athanasius of Alexandria's Festal Letter in

367. Both sources list all of the books of the New Testament without

exception. A local council, probably held at Rome in 382, set forth a

complete list of the canonical books of both the Old and the New Tes-

taments. The Scriptures are at the very heart of Orthodox worship and

devotion.

The Old Testament contains the entire Jewish Tanakh, though in

the Christian canon the books are ordered differently and some books

of the Tanakh are divided into several books by the Christian canon.

The Catholic and Orthodox canons include the Hebrew Jewish canon

and other books (from the Septuagint Greek Jewish canon) which

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Catholics call Deuterocanonical, while Protestants consider the latter

Apocrypha.

The first books of the New Testament are the Gospels, which tell

of the life and teachings of Jesus. There are four canonical Gospels:

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The first three are often called synop-

tic because of the amount of material they share. The rest of the New

Testament consists of a sequel to Luke's Gospel, the Acts of the Apos-

tles, which describes the very early history of the Church, a collection

of letters from early Christian leaders to congregations or individuals,

the Pauline and General epistles, and the Book of Revelation.

3.3. Christian tradition

There are in the Church a number of saints who were theologians

and spiritual teachers who defended and explained the doctrines of the

Christian Faith. These saints are called the holy fathers of the Church

and their teachings are called the patristic teachings (patristic is from

the Greek word for father).

Some of the holy fathers are called apologists because they de-

fended the Christian teachings against those outside the Church who

ridiculed the faith. Their writings are called apologies which mean

"answers" or "defenses."

Others of the holy fathers defended the Christian faith against

certain members of the Church who deformed the truth and life of

Christianity by choosing certain parts of the Christian revelation and

doctrine while denying other aspects. Those who deformed the Chris-

tian faith in this way and thereby destroyed the integrity of the Chris-

tian Church are called the heretics, and their doctrines are called here-

sies. By definition heresy means "choice," and a heretic is one who

chooses what he wants according to his own ideas and opinions, se-

lecting certain parts of the Christian Tradition while rejecting others.

By his actions, a heretic not only destroys the fullness of the Christian

truth but also divides the life of the Church and causes division in the

community.

Generally speaking, the Orthodox tradition regards the teachers

of heresies as not merely being mistaken or ignorant or misguided; it

accuses them of being actively aware of their actions and therefore

sinful. A person merely misguided or mistaken or teaching what he

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believes to be the truth without being challenged or opposed as to his

possible errors is not considered to be a heretic in the true sense of the

word. Many of the saints and even the holy fathers have elements in

their teachings which Christians of later times have considered as be-

ing false or inaccurate. This, of course, does not make them heretics.

Not all of the holy fathers were defenders against falsehood or

heresy. Some of them were simply the very positive teachers of the

Christian faith, developing and explaining its meaning in a deeper and

fuller way. Others were teachers of the spiritual life, giving instruction

to the faithful about the meaning and method of communion with God

through prayer and Christian living. Those teachers who concentrated

on the struggle of spiritual life are called the ascetical fathers, ascetic-

ism being the exercise and training of the "spiritual athletes"; and

those who concentrated on the way of spiritual communion with God

are called the mystical fathers, mysticism being defined as the genuine,

experiential union with the Divine.

All of the holy fathers, whether they are classified as theological,

pastoral, ascetical or mystical gave their teachings from the sources of

their own living Christian experience. They defended and described

and explained the theological doctrines and ways of spiritual life from

their own living knowledge of these realities. They blended together

the brilliance of the intellect with the purity of the soul and the righ-

teousness of life. This is what makes them the holy fathers of the

Church.

The writings of the Church Fathers are not infallible, and it has

even been said that in any given one of them some things could be

found which could be questioned in the light of the fullness of the

Tradition of the Church. Nevertheless, taken as a whole, the writings

of the Fathers which are built upon the biblical and liturgical founda-

tions of Christian faith and life have great authority within the Ortho-

dox Church and are primary sources for the discovery of the Church's

doctrine.

The writings of some of those fathers who have received the

universal approval and praise of the Church through the ages are of

particular importance, such as those of Ignatius of Antioch, Irenaeus

of Lyons, Athanasius of Alexandria, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nys-

sa, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria,

Cyril of Jerusalem, Maximus the Confessor, John of Damascus, Pho-

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tius of Constantinople, and Gregory Palamas; and those of the asceti-

cal and spiritual fathers such as Anthony of Egypt, Macarius of Egypt,

John of the Ladder, Isaac of Syria, Ephraim of Syria, Simeon the New

Theologian, and others.

Sometimes it is difficult for us to read the writings of the fathers

of the Church since their problems were often complicated and their

manner of writing very different in style from our own. Also most of

the spiritual and ascetical writings are put in the monastic setting and

have to be transposed in order to be understandable and usable to

those of us who are not monks or nuns. Nevertheless, it is important to

read the writings of the fathers directly. One should do so slowly, a lit-

tle at a time, with careful thought and consideration and without mak-

ing quick and capricious conclusions... the same way that one would

read the Bible. Among the church fathers, Saint John Chrysostom's

writings are very clear and direct and can be read by many with great

profit if the proper care is given. Also the Philokalia – an anthology of

spiritual writings – exists in English, at least in part, and with proper

care, it can be helpful to a mature Christian in search of deeper in-

sights into the spiritual life.

As the Church progressed through history it was faced with

many difficult decisions. The Church always settled difficulties and

made decisions by reaching a consensus of opinion among all the be-

lievers inspired by God who were led by their appointed leaders, first

the apostles and then the bishops.

The first church council in history was held in the apostolic

church to decide the conditions under which the gentiles, that is, the

non-Jews, could enter the Christian Church (Acts, 15). From that time

on, all through history councils were held on every level of church life

to make important decisions. Bishops met regularly with their priests,

also called presbyters or elders, and people. It became the practice,

and even the law, very early in church history that bishops in given

regions should meet in councils held on a regular basis.

At times in church history councils of all of the bishops in the

church were called. All the bishops were not able to attend these

councils, of course, and not all such councils were automatically ap-

proved and accepted by the Church in its Holy Tradition. In the Or-

thodox Church only seven such councils, some of which were actually

quite small in terms of the number of bishops attending, have received

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the universal approval of the entire Church in all times and places.

These councils have been termed the Seven Ecumenical Councils.

The dogmatic definitions (dogma means official teaching) and

the canon laws of the ecumenical councils are understood to be in-

spired by God and to be expressive of His will for men. Thus, they are

essential sources of Orthodox Christian doctrine.

Besides the seven ecumenical councils, there are other local

church councils whose decisions have also received the approval of all

Orthodox Churches in the world, and so are considered to be genuine

expressions of the Orthodox faith and life. The decisions of these

councils are mostly of a moral or structural character. Nevertheless,

they too reveal the teaching of the Orthodox Church.

The Seven Ecumenical Councils

1. Nicea I Council (325) formulated the First Part of the Creed, defin-

ing the divinity of the Son of God;

2. Constantinople I Council (381) formulated the Second Part of the

Creed, defining the divinity of the Holy Spirit;

3. Ephesus Council (431) defined Christ as the Incarnate Word of God

and Mary as Theotokos;

4. Chalcedon Council (451) defined Christ as Perfect God and Perfect

Man in One Person;

5. Constantinople II Council (553) reconfirmed the Doctrines of the

Trinity and of Christ;

6. Constantinople III Council (680) affirmed the True Humanity of Je-

sus by insisting upon the reality of His human will and action;

7. Nicea II Council (787) affirmed the propriety of icons as genuine

expressions of the Christian Faith.

Creed

Creeds, or concise doctrinal statements, began as baptismal for-

mulas and were later expanded during the Christological controversies

of the 4th and 5th centuries. The Nicene Creed, largely a response to

Arianism, was formulated at the Councils of Nicea and Constantinople

in 325 and 381 respectively, and ratified as the universal creed of

Christendom by the Council of Ephesus in 431.

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The Orthodox Church taught that Christ is one person who has

two natures: one divine and one human, that both natures are com-

plete, and that the two are not mixed but are nevertheless perfectly

united into one person.

Later in the West Filioque ("and the Son" that speaks of the Ho-

ly Spirit as proceeding "from the Father and the Son") was included

to the Latin text of the Creed at the local Third Council of Tole-

do (589) and its inclusion later spread spontaneously not only in

Spain, but throughout the Frankish Empire. In the 9th century, Pope

Leo III, while accepting the doctrine, like his predecessor Pope Leo I,

tried in vain to suppress the addition of the Filioque. In 1014, howev-

er, singing of the Creed, with Filioque included, was adopted in the

celebration of the Mass in Rome. Since its denunciation by Photios I

of Constantinople (the Photian schism of 863-867), the Filioque has

been an ongoing source of conflict between the East and West, contri-

buting to the East-West Schism of 1054 and proving an obstacle to at-

tempts to reunify the two sides.

Christian Creed

I believe in one God, the Father, Almighty, maker of heaven and

earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus

Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten, begotten of the Father be-

fore all ages, Light of Light, true God of true God; begotten, not

made; of one essence with the Father; by Whom all things were made;

Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and

was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was made

man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered

and was buried; and the third day He rose again according to the

Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the

Father; and He shall come again with glory to judge the living and

the dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the Ho-

ly Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Fa-

ther; Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and

glorified, Who spoke by the prophets. And I believe in One Holy,

Catholic, and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one Baptism for the

remission of sin. I look for the Resurrection of the dead and the life of

the world to come. Amen.

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Symbols

The best-known Christian symbol is the cross, of which many

varieties exist. Other Christian symbols include the ichthys ("fish")

symbol or, in ancient times, an anchor, as well as the Chi-Rho. In a

modern Roman alphabet, the Chi-Rho appears like a large P with an X

overlaid on the lower stem. They are the first two Greek letters of the

word Christ – Chi (χ) and Rho (ρ), and the symbol is the one that is

said to have appeared to Constantine prior to converting to Christiani-

ty. As for ichthys it is a Greek acronym signifying ―Jesus (Iesous)

Christ (Xristos) Son of God (Theou Yios), Savior (Soter)‖ also spel-

ling out the Greek word for "fish." Christians, obliged to keep under

cover during the preconversion Roman Empire, would thus use the

iconography of a fish for the purpose of declaring themselves to other

believers.

Icons

Icons have been used for prayer from the first centuries of Chris-

tianity. Sacred Tradition tells us, for example, of the existence of an

Icon of the Savior during His lifetime (the Icon-Made-Without-Hands)

and of Icons of the Most Holy Theotokos immediately after Him. Sa-

cred Tradition witnesses that the Orthodox Church had a clear under-

standing of the importance of Icons right from the beginning; and this

understanding never changed, for it is derived from the teachings con-

cerning the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity –

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The use of Icons is grounded in the very

essence of Christianity, since Christianity is the revelation by God-

Man not only of the Word of God, but also of the Image of God; for,

as St. John the Evangelist tells us, ―the Word became flesh and dwelt

among us‖ (Jn. 1:14).

―No one has ever seen God; only the Son, Who is in the bosom

of the Father, He has made Him known‖ (Jn. 1:18), the Evangelist

proclaims. That is, He has revealed the Image or Icon of God. For be-

ing the brightness of God‘s glory, and the express image of God‘s per-

son (Heb. 1:3), the Word of God in the Incarnation revealed to the

world, in His own Divinity, the Image of the Father. When St. Philip

asks Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, He answered him: Have I been

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with you so long, and yet you do not know Me, Philip? He who has

seen Me has seen the Father” (Jn. 14:8-9). Thus as the Son is in the

bosom of the Father, likewise after the Incarnation He is constubstan-

tial with the Father, according to His divinity being the Father's Im-

age, equal in honor to Him.

St. John of Damascus, an eighth-century Father of the Church,

who wrote at the height of the iconoclastic (anti-icon) controversies in

the Church, explains that, because the Word of God became flesh (Jn.

1:14), we are no longer in our infancy; we have grown up, we have

been given by God the power of discrimination and we know what can

be depicted and what is indescribable. Since the Second Person of the

Holy Trinity appeared to us in the flesh, we can portray Him and re-

produce for contemplation of Him Who has condescended to be seen.

We can confidently represent God the Invisible – not as an invisible

being, but as one Who has made Himself visible for our sake by shar-

ing in our flesh and blood.

Holy Icons developed side by side with the Divine Services and,

like the Services, expressed the teaching of the Church in conformity

with the word of Holy Scripture. Following the teaching of the 7th

Ecumenical Council, the Icon is seen not as simple art, but that there

is a complete correspondence of the Icon to Holy Scripture, ―for if the

Icon is shown by Holy Scripture, Holy Scripture is made incontestably

clear by the Icon‖ (Acts of the 7th Ecumenical Council, 6).

As the word of Holy Scripture is an image, so the image is also a

word, for, according to St. Basil the Great (379 AD): ―By depicting

the divine, we are not making ourselves similar to idolaters; for it is

not the material symbol that we are worshipping, but the Creator, Who

became corporeal for our sake and assumed our body in order that

through it He might save mankind. We also venerate the material ob-

jects through which our salvation is effected – the blessed wood of the

Cross, the Holy Gospel, Holy Relics of Saints, and, above all, the

Most-Pure Body and Blood of Christ, which have grace-bestowing

properties and Divine Power‖.

Orthodox Christians do not venerate an Icon of Christ because of

the nature of the wood or the paint, but rather we venerate the inani-

mate image of Christ with the intention of worshipping Christ Himself

as God Incarnate through it.

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Christian practice

Christian practice is closely connected with different kinds of

ascesis. This Greek word means exercise, and in the Orthodox context

the exercise signifies the "working out" of the believer‘s salvation, es-

pecially through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Prayer depends on

taking seriously Paul‘s admonition to ―pray without ceasing‖ (1 Th.

5:17), together with Christ‘s warnings to stay awake and keep watch

in prayer (e.g., Lk. 21:36), so the early Church, as evidenced in Hip-

polytus‘s Apostolic Tradition, encouraged vigils and prayer from the

earliest times. With the rise of monasticism, prayer received the great-

est attention as comprehending the whole effort of the monk to pene-

trate his or her own heart and to arrive at the conscious perception of

the risen Christ. Thus, there is present in early monasticism the regular

invocation of Christ's name, Jesus, coupled with a petition for mercy.

The so called Jesus prayer, as it emerges in the 14th сentury contro-

versy over hesychasm, is certainly the manifestation of an ancient tra-

dition based upon the exaltation of the divine Name (Ex. 3:14, Philp.

2:9-11) coupled with faith in the indwelling presence of the Spirit of

Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 6:19, Rom. 8). Hesychia means "quiet" or "retreat,"

and hesychast denoted simply and from earliest monasticism one who

practices prayer in silence. The hesychasts of Mt. Athos – whom Gre-

gory Palamas defended and whose claims of a mysticism featuring di-

rect encounter with Christ in his uncreated glory he sought to justify

with his celebrated distinction between God's essence and energies –

were the continuation of a tradition with roots in early Christianity and

the Hebrew Scriptures. For the latter, as for the New Testament texts,

the heart is the center of the human being. It is there that the discovery

of the divine presence takes place. In order to clear a path for this

meeting with Christ, who is already given in Baptism, the Christian is,

however, obliged to confront the obstacles within his or her being that

block the encounter. Hence is the exercise of Fasting. This term em-

braces the struggle of the monk, and of the believer generally, against

the "passions," i.e., those forces and habits of body and mind that re-

sult from, first, the conditions of fallen existence and, second, one's

own willing acquiescence to the same – in short, sin. Through bodily

exercises such as fasting, limitation of sleep, and sexual continence,

the Christian ascetic strives to reach and influence the more subtle and

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deep-rooted diseases of mind and heart. Through the aid of divine

grace, both mind and body are brought into conformity with prayer –

indeed, making one‘s intellectual, emotional, and physical life one

single act of the remembrance of Christ. In consonance with this

integral devotion to the love of God, the ascetic is led to the imitation

of – or better, participation in – the love that God has shown humanity

in Christ.

Hence is Almsgiving. The expression of this third component of

Orthodox asceticism includes, generally, love of one's neighbor and,

more specifically, practices that involve the ascetic‘s physical and spi-

ritual being. Of the former, "nonpossession" (aktemosyne), the prin-

ciple that one is not to be an "owner", is perhaps the most important

and striking. In common-life monasticism, possessions are thus re-

quired to be divided up among the community according to need and

made available to the larger society, one's brothers and sisters in the

"world", upon request and at need. More subtly, all pretense of power

and authority over one's neighbor must be carefully eschewed. Clas-

sical Orthodox monasticism, for example, has for this reason always

been cautious about ordination to the priesthood. Finally, the state of

nonpossession, together with the virtues of humility and meekness to

which it is intended to give rise, is believed to lead to a complete

openness to others. This entails a readiness to respond with the free-

dom gained by deliverance from passionate attachment to one‘s

"property," the latter term including both physical possessions and less

tangible goods, such as reputation, status, dignity, etc.

One of the most important activities in the Christian practice is

Lent. There are technically four lents, or fasting seasons, during the li-

turgical year of the Orthodox Church: the Great Lent consisting of

forty days preceding Holy Week and Easter, the Apostles‟ Fast pre-

ceding the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (June 29th), two weeks pre-

ceding the Dormition of the Theotokos (August 15th), and the forty

days in preparation for the Nativity of Christ (December 25th). It is

Great Lent, however, that enjoys both chronological and liturgical

primacy, and was the model for the others. A fasting period of up to a

week preceding the paschal vigil appears as early as the 3rd century

Believers, according to the Apostolic Tradition, were expected to

share in the catechumens‘ preparation for their Baptism during the

Easter Vigil. The 4th с expansion of Christianity saw this period ex-

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tended to essentially its present dimensions, as is evident in the ac-

count Egeria gives of Lent in late 4th century Jerusalem. As presently

observed, the Orthodox Lent includes six weeks of fasting, less the

Saturday of Lazarus and Palm Sunday, which begin the Holy Week

commemorating Christ's suffering. For four Sundays prior to the fast,

reckoned as beginning on a Monday, the themes that are to predomi-

nate during the forty days are brought to the believers‘ attention

through the reading of the Gospel lessons of the Pharisee and Publican

(humility), Prodigal Son (repentance), the Last Judgment (righteous

deeds and the memory of death), and forgiveness. Each of the lenten

Sundays is also devoted to a particular theme. The first commemo-

rates the final victory over iconoclasm in 843, the second remembers

Gregory Palamas, the champion of asceticism, the third the Holy

Cross, the fourth John Climacus, and the fifth the great image of re-

pentance, Mary of Egypt. Church services during this period reflect

the themes of repentance, godly sorrow, and entrance into the Church.

They are longer, make greater use of Old Testament readings (reflect-

ing also Lent‘s origins as a preparation for Baptism), and in Russian

employ melodies in the minor key and vestments of somber hue.

Perhaps the characteristic service par excellence of Great Lent is

the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. Since the Byzantine Church for-

bade the celebration of the Eucharist during the weekdays of the fast,

communion was – and is – provided the faithful through an evening

service, essentially Vespers, on Wednesdays and Fridays. The com-

munion is taken from a Eucharistic host consecrated the preceding

Sunday, hence the presanctified in the service‘s title.

3.4. Christian sacraments

The Latin word, sacramentum, finds its equivalent in the Ortho-

dox use of the term, mystery (Greek, mysterion). The mysteries in the

Orthodox Church are usually numbered seven as in the Roman Catho-

lic Church as a result of the latter's influence in the 13th century:

Baptism, Chrismation (anointing of the newly baptized), Communion

or Eucharist, Ordination (of bishop, priest, and deacon), Matrimony,

Confession, and Unction (the solemn anointing of the sick).

While seven has been the usual count since the 15th century,

reinforced by the conciliar decision at Bethlehem (1692) presided over

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by Patriarch Dositheus, earlier numbering was considerably more flu-

id. The 4th сentury Church Fathers usually speak of Baptism, Chris-

mation, and Eucharist. In the 5th century or early 6th century, Diony-

sius the Areopagite added ordination, monastic tonsure, and Christian

burial to the latter three. In addition, his chapter devoted to the Chrism

concentrates on the consecration of the oil itself, the Holy Myron,

used both to administer the post-baptismal anointing and to consecrate

the altar.

The latter, consecration of a church, together with the great

blessing of water on Theophany (6 January), are included among the

sacraments in some early medieval lists. Orthodox monks follow Dio-

nysius with enthusiasm, still insisting on monastic tonsure as a sacra-

ment. Thus, the list of seven that generally prevails cannot be said to

be as fixed in Orthodoxy as in Roman Catholicism.

Finally, the notion of sacrament (mysterion) as that which per-

tains to the one mystery of Christ, and as communicating that mystery,

extends into the worshiping Church‘s every action: the painting of

icons, blessings of different objects, etc. Far more important, then,

than any enumeration is the idea of sacrament as that which manifests

Christ and enables the participant to partake of him. From this the Eu-

charist, a collective action in cooperation with the Holy Spirit fully

manifesting the Church, is the only sacrament to which Orthodox refer

without qualification as ―the mysteries‖. In this sense it is the Church

itself that is finally the sacrament par excellence.

Baptism

For entering the Christian life there is a sacrament called baptism

which is not construed so much as a cleansing from original sin

(though it is for cleansing of sins as Paul teaches), but more especially

as baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ. When the repen-

tant sinner is immersed in the baptismal waters, he or she descends to

death with Christ. When coming up out of the waters, the newborn

Christian is resurrected with Christ, all in the name of the Holy Trinity

(Mt 28:19). Baptism is preceded by repentance and catechesis in the

case of adults, and assumes a continuous membership in a Christian

community. Baptism of children occurs only in cases wherein the

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children are reared and taught in a Christian home and community,

whether by parents or others.

Chrismation

Chrismation (sometimes called confirmation) is the holy mys-

tery by which a baptized person is granted the gift of the Holy Spi-

rit through anointing with oil. As baptism is a personal participation in

the death and Ressurection of Christ, so chrismation is a personal par-

ticipation in the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Chrismation is practiced by anointing the new Christian with chrism,

which is holy oil (Gk. myron). The myron is a mixture of forty sweet-

smelling substances and pure olive oil. The Christian is anointed with

this oil in the sign of the Cross on his forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth,

ears, chest, hands and feet. Each time, the priest administering the sa-

crament says, "The Seal and Gift of the Holy Spirit."

Unlike in the Western churches, where confirmation is typically

reserved to those of "the age of reason," chrismation in the Orthodox

Church is normally administered immediately after baptism and im-

mediately (or at least shortly) before one's first reception of Holy

Communion.

Eucharist

The word Eucharist came from the Greek word meaning

thanksgiving, and variously called Holy Communion, the Lord‘s Sup-

per, the Last Supper, and the Liturgy, this thanksgiving first involved

Jesus (1 Cor. 11:24), and subsequently everyone with the name Chris-

tian who is ―to do this in remembrance of me‖, following the com-

mand of Christ for the messianic banquet. Both the institution and the

periodicity, the eighth day, of this sacrament as the primary Christian

worship can be demonstrated from the Gospels and other of the earli-

est documents. In traditional liturgical texts used in the Church many

Old Testament images and institutions are looked upon as prefiguring

the Eucharist. For example, the table and cup described in Ps 23, the

bread and wine presented by Melchizedek (Gen 14), the Levitical of-

ferings of thanksgiving, the paschal lamb, the banquet of Wisdom

(Prov. 9) are among those precursors and types. The New Testament

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references are almost all direct, including Paul (1 Cor. 11) and the

synoptic Gospels (Mt 26; Mk 14; Lk 22), with only a veiled reference

in Jn 6. Acts gives further information about the Eucharist as it was

celebrated by the Jerusalem community (ch. 2) and by Paul in Troas

(ch. 20). Other of the earliest Christian sources cite occurrences of the

Eucharist as central to Christian life, including the Didache (ch. 9),

Ignatius (Epistle to the Philippians, 4f.), and Justin Martyr (First

Apology, 1) in spite of the disciplina arcani, a reticence to speak of the

sacred mysteries. After the Christianization of the Roman Empire,

many of the Church Fathers, e.g., Cyril of Jerusalem, John Chrysos-

tom, Augustine made contributions to a popular understanding of the

centrality of this sacrament – to the extent that all of Christian spiri-

tual life would henceforth be explained classically in terms of either

Baptism or the Eucharist.

For the Orthodox it is important to say that the Eucharist mani-

fests the mystical communion of the individual believer with God, of

believers with one another, and of the unity of the Church. There is no

church, no theology, no mysticism, no individual that may disregard

the Eucharistic assembly. Fortunately, the East was not doctrinally af-

fected by the exhausting Western debates regarding transubstantiation,

and maintained a holistic view of the process of the entire Divine Li-

turgy – probably due to the understanding of the Eucharist expressed

within the liturgical prayers themselves.

Confession

The complex topic of confession is complicated by terminologi-

cal difficulties, for example, its relationship to apostasy, repentance,

and sin, and its history as a sacrament within the Church. Although it

may be convenient to divide the subject into three subtopics, confes-

sion of sins, confession of faith, and confession in relation to spiritual

guidance, the three items are probably all aspects of one topic.

The case for a negative confession of sins, which must necessari-

ly be complemented by a positive confession of faith, is the under-

standing of a particular biblical worldview. In both Hebrew and Greek

"to sin" means "to miss the mark," that "mark" being God. "Confess"

in Hebrew is a form of the verb "to shoot," thus "to hit the mark, i.e.,

God." "To confess" in Greek is "to speak out, publish, divulge." Al-

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though one can find instances of confession of sins by itself in the Old

Testament (Ps. 32:5; 38:18), the case for confession of sins with an

accompanying positive confession of faith is also found. For example,

a confession of sins is a necessary precedent for sacrifice (Lev. 5:5;

Ps. 51); and the "Great Confession" accompanies the reading of the

Law and the covenant to support God's house (Neh 9). Similarly, in

the New Testament one may find simple confession for repentance

(Mk. l:4f; 1 Jn. l:8f.) or the (negative) confession of sins (Mt. 3:4),

which is followed by the (positive) reception of the Holy Spirit (Mt.

4:11) or of healing (Jas. 5:16). The most familiar New Testament cita-

tion of confession is the solely positive one, the confession of Jesus as

Lord, the Christ, and so on. Represented par excellence by Peter's

words at Caesarea Philippi, this helps form the centerpiece of the three

Synoptic Gospels (confession, Cross-Resurrection, Transfiguration),

as well as a major theme forced back onto the reader by the Gospel of

John: Who is Jesus? In the apostolic Church it describes the profes-

sion of faith made by a martyr (2 Cor. 9:13; 1 Tim. 6:13). Although it

might go unnoticed, the theme of Peter‘s confession in the Gospels is

later offset by his three denials of Jesus during his trial. Peter is none-

theless a principal witness of the resurrected Lord; and John‘s Gospel

balances Peter‘s three sinful denials with three affirmations of his love

(21:15f.). The denials of Peter naturally lead to an investigation of

apostasy, which is the opposite of a positive confession of faith, and

should be consulted before proceeding to sacramental confession.

Historical developments in the early Church considered to be

formative to the sacrament of confession are many. Both the question

of the Lapsi (Latin, "the fallen") in the mid-3rd century and the Donat-

ist Schism in North Africa in the early 4th century were important

events that focused on the appropriate confession of faith for those

who had denied Christ under persecution. Many local councils, often

comprised of Christians who had been crippled or lost friends and

family during imperial persecutions, legislated on the equity of accept-

ing back into the Church members who had fallen away during perse-

cution. The legislation of local councils continued on into the seven

Ecumenical Councils, and became associated with the Eucharist when

the penitential ranks were institutionalized and assigned a place ap-

proaching, but not participating in, the Holy Mysteries (sacraments).

During this same period asceticism and monasticism flourished pub-

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licly, and with it came selfless obedience and spiritual direction. As

early as Antony and the ascetics of the desert, we witness a profound

sensitivity toward obeying a spiritual guide who is capable of identify-

ing the signposts of the way of the Lord, the spiritual journey of the

wayfarer, the pilgrim. Over the centuries the parish tradition of litur-

gical confession in preparation for the Eucharist and the monastic tra-

dition of spiritual direction were combined. In Greek such a confes-

sor/director is called a geron and in Russian, a starets. Although the

two functions of liturgical confessor and spiritual director are entirely

separable, a combination of the two is considered a great gift. A well-

known Russian spiritual father of the 19th century was Fr. John of

Kronstadt, and of the 20th century Fr. Alexander Elchaninov and Fr.

Alexis Mechev.

Matrimony

Marriage in the Orthodox Church is forever. It is not reduced to

an exchange of vows or the establishment of a legal contract between

the bride and groom. On the contrary, it is God joining a man and a

woman into one flesh in a sense similar to the Church being joined to

Christ (Eph. 5:31, 32). The success of marriage cannot depend on mu-

tual human promises, but on the promises and blessing of God. In the

Orthodox marriage rite, the bride and groom offer their lives to Christ

and to each other – literally as crowned martyrs.

Ordination

In Greek the technical term is cheirotonia (Church Slavic, ruko-

polozhenie), literally "the laying – or better, pressing – on of hands."

This action, on the part of the bishop and in the context of the eucha-

ristie liturgy, is believed to impart the grace of the Holy Spirit, in par-

ticular the charisma (if it is a bishop or priest being ordained) to pre-

side at the Eucharist and to teach the faith. It has been counted as a sa-

crament of the Orthodox Church since at least the time of Dionysius

the Areopagite. The particular term, cheirotonia, is applied only in the

case of an ordination to the three major ranks of episcopacy, presbyte-

rate, and diaconate. The lesser orders of the clergy, readers, cantors,

and subdeacons, are ordained by cheirothesia (the "placing on of [the

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bishop‘s] hands"). The sacrament presupposes a candidate whose life

presents no obstacle to the grace received.

3.5. Christian feasts

Easter

The greatest Christian feast is Easter (Pascha in Russian). Faith

in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Christian

Pascha, is the foundation of the Church. At the end of the four Gos-

pels (and in 1 Cor. 15) the Resurrection is described in twelve peri-

copes, which are read as separate stories during resurrection matins. In

the liturgy of St. Basil it is explicitly stated that Christians proclaim

the death of Jesus and confess his Resurrection, i.e., the death is a his-

torical fact while the Resurrection is a tenet of faith. As such, it has

aspects that go beyond history in the usual secular sense, which as-

pects function in the past, present, and future. In the past, the Resur-

rection was neither a resuscitation of Jesus, nor was it an observable

phenomenon; rather, the Resurrected Christ was observed. The Resur-

rected Christ is depicted in icons with a body that is in continuity with

his earthly body, but gloriously transformed (not someone who just

barely rose) and clearly is not governed by the laws of physics as we

know them. The Resurrected humanity of Christ, with Moses and Eli-

jah, with the newly freed Adam and Eve, resides with the Father in the

Kingdom of God. It is the source of our vision of God face to face, al-

though God remains unseen.

In the present the Resurrection is participated in by Christian be-

lievers, in a sense, through direct personal experience. This occurs par

excellence in Baptism, descending into the water as into the grave and

rising from it again, in the joyous liturgical celebration of Pascha

(Easter) as a present event, and in the Eucharist as the feast of the

messianic and heavenly banquet of resurrected life. The light of the

Resurrected Christ is not solely and personally God the Father's, but is

shared by the transformed humanity of Jesus, and cannot only be seen,

but can be currently shared in by believers. The future aspect of the

Resurrection is the eschatological culmination of all creation in God's

Kingdom, according to God‘s economy, about which neither the time

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nor the details are known. It is the possibility of every Christian to im-

itate Jesus in his entrance to the heavenly. Nevertheless, Christians do

not have to wait for the Second Coming or for their own deaths in or-

der to see God, because the present aspect of the Resurrection makes

that reality accessible now, and the future aspect guarantees an end to

current tribulation and is evidence of the peace that can only come

from above. Pascha is considered greater than all other feasts, is called

the Feast of Feasts, and is celebrated not only once a year but on every

Sunday. As the Christian Passover, it is seen in direct continuity with

the pre-Jewish and Jewish feast(s) involving the paschal lamb, with

the deliverance of God's people in the sea with Moses, and with the

liturgy of the Temple of Jerusalem; and it was identified as such as

early as the Gospels. The Pascha, Jesus‘ passing from death to life,

was made possible by the crucifixion, but the Cross and Crucifixion

are never absolutized without reference to the Resurrection – which

facilitates the victory of the Cross in suffering. The Orthodox Church

is correctly referred to – with an eye toward both theology and liturgy

– as the Church of the Resurrection.

The Miracle of the Holy Fire is only happened just before the

celebration of the Orthodox Easter. The miracle occurs every year on

the Orthodox Easter Saturday. There are many types of Orthodox

Christians: Syrian, Armenian, Russian and Greek Orthodox as well as

Copts. In the Holy Sepulchre Church alone there are 7 different Chris-

tian Denominations. The Orthodox Easter-date is fixed according to

the Julian Calendar, and not the usual Western European Gregorian

calendar, which means that their Easter normally falls on a different

date than the Protestant and Catholic Easter.

The Miracle of the Holy Fire by Christians from the Orthodox

Churches is known as ―The greatest of all Christian miracles‖. It takes

place every single year, on the same time, in the same manner, and on

the same spot. No other miracle is known to occur so regularly and for

such an extensive period of time; one can read about it in sources as

old as from the eighth Century AD. The miracle happens in the

Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, to millions of believers

the holiest place on earth. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre itself is

an enigmatic place. Theologians, historians and archaeologists consid-

er the church to contain both Golgatha, the little hill on which Jesus

Christ was crucified, as well as the ―new tomb‖ close to Golgatha that

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received his dead body, as one reads in the Gospels. It is on this same

spot that Christians believe he rose from the dead.

One can trace the miracle throughout the centuries in the many

itineraries to the Holy Land. The Russian abbot Daniel, in his itine-

rary, written in the years 1106-07, in very detailed manners presents

the Miracle of the Holy Light and the ceremonies that frame it. He re-

calls how the Patriarch goes into the Sepulchre-chapel (the Anastasis)

with two closed candles. The Patriarch kneels in front of the stone on

which Christ was laid after his death and says certain prayers, upon

which the miracle occurs. Light proceeds from the core of the stone a

blue, indefinable light which after some time kindles closed oil lamps

as well as the two candles of the Patriarch. This light is The Holy Fire,

and it spreads to all people present in the Church. The ceremony sur-

rounding ―The Miracle of the Holy Fire‖ may be the oldest unbroken

Christian ceremony in the world. From the fourth century AD all the

way up to our own time, sources recall the awe-awakening potent.

From these sources it becomes clear that the miracle has been cele-

brated on the same spot, on the same feast day, and in the same litur-

gical frames throughout all these centuries.

The Twelve Great Feasts

After Easter and the Sunday resurrectional liturgy, the Twelve

Great Feasts commemorate the most important saving events con-

nected with the life of Jesus Christ that the Church celebrates

throughout the course of the year. Although a few of the feasts (Palm

Sunday, Ascension, Pentecost) are movable because they are depen-

dent on Pascha, all the rest are on fixed calendar days.

The Christian ecclesiastical year, just as the Jewish year, begins

in September, and so the feasts are thus arranged:

1) 8 September, Nativity of the Theotokos. Originating in Syria-

Palestine in the 6th century and celebrated in Rome in the 7th century,

this feast commemorates Mary‘s birthday, not for its historical accura-

cy – because we do not know the exact date of her birth – but as the

first feast of the new year, in a certain way making all other of the

feasts possible.

2) 14 September, Exaltation of the Cross. This day commemo-

rates three historical occasions that are separable, each of which in-

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volves the Cross on which Jesus was crucified: The first is the legend

of the finding of the Cross by Helen, Constantine‘s mother, with his

patronage. Second is the anniversary of the completion of the Con-

stantinian basilica Church of the Resurrection (Holy Sepulcher) in Je-

rusalem, which also covers the site of the crucifixion. C. Last is the

recovery of the Cross from the Persians in 629 by the Emperor Herac-

lius. We know from the pilgrim Egeria‘s diary that the first two feasts

were already celebrated in the 4th с in the East.

3) 21 November, Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple.

This first feast of the Christmas-Epiphany fast (beginning on 15 No-

vember) is based on the story of Mary‘s life in the Temple as a child,

found in the Protoevangel of James (ca. 150), an apocryphal work.

The feast, also called the presentation, anticipates the Christmas-

Epiphany theophanic themes and shows Mary to be the holy fulfill-

ment of the First Covenant. It also develops the comparison between

the Temple of stone and the living temple, Mary, and, by extension,

the temple of the Holy Spirit of every human being. It seems to have

first been celebrated in Syria at the end of the 6th century.

4) 25 December, Nativity of Lord, Jesus Christ. This later and

lesser of the two winter theophany feasts (i.e., Epiphany and Christ-

mas) was first popularized in the West in the 4th century in order to

compete with the pagan festivals of the winter solstice, Natalis Soils

Invicti and Saturnalia. Soon popular in the East as well, possibly due

to the heated Christological controversies of the 4th-6th century, the

liturgical texts focus on the Incarnation and the birth accounts in the

Gospels of Mathew and Luke. The modern celebration curiously jux-

taposes some of the most profound theological insights with popular

druid, and now capitalist-commercial, festivities.

5) 6 January, Epiphany (or Theophany). The greatest of the win-

ter theophanic feasts, Epiphany remembers the Baptism of Jesus, pro-

totypical for every Christian, and the revelation of the Trinity. Mark-

ing the beginning of Jesus‘ ministry, this holy day is not only one of

personal baptism, but of the blessing of all water, a source of human

life, and through that water the blessing of the cosmos. This feast, like

Pascha and Christmas, is celebrated in a three-day cycle followed by

great feasting.

6) 2 February, Meeting of the Lord in the Temple. This feast, as

old as the 4th century in Jerusalem and spread throughout the Empire

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by Justinian in 542, commemorates the fulfillment of the Law of Mos-

es (Lev. 12; Num. 18) forty days after Jesus‘ birth. Alternately called

the Presentation in the West and greatly expanded contextually there,

in the East the liturgical texts especially commemorate the Lucan

narrative of the meeting of the Lord by Simeon and Anna, and the re-

citation of the beautiful Nunc Domitis.

7) 25 March, Annunciation. As early as Hippolytus and Tertul-

lian in the 3rd century, there is mention of the crucifixion on 25

March, and with it in Hippolytus and other later writers, the Annun-

ciation. But the earliest reference to a liturgical celebration is at the

Council of Toledo in 656, though there is a church commemorating

the Annunciation built in Nazareth before 400. The feast celebrates

the visitation of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary announcing to her the

birth of Jesus, Son of the Most High. It focuses on its connection with

the nativity of Jesus and the real role that Mary‘s sanctity and volition

played in that event.

8) One week before Pascha, Entrance of the Lord into Jerusa-

lem. Known popularly as Palm Sunday (although it falls on Monday in

the Gospel of John), this feast inaugurates Holy Week – separate from

Lent in the East – and is intrinsically linked with the raising of Laza-

rus and the causal events that led to Jesus' arrest and crucifixion. On

this day the faithful hold palms, or branches of willows in the Russian

Orthodox tradition, to identify themselves with the people who

greeted Jesus as he entered Jerusalem, an entrance that was both a dis-

play of political and eschatological significance as the beginning of

the last week.

9) Forty days after Pascha, Ascension. Celebrated by the whole

Church from at least the 4th-5th century, this feast commemorates the

end of the Resurrection appearances and the joyous ―sitting down of

Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father‖. Although the Eastern

Church liturgically follows the Lucan chronology (Lk. 24; Acts 1), the

only one that gives us a forty-day ascension, it is not unaware of the

other alternatives that see the Resurrection-Ascension-Pentecost as a

single event, since the Johannine readings are prescribed for the forty-

day period. A Russian Orthodox monastery sits atop the Mount of

Olives and marks the traditional identification of the site of the Ascen-

sion.

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10) Fifty days after Pascha, Pentecost. The fiftieth day after Pas-

sover is the Feast of Weeks in Jewish practice, or Pentecost; and in the

Lucan chronology (Acts 2) is identified as the day the Holy Spirit des-

cended upon the apostles. Pentecost marks the birth of the Church and

falls near the end of the Paschal celebrations, although the whole of

the time between Easter and Pentecost has occasionally been referred

to as Pentecost, a fast-free time when the liturgical book the pentecos-

tarion is used. On this day, in addition to the descent of the Holy Spi-

rit, the Orthodox especially remember the confusion of tongues at the

Tower of Babel as contrasted with the translation of the Good News

into languages comprehensible to all.

11) 6 August, Transfiguration of the Lord. Celebrated in Asia,

probably by Armenians, as early as the 4th century, it was in wide use

in the East before 1000, but not in the West until it additionally com-

memorated the defeat of the Turks at Belgrade in 1456. The Gospel

event is recorded in the synoptics (Mt. 17; Mk. 9; Lk. 9), alluded to in

2 Pet. 1, and marks the center of all the synoptic Gospels, along with

the confession of Peter and the prediction of the Cross and Resurrec-

tion. The understanding of transfiguration and theosis are quite differ-

ent in the East from the West. Whereas the West might see the event

on Mount Tabor primarily as a revelation of Jesus as God, the East

understands it, not only as a revelation of the Trinity, but as the visible

manifestation of the transformed humanity of Jesus, a glory shared by

Moses and Elijah.

12) 15 August, Dormition of the Theotokos. Known in the East

also as the feast of the Falling Asleep of Mary, and in the West as the

Assumption, the holy day was observed in Syria-Palestine from at

least the 4th-5th century Belief in the bodily assumption of Mary was

a topic of the 6th century among Gregory of Tours, Dionysius the

Areopagite, and later Germanus of Constantinople. The celebration

not only draws attention to the sanctity and faithfulness of Mary‘s

life, but to the recapitulation of the experience of the whole Church

and the life of the believer in her: ―The source of life is laid in the

grave and her tomb becomes a ladder to heaven‖. This feast is an apt

conclusion to the cycle of the liturgical year, which began with Mary‘s

birth.

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Besides this in liturgical calendar there are celebrations of saints

and commemorations of events and miracles linked with the holy

icons of Theotokos.

3.6. A Brief History of Christianity

Christianity began within the Jewish religion among the follow-

ers of Jesus Christ and under the leadership of the Apostles. Christian-

ity spread across the Mediterranean Basin, enduring persecution by

the Roman Emperors. As Christianity expanded beyond Israel, it also

came into increased contact with Greek culture which became a sig-

nificant influence on Christian thought through theologians.

Christian missionaries traveled across the empire, steadily win-

ning converts and establishing Christian communities. After the Great

Fire of Rome in July 64, Emperor Nero (56-68) accused the Christians

as convenient scapegoats who were later persecuted and martyred.

From that point on, Roman official policy towards Christianity tended

towards persecution. The Roman authorities suspected Christians of

disloyalty to the Emperor and of committing various crimes against

humanity and nature. Persecution recurred especially at times of civic

tensions and reach their worst under Diocletian (284 to 305). Constan-

tine I (324-337) ended the persecutions by establishing religious free-

dom through the Edict of Milan in 313. He later convened the historic

First Council of Nicaea in 325, a year after ending the civil war of 324

and emerging as the victor in the war of succession. This First Council

of Nicaea was formed to oppose Arius who had challenged the deity

of Jesus Christ. The result was the branding of Arianism as a heresy.

Christianity, as opposed to other religious groups, became the official

state religion of the Roman Empire on February 27, 380 through an

edict issued by Emperor Theodosius I in Thessalonica and published

in Constantinople. All cults, save Christianity, were prohibited in 391

by another edict of Theodosius I. Destruction of temples began imme-

diately. When the Western Roman Empire ended with the abdication

of Emperor Romulus Augustus in 476, Christianity survived it, with

the Bishop of Rome as the dominant religious figure, and in the East-

ern part of the Roman Empire – Byzantium whicn undertook the con-

ception of Pentarchy – they were churches founded by the Apostles

themselves include the Patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria,

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Antioch, Jerusalem, and Rome. The Church of Constantinople was

founded by St. Andrew, the Church of Alexandria by St. Mark, the

Church of Antioch by St. Paul, the Church of Jerusalem by Sts. Peter

and James, and the Church of Rome by Sts. Peter and Paul. Those

founded in later years through the missionary activity of the first

churches were the Churches of Sinai, Russia, Greece, Serbia, Bulga-

ria, Romania, and many others.

Each of these churches is independent in administration, but,

with the exception of the Church of Rome, which finally separated

from the others in the year 1054, all are united in faith, doctrine,

Apostolic tradition, sacraments, liturgies, and services. Together they

constitute and call themselves the Orthodox Church.

Even more dramatic and far-reaching in their implications were

the deepening differences between East and West. As ―New Rome‖,

Constantinople developed forms of organization and worship that

gave to Byzantine Christianity a special character that it was to trans-

mit to its daughter churches in eastern Europe. The dream of a single

Christian empire reaching from one end of the Mediterranean to the

other, all held together by a Greco-Roman Christian culture, never be-

came a reality for any significant length of time, not even under the

emperor Justinian (527–565), who strove to achieve it by every means

available, from armies to dogmas to jurisprudence. And as the Chris-

tianity of western Europe began to come of age, its family resem-

blance to Byzantium became less discernible.

The rise and rapid expansion of Islam in the seventh and eighth

centuries had, among many other consequences, the result of isolating

Eastern Christendom and the Christianity of western Europe from

each other. Fundamental differences of missionary methodology as-

serted themselves, most prominently in the Christianization of the

Slavs during the ninth and tenth centuries. Byzantium sought to make

a nation Christian by translating the Bible and the liturgy into that na-

tion‘s language, Rome sought to do so by teaching it to pray in Latin

and to accept Roman primacy. The collision between these two me-

thodologies on the Slavic mission field coincided with increasing ten-

sions over jurisdictional questions (such as the proper titles for the pa-

triarchs of Old and New Rome) and doctrinal disputes (such as that

over the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son).

173

All of these were symptomatic of the growing alienation — or, to put

the matter more positively, of the growing selfawareness of western

Europe as a Christian civilization in its own right rather than a Byzan-

tine outpost.

One other difference between Byzantine Christianity and the

Christianity of Western Europe during the Middle Ages was political.

Although the Eastern Church was not the servile department of state

that Western polemics have often described it to have been, its vision

of the Christian empire did view the imperial power as having been

transmitted directly from God through Christ to the emperor, without

the mediation of church and hierarchy. By contrast, as the symbolism

of the coronation of Charlemagne by the pope suggested, the media-

tion of the church was seen in the West as essential to the legitimacy

of political power; it was seen that way by a succession of popes, but

also by many emperors and kings, who invoked papal authority to va-

lidate their political sovereignty. Claiming the right to ―bind‖ and

―loose‖ not only the forgiveness of sins but also political office, the

papacy repeatedly came into conflict with the civil power, which often

made use of the territorial church in its own land as an instrument of

power politics. In the conflict between Pope Gregory VII and Emperor

Henry IV, climaxing in their encounter at Canossa in 1077, one of the

issues was the tension between the particularistic ambitions both of

the German emperor and of the German church and the universal

claims of the pope, who, as part of his campaign to purify and reform

the church, strove to secure its independence from the economic and

political entanglements of the feudal system. A century later, Thomas

Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, defended those universal claims

against the king of England, Henry II, and was murdered in 1170.

Combining as they did religious zeal, military ambition, national

rivalry, and a yearning for the exotic, the Crusades, beginning at the

Council of Clermont in 1095 and ending with the Turkish victory over

the Christian forces at Nicopolis in 1396, were, on one level, an ex-

pression of the medieval ideal of a united Western Christian Europe:

England, France, Germany, and Italy joined forces under the cross of

Christ and with the inspiration and blessing of the church to rescue the

―holy places‖ in Palestine. On another level, however, the Crusades

are frequently interpreted as a disaster both for Christianity and for

Europe, for they not only failed to achieve their goal in Palestine but

174

also proved to be divisive within Christendom itself. The Crusades, as

well as the confrontations between ―spiritual‖ and ―secular‖ authority,

for which parallels can be found throughout the history of European

and British Christianity both in the Middle Ages and since, illustrate

the church‘s paradoxical role as simultaneously the patron of national

cultures (whose kings were said to rule ―by the grace of God‖) and the

embodiment of a cultural ideal transcending all national boundaries.

That paradox was also at work in other aspects of medieval cul-

ture. In the millennium from Boethius (480–525) to Martin Luther

(1483–1546), the intellectual history of Europe during the Middle

Ages is, to a remarkable extent, the history of Christian thought in its

interaction with philosophy, science, and political theory, as these

came into medieval Europe both from classical antiquity and from

contemporary Islam and Judaism; the Scholasticism of the twelfth and

thirteenth centuries, whose most influential spokesman was Thomas

Aquinas (1225–1274), was an important chapter in the history of phi-

losophy no less than in that of theology. Much of the architecture of

the Middle Ages was made possible by the needs of the church for ba-

silicas, abbeys, and cathedrals, and its art by the themes of Christian

worship and devotion. Sacred music and secular music not only coex-

isted but interacted, both in the monastery and in the community. Ear-

ly monuments of the literatures of Europe, such as Beowulf and the

Norse sagas, document the blending of Christian and non-Christian

elements in Western Europe, and so, under more explicitly Christian

inspiration, do late monuments such as Piers Plowman and Dante‘s

Commedia.

In the East the dominant power was the Byzantine Empire,

whose fortunes had improved sufficiently in this period to permit con-

sideration of missionary efforts; that is, the spreading of the Greek or

Eastern form of Orthodox Christianity. In the West the Frankish Em-

pire was divided in 843 AD at the Treaty of Verdun into three parts,

the most eastern of which was to become Germany. Louis I (778–840

AD) the German became the founder of the German Carolingian dy-

nasty, which lasted until 911 AD. This dynasty pursued vigorous mis-

sionary efforts in Eastern Europe and northern Eurasia.

The first area in which the two missionary efforts came into con-

flict was Bulgaria. Both German and Byzantine missionaries saw the

Bulgarian Slavs as ripe targets for missionizing. The Bulgars, howev-

175

er, in their choice between Western and Eastern forms of Christianity,

were motivated by their own ethnic, cultural, and political perspec-

tives, with independence as a prime concern. In the year 860 AD the

drama began to unfold. Although at first attracted to the German mis-

sionaries, Khan Boris (d. 907 AD) accepted baptism from the Greeks.

Later, feeling that his church was not independent enough, he turned

from Constantinople to the West, admitting German missionaries

whose policies even more strongly curtailed the independence of the

Bulgarian church. These policies included the imposition of Latin in

worship, subjugation of the hierarchy to the pope, celibacy of the cler-

gy, and the filioque doctrine, even though it was not current in Rome

at the time. By 870 AD Khan Boris had reacted to these restrictions by

expelling the German missionaries and inviting back those from Con-

stantinople. Since then Eastern Orthodoxy has been the dominant reli-

gion in the Bulgarian nation.

Around 860 AD Prince Rostislav (846–870) of Moravia ap-

pealed to Patriarch Photios (Photius, 820–891) of Constantinople for

missionaries who could preach in the language of the people and con-

duct worship in Slavonic. Constantine, known later as Cyril, (827–

869) and Methodius (825–884), two Greek brothers from Thessaloni-

ca, were chosen for the task. Before going to the mission field, they

created a Slavonic alphabet, into which they translated the Bible and

the service books. Their mission policy thus included worship in the

language of the people, the preaching of the Eastern form of Christian-

ity (without the filioque), and the rapid indigenization of the clergy

with its consequent spirit of local autonomy in church government.

When they came into inevitable conflict with the German mis-

sionaries, Cyril and Methodius appealed to the pope and obtained his

approval for their methods in Moravia. The Germans not only ignored

this approval but even jailed Methodius for over a year. Following

Methodius‘s death, the Germans expelled the Byzantine missionaries

and imposed Western Christianity in the region. During this same pe-

riod Patriarch Photios also sent missionaries to Russia, and a short-

lived mission survived there until 878 AD. As in the past, Christianity

nevertheless continued to infiltrate the populace through ordinary con-

tacts from Byzantium in the south, Bulgaria in the west, and Scandi-

navia in the north. Thus, when Prince Vladimir (956–1015) was bap-

tized in 988 AD, the Christianization of the land was readily accom-

176

plished, at least in the cities and especially in the region around the

capital city of Kiev. As Vladimir had married the sister of the Byzan-

tine emperor, Christianity was adopted in its Byzantine form. Origi-

nally centered in Kiev, Christianity gradually spread north and east,

developing deep and strong roots among the people, and social con-

cern, liturgical piety, and monasticism united with the culture and lan-

guage of the Russian peoples. Nevertheless, Western influences were

also present in Russian Christianity, influences that found resonance

many centuries later.

The eleventh century and early twelfth century were marked by

the definitive Great Schism between the Eastern and Western

Churches. Begun in the ninth century, it is traditionally marked by the

mutual excommunications of Patriarch Michael Cerularios (1000–

1059) and Cardinal Humbert (1000–1061) in 1054 and considered

completed by the capture of Constantinople in 1204 by the Crusaders.

The Venetians, at the head of the Fourth Crusade, established a Latin

empire with a Latin patriarch in Constantinople. The Byzantines set

up their capital in Nicaea and were unable to return to Constantinople

until 1261. The result was that the pattern of conflict in the Christiani-

zation of the peoples of Eastern Europe was intensified over the next

few centuries.

On the southwestern shores of the region, the Croatians had long

been subjected to efforts at Christianization by Latin missionaries in

the sixth through eighth centuries, even though the Eastern empire

held nominal control over the area. After 800 AD, however, the

Franks brought the Croatians fully within the orbit of the West, com-

pleting the task by the tenth century. On their eastern border, however,

another people – the Serbs – opened themselves up to the disciples of

Cyril and Methodius. On the dividing line between Eastern and West-

ern Christendom, the ninth-century Prince Mutimir (865–891 AD), af-

ter some vacillation, looked toward Constantinople for the form of the

faith to be practiced by the Serbs. Slavonic worship and Orthodox

practices were accepted, and a strong Slavo-Byzantine culture was

formed. In 1219 Sava (c. 1176–c. 1236) was consecrated as archbi-

shop of Serbia in Nicaea, then the Byzantine capital. This consecration

reflected the strength of the Serbian Empire at the time. In 1375 Con-

stantinople recognized the Serbian patriarchate that had been proc-

laimed three decades earlier.

177

To the east of Serbia lay Romania, whose early Christian history

has been noted. The Romanians are not Slavs but, as their name indi-

cates, a Latin people. Clearly within the Greek-Byzantine ecclesial

tradition, they have maintained much of their orderly Latin heritage.

At the same time they have adopted a great deal from their Slavic

neighbors, especially in the area of worship. The Romanian church is

a fruitful amalgam of these various influences. By the fourteenth cen-

tury, metropolitanates had been set up in various parts of the Roma-

nian region.

In the late medieval period, several attempts made at reunion,

particularly in Lyons (1274) and in Florence (1438-39), ended in fail-

ure. The papal claims to ultimate supremacy could not be reconciled

with the conciliar principle of Orthodoxy, and the religious differences

were aggravated by cultural and political misunderstandings.

By 1341, Lithuania had become a large empire as a result of the

king‘s expansionist policies. Russian Orthodoxy and Polish Catholic-

ism vied for Lithuania‘s loyalty, but in 1385 a political union of Li-

thuania with Poland led to the baptism of the Lithuanians into Roman

Catholicism by Polish clergy. This Polish-Lithuanian relationship con-

tinued into the sixteenth century. Nevertheless, a significant Orthodox

population to the east remained ecclesiastically under the jurisdiction

of the metropolitan of Kiev. These Orthodox became the occasion for

the inception of a new phenomenon in church history – Uniatism, also

known as Eastern Rite Catholicism.

After the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453,

they recognized the ecumenical patriarch of that city as both the reli-

gious and the political spokesman for the entire Christian population

of the Turkish Empire. The patriarchate of Constantinople, although

still retaining its honorary primacy in the Orthodox Church, ended as

an ecumenical institution in the 19th century when, with the liberation

of the Orthodox peoples from Turkish rule, a succession of autoce-

phalous churches was set up: Greece (1833), Romania (1864), Bulga-

ria (1871), and Serbia (1879).

In the intellectual and cultural life of Europe, this was at the

same time a period of intense activity and of vigorous change. Al-

though it is historically incorrect to interpret the humanism of the Re-

naissance, whether Italian or Northern, as a rejection of the essential

content of Christianity, it did represent an attack on many of its re-

178

ceived traditions. Thus the humanists attacked medieval Scholasticism

both for its ignorance of classical culture and for its distortion of

Christianity. In keeping with the humanistic motto ―Back to the

sources!‖ Italian humanists like Lorenzo Valla (1406–1457) and

northern humanists like Erasmus (1469?–1536) devoted their scholar-

ly attention to recovering the original text and the authentic message

of the New Testament, and in this sense they also belong to the history

of late medieval reform. Humanist and churchman at once, Francisco

Jimenez de Cisneros (1436–1517) demonstrated the possibility of

holding together Roman Catholic orthodoxy and a commitment to

educational and ecclesiastical reform.

What kind of evolution of Christianity all these various reform

movements would have brought about on their own is a subject only

for speculation. For it was revolution, not evolution, that swept across

Christian Europe during the sixteenth century, transforming both the

map of Europe itself and the character of European Christianity in the

process.

The one church of the Middle Ages became the several churches

of the Reformation. Each of these reformations was to shape the histo-

ry of European Christianity in a distinct way. The Lutheran Reforma-

tion carried out into cultural, political, and ecclesiastical structures the

impulses set in motion by Martin Luther‘s struggle for faith. Although

Luther began that struggle on the assumption that he could find salva-

tion only within the institutional forms of the Western Church, he

ended by repudiating many of them, even denouncing the pope as an-

tichrist. A right relation with God was the consequence not of human

moral striving but of the divine gift of forgiving grace. That gift,

moreover, was appropriated by faith alone, faith being understood as

confidence and trust in the divine promise. And the authority for

knowing this promise and being assured of this grace was not the

voice of the church, but the word of God in the Bible. To be sure,

these three Reformation principles – often cited in their Latin formula-

tions as sola gratia, sola fide, sola Scriptura – became the common

property of much of Protestantism, not only of Lutheranism, even

though Lutheranism often claimed to be alone in carrying them out

consistently. But in the Lutheran churches of Europe, above all in

Germany and Scandinavia, these principles, enunciated officially in

179

the Augsburg Confession of 1530, served as the foundation for new

developments in many fields of culture. The Lutheran chorale, which

began with the hymns of Luther himself, flourished from the sixteenth

to the eighteenth century, producing not only hundreds of new litur-

gies and hymnals but also the sacred music of Johann Sebastian Bach

(1685–1750). In formulating the implications of the Reformation prin-

ciples, the theologians of the Lutheran church constructed systems of

Christian doctrine that sometimes rivaled those of the medieval Scho-

lastics for comprehensiveness, if not for philosophical sophistication.

The Calvinist tradition – or, as it has often preferred to identify itself,

the Reformed tradition—shared many of the central emphases of the

Lutheran Reformation, but sought to carry them out with greater con-

sistency.

As worked out in the career and thought of John Calvin (1509–

1564), it took sola Scriptura to mean an elimination of those features

in worship and Christian culture that could not claim explicit biblical

warrant. The primacy and sovereignty of divine grace implied that not

only salvation, but also damnation, was the consequence of the will of

God. Perhaps most important of all was the Reformed belief that the

social order, no less than the life of the individual believer, must be

brought into conformity with the revealed word of God. In the Calvin-

ist lands of Europe, therefore, far more than in the Lutheran ones, the

Reformation brought about a concerted effort to reshape politics and

economics in accordance with this standard.

Whether or not this helped to create a spiritual climate in which

modern European capitalism was able to take seed, as Max Weber and

other scholars have contended, is still a matter of controversy, but

Calvinism certainly did shape attitudes toward work, property, social

justice, and public order not only in the Swiss and other non-Lutheran

forms of Protestantism on the continent, but far beyond the borders of

western Europe (including North America). One of the regions in

which the Calvinist Reformation became a major cultural force was

the British Isles. Through the reformatory work of John Knox (c.

1514–1572), it was the Reformed version of Protestantism that pre-

vailed in Scotland. Doctrinally this meant that the Scots Confession of

1560, which Knox composed together with several colleagues, was to

be the first official statement of the teaching of the Reformed Church

of Scotland, until it was replaced by the Westminster Confession of

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1647. Liturgically, the Reformed character of the Church of Scotland

was guaranteed by The Book of Common Order (1556–1564), in

which Knox and his associates set down forms of worship that in their

judgment conformed to the scriptures and affirmed the evangelical

commitments of Reformation faith. The relation of England to the Re-

formed tradition was considerably more equivocal. Although the ear-

liest influences of the continental Reformation came to England

through the writings and the disciples of Luther, the terms of the set-

tlement that emerged from the break with Rome occasioned by the di-

vorce of Henry VIII (1491–1547) avoided putting the Church of Eng-

land unambiguously into any one confessional camp. The Book of

Common Prayer, the retention of the apostolic succession of ordaining

bishops, and the Thirty-nine Articles, taken together despite their deep

differences of approach, defined the settlement.

It was only with the rise of Puritanism and its protest against

such ambiguity that Reformed patterns of churchmanship and theolo-

gy began to press for control within Anglicanism. The established

church of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries left a permanent im-

print on English culture through such literary monuments as the Au-

thorized Version of the Bible and (despite profound divergences) the

works of John Milton (1608–1674).

Unless the term Reformation is understood in a polemical and

denominational sense as coextensive with the term Protestantism,

however, it is necessary to include in it the history of the Roman

Catholic reformation as well, and not simply to interpret this as a

Counterreformation. The Protestant Reformation did not exhaust the

imperative sense of reform within the church. In every country of Eu-

rope, therefore, Luther‘s activity evoked not only a defense of Roman

Catholic doctrine and order but also a call for greater dedication to the

cause of reform. The most abiding expression of that dedication came

at the Council of Trent (1545–1563), which reaffirmed the church‘s

teaching by identifying which positions among the many being es-

poused by churchmen and theologians lay within the bounds of ortho-

doxy and which did not. No less urgent an item on the council‘s agen-

da was the elimination of the abuses to which its fifteenth century pre-

decessors had already addressed their attention. Bishops were now ob-

liged to be resident in their dioceses, instead of collecting the income

and leaving the duties to surrogates. Preaching and teaching were

181

prominent among those duties, and therefore the professional training

of future clergy in seminaries was incumbent on the church every-

where.

Implementation of the Catholic reformation was entrusted not

only to a revitalized episcopate and clergy and a reformed papacy but

also to the renewal of the religious orders and to the development of a

new religious order, indeed, a new kind of order, in the Society of Je-

sus, founded by Ignatius Loyola (1491–1556). In part to compensate

for the losses of European territory to Protestantism, the Jesuits and

other religious orders undertook an intensification of missionary activ-

ity in the New World, as well as in Asia.

Also a part of the Reformation in Europe, despite their exclusion

from conventional accounts, were the representatives of the several

radical reformations. Anabaptism criticized Lutheranism and Calvin-

ism for not having gone far enough in their rejection of traditional

Roman Catholic forms, and it pressed for a ―believers‘ church,‖ in

which only those who made a public commitment and confession

would be members; since that excluded infants, the practice of infant

baptism was repudiated. To be consistent, many of the Anabaptists,

notably the Mennonites, likewise disavowed the Constantinian union

between church and state, and some of them even repudiated the defi-

nition of ―just war‖ and hence the theory that Christians could wield

the sword. Although such groups as the Mennonites retained the or-

thodox doctrines of the Trinity and the divinity of Christ, the radical

critique of traditional Christianity led others to question these as well.

Despite their relatively small numbers, the churches and sects of the

radical Reformation were expressing misgivings about the forms of

institutional and orthodox Christianity, misgivings that appear to have

been widespread, though unacknowledged, throughout Europe, both

Roman Catholic and Protestant. Thus the end result of the Reforma-

tion was a Europe balkanized into confessions and denominations that

continued to divide among themselves, a Europe in which the assump-

tions of a thousand years about a common Christian worldview were

less and less valid.

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3.7. Russian Orthodoxy

The Slavic Churches trace their origins back to Constantinople

through the missionary efforts of Constantine-Cyril and Methodius,

and to the baptism of Kievan Rus‘ in the Dnieper River in 988 in the

reign of Prince Vladimir (956-1015). It was under the inspiration of

Vladimir's Christian grandmother, Princess Olga, and Vladimir's

Greek (political) relations from the court of Emperor Basil II that Vla-

dimir himself was baptized Basil at this time. He actively promoted

Christianity by building churches and monasteries and doing charita-

ble works. But he was known to have used inappropriate compulsion

to promote baptism, and paid insufficient attention to the required ca-

techesis of new Christians. The anomalous situation that resulted had

noteworthy characteristics: Christianity spread from the top down, –

from the political and educated elite to the peasantry; the language of

worship from the beginning was Slavic, even though a metropolitan,

hierarchy, and initial group of clergy were brought from the Byzantine

Empire. For many centuries afterward the popular religion was a dual-

faith based on an admixture of Christianity and paganism. All things

considered, Vladimir was canonized in the 12th century as an apostle

to the Slavs. The traditional, glorious legend of the conversion of the

Kievan Slavs from the Chronicles – at the recommendation of Vladi-

mir‘s emissaries to foreign lands – is worthwhile reading and consi-

dered by many experts to contain a kernel of historical fact.

The Kievan Period in Slavic Church history covers the 10th-13th

centuries. The history of Kievan Rus' was punctuated by the assimila-

tion of Byzantine spirituality through translations, internecine warfare

in the princely families, the establishment of an indigenous monastic-

ism that spread from Kiev north and found a new impetus with Ser-

gius of Radonezh, the Tartar invasions that decimated the entire region

and left intact only Novgorod and its environs, and the moving of the

secular and religious "capital" from Kiev to Moscow. Kievan Rus' is

best known by its literature – which centered on Scripture. Ironically,

no complete manuscript of the Slavic Bible exists from this period.

Nonetheless, the popular power of liturgy and the personal piety of the

people of Kievan Rus' dictated that spiritual writings were of the ut-

most importance. Religious writings were called sacred and divine in-

sofar as they were not heretical. The idea of distinguishing between

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the inspired Holy Scriptures, the Church Fathers, and the apocrypha

(non-Biblical rather than deuterocanonical) did not exist. Indeed, the

apocrypha was especially liked because of its fabulous content, which

appealed to the imagination and was entertaining.

Since the Old Testament enjoyed limited liturgical use, only the

prescribed church readings were collected into one liturgical book,

rendering a complete Old Testament unnecessary. Other available bib-

lical books for church and private use circulated in smaller collected

editions. The Book of Psalms was the most popular one, outpacing

even the Gospels, and was used not only as the prayerbook of the

Church but also as the chief reading primer. After the psalter and indi-

vidual Gospels came the prophets and wisdom literature, especially

Sirach. The Palaea, a kind of Reader's Digest version of the historical

books of the Old Testament dressed up with apocryphal legends,

completed the list. While reading was a virtue of the elite, and liturgy

appealed to both elite and peasant, Holy Scripture and apocryphal

works were rivaled in popularity only by translations of the lives of

saints, followed by sermons (f.i., by Kirill of Turov) and patristic ex-

egeses. Thus, three of the largest and most popular literary corpuses of

Kievan Rus' had Scripture as their centerpiece.

In Kievan Rus' the newly baptized nation saw its first monastic

foundation in the 11th century Lavra of the Caves (Pecherskaya La-

vra), which has served for most of its existence – particularly since the

16th century – as the center of Orthodoxy in Ukraine. Western

Ukraine looks to the monastery of Pochaev in particular. The center of

Muscovite tradition since the late 14th century has been the monastery

of the Holy Trinity, called also by its founder's name, Sergius of Ra-

donezh. The Russian monastic colonization of the north in the 14th

and 15th centuries created such enduring landmarks as Solovetsky in

the White Sea, and the enormous monastic complex of Valaam (built

on islands in Lake Ladoga). Renewed in the 18th century by a disciple

of Paisiy Velichkovsky and powerfully influential in the 19th century

and early 20th century, the Optina Pustyn, an ascetic community near

the monastery of Optina in central Russia, served as the center for a

series of spiritual elders (startzi) whose influence on Russian writers

and thinkers in the later 19th century and early 20th century has been

noted by many sources (e.g., Dostoevsky's Elder Zossima in Brothers

Karamazov).

184

Another Christian period in history of Old Russia was connected

with Novgorodian tradition which goes from approximately the mid-

12th century to 1471 when the city surrendered to Ivan III of Moscow,

and represents an integral link from the nascent Christian culture of

Kievan Rus' to that of Muscovite tradition later. In 1136 Novgorod set

out on a unique democratic political course – with a culture, class

structure, and form of government similar to that of Kiev – and within

a short time (1156) claimed a certain religious independence by exer-

cising its traditional ecclesiastical right to elect an archbishop. In the

life of this new city-state the archbishop played an important political

role in addition to his ecclesiastical duties: president of the Council of

Notables, adviser and arbitrator for citizens, and occasionally traveling

ambassador. Novgorod defended itself and greater Russia from reli-

gious crusader-type invasions from the West dozens of times during

these three centuries, epitomized in the life of Alexander Nevskii. De-

fensive perimeters of the city utilized not only hydraulic works, but

strategically placed monasteries, which served as forts. The city sur-

vived the Mongol invasions without being occupied, one of the few

such cities to do so, by submitting to the khan and relying on the em-

bassy skills of the same Nevskii. He was appointed grand prince of

Russia (1252-63) by the great khan and thus became the archetypal

representative of Novgorodian Christianity and the ideal Christian

prince.

Religious development occurred during this period in the fields

of church architecture and iconography, Novgorod setting a standard

of comparison for later representations in these arts. Christian litera-

ture was not only preserved, but its corpus expanded, due to the litera-

cy of the general population. This literature included the Church Fa-

thers, the Bible, historical chronicles, and pilgrimage travelogues. Not

all the writings from the period were of equal spiritual value, witness

the Questions of Kirik. Contacts with the Byzantine world were main-

tained and the Palaeologan Renaissance took root in Russia as well.

Even frontier settlers participated in the copying of books. The oldest

surviving Church Slavic biblical manuscript, the illuminated Ostromi-

rovo Gospel (1056-57), originated here, as did the Gennadievskii Bi-

ble. The best-known theological debate took place in this context as

well between Joseph of Volokolamsk and the Transvolgan Elders. The

Josephites took the part of Church and state cooperation and the pos-

185

session by monasteries of lands and goods, while Nilus of Sora and

the Transvolgan Elders thought that monasteries should not own prop-

erty and took a more eschatological view of the world and society

(i.e., possessors vs. non-possessors). It appears Novgorod established

an intellectual and spiritual tradition that, when co-opted by Muscovy

in the 16th century, provided the ideas which supported the rise of

Moscow. For this reason many eminent Russian historians do not see

the Novgorodian period as culturally separate, since no distinct inter-

ruption in creativity or direction of development occurred from Kie-

van Rus' to Muscovy. For instance, the single great event, the Tartar

Appanage, had a limited effect since the Mongols did not attempt to

convert conquered peoples. After the looting and destruction, they ob-

served religious tolerance and respect. In any case Novgorodian tradi-

tion became enshrined as the Russian example when a monk from

Pskov, Filofei, wrote Tsar Vasilii (Basil) III describing Moscow as the

Third Rome (ca. 1510), and Tsar Ivan IV and Metropolitan Makarii of

Moscow at the Council of One Hundred Chapters (1551) made Nov-

gorodian tradition the historical paradigm of culture for Moscovite

tradition following the fall of Constantinople (1453).

At the end of the 15th century the kingdom of Muscovite Rus',

or Great Russia, was about to coalesce. The tension between Novgo-

rod and Moscow was caused by the very rapidly spread Judaizing he-

resy when two Novgorodian priests converted to the movement trans-

ferred to Moscow, it became marginally influential in the capital. The

Judaizers were led by Zechariah (Slavic: Skharia), probably a Crimean

Karaite Jew, who taught that Christ was a prophet, the messianic

prophecies were unfulfilled, the Church is unnecessary, etc. Besides

the Old Testament, the group translated Maimonides and Algazel as

well as astrological books. The group was pursued and persecuted by

both the government and the possessor party in the Church. he main

opponent of the Judaizers was Joseph of Volok (1439/40-1515), abbot

of the Volokolamsk Monastery. He successfully pursued them until

they were condemned by a church council (1504). Subsequently, Tsar

Ivan III dealt harshly with them. Joseph is best known in Russian his-

tory as the spokesman for the "possessors," who believed in extensive

church holdings and close cooperation with secular authority in order

to do God's work. His opponent was Nilus of Sora (Nil Sorskii, 1433-

1508) leading the "non-possessors," who minimized church holdings

186

and preferred a separation between Church and state, espousing the

contemplative ideal of hesychasm, which he had learned on Mt.

Athos. Theologically, the non-possessors were definitely legitimate

representatives of Holy Tradition, though they were in the minority

and politically suspect. Scripture figured in Joseph's controversies

with the non-possessors no less than it had with the Judaizers. The

non-possessors, anticipating what would occur in the West later in the

same century, considered only Scripture (i.e., God's commandments)

truly binding, as opposed to tradition and human custom, which could

be critiqued and changed. Although both Joseph and Nilus were cano-

nized, Joseph's "establishment" position better accommodated the ris-

ing centralization of the Muscovite state, while some of Nilus's dis-

ciples were condemned as heretics. Joseph educated monks for ser-

vice.

In 1448, the Council of the Russian higher clergy elevated Bi-

shop Iona of Ryazan to the cathedra of the Metropolitan of Moscow

and All Russia, independently of Constantinople, making the Russian

Orthodox Church autocephalous.

The Muscovite Christian tradition was in direct continuity with

Novgorodian tradition, coming after its apex, and includes within its

purview the possessor theological orientation of Joseph of Voloko-

lamsk, the creation of the Unia, and the Old Believer Schism under Pa-

triarch Nikon. It corresponds historically to Muscovy's rise to power

as the center or capital of Russia, and ends (for our purposes) with the

Spiritual Regulation of Peter the Great and the abolition of the patriar-

chate of Moscow. Thus, it covers the period from the capture of Nov-

gorod by Ivan III of Moscow in 1471 to the publication of the Spiri-

tual Regulation in 1721, including within it the early history of the pa-

triarchate of Moscow, 1589-1700. Aside from its Novgorodian roots,

the religious orientation of Muscovy evolved from a series of church

councils in the mid-16th сentury. Before this, the Muscovite tsars con-

sciously wished to become heirs of the Byzantine emperors, evidenced

by the marriage of Tsar Ivan III to Sophia Palaeologus. Councils in

1547 and 1549 canonized almost forty Russian saints and improved

ecclesiastical organization.

The council in 1554 was devoted to condemning Russian here-

sies associated with Protestantism or the non-possessors. A type of na-

tional self-identity appeared that included political and religious unifi-

187

cation. The Council of the Hundred Chapters (Stoglav) in 1551 was

probably the most formative for Muscovite tradition in that it did not

pronounce on doctrinal matters, but did pronounce on orthopraxy or

ecclesiastical discipline. Its statements on the chanting of two Alle-

luias and the two-fingered sign of the cross set the stage for the Old

Believer Schism a century later. This Council was held under the pres-

idency of Metropolitan Makarii of Moscow, who was consciously at-

tempting to systematize and construct a Muscovite culture. Both he

and Tsar Ivan IV broke with the Byzantine identification and cano-

nized Novgorodian tradition, especially when they cited historical pre-

cedents, habits, and customs at the Council. The Byzantine era that

had ended a century before with the fall of Constantinople was no

longer a viable religious inspiration for a Muscovy that faced fresh

challenges. A devotion to Byzantine contemplatives, of the sort cham-

pioned by the non-possessors, was replaced by an emphasis on con-

structing a Christian society. Makarii established the first printing

press in Russia, collected the lives of the saints, then codified them

and published them as a model for proper piety in this new society. He

did the same with the Great Reading Compendium and the Biblical

Codex, combining history and interpretative story into single volumes.

The Hundred Chapters themselves are difficult to analyze because the

answers do not address the questions asked. In any case, uniformity

and order seem to be the desired effect of the proceedings. These

councils laid the groundwork for the final break with the Greeks in

1589, a political and ecclesiastical manifesto, with the establishment

of an autocephalous patriarchate in Moscow. So a patriarchal throne in

Moscow was instituted in 1589, with the first Russian patriarch, Iov,

enthroned on January 26.

In 1654 the ancient metropolitanate of Kiev located within

Ukraine joined the Moscow patriarchate, completing an ongoing

process of expansion and betterment of the life of the Church. Al-

though Kievan Rus' encapsulated the early history of the Church in all

Rus' before the Novgorodian period, the recent preceding centuries

were marked by Poland-Lithuania's domination of Kiev, and over-

whelming influence from the Roman Catholic Church in the Unia and

Peter Mogila. Parts of Ukraine continued to be annexed to Muscovy

through the end of the 17th сentury the Church in pre-Petrine Russia

enjoyed tremendous wealth, including extensive landholdings and

188

monasteries – an otherwise peaceful situation that ended with Pa-

triarch Nikon's reforms and the later enforcement of the Spiritual Reg-

ulation of Tsar Peter.

It is important to mention that the first full text of the Church

Slavic Bible, after the earlier Gennadievskii Bible, was published in

1580 and again with emendations in 1581. Known as the Ostrog Bible

after its chief patron, Prince Constantine of Ostrog (Konstanin Os-

trozhskii), the work appeared as part of a larger private publishing ef-

fort among the Orthodox in Lithuania and Poland, which included li-

turgical books and religious pamphlets. Although all the publications

served apologetic purposes against non-Orthodox Christians, the in-

spiration for this serious translation project came from a traditional vi-

sion of Slavo-Hellenic culture, common to participants in the Ostrog

Circle. Trained in Greek, Latin, and Slavic, members of the Ostrog

Circle such as Cyril Lukaris rooted their work in their own tradition,

while participating in a trilingual "Greek school," lasting only a few

decades. The Prince's school was a response to the Jesuit-sponsored

College of St. Athanasius founded in Rome during the same period to

educate Slavs and Greeks in the Unia, and the Circle responded

strongly to Uniatism. Members of the Circle were exceptional for their

time and place and many went on to make history elsewhere. In me-

thodology of biblical translation the Circle employed classical Church

Slavic, while attempting to follow the Greek textual tradition using

every available critical resource. Starting first with Gennadius's Bible,

other Greek and Slavic manuscripts were obtained from Constanti-

nople and monastic centers; but the manuscripts were poor. Next they

used the (Masoretic) Hebrew text, the Vulgate, and recent Czech and

Polish versions. Finally they checked their results against the Aldine

Septuagint (Venice, 1518) and the Complutensian Polyglot (Spain,

1522), containing parallel columns of Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and

Latin Old Testaments, as well as Greek and Latin New Testaments.

Clear from this methodolgy is the fact that the Ostrog Slavic Bible

cannot be equated with the Septuagint, as most people suppose. It is a

composite work and does not correspond in every respect to the

Greek. The quality of the Slavic text of the Ostrog Bible compared fa-

vorably to other contemporary translations, such as the Sixtus Cle-

mentine version of the Vulgate (1592). Modern scholar Georges Flo-

rovsky has evaluated the Circle's translation as a landmark in Slavic

189

biblical history and a monument of scholarship, literature, and theolo-

gy. All subsequent editions of Church Slavic Bibles have been depen-

dent on the Ostrog text.

As for the Old Belief it arose in 17th сentury Russia in direct re-

sponse to the liturgical-translational reforms of Patriarch Nikon. The

origins of the need for translation reform in the Russian Church in the

17th сentury is most usually attributed to mistakes and translation er-

rors from Greek to Church Slavic, which had affected Muscovite li-

turgy over an extended time span, a situation confirmed by Tsar Mi-

chael's commission for an investigation of such and by visiting Greek

clergy. When Patriarch Nikon initiated the process of translation

reform in 1652, he encountered tremendous resistance. Only in about

the last century has the premise been taken seriously that some of the

resistance might have been justified. From a scholarly point of view,

the Greek liturgical books themselves had evolved in content and ex-

pression since the time the Church Slavic translations had been made

from them. Examples of the rubrical practices reformed included the

singing of a threefold Alleluia instead of two and the making of the

sign of the cross with three fingers instead of two. Nikon mustered

support for his reforms from various quarters: Church councils (1654,

1656), the patriarch of Constantinople, Mt. Athos, the patriarchs of

Alexandria and Antioch, scholarly Greek and Ukrainian monks, etc.

After hopes were raised of defeating the movement among the opposi-

tion when Nikon fell into disfavor with Tsar Alexis (1658), two sub-

sequent Moscow church councils upheld the reforms but deposed Ni-

kon (1666-67). This set the stage for the raskol, the schism of the sta-

rovery or staroobriadtsy, of the Old Believers or Old Ritualists. The

reforms had the full backing of Church and state, and opposition to

them was falsely interpreted as rejection of both – punishable by

death. Those who opposed the reforms appealed to the faith of Novgo-

rodian and Muscovite Christian forbears, as well as to the Council of

One Hundred Chapters (1551; Stoglav), which was quite explicit on

how many times Alleluia was to be sung and how many fingers were

to be used in making the sign of the cross – two! (This fact was so dis-

tressing to later Russian historians through the mid-19th century that it

was considered an Old Believer forgery.) Old Believers perished at

the stake, whole monasteries were besieged and captured, and the

twenty-five years following the Council of Moscow saw new apoca-

190

lyptic Old Belief expectations as self-fulfilling prophecies, when do-

zens of their communities destroyed themselves in mass suicides. The

most curious aspect of the schism was that both sides thought the dis-

puted matters were of life and death importance, although nothing of a

dogmatic nature was discussed – only ritual. Old Believers survive to

the present, and communities may be found in the United States and

Canada. The first major division occurred early among them between

the popovtsy, those with clergy, and the bezpopovtsy, those without

clergy. Most of the later sects emanating from the Old Believers (f.i.,

Doukhobors) came from the priestless group – a circumstance that re-

sulted from the sect's lack of bishops to ordain clergy. The entirety of

the Old Belief was largely reorganized in the 18th century and num-

bered in the millions before the Russian Revolution. Nicholas Riasa-

novsky has recently pointed out that the tragedy of both Nikon's Mus-

covite Church and the Old Belief is that both tended to focus on the

form of the faith to such a degree as to eclipse the content. To this

may be added the observation that what began as a somewhat legiti-

mate protest to Nikon's reforms became, in the priestless sects, a ma-

nifestation of the most extreme cultic, self-destructive behavior. Mis-

takenly, Westerners sometimes classify all of these sectarians together

as types of Protestants – tantamount to mixing Old Catholics and

Mennonites together with Branch Davidians and followers of Jim

Jones.

Religious conflicts were resolved by severe measures under Pe-

ter the Great rule. It must be understood that the religious reforms of

Tsar Peter occurred in the greater context of the Westernization and

reform of Russia, including the military, all government administra-

tions (which meant for him the Russian Church, too), the economy,

education, society, and culture. Though the reforms were during a

time of continual war, their scope and comprehensiveness cannot be

overemphasized. Peter was definitely the visionary who, for better or

for worse, united the various and disparate measures in his own per-

son.

In 1700 Peter changed the calendar in two ways: Years were

counted from Christ's birth, not the date of the (supposed) creation of

the world, and the first month was January rather than September of

the ecclesiastical year. He arranged for books to be published by a

Dutch press, and produced the first newspaper in Russia. But this was

191

after he allowed the national language to be Russian, and not Dutch as

he had seriously considered. Still, the older Slavic language was re-

formed and simplified with Slavic, Greek, and Latin letters to produce

what came to be known as the civil alphabet. Slavic alphabetic num-

bers, quite cumbersome, were replaced with Arabic numerals. Only

church liturgical books were allowed to continue with the old alphabet

and numbers.

The establishment of secular schools on the European model an-

ticipated what was to happen with ecclesiastical schools. Besides

sending students abroad, Peter created a School of Mathematical and

Navigational Sciences (Moscow, 1701), a Naval Academy (St. Peters-

burg, 1715), medical schools (1706, 1709), a museum of natural

science and a library (St. Petersburg), the Imperial Academy of

Science (St. Petersburg), and about forty elementary schools in pro-

vincial towns. Private schools and tutoring for the gentry survived Pe-

ter's death, unlike the public schools – which did not take root until

Catherine II made Russian, not Latin, the language of instruction. As a

result of Peter's educational reform, a university was begun in Mos-

cow (1755) with departments of law, medicine, and philosophy. (Be-

fore one might idealize Peter as the liberal visionary who promoted

education at all costs, it should be considered that almost all of his

schools had a direct bearing on oiling his war machine, which he kept

functioning continually during his reign with the exception of twenty-

four scattered months).

When Archbishop Theophanes Prokopovich prepared the Spiri-

tual Regulation for Peter, who issued it on 25 January 1721, uniform

ecclesiastical schools were provided for with grades that progressed to

philosophy and theology as the height of learning. Prokopovich, who

had studied at the Uniate College of Athanasius in Rome, took the

Kievan academy as his model for theological education. But like the

foreignness of the secular schools, the Kievan academy was grounded

in the Latin learning of Scholasticism, and life in the seminaries was

cloistered from the influences of family and tradition. Curiously, Pro-

kopovich preferred to follow Protestant rather than Roman Catholic

problems in his Scholasticism – though Aquinas was well-known.

Since the ecclesiastical schools were predicated on the Kievan model,

hierarchs from the Ukraine opened them in Russia, staffed them with

Ukrainian teachers, and frequently brought their students from the

192

Ukraine. In certain instances only Ukrainian was spoken, and only

Ukrainians were advanced to candidacy for the episcopacy. A forced

"Ukrainization" occurred in Russia due to Peter's reforms. Ironically,

the secular schools did not survive the 18th century and the ecclesias-

tical schools did. In the last decades of the century when Catherine II

popularized education, the ecclesiastical schools provided the new

teachers, who now graduated from teachers' seminary. Still, the suc-

cess was forced: Peter's ecclesiastical schools were "caste" schools

with mandatory participation from clergy offspring. By mandatory is

meant not merely physical punishment, but criminal prosecution! The

student was fulfilling a duty to the state, and desertion was treated

with severity – the ―criminal‖ was pursued and returned in chains, if

necessary. In spite of this, the attrition rate was high, sometimes half a

seminary class; the reason was not an unwillingness to learn, but the

uselessness of the education. The Latin-Polish curricula were foreign

and left the more useful subjects of theology and rhetoric in Russian

for the last year – which few reached. Latin and Scholasticism had no

relevance to Orthodox or Russian life, and they were not a large part

of contemporary European culture. The contradiction between praying

in Church Slavic and theologizing in Latin was too glaring.

An even more profound change by Peter was the abolition of the

Russian patriarchate. In Prokopovich's Regulation, written over the

course of some years, the patriarch's authority was replaced by the

"Ecclesiastical College," which within a month was renamed "The

Most-Holy Ruling Synod." At this time the Holy Synod was com-

prised of three bishops, four archimandrites, and four archpriests. All

matters were settled by majority, but all decisions were subject to state

control. There was no access to the emperor as the patriarch had; but

all members were appointed by the emperor. The ober-procurator was

the intermediary between the Synod and the tsar, and this "eye of the

Tsar" participated in all Synod meetings.

In time both the ratification of the Synod's decrees and the ap-

pointment of new members to the Synod came to depend on the ober-

procurator. Over the next twenty years various bishops and clergy ob-

jected to or tried to change the Regulation, including Prokopovich, but

the Regulation – brought into law by Peter's imperial commands and

threats – was not to be superceded. The power of the ober-procurator

increased until he became a minister of state. Then, under Alexander I,

193

the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs and Education was organized

(1817-1824). This department of state so alarmed the hierarchy that

they complained of it as a threat to and persecution of the Church. The

situation did not change until the patriarchate was reestablished in

1918.

Since Peter was no friend of monasticism, he attempted to trans-

form it into a state agency of educated social workers. Prohibitions

against monks having books or pen and paper in their cells were de-

signed to curtail any thinking and writing activities that were not state

approved. Fortunately, the reforms were unsuccessful in monastic cir-

cles.

Although not originally intended to do so, the intellectual and

economic impact of the Regulation on the Church by the end of the

18th century was devastating. Intellectually, the spirit of the Age of

Reason, prepared for by Peter, left the Church only with the old ways

– the old alphabet, the old calendar, the old language – displaying lit-

tle originality and contrasting with an idealized Europe. Russia's intel-

lectuals were ripe for Voltaire's antichurch polemics and self-

indulgent habits.

In this atmosphere the Russian Church's land and serfs were con-

fiscated in 1764, then it was subsidized at one-third its previous budg-

et, and that on a declining basis. The clergy and their dependents,

about 1 percent of the population, were impoverished by the treby sys-

tem, while the government maintained a large army and bureaucracy,

and the Imperium enjoyed one of the largest courts in Europe with a

wealthy gentry. Thus, Peter's reforms not only Westernized, but also

began the secularization of, the Church.

Twice Russian monastic life and spiritual culture were tragically

interrupted – by Peter‘s reforms and by Bolshevik persecutions. The

Spiritual Regulation of Peter I (1721) contained legislation on monas-

ticism and monasteries. He prohibited monks from studying books and

engaging in writing. This included: 1) no writing in monks' cells, ei-

ther books or letters, without specific permission, nor may letters be

received – subject to severe corporal punishment; and 2) no ink or pa-

per could be owned by monks. Otherwise monasteries were to be con-

verted into workhouses, foundling homes, or veterans homes. Monks

were to become hospital attendants and nuns were to be spinners and

lacemakers. Peter's educated "new monk" was of the Latin Kievan

194

type, drilled in Scholasticism, who might eventually be enlightened so

as to serve as a capable translator of books. The end of the 18th с saw

a revival of monasticism and concern with the spiritual life, which

continued until the Russian Revolution. Metropolitan Gavriil Petrov

(1730-1801) encouraged the revival and supervised Paisii Velich-

kovsky's translation of the Philokalia. Peter's reform did less to dis-

mantle monasteries and monasticism than it did the hierarchical lea-

dership over subsequent centuries.

In sum, it is difficult to overstate the importance of monasticism

for the life, Christian standards, spirituality, liturgy, and theology of

the Orthodox Church. One special note of importance is the fact that

this movement has remained throughout its history in the East funda-

mentally lay in origin and character. The monks are, in the main, not

clergy. It is still exceptional in most monasteries for there to be more

priests than the minimum required to preside at the daily services.

Unlike the West, it is understood as a separate vocation from that

of sacramental ministry or the pastorate. In a nutshell, since their ap-

pearance the monks have provided a type of second "apostolic succes-

sion" beside and supplementary to that of the official ranks of bishop

and clergy. They have been, or at least have been perceived, as the

primary carriers of the freedom of the Holy Spirit. The monks them-

selves have been conscious of this prophetic and charismatic role

since the Desert Fathers of the 4th century. At various times in the life

of the Church, for example in 8th century iconoclasm, 14th century

hesychasm, or the renewal led by Nicodemus and Paisii Velichkovsky,

it was the monks who raised important banners of protest, or renewal,

or points of dogma, and who were supported by the conscience of the

Orthodox people – often against the prevailing policies of both civil

and ecclesiastical authorities.

The difficulties caused by the Spiritual Regulation of Peter the

Great in the 18th century continued into the 19th century and devel-

oped further: The government interfered increasingly in the intellec-

tual and administrative life of the Church; not only was there no pa-

triarch, but the Holy Synod was controlled by the government; and the

social status and economic situation of the clergy continued to deteri-

orate.

The ober-procurator's power, influencing the Holy Synod and

leading it, grew until the office became an official Ministry of State.

195

Under Tsar Alexander I the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs and

Education was formed, but had a brief existence (1817-1824). This so

alarmed the hierarchy that it complained of persecution of the Church.

Nevertheless, Count Nikolai Protasov (1799-1855) became ober-

procurator of the Holy Synod from 1836 to 1855 and continued the

trend of strengthening the office. During his tenure he successfully

transformed the Russian Church into an organ of the state, The De-

partment of the Orthodox Confession. His political methodology may

be described as attempting to reduce the Russian Church and clergy to

civil religion in the worst sense – bureaucratic functionaries of the

state's confession. With this goal, true higher education and ecclesias-

tical freedom became irrelevant. All that was needed was supplied by

the tsar, who was the supreme defender and guardian of the dogmas of

the ruling faith, and observer of orthodoxy and all good order in the

Holy Church. In this sense the Emperor, in the law of succession to

the throne (5 April 1797), is called the Head of the Church (Funda-

mental Laws, articles 42, 43, 1832 edition). Under Protasov, church

finances and clergy employment became the sole domain of the ober-

procurator. Of those who opposed him, Metropolitan Philaret of Mos-

cow, renowned for his work on the Russian Bible translation project,

distinguished himself by attempting to keep Protasov in check.

After the dissolution of the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs and

Education (1824), Philaret proposed organizing the Russian Church

into nine metropolitan districts to correspond to Alexander I‘s organi-

zation of provinces into nine large administrative districts. These met-

ropolitan districts, as in the ancient church, would be self-governing

and outside governmental control, limiting the sphere of influence of

the Holy Synod. Philaret hoped to create an institution from these met-

ropolitan districts that would have authority over the (Regulation's)

Synod. Under Tsar Nicholas I, Protasov's power grew and the question

of the decentralization of ecclesiastical administration could not be

raised. But with the passage of the liberal reforms of Tsar Alexander

II (1855-1881) the proposal was revived.

Although in the second half of the 19th с none of the proposals

for the reform of the Spiritual Regulation's Holy Synod got beyond the

point of theoretical discussion, an impressive assortment of supporters

came forward. Aside from Philaret, these included an aide to the ober-

procurator, A. N. Muraviev, who engaged in extensive correspon-

196

dence encouraging reform. The Slavophiles championed the cause of

sobornost or conciliarity, and saw a parallel between freedom of the

human spirit and freedom of Church life – both without government

interference. The secular press also entered the fray and published ar-

ticles – and even a short novel – wherein the question of freedom

within the Church was broached. Other principal voices of the time,

Vladimir Soloviev, Feodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, and Nikolai Go-

gol, were not actively involved in the resolution of this particular

problem, though all involved themselves in contemporary questions

regarding the Church.

Near the end of the 19th century the necessity for changes in the

Church's relationship to the state was better recognized. Tsar Alexan-

der III and Ober-Procurator C. Pobedonostsev entrusted elementary

education to parish schools (1884), and the number of schools grew

rapidly, though the quality of education was inferior. But Pobedonost-

sev was the chief architect of ultraconservative reactionary policy in

the administrations of Alexander III and Nicholas II and proved him-

self no friend of Church freedom. He began persecutions of Doukho-

bors, Jews, Christian denominations, and sectarians, along with a

forced Russification policy. The favored "state Church" was supposed

to fare better – but it did not. The next round of reforms in 1905 were

accomplished in spite of Pobedonostsev's strong opposition. From

clergy who favored labor unions and religious toleration to those who

tried to implement Orthodox Church reforms, which had been dis-

cussed for almost a century – all had to do business with the censor-

ship of Pobedonostsev's reactionary philosophy and policies. To op-

pose the ober-procurator the Church had a champion in S.Witte, the

president of the Committee of Ministers. An imperial ukaz was issued

for religious toleration on 12 December 1904, and the "state Church"

found itself in the unenviable position of being in more difficult cir-

cumstances than the heterodox: There was freedom of conscience and

rights of self-determination for all the major religious communities

except the Orthodox. The president of the Holy Synod, Metropolitan

Antony (Vladkovsky) of St. Petersburg, took leadership of the move-

ment for ecclesiastical reform with Witte's assistance.

The Orthodox reform movement lasted from 1905 to 1918 and

spelled the end of the Spiritual Regulation. Ironically, the following

Memorandum items that Vladkovsky and Witte acted on is much the

197

same list of requests made by the Russian Patriarchate in 1990 to the

post-Communist government: granting of the rights of a legal person

to the parish; inclusion of clergy and the parish in local (zemstvo)

governments; granting to the hierarchy the right to take part in the

highest state institutions; revival and renewal of the parish; decentra-

lization of ecclesiastical administration; broadening of the powers of

the diocesan assemblies with lay delegates; and reform of the eccle-

siastical courts. Most of these measures took effect in the Russian Or-

thodox Churches in North America and Western Europe because of

the 1905 to 1918 reform movements, but were never fully imple-

mented in Russia because of the revolutions in 1905 and 1917.

Here we should mention that the period from 1867 to 1917 fo-

cuses on the Russian immigration to the Pacific northwest (especially

San Francisco) before the Russian Revolution and the figure of Bishop

Tikhon Belavin. Tikhon, as Innocent before him, envisioned an auto-

cephalous Orthodox Church in America as an outgrowth of the Amer-

ican Missionary Diocese. He moved the headquarters of the Russian

Missionary Diocese from San Francisco to New York in 1905 in an-

ticipation of this indigenous church, and with the shift in immigrant

populations from the West to the eastern seaboard. At this time all

ethnic Orthodox churches recognized the Russian Missionary Diocese

as the responsible coordinating organization, and this situation pre-

vailed until the Russian Revolution prevented further Russian support

for these efforts.

Another significant phenomenon during this period was the re-

turn to Orthodoxy of a large number of Carpatho-Russian Uniates in

the east through the labors of Fr. Toth and others, which event greatly

increased the number of churches and parishioners in the diocese. Af-

ter the Revolution – and with continued immigration – ethnic Ortho-

dox established administrative contacts with their mother churches.

The Russian missionary diocese continued, breaking off dependence

on its own mother church in order to avoid Bolshevik interference.

In the midst of international conflict, internal national rebellion,

and a period of ecclesiastical reforms, the Church presented a vision

of and reaped benefits from the least likely of sources.

First, Seraphim of Sarov, a traditional Orthodox monastic and

ascetic, was recognized as a saint over the loud protests of Pobedo-

nostsev and the Russian intelligentsia who claimed this was "a cano-

198

nization of peasant ignorance." Seraphim proceeded to become the

most influential spiritual force in Russia and the emigration over suc-

ceeding decades.

Second, a group of young Marxists including Nicholas Berdiaev,

Sergius Bulgakov and Peter Struve converted and proceeded to pen

the most damning indictment of the Russian intelligentsia and Marx-

ism-Leninism ever to be written. The indictment was convincing and

prophetic, but less known in the West than among the Slavs.

Third, the outpost of Orthodoxy in Russian America helped to

produce the next Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Tikhon Bela-

vin, elected in 1918 as the first patriarch since Peter the Great. In

1917, the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church adopted a

resolution that restored patriarchal rule.

The reforms of the Church were legislated contemporaneously

with Lenin's abolition of the judicial system in December 1917 – just

in time to have church properties confiscated and religious education

halted. All this was to be enforced by a new organization of political

police created that same month, the Cheka.

After the 1917 upheavals, the Russian Orthodox Church has tra-

versed a hard and tragic road. The early years of the Soviet regime

were particularly trying for it. The Land Decree of October 26, 1917,

deprived the Church of the bulk of its lands. The worst hit were the

monasteries. In its another decree, made public on January 26, 1918,

the Council of People's Commissars (the government) separated the

church from the state and school. As a result, all church organizations

lost the powers of legal entity and the right to own property. To have

the decree put into effect, a special liquidation committee was set up

to evict the monks from their monasteries, many of which were de-

stroyed, not without acts of vandalism, in which church utensils and

bells were melted down and shrines containing relics were broken

open.

In fact some of the reforms were instituted in Russia, but under

the guise of the Living Church, which was short-lived (1922-26). Due

to this and the murder and persecution of tens of thousands of clergy

and church members in a programmatic fashion in the early years of

Communism, and in a less organized way after Khrushchev, the re-

forms never became a reality. Mere survival was challenge enough in

these years. Sadly, the Russian Church under the Soviets again be-

199

came an agent of the state, however unwilling and coerced. It official-

ly supported every regime and was used to advance national and in-

ternational policies. Active churchmen who declared themselves pub-

licly like Fr. Pavel Florensky could be found, but by the 1950s almost

all of them had "disappeared."

The Russian Orthodox Church was further weakened in 1922,

when the Renovated Church, a reform movement supported by the

Soviet government, seceded from Patriarch Tikhon's church, restored

a Holy Synod to power, and brought division among clergy and faith-

ful.

In the first five years after the Bolshevik revolution, 28 bishops

and 1,200 priests were executed. Between 1917 and 1940, 130,000

Orthodox priests were arrested. In 1918, the Cheka under executed

over 3000 Orthodox clergymen of all ranks. Some were drowned in

ice-holes or poured over with cold water in winter until they turned to

ice-pillars. In 1922, the Solovki Camp of Special Purpose, the first

Russian concentration camp was established in the Solovki Islands in

the White Sea. Eight metropolitans, twenty archbishops, and forty-

seven bishops of the Orthodox Church died there, along with tens of

thousands of the laity. Of these, 95,000 were put to death, executed by

firing squad.

Some actions against Orthodox priests and believers along with

execution included torture being sent to prison camps, labor camps or

mental hospitals. Many Orthodox (along with peoples of other faiths)

were also subjected to psychological punishment or torture and mind

control experimentation in order to force them give up their religious

convictions.

Not only the clergy but Orthodox throughout the land suffered

incredibly. According to the Soviet government's own statistics, there

have been over 20 million new Christian martyrs who have died for

the Orthodox Christian Church. Sorrowing for their suffering but re-

joicing in the strength of their faith, the Russian Orthodox Church cel-

ebrates the millennium of Russian Orthodoxy (988-1988) by glorify-

ing her Holy New Martyrs.

Practising Orthodox Christians were restricted from prominent

careers. Anti-religious propaganda was openly sponsored and encour-

aged by the government, which the Church was not given an opportu-

nity to publicly respond to.

200

The government youth organization, the Komsomol, encouraged

its members to vandalize Orthodox Churches and harass worshipers.

Seminaries were closed down, and the church was restricted from us-

ing the press.

After Nazi Germany's attack on the Soviet Union in 1941, Jo-

seph Stalin revived the Russian Orthodox Church to intensify patriotic

support for the war effort. On September 4, 1943, Metropolitans Ser-

gius (Stragorodsky), Alexius (Simansky) and Nikolay (Yarushevich)

were officially received by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin who proposed

to create the Moscow Patriarchate. They received a permission to

convene a council on September 8, 1943, that elected Sergius Pa-

triarch of Moscow and All Russia.

A new patriarch was elected, theological schools were opened,

and thousands of churches began to function. The Moscow Theologi-

cal Academy Seminary, which had been closed since 1918, was re-

opened.

Between 1945 and 1959 the official organization of the church

was greatly expanded, although individual members of the clergy

were occasionally arrested and exiled. The number of open churches

reached 25,000.

By 1957 about 22,000 Russian Orthodox churches had become

active. But in 1959, Nikita Khrushchev initiated his own campaign

against the Russian Orthodox Church and forced the closure of about

12,000 churches. By 1985, fewer than 7,000 churches remained ac-

tive.

It is estimated that 50,000 clergy were executed by the end of the

Khrushchev era. Members of the church hierarchy were jailed or

forced out, their places taken by docile clergy, many of whom had ties

with the KGB.

Circumstances changed radically with glasnost and perestroïka

in that the perception of the status of the Church by the people and the

leaders improved – even if the Church was just one option among the

many mainstream and fringe organizations to crop up in the rarefied

atmosphere of Russian freedoms. The transformation occurred at the

same time as the celebration of the millennium of the Christianization

of Kievan Rus' in 1988. In that year, 1,610 new religious communi-

ties, most of them of the Orthodox belief, were registered in the coun-

try.

201

Little that the people valued in their culture had come from

Communism, and the tourists confirmed that evaluation of Russian

culture. Shortly thereafter a new patriarch, Alexis Ridiger, was

elected, and this free election in an exciting new era was acknowl-

edged as judiciously choosing the right person – possibly even the

best person – for the job. The Church retains its credibility in the polit-

ical exigencies of the new democratic processes when it continues its

witness – even the witness of its most recent martyrs, succeeds provi-

sionally in charitable works, and manifests the best of Russia's cultural

heritage.

The Orthodox Church has always seen itself as the organic con-

tinuation of the original apostolic community and as holding a faith

fully consistent with the apostolic message. Orthodox Christians have,

however, adopted different attitudes through the centuries toward oth-

er churches and denominations. In areas of confrontation, such as the

Greek islands in the 17th century, or the Ukraine during the same pe-

riod, defensive Orthodox authorities, reacting against active proselyt-

ism by Westerners, declared Western sacraments invalid and de-

manded rebaptism of converts from the Roman or Protestant commun-

ities. The same rigid attitude prevails, even today, in some circles in

Greece. Nevertheless, the mainstream of Orthodox thought has

adopted a positive attitude toward the modern ecumenical movement.

Always rejecting doctrinal relativism and affirming that the goal of

ecumenism is the full unity of the faith, Orthodox churches have been

members of the World Council of Churches since 1948. They general-

ly recognize that, before the establishment of full unity, a theological

dialogue leading in that direction is necessary and that divided Chris-

tian communities can cooperate and provide each other with mutual

help and experience, even if sacramental intercommunion, requiring

unity in faith, appears to be distant.

The Protestant majority in the World Council of Churches has

occasionally made Orthodox participation in that body awkward, and

the ecumenical attitude adopted during the reign of Pope John XXIII

by the Roman Catholic Church (which does not belong to the council)

has been welcomed by Orthodox officials and has led to new and

friendlier relations between the churches. Orthodox observers were

present at the sessions of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), and

several meetings took place between popes Paul VI and John Paul II

202

on the one side, and patriarchs Athenagoras and Demetrios on the oth-

er. In another symbolic gesture, the mutual anathemas of 1054 were

lifted (1965) by both sides. The two churches have established a joint

commission for dialogue between them. Representatives met on at

least 11 occasions between 1966 and 1981 to discuss differences in

doctrine and practice. The claim to authority and infallibility made by

the pope is generally seen as the primary obstacle to full reconcilia-

tion.

Today, the various forms of Christianity make up the most wide-

spread faith on earth – one-third of the world is Christian – and it is

practiced by the widest variety of races. Almost no nation has been

unaffected by Christian missions, although in some countries Chris-

tians are only a small fraction of the population. Christians can be

found in nearly every Eastern country, but Christianity, from its be-

ginnings, has remained a predominantly Western religion.

Control questions for Unit III:

1. What is the characteristic of Messiah according to the Bible?

2. What were the main heresies in Christological controversies?

3. What are the ideas of the Christian doctrine?

4. What is the meaning of the sacrament ―Baptism‖?

5. What do the Christians celebrate on ―Ascension‖?

6. What Christian centers were in Pentarchy?

7. When did the Great Scism happen?

8. Who were the main Protestant leaders?

9. What was the ecclesiastic policy of Peter I?

203

Unit IV. Islam

Islam developed from both Judaism and Christianity and, like

these religions, Islam believes that there is One God. But while Ju-

daism looks forward to the son of David as the final messenger of God

ad Christianity sees Jesus Christ as the final messenger and looks for-

ward to his return, Islam sees Muhammad as the final messenger, the

last of the prophets. Islam also considers its holy book, the Quran, as

the final revelation of God's will, coming after and more perfect than

the Jewish Old Testament and the Christian New Testament.

4.1. A Brief History of Muhammad

In about the year 570 the child who would be named Muham-

mad and who would become the Prophet of one of the world‘s great

religions, Islam, was born into a family belonging to a clan of Qu-

raish, the ruling tribe of Mecca, a city in the Hijaz region of northwes-

tern Arabia.

Originally the site of the Kaabah, a shrine of ancient origins,

Mecca had, with the decline of southern Arabia, become an important

center of sixth-century trade with such powers as the Sassanians, By-

zantines, and Ethiopians. As a result, the city was dominated by po-

werful merchant families, among whom the men of Quraish were

preeminent.

Muhammad‘s father, ―Abd Allah ibn‖ Abd al-Muttalib, died be-

fore the boy was born; his mother, Aminah, died when he was six.

The orphan was consigned to the care of his grandfather, the head of

the clan of Hashim. After the death of his grandfather, Muhammad

was raised by his uncle, Abu Talib. As was customary, the child Mu-

hammad was sent to live for a year or two with a Bedouin family.

This custom, followed until recently by noble families of Mecca, Me-

dina, Taif, and other towns of the Hijaz, had important implications

for Muhammad.

About the year 590, Muhammad, then in his twenties, entered

the service of a merchant widow named Khadijah as her factor, active-

ly engaged with trading caravans to the north. Sometime later he mar-

ried her, and had two sons, neither of whom survived, and four daugh-

ters by her.

204

During this period of his life, Muhammad traveled widely.

Then, in his forties, he began to retire to meditate in a cave on Mount

Hira, just outside Mecca, where the first of the great events of Islam

took place.

One day, as he was sitting in the cave, he heard a voice, later

identified as that of the Angel Gabriel, which ordered him to:

“Recite: In the name of thy Lord who created, Created man from

a clot of blood.” (Quran 96:1-2)

Three times Muhammad pleaded his inability to do so, but each

time the command was repeated. Finally, Muhammad recited the

words of what are now the first five verses of the 96th chapter of the

Quran – words which proclaim God to be the Creator of man and the

Source of all knowledge.

At first Muhammad divulged his experience only to his wife and

his immediate circle. But, as more revelations enjoined him to proc-

laim the oneness of God universally, his following grew, at first

among the poor and the slaves, but later, also among the most promi-

nent men of Mecca. The revelations he received at this time, and

those he did later, are all incorporated in the Quran, the Scripture of

Islam.

The verses of the Quran stress God‘s uniqueness, warn those

who deny it of impending punishment, and proclaim His unbounded

compassion to those who submit to His will. They affirm the Last

Judgment, when God, the Judge, will weigh in the balance the faith

and works of each man, rewarding the faithful and punishing the

transgressor. Because the Quran rejected polytheism and emphasized

man‘s moral responsibility, in powerful images, it presented a grave

challenge to the worldly Meccans.

After Muhammad had preached publicly for more than a decade,

the opposition to him reached such a high pitch that, fearful for their

safety, he sent some of his adherents to Ethiopia. There, the Christian

ruler extended protection to them, the memory of which has been che-

rished by Muslims ever since. But in Mecca the persecution wor-

sened. Muhammad‘s followers were harassed, abused, and even tor-

tured. At last, seventy of Muhammad‘s followers set off by his orders

to the northern town of Yathrib, in the hope of establishing a news

stage of the Islamic movement. This city which was later to be re-

named Medina (―The City‖). Later, in the early fall of 622, he, with

205

his closest friend, Abu Bakr al-Siddeeq, set off to join the emigrants.

This event coincided with the leaders in Mecca plotting, to kill him.

In Mecca, the plotters arrived at Muhammad‘s home to find that

his cousin, ‗Ali, had taken his place in bed. Enraged, the Meccans set

a price on Muhammad‘s head and set off in pursuit. Muhammad and

Abu Bakr, however, had taken refuge in a cave, where they hid from

their pursuers. By the protection of God, the Meccans passed by the

cave without noticing it, and Muhammad and Abu Bakr proceeded to

Medina. There, they were joyously welcomed by a throng of Medi-

nans, as well as the Meccans who had gone ahead to prepare the way.

This was the Hijrah – anglicized as Hegira – usually, but inaccu-

rately, translated as ―Flight‖ – from which the Muslim era is dated. In

fact, the Hijrah was not a flight, but a carefully planned migration that

marks not only a break in history – the beginning of the Islamic era –

but also, for Muhammad and the Muslims, a new way of life. Hence-

forth, the organizational principle of the community was not to be

mere blood kinship, but the greater brotherhood of all Muslims. The

men who accompanied Muhammad on the Hijrah were called the Mu-

hajiroon – ―those that made the Hijrah‖ or the ―Emigrants‖ – while

those in Medina who became Muslims were called the Ansar, or

―Helpers.‖

Muhammad was well acquainted with the situation in Medina.

Earlier, before the Hijrah, the city had sent envoys to Mecca asking

Muhammad to mediate a dispute between two powerful tribes. What

the envoys saw and heard had impressed them, and they had invited

Muhammad to settle in Medina. After the Hijrah, Muhammad‘s ex-

ceptional qualities so impressed the Medinans that the rival tribes and

their allies temporarily closed ranks as, on March 15, 624, Muham-

mad and his supporters moved against the pagans of Mecca.

The first battle, which took place near Badr, now a small town

southwest of Medina, had several important effects. In the first place,

the Muslim forces, outnumbered three to one, routed the Meccans.

Secondly, the discipline displayed by the Muslims brought home to

the Meccans, perhaps for the first time, the abilities of the man they

had driven from their city. Thirdly, one of the allied tribes which had

pledged support to the Muslims in the Battle of Badr, but had then

proved lukewarm when the fighting started, was expelled from Medi-

na one month after the battle. Those who claimed to be allies of the

206

Muslims, but tacitly opposed them, were thus served warning: mem-

bership in the community imposed the obligation of total support.

A year later the Meccans struck back. Assembling an army of

three thousand men, they met the Muslims at Uhud, a ridge outside

Medina. After initial successes, the Muslims were driven back and

the Prophet himself was wounded. As the Muslims were not com-

pletely defeated, the Meccans, with an army of ten thousand, attacked

Medina again two years later but with quite different results. At the

Battle of the Trench, also known as the Battle of the Confederates, the

Muslims scored a signal victory by introducing a new form of de-

fense. On the side of Medina from which attack was expected, they

dug a trench too deep for the Meccan cavalry to clear without expos-

ing itself to the archers posted behind earthworks on the Medina side.

After an inconclusive siege, the Meccans were forced to retire. The-

reafter Medina was entirely in the hands of the Muslims.

The Constitution of Medina – under which the clans accepting

Muhammad as the Prophet of God formed an alliance, or federation –

dates from this period. It showed that the political consciousness of

the Muslim community had reached an important point; its members

defined themselves as a community separate from all others. The

Constitution also defined the role of non-Muslims in the community.

Jews, for example, were part of the community; they were dhimmis,

that is, protected people, as long as they conformed to its laws. This

established a precedent for the treatment of subject peoples during the

later conquests. Christians and Jews, upon payment of a nominal tax,

were allowed religious freedom and, while maintaining their status as

non-Muslims, were associate members of the Muslim state. This sta-

tus did not apply to polytheists, who could not be tolerated within a

community that worshipped the One God.

Ibn Ishaq, one of the earliest biographers of the Prophet, says it

was at about this time that Muhammad sent letters to the rulers of the

earth – the King of Persia, the Emperor of Byzantium, the Negus of

Abyssinia, and the Governor of Egypt among others – inviting them to

submit to Islam. Nothing more fully illustrates the confidence of the

small community, as its military power, despite the battle of the

Trench, was still negligible. But its confidence was not misplaced.

Muhammad so effectively built up a series of alliances among the tri-

bes – his early years with the Bedouins must have stood him in good

207

stead here – that, by 628, he and fifteen hundred followers were able

to demand access to the Kaabah during negotiations with the Mec-

cans. This was a milestone in the history of the Muslims. Just a short

time before, Muhammad had to leave the city of his birth in fear of his

life. Now he was being treated by his former enemies as a leader in

his own right. A year later, in 629, he reentered and, in effect, con-

quered Mecca, without bloodshed and in a spirit of tolerance, which

established an ideal for future conquests. He also destroyed the idols

in the Kaabah, to put an end forever to pagan practices there. At the

same time Muhammad won the allegiance of ‗Amr ibn al-‘As, the fu-

ture conqueror of Egypt, and Khalid ibn al-Walid, the future ―Sword

of God,‖ both of whom embraced Islam and joined Muhammad.

Their conversion was especially noteworthy because these men had

been among Muhammad‘s bitterest opponents only a short time be-

fore.

In one sense Muhammad‘s return to Mecca was the climax of his

mission. In 632, just three years later, he was suddenly taken ill and

on June 8 of that year, with his third wife Aishah in attendance, the

Messenger of God ―died with the heat of noon.‖

The death of Muhammad was a profound loss. To his followers

this simple man from Mecca was far more than a beloved friend, far

more than a gifted administrator, far more than the revered leader who

had forged a new state from clusters of warring tribes. Muhammad

was also the exemplar of the teachings he had brought them from

God: the teachings of the Quran, which, for centuries, have guided the

thought and action, the faith and conduct, of innumerable men and

women, and which ushered in a distinctive era in the history of man-

kind. His death, nevertheless, had little effect on the dynamic society

he had created in Arabia, and no effect at all on his central mission: to

transmit the Quran to the world. As Abu Bakr put it: ―Whoever wor-

shipped Muhammad, let him know that Muhammad is dead, but

whoever worshipped God, let him know that God lives and dies not.‖

With the death of Muhammad, the Muslim community was

faced with the problem of succession. Who would be its leader?

There were four persons obviously marked for leadership: Abu Bakr

al-Siddeeq, who had not only accompanied Muhammad to Medina ten

years before, but had been appointed to take the place of the Prophet

as leader of public prayer during Muhammad‘s last illness; Umar ibn

208

al-Khattab, an able and trusted Companion of the Prophet; Uthman

ibn ‗Affan, a respected early convert; and ‗Ali ibn Abi Talib, Mu-

hammad‘s cousin and son-in-law. There piousness and ability to go-

vern the affairs of the Islamic nation was uniformly par excellence.

At a meeting held to decide the new leadership, Umar grasped Abu

Bakr‘s hand and gave his allegiance to him, the traditional sign of rec-

ognition of a new leader. By dusk, everyone concurred, and Abu Bakr

had been recognized as the khaleefah of Muhammad. Khaleefah –

anglicized as caliph – is a word meaning ―successor‖, but also sug-

gesting what his historical role would be: to govern according to the

Quran and the practice of the Prophet.

It is important to notice that Muhammad considered himself to

be more than a mere prophet (nabi); he thought of himself as the mes-

senger (rasul) of Allah, the final messenger in a long chain that had

begun with Noah and run through Jesus. As Allah's rasul, Muhammad

saw his first mission to be that of warning the Arab peoples of the im-

pending doomsday. No doubt Muhammad was influenced by the Ju-

deo-Christian tradition in his concept of the Day of Judgment, as well

as in his concept of himself as a prophet. Muhammad, who had felt at

one time that Arabs were religiously inferior to Jews and Christians,

became the medium of revelations that created Islam and raised the

Arabs in Muhammad's own evaluation to a status equal with that of

the other two religions.

Under Muhammad's successors the expansionist urge of the tri-

bes, temporarily united around the nucleus of the two sacred enclaves,

coincided with the weakness of Byzantium and Sasanian Persia. Tri-

bes summoned to the banners of Islam launched a career of conquest

that promised to satisfy the mandate of their new faith as well as the

desire for booty and lands. With families and flocks, they left the pe-

ninsula. Population movements of such magnitude affected all of Ara-

bia; in Hadhramaut they possibly caused neglect of irrigation works,

resulting in erosion of fertile lands. In Oman, too, when Arab tribes

evicted the Persian ruling class, its complex irrigation system seems to

have suffered severely. Many Omani Arabs about the mid-7th century

left for Basra (in Iraq) and formed the influential Azd group there.

Arabian Islam replaced Persian influence in the Bahrain district and

Al-Hasa province in the northeast, and in Yemen.

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As the conquests far beyond Arabia poured loot into the Holy

Cities (Mecca and Medina), they became wealthy centres of a sophis-

ticated Arabian culture; Medina became a centre for Qur`anic study,

the evolution of Islamic law, and historical record. Under the caliphs –

Muhammad's successors – Islam began to assume its characteristic

shape; paradoxically, outside the cities it made little difference to

Arabian life for centuries. Shari‟ah (Islamic law), promoted often by

the Prophet's own descendants, developed in the urban centres; but

outside them customary law persisted, sometimes diametrically op-

posed to Shari'ah. In time the Hejaz and Yemen came to make notable

contributions to Islamic culture, but Islam's basically Arabian nature

first shows in the early mosque, which resembles the pre-Islamic tem-

ple, and in the pilgrimage rites, little altered from paganism.

This dual religious and social character of Islam, expressing it-

self in one way as a religious community commissioned by God to

bring its own value system to the world through the jihad ("holy war"

or "holy struggle"), explains the astonishing success of the early gen-

erations of Muslims. Within a century after the Prophet's death in AD

632, they had brought a large part of the globe – from Spain across

Central Asia to India – under a new Arab Muslim empire.

The period of Islamic conquests and empire building marks the

first phase of the expansion of Islam as a religion. Islam's essential

egalitarianism within the community of the faithful and its official

discrimination against the followers of other religions won rapid con-

verts. Jews and Christians were assigned a special status as communi-

ties possessing scriptures and called the "people of the Book" (ahl al-

kitab) and, therefore, were allowed religious autonomy. They were,

however, required to pay a per capita tax called jizyah, as opposed to

pagans, who were required to either accept Islam or die. The same sta-

tus of the "people of the Book" was later extended to Zoroastrians and

Hindus, but many "people of the Book" joined Islam in order to es-

cape the disability of the jizyah. A much more massive expansion of

Islam after the 12th century was inaugurated by the Sufis (Muslim

mystics), who were mainly responsible for the spread of Islam in In-

dia, Central Asia, Turkey, and sub-Saharan Africa.

Besides the jihad and Sufi missionary activity, another factor in

the spread of Islam was the far-ranging influence of Muslim traders,

who not only introduced Islam quite early to the Indian east coast and

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South India but who proved as well to be the main catalytic agents

(besides the Sufis) in converting people to Islam in Indonesia, Malaya,

and China. Islam was introduced to Indonesia in the 14th century,

hardly having time to consolidate itself there politically before coming

under Dutch colonial domination.

The vast variety of races and cultures embraced by Islam (esti-

mated to total from 600,000,000 to 700,000,000 persons worldwide)

has produced important internal differences. All segments of Muslim

society, however, are bound by a common faith and a sense of belong-

ing to a single community. With the loss of political power during the

period of Western colonialism in the 19th and 20th centuries, the con-

cept of the Islamic community (ummah), instead of weakening, be-

came stronger.

4.2. The Quran

According to Islamic teaching, the Quran came down as a series

of revelations from Allah through the Archangel Gabriel to the Proph-

et Muhammad, who then dictated it to his followers. Muhammad's

companions memorized fragments of the Quran and wrote them down

on whatever was at hand, which were later compiled into book form

under the rule of the third Caliph, Uthman, some years after Muham-

mad's death.

The Quran is about as long as the Christian New Testament. It

comprises 114 suras (not to be confused with the Sira, which refers to

the life of the Prophet) of varying lengths, which may be considered

chapters. According to Islamic doctrine, it was around 610 AD in a

cave near the city of Mecca (now in southwest Saudi Arabia) that Mu-

hammad received the first revelation from Allah by way of the Arc-

hangel Gabriel. The revelation merely commanded Muhammad to

"recite" or "read" (Sura 96); the words he was instructed to utter were

not his own but Allah's. Over the next twelve or so years in Mecca,

other revelations came to Muhammad that constituted a message to

the inhabitants of the city to forsake their pagan ways and turn in wor-

ship to the one Allah.

While in Mecca, though he condemned paganism (for the most

part), Muhammad showed great respect for the monotheism of the

Christian and Jewish inhabitants. Indeed, the Allah of the Quran

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claimed to be the same God worshipped by Jews and Christians, who

now revealed himself to the Arab people through his chosen messen-

ger, Muhammad. It is the Quranic revelations that came later in Mu-

hammad's career, after he and the first Muslims left Mecca for the city

of Medina, that transformed Islam from a relatively benign form of

monotheism into an expansionary, military-political ideology that

persists to this day.

Orthodox Islam does not accept that a rendering of the Quran in-

to another language is a "translation" in the way that, say, the King

James Bible is a translation of the original Hebrew and Greek Scrip-

tures. A point often made by Islamic apologists to defang criticism is

that only Arabic readers may understand the Quran. But Arabic is a

language like any other and fully capable of translation. Indeed, most

Muslims are not Arabic readers. In the below analysis, we use a trans-

lation of the Quran by two Muslim scholars, which may be found

here. All parenthetical explanations in the text are those of the transla-

tors save for my interjections in braces.

Those Westerners who manage to pick up a translation of the

Quran are often left bewildered as to its meaning thanks to ignorance

of a critically important principle of Quranic interpretation known as

"abrogation." The principle of abrogation – al-naskh wa al-mansukh

(the abrogating and the abrogated) – directs that verses revealed later

in Muhammad's career "abrogate" – i.e., cancel and replace – earlier

ones whose instructions they may contradict. Thus, passages revealed

later in Muhammad's career, in Medina, overrule passages revealed

earlier, in Mecca. The Quran itself lays out the principle of abroga-

tion:

2:106. Whatever a Verse (revelation) do We (Allah) abrogate or

cause to be forgotten, We bring a better one or similar to it. Know you

not that Allah is able to do all things?

It seems that 2:106 was revealed in response to skepticism di-

rected at Muhammad that Allah's revelations were not entirely consis-

tent over time. Muhammad's rebuttal was that "Allah is able to do all

things" – even change his mind. To confuse matters further, though

the Quran was revealed to Muhammad sequentially over some twenty

years' time, it was not compiled in chronological order. When the Qu-

ran was finally collated into book form under Caliph Uthman, the su-

ras were ordered from longest to shortest with no connection whatever

212

to the order in which they were revealed or to their thematic content.

In order to find out what the Quran says on a given topic, it is neces-

sary to examine the other Islamic sources that give clues as to when in

Muhammad's lifetime the revelations occurred. Upon such examina-

tion, one discovers that the Meccan suras, revealed at a time when the

Muslims were vulnerable, are generally benign; the later Medinan su-

ras, revealed after Muhammad had made himself the head of an army,

are bellicose.

Let us take, for example, 50:45 and Sura 109, both revealed in

Mecca:

50:45. We know of best what they say; and you (O Muhammad)

are not a tyrant over them (to force them to Belief). But warn by the

Qur'an, him who fears My Threat.

109:1. Say (O Muhammad to these Mushrikun and Kafirun): "O

Al-Kafirun (disbelievers in Allah, in His Oneness, in His Angels, in

His Books, in His Messengers, in the Day of Resurrection, and in Al-

Qadar (divine foreordainment and sustaining of all things), etc.)!

109:2. "I worship not that which you worship,

109:3. "Nor will you worship that which I worship.

109:4. "And I shall not worship that which you are worshipping.

109:5. "Nor will you worship that which I worship.

109:6. "To you be your religion, and to me my religion (Islamic Mo-

notheism)."

Then there is this passage revealed just after the Muslims

reached Medina and were still vulnerable:

2:256. There is no compulsion in religion. Verily, the Right Path

has become distinct from the wrong path. Whoever disbelieves in

Taghut (idolatry) and believes in Allah, then he has grasped the most

trustworthy handhold that will never break. And Allah is All-Hearer,

All-Knower.

In contrast, take 9:5, commonly referred to as the "Verse of the

Sword", revealed toward the end of Muhammad's life:

9:5. Then when the Sacred Months (the 1st, 7th, 11th, and 12th

months of the Islamic calendar) have passed, then kill the Mushrikun

(unbelievers) wherever you find them, and capture them and besiege

them, and prepare for them each and every ambush. But if they repent

and perform As-Salat (the Islamic ritual prayers), and give Zakat, then

leave their way free. Verily, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

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Having been revealed later in Muhammad‘s life than 50:45, 109,

and 2:256, the Verse of the Sword abrogates their peaceful injunctions

in accordance with 2:106. Sura 8, revealed shortly before Sura 9, re-

veals a similar theme:

8:39. And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and

polytheism: i.e. worshipping others besides Allah) and the religion

(worship) will all be for Allah Alone [in the whole of the world]. But

if they cease (worshipping others besides Allah), then certainly, Allah

is All-Seer of what they do.

8:67. It is not for a Prophet that he should have prisoners of war

(and free them with ransom) until he had made a great slaughter

(among his enemies) in the land. You desire the good of this world

(i.e. the money of ransom for freeing the captives), but Allah desires

(for you) the Hereafter. And Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise.

9:29. Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the

Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His

Messenger and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e.

Islam) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), until

they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves sub-

dued.

9:33. It is He (Allah) Who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad)

with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam), to make it superior

over all religions even though the Mushrikun (polytheists, pagans,

idolaters, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah) hate it).

4.3. Five Pillars of Islam

All practicing Muslims accept belief in the ‗Six Articles of

Faith‘ and are obliged to follow the ‗Five Pillars.‘

According to Muslim doctrine there are Six Articles of Faith:

1. One God;

2. The angels of God;

3. The books of God, especially the Quran;

4. The prophets of God, especially Muhammad;

5. The Day of Judgment (or the afterlife); and

6. The supremacy of God‘s will (or predestination).

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As for Five Pillars, they are:

1. Muslim profession of faith or shahada.

2. Ritual Prayer or salah.

3. Obligatory Charity or zakah.

4. Fasting or sawm.

5. Pilgrimage or hajj.

The First Pillar of Islam: Muslim Profession of Faith

The Shahada is the Muslim profession of faith and the first of

the ‗Five Pillars‘ of Islam. The word shahada in Arabic means ‗tes-

timony.‘ The shahada is to testify to two things: Nothing deserves

worship except God (Allah). Muhammad is the Messenger of God

(Allah).

A Muslim is simply one who bears witness and testifies that

―nothing deserves worship except God and Muhammad is the mes-

senger of God.‖ One becomes a Muslim by making this simple decla-

ration.

It must be recited by every Muslim at least once in a lifetime

with a full understanding of its meaning and with an assent of the

heart. Muslims say this when they wake up in the morning, and be-

fore they go to sleep at night. It is repeated five times in the call to

prayer in every mosque. A person who utters the shahada as their last

words in this life has been promised Paradise.

Allah is the proper name for God in Arabic, just as "Elah", or of-

ten "Elohim", is the proper name for God in Aramaic mentioned in the

Old Testament. Allah is also His personal name in Islam, as "YHWH"

is His personal name in Judaism. However, rather than the specific

Hebrew denotation of "YHWH" as "He Who Is", in Arabic Allah de-

notes the aspect of being “The One True Deity worthy of all wor-

ship”. Arabic speaking Jews and Christians also refer to the Supreme

Being as Allah.

(a) Nothing deserves worship except God (Allah).

The first part of this testimony states that God has the exclusive

right to be worshipped inwardly and outwardly, by one‘s heart and

limbs. In Islamic doctrine, not only can no one be worshipped apart

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from Him, absolutely no one else can be worshipped along with Him.

He has no partners or associates in worship. Worship, in its compre-

hensive sense and all its aspects, is for Him alone. God‘s right to be

worshipped is the essential meaning of Islam‘s testimony of faith: Lā

„ilāha „illā llāh.

(b) Muhammad is the Messenger of God (Allah).

Muhammad was born in Mecca in Arabia in the year 570 AD.

His ancestry goes back to Ishmael, a son of Prophet Abraham. The

second part of the confession of faith asserts that he is not only a

prophet but also a messenger of God, a higher role also played by

Moses and Jesus before him. Like all prophets before him, he was a

human being, but chosen by God to convey His message to all human-

ity rather than one tribe or nation from among the many that exist.

For Muslims, Muhammad brought the last and final revelation. In ac-

cepting Muhammad as the ―last of the prophets,‖ they believe that his

prophecy confirms and completes all of the revealed messages, begin-

ning with that of Adam. In addition, Muhammad serves as the pree-

minent role model through his life example. The believer‘s effort to

follow Muhammad‘s example reflects the emphasis of Islam on prac-

tice and action.

The Second Pillar of Islam: The Prayer

Salah is the daily ritual prayer enjoined upon all Muslims as one

of the five Pillars of Islam. It is performed five times a day by all

Muslims. Salah is a precise worship, different from praying on the in-

spiration of the moment. Muslims pray or, perhaps more correctly,

worship five times throughout the day: Between first light and sunrise.

After the sun has passed the middle of the sky. Between mid-

afternoon and sunset. Between sunset and the last light of the day. Be-

tween darkness and midnight.

Each prayer may take at least 5 minutes, but it may be leng-

thened as a person wishes. Muslims can pray in any clean environ-

ment, alone or together, in a mosque or at home, at work or on the

road, indoors or out. Under special circumstances, such as illness,

journey, or war, certain allowances in the prayers are given to make

their offering easy.

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Having specific times each day to be close to God helps Mus-

lims remain aware of the importance of their faith, and the role it plays

in every part of life. Muslims start their day by cleaning themselves

and then standing before their Lord in prayer. The prayers consist of

recitations from the Quran in Arabic and a sequence of movements:

standing, bowing, prostrating, and sitting. All recitations and move-

ments express submission, humility, and homage to God. The various

postures Muslims assume during their prayers capture the spirit of

submission; the words remind them of their commitments to God.

The prayer also reminds one of belief in the Day of Judgment and of

the fact that one has to appear before his or her Creator and give an

account of their entire life. This is how a Muslim starts their day. In

the course of the day, Muslims dissociate themselves form their

worldly engagements for a few moments and stand before God. This

brings to mind once again the real purpose of life.

These prayers serve as a constant reminder throughout the day to

help keep believers mindful of God in the daily stress of work, family,

and distractions of life. Prayer strengthens faith, dependence on God,

and puts daily life within the perspective of life to come after death

and the last judgment. As they prepare to pray, Muslims face Mecca,

the holy city that houses the Kaaba (the ancient place of worship built

by Abraham and his son Ishmael). At the end of the prayer, the sha-

hada (testimony of faith) is recited, and the greeting of peace, ―Peace

be upon all of you and the mercy and blessings of God,‖ is repeated

twice.

Though individual performance of salah is permissible, collec-

tive worship in the mosque has special merit and Muslims are encour-

aged to perform certain salah with others. With their faces turned in

the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca, the worshipers align themselves

in parallel rows behind the imam, or prayer leader, who directs them

as they execute the physical postures coupled with Quran recitations.

In many Muslim countries, the ―call to prayer,‖ or ‗Adhan,‘ echo out

across the rooftops.

Friday is the weekly day of communal worship in Islam. The

weekly convened Friday Prayer is the most important service. The

Friday Prayer is marked by the following features: It falls in the same

time as the noon prayer which it replaces. It must be performed in a

congregation led by a prayer leader, an ‗Imam.‘ It can not be offered

217

individually…, and others. Typically, the Friday Prayer is performed

in a mosque, if available.

Special, large congregational prayers, which include a sermon,

are also offered at late morning on the two days of festivity. One of

them is immediately following the month of fasting, Ramadan, and the

other after the pilgrimage, or hajj.

Although not religiously mandated, individual devotional pray-

ers, especially during the night, are emphasized and are a common

practice among pious Muslims.

The Third Pillar of Islam: Compulsory Charity

Charity is not just recommended by Islam, it is required of every

financially stable Muslim. Giving charity to those who deserve it is

part of Muslim character and one of the Five Pillars of Islamic prac-

tice. Zakat is viewed as ―compulsory charity‖; it is an obligation for

those who have received their wealth from God to respond to those

members of the community in need. Devoid of sentiments of univer-

sal love, some people know only to hoard wealth and to add to it by

lending it out on interest. Islam‘s teachings are the very antithesis of

this attitude. Islam encourages the sharing of wealth with others and

helps people to stand on their own and become productive members of

the society.

In Arabic it is known as zakat which literally means ―purifica-

tion‖, because zakat is considered to purify one‘s heart of greed. Love

of wealth is natural and it takes firm belief in God for a person to part

with some of his wealth. Zakat must be paid on different categories of

property – gold, silver, money; livestock; agricultural produce; and

business commodities – and is payable each year after one year‘s pos-

session. It requires an annual contribution of 2.5 percent of an indi-

vidual‘s wealth and assets.

Like prayer, which is both an individual and communal respon-

sibility, zakat expresses a Muslim‘s worship of and thanksgiving to

God by supporting those in need. In Islam, the true owner of things is

not man, but God. Acquisition of wealth for its own sake, or so that it

may increase a man‘s worth, is condemned.

Money given as zakat can only be used for certain specific

things. Islamic Law stipulates that alms are to be used to support the

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poor, orphans, and widows, to free slaves and debtors, and others in

need, as specifically mentioned in the Quran (9:60). Zakat, which de-

veloped fourteen hundred years ago, functions as a form of social se-

curity in a Muslim society.

Under the caliphates, the collection and expenditure of zakat was

a function of the state. In the contemporary Muslim world, it has been

left up to the individual, except in some countries in which the state

fulfills that role to some degree. Most Muslims in the West disperse

zakat through Islamic charities, mosques, or directly giving to the

poor. Money is not collected during religious services or via collec-

tion plates, but some mosques keep a drop box for those who wish it

to distribute zakat on their behalf. Unlike the zakat, Giving other

forms of charity in private, even in secret, is considered better, in or-

der to keep one‘s intention purely for the God.

Apart from zakat, the Quran and Hadeeth (sayings and actions of

the Prophet Muhammad) also stress sadaqah, or voluntary almsgiving,

which is intended for the needy. The Quran emphasizes feeding the

hungry, clothing the naked, helping those who are in need, and the

more one helps, the more God helps the person, and the more one

gives, the more God gives the person. One feels he is taking care of

others and God is taking care of him.

The Fourth Pillar of Islam: The Fast of Ramadan

Fasting is not unique to the Muslims. It has been practiced for

centuries in connection with religious ceremonies by Christians, Jews,

Confucianists, Hindus, Taoists, and Jainists.

The fourth Pillar of Islam, the Fast of Ramadan, occurs once

each year during the 9th

lunar month, the month of Ramadan, the ninth

month of the Islamic calendar in which:

“…the Quran was sent down as a guidance for the people” (Qu-

ran 2:185)

God in His infinite mercy has exempt the ill, travelers, and oth-

ers who are unable from fasting Ramadan.

Fasting helps Muslims develop self-control, gain a better under-

standing of God‘s gifts and greater compassion towards the deprived.

Fasting in Islam involves abstaining from all bodily pleasures between

dawn and sunset. Not only is food forbidden, but also any sexual ac-

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tivity. All things which are regarded as prohibited is even more so in

this month, due to its sacredness. Each and every moment during the

fast, a person suppresses their passions and desires in loving ob-

edience to God.

At dusk, the fast is broken with a light meal popularly referred to

as suhoor. Families and friends share a special late evening meal to-

gether, often including special foods and sweets served only at this

time of the year. Many go to the mosque for the evening prayer, fol-

lowed by special prayers recited only during Ramadan. Some will re-

cite the entire Quran as a special act of piety, and public recitations of

the Quran can be heard throughout the evening. Families rise before

sunrise to take their first meal of the day, which sustains them until

sunset. Near the end of Ramadan Muslims commemorate the ―Night

of Power‖ when the Quran was revealed. The month of Ramadan

ends with one of the two major Islamic celebrations, the Feast of the

Breaking of the Fast, called Eid al-Fitr. On this day, Muslims joyfully

celebrate the completion of Ramadan and customarily distribute gifts

to children. Muslims are also obliged to help the poor join in the spirit

of relaxation and enjoyment by distributing zakat-ul-fitr, a special and

obligatory act of charity in the form of staple foodstuff, in order that

all may enjoy the general euphoria of the day.

The Fifth Pillar of Islam: The Pilgrimage (Hajj)

The Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) is the fifth of the fundamental

Muslim practices and institutions known as the five pillars of Islam.

Pilgrimage is not undertaken in Islam to the shrines of saints, to mo-

nasteries for help from holy men, or to sights where miracles are sup-

posed to have occurred, even though we may see many Muslims do

this. Pilgrimage is made to the Kaaba, found in the sacred city of

Mecca in Saudia, the ‗House of God,‘ whose sanctity rests in that the

Prophet Abraham built it for the worship of God. God rewarded him

by attributing the House to himself, in essence honoring it, and by

making it the devotional epicenter which all Muslims face when offer-

ing the prayers (salah). The rites of pilgrimage are performed today

exactly as did by Abraham, and after him by Prophet Muhammad,

may God praise them.

220

Pilgrimage is viewed as a particularly meritorious activity. Pil-

grimage serves as a penance – the ultimate forgiveness for sins, devo-

tion, and intense spirituality. The pilgrimage to Mecca, the most sa-

cred city in Islam, is required of all physically and financially able

Muslims once in their life. The pilgrimage rite begins a few months

after Ramadan, on the 8th day of the last month of the Islamic year of

Dhul-Hijjah, and ends on the 13th day. Mecca is the center towards

which the Muslims converge once a year, meet and refresh in them-

selves the faith that all Muslims are equal and deserve the love and

sympathy of others, irrespective of their race or ethnic origin.

Thus the pilgrimage unites the Muslims of the world into one in-

ternational fraternity. More than two million persons perform the Hajj

each year, and the rite serves as a unifying force in Islam by bringing

followers of diverse backgrounds together in worship. In some Mus-

lim societies, once a believer has made the pilgrimage, he is often la-

beled with the title „hajji‟; this, however, is a cultural, rather than reli-

gious custom. Finally, the Hajj is a manifestation of the belief in the

unity of God – all the pilgrims worship and obey the commands of the

One God.

Apart from Hajj, the ―minor pilgrimage‖ or umrah is undertaken

by Muslims during the rest of the year. Performing the umrah does

not fulfill the obligation of Hajj. It is similar to the major and obliga-

tory Islamic pilgrimage (hajj), and pilgrims have the choice of per-

forming the umrah separately or in combination with the Hajj. As in

the Hajj, the pilgrim begins the umrah by assuming the state of ihram.

They enter Mecca and circle the sacred shrine of the Kaaba seven

times. He may then touch the Black Stone, if he can, pray behind the

Maqam Ibrahim, drink the holy water of the Zamzam spring. The

ambulation between the hills of Safa and Marwah seven times and the

shortening or shaving of the head complete the umrah.

4.4. Major types of Islam

A. Religious Groupings

1. Sunni. The Sunni are so called because they believe that only

the Sunna is authoritative for Islam. They accept Qur'anic Law--the

"orthodox" foundations of Qur'an and Hadith and the Shari'a based on

them. They accept no line of visible representatives in the line of Mu-

221

hammad. Government is based on current interpretation and applica-

tion of the Sunna. For the Sunnis, the term Imam is used for any

prayer/worship leader in a local mosque. This may be any Muslim, not

a hereditary leader.

2. Shi'a. This name comes from the phrase shi'at al Ali, meaning

"the party of Ali." This was the group who supported' Ali as the

Fourth Caliph (successor of Muhammad), and believed that it should

be his descendants that succeeded as Caliphs after his death. Those

who came to be known as the Sunni supported Mu'awiya of the Um-

mayad clan, who had opposed' Ali during his life, and who seized

power at Ali's death, then declared that his son would be his successor.

The Shi'a consider the Imams to be the visible representatives of

Muhammad, who are supposed to be descendants of ' Ali.

The Shi'as differ on who the rightful Imam is. Some believe the

line of visible Imams stopped with a "hidden Imam." However, the

hidden Imam does have visible representatives, who speak authorita-

tively to the umma (community of believers) to give interpretation and

direction in the current situation.

a. There was a conflict over the rightful Seventh Imam in A.D.

765. Some believe that Isma'il, rather than his brother Musa, (who

were Fatimid Egyptians) was the true Seventh Imam. This group are

called Isma'ilis or "Seveners." Some Isma'ilis believe that when Is-

ma'il was reported to have died before his father, he was actually hid-

den, and will return as the Mahdi. Others believe he died, but his son

Muhammad ibn-lsma'il, disappeared in India and will return as the

Mahdi. Others continue numbering the successors of Isma'il as Imams.

The Seveners suffered a major division in Egypt in 1094. One

group followed Nizari and another Musta'li as Imam. Nizaris are

found in Syria, and in East Africa they are represented in the Khoja

Ismailis, followers of the Aga Khan (the 49th Imam, whose home is in

France). This group has retained from their Indian heritage a belief in

reincarnation.

The Bohras are in the line following Musta'li, the younger son.

The Bohras further believe that the 21st Imam was "taken into con-

cealment," being represented now by "deputies." The Bohras are In-

dian (Dawoodi) and Yemini (Sulaimani). Successive disputes over

rightful successors have progressively divided the Shi'as into numer-

ous groups with different Imams.

222

Examples: Khoja, Dawoodi (Bohra), origins in India, many in

East Africa; Druze in Lebanon, Nusayris (Nizaris) in Syria, Egypt.

b. One group in the 765 dispute recognized the second son, Mu-

sa, of the sixth Imam, Jafar, as the true seventh Imam. This group be-

lieve that the line of visible Imams continued to the Twelfth Imam.

They believe that the 8-year-old Imam Muhammad "disappeared" in

A.D. 878 and is in concealment until the end of time, when he will be

revealed as the Mahdi. They are the Ithna 'Ashariyya (Ithnashari) or

"Twelvers." The Ithnasharis have a visible representative to give au-

thoritative guidance. In some areas these leaders are called Ayatollahs.

This means "a word from God," coming from ayat (word)

and Allah (God). Ithnashari Islam is the official religion in Iran and is

the faith of the majority of Muslims in Iraq. Many Indian Ithnasharis

live in East Africa.

Examples: Iraq; Iran: Safawi dynasty (before the overthrow of

the Shah); Revolutionary Iranian leadership; Kenya Ithnasharis.

There are many additional groups of the Shi'as. One notable

group is the Zaidites, who follow a different fifth Imam. The Zaidites

maintained a ruling dynasty in Yemen from the 9th century until re-

cently.

3. Sufi. The Sufis comprise a broad meditative mystical move-

ment across Islam. As Sunnis, they believe in no mediator between

God and the individual. They often have a sense of personal "conver-

sion," with an emphasis on the individual's personal relationship to

God. Sufis are prominent today in Somalia, Kenya, Egypt, North Afri-

ca and Turkey. I am told that most Somalis are associated with some

Sufi order. Many Arabs in East Africa are identified with Sufi orders.

Al-Hallaj was a major Sufi figure who modeled himself after Je-

sus, and was rejected by many of his own people because they said he

had become a Christian (see The Path of Love). Much Sufi literature is

in poetry. This is consistent with the meditative, personal worship

orientation of the Sufis. One of the most famous was a Moorish poet,

Muhiy ad-din ibn al 'Arabi, of Andalusia (southern Spain), writing in

the twelfth century. Jalal ad-din ar-Rumi (Jalal of the religion of

Rome), writing in the thirteenth century, is the most famous of the

Persian mystic poets. Some Sufis have been great scholars. Abu Ha-

mid al-Ghazali, a significant philosophical theologian, was a major

Sufi figure.

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Some Muslim leaders do not like to use the term or classification

"Sufi." This is because, first, they resist labels which tend to divide Is-

lam. One administrator of a mosque known as a Sufi mosque, said to

me, "We are not Sufi or any other name. We are all just Muslims." A

second reason is that the term may carry a negative or uncertain con-

notation because of (1) the early historical rejection of Sufism's identi-

fication with Jesus or Christianity, and (2) the excesses of some Tur-

kish and Egyptian orders (like the whirling dervishes).

4. Ahmaddiya. This group believe the Mahdi / Messiah returned

in the Indian Hazrat Ghulam Ahmed in 1835. They have a well-

organized missionary society and publishing program worldwide.

Ahmed claimed to be Jesus in another life as the returned Mahdi /

Messiah. He meant to unite all true Muslims and Christians into the

one true religion. He was rejected by both. Ahmaddiya world head-

quarters is in Lahore, Pakistan. Ahmaddiyas are refused permission to

make the Hajj, because the Pakistan government has reported to Sa'udi

officials that the Ahmaddiyas are not true Muslims.

B. Political Systems.

Many different social and governmental systems are found in

various Muslim countries. Here are just a few examples of the combi-

nations of religious sect with political form.

1. Sunni is Military: Sudan, Libya

Royal: Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan.

2. Shi'a is Royal: Iran, under the Safawi Shah, Old Fatimid dy-

nasty of Egypt, Syria.

Hierarchical dictatorship: Revolutionary Iran under Khomeini.

Representative democracy (or parliamentary dictatorship): Iran

under an Ayatollah with Majlis and a president.

3. Secular. Democratic dictatorship: Turkey, Egypt. Muslim,

but non-"lslamic" politically. Both Turkey and Egypt have moved to

systems more like full Western secular republics. Turkey has had full

civilian constitutional rule since 1982. Syria's constitution declares

Syria to be a Socialist State, but specifies that the president shall be a

Muslim.

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4.5. Cultural diversity of Islam

Underneath the legal and creedal unity, the world of Islam har-

bours a tremendous diversity of cultures, particularly in the outlying

regions. The expansion of Islam can be divided into two broad pe-

riods. In the first period of the Arab conquests, the assimilative activi-

ty of the conquering religion was far-reaching. Although Persia resur-

rected its own language and a measure of its national culture after the

first three centuries of Islam, its culture and language had come under

heavy Arab influence. Only after Safavid rule installed Shi'ism as a

distinctive creed in the 16th century did Persia regain a kind of reli-

gious autonomy. The language of religion and thought, however, con-

tinued to be Arabic.

In the second period, the spread of Islam was not conducted by

the state with ulama influence but was largely the work of Sufi mis-

sionaries. The Sufis, because of their latitudinarianism, compromised

with local customs and beliefs and left a great deal of the pre-Islamic

legacy in every region intact. Thus, among the Central Asian Turks,

shamanistic practices were absorbed, while in Africa the holy man and

his barakah (an influence supposedly causing material and spiritual

well-being) are survivors from the older cults. In India there are large

areas geographically distant from the Muslim religio-political centre

of power in which customs are still Hindu and even pre-Hindu and in

which people worship a motley of saints and deities in common with

the Hindus. The custom of sati, under which a widow burned herself

alive along with her dead husband, persisted in India even among

some Muslims until late into the Mughal period. The 18th- and 19th-

century reform movements exerted themselves to "purify" Islam of

these accretions and superstitions.

Indonesia affords a striking example of this phenomenon. Be-

cause Islam reached there late and soon thereafter came under Euro-

pean colonialism, the Indonesian society has retained its pre-Islamic

world view beneath an overlay of Islamic practices. It keeps its cus-

tomary law (called adat) at the expense of the Shari'ah; many of its

tribes are still matriarchal; and culturally the Hindu epics Ramayana

and Mahabharata hold a high position in national life. Since the 19th

century, however, orthodox Islam has gained steadily in strength be-

cause of fresh contacts with the Middle East.

225

Apart from regional diversity, the main internal division within

Islamic society is brought about by urban and village life. Islam origi-

nally grew up in the two cities of Mecca and Medina, and as it ex-

panded, its peculiar ethos appears to have developed in urban areas.

Culturally, it came under a heavy Persian influence in Iraq, where the

Arabs learned the ways and style of life of their conquered people,

who were culturally superior to them. The custom of veiling women

(which originally arose as a sign of aristocracy but later served the

purpose of segregating women from men – the pardah), for example,

was acquired in Iraq.

Another social trait derived from outside cultures was the dis-

dain for agriculture and manual labor in general. Because the people

of the town of Medina were mainly agriculturists, this disdain could

not have been initially present. In general, Islam came to appropriate a

strong feudal ethic from the peoples it conquered. Also, because the

Muslims generally represented the administrative and military aristo-

cracy and because the learned class (ulama) was an essential arm of

the state, the higher culture of Islam became urban based.

This city orientation explains and also underlines the traditional

cleavage between the orthodox Islam of the ulama and the folk Islam

espoused by the Sufi orders of the countryside. In the modern period,

the advent of education and rapid industrialization threatened to make

this cleavage still wider. With the rise of a strong and widespread fun-

damentalist movement in the second half of the 20th century, this di-

chotomy has decreased.

Control questions for Unit III:

1. Where and when did Islam appear?

2. What are the main events in Muhammad‘s life?

3. How many suras are in the Quran?

4. What are the Five Pillars of Islam?

5. What are the Six Articles of Faith in Islam?

6. What is sadaqah?

7. What are thw major types of Islam?

8. What is ulama?

9. What is barakah?

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Unit V.

Modern religious situation

in the World and in Russia

A great variety of new religious movements originated in the

20th century, many proposing syncretism of elements of established

religions. Adherence to such new movements is limited, however, re-

maining below 2% worldwide in the 2000s. Adherents of the classical

world religions account for more than 75% of the world's population,

while adherence to indigenous tribal religions has fallen to 4%. As of

2005 ranking, an estimated 14% of the world's population identifies as

nonreligious. In the 20th century, the regimes of Communist Eastern

Europe and Communist China were explicitly anti-religious.

5.1. Modern religious situation

Here we propose to analyze the world religions rate made by

David A. Barrett in his World Christian Encyclopedia (2001).

According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, in 2000 there

are approximately 1.1 billion Muslims, over 811 million Hindus, over

359 million Buddhists, in addition to the world's 1.9 billion nominal

Christians. While Muslims claim they are the fastest growing religion

in the world (2.13), the statistics say that Baha'is are growing at a fast-

er rate (2.28) and faster still are Zoroastrians (2.65). More over, re-

garding world distribution, you can see that Islam is only in 204 of the

worlds 238 countries. Christianity, on the other hand is in all 238

countries of the world. Christianity has a 100% penetration rate world

wide.

According to statistics there are 1.9 Billion Christians making up

31% of the world population, whereas there are only 1.2 Billion Mus-

lims making up only 20% of the population. Also we see that the

world growth rate of Muslims is 2.13, and for Christians it is 1.36. A

closer look reveals, however that the birth rate of Muslims world

wide, is literally double that of Christians. This is due to the fact that

Muslims are largest in the developing world large families are com-

mon. When you see the actual conversion rate, where men chose their

religion, rather then are born into it, you can see that Christians are

converting, on a percentage basis, almost twice as many as Muslims

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(1.7:1). This means that individual Christians are out converting Mus-

lims almost two to one. What this means, is that as third world Mus-

lim controlled countries gain the advantages of education and technol-

ogy found in the Western world, their birth rate will drop off to match

that of the West, but Christians will still continue to out convert them

at a rate of 1.7:1.

From the continent "Africa" we observe that Christianity slightly

larger but is growing at a much faster rate than Islam. Although the

birth rates are about identical, individual Christians are making twice

as many converts as Muslims. In the African continent, Christians are

both the largest and fastest growing in relation to Islam.

From the continent "Asia" we observe that although Islam is

25% and Christianity is only 10% of the population, again Christianity

is growing at a must fast rate. Even the Jews are growing at a faster

rate (2.99) than the Muslims in Asia! While birth rates for Muslims

are higher than Christians, individual Christians are 13 times more ef-

fective at making new converts than Muslims. In the Asian continent,

Christians are growing faster than Muslims.

From the continent "Europe" we observe that while Muslims are

growing faster than Christians, Buddhists claim the prize for the fast-

est growing religion at a rate of 1.39. Muslims make up only 5% of

the population in Europe and most of the Muslim growth in Europe is

from immigration. Although 77% of Europeans are Christians, Budd-

hists, not Muslims, are the fastest growing religion in the continent of

Europe.

From the continent "Latin America" that we observe that while

Muslims (1.99) are growing faster than Christians (1.63), they make

up only 1/3 of 1% (.3%) of the population, whereas Christians are 92

% of the population. The down trend in Christianity conversion is

mainly defects from Catholics to non-religious. It must be troubling

for Muslims to know that although they are growing faster than Chris-

tians, Baha‘is are growing much faster than Muslims at a rate of 2.87.

In the Latin American continent, Christians make up 93% of the popu-

lation. Although tiny Islam is fastest growing faster than Christianity,

it is the Baha‘is, who take the prize for fastest growing the Latin

America.

From the continent "North America" we observe that while Mus-

lims are growing faster than Christians, they make up only 4% of the

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population, whereas 84% are Christians. Most of the Muslim growth

in North America is from immigration. Canada alone immigrates more

Muslims apart from the USA, to account for almost all the growth in

all of North America every year! It sure must be a hollow boast for

Muslims to claim they are the fastest growing religion in North Amer-

ica, when it is because of the kindness and generosity of Christians

who let them immigrate, often fleeing the persecution between hostile

Muslim sects. There are still 50% more Jews in North America than

Muslims in 2004. Muslims lie when they tell you they are the fastest

growing (1.56) religion in North America. From Table 2, we can see

that they are no better than 5th place in growth behind: Atheists

(3.51), Hindus (3.13), Sikhs (2.81), Buddhists (2.75), Baha‘is (2.25).

From the continent "Oceania" we observe that Christians

represent 83% of the population and Muslims are a miniscule 1%.Yet

the facts are that in Oceania, Muslims are indeed growing at a fast rate

than Christians at 3.04. But the fastest growing religion is "new-

religionists" at a staggering rate of 9.02, followed by Buddhists at

5.19, then Sikhs at 3.55, then Zoroastrians at 3.18. Muslims are no

better than the 5th fastest growing religion in Oceania.

There are more new Christians added to the world population

than any other religion on earth every day. This data makes the entire

discussion about "rates of growth" irrelevant. The fact is today, that

Christianity is the fastest growing religion on this most critical basis.

This may change, but today, in 2004 AD, Christians take the prize for

being the fastest growing religion.

5.2. New religious movement

New religious movement (NRM) is a term used to refer to a reli-

gious faith or an ethical, spiritual, or philosophical movement of re-

cent origin that is not part of an established denomination, church, or

religious body.

The name new religions is a direct translation of shinshukyo,

which Japanese sociologists coined to refer to this phenomenon. The

term was adopted in turn by Western scholars as an alternative to the

older term cult, which acquired a pejorative connotation during the

1970s, and was subsequently used indiscriminately by lay critics to

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disparage faiths whose doctrines they saw as unusual or heretical. A

number of scholars, especially in the sociology of religion, use "new

religious movement" to describe non-mainstream religions, while oth-

ers use the term for benign alternative religions and reserve "cult" for

groups – whether religious, psychotherapeutic, political or commercial

– they believe to be extremely manipulative and exploitative.

Although there is no one criterion or set of criteria for describing

a group as a "new religious movement," use of the term usually re-

quires that the group be both of recent origin and different from exist-

ing religions.

"New" in the sense of "different from existing religions" is con-

sidered straightforward in definition but not as much in categorization.

Some scholars have a more restricted approach to what counts as "dif-

ferent". For them, "difference" applies to a faith that, though it may be

seen as part of an existing religion, meets with rejection from that re-

ligion for not sharing the same basic creed or declares itself either

separate from the existing religion or even "the only right" faith. Other

scholars expand their measurement of difference, considering reli-

gious movements new when, taken from their traditional cultural con-

text, they appear in new places, perhaps in modified forms. Examples

of these kinds of "new movements" would be the Western importation

and establishment of Hindu or Buddhist groups.

NRMs vary in terms of leadership; authority; concepts of the in-

dividual, family, and gender; teachings; organizational structures; etc.

These variations have presented a challenge to social scientists in their

attempts to formulate a comprehensive and clear set of criteria for

classifying NRMs.

Debates among academics on the acceptability of the word cult

continue. Similarly, no consensus has been reached in the definition of

new religious movement among scholars.

An article on the categorization of new religious movements in

U.S. print media published by The Association for the Sociology of

Religion (formerly the American Catholic Sociological Society), criti-

cizes the print media for failing to recognize social-scientific efforts in

the area of new religious movements, and its tendency to use popular

or anti-cultist definitions rather than social-scientific insight, and as-

serts that "The failure of the print media to recognize social-scientific

efforts in the area of religious movement organizations impels us to

230

add yet another failing mark to the media report card Weiss (1985) has

constructed to assess the media's reporting of the social sciences."

In general, the number of people who have affiliated with NRMs

worldwide is small when compared to major world religions. Howev-

er, the diversity of NRMs has seen the emergence of different groups

in Africa, Japan, and Melanesia.

The United States, with its constitutional guarantee of religious

liberty, has been the birthplace of many new religious movements.

Those founded in the 19th century include the Church of Jesus Christ

of Latter-day Saints (1830), Spiritualism (about 1848), Jehovah‘s

Witnesses (1872), the Theosophical Society (1875), and Christian

Science (1879). The Universal Peace Mission of Father Divine began

in the late 1910s and soon attracted a large following. These groups

were typically greeted, at least initially, with suspicion, ridicule, and

hostility. For example, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat-

ter-day Saints, sometimes known as Mormons, were physically at-

tacked by mobs and driven from their communities.

Pluralism – the existence of diverse cultures and beliefs –

expanded greatly in Europe and North America in the wake of World

War II (1939-1945). American troops stationed as occupation forces

in Japan were exposed to Zen, a school of Buddhism that emphasizes

meditation, and some began Zen groups after they returned home.

During the 1960s and 1970s the number of cults in the United

States surged. Scholars attribute this increase in part to a climate of

social and political change in which young people began to explore al-

ternative lifestyles. Perhaps even more important, President Lyndon

B. Johnson in 1965 repealed laws that had severely restricted immi-

gration from Asia to the United States. As a result of the repeal, large

numbers of people from India, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia be-

gan to arrive in the United States. Among the immigrants were gurus,

swamis, and preachers who sought to establish American branches of

their religious movements. These movements included the Interna-

tional Society for Krishna Consciousness from India; the Divine Light

Mission (now called Elan Vital), also from India; and the Unification

Church from Korea, led by Sun Myung Moon. By the early 1970s

each of these groups had attracted a small following in the United

States.

231

Not all the new religious movements came from the East, how-

ever. Groups that emerged in the United States also experienced rapid

growth in the 1960s and 1970s. The Church of Scientology, founded

in 1954 by American writer and philosopher L. Ron Hubbard, drew

many adherents. Others that thrived included The Way International,

founded in the 1940s by radio minister Victor Paul Wierwille; the

Church Universal and Triumphant (originally called Summit Ligh-

thouse), founded in the 1960s by mystics Mark Prophet and Elizabeth

Clare Prophet; and the Children of God (later renamed The Family),

founded in 1968 by evangelist David Berg. Other movements emerged

that emphasized witchcraft, paganism, Satanism, or occultism.

As it was said there is no single strict and exact definition of

'new religious movements', as there is, however, for the terms sect and

cult. Different schools and approaches follow their own definitions. In

Russia, it is more common to speak of sects, while in the USA, they

prefer the term cults for the same groups. There are groups over which

the question arises: can they be called religious at all? So far as we are

not concerned with mathematical models but with the reality of our

lives, which do not always fit into a pleasing framework of formal

systematisation, such terminological vagueness should not be a stum-

bling block. It is meaningful to call those movements both new and re-

ligious which appeared before the Second World War (for example,

Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Bahai faith and others). All such

groups which emerged in the nineteenth century are new enough in

comparison with the two thousand years of Christianity. Undoubtedly,

it is impossible to consider them as some unified, integrated pheno-

menon, or further, to level charges brought against one of these groups

against all the others, despite the existence of common characteristics

among them.

Cults and alternative religions tend to prosper in times of social

instability. They offer members clear solutions to complex problems,

a promise of salvation, and a sense of security in belonging to a

group. The communal lifestyle, practiced by many of the alternative

religions, appealed to many young people who sought to remake so-

ciety. Recruitment efforts sometimes resulted in young people drop-

ping out of college, abandoning career goals, and adopting a full-time

religious life in an unfamiliar group setting. The conformity, loyalty,

and discipline required of members also raised alarm. The group

232

might require its members to wear strange-looking garments, follow a

strict or unusual diet, chant or meditate at specific times, or take a new

name.

Some groups required that members live in isolated communities

and restricted or ended members‘ contact with family members and

others outside the cult. More over relatives and friends ―become‖ en-

nemies who harm to ―salvation‖.

Parents and other concerned people accused cults: of using de-

ception and psychological manipulation in recruiting and maintaining

new members, a process dubbed brainwashing or mind control. The

charges of brainwashing appeared to be confirmed after the 1978 mass

suicide by members of the People‟s Temple, an agricultural commune

in Jonestown, Guyana. On the orders of their leader, Jim Jones, more

than 900 followers of the cult, mostly Americans, took poison and

died.

Main characteristics of a totalitarian sect

Dangerous cults tend to share certain characteristics. These

groups typically have an exceedingly authoritarian leader who seeks

to control every aspect of members‘ lives and allows no questioning of

decisions. Such leaders may hold themselves above the law or exempt

themselves from requirements made of other members of the group.

They often preach a doomsday scenario that presumes persecu-

tion from forces outside the cult and a consequent need to prepare for

an imminent Armageddon, or final battle between good and evil. In

preparation they may hoard firearms. Alternatively, cult leaders may

prepare members for suicide, which the group believes will transport

it to a place of eternal bliss.

In 1994, 53 members of the International Chivalric Order Solar

Tradition (commonly called the Solar Temple) died in suicides and

murders at two villages in Switzerland and at a site near Montréal,

Québec, Canada. They believed their deaths would result in the transit

of their spirits to another planet.

In Tokyo, Japan, members of Aum Shinrikyo released poison

nerve gas in a Tokyo subway station in 1995, killing 12 passengers

and injuring 5,000 more. The group‘s leaders were put on trial, and

several were sentenced to death.

233

The largest mass suicide in the United States occurred in 1997,

when 39 members of the Heaven‟s Gate cult killed themselves in

Rancho Santa Fe, California. Members of the cult believed that

through suicide their souls would leave their bodily containers and

would travel to a higher realm. Part of their faith stemmed from a be-

lief in UFOs (unidentified flying objects). They believed a UFO

spaceship hidden behind the comet Hale-Bopp, which was then ap-

proaching Earth, would transport their souls.

New Age Movement, broad-based amalgam of diverse spiritual,

social, and political elements with the common aim of transforming

individuals and society through spiritual awareness. The New Age is a

utopian vision, an era of harmony and progress. It comprises individ-

uals, activist groups, businesses, professional groups, and spiritual

leaders and followers, it brings feminist, ecological, spiritual, and hu-

man-potential concerns into the mainstream in the 1980s and 1990s. It

creates a large market in the United States and other countries for

books, magazines, audio- and videotapes, workshops, retreats, and ex-

positions on the subject, as well as for natural foods, crystals, and me-

ditation and healing aids.

Techniques for self-improvement and the idea that the individual

is responsible for and capable of everything from self-healing to creat-

ing the world, have found applications in health care and counseling

as well as in sports, the armed forces, and corporations and have pro-

voked debate in religious and other circles.

Ideas frequently associated with the New Age movement include

anthroposophical teachings, inner transformation, reincarnation, extra-

terrestrial life, biofeedback, chanting, alchemy, yoga, transpersonal

psychology, shamanism, martial arts, the occult, astrology, psychic

healing, extrasensory perception, divination, astral ravel, acupuncture,

massage, tarot, Zen, mythology, and visualization.

Sect addiction

Now the medicine is unable to cure this frightful disease. As

narcology experts say, only 3-5% of drug addicts can achieve a steady

remission following treatment and rehabilitation. It means that 95-97

of 100 people restart using drugs and other psychoactive substances

after treatment.

234

Pseudoreligious totalitarian sects of destructive nature have tak-

en advantage of this highly adverse situation – their leaders assert they

can heal drug addiction, trying to demonstrate their purportedly bene-

volent intentions. In reality, this drug fighting main objective is re-

cruiting of new adepts. As facts have shown, some young people –

members of such sects really stop using drugs. But another addiction

replaces it often – addiction from a sect and its leaders. Psychiatrists

have already borrowed from sectology a new term – sect addiction. It

is possible because there are special methods allowing to replace an

addiction with another ―easier‖ one. For example, drug addiction can

be replaced with alcohol addiction. Sect addiction happens in totalita-

rian sect where tight confinement and special psychological methods

are used to create dependence on an organization and its leader.

As experts assert, several so-called ―divine services‖ in neo-

pentecostal groups influence mentality of an adept causing depen-

dence on sensual experience similar to a drug addiction. Such an expe-

rience results from Christ ―glorification‖, common prayers and

―speaking languages‖ (sputter, murmur and outcries). ―Speaking lan-

guages‖ often reminds of epileptic fit. In Faith movement sect such a

prayer is called ―prostration in Spirit‖ or ―peace in Spirit‖. Neo-

pentecostals use these terms for a phenomenon when usually after

hand imposition (or making passes toward adepts) the latter fall to a

floor and lay there without movements, convulse in ecstasy, cachin-

nate, weep or scream for some time. Here is the description of the

phenomenon by John Wimber, a shepherd widely known and respect-

able in sectarian circles: ―We know about this phenomenon when

people fall to a floor and lie there on their belly or back sometimes for

several hours not only from the Church history. Nowadays this occurs

often also... Such a condition can last for 12-48 hours. Then people

told that they had experienced a drastic spiritual change. Sometimes

very impressive situations happen: a shepherd or another spiritual

leader falls to a floor... For example, a shepherd has been banging his

head against a floor for about an hour. (Strangely enough, but it didn‘t

cause headaches or injuries.) Changes resulting from such an expe-

rience can be really great‖. (Wimber J., Springer K. Heilung inder

Kraft des Geistes. Hochheim, 1985. S. 207.)

Many neo-pentecostal services end with its participants lying in

bulk on a floor or crawling under chairs. A certain prayer is called ―a

235

prayer of birth agony‖. A person is supposed just to cry out as loudly

and long as he or she can without uttering any words. The main leader

of Faith movement and a spiritual inspirator of its exports to Russia

Ulf Ekman says, that such a prayer is much more important and effec-

tive than ―speaking languages‖: ―When the Holy Spirit pierces

through a person, the latter feels pains similar to birth agony. When

God leads us to this state, we think we have gone crazy. We roll over

a floor, scream in anxiety, squealing like a pig which is being slaugh-

tered. This prayer is extremely powerful and the devil hates it. He

cries to us that we are crazy zealots‖. (Information material of Dialog-

Center “Information about Prosperity Theology”. P. 5.)

Another essential feature of this movement is a so-called ―To-

ronto phenomenon‖ (neo-pentecostals call it ―Toronto blessing‖) or

“saintly laughter”. Rodney Howard-Brown, priest, who claims to be

―a barman of The Holy Spirit‖, used to infect large audiences with a

hysterical laughter which lasted for several hours. People drank in the

laughter, rolled in hysteria and lost consciousness. This was called

drinking of ―a new wine‖ of the saintly laughter, ―Gospel waking up‖

and ―joy about God‖. This laughter is contagious, everybody, who has

been ―anointed‖ by Howard-Brown, becomes authorized to spread the

laughter infecting other people with it.

5.3. Religion in Russia

Orthodox Christianity is Russia‘s traditional and largest religion,

deemed part of Russia's "historical heritage" in a law passed in 1997.

Russia adopted Christianity under Prince Vladimir of Kiev in

988, in a ceremony patterned on Byzantine rites. Russia's baptism laid

the foundations for the rise of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 1448, the Council of the Russian higher clergy elevated Bi-

shop Iona of Ryazan to the cathedra of the Metropolitan of Moscow

and All Russia, independently of Constantinople, making the Russian

Orthodox Church autocephalous.

A patriarchal throne in Moscow was instituted in 1589, with the

first Russian patriarch, Iov, enthroned on January 26. Nikon, the Pa-

triarch of Moscow and Russia (1652-1658), stands out among the hie-

rarchs of the patriarchal period for his vigorous attempts to modify

church rites and amend the church service books in line with the ser-

236

vice practiced in Greek churches. His reforms led to a religious split

and emergence of the so-called Old Belief.

The patriarchate survived in Russia until the early 18th century.

In 1718, Peter the Great introduced collective control in the Russian

Church. This innovation worked until 1721 only, when the Ecclesias-

tical College was transformed into a ruling Holy Synod, instituted as

an administrative body of church power of the Russian Orthodox

Church.

In 1917, the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church

adopted a resolution that restored patriarchal rule. After the 1917

upheavals, the Russian Orthodox Church has traversed a hard and

tragic road. The early years of the Soviet regime were particularly try-

ing for it. The Land Decree of October 26, 1917, deprived the Church

of the bulk of its lands. The worst hit were the monasteries. In its

another decree, made public on January 26, 1918, the Council of

People's Commissars (the government) separated the church from the

state and school. As a result, all church organizations lost the powers

of legal entity and the right to own property. To have the decree put

into effect, a special liquidation committee was set up to evict the

monks from their monasteries, many of which were destroyed, not

without acts of vandalism, in which church utensils and bells were

melted down and shrines containing relics were broken open.

In the late 1980s, with attempts launched to restructure the coun-

try's economic and political system, major changes were made in the

relationship between the state and the Church in the hope of revival.

The millennium of Christianity in Russia in 1988 was celebrated on a

grand scale. In that year, 1,610 new religious communities, most of

them of the Orthodox belief, were registered in the country.

In 1990, a series of laws were passed on the freedom of religion,

under which many of the existing restrictions were removed from reli-

gious communities, allowing them to step up their activities.

Russian Orthodoxy is the dominant religion in Russia. 95% of

the registered Orthodox parishes belong to the Russian Orthodox

Church while there are a number of smaller Orthodox Churches.

However, the vast majority of Orthodox believers do not attend

church on a regular basis. Nonetheless, the church is widely respected

by both believers and nonbelievers, who see it as a symbol of Russian

heritage and culture. Smaller Christian denominations such as Roman

237

Catholics, Armenian Gregorian and various Protestants exist in Russia

too.

With nearly 5,000 religious associations the Russian Orthodox

Church accounts for over a half of the total number registered in Rus-

sia. Next in numbers come Moslem associations, about 3,000, Bapt-

ists, 450, Seventh Day Adventists, 120, Evangelicals, 120, Old Be-

lievers, over 200, Roman Catholics, 200, Krishnaites, 68, Buddhists,

80, Judaists, 50, and Unified Evangelical Lutherans, 39.

Approximately 100 million citizens consider themselves Russian

Orthodox Christians, amounting to 70% of population, although the

Church claims a membership of 80 million; also according to a poll by

the Russian Public Opinion Research Center, 63% of respondents con-

sidered themselves Russian Orthodox, 6% of respondents considered

themselves Muslim and less than 1% considered themselves either

Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant or Jewish However, religious experts

the number of active Church members to be 40 million, and declining.

Another 12% said they believe in God, but did not practice any reli-

gion, and 16% said they are non-believers.

The first Muslims within current Russian territory were the Da-

gestani people (region of Derbent) after the Arab conquests in the 8th

century. The first Muslim state in Russia was Volga Bulgaria (922).

The Tatars inherited the religion from that state. Later most of the Eu-

ropean and Caucasian Turkic peoples also became followers of Islam.

Islam in Russia has had a long presence, extending at least as far back

as the conquest of the Khakanateof kazan in 1552, which brought the

Tatars and Bashkirs on the Middle Volga into Russia. The lower Vol-

ga Muslim Astrakhan Khakanate was conquered by the Russian em-

pire in 1556. The Siberia Khanate was conquered by the Russian em-

pire in 16th century by defeating the Siberian Tatars which opened Si-

beria for Russian conquest. The Crimean Khakanate was conquered in

1739 by the Russian empire. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Russian

conquests in the North Caucasus brought the Muslim peoples of this

region – Dagestani, Ingush, Chechens and others – into the Russian

state. The conquest of the Circassians and the Ubykhs turned this

peoples to muhajirs. Further afield, the independent states of Central

Asia andAzerbaijan were brought into the Russian state as part of the

same imperialist push that incorporated the North Caucasus. Most

238

Muslims living in Russia were the indigenous people of lands long

ago seized by the expanding Russian empire.

Islam, in terms of importance and number of followers, is the

second religion in the Russian Federation after Christianity. From 8 to

10% of the population, or 12-15 million people practice this religion.

Islam is the dominating religion in Dagestan, Ingushetia, Chechnya,

Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachayevo-Cherkessia. Approximately half

of the populations in the republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan are

followers of Islam. There are up to 4,500 Muslim communities

throughout the Russian Federation.

Ethnically, the Muslims of Russia include all the peoples belong-

ing to the Nakhsko-Dagestani and Abkhazo-Adygian language fami-

lies, the Tatars (with the exception of the Kryashens and Nagaibaks),

Bashkirs, Kumyks and Nogais, as well as the Azeris, Kazakhs, Uz-

beks, Turkmenians and Kyrgyzians living in the country.

Sunnism is the main form of Islam practiced in the Russian Fed-

eration. The Muslims in the Turkic group of peoples profess Hanafi

Maz'hab Sunnism, while the Northern Caucasian peoples, in their ma-

jority, adhere to Shafii Maz'hab. A considerable part of Azeris living

in Russian territories profess Shiism of the Djafra (Imamite) branches,

however, organizationally they are, as a rule, included in the Sunni

centralized structures. The Sufi Tarikat Kadyrs are to be encountered

in Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia (primarily in the mountainous

regions of Chechnya and Ingushetia), Nashkban (plain lands of

Chechnya) and Shadyl (Dagestan). Hanbali Maz'hab Islam, in its most

radical branches of Salafism and Wahhabism, began to spread actively

throughout the country in 1994. Today Salafism is practiced by part of

the populations in Dagestan and Chechnya. Communities of Salafism

are also to be found in other parts of the country.

Non-traditional branches of Islam in Russia are represented ra-

ther weakly. They include certain marginal syncretic Sufi Orders, the

Akhmad sect (branch of Kadiani), as well as two new religions of Is-

lamic origin – Bahai Faith (Bahaism).

Buddhism is traditional for three regions of the Russian Federa-

tion: Buryatia, Nbva and Kalmykia. Some residents of the Siberian

and Far Eastern regions, Yakutia, Chukotka, etc., practice pantheistic

and pagan rites, along with the major religions. Induction into religion

takes place primarily along ethnic lines. Slavs are overwhelmingly Or-

239

thodox Christian. Turkic speakers are predominantly Muslim, al-

though several Turkic groups in Russia are not.

Several mechanisms are responsible for gradual changes in the

religious structure of Russia.

Most religions present in Russia are ethnic-based. Expectedly,

their prevalence changes as their respective ethnic groups grow or

shrink. The most prominent example of this is Judaism – the number

of ethnic Jews in Russia shrunk by more than a factor of 10 since mid-

20th century. Number of Lutherians and Mennonites has declined

somewhat since Soviet era due to emigration of Volga Germans. Con-

versely, the population of Islamic ethnic groups continues to grow

(from 8% of total population of the country in 1989 to at least 10% in

2002), and so does prevalence of Islam.

Missionary work of various Western Protestant and "new reli-

gious" groups in Russia since 1990 contributed to growth of a number

of non-ethnic religions and faiths.

There are indications that some traditional religions are on the

decline as well. Old believers are down to less than 1% compared to

10% in Czarist Russia. Buddhism is on the decline among its tradi-

tional followers in Southern Asia, supplanted by Shamanism.

On the other hand, the New Age movement has led to emergence

of some "non-traditional" religions in large cities. Polls indicate that

around 1% of population of Moscow and St.Petersburg self-identify as

Buddhists. Many of these are Slavic and have no ethnic connection to

Buddhism.

Like many other developed countries, Russia experiences growth

of Neopaganism, but it is difficult to quantify. On one hand, the num-

ber of people who believe in various occult and paranormal phenome-

na is quite high, even comparable to the number of Christians. Slavic

mythology is popular. On the other hand, the prevalence of overt neo-

pagans appears to be low.

In Russia the term 'sect' is in common usage, and Orthodox theo-

logical schools today teach 'sect studies'. The communities and ten-

dencies which came out of the Protestant tradition were once naturally

labeled as sects, presuming their principal characteristics to be separa-

tion from tradition, condemnation of it as erroneous and self-

proclamation as the one true gospel. The term 'sectarian psychology'

appeared in this context too. But today in the West, Baptists, for ex-

240

ample, are not called a sect in any theological literature, but rather a

'free church'.

All such concepts as Church, confession, denomination, sect,

cult, heresy, schism and so on, may be understood differently in dif-

ferent Churches and denominations, and in the non-religious sphere.

But in our culture a certain common understanding has been formed.

Today new religious movements have proved to be the prime

motivation for serious reflection and debate on religious freedom and

over guarantees of securing freedom of conscience. The missionary

task of the Church is plain and obvious, as is the apologetical verve of

its representatives, both clergy and lay, in the discussion of this sub-

ject with people who have nothing to do with the Church. But this

does not mean that the Orthodox Church in Russia should accomplish

its missionary task by relying on the power structures of the state or

enthusiasts using ways and means that are improper and unacceptable

to a democratic society.

Surveying the current legal situation in Russia regarding reli-

gion, we would like to stress that proclaiming freedom of conscience

is extremely important, but no less so is the need to secure the realisa-

tion of this freedom. Although, carrying seventy years of repression of

freedom on our shoulders, we are, alas, still far off its full implemen-

tation.

So, for example, it is worth noting that Article 8 of the Freedom

of Religious Confession Act of 25 October 1990 says: ―Voluntary so-

cial organisations, formed for the mutual study and dissemination of

atheistic convictions are separate from the state. The state will not

give them assistance of a material or ideological nature and will not

entrust to them the fulfilment of any state functions‖. One can say that

this law is observed but the role of atheists in society is still very sig-

nificant. Several Departments of Atheism at Higher Educational estab-

lishments have changed their names but still teach exactly the same.

The particular problem today is the legal status of non-Orthodox

Churches, religious communities, groups and movements. According

to Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation (ratified on

12 December 1993), ―every person is guaranteed freedom of con-

science, freedom of confession, including the right to confess any reli-

gion, individually or together with others, or to confess none, to freely

choose, hold and propagate religious or other convictions and to act in

241

accordance with them‖. Yet prolonged discussions went on in the

Duma, in several political parties, and in Church circles and those

close to them, about the need to formulate a law on Freedom of Con-

science and Religious Organisations – which recently had its first

reading in the Duma-in order to restrict the activity of numerous sects

and cults which are consolidating their position in Russia today. It is

proposed that this will be done by the division of religious groups into

'traditional' and 'non-traditional'.

It is instructive to turn our attention to the fact that, when on 12

February 1997 St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly passed, in its enti-

rety and more than a year after it made its first appearance, a bill on

the Accreditation of Organisations and Citizens carrying out Missio-

nary Activity in St. Petersburg, the Governor rejected it as unconstitu-

tional. According to the text of the bill, all organisations and persons

intending to carry out missionary activity in the city, would have been

required to be accredited by the secretariat of the St. Petersburg ad-

ministration. In order to decide whose faith teaching was safe for

those around them, there was to have been a consultative expert body,

including representatives of religious and voluntary organisations, and

of state authorities, specialists in the field of freedom of conscience

and religion, lawyers and medics. It was intended to issue the accredi-

tation for a period of one year. For an extension it would have been

necessary to submit another application.

It is hard to predict how this decree would have been imple-

mented. Of whom and how would the expert body have been consti-

tuted? Would they have paid equal attention or inattention when ex-

amining the activity of the Franciscan missionaries and some Far-

Eastern meditation group, founded upon a revelation received by their

leader during a trance? But in any case, how strange, and even dan-

gerous it would be to introduce into a law criteria requiring theologi-

cal, ecclesiastical understanding, criteria which are supposed to guide

bureaucrats who are a long way off such understanding. There is a de-

finite tendency in certain circles towards creating some sort of State

Committee for Spiritual Security that would decide what was spiri-

tually beneficial to the Russian citizen and what was not.

242

Control questions to Unit V:

1. What are the main characteristics of the modern religious situation?

2. What are the features of NRD?

3. What are the main characteristics of a totalitarian sect?

4. What were the persecutions of religion in the Soviet Union?

5. What are the signs of the ―sect addiction‖?

6. What is the idea of the Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian

Federation?

7. What does the Article 8 of the Freedom of Religious Confession

Act of 25 October 1990 say?

Task for practices

№1. Make up a list of the main terms in History of religions and give

their explanations.

№2. Find out the main and common features of the Ancient religions

and give some examples.

№3. Compare Hinduism and Buddhism and explain differences in un-

derstanding of their common notions.

№4. Name the main differences in Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Prot-

estantism.

№5.Give an explanation of the Islamic conception of the Paradise and

the Hell.

№6. Make up a list of the religions and religious movements in the

World and describe some of them.

№7. Describe the religious situation in Russia.

243

Appendix

Reader

For Unit I

The Babylonian Story of the Deluge

In 1845-47, and again in 1849-51, Sir A. H. Layard carried out a

series of excavations among the ruins of the ancient city of Nineveh,

"that great city, wherein are more than sixteen thousand persons that

cannot discern between their right hand and their left; and also much

cattle" (Jonah iv, ii). Its ruins lie on the left or east bank of the Tigris,

exactly opposite the town of At-Mawsil, or Môsul, which was founded

by the Sassanians and marks the site of Western Nineveh. At first

Layard thought that these ruins were not those of Nineveh, which he

placed at Nimrûd, about 20 miles downstream, but of one of the other

cities that were builded by Asshur (Gen. X, 11, 12). Thanks, however,

to Christian, Roman and Muhammadan tradition, there is no room for

doubt about it, and the site of Nineveh has always been known. The

fortress which the Arabs built there in the seventh century was known

as "Kal'at Ninawï," i.e., "Nineveh Castle," for many centuries, and all

the Arab geographers agree in saying that the mounds opposite Môsul

contain the ruins of the palaces and walls of Nineveh. And few of

them fail to mention that close by them is "Tall Nabi Yûnis," i.e., the

Hill from which the Prophet Jonah preached repentance to the inhabi-

tants of Nineveh, that "exceeding great city of three days' journey"

(Jonah III, 3). Local tradition also declares that the prophet was buried

in the Hill, and his supposed tomb is shown there to this day.

The situation of the ruins of the palaces of Nineveh is well

shown by the accompanying reproduction of the plan of the city made

by Commander Felix Jones, I.N. The remains of the older palaces

built by Sargon II (B.C. 722-705), Sennacherib (B.C. 705-681), and

Esarhaddon (B.C. 681-669) lie under the hill called Nabi Yûnis, and

those of the palaces and other buildings of Asshur-bani-pal (B.C. 681-

626) under the mound which is known locally as "Tall al-

'Armûshîyah," i.e., "The "Hill of 'Armûsh," and "Kuyûnjik." The latter

name is said to be derived from two Turkish words meaning "many

sheep," in allusion to the large flocks of sheep that find their pasture

on and about the mound in the early spring. These two great mounds

244

lie close to the remains of the great west wall of Nineveh, which in the

time of the last Assyrian Empire may have been washed by the waters

of the river Tigris. The river Khausur, or Khoser, divides the area of

Nineveh into two parts, and passing close to the southern end of

Kuyûnjik empties itself into the Tigris. The ruins of the walls of Nine-

veh show that the east wall was 16,000 feet long, the north wall 7,000

feet long, the west wall 13,600 feet, and the south wall 3,000 feet; its

circuit was about 13,200 yards or 71 miles.

In the spring of 1850 Layard, assisted by Mr. H. Rassam, con-

tinued the excavation of the "South West Palace" at Kuyûnjik. In one

part of the building he found two small chambers, opening into each

other, which be called the "chamber of records," or "the house of the

rolls." He gave them this name because "to the height of a foot or

more from the floor they were entirely filled with inscribed baked clay

tablets and fragments of tablets. Some tablets were complete, but by

far the larger number of them had been broken up into many frag-

ments, probably by the falling in of the roof and upper parts of the

walls of the buildings when the city was pillaged and set on fire by the

Medes and Babylonians. The tablets that were kept in these chambers

numbered many thousands. Besides those that were found in them by

Layard, large numbers have been dug out all along the corridor which

passed the chambers and led to the river, and a considerable number

were kicked on to the river front by the feet of the terrified fugitives

from the palace when it was set on fire. The tablets found by Layard

were of different sizes; the largest were rectangular, flat on one side

and convex on the other, and measured about 9 ins. by 6Ѕ ins., and the

smallest were about an inch square. The importance of this "find" was

not sufficiently recognized at the time, for the tablets, which were

thought to be decorated pottery, were thrown into baskets and sent

down the river loose on rafts to Basrah, whence they were despatched

to England on a British man-of-war. During their transport from Ni-

neveh to England they suffered more damage from want of packing

than they had suffered from the wrath of the Medes. Among the com-

plete tablets that were found in the two chambers several had colo-

phons inscribed or scratched upon them, and when these were deci-

phered by Rawlinson, Hincks and Oppert a few years later, it became

evident that they had formed part of the Library of the Temple of Ne-

bo at Nineveh.

245

Nothing is known of the early history of the Library of the Tem-

ple of Nebo at Nineveh, but there is little doubt that it was in existence

in the reign of Sargon II. Authorities differ in their estimate of the

attributes that were assigned to Nebo (Nabu) in Pre-Babylonian times,

and "cannot decide whether he was a water-god, or a fire-god, or a

corn-god, but he was undoubtedly associated with Marduk, either as

his son or as a fellow-god. It is certain that as early as B.C. 2000 he

was regarded as one of the "Great Gods" of Babylonia, and in the

fourteenth century B.C. his cult was already established in Assyria. He

had a temple at Nimrûd in the ninth century B.C., and King Adad-

nirari (B.C. 811-783) set up six statues in it to the honour of the god;

two of these statues are now in the British Museum. The same Adad-

nirari also repaired the Nebo temple at Nineveh. Under the last Assy-

rian Empire Nebo was believed to possess the wisdom of all the gods,

and to be the "All-wise " and "All-knowing." He was the inventor of

all the arts and sciences, and the source of inspiration in wise and

learned men, and he was the divine scribe and past master of all the

mysteries connected with literature and the art of writing (dup-

sharrute). Ashur-bani-pal addresses him as "Nebo, the mighty son, the

director of the whole of heaven and of earth, holder of the tablet, bear-

er of the writing-reed of the tablet of destiny, lengthener of days, vi-

vifier of the dead, stablisher of light for the men who are troubled"

(Tablet, RM. 132).

In the reign of Sargon II the Temple of Nebo at Kuyûnjik was

repaired, and probably at that time a library was housed in it. Layard

found some of the remains of Nebo's Library in the South West Pa-

lace, but it must have been transferred thither, for the temple of Nebo

lay farther north, near the south comer of Ashur-bani-pal's palace. Ne-

bo's temple at Nineveh bore the same name as his very ancient temple

at Borsippa (the modem Birs-i-Nimrûd).

In the spring of 1851 Layard was obliged to close his excava-

tions for want of funds, and he returned to England with Rassam, leav-

ing all the northern half of the great mound of Kuyûnjik unexcavated.

He resigned his position as Director of Excavations to the Trustees of

the British Museum, and Colonel (later Sir) H. C. Rawlinson, Consul-

General at Baghdâd, undertook to direct any further excavations that it

might be possible to carry out later on. During the summer the Trus-

tees received a further grant from Parliament for excavations in Assy-

246

ria, and they dispatched Rassam to finish the exploration of Kuyûnjik,

knowing that the lease of the mound of Kuyûnjik for excavation pur-

poses which he had obtained from its owner had several years to run.

When Rassam arrived at Môsul in 1852, and was collecting his men

for work, he discovered that Rawlinson, who knew nothing about the

lease of the mound which Rassam held, had given the French Consul,

M. Place, permission to excavate the northern half of the mound, i.e.,

that part of it which he was most anxious to excavate for the British

Museum. He protested, but in vain, and, finding that M. Place in-

tended to hold Rawlinson to his word, devoted himself to clearing out

part of the South West Palace which Layard had attacked in 1850.

Meanwhile M. Place was busily occupied with the French excavations

at Khorsabad, a mound which contained the ruins of the great palace

of Sargon II, and had no time to open up excavations at Kuyûnjik. In

this way a year passed, and as M. Place made no sign that he was

going to excavate at Kuyûnjik, and Rassam's time for returning to

England was drawing near, the owner of the mound, who was anxious

to get the excavations finished so that he might again graze his flocks

on the mound, urged Rassam to get to work in spite of Rawlinson's

agreement with M. Place. He and Rassam made arrangements to ex-

cavate the northern part of the mound clandestinely and by night, and

on 20th December, 1853, the work began. On the first night nothing of

importance was found; on the second night the men uncovered a por-

tion of a large bas-relief; and on the third night a huge mass of earth

collapsed revealing a very fine bas-relief, sculptured with a scene

representing Ashur-bani-pal standing in his chariot. The news of the

discovery was quickly carried to all parts of the neighbourhood, and as

it was impossible to keep the diggings secret any longer, the work was

continued openly and by day. The last-mentioned bas-relief was one

of the series that lined the chamber, which was 50 feet long and 15

feet wide, and illustrated a royal lion hunt. This series, that is to say,

all of it that the fire which destroyed the palace had spared, is now in

the British Museum (see the Gallery of the Assyrian Saloon).

Whilst the workmen were clearing out the Chamber of the Lion

Hunt they came across several heaps of inscribed baked clay tablets of

"all shapes and sizes," which resembled in general appearance the tab-

lets that Layard had found in the South West Palace the year before.

There were no remains with them, or near them, that suggested they

247

had been arranged systematically and stored in the Chamber of the

Lion Hunt, and it seems as if they had been brought there from anoth-

er place and thrown down hastily, for nearly all of them were broken

into small pieces. As some of them bore traces of having been ex-

posed to great heat they must have been in that chamber during the

burning of the palace. When the tablets were brought to England and

were examined by Rawlinson, it was found from the information sup-

plied by the colophons that they formed a part of the great Private Li-

brary of Ashur-bani-pal, which that king kept in his palace. The tab-

lets found by Layard in 1850 and by Rassam in 1853 form the unique

and magnificent collection of cuneiform tablets in the British Mu-

seum, which is now commonly known as the "Kuyûnjik Collection."

The approximate number of the inscribed baked clay tablets and frag-

ments that have come from Kuyûnjik and are now in the British Mu-

seum is 25,073. It is impossible to over-estimate their importance and

value from religious, historical and literary points of view; besides

this, they have supplied the material for the decipherment of cune-

iform inscriptions in the Assyrian, Babylonian and Sumerian languag-

es, and form the foundation of the science of Assyriology which has

been built up with such conspicuous success during the last 70 years.

Ashur-bani-pal (the Asnapper of Ezra IV, 10) succeeded his fa-

ther Esarhaddon B.C. 669, and at a comparatively early period of his

reign he seems to have devoted himself to the study of the history of

his country, and to the making of a great Private Library. The tablets

that have come down to us prove not only that he was as great a bene-

factor of the Library of the Temple of Nebo as any of his predeces-

sors, but that he was himself an educated man, a lover of learning, and

a patron of the literary folk of his day. In the introduction to his An-

nals, as found inscribed on his great ten-sided prism in the British Mu-

seum, he tells us how he took up his abode in the Crown Prince's

dwelling from which Sermacherib and Esarhaddon had ruled the As-

syrian Empire, and in describing his own education he says: "I, Ashur-

bani-pal, within it (i.e., the palace) understood the wisdom of Nebo,

all the art of writing of every craftsman, of every kind, I made myself

master of them all (i.e., of the various kinds of writing)." These words

suggest that Ashur-bani-pal could not only read cuneiform texts, but

could write like a skilled scribe, and that he also understood all the de-

tails connected with the craft of making and baking tablets. Having

248

determined to form a Library in his palace he set to work in a syste-

matic manner to collect literary works. He sent scribes to ancient seats

of learning, e.g., Ashur, Babylon, Cuthah, Nippur, Akkad, Erech, to

make copies of the ancient works that were preserved there, and when

the copies came to Nineveh he either made transcripts of them him-

self, or caused his scribes to do so for the Palace Library. In any case

he collated the texts himself and revised them before placing them in

his Library. The appearance of the tablets from his Library suggests

that he established a factory in which the clay was cleaned and

kneaded and made into homogeneous, well-shaped tablets, and a kiln

in which they were baked, after they had been inscribed. The unifor-

mity of the script upon them is very remarkable, and texts with mis-

takes in them are rarely found. How the tablets were arranged in the

Library is not known, but certainly groups were catalogued, and some

tablets were labelled. Groups of tablets were arranged in numbered se-

ries, with "catch lines," the first tablet of the series giving the first line

of the second tablet, the second tablet giving the first line of the third

tablet, and so on.

Ashur-bani-pal was greatly interested in the literature of the Su-

merians, i.e., the non-Semitic people who occupied Lower Babylonia

about B.C. 3500 and later. He and his scribes made bilingual lists of

signs and words and objects of all classes and kinds, all of which are

of priceless value to the modem student of the Sumerian and Assyrian

languages. Annexed is an extract from a List of Signs with Sumerian

and Assyrian values. The signs of which the meanings are given are in

the middle column; the Sumerian values are given in the column to the

left, and their meanings in Assyrian in the column to the right. To

many of his copies of Sumerian hymns, incantations, magical formu-

las, etc., Ashur-bani-pal caused interlinear translations to be added in

Assyrian, and of such bilingual documents the following extract from

a text relating to the Seven Evil Spirits will serve as a specimen. The

1st, 3rd, 5th, etc., lines are written in Sumerian, and the 2nd, 4th, 6th,

etc., lines in Assyrian.

Most of the tablets from Kuyûnjik end with colophons, which

can be divided broadly into two classes. One of these is the short note,

frequently impressed by a stamp, which reads simply "Palace of

Ashur-bani-pal, king of all, king of Assyria". The longer forms of co-

lophon were added by the scribes who had written the whole tablet. Of

249

these longer colophons there are several versions, each of which

seems to have been appropriated to a particular class of texts. Two of

the most interesting are here appended; they reveal a distinction be-

tween tablets belonging to the Palace Library and those preserved in

the Temple of Nebo.

The tablets from both Libraries when unbroken vary in size from

15 inches by 85/8 inches to 1 inch by 7/8 inch, and they are usually

about 1 inch thick. In shape they are rectangular, the obverse being

flat and the reverse slightly convex. Contract tablets, letter tablets and

"case" tablets are very much smaller, and resemble small pillows in

shape. The principal subjects dealt with in the tablets are history, an-

nalistic or summaries, letters, despatches, reports, oracles, prayers,

contracts, deeds of sale of land, produce, cattle, slaves, agreements,

dowries, bonds for interest (with impressions of seals, and fingernails,

or nail marks), chronography, chronology, canons of eponyms, divina-

tion (by astrology, the entrails of victims, oil, casual events, dreams,

and symptoms), charms, spells, incantations, mythology, legends,

grammar, law, geography, etc.

The mass of tablets which had been discovered by Layard and

Rassam at Nineveh came to the British Museum in 1854-5, and their

examination by Rawlinson and Norris began very soon after. Mr.

Bowler, a skilful draughtsman and copyist of tablets, whom Rawlin-

son employed in making transfers of copies of cuneiform texts for

publication by lithography, rejoined a considerable number of frag-

ments of bilingual lists, syllabaries, etc., which were published in the

second volume of the Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, in

1866. In that year the Trustees of the British Museum employed

George Smith to assist Rawlinson in sorting, classifying and rejoining

fragments, and a comprehensive examination of the collection by him

began. His personal interest in Assyriology was centred upon histori-

cal texts, especially those which threw any light on the Bible Narra-

tive. But in the course of his search for stories of the campaigns of

Sargon II, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and Ashur-bani-pal, he discov-

ered among other important documents (1) a series of portions of tab-

lets which give the adventures of Gilgamish, an ancient king of Erech;

(2) an account of the Deluge, which is supplied by the Eleventh Tablet

of the Legend of Gilgamish (in more than one version); (3) a detailed

description of the Creation; (4) the Legend of the Descent of Ishtar in-

250

to Hades in quest of Tammuz. The general meaning of the texts was

quite clear, but there were many gaps in them, and it was not until De-

cember, 1872, that George Smith published his description of the Le-

gend of Gilgamish, and a translation of the "Chaldean Account of the

Deluge." The interest which his paper evoked was universal, and the

proprietors of The Daily Telegraph advocated that Smith should be at

once dispatched to Nineveh to search for the missing fragments of tab-

lets which would fill up the gaps in his texts, and generously offered

to contribute 1,000 guineas towards the cost of the excavations. The

Trustees accepted the offer and gave six months' leave of absence to

Smith, who left London in January, and arrived in Môsul in March,

1873. In the following May he recovered from Kuyûnjik a fragment

that contained "the greater portion of seventeen lines of inscription be-

longing to the first column of the Chaldean account of the Deluge, and

fitting into the only place where there was a serious blank in the sto-

ry." During the excavations which Smith carried out at Kuyûnjik in

1873 and 1874 he recovered many fragments of tablets, the texts of

which enabled him to complete his description of the contents of the

Twelve Tablets of the Legend of Gilgamish which included his trans-

lation of the story of the Deluge. Unfortunately Smith died of hunger

and sickness near Aleppo in 1876, and he was unable to revise his ear-

ly work, and to supplement it with the information which he had ac-

quired during his latest travels in Assyria and Babylonia. Thanks to

the excavations which were carried on at Kuyûnjik by the Trustees of

the British Museum after his untimely death, several hundreds of tab-

lets and fragments have been recovered, and many of these have been

rejoined to the tablets of the older collection. By the careful study and

investigation of the old and new material Assyriologists have, during

the last forty years, been enabled to restore and complete many pas-

sages in the Legends of Gilgamish and the Flood. It now seems that

the Legend of the Flood had not originally any connection with the

Legend of Gilgamish, and that it was introduced into it by a late editor

or redactor of the Legend, probably in order to complete the number

of the Twelve Tablets on which it was written in the time of Ashur-

bani-pal.

In the introduction to his paper on the "Chaldean Account of the

Deluge," which Smith read in December, 1872, and published in

1873, he stated that the Assyrian text which he had found on Ashur-

251

bani-pal's tablets was copied from an archetype at Erech in Lower Ba-

bylonia. This archetype was, he thought, "either written in, or trans-

lated into Semitic Babylonian, to at a very early period," and although

he could not assign a date to it, he adduced a number of convincing

proofs in support of his opinion. The language in which he assumed

the Legend to have been originally composed was known to him un-

der the name of "Accadian," or "Akkadian," but is now called "Sume-

rian." Recent research has shown that his view on this point was cor-

rect on the whole. But there is satisfactory proof available to show that

versions or recensions of the Legend of the Deluge and of the Epic of

Gilgamish existed both in Sumerian and Babylonian, as early as B.C.

2000. The discovery has been made of a fragment of a tablet with a

small portion of the Babylonian version of the Legend of the Deluge

inscribed upon it, and dated in a year which is the equivalent of the

11th year of Ammisaduga, i.e., about B.C. 1800. And in the Museum

at Philadelphia is preserved half of a tablet which when whole con-

tained a complete copy of a Sumerian version of the Legend, and must

have been written about the same date. The fragment of the tablet

written in the reign of Ammisaduga is of special importance because

the colophon shows that the tablet to which it belonged was the

second of a series, and that this series was not that of the Epic of Gil-

gamish, and from this we learn that in B.C. 2000 the Legend of the

Deluge did not form the XIth Tablet of the Epic of Gilgamish, as it did

in the reign of Ashur-bani-pal, or earlier. The Sumerian version is

equally important, though from another point of view, for the contents

and position of the portion of it that remains on the half of the tablet

mentioned above make it certain that already at this early period there

were several versions of the Legend of the Deluge current in the Su-

merian language. The fact is that the Legend of the Deluge was then

already so old in Mesopotamia that the scribes added to or abbreviated

the text at will, and treated the incidents recorded in it according to lo-

cal or popular taste, tradition and prejudice. There seems to be no evi-

dence that proves conclusively that the Sumerian version is older than

the Semitic, or that the latter was translated direct from the former

version. It is probable that both the Sumerians and the Semites, each

in their own way, attempted to commemorate an appalling disaster of

unparalleled magnitude, the knowledge of which, through tradition,

was common to both peoples. It is, at all events, well known that the

252

Sumerians regarded the Deluge as an historic event, which they were,

practically, able to date, for some of their records contain lists of kings

who reigned before the Deluge, though it must be confessed that the

lengths assigned to their reigns are incredible. After their rule it is ex-

pressly noted that the Flood occurred, and that, when it passed away,

kingship came down again from on high.

It is not too much to assume that the original event commemo-

rated in the Legend of the Deluge was a serious and prolonged inunda-

tion or flood in Lower Babylonia, which was accompanied by great

loss of life and destruction of property. The Babylonian versions state

that this inundation or flood was caused by rain, but passages in some

of them suggest that the effects of the rainstorm were intensified by

other physical happenings connected with the earth, of a most destruc-

tive character. The Hebrews also, as we may see from the Bible, had

alternative views as to the cause of the Deluge. According to one, rain

fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights (Gen. VII, 12), and

according to the other the Deluge came because "all the fountains of

the great deep" were broken up, and "the flood-gates of heaven were

opened" (Gen. VII, 11). The latter view suggests that the rain flood

was joined by the waters of the sea. Later tradition, derived partly

from Babylonian and partly from Hebrew sources, asserts, e.g., in

the Cave of Treasures, a Syriac treatise composed probably at Edessa

about the fifth or sixth century A.D., that when Noah had entered the

Ark and the door was shut "the floodgates of the heavens were opened

it and the foundations of the earth were rent asunder," and that "the

ocean, that great sea which surroundeth the whole world, poured forth

its floods. And whilst the floodgates of heaven were open, and the

foundations of the earth were rent asunder, the storehouses of the

winds burst their bolts, and storms and whirlwinds swept forth, and

ocean roared and hurled its floods upon the earth." The ark was

steered over the waters by an angel who acted as pilot, and when that

had come to rest on the mountains of Kardô (Ararat), "God com-

manded the waters and they became separated from each other. The

celestial waters were taken up and ascended to their own place above

the heavens whence they came.

The waters which had risen up from the earth returned to the lo-

wermost abyss, and those which belonged to the ocean returned to the

innermost part thereof." Many authorities seeking to find a foundation

253

of fact for the Legend of the Deluge in Mesopotamia have assumed

that the rain-flood was accompanied either by an earthquake or a tidal-

wave, or by both. There is no doubt that the cities of Lower Babylonia

were nearer the sea in the Sumerian Period than they are at present,

and it is a generally accepted view that the head of the Persian Gulf

lay farther to the north at that time. A cyclone coupled with a tidal

wave is a sufficient base for any of the forms of the Legend now

known.

A comparison of the contents of the various Sumerian and Baby-

lonian versions of the Deluge that have come down to us shows us

that they are incomplete. And as none of them tells so connected and

full a narrative of the prehistoric shipbuilder as Berosus, a priest of

Bêl, the great god of Babylon, it seems that the Mesopotamian scribes

were content to copy the Legend in an abbreviated form. Berosus, it is

true, is not a very ancient authority, for he was not born until the reign

of Alexander the Great, but he was a learned man and was well ac-

quainted with the Babylonian language, and with the ancient literature

of his country, and he wrote a history of Babylonia, some fragments of

which have been preserved to us in the works of Alexander Polyhistor,

Eusebius, and others. The following is a version of the fragment

which describes the flood that took place in the days of Xisuthras, the

tenth King of the Chaldeans, and is of importance for comparison with

the rendering of the Legend of the Deluge, as found on the Ninevite

tablets, which follows immediately after.

The legend of the Deluge according to Berosus

"After the death of Ardates, his son Xisuthrus reigned eighteen

sari. In his time happened a great Deluge; the history of which is thus

described. The Deity, Cronus, appeared to him in a vision, and warned

him that upon the 15th day of the month Daesius there would be a

flood, by which mankind would be destroyed. He therefore enjoined

him to write a history of the beginning, procedure and conclusion of

all things; and to bury it in the city of the Sun at Sippara; and to build

a vessel, and take with him into it his friends and relations; and to

convey on board everything necessary to sustain life, together with all

the different animals, both birds and quadrupeds, and trust himself

fearlessly to the deep. Having asked the Deity, whither he was to sail?

he was answered, 'To the Gods ': upon which he offered up a prayer

254

for the good of mankind. He then obeyed the divine admonition; and

built a vessel 5 stadia in length, and 2 in breadth. Into this he put eve-

rything which he had prepared; and last of all conveyed into it his

wife, his children, and his friends. After the flood had been upon the

earth, and was in time abated, Xisuthrus sent out birds from the vessel;

which, not finding any food nor any place whereupon they might rest

their feet, returned to him again. After an interval of some days, he

sent them forth a second time; and they now returned with their feet

tinged with mud. He made a trial a third time with these birds; but

they returned to him no more: from whence he judged that the surface

of the earth had appeared above the waters. He therefore made an

opening in the vessel, and upon looking out found that it was stranded

upon the side of some mountain; upon which he immediately quitted it

with his wife, his daughter, and the pilot. Xisuthrus then paid his ado-

ration to the earth, and, having constructed an altar, offered sacrifices

to the gods, and, with those who had come out of the vessel with him,

disappeared. They, who remained within, finding that their compa-

nions did not return, quitted the vessel with many lamentations, and

called continually on the name of Xisuthrus. Him they saw no more;

but they could distinguish his voice in the air, and could hear him ad-

monish them to pay due regard to religion; and likewise informed

them that it was upon account of his piety that be was translated to

live with the gods; that his wife and daughter, and the pilot, had ob-

tained the same honour. To this he added that they should return to

Babylonia; and, it was ordained, search for the writings at Sippara,

which they were to make known to mankind: moreover that the place,

wherein they then were, was the land of Armenia. The rest having

beard these words, offered sacrifices to the gods; and taking a circuit

journeyed towards Babylonia." (Cory, Ancient Fragments, London,

1832, p. 26 ff.)

The Babylonian legend of the Deluge as told to the hero Gilgamish by

his ancestor Uta-Napishtim who had been made immortal by the gods

The form of the Legend of the Deluge given below is that which

is found on the Eleventh of the Series of Twelve Tablets in the Royal

Library at Nineveh, which described the life and exploits of Gilga-

mish, an early king of the city of Erech. As we have seen above, the

255

Legend of the Deluge has probably no original connection with the

Epic of Gilgamish, but was introduced into it by the editors of the Ep-

ic at a comparatively late period, perhaps even during the reign of

Ashur-bani-pal (B.C. 669-626). A summary of the contents of the oth-

er Tablets of the Gilgamish Series is given in the following section of

this short monograph. It is therefore only necessary to state here that

Gilgamish, who was horrified and almost beside himself when his bo-

som friend and companion Enkidu died, meditated deeply how he

could escape death himself. He knew that his ancestor Uta-Napishtim

a had become immortal, therefore he determined to set out for the

place where Uta-Napishtim lived so that he might obtain from him the

secret of immortality. Guided by a dream, Gilgamish set out for the

Mountain of the Sunset, and, after great toil and many difficulties,

came to the shore of a vast sea. Here he met Ur-Shanabi, the boatman

of Uta-Napishtim, who was persuaded to carry him in his boat over

the "waters of death", and at length he landed on the shore of the

country of Uta-Napishtim. The immortal came down to the shore and

asked the newcomer the object of his visit, and Gilgamish told him of

the death of his great friend Enkidu, and of his desire to escape from

death and to find immortality. Uta-Napishtim having made to Gilga-

mish some remarks which seem to indicate that in his opinion death

was inevitable,

1. Gilgamish said unto him, to Uta-Napishtim the remote:

2. "I am looking at thee, Uta-Napishtim.

3. Thy person is not altered; even as am I so art thou.

4. Verily, nothing about thee is changed; even as am I so art thou.

5. A heart to do battle doth make thee complete,

6. Yet at rest thou dost lie upon thy back.

7. How then hast thou stood the company of the gods and sought

life?"

Thereupon Uta-Napishtim related to Gilgamish the Story of the De-

luge, and the Eleventh Tablet continues thus

8. Uta-Napishtim said unto him, to Gilgamish:

9. "I will reveal unto thee, O Gilgamish, a hidden mystery,

10. And a secret matter of the gods I will declare unto thee.

11. Shurippak, a city which thou thyself knowest,

12. On [the bank] of the river Puratti (Euphrates) is situated,

13. That city is old; and the gods [dwelling] within it

256

14. Their hearts induced the great gods to make a windstorm (a-bu-

bi),

15. There was their father Anu,

16. Their counsellor, the warrior Enlil,

17. Their messenger En-urta [and]

18. Their prince Ennugi.

19. Nin-igi-ku, Ea, was with them [in council] and

20. reported their word to a house of reeds."

21. O House of reeds, O House of reeds! O Wall. O Wall!

22. O House of reeds, hear! O Wall, understand!

23. O man of Shurippak, son of Ubar-Tutu,

24. Throw down the house, build a ship,

25. Forsake wealth, seek after life,

26. Hate possessions, save thy life,

27. Bring all seed of life into the ship.

28. The ship which thou shalt build,

29. The dimensions thereof shall be measured,

30. The breadth and the length thereof shall be the same.

31. Then launch it upon the ocean.

32. I understood and I said unto Ea, my lord:

33. See, my lord, that which thou hast ordered,

34. I regard with reverence, and will perform it,

35. But what shall I say to the town, to the multitude, and to the eld-

ers?

36. Ea opened his mouth and spake

37. And said unto his servant, myself,

38. Thus, man, shalt thou say unto them:

39. Ill-will hath the god Enlil formed against me,

40. Therefore I can no longer dwell. in your city,

41. And never more will I turn my countenance upon-the soil of Enlil.

42. I will descend into the ocean to dwell with my lord Ea.

43. But upon you he will rain riches

44. A catch of birds, a catch of fish

45. . . . an [abundant] harvest,

46. . . . the sender of . . .

47. . . . shall make hail [to fall upon you].

48. As soon as [something of dawn] broke . . .

[Lines 49-54 broken away.]

257

55. The child . . . brought bitumen,

56. The strong [man] . . . brought what was needed.

57. On the fifth day I laid down its shape.

58. According to the plan its walls were 10 gar, (i.e. 120 cubits) high,

59. And the width of its deck was equally 10 gar.

60. I laid down the shape of its forepart and marked it out.

61. I covered it six times.

62. . . . I divided into seven,

63. Its interior I divided into nine,

64. Caulking I drove into the middle of it.

65. I provided a steering pole, and cast in all that was needful.

66. Six sar of bitumen I poured over the hull,

67. Three sar of pitch I poured into the inside.

68. The men who bear loads brought three sar of oil,

69. Besides a sar of oil which the tackling consumed,

70. And two sar of oil which the boatman hid.

71. I slaughtered oxen for the [work]people,

72. I slew sheep every day.

73. Beer, sesame wine, oil and wine

74. I made the people drink as if they were water from the river.

75. I celebrated a feast as if it had been New Year's Day.

76. I opened [a box of ointment], I laid my hands in unguent.

77. Before the sunset the ship was finished.

78. [Since] . . . was difficult.

79. The shipbuilders brought the . . . of the ship, above and below,

80. . . . two-thirds of it.

81. With everything that I possessed I loaded it (i.e., the ship).

82. With everything that I possessed of silver I loaded it.

83. With everything that I possessed of gold I loaded it.

84. With all that I possessed of all the seed of life I loaded it.

85. I made to go up into the ship all my family and kinsfolk,

86. The cattle of the field, the beasts of the field, all handicraftsmen I

made them go up into it.

87. The god Shamash had appointed me a time (saying)

88. The sender of . . . . . will at eventide make a hail to fall;

89. Then enter into the ship and shut thy door.

90. The appointed time drew nigh;

91. The sender of . . . . . made a hail to fall at eventide.

258

92. I watched the aspect of the [approaching] storm,

93. Terror possessed me to look upon it,

94. I went into the ship and shut my door.

95. To the pilot of the ship, Puzur-Enlil the sailor

96. I committed the great house (i.e., ship), together with the contents

thereof.

97. As soon as something of dawn shone in the sky

98. A black cloud from the foundation of heaven came up.

99. Inside it the god Adad thundered,

100. The gods Nabû and Sharru (i.e., Marduk) went before,

101. Marching as messengers over high land and plain,

102. Irragal (Nergal) tore out the post of the ship,

103. En-urta went on, he made the storm to descend.

104. The Anunnaki brandished their torches,

105. With their glare they lighted up the land.

106. The whirlwind (or, cyclone) of Adad swept up to heaven.

107. Every gleam of light was turned into darkness.

108. . . . . . the land . . . . . as if had laid it waste.

109. A whole day long [the flood descended] . . .

110. Swiftly it mounted up . . . . . [the water] reached to the mountains

111. [The water] attacked the people like a battle.

112. Brother saw not brother.

113. Men could not be known (or, recognized) in heaven.

114. The gods were terrified at the cyclone.

115. They shrank back and went up into the heaven of Anu.

116. The gods crouched like a dog and cowered by the wall.

117. The goddess Ishtar cried out like a woman in travail.

118. The Lady of the Gods lamented with a sweet voice [saying]:

119. May that former day be turned into mud,

120. Because I commanded evil among the company of the gods.

121. How could I command evil among the company of the gods,

122. Command battle for the destruction of my people?

123. Did I of myself bring forth my people

124. That they might fill the sea like little fishes?

125. The gods, the Anunnaki wailed with her.

126. The gods bowed themselves, and sat down weeping.

127. Their lips were shut tight (in distress)…

128. For six days and nights

259

129. The wind, the storm raged, and the cyclone overwhelmed the

land.

130. When the seventh day came the cyclone ceased, the storm and

battle

131. which had fought like an army.

132. The sea became quiet, the grievous wind went down, the cyclone

ceased.

133. I looked on the day and voices were stilled,

134. And all mankind were turned into mud,

135. The land had been laid flat like a terrace.

136. I opened the air-hole and the light fell upon my cheek,

137. I bowed myself, I sat down, I cried,

138. My tears poured down over my cheeks.

139. I looked over the quarters of the world, (to] the limits of ocean.

140. At twelve points islands appeared.

141. The ship grounded on the mountain of Nisir.

142. The mountain of Nisir held the ship, it let it not move.

143. The first day, the second day, the mountain of Nisir held the ship

and let it not move.

144. The third day, the fourth day, the mountain of Nisir held the ship

and let it not move.

145. The fifth day, the sixth day, the mountain of Nisir held the ship

and let it not move.

146. When the seventh day had come

147. I brought out a dove and let her go free.

148. The dove flew away and [then] came back;

149. Because she had no place to alight on she came back.

150. I brought out a swallow and let her go free.

151. The swallow flew away and [then] came back;

152. Because she had no place to alight on she came back.

153. 1 brought out a raven and let her go free.

154. The raven flew away, she saw the sinking waters.

155. She ate, she waded, she rose, she came not back.

156. Then I brought out [everything] to the four winds and made a sa-

crifice;

157. I set out an offering on the peak of the mountain.

158. Seven by seven I set out the vessels,

159. Under them I piled reeds, cedarwood and myrtle.

260

160. The gods smelt the savour,

161. The gods smelt the sweet savour.

162. The gods gathered together like flies over him that sacrificed.

163 Now when the Lady of the Gods came nigh,

164. She lifted up the priceless jewels which Anu had made according

to her desire, [saying]

165. O ye gods here present, as I shall never forget the sapphire jewels

of my neck

166. So shall I ever think about these days, and shall forget them ne-

vermore!

167. Let the gods come to the offering,

168. But let not Enlil come to the offering,

16q. Because he took not thought and made the cyclone,

170. And delivered my people over to destruction."

171. Now when Enlil came nigh

172. He saw the ship; then was Enlil wroth

173. And he was filled with anger against the gods, the Igigi [saying]:

174. Hath any being escaped with his life?

175. He shall not remain alive, a man among the destruction

176. Then En-urta opened his mouth and spake

177. And said unto the warrior Enlil:

178. Who besides the god Ea can make a plan?

179. The god Ea knoweth everything that is done.

18o. The god Ea opened his mouth and spake

181. And said unto the warrior Enlil,

182. O Prince among the gods, thou warrior,

183. How, how couldst thou, not taking thought, make a cyclone?

184. He who is sinful, on him lay his sin,

185. He who transgresseth, on him lay his transgression.

186. But be merciful that [everything] be not destroyed be long-

suffering that [man be not blotted out].

187. Instead of thy making a cyclone,

188. Would that the lion had come and diminished mankind.

189. Instead of thy making a cyclone

190. Would that the wolf had come and diminished mankind.

191. Instead of thy making a cyclone

192. Would that a famine had arisen and [laid waste] the land.

193. Instead of thy making a cyclone

261

194. Would that Irra (the Plague god) had risen up and [laid waste] the

land.

195. As for me I have not revealed the secret of the great gods.

196. I made Atra-hasis to see a vision, and thus he heard the secret of

the gods.

197. Now therefore take counsel concerning him.

198. Then the god Enlil went up into the ship,

199. He seized me by the hand and brought me forth.

200. He brought forth my wife and made her to kneel by my side.

201. He touched our brows, he stood between us, he blessed us [sav-

ing],

202. Formerly Uta-Napishtim was a man merely,

203. But now let Uta-Napishtim and his wife be like unto us gods.

204. Uta-Napishtim shall dwell afar off, at the mouth of the rivers.

205. And they took me away to a place afar off, and made me to dwell

at the mouth of the rivers.

(The Babylonian Story of the Deluge and the Epic of Gilgamish by

E.A. Wallis Budge. London. 1929).

For Unit II

SONADANDA SUTTA

[CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TRUE BRAHMAN]

I. Thus have I heard. The Blessed One once, when going on a

tour through the Anga country with a great multitude of the brethren,

with about five hundred brethren, arrived at Kampâ. And there

at Kampâ he lodged on the bank of the Gaggarâ Lake.

Now at that time the Brahman Sonadanda was dwelling

at Kampâ, a place teeming with life, with much grassland and wood-

land and water and corn, on a royal domain granted him by Seniya

Bimbisâra, the king of Magadhâ, as a royal fief, with power over it as

if he were the king.

2. Now the Brahmans and householders of Kampâ heard the

news: 'They say that the Samana Gotama of the Sâkya clan, who went

out from a Sâkya family to adopt the religious life, has now arrived,

with a great company of the brethren at Kampâ, and is staying there on

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the shore of the Gaggarâ Lake. Now regarding that venerable Gotama,

such is the high reputation that has been noised abroad: That Blessed

One is an Arahat, a fully awakened one, abounding in wisdom and

goodness, happy, with knowledge of the worlds, unsurpassed as a

guide to mortals willing to be led, a teacher for gods and men, a

Blessed One, a Buddha. He, by himself, thoroughly knows and sees,

as it were, face to face this universe, – including the worlds above of

the gods, the Brahmas, and the Mâras, and the world below with its

recluses and Brahmans, its princes and peoples, – and having known

it, he makes his knowledge known to others. The truth, lovely in its

origin, lovely in its progress, lovely in its consummation, doth he

proclaim, both in the spirit and in the letter, the higher life cloth he

make known, in all its fullness and in all its purity.

'And good is it to pay visits to Arahats like that.'

And the Brahmans and householders of Kampâ began to

leave Kampâ in companies and in bands from each district, so that

they could be counted, to go to the Gaggarâ Lake.

3. Now at that time Sonadanda the Brahman had gone apart to

the upper terrace of his house for his siesta, and seeing the people thus

go by, he said to his doorkeeper: 'Why are the people of Kampâ going

forth like this towards the Gaggarâ Lake?'

Then the doorkeeper told him the news. And he said: 'Then,

good doorkeeper, go to the Brahmans and householders of Kampâ,

and say to them: "Sonadanda the Brahman desires them to wait. He

will himself come to see the Samana Gotama."'

'Very well, Sir,' said the doorkeeper, and he did so.

4. Now at that time there were about five hundred Brahmans

from different kingdoms lodging at Kampâ for some business or other.

And when they heard that Sonadanda was intending to visit the

Samana Gotama, they went to Sonadanda, and asked whether

that was so.

'That is my intention, Sirs. I propose to call on the Samana Go-

tama.'

'Let not the venerable Sonadanda do that. It is not fitting for

him to do so. If it were the venerable Sonadanda who went to call

upon him, then the venerable Sonadanda's reputation would decrease

and the Samana Gotama's would increase. This is the first reason why

you, Sir, should not call upon him, but he upon you.'

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5. And they laid before Sonadanda the Brahman in like manner

also other considerations, to wit:

That he was well born on both sides, of pure descent through

the mother and through the father back through seven generations,

with no slur put upon him, and no reproach, in respect of birth.

That he was prosperous, well to do, and rich.

That he was a repeater (of the sacred words), knowing the mys-

tic verses by heart, one who had mastered the Three Vedas, with the

indices, the ritual, the phonology, and the exegesis (as a fourth), and

the legends as a fifth, learned in the words and in the grammar, versed

in Lokâyata (Nature-lore), and in the theory of the signs on the body

of a great man.

That he was handsome, pleasant to look upon, inspiring trust,

gifted with great beauty of complexion, fair in colour, fine in pres-

ence, stately to behold.

That he was virtuous, increased in virtue, gifted with virtue

that had waxed great.

That he had a pleasant voice and pleasing delivery, and was

gifted with polite address, distinct, not husky, suitable for making

clear the matter in hand.

That he was the teacher of the teachers of many, instructing

three hundred Brahmans in the repetition of the mystic verses, and that

many young Brahmans, from various directions and various counties,

all craving for the verses, came to learn them by heart under him.

That he was aged, old, and well stricken in years, long-lived

and full of days.

That he was honoured, held of weight, esteemed worthy, vene-

rated and revered by Seniya Bimbisâra, the king of Magadhâ.

That he was honoured, held of weight, esteemed worthy, vene-

rated and revered by Pokkharasâdi, the Brahman.

That he dwelt at Kampâ, a place teeming with life, with much

grassland and woodland and corn, on a royal fief granted him by Se-

niya Bimbisâra, the king of Magadhâ, as a royal gift, with power over

it as if he were the king.

For each of these reasons it was not fitting that he, Sonadanda

the Brahman, should call upon the Samana Gotama, but rather that the

Samana Gotama should call upon him.

6. And when they had thus spoken, Sonadanda said to them:

264

'Then, Sirs, listen, and hear why it is fitting that I should call

upon the venerable Gotama, and not he should call upon me.

'Truly, Sirs, the venerable Gotama is well born on both sides,

of pure descent through the mother and the father back through seven

generations, with no slur put upon him, and no reproach in respect of

birth.

'Truly, Sirs, the Samana Gotama has gone forth (into the reli-

gious life), giving up the great clan of his relations.

'Truly, Sirs, the Samana Gotama has gone forth (into the reli-

gious life), giving up much money and gold, treasure both buried and

above the ground.

'Truly, Sirs, the Samana Gotama, while he was still a young

man, without a grey hair on his head, in the beauty of his early man-

hood, has gone forth from the household life into the homeless state.

'Truly, Sirs, the Samana Gotama, though his father and mother

were unwilling, and wept, their cheeks being wet with tears, neverthe-

less cut off his hair and beard, and donned the yellow robes, and went

out from the household life into the homeless state.

'Truly, Sirs, the Samana Gotama is handsome, pleasant to look

upon, inspiring trust, gifted with great beauty of complexion, fair in

colour, fine in presence, stately to behold.

'Truly, Sirs, the Samana Gotama is virtuous with the virtue of

the Arahats, good and virtuous, gifted with goodness and virtue.

'Truly, Sirs, the Samana Gotama hath a pleasant voice, and a

pleasing delivery, he is gifted with polite address, distinct, not husky,

suitable for making clear the matter in hand.

'Truly, Sirs, the Samana Gotama is the teacher of the teachers

of many.

'Truly, Sirs, the Samana Gotama has no passion of lust left in

him, and has put away all fickleness of mind.

'Truly, Sirs, the Samana Gotama believes in Karma, and in ac-

tion, he is one who puts righteousness in the forefront (of his exhorta-

tions) to the Brahman race.

'Truly, Sirs, the Samana Gotama went forth from a distin-

guished family primeval among the Kshatriya clans.

'Truly, Sirs, the Samana Gotama went forth from a family

prosperous, well to do, and rich.

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'Truly, Sirs, people come right across the country from distant

lands to ask questions of the Samana Gotama.

'Truly, Sirs, multitudes of heavenly beings put their trust in the

Samana Gotama.

'Truly, Sirs, such is the high reputation noised abroad concern-

ing the Samana Gotama, that he is said to be an Arahat, exalted, fully

awakened, abounding in wisdom and righteousness, happy, with

knowledge of the worlds, a Blessed One, a Buddha.

'Truly, Sirs, the Samana Gotama has all the thirty-two bodily

marks of a Great Being.

'Truly, Sirs, the Samana Gotama bids all men welcome, is con-

genial, conciliatory, not supercilious, accessible to all, not backward

in conversation.

'Truly, Sirs, the Samana Gotama is honoured, held of weight,

esteemed and venerated and revered by the four classes (of his follow-

ers – the brethren and sisters of the Order, laymen and lay women).

'Truly, Sirs, many gods and men believe in the Samana Gota-

ma.

"Truly, Sirs, in whatsoever village or town the Samana Gotama

stays, there the non-humans do the humans no harm.

'Truly, Sirs, the Samana Gotama as the head of an Order, of a

school, as the teacher of a school, is the acknowledged chief of all the

founders of sects. Whereas some Samanas and Brahmans have gained

a reputation by all sorts of insignificant matters, not so the Samana

Gotama. His reputation comes from perfection in conduct and righ-

teousness.

'Truly, Sirs, the king of Magadhâ, Seniya Bimbisâra, with his

children and his wives, with his people and his courtiers, has put his

trust in the Samana Gotama.

'Truly, Sirs, King Pasenadi of Kosala, with his children and his

wives, with his people and his courtiers, has put his trust in the Sama-

na Gotama.

'Truly, Sirs, Pokkharasâdi the Brahman, with his children and

his wives, with his people and his intimates, has put his trust in the

Samana Gotama.

'Truly, Sirs, the Samana Gotama is honoured, held of weight,

esteemed, and venerated and revered alike by Seniya Bimbisâra, the

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king of Magadhâ, by Pasenadi the king of Kosala, and by Pokkha-

rasâdi the Brahman.

'Truly, Sirs, the Samana Gotama has now arrived at Kampâ and

is staying on the shores of the Gaggarâ Lake. But all Samanas and

Brahmans who come into our village borders are our guests. And

guests we ought to esteem and honour, to venerate and revere. And as

he is now so come, he ought to be so treated, as a guest.

'For each and all of these considerations it is not fitting that the

Samana Gotama should call upon us, but rather does it behove us to

call upon him. And so far only do I know the excellencies of the Sa-

mana Gotama, but these are not all of them, for his excellence is

beyond measure.'

7. And when he had thus spoken, those Brahmans said to him:

'The venerable Sonadanda declares the praises of the Samana Gotama

on such wise, that were he to be dwelling even a hundred leagues from

here, it would be enough to make a believing man go thither to call

upon him, even had he to carry a bag (for the provisions for the jour-

ney) on his back. Let us then all go to call on the Samana Gotama to-

gether!'

So Sonadanda the Brahman went out to the Gaggarâ Lake with

a great company of Brahmans.

8. Now the following hesitation arose in Sonadanda's mind as

he passed through the wood: 'Were I to ask the Samana Gotama a

question, if he were to say: "The question ought not to be asked so,

thus ought the question to be framed;" the company might thereupon

speak of me with disrespect, saying: "Foolish is this Sonadanda the

Brahman, and inexpert. He is not even able to ask a question rightly."

But if they did so my reputation would decrease; and with my reputa-

tion my incomings would grow less, for what we have to enjoy, that

depends on our reputation. But if the Samana Gotama were to put a

question to me, I might not be able to gain his approval by my expla-

nation of the problem. And if they were then to say to me: "The ques-

tion ought not to be answered so; thus ought the problem to be ex-

plained;" the company might thereupon speak of me with disrespect,

saying: "Foolish is this Sonadanda the Brahman, and inexpert. He is

not even able to satisfy the Samana Gotama by his explanation of the

problem put." But if they did so, my reputation would decrease; and

with my reputation my incomings would grow less, for what we have

267

to enjoy, that depends upon our reputation. But on the other hand if,

having come so far, I should turn back without calling upon the Sa-

mana Gotama, then might the company speak disrespectfully of me,

saying: "Foolish is this Sonadanda the Brahman, and inexpert, though

obstinate with pride, he is so afraid that he dare not call on the Samana

Gotama. How can he turn back after having come so far?" But if they

did so, my reputation would decrease; and with my reputation my in-

comings would grow less. For what we have to enjoy, that depends

upon our reputation.

9. So Sonadanda the Brahman went up to where the Blessed

One was. And when he had come there he exchanged with the Blessed

One the greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy, and

took his seat on one side. And as to the Brahmans and householders

of Kampâ, some of them bowed to the Blessed One and took their

seats on one side; some of them exchanged with him the greetings and

compliments of politeness and courtesy, and then took their seats on

one side; some of them called out their name and family, and then

took their seats on one side; and some of them took their seats on one

side in silence.

10. Now as Sonadanda was seated there he was still filled with

hesitation, thinking as before set out; and he added to himself: 'Oh!

would that the Samana Gotama would but ask me some question on

my own subject, on the threefold Vedic lore. Verily, I should then be

able to gain his approval by my exposition of the problem put!'

11. Now the Blessed One became aware in his own mind of the

hesitation in the mind of Sonadanda, and he thought: 'This Sonadanda

is afflicted in his heart. I had better question him on his own doctrine.'

And he said to him: 'What are the things, Brahman, which the Brah-

mans say a man ought to have in order to be a Brahman, so that if he

says: "I am a Brahman," he speaks accurately and does not become

guilty of falsehood?'

12. Then Sonadanda thought: 'What I wished and desired and

had in my mind and hoped for--that the Samana Gotama should put to

me some question on my own subject, on the threefold Vedic lore--

that he now does. Oh! that I may be able to satisfy his heart with my

exposition thereof!'

13. And drawing his body up erect, and looking round on the as-

sembly, he said to the Blessed One: 'The Brahmans, Gotama, declare

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him to be a Brahman who can accurately say "I am a Brahman" with-

out being guilty of falsehood, who has five things. And what are the

five? In the first place, Sir, a Brahman is well born on both sides, on

the mother's side and on the father's side, of pure descent back through

seven generations, with no slur put upon him, and no reproach, in re-

spect of birth.

'Then he is a repeater (of the sacred words), knowing the mys-

tic verses by heart, one who has mastered the Three Vedas, with the

indices, the ritual, the phonology, and the exegesis (as a fourth), and

the legends as a fifth, learned in the phrases and in the grammar,

versed in Lokâyata sophistry, and in the theory of the signs on the

body of a great man.

'Then he is handsome, pleasant to look upon, inspiring trust,

gifted with great beauty of complexion, fair in colour, fine in pres-

ence, stately to behold,

'Then he is virtuous, increased in virtue, gifted with virtue that

has grown great.

'Then he is learned and wise, the first, or it may be the second,

among those who hold out the ladle.'

14. 'But of these five things, oh Brahman, is it possible to leave

one out, and to declare the man who has the other four to be a Brah-

man, to be one who can accurately, and without falling into falsehood,

claim to be a Brahman?'

'Yes, Gotama, that can be done. We could leave out colour. For

what does colour matter? If he have the other four – good birth, tech-

nical training, virtue, and wisdom, as just set forth. Brahmans would

still declare him to be a Brahman; and he could rightly, without dan-

ger of falsehood, claim to be one.'

15. 'But of these four things, oh Brahman, is it possible to

leave one out, and to declare the man who has the other three to be a

Brahman, to be one who can rightly, and without falling into false-

hood, claim to be a Brahman?'

'Yes, Gotama, that could be done. We could leave out the

verses. For what do the verses matter? If he have the other three –

good birth, virtue, and wisdom – Brahmans would still declare him to

be a Brahman; and he could rightly, without danger of falsehood,

claim to be one.'

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16. 'But of these three things, Brahman, is it possible to leave

one out, and to declare the man who has the other two to be a Brah-

man, to be one who can accurately, and without falling into falsehood,

claim to be a Brahman?'

'Yes, Gotama, that could be done. We could leave out birth.

For what does birth matter? If he have the other two – virtue and wis-

dom – Brahmans would still declare him to be a Brahman; and he

could rightly, without danger of falsehood, claim to be one.'

17. And when he had thus spoken the other Brahmans said to

Sonadanda: 'Say not so, venerable Sonadanda, say not so! He depre-

ciates not only our colour, but he depreciates our verses and our birth.

Verily the venerable Sonadanda is going over to the doctrine of the

Samana Gotama.'

18. Then the Blessed One said to those Brahmans: 'If you, oh

Brahmans, think that Sonadanda is unlearned, that he speaks unfitting-

ly, that he is unwise, that he is unable to hold his own with me in this

matter, let him keep silence, and do you discuss with me. But if you

think him learned, able in speech, wise, able to hold his own, then do

you keep silence, and let him discuss with me.'

19. And when he had thus spoken, Sonadanda the Brahman

said to those Brahmans: 'Let not the venerable ones say so. Say not so,

Sirs. I do not depreciate either our colour, nor our verses, nor our

birth.'

20. Now at that time a young Brahman named Angaka, sister's

son to Sonadanda the Brahman, was seated in that company. And So-

nadanda said to those Brahmans: 'Do the venerable ones see this An-

gaka, our nephew?'

'Yes, Sir, we see him.'

'Well! Angaka, Sirs, is handsome, pleasant to look upon, in-

spiring trust, gifted with great beauty of complexion, fair in colour,

fine in presence, stately to behold – none in this assembly is like unto

him in colour, save only the Samana Gotama.

'And Angaka, Sirs, is a repeater (of the sacred words), knowing

the mystic verses by heart, one who has mastered the Three Vedas,

with the indices, the ritual, the phonology, and the exegesis (as a

fourth), and the legends as a fifth, learned in the phrases and the

grammar, versed in Lokâyata (Nature-lore), and in the theory of the

270

signs on the body of a great man – I myself have taught him the

verses.

'And Angaka, Sirs, is well born on both sides, on the mother's

side and on the father's side, of pure descent back through seven gen-

erations, with no slur put upon him, and no reproach in respect of birth

– I myself know his forebears, on the mother's side and on the father's.

'If Angaka, Sirs, should kill living things, and take what has

not been given, and go the way of the adulterer, and speak lies, and

drink strong drink, what then, Sirs, would his colour avail him? what

the verses? what his birth?

'It is in so far, Sirs, as a Brahman is virtuous, increased in vir-

tue, gifted with virtue that has grown great; in so far as he is learned

and wise, the first, or it may be the second, among those who hold out

the ladle, that Brahmans would declare him, as endowed with these

two qualities, to be a Brahman, to be one who could rightly say "I am

a Brahman" without falling into falsehood.'

21. 'But of these two things, oh Brahman, is it possible to leave

one out, and to declare the man who has the other to be a Brahman, to

be one who can rightly, and without falling into falsehood, claim to be

a Brahman?'

'Not that, Gotama! For wisdom, oh Gotama, is purified by

uprightness, and uprightness is purified by wisdom. Where there is

uprightness, wisdom is there, and where there is wisdom, uprightness

is there. To the upright there is wisdom, to the wise there is upright-

ness, and wisdom and goodness are declared to be the best thing in the

world. Just, oh Gotama, as one might wash hand with hand, or foot

with foot, just even so, oh Gotama, is wisdom purified by uprightness,

and uprightness is purified by wisdom. Where there is uprightness,

wisdom is there, and where there is wisdom, uprightness is there. To

the upright, there is wisdom, to the wise there is uprightness, and wis-

dom and goodness are declared to be the best thing in the world.'

22. 'That is just so, oh Brahman. And I, too, say the same. But

what, then, is that uprightness and what that wisdom?

'We only know, oh Gotama, the general statement in this mat-

ter. May the venerable Gotama be pleased to explain the meaning of

the phrase.'

'Well then, oh Brahman, give ear, and pay earnest attention,

and I will speak.'

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24. When he had thus spoken, Sonadanda the Brahman said to

the Blessed One:

'Most excellent, oh Gotama (are the words of thy mouth), most

excellent! Just as if a man were to set up that which has been thrown

down, or were to reveal that which has been hidden away, or were to

point out the right road to him who has gone astray, or were to bring a

light into the darkness so that those who had eyes could see external

forms--just even so has the truth been made known to me, in many a

figure, by the venerable Gotama. I, even I, betake myself to the vener-

able Gotama as my guide, to the truth, and to the Order. And may the

venerable Gotama accept me as a disciple, as one who, from this day

forth, as long as life endures, has taken him as his guide. And may the

venerable Gotama grant me the favour of taking his to-morrow's meal

with me, and also the members of the Order with him.'

Then the Blessed One signified, by silence, his consent. And So-

nadanda, on seeing that he had done so, arose from his seat and bowed

down before the Blessed

One, and walking round him with his right hand towards him,

departed thence. And at early dawn he made ready at his house sweet

food, both hard and soft, and had the time announced to the Blessed

One: 'It is time, oh Gotama, and the meal is ready.'

25. Then the Blessed One, who had dressed in the early morning,

put on his outer robe, and taking his bowl with him, went with the

brethren to Sonadanda's house, and sat down on the seat prepared for

him. And Sonadanda the Brahman satisfied the Blessed One, and the

brethren, with his own hand, with sweet food, both hard and soft, until

they refused any more.

And when the Blessed One had finished his meal, and cleansed

the bowl and his hands, Sonadanda took a low seat, and sat down be-

side him, and said:

26. 'If, oh Gotama, after I have entered the assembly, I should

rise from my seat to bow down before the venerable Gotama, then the

assembly would find fault with me. Now he with whom the assembly

should find fault, his reputation would grow less; and he who should

lose his reputation, his income would grow less. For that which we

have to enjoy, that depends upon our reputation. If then, when I am

seated in the assembly, I stretch forth my joined palms in salutation,

let the venerable Gotama accept that from me as arising up from my

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seat. And if when I am seated in the assembly I take off my turban, let

the venerable Gotama accept that from me as a salutation with my

head. So if, when I am in my chariot, I were to get down from the cha-

riot to salute the venerable Gotama, the surrounders would find fault

with me. If, then, when mounted on my chariot, I bend down low the

staff of my goad, let the venerable Gotama accept that from me as if I

had got down. And if, when mounted on my chariot, I should wave

my hand, let the venerable Gotama accept that from me as if I had

bowed low in salutation!'

27. Then the Blessed One instructed and roused and incited and

gladdened Sonadanda the Brahman with religious discourse, and then

rose from his seat and departed thence.

Here ends the Sonadanda Sutta.

(Dialogues of the Buddha (The Dîgha-Nikâya). Translated from the

Pâli by T. W. Rhys Davids // The Sacred Books of the Buddhists. Vol.

II. London, H. Frowde, Oxford University Press. 1899. P. 144-159).

For Unit III

Didache

(The Lord's Teaching Through

the Twelve Apostles to the Nations)

This is a translation of an early Christian text, the Didache, or

the two ways, a set of ethical precepts attributed to the original apos-

tles. Modern scholars are certain that the Didache dates to the late first

or early second century. It was considered canonical by some of the

Church Fathers. It was eventually rejected from the canon, but is still

considered part of the collection of Apostolic Fathers by the Catholic

Church. The text was lost, but was rediscovered in 1873 in a Greek

Codex written in 1075 and published along with other texts in 1883.

As such it represents a window into a very early Christianity, includ-

ing information on rituals such as baptism, and the itinerant ministry

of the time.

I. There are two paths, one of life and one of death, and the dif-

ference is great between the two paths. Now the path of life is this –

273

first, thou shalt love the God who made thee, thy neighbour as thyself,

and all things that thou wouldest not should be done unto thee, do not

thou unto another. And the doctrine of these maxims is as follows.

Bless them that curse you, and pray for your enemies. Fast on behalf

of those that persecute you; for what thank is there if ye love them that

love you? do not even the Gentiles do the same But do ye love them

that hate you, and ye will not have an enemy. Abstain from fleshly

and worldly lusts. If any one give thee a blow on thy right cheek, turn

unto him the other also, and thou shalt be perfect; if any one compel

thee to go a mile, go with him two; if a man take away thy cloak, give

him thy coat also; if a man take from thee what is thine, ask not for it

again, for neither art thou able to do so. Give to every one that asketh

of thee, and ask not again, for the Father wishes that from his own

gifts there should be given to all. Blessed is he who giveth according

to the commandment, for he is free from guilt; but woe unto him that

receiveth. For if a man receive being in need, he shall be free from

guilt; but he who receiveth when not in need, shall pay a penalty as to

why he received and for what purpose; and when he is in tribulation

he shall be examined concerning the things that he bas done, and shall

not depart thence until be has paid the last farthing. For of a truth it

has been said on these matters, Let thy almsgiving abide in thy hands

until thou knowest to whom thou hast given.

II. But the second commandment of the teaching is this. Thou

shalt not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not corrupt

youth; thou shalt not commit fornication; thou shalt not steal; thou

shalt not use soothsaying; thou shalt not practise sorcery; thou shalt

not kill a child by abortion, neither shalt thou slay it when born; thou

shalt not covet the goods of thy neighbour; thou shalt not commit per-

jury; thou shalt not bear false witness; thou shalt not speak evil; thou

shalt not bear malice; thou shalt not be double-minded or double-

tongued, for to be double-tongued is the snare of death. Thy speech

shall not be false or empty, but concerned with action. Thou shalt not

be covetous, or rapacious, or hypocritical, or malicious, or proud; thou

shalt not take up an evil design against thy neighbour; thou shalt not

hate any man, but some thou shalt confute, concerning some thou

shalt pray, and some thou shalt love beyond thine own soul.

III. My child, fly from everything that is evil, and from every-

thing that is like to it. Be not wrathful, for wrath leadeth unto slaugh-

274

ter; be not jealous, or contentious, or quarrelsome, for from all these

things slaughter ensues. My child, be not lustful, for lust leadeth unto

fornication; be not a filthy talker; be not a lifter up of the eye, for from

all these things come adulteries. My child, be not an observer of

omens, since it leadeth to idolatry, nor a user of spells, nor an astro-

loger, nor a travelling purifier, nor wish to see these things, for from

all these things idolatry ariseth. My child, be not a liar, for lying lea-

deth unto theft; be not covetous or conceited, for from all these things

thefts arise. My child, be not a murmurer, since it leadeth unto blas-

phemy; be not self-willed or evil-minded, for from all these things

blasphemies are produced; but be thou meek, for the meek shall inhe-

rit the earth; be thou long-suffering, and compassionate, and harmless,

and peaceable, and good, and fearing alway the words that thou hast

heard. Thou shalt not exalt thyself, neither shalt thou put boldness into

thy soul. Thy soul shall not be joined unto the lofty, but thou shalt

walk with the just and humble. Accept the things that happen to thee

as good, knowing that without God nothing happens.

IV. My child, thou shalt remember both night and day him that

speaketh unto thee the Word of God; thou shalt honour him as thou

dost the Lord, for where the teaching of the Lord is given, there is the

Lord; thou shalt seek out day by day the favour of the saints, that thou

mayest rest in their words; thou shalt not desire schism, but shalt set at

peace them that contend; thou shalt judge righteously; thou shalt not

accept the person of any one to convict him of transgression; thou

shalt not doubt whether a thing shall be or not. Be not a stretcher out

of thy hand to receive, and a drawer of it back in giving. If thou hast,

give by means of thy hands a redemption for thy sins. Thou shalt not

doubt to give, neither shalt thou murmur when giving; for thou shoul-

dest know who is the fair recompenser of the reward. Thou shalt not

turn away from him that is in need, but shalt share with thy brother in

all things, and shalt not say that things are thine own; for if ye are

partners in what is immortal, how much more in what is mortal? Thou

shalt not remove thine heart from thy son or from thy daughter, but

from their youth shalt teach them the fear of God. Thou shalt not

command with bitterness thy servant or thy handmaid, who hope in

the same God as thyself, lest they fear not in consequence the God

who is over both; for he cometh not to call with respect of persons, but

those whom the Spirit hath prepared. And do ye servants submit your-

275

selves to your masters with reverence and fear, as being the type of

God. Thou shalt hate all hypocrisy and everything that is not pleasing

to God; thou shalt not abandon the commandments of the Lord, but

shalt guard that which thou hast received, neither adding thereto nor

taking therefrom; thou shalt confess thy transgressions in the church,

and shalt not come unto prayer with an evil conscience. This is the

path of life.

V. But the path of death is this. First of all, it is evil and full of

cursing; there are found murders, adulteries, lusts, fornication, thefts,

idolatries, soothsaying, sorceries, robberies, false witnessings, hypo-

crisies, double-mindedness, craft, pride, malice, self-will, covetous-

ness, filthy talking, jealousy, audacity, arrogance; there are they who

persecute the good – lovers of a lie, not knowing the reward of righ-

teousness, not cleaving to the good nor to righteous judgment, watch-

ing not for the good but for the bad, from whom meekness and pa-

tience are afar off, loving things that are vain, following after recom-

pense, having no compassion on the needy, nor labouring for him that

is in trouble, not knowing him that made them, murderers of children,

corrupters of the image of God, who turn away from him that is in

need, who oppress him that is in trouble, unjust judges of the poor, er-

ring in all things. From all these, children, may ye be delivered.

VI. See that no one make thee to err from this path of doctrine,

since he who doeth so teacheth thee apart from God. If thou art able to

bear the whole yoke of the Lord, thou wilt be perfect; but if thou art

not able, what thou art able, that do. But concerning meat, bear that

which thou art able to do. But keep with care from things sacrificed to

idols, for it is the worship of the infernal deities.

VII. But concerning baptism, thus baptize ye: having first recited

all these precepts, baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son,

and of the Holy Spirit, in running water; but if thou hast not running

water, baptize in some other water, and if thou canst not baptize in

cold, in warm water; but if thou hast neither, pour water three times on

the head, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy

Spirit. But before the baptism, let him who baptizeth and he who is

baptized fast previously, and any others who may he able. And thou

shalt command him who is baptized to fast one or two days before.

VIII. But as for your fasts, let them not be with the hypocrites,

for they fast on the second and fifth days of the week, but do ye fast

276

on the fourth and sixth days. Neither pray ye as the hypocrites, but as

the Lord hath commanded in his Gospel so pray ye: Our Father in

heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done

as in heaven so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive

us our debt, as we also forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temp-

tation, but deliver us from the evil: for thine is the power, and the

glory, for ever. Thrice a day pray ye in this fashion.

IX. But concerning the Eucharist, after this fashion give ye

thanks. First, concerning the cup. We thank thee, our Father, for the

holy vine, David thy Son, which thou hast made known unto us

through Jesus Christ thy Son; to thee be the glory for ever. And con-

cerning the broken bread. We thank thee, our Father, for the life and

knowledge which thou hast made known unto us through Jesus thy

Son; to thee be the glory for ever. As this broken bread was once scat-

tered on the mountains, and after it had been brought together became

one, so may thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the

earth unto thy kingdom; for thine is the glory, and the power, through

Jesus Christ, for ever. And let none eat or drink of your Eucharist but

such as have been baptized into the name of the Lord, for of a truth the

Lord hath said concerning this, Give not that which is holy unto dogs.

X. But after it has been completed, so pray ye. We thank thee,

holy Father, for thy holy name, which thou hast caused to dwell in our

hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality which thou

hast made known unto us through Jesus thy Son; to thee be the glory

for ever. Thou, Almighty Master, didst create all things for the sake of

thy name, and hast given both meat and drink for men to enjoy, that

we might give thanks unto thee, but to us thou hast given spiritual

meat and drink, and life everlasting, through thy Son. Above all, we

thank thee that thou art able to save; to thee be the glory for ever. Re-

member, Lord, thy Church, to redeem it from every evil, and to per-

fect it in thy love, and gather it together from the four winds, even that

which has been sanctified for thy kingdom which thou hast prepared

for it; for thine is the kingdom and the glory for ever. Let grace come,

and let this world pass away. Hosanna to the Son of David. If any one

is holy, let him come (to the Eucharist); if any one is not, let him re-

pent. Maranatha. Amen. But charge the prophets to give thanks, so far

as they are willing to do so.

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XI. Whosoever, therefore, shall come and teach you all these

things aforesaid, him do ye receive; but if the teacher himself turn and

teach another doctrine with a view to subvert you, hearken not to him;

but if he come to add to your righteousness, and the knowledge of the

Lord, receive him as the Lord. But concerning the apostles and proph-

ets, thus do ye according to the doctrine of the Gospel. Let every apos-

tle who cometh unto you be received as the Lord. He will remain one

day, and if it be necessary, a second; but if he remain three days, he is

a false prophet. And let the apostle when departing take nothing but

bread until he arrive at his resting-place; but if he ask for money, he is

a false prophet. And ye shall not attempt or dispute with any prophet

who speaketh in the spirit; for every sin shall be forgiven, but this sin

shall not be forgiven. But not every one who speaketh in the spirit is a

prophet, but he is so who hath the disposition of the Lord; by their

disposition they therefore shall be known, the false prophet and the

prophet. And every prophet who ordereth in the spirit that a table shall

be laid, shall not eat of it himself, but if he do otherwise, he is a false

prophet; and every prophet who teacheth the truth, if he do not what

he teacheth is a false prophet; and every prophet who is approved and

true, and ministering in the visible mystery of the Church, but who

teacheth not others to do the things that he doth himself, shall not be

judged of you, for with God lieth his judgment, for in this manner also

did the ancient prophets. But whoever shall say in the spirit, Give me

money, or things of that kind, listen not to him; but if he tell you con-

cerning others that are in need that ye should give unto them, let no

one judge him.

XII. Let every one that cometh in the name of the Lord be re-

ceived, but afterwards ye shall examine him and know his character,

for ye have knowledge both of good and evil. If the person who com-

eth be a wayfarer, assist him so far as ye are able; but he will not re-

main with you more than two or three days, unless there be a necessi-

ty. But if he wish to settle with you, being a craftsman, let him work,

and so eat; but if he know not any craft, provide ye according to your

own discretion, that a Christian may not live idle among you; but if he

be not willing to do so, he is a trafficker in Christ. From such keep

aloof.

XIII. But every true prophet who is willing to dwell among you

is worthy of his meat, likewise a true teacher is himself worthy of his

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meat, even as is a labourer. Thou shalt, therefore, take the first-fruits

of every produce of the wine-press and threshing-floor, of oxen and

sheep, and shalt give it to the prophets, for they are your chief priests;

but if ye have not a prophet, give it unto the poor. If thou makest a

feast, take and give the first-fruits according to the commandment; in

like manner when thou openest a jar of wine or of oil, take the first-

fruits and give it to the prophets; take also the first-fruits of money, of

clothes, and of every possession, as it shall seem good unto thee, and

give it according to the commandment.

XIV. But on the Lord's day, after that ye have assembled togeth-

er, break bread and give thanks, having in addition confessed your

sins, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let not any one who hath a

quarrel with his companion join with you, until they be reconciled,

that your sacrifice may not be polluted, for it is that which is spoken

of by the Lord. In every place and time offer unto me a pure sacrifice,

for I am a great King, saith the Lord, and my name is wonderful

among the Gentiles.

XV. Elect, therefore, for yourselves bishops and deacons worthy

of the Lord, men who are meek and not covetous, and true and ap-

proved, for they perform for you the service of prophets and teachers.

Do not, therefore, despise them, for they are those who are honoured

among you, together with the prophets and teachers. Rebuke one

another, not in wrath, but peaceably, as ye have commandment in the

Gospel; and, but let no one speak to any one who walketh disorderly

with regard to his neighbour, neither let him be heard by you until he

repent. But your prayers and your almsgivings and all your deeds so

do, as ye have commandment in the Gospel of our Lord.

Watch concerning your life; let not your lamps be quenched or

your loins be loosed, but be ye ready, for ye know not the hour at

which our Lord cometh. But be ye gathered together frequently, seek-

ing what is suitable for your souls; for the whole time of your faith

shall profit you not, unless ye be found perfect in the last time. For in

the last days false prophets and seducers shall be multiplied, and the

sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love shall be turned into hate;

and because iniquity aboundeth they shall hate each other, and perse-

cute each other, and deliver each other up; and then shall the Deceiver

of the world appear as the Son of God, and shall do signs and won-

ders, and the earth shall be delivered into his hands; and he shall do

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unlawful things, such as have never happened since the beginning of

the world. Then shall the creation of man come to the fiery trial of

proof, and many shall be offended and shall perish; but they who re-

main in their faith shall be saved by the rock of offence itself. And

then shall appear the signs of the truth; first the sign of the appearance

in heaven, then the sign of the sound of the trumpet; and thirdly, the

resurrection of the dead – not of all, but as it has been said, The Lord

shall come and all his saints with him; then shall the world behold the

Lord coming on the clouds of heaven.

(The Didache, translated by Charles H. Hoole, London.1894)

For Unit IV

JIHĀD

1. "And those who strive hard for Us, We will certainly guide them in

Our ways" (29:69).

2. "Strive hard against them a mighty striving with it (the Qur'ān)"

(25:52).

3. "And from among you there should be a party who invite to good

and enjoin what is right and forbid the wrong. and these it is that shall

be successful" (3:103).

4. "There is no compulsion in religion" (2:256).

5. "And fight in the way of Allāh with those who fight with you and

do not exceed this limit" (2:190).

6. "And they will not cease fighting with you until they turn you back

from your religion if they can" (2:217).

7. "And fight with them until there is no persecution and all religions

are only for Allāh" (8:39).

8. "And if they incline to peace, do thou incline to it and trust in Allāh

And if they intend to deceive thee, then surely Allāh is sufficient for

thee" (8:61, 62).

9. "He it is who has sent His Messenger with the guidance and the true

religion that He may make it overcome all (other) religions." (61:9).

Jihād means the exerting of one's power in repelling the enemy

or in contending with an object of disapprobation. It carries a twofold

significance in Islām, being applied to both. the purely missionary ac-

280

tivities of a Muslim and his defence of the Faith. when necessary, in a

physical sense. The first duty – the duty to invite people to Islām – is a

permanent duty laid upon all Muslims of all ages; while the second is

a duty which arises upon certain contingencies. The Holy Qur'ān calls

attention to both these duties in the clearest and most forceful words.

In the first place, it speaks of a jihād to attain to Allāh (v. 1). Then it

speaks of carrying on a jihād against unbelievers by means of the Holy

Qur'ān, and this it calls jihād-an kabīr-an, a very great jihād (v. 2).

Islām's greatest jihād is, therefore, not by means of the sword, but by

means of the Holy Qur'ān, i.e., a missionary effort to establish Islām.

We are further told that there should always be among Muslims a par-

ty who invite people to Islām (v. 3). Thus the missionary jihād of

Islām is to be carried on in all circumstances.

The sword could never be used to force Islām on others, compul-

sion in religion being forbidden in clear words (v. 4). Fighting was

undoubtedly allowed but it was expressly allowed only as a defensive

measure against those who were bent upon annihilating Islām by the

sword, not to compel people to accept Islām (vv. 5, 6). When persecu-

tion ceased and everyone was at liberty to profess whatever religion

he liked, the sword had to be sheathed (v. 7). Even in the midst of the

war, if the enemy wanted peace, war was to be discontinued (v. 8).

The good news is finally given that not only will Islām not be annihi-

lated but it would ultimately be ascendant over all other religions (v.

9).

Hadīth also speaks of both kinds of jihād. It is a Muslim's fore-

most duty, and the most excellent deed a Muslim can do (hh. 1, 2). A

promise is given that if Muslims exerted themselves to their utmost to

uphold the cause of Islām, they would be in the ascendant (hh. 3, 4).

There is a further promise that divinely inspired persons,

called rnujaddids, shall appear among Muslims to revive the faith (h.

5), and that a Messiah shall appear among them to carry the message

of Islām to the Christian nations of the world in particular (h. 6).

Guiding a man to truth is spoken of as a Muslim's greatest trea-

sure (h. 7), and the Holy Prophet himself wrote letters to kings in the

6th year of Hijrah, inviting them to accept Islām (h. 8). He never

threatened any of them with invasion if his message was not accepted

(h. 9). Muslims had to fight their battles, but this they had to do simp-

ly to defend Islām which unbelievers wanted to annihilate (vv. 5. 6)

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The cause of Truth was, however, to be defended unto death (h. 10),

and Muslims were told to be always ready, if the need arose, to defend

the Faith with the sword, that being the way to Paradise (h. 11). The

Holy Prophet's own soul yearned after martyrdom in defence of the

Truth and if possible, to come back to life and die again defending the

Truth (h. 12), and such should, therefore, be the desire of every Mus-

lim. Martyrdom could, however, be attained in other ways too (h. 13).

Even women took part in the battles which were being fought in de-

fence of Islām (hh. 14, 15), Non-combatants were not to be killed in

battle, there being a prohibition against the killing of women and

children (h. 16). Fighting was to cease if the enemy offered peace,

even though his intention might be to deceive (v. 8), or if the enemy

entered the brotherhood of Islām (h. 17).

1. Abu Hurairah said, A man came to the Messenger of

Allāh, peace and blessings of Allāh be on him, and said,Guide me to a

deed which is equal to jihād. He said, "I do not find it." (Then) he

said: "Is it in thy power that when the one engaged in jihād goes forth,

thou shouldst enter thy mosque and stand in prayer and have no rest,

and that thou shouldst fast and break it not?" He said, Who can do it?

(B. 56:l.)

2. Abū Sa'īd al-Khudrī said, It was said, O Messenger of Allāh!

Who is the most excellent of men? The Messenger of Allāh, peace and

blessings of Allāh be on him, said, "The believer who strives hard in

the way of Allāh with his person and his property."(B. 56:2)

3. Mughīrah reported, The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allāh

be on him, said, "Some people from among my community shall re-

main in the ascendant, until the command of Allāh comes to them and

they shall be triumphant." (B. 61:28.)

4. 'Imrān ibn Husain said, 'The Messenger of Allāh, peace and

blessings of Allāh be on him, said: "A party of my community shall

not cease fighting for the Truth – they shall be triumphant over their

opponents."(AD-Msh. 18.)

In the heading of 97:10. this hadīth is related with a slight varia-

tion: "A party of my umma shall remain in the ascendant, propagating

the Truth, and these are the learned ones (ahl al-'ilm)." This shows

that Bukhārī took the word jihād in the wider sense.

The following explanation of this hadīth is given in the 'Aun al-

Ma'būd, a commentary of Adū Dawūd, on the authority of Nawavī:

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"This party consists of different classes of the faithful, of them being

the brave fighters, the faqīhs (jurists), the muhaddithīn (collectors of

Hadīth), the zāhids (those who devote themselves to the worship of

God), those who command the doing of good and prohibit evil, and a

variety of other people who do other good deeds." Fighting in the way

of Allāh thus includes the service of Islām in any form.

5. Abū Hurairah reported, The Messenger of Allāh, peace and

blessings of Allāh be on him, said: "Surely Allāh will raise for this

community at the beginning of every century one who shall revive for

it its faith."(AD. 36:1.)

6. Abū Hurairah said, The Messenger of Allāh, peace and bless-

ings of Allāh be on him, said "How would you feel when the son of

Mary makes his appearance among you, and he is your imām from

among yourselves."(B. 60:49.)

The preceding two Hadīth contain a prophecy that among the

Muslim community there shall always be learned people who shall

help the cause of Islām to become ascendant in the world; this goes a

step further and contains a further prophecy that generally at intervals

of a century divinely inspired people shall be raised among Muslims

and they shall revive the faith of the Muslim community.

A person thus raised by God is called a mujaddid (one who re-

vives) in the terminology of Islām. The mujaddid is a muhaddath (one

to whom God speaks though he is not a prophet), and he is raised up

by God to remove errors that have crept in among Muslims and to

shed new light on the great religious truths of Islām in the new cir-

cumstances which Muslims may have to face in every new age. The

most famous names falling under this category in this country are

those of Sayyid Ahmad of Sirhind, popularly known as Mujaddid Alf

Thāni, Shāh Walī Allāh of Delhi, Sayyid Ahmad of Bareily, and

Mirzā Ghulām Ahmad of Qādiān, the founder of the Ahmadiyyah

movement, who was accepted generally as the Mujaddid of the four-

teenth century of Hijrah, but who was later opposed owing to his

claim to be the Messiah, whose advent is spoken of in Hadīth prophe-

cies.

This is a further prophecy relating to the ascendancy of Islām.

The son Of Mary is the Messiah, and Muslims are told that a Messiah

would appear among them. This Messiah is called imāmu-kum min-

kum i.e., your imām from among yourselves. In a hadīth of the Sahih

283

Muslim on the same subject, the words are wa amma-kum min-

kum, i.e., he (the Messiah) shall be your imām from among your-

selves, leaving no doubt that a member of the Muslim community

would be raised to the dignity of the Messiah. These words were no

doubt added by the Holy Prophet to remove the possible misconcep-

tion that the Israelite Messiah would appear among Muslims.

The prophecy relating to the advent of a Messiah among Mus-

lims, generally known as the second advent of the Messiah, is on all

fours with the prophecy relating to the second advent of Elias among

the Israelites: "Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven" (II Kings

2:11); "I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the

great and dreadful day of the Lord" (Mal. 4:5). When Jesus Christ was

confronted with this difficulty – "Why then say the Scribes that Elias

must first come?" (Mt. 17: 10), he simply replied: "Elias is come al-

ready but they knew him not"... ..."Then the disciples understood that

he spake unto them of John the Baptist" (Mt. 17:11-13); because, as

further explained, John the Baptist came "in the spirit and power of

Elias" (LK. 1:17). The appearance of the Messiah among Muslims

thus meant only the appearance of a mujaddid "in the spirit and pow-

er" of the Messiah.

The Messiah's work is thus described in the Bukhārī "The son of

Mary will appear among you as a judge, doing justice (between

people), and he will break the Cross and kill the swine" (B. 60:49).

This clearly shows that the Messiah would come when the religion of

the Cross will be in the ascendant, and that his work will be to spread

Islām among the Christian nations of the world in particular. which in

other Hadīth is described as the rising of the sun in the West, the sun

standing for the Sun of Islām and the West for the Western nations.

Thus this prophecy speaks in fact of the final ascendancy of Islām in

the world.

7. Sahl reported, He heard the Messenger of Allāh, peace and

blessings of Allāh be on him, say:" …Then invite them to Islām, and

inform them of what is incumbent on them; for, by Allāh, if a single

man is guided aright through thee, it is better for thee than red ca-

mels." (B. 56:102.).

These instructions were given to 'Ali by the Holy Prophet in the

expedition of Khaibar, which shows that invitation to Islām was the

greatest jihād of Muslims.

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8. Ibn 'Abbās reported, The Messenger of Allāh, peace and

blessings of Allāh be on him, wrote to the Cæsar inviting him to

Islām, and sent his letter to him with Dihyah al-Kalbī, and the Mes-

senger of Allāh, peace and blessings of Allāh be on him, ordered him

to make it over to the Chief of Busrā that he might send it to the Cae-

sar (B. 56:102.)

This Hadīth which speaks of the Holy Prophet inviting the Cæsar

to Islām forms part of the chapter on Jihad in the Bukhārī, which again

shows the wide sense in which jihād was interpreted by Muslims. The

subject-matter of the letter written is produced in the next hadīth,

which should be treated as a supplement to this hadīth.

9. Ibn 'Abbās reported,… And this (letter) ran as follows: "In the

name of Allāh, the Beneficent, the Merciful. From Muhammad, the

servant of Allāh and His Messenger, to Heraclius, the Chief of the

Roman Empire. Peace be with him who follows the guidance. After

this, I invite thee with invitation to Islām. Become a Muslim and thou

wilt be in peace – Allāh will give thee a double reward; but if thou

turnest away, on thee will be the sin of thy subjects. And, O followers

of the Book! Come to an equitable proposition between us and you

that we shall not serve any but Allāh, and that we shall not associate

aught with Him, and that some of us shall not take others for lords be-

sides Allāh; but if they turn back, then say: Bear witness that we are

Muslims." (B. 1:1.) This is a very long hadīth, only the part relating to

the letter spoken of in the last hadīth is produced here. The subject-

matter of the letter is a clear proof that invitation to Islām was not ac-

companied by any threat of hostilities. Similar letters were written to

other rulers.

10. Salamah said, I swore allegiance to the Prophet, peace and

blessings of Allāh be on him, then I turned to the shade of a tree.

When the crowd diminished, he (the Prophet) said, "O Ibn al-Akwa'!

Will thou not swear allegiance?" He said, I said, I have already sworn

allegiance, O Messenger of Allāh! He said, "And do it again." So I

swore allegiance to him a second time. I (the reporter) said to him, O

Abu Muslim! For what did you swear allegiance (to him) then? He

said: For death (B. 56:110.). This happened at Hudaibiyah where the

famous truce of that name was concluded. Swearing allegiance for

death meant that a man would defend Islām and stand by the Holy

Prophet even though he had to face death.

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11. Abd Allāh ibn Abū Aufā reported, The Messenger of

Allāh, peace and blessings of Allāh be on him, said:And know that pa-

radise is beneath the protection of the swords." (B. 56:22.). The

word zilāl used in the hadīth is plural of zill which generally means

shadow, but it really means that which serves to protect a thing. The

Hadīth emphasizes a Muslim's duty to be always ready to fight for the

defence of the Truth. Muslims could not use the sword otherwise than

in defence (v. 5).

12. Abū Hurairah said, I heard the Prophet, peace and blessings

of Allāh be on him, say "By Him in Whose hand is my soul, were it

not that there are men among the believers who cannot bear to remain

behind me - and I do not find that on which to carry them - I would

not remain behind an army that fights in the way of Allāh; and by Him

in Whose hand is my soul. I love that I should be killed in the way of

Allāh then brought to life, then killed again then brought to life, then

killed again then brought to life, then killed again."(B. 56:7.).

13. Abū Hurairah said, The Messenger of Allāh, peace and bless-

ings of Allāh be on him, said: Whom do you count to be a martyr

among you?" They said, O Messenger of Allāh! Whoever is killed in

the way of Allāh is a martyr. He said: "In that case the martyrs of my

community shall be very few – he who is killed in the way of Allāh is

a martyr; he who dies a natural death in the way of Allāh is a martyr;

he who dies of the plague (in the way of Allāh) is a martyr; he who

dies of cholera (in the way of Allāh) is a martyr." (M-Msh. 18.). The

Arabic word for martyr is shahīd which means a witness of truth. One

who is killed in defence of the Faith is called a shahīd because he as it

were sees the truth with his own eyes and lays down his life for it.

This hadīth shows further that every one who devotes his life to the

service of the Truth is ashahīd, whether he is killed in a battle for the

defence of Faith or dies a natural death or dies of plague or cholera.

14. Anas said: On the day that battle was fought at Uhud, (some)

people fled away from, the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allāh be

on him. He said, And I saw 'Ā'ishah, daughter of Abu Bakr and Umm

Sulaim, and they had both tucked up their garments, so that I could

see the anklets on their shanks, and they were carrying skins (full of

water) on their backs, and they poured water into the mouths of the

people then they went back and filled them again, then came and

poured them into the mouths of the people (B. 56:65.). This shows

286

that in the Holy Prophet's time women did the duty of nursing the

wounded and helping the armies of Islām in all other possible ways.

As the next hadīth shows, they did the duty of carrying the slain to

Madīnah. In B. 56: 63, it is related that a woman, named Bint Milhān,

requested the Holy Prophet to pray for her to be among those who

sailed on the seas to fight in the way of Allāh.

15. Rubayyi' daughter of Mu'awwidh said, We used to be with

the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allāh be on him, (in his battles),

giving drink to and tending the wounded, and removing the slain to

Madīnah (B. 56:67).

16. 'Abd Allāh reported, A woman was found among the killed

in one of the battles of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allāh be on

him, so the Messenger of Allāh, peace and blessings of Allāh be on

him, forbade the killing of women and children.' (B. 56:147.). Thus in

the exigency of battles Islām did not allow the killing of non comba-

tants. "Do not kill a woman, nor a labourer." "Do not kill an old man,

nor a child, nor a woman", are the words of other hadīth, (AD-Msh.

18:4).

17. Ibn 'Umar reported, The Messenger of Allāh, peace and

blessings of Allāh be on him, said: 'I have been commanded that I

should fight these people till they bear witness that there is no god but

Allāh and keep up prayer and pay zakāt. When they do this, their

blood and their property shall be safe with me except as Islām re-

quires, and their reckoning is with Allāh."(B. 2:16.). The hadīth begins

with the words, I have been commanded, and the command to fight is

contained in the Holy Qur'ān in the following words: "And fight in the

way of Allāh with those who fight with you and do not exceed this

limit" (v. 5). Muslims, therefore, could not resort to fighting unless an

enemy was the first to assume hostilities. What the hadīth means is

that fighting begun under these conditions is to cease when the enemy

people accept Islām. Bukhārī himself hints at this when he quotes this

hadīth under the heading if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the

poor-rate, then leave their way free," i.e., cease fighting with them.

(From A Manual of Hadith by Maulana Muhammad Ali, M.A., LL.B.

Lahore. Pakistan. 1944. P.252-265)

287

For Unit V.

The Future of Russia

In 19th-century Russia a number of prophets – and even some

far-seeing laymen like Dostoyevsky – foresaw the Revolution which

would come upon Russia as a result of unbelief, worldliness, and a

purely formal attitude towards Orthodoxy, devoid of the burning and

self-sacrificing faith that Orthodoxy demands. Some saw this in gen-

eral terms as a terrible disaster ready to overtake the Russian land, as

did Bishop Theophan the Recluse when he looked at the lack of true

Christian faith in so many people and exclaimed: In a hundred years,

what will be left of our Orthodoxy?

Others saw more specifically the frightful Revolution which

would spread to the entire world. Thus, St. John of Kronstadt said, in

a sermon delivered in 1904: ―Russia, if you fall away from your faith,

as many of the intellectual class have already fallen away, you will no

longer be Russia or Holy Russia. And if there will be no repentance

in the Russian people – then the end of the world is near. God will

take away the pious Tsar and will send a whip in the person of im-

pious, cruel, self-appointed rulers, who will inundate the whole earth

with blood and tears‖ [Father John of Kronstadt, 50th Anniversary

Book, Utica, NY, 1958, p.164].

This is the state in which the world now finds itself, with nearly

half of it drenched in blood and enduring tyranny which began in 1917

with the Russian Revolution. Is there any hope for deliverance, or

will atheism simply conquer the whole world and set up

the Kingdom of Antichrist? We have good reason to doubt that future

events will be as simple as this, both because the very country that be-

gan the reign of atheism, Russia, is now undergoing a religious awa-

kening which is already a hindrance to the spread of atheism, and also

because Antichrist, according to Orthodox prophecy, will not be simp-

ly an atheist tyrant like Stalin, but a religious figure who will persuade

rather than compel people to accept him.

The holy men alive in Russia at the beginning of the Revolution

were aware of the apocalyptic nature of this event and knew that it

would be a long and difficult trial for the Russian land. But they also

foresaw that there would be and end to this trial.

288

The Elder Alexius of the Zosima Hermitage, who was the monk

who drew the lot that elected Patriarch Tikhon, heard people crying

out in church in the Chudov monastery (this was in the early, confused

months of the Revolution): ―Our Russia is lost, Holy Russia is lost!‖

To this he answered: ―Who is it that is saying that Russia is lost, that

she has perished? No, no, she is not lost, she has not perished and will

not perish — but the Russian people must be purified of sin through

great trials. One must pray and fervently repent. But Russia is not

lost and she has not perished‖ [Orthodox Russia, 1970, no. 1, p. 9].

Starets Anatole the Younger of Optina, in the very first days of

the Revolution, in February 1917, made a prophecy in the form of a

vivid picture of the future of Russia: ―There will be a storm. And the

Russian ship will be smashed to pieces. But people can be saved even

on splinters and fragments. And not everyone will perish. One must

pray, everyone must repent and pray fervently. And what happens af-

ter a storm? ...There will be a calm.‘ At this everyone said: ‗But there

is no more ship, it is shattered to pieces; it has perished, everything

has perished.‘ ‗It is not so,‘ said Batiushka. ‗A great miracle of God

will be manifested. And all the splinters and fragments, by the will of

God and His power, will come together and be united, and the ship

will be rebuilt in its beauty and will go on its own way as foreordained

by God. And this will be a miracle evident to everyone.‖ [Ortho-

dox Russia, 1970, no. 1, p. 9].

Elder Barnabas of the Gethsemane Skete spoke before the Revo-

lution of the disaster coming upon Russia and the cruel persecutions

against the Orthodox Faith. He said: ―Persecutions against the faith

will constantly increase. There will be unheard-of grief and darkness,

and almost all the churches will be closed. But when it will seem to

people that it is impossible to endure any longer, then deliverance will

come. There will be a flowering. Churches will even begin to be

built. But this will be a flowering before the end‖ [private letter from

N. Kieter].

Schema-monk Aristocleus, not long before his death in August

1918, said that ―now we are undergoing the times before Antichrist,

but Russia will yet be delivered. There will be much suffering, much

torture. The whole of Russia will become a prison, and one must

greatly entreat the Lord for forgiveness. One must repent of one's sins

and fear to do even the least sin, but strive to do good, even the smal-

289

lest. For even the wing of a fly has weight, but God's scales are ex-

act. And when even the smallest of good in the cup overweighs, then

will God reveal His mercy upon Russia. Ten days before the end (of

his life) he said that the end would come through China. There will be

and extraordinary outburst and a miracle of God would be mani-

fested. And there will be an entirely different life, but all this will not

be for long‖ [Orth. Russia, 1969, №21, p. 3].

Elder Nectarius of Optina in the 1920‘s prophesied: ―Russia will

arise, and materially it will not be wealthy. But in spirit it will be

wealthy, and in Optina there will yet be seven luminaries, seven pil-

lars‖ [I.M. Kontzevich, Optina Monastery and its Epoch, Jordanville,

1973, p.538].

Interestingly, St. John of Kronstadt also prophesied that the deli-

verance of Russia would come from the East [I.K. Sursky, Father John

of Kronstadt, Belgrade, 1942, vol. 2, p. 24 – Excerpts from this work

are in preparation for publication by the St. John of Kronstadt Press].

Archbishop Theophan of Poltava summed up in the 1930‘s the

prophecies which he had received from such elders as these: ―You

ask me about the near future and about the last times. I do not speak

on my own, but give the revelation of the Elders: The coming of An-

tichrist draws nigh and is very near. The time separating us from him

should be counted a matter of years and at most a matter of some dec-

ades. But before the coming of Antichrist Russia must yet be restored

– to be sure, for a short time. And in Russia there must be a

Tsar forechosen by the Lord Himself. He will be a man of burning

faith, great mind and iron will. This much has been revealed about

him. We shall await the fulfillment of what has been revealed. Judg-

ing by many signs it is drawing nigh, unless because of our sins the

Lord God shall revoke, shall alter what has been promised. According

to the witness of the word of God, this also happens‖ [The Orthodox

Word, 1969, no. 4, p. 194].

Thus we may see in the prophecies of these God-inspired men in

the early part of this century a definite expectation of the restoration of

Holy Russia, and even of an Orthodox Tsar, for a short time not long

before the coming of Antichrist and the end of the world. This will be

something miraculous and not an ordinary historical event. But at the

same time it is something that depends upon the Russian people them-

selves, because God always acts through the free will of man. Just as

290

Ninevah was spared when the people repented, and Jonah‘s prophe-

cies about its destruction proved false, so also the prophecies of the

restoration of Russia will prove false if there is no repentance in the

Russian people.

Archbishop John Maximovitch of blessed memory, whose tomb

is in the very cathedral where services were held this morning, reflect-

ed deeply on the meaning of the Russian Revolution and the exile of

so many Russian people. In his report to the All-Diaspora Sobor

in Yugoslavia in 1938 he wrote:

―The Russian people as a whole has performed great sins which

are the cause of the present misfortunes: the specific sins are oath-

breaking and regicide. The public and military leaders renounced

their obedience and loyalty to the Tsar even before his abdication,

forcing the latter from the Tsar, who did not desire bloodshed within

the country; and the people openly and noisily greeted this deed, and

nowhere did it loudly express its lack of agreement with it.... Those

guilty of the sin of regicide are not only those who physically per-

formed it, but the whole people which rejoiced on the occasion of the

overthrow of the Tsar and allowed his abasement, arrest and exile,

leaving him defenseless in the hands of the criminals, which fact in it-

self already predetermined the end. Thus, the catastrophe which has

come upon Russia is the direct consequence of the terrible sins, and

the rebirth of Russia is possible only after cleansing from them. How-

ever, up to this time there has been no genuine repentance, the crimes

that have been performed have clearly not been condemned, and many

active participants in the Revolution continue even now to affirm that

at that time it was not possible to act in any other way. In not express-

ing a direct condemnation of the February Revolution, the uprising

against the Anointed of God, the Russian people continue to partici-

pate in the sin, especially when they defend the fruits of the Revolu-

tion‖ [The Orthodox Word, 1973, no. 50, p. 91].

Of course, regicide – the killing of the anointed Tsar – is not the

only sin that lies upon the conscience of the Orthodox Russian

people. This crime is, as it were, a symbol of the falling away of Rus-

sia from Christ and true Orthodoxy – a process that took up most of

the 19th and 20th centuries, and only now is perhaps beginning to be

reversed. It is most interesting that in Russia itself today the question

of the glorification of the Tsar together with the other New Martyrs is

291

bound up with the lifting of the literal curse which has lain upon the

Russian land since his martyrdom. Father Gleb Yakunin – who is

now suffering a cruel imprisonment precisely for making statements

like this – has written a letter to the Orthodox Russians of the Diaspo-

ra, signed also by several of his fellow strugglers, that expresses the

same ideas about the Tsar that Vladika John has expressed. At the end

of this letter he writes:

―The meaning for world history of the martyr's death of the Im-

perial Family, something that likens it to the most significant Biblical

events, consists of the fact that here the Constantionopolitan period of

the existence of the Church of Christ comes to an end, and a new,

martyric, apocalyptic age opens up. It is begun with the voluntary sa-

crifice of the last anointed Orthodox Emperor and his family. The

tragedy of the Royal Family has lain like a curse on the Russian land,

having become the symbolic prologue of Russia's long path of the

Cross – the death of tens of millions of her sons and daughters. The

canonization of the Imperial Martyrs will be for Russia the lifting

from her of the sin of regicide; this will finally deliver her from the

evil charms‖ [La Pensee Russe, Dec. 6, 1979; no. 3285; p. 5].

It is too simple, of course, to say that the glorification of the

New Martyrs, including the Royal Family, will bring about the resto-

ration of Holy Russia. But if the Orthodox people, both in Russia and

in the Diaspora, would receive this act with all their hearts, and use it

as an opportunity to repent deeply of their sins, there is no calculating

the impact it might have on Russia.

One great prophecy of the future of Russia was known to only a

few before the Revolution; t was so daring that the church censor

would not allow it to be printed. It was found in the same collection

of manuscripts of Motovilov that gave the world the famous ―Conver-

sation‖ of St. Seraphim on the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. This

prophecy, which has now appeared in several printings in the last dec-

ade, concerns the literal resurrection of St. Seraphim before the end of

the world. Here is what St. Seraphim told to Motovilov: ―Many times

I heard from the mouth of the great God-pleaser, the Elder, Father Se-

raphim, hat he would not lie in Sarov with his flesh. And behold,one I

(Motovilov) dared to ask im: ‗Batiushka, you deign to say all the time

that with your flesh you will not lie in Sarov. Does this mean that the

monks of Sarov will give you away?‘ ― ‗Your godliness, the Lord God

292

has ordained that I, humble Seraphim, should live considerably longer

than a hundred years. But since toward that time the bishops will be-

come so impious that in their impiety they will surpass the Greek bi-

shops of the time of Theodosius the Younger, so that they will no

longer even believe in the chief dogma of the Christian faith: there-

fore it has been pleasing to the Lord God to take me, humble Sera-

phim, from this temporal life until the time, and then resurrect me; and

my resurrection will be as the resurrection of the Seven Youths in the

cave of Ochlon in the days of Theodosius the Younger.‘ ―Having re-

vealed to me this great and fearful mystery, the great Elder informed

me that after his resurrection he would go from Sarov to Diveyevo and

there he would begin the preaching of world-wide repentance. For

this preaching, and above all because of the miracle of resurrection, a

great multitude of people will assemble from all the ends of the earth;

Diveyevo will become a lavra, Vertyanova will become a city, and

Arzamas a province. And preaching repentance in Diveyevo, Bati-

ushka Seraphim will uncover four relics in it, and after uncovering

them he himself will lie down in their midst. And then soon

will come the end of everything.

―Another time St. Seraphim spoke to Motovilov concerning the

spiritual state of the last Christians who will remain faithful to God

before the end of the world: ― ‗And in the days of that great sorrow, of

which it is said that no flesh would be saved unless, for the sake of the

elect, those days will be cut short — in those days the remnant of the

faithful are to experience in themselves something like that which was

experienced once by the Lord Himself when He, hanging upon the

Cross, being perfect God and perfect Man, felt Himself so forsaken by

His Divinity that He cried out to Him: My God, My God, why hast

Thou forsaken Me? The last Christians also will experience in them-

selves a similar abandonment of humanity by the grace of God, but

only for a very short time, after the passing of which the Lord will not

delay immediately to appear in all His glory, and all the holy Angels

with Him. And then will be performed in all its fulness everything

fore-ordained from the ages in the pre-eternal counsel (of the Holy

Trinity)‘‖ [The Orthodox Word, 1973, no. 50, pp. 123-4].

This prophecy was never printed in Russia, and yet it is known

there today. In a letter from a priest, published in the first issue of the

periodical Nadezhda, describing his visit to Sarov and Diveyevo and

293

his discovery there that Holy Russia was still alive, and that nuns from

the Diveyevo Convent (which was closed in 1926) still live there,

there is this prophecy from an old woman, Evdokia, who had just re-

ceived Holy Communion. Addressing the priest, she said: ―Soon,

soon, here in Diveyevo, there will be a celebration. Now it is not

years, not months, but days and hours that remain until the opening of

the monastery and the manifestation of four relics: those of the Saint,

the Foundress (of Diveyevo) Alexandra, Matushka Martha, and

Blessed Evdokeyushka, who was tortured and killed by the atheists....

The Saint commands me: Say to him and no one else...that soon,

soon, both the monastery and the relics will be opened... He com-

mands me to tell you that without fail you must come here for the

opening of the church and the relics‖ [Nadezhda, 1977, no. 1, p. 148].

Of the fact that Holy Russia is still alive despite the continued

reign of atheism in Russia, we have the testimony now of many ob-

servers in Russiaitself. Here is hat Gennady Shimanov says:

―Holy Russia cannot be buried, it cannot pass away; it is eternal and

victorious, and it is precisely to it that the final word in the history of

our people will belong.... Holy Russia went away only from the sur-

face of contemporary life, but it continues to live in its hidden depths,

germinating until the time, so that in the time pleasing to God, having

survived the winter, it will again break through to the surface and

adorn the face of the Russian land, which has been so cruelly lashed

by fiery and icy storms‖ [The Orthodox Word, 1973, no. 50, p. 98].

Before turning specifically to the prophecies about Russia, I

would like to summarize the general Orthodox teaching on what is to

happen just before the end of the world. This will give us a context in

which to place the prophecies regarding the future of Russia.

The events before the end of the world are described in a number

of places in holy Scripture: the 24th chapter of Matthew and parallel

places in the other Gospels; most of the book of the Apocalypse, espe-

cially chapter 8 and onwards; the second chapter of II Thessalonians;

II Peter, chapter 3; several chapter of the book of Daniel; and other

passages.

The Apocalypse describes these events in a series of visions:

some bright and positive, relating to the fulfillment of God's justice

and the salvation of His chosen ones; and some dark and negative, re-

lating to the terrible plagues that will come on earth for the sins of

294

mankind. Sometimes we today emphasize the dark and negative side,

seeing the increase of evil around us; but that comes from our fain-

theartedness and worldliness – we must look at the whole picture.

As the time of the end of this world comes near, it is true that

there will be a time of tribulation such as the world has never seen

[Matt 24:21]: there will be famines, plagues, earthquakes, wars and

rumors of wars, persecutions, false prophets and false Christs, and the

love of many (including Christians) will grow cold. But at the same

time the Gospel will be preached to all nations, and those who endure

to the end with the aid of Christ will be saved.

The evil and false religion in the world will culminate in the

reign of Antichrist, a world ruler who will seem to bring peace out of

the world disorder and will seem to be Christ come again to earth,

reigning from the restored Temple in Jerusalem.

But there will be those who see through the deception. In par-

ticular, two Old Testament prophets who did not die will return to

earth – Elijah to convert the Jews, and Enoch to preach to the other

nations. The short reign of Antichrist – only three and a half years –

will end in new disorders and wars, in the midst of which Christ Him-

self will come from heaven, preceded by the sign of the Cross, and

this world will be consumed by fire and totally renewed, at the same

time that the bodies of the dead will arise from the tomb and be

rejoined to their souls in order to stand before God's final judgment.

Now, with this general background of the events of the last times, let

us look at the prophecies regarding Russia.

In the book which most thoroughly describes the events to occur

at the end o the world, the Apocalypse of St. John the Theologian, at

the opening of the seventh seal, which precedes the final plague to

come upon mankind; it is said that there was silence in heaven for the

space of half an hour [Apoc 8:1]. Some have interpreted this to mean

a short period of peace before the final events o world history – name-

ly, the short period of the restoration of Russia, when the preaching of

world-wide repentance will begin with Russia – that ―new, ultimate

word‖ which even Dostoyevsky hoped Russia would give to the world

[Pushkin Speech, The Diary of a Writer, tr. Boris Brasol, New York,

George Braziller, 1954, p. 980]. Under present world conditions,

when the events of one country are known to the whole world almost

instantly, and when Russia, cleansed by the blood of its martyrs, in-

295

deed has a better chance than any other country to awake from the

sleep of atheism and unbelief – we can already conceive the possibili-

ty of such an event. As Father Dimitry Dudko and others have said, it

cannot be that the blood of Russia's innumerable martyrs will be in

vain; undoubtedly it is the seed of the last great flowering of true

Christianity.

But it is easy to become lost in dreams of the future world. We

should be aware of what is to happen at the end of the world, and of

what may happen in Russia. But spiritual events such as the resurrec-

tion of Russia depend upon each individual soul. This seven will not

happen without the participation of the Orthodox people – our repen-

tance and struggle. And this involves not only the people

of Russia itself – it involves the whole of the Russian Diaspora, and

all the Orthodox people of the world.

Archbishop John, in the same report to the All-Diaspora Sobor

of 1938 which I have already quoted, speaks of the apocalyptic mis-

sion of the Russian people outside of Russia: ―In chastising, the Lord

at the same time also shows the Russian people the way to salvation

by making it a preacher of Orthodoxy in the whole world. The Rus-

sian Diaspora has made all the ends of the world familiar with Ortho-

doxy; the mass of Russian exiles, for the most part, is unconsciously a

preacher of Orthodoxy.... To the Russians abroad it has been granted

to shine in the whole world with the light of Orthodoxy, so that other

peoples, seeing their good deeds, might glorify our Father Who is in

heaven, and thus obtain salvation for themselves.... The Diaspora will

have to be converted to the path of repentance and, having acquired

forgiveness for itself through prayer to God and through being reborn

spiritually (will) become capable also of giving rebirth to our suffering

homeland‖ [The Orthodox Word, 1973, no. 50, pp. 92, 94].

Thus the Russians abroad by their living the true life of Ortho-

doxy, should be already preparing the way for St. Seraphim's preach-

ing of world-wide repentance. To some extent this is happening, and

one can even begin to see, parallel to the Orthodox revival in Russia, a

genuine Orthodox awakening in America and other lands outside

of Russia.

But it all depends on each on of us: if we are awakening to true

Orthodox life, then Holy Russia will be restored; if we are not, then

God can withdraw His promises.

296

Archbishop John ended his report to the 1938 Sobor with a

prophecy and a hope that there will be a true Pascha in Russia that will

shine forth to the whole world before the very end of all things and the

beginning of the universal Kingdom of God: ―Shake away the sleep of

despondency, O sons of Russia! Behold the glory of her suffering and

be purified; wash yourselves from your sins! Be strengthened in the

Orthodox Faith, so as to be worthy to dwell in the dwelling of the

Lord and to settle on His holy mountain! Leap up, leap up,arise, O

Russia, you who from the Lord's hands have drunk the cup of His

wrath! When your suffering shall have ended, your righteousness

shall go with you and the glory of the Lord shall accompany you. The

peoples shall come to your light, and kings to the shining which shall

rise upon you. Then Lift up your eyes and see: behold your children

come to you from the West and the North and the Sea and the East,

blessing you in Christ forever. Amen‖ [Ibid, p. 94].

(From A Lecture given at the Youth Conference of the Russian Ortho-

dox Church Outside of Russia, San Francisco, August 3, 1981 by

Blessed Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose)

297

Case-studies

Case-study 1

The Turin Shroud evidence

Task: After analyzing the case make up a list of 20 correspon-

dences of physical data of Turin Shroud with data of the Scriptures.

This case has the aim to present all the evidences detected on the

Turin Shroud that can be useful for a further discussion about the

problem of the body image formation. Many hypotheses about the im-

age formation have been proposed, but, up to now, none, scientifically

testable, satisfies simultaneously all the facts detected on the Shroud.

In this document a list of facts directly related to the Turin

Shroud, subdivided in four sections, is presented. The first section de-

scribes unquestionable facts detected on the Turin Shroud; the second

one refers to confirmed observations or conclusions based on a proof

made in reference to Turin Shroud studies; the third one refers to facts

or observations that were evidenced by some researcher but that are

not universally accepted; the fourth one, assuming a scenario that the

Shroud is actually the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth, includes cor-

respondences with the Scriptures.

1) Introduction

The Turin Shroud (TS) is believed by many to be the burial cloth

of Jesus of Nazareth when hewas put in a tomb in Palestine about

2000 years ago. It has generated considerable controversy but unlike

other controversial subjects (e.g. flying saucers and ghosts), the TS

exist as a material object: it can directly and objectively be observed.

The results of studies can be analyzed by scientific methods

(Schwalbe 1982).

The TS is a linen sheet about 4.4 m long and 1.1 m wide, in

which the comp lete front and back body images of a man are im-

pressed. Of all religious relics it has generated the greatest interest.

The cloth is hand-made and each yarn (diameter about 0.25 mm) is

composed of 70-120 linen fibers. Although not all scientists are un-

animous, it has been shown by many scientists that the linen sheet en

298

veloped or wrapped the corpse of a man who had been scourged,

crowned with thorns, crucified with nails, and stabbed by a lance in

the side. Also impressed are many other marks due to blood, fire, wa-

ter and folding, which have greatly damaged the double body image.

Of greatest interest are the wounds which, to forensic pathologists,

appear to be unfakeable (Fanti and Moroni 2002).

The "Shroud of Christ" appeared in 1353 in Lirey, France, under

mysterious circumstances and with no documentation whatever. In

1203, a soldier camping outside Constantinople with the Crusaders,

who sacked the city the following year, noted that a church there ex-

hibited every Friday the cloth in which Christ was buried, with the

figure of his body. It is probable that this cloth and the TS are the

same. It seems that the TS was among the spoils of the Crusades, to-

gether with many other relics brought back to Europe. Before the

sacking of Constantinople in 1204 there are some documents that refer

to the presence of the TS: for example some characteristics of the Chr-

ist reproduced in some Byzantine coins (gold-solidus) of the VII-XIII

century A.D. are very similar to those of the TS body image.

I. Wilson (1998) identified the TS, folded four times to show on-

ly the face, with the Mandylion, a cloth said to have received the mi-

raculous imprint of Christ‘s face and to have been taken to Edessa in

the first century A.D.. The tradition of this imprint ―made without

hands‖ deve loped first in the Byzantine empire; a similar tradition

arose in the 7th and 8th centuries in the West - that of Veronica, who

wiped the brow of Christ with her veil and found an imprint of his

face remaining.

Scientific interest in the TS developed after 1898, when S. Pia,

who photographed it for the first time, noticed that the negative image

on the TS looked like a photographic positive. Correlations with the

anatomical characteristics of a human body were also very high and

not comparable with anatomical characteristics normally depicted in

popular Medieval art. In 1931, G. Enrie again photographed the TS at

a very high resolution.

The TS has a front image 1.95 m long and a back image 2.02 m

long, separated from the former by a non-image zone of 0.18 m (mea-

surements done before 2002); the images show an adult male, nude,

well proportioned and muscular, with beard, mustache, and long hair.

299

The TS has been radiocarbon-dated to 1260-1390 A.D. (Damon

et al. 1989) but a great number of scientists believe that the method

used to take the sample and the reliability of radiocarbon dating is not

satisfactory because the linen underwent many vicissitudes (e.g., fires,

restorations, water, exposure to candle smoke and the breath of visi-

tors). For example, some researchers have proposed that the 1532 fire

probably modified the quantity of radiocarbon in the TS, thus altering

its dating, and others believe in the existence of a biological complex

of fungi and bacteria covering the yarns of the TS in a patina (Moroni

1997, Garza Valdes 2001). Recently it was demonstrated that the 1988

sample is not representative of the whole TS (Adler 1999 and 2000,

Marino 2000 and 2002, Rogers 2002 and 2005).

Many hypotheses and experimental tests have been carried out

on linen fabrics to explain the formation of the body image, both in

favor of authenticity, and vice versa. Examples are:

-a) The body image is caused by the emanation of ammoniacal vapors

(Vignon 1902).

-b) The body image is due to a chemical process similar to that which

happens in leaves of herbaria: the image originated through direct con-

tact (De Salvo 1982, Volckringer 1991).

-c) The body image is a painting (McCrone 1980).

-d) The body image is due to a natural chemical reaction (Rogers

2002).

-e) The body image was obtained from a warmed bas-relief (Pesce

Delfino 2001)

-f) The body image was obtained by rubbing a bas-relief with pig-

ments or acids (Nickell 1997).

-g) The body image was obtained by a modified carbon dust drawing

transferred to the cloth by rubbing (Craig and Bresee 1994).

-h) The body image was obtained by exposing linen in a ―darkened

room‖ using chemical agents available in the Middle Ages (Allen

1998, Picknett and Prince 1994).

-i) The body image was obtained by exposing a linen cloth to sunlight

with a glass plate containing an oil painted image on its surface (Wil-

son 2005).

-l) The body image was obtained by surface electrostatic discharges

caused by an electric field, of seismic origin or direcltly generated by

300

the enveloped Man (Scheuermann 1987, De Liso 2000, 2002, Lattaru-

lo 2003, Fanti 2005, Fanti et al. Sept 2005).

-m) The body image is due to an energy source coming from the

wrapped or enveloped Man, perhaps caused during the Resurrection

(Lindner 2002, Rinaudo 1998, Jackson 1990, Moran 2002).

Although good experimental results have been obtained by a

number of researchers, in the sense that, at first sight, the image, gen-

erally limited to the face, is similar to that of the TS Man, until now

no experimental test has been able to reproduce all the characteristics

found in the image impressed on the TS.

2) List of facts and observations

The list is subdivided in four different types of evidences:

- Type A refers to unquestionable observations made on the TS num-

bered as ―An‖ where n is the evidence number;

- Type B refers to confirmed observations or conclusions based on a

proof made in reference to TS studies and are numbered as ―Bn‖;

- Type C refers to facts or observations that were evidenced by some

researchers but that are not universally accepted and are numbered as

―Cn‖;

- Assuming a scenario that the TS is actually the burial cloth of Jesus

of Nazareth it makes sense, to include the Scriptures in this discus-

sion, not on a theological level, but describing some things that might

have an impact on the TS; for this reason Type D refers to correspon-

dences with those described in the holy texts and are numbered as

―Dn‖.

2.1) Specific facts

The list of Type A facts refers to unquestionable observations made

on the TS and they are at the basis of every hypothesis formulation in

the sense that an hypothesis must be tested against all Type A facts

and only if it is congruent with all of them, none excluded, can it be

considered for further in depth study.

2.1a) CHEMICAL-PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTIC OF THE LINEN

YARNS AND FIBERS

A1) The yarn used to weave the Shroud was spun with a "Z twist."

(Raes 1974, Vial 1989, Curto 1976, Pastore 1988).

301

A2) Direct microscopy showed that the image color resides only on

the topmost fibers at the highest parts of the weave (Evans 1978; Pel-

licori 1981).

A3) Phase-contrast photomicrographs show that there is a very thin

coating on the outside of all superficial linen fibers on Shroud samples

named "Ghost"; ―Ghosts‖ are colored (carbohydrate)

impurity layers pulled from a linen fiber by the adhesive of the sam-

pling tape and they were found on background, light-scorch and image

sticky tapes (Zugibe and Rogers 1978, Rogers 2002).

A4) Body image color resides on the thin impurity layer of outer

surfaces of the fibers (Zugibe 1978, Heller 1981; Rogers 2002).

A5) According to M. Evans (1978) photomicrographs (ME-02, -08, -

14, -16, -18, -20, -25, -29), the color of the image-areas has a discon-

tinuous distribution along the yarn of the cloth: striations are evident.

The image has a distinct preference for running along the individual

fibers making up a yarn, coloring some but not others (Pellicori 1981,

Schneider 2005). Fibers further from a flat surface, tangent to the fa-

bric, are less colored, but a color concentration can be detected in cor-

respondence to crevices where two or three yarns cross each other

(ME-20) (Fanti 2005).

A6) The cellulose of the medullas of the 10-20-micrometer-diameter

fibers in image areas is colorless because the colored layer on image

fibers can be stripped off, leaving colorless linen fibers (Heller 1981;

Rogers 2002).

A7) The colored layers in the adhesive have the same chemical prop-

erties as the image color on fibers (Rogers 2005).

A8) The crystal structure of the cellulose of image fibers has not vis-

ibly changed with respect to that of the non- image fibers (scorches

have) (Rogers 2002; Feller 1994).

A9) The colored coating cannot be dissolved, bleached, or changed by

standard chemical agents, but it can be decolorized by reduction with

diimide (hydrazine/hydrogen peroxide in boiling pyridine); the resi-

due from reduction is colorless linen fibers (Heller 1981, Rogers

2003).

A10) The pyrolysis/ms data showed the presence of polysaccharides

of lower stability than cellulose on the surface of linen fibers from the

TS (Rogers 2004).

302

A11) Photomicrographs and samples show that the image is a result of

concentrations of yellow to light brown fibers (Pellicori 1981; Jum-

per 1984; McCrone and Skirius 1980; Schwalbe 1982; Rogers 2002).

A12) The image-formation mechanism did not char the blood (Rog-

ers 1978-1981).

A13) The image formed at a relatively low temperature (Rogers

1978-1981).

A14) The 1978 quantitative x-ray-fluorescence-spectrometry analy-

sis detected significant uniform amounts of calcium and strontium

concentrations (a normal impurity in calcium minerals), and iron in

the Shroud (Morris 1980, Rogers 2003, Adler 1998).

A15) Microchemical tests with iodine and pyrolysis/mass spectrome-

try detected the presence of starch impurities on the surfaces of linen

fibers from the TS (Rogers 2002, 2004).

A16) The lignin that can be seen at the wall thickenings and/or growth

nodes of the linen fibers of the TS does not give the standard test for

vanillin (Rogers 2002, 2005).

A17) There is no cementation signs among the image fibers (Pellicori

1981).

A18) No painting pigments or media scorched in image areas, or

were rendered water soluble at the time of the AD 1532 fire (Rogers

1977-1978-1981/2002; Schwalbe 1982).

A19) No fluorescent pyrolysis products were found in image areas

(Rogers 2002).

A20) After weaving, the TS yarns were washed with a very mild, nat-

ural material because of the presence of flax wax on the fibers and the

specular reflectance of the non-image fibers (Rogers

2003).

2.1b) OPTICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CLOTH

A21) The cloth shows bands of slightly different colors of yarn that

are best observed in ultraviolet photographs. For example between

face and hair there are two non-colored bands that continue along the

warp direction (Miller and Pellicori, 1981, Fanti 2003, Rogers 2002,

2005).

A22) There is a correspondence (even if not complete) between cloth

bands of slightly different colors of yarn of the front and back sur-

face (G. Ghiberti 2002; Fanti 2003).

303

A23) The colored fibers in non-image (background) areas show the

same type of superficial color as body image fibers, their spectra are

the same, and the cellulose in them is not colored (Gilbert 1980; Rog-

ers 2002).

A24) The body image does not fluoresce in the visible under ultra-

violet illumination (Gilbert 1980,

Pellicori 1981).

A25) The non-image area fluoresces with a maximum at about 435

nanometers (Pellicori 1981).

A26) A redder fluorescence can be observed around the burn holes

from the AD 1532 fire (Pellicori 1981).

A27) The cloth does not show any phosphorescence (Rogers 2005).

A28) All the chemical and microscopic properties of dorsal and ven-

tral image fibers are identical (Jumper 1984).

A29) An emission image was clearly visible in the 8-14 micrometers

infrared range (Accetta 1980).

A30) IR emission of the image at a uniform room temperature, and

in the 3-5-micrometer range was below the instrument sensitivity

(Accetta 1980).

2.1c) BODY IMAGE

A31) The body image is very faint : reflected optical densities are

typically less than 0.1 in the visible range (Jumper 1984; Schwalbe

1981).

A32) The body image shows no evidence of image saturation (Jack-

son 1977, 1982, 1984).

A33) The body image has a resolution of 4,9±0,5 mm at the 5%

MTF value (for example the lips); the resolution of the bloodstains is

at least ten times better (for example the scratches in the scourge

wounds) (Jackson 1982, 1984; Moran 2002; Rogers 2003, Fanti 2004-

MTF, Fanti Sept. 2005-MTF).

A34) The body image does not have well defined contours (Jackson

1982, 1984; Moran 2002).

A35) A non-image area is detectable among the fingers of the TS

image (Fanti 2004).

A36) There is a darker spot in correspondence of the palm of the

Man‘s hand near the index finger (Accetta 2001, Antonacci 2000).

A37) The thumbs are not visible in the hand image (Bucklin 1982,

Ricci 1989).

304

A38) In correspondence to the middle of the nose there is a swelling

(Fanti 2004).

A39) Detailed photographs and microscopic studies of the cloth in the

nose image area show scratches and dirt (Bucklin 1982).

A40) The hair on the frontal image show high luminance levels rela-

tively to the face: for example the left hair is darker than the cheeks

(Fanti 2004).

A41) There is no evidence of image between the tops of the front and

dorsal heads (Adler 1999; Moran 2002).

A42) In the positive photograph of Durante (2000), the luminance le-

vels of the front and back body images (face excluded) are compati-

ble within an uncertainty of 5%; the front image is generally darker

than the dorsal one (Moran 2002, Fanti 2005).

A43) The image of the dorsal side of the body does not penetrate

the cloth any more deeply than the image of the ventral side of the

body ((Jumper 1984, Rogers 2005).

A44) The luminance level of the head image in the positive photo-

graph of Durante (2000) is 10% and more lower (darker) than that of

the whole body image (Moran 2002).

A45) The image-forming mechanism operated regardless of different

body structures such as skin, hair, beard and perhaps nail (Antonacci

2000).

A46) The thermograms did not show the lower jaw of the image

(Rogers 2003), even if it is visible (Whanger 1998).

A47) A body image color is visible on the back surface of the cloth

in the same position of some anatomic details as for the body image of

the frontal surface of the TS. The hair appears more easily to the

naked eye (Ghiberti 2002) but also other details of face and perhaps

hands appear by image enhancement (Maggiolo 2002/03, Fanti and

Maggiolo 2004).

A48) No image color is visible on the back surface in correspon-

dence of the dorsal image (Ghiberti 2002; Maggiolo 2002/03, Fanti

and Maggiolo 2004).

A49) The nose image on the back surface of the TS presents the same

extension of both nostrils, unlike the frontal, in which the right no-

stril is less evident (Fanti and Maggiolo 2004).

A50) Image details corresponding to Face grooves are more faintly

represented (e.g. eye sockets and skin around the nose), convex ―hills‖

305

on the Face (e.g. eyeballs and nose tip ) however are more clearly

represented (Scheuermann 1983).

A51) Although anatomical details are generally in close agreement

with standard human-body measurements, some measurements made

on the Shroud image, such as hands, calves and torso, do not agree

with anthropological standards (Ercoline 1982; Simionato 1998/99;

Fanti and Faraon 2000; Fanti and Marinelli 2001).

A52) The body image shows no evidences of putrefaction signs, in

particular around the lips.

There is no evidence for tissue breakdown (formation of liquid de-

composition products of a body) (Bucklin 1982; Moran 2002).

A53) No image formed under the blood stains (Heller 1981;

Schwalbe 1982; Brillante 2002).

A54) The front image shows hair that goes down to the shoulders

(Fanti and Faraon 2000).

A55) The image of the TS Man, appears as if he was scourged (Buck-

lin 1982, Ricci 1989).

A56) The image of the TS Man, appears as if he was crucified: it ap-

pears with nail holes and corresponding blood at the wrists and top of

the feet (Bucklin 1982, Ricci 1989).

A57) The image of the TS Man demonstrates no evidence of maiming

or disfigurement (Bucklin 1982, Ricci 1989).

2.1d) BLOOD AND BODY FLUIDS

A58) Body fluids other blood or serum than did not percolate into the

cloth (Rogers 2003).

A59) The blood or serum have migrated by capillary imbibitions

from the "warp side" to the "weft side" of the TS and, depending on

their abundance and consistency, they filled the mesh apertures (Fanti

2004).

A60) There is a class of particles on the TS ranging in color from red

to orange that test as blood derived residues. They test positively for

the presence of protein, hemin, bilirubin, and albumin;

give positive hemochromagen and cyanmethemoglobin responses; af-

ter chemical generation display the characteristic fluorescence of por-

phyrins (Adler 1999).

A61) The blood on the TS is not denatured. Therefore both the im-

age-formation mechanism and the 1532 fire did not involve processes

that would denature the blood (Rogers 2004).

306

A62) The blood from the large flow on the back darkened (scorched)

at an adjoining scorch (Rogers 1978).

A63) The red flecks McCrone (1980, 2000) claimed were hematite

had an organic matrix (Heller 1983, Rogers 2004).

A64) Microscopic observation of blood flecks of sample 3EB showed

specular reflection: the blood went onto the surface as a liquid

(Rogers 1978).

A65) Blood spots are much more visible on the TS by transmitted

light than by reflected light;

this implies that the blood saturated the cloth and it is not a superficial

image as the body imager is (Rogers 1978).

A66) Many blood traces visible on the frontal image are also visible

on the back image in the same position (Fanti 2003).

A67) Blood stains are well marked on the reverse side , although

they are fainter than on the front side of TS (Fanti 2003, Whanger

2004).

A68) Some human blood stains appear on and outside of the body

image (left elbow) (Heller 1980,

1981, Baima Bollone 1981, 1982, Jackson, 1987, Carreira, 1998).

A69) In correspondence to the knees on the dorsal image, there are

scourge marks in correspondence to lower luminance levels of the

body image (Fanti 2003).

A70) The blood on the TS does not fluoresce in ultraviolet illumina-

tion (no porphyria and no fluorescent pigments) (Rogers 1978).

A71) The blood on the TS can be removed with a proteolytic enzyme

(Adler 1999).

A72) No smears are evident in the blood traces (Bucklin 1982, Ricci

1989, Antonacci 2000).

A73) No potassium signals could be found in any of the blood area

data (Morris 1980).

A74) In UV fluorescence the scourge marks appear with dumbbell

shapes (Bucklin 1982, Ricci 1989).

A75) In UV fluorescence the scourges are resolved into fine

scratches: three, and in some cases four, parallel scratches can be dis-

tinguished (Bucklin 1982, Ricci 1989).

A76) The blood stain corresponding to the right side of the chest 6th

ribs shows separation of blood from a clearer liquid material (Buck-

lin 1982).

307

A77) The DNA found in blood spots is badly degraded. (Rogers

2005).

A78) No broken fibers were found under the blood clots (N. Svens-

son 2005).

2.1e) OTHER

A79) Earthy material (limestone composed of aragonite with stron-

tium and iron) was found on the feet of TS Man (Kohlbeck 1986, Ni-

towski 1986, 1998, Antonacci 2000). Earthy material was also found

in correspondence with the nose and the left knee (Pellicori 1981).

A80) Drops of wax were found (Maloney 1989).

A81) Microscopic observation of the bridge of the nose showed dis-

continuous distribution of light gold-colored fibers . All were on the

top of the yarn (Rogers 1978, 2004).

A82) There is no observed microscopic, chemical, or spectroscopic

evidence for the presence of any dry powder responsible for the body

image on the TS (Adler 1999).

A83) Some little black spots (diameter of 1-2 mm) appear out of the

body image (for example near the head, between the hair and the wa-

ter stain); they are also visible, in the same position, on the back sur-

face of the TS (Maggiolo 2002/03, Fanti 2003, Rogers 2003).

A84) Large water stains are visible on both sides of the cloth (Fanti

2004).

A85) Silver traces were found around the burn holes in the scorch

area of the TS (Heller 1983).

A86) The white cloth used to cover the display board for the showing

(1978) was fluorescent. Rudy Dichtel reported many intensely fluo-

rescent short fibers on the surface of the Shroud (Rogers 2004).

A87) Aldehyde and carboxylic acid functional groups were de-

tected in the TS fibers (Adler 1981).

2.2) Confirmed observations

Type B refers to confirmed observations or conclusions based on a

proof made in reference to the TS. Therefore these observations must

also be used to test any new hypothesis.

2.2a) CHEMICAL-PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTIC OF THE LINEN

YARNS AND FIBERS

B1) The TS samples examined have herringbone 3:1 twill weave

(Vial 1989).

308

B2) Traditional dimensions of the TS of 436 x 110 cm (Baima Bol-

lone 1978) are changed after 2002

―restoration‖: one side (the lower considering horizontal the body im-

age, with the frontal side on the left) measured 437.7 cm in 2000 and

441.5 cm in 2002; the opposite side measured 434.5 in 2000 and 442.5

in 2002; its height of 112.5 and 113 cm respectively on the left and on

the right in 2000 but 113.0 and 113.7 cm in 2002 (Ghiberti 2002). A

measurement made in 1868 by Gastaldi (Baima Bollone 1978) reports

the following dimensions: 410 x 140 cm (Scarpelli 1983).

B3) The thickness of the cloth measured by Jackson with a

micrometer is variable from 318 to 391 micrometers (Rogers 2004).

B4) There appears to be more variation in the diameter of warp yarns

than weft Rogers (1978).

B5) The TS weave is very tight (Raes 1974, Rogers 1978, Vial 1989).

B6) Although yarns and design of Raes sample look like the main part

of the cloth, linen fibers from the Raes sample that was cut in 1973

are chemically different (from reflected spectroscopy and chemical

analysis) (Adler 2000, Rogers 2002).

B7) Cotton fibers were found in the Raes samples and they were iden-

tified as Gossypium herbaceum, a common Middle East variety (Raes

1974, 1991).

B8) The sewing connecting the upper linen band of the TS is very

particular and typical of very old manufacture (Flury Lemberg 2000,

2001).

B9) Reflectance spectra, chemical tests, laser-microprobe Raman

spectra, pyrolysis mass spectrometry, and x-ray fluorescence all show

that the image is not painted with any of the expected, historically-

documented pigments (Schwalbe 1982; Morris 1980; Heller 1981,

Mottern 1979).

B10) Chemical tests showed that there is no protein painting me-

dium or protein-containing coating in image areas (Rogers 1978-

1981; Heller 1981; Pellicori 1980, 1981; Gilbert 1980; Accetta 1980;

Miller 1981).

B11) The image fibers do not show any sign of capillary flow of a

colored or reactive liquid (Evans 1978; Pellicori 1981).

B12) Flakes of image color can be seen in other places where they fell

off and stuck to the adhesive. The chemical properties of the coat-

309

ings are the same as the image color on image fibers. All of the color

is on the surfaces of the fibers (Rogers 2002; Heller 1981).

B13) There are no pigments on the body image in a sufficient quanti-

ty to explain the presence of an image (Pellicori 1981).

2.2b) OPTICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CLOTH

B14) The TS linen has a lustrous finish (Rogers, 1978-1981).

B15) If a fiber is colored, it is uniformly colored around its cylindric-

al surface (Adler 1996, 1999);

relatively long fibers show variation in color from non-image to image

area (Fanti 2004).

B16) Crease below the chin of the image: on the frontal surface of the

TS, the inside part of crease has a lighter color similar to the back-

ground, but it has darker margins similar to the image-color.

On the back of the cloth, the same crease is darker in correspondence

of the lighter color of the frontal surface and the margins are confused

with the background: the darker margins are of the same straw-yellow

color of the body image (Rogers 2004).

B17) In the ultraviolet emission and absorption photographs the

background cloth shows a light greenish yellow emission (Adler

2002).

B18) Where one of the image-yarn crosses over another, there is of-

ten no color on the lower one (Heller 1983, Rogers 2005).

B19) The image of the dorsal side of the body shows fairly the same

color density and distribution as the ventral (Jumper 1984).

B20) IR photograph of the face made by Judica Cordiglia, if com-

pared with visible photographs of the face indicates the low absorp-

tion near the IR of the products of image formation (Judica Cordiglia

1974, Accetta 1980, Rogers 2003).

2.2c) BODY IMAGE

B21) Up to now, all the attempts to reproduce a copy of the TS sim-

ilar in all the detected characteristics has failed (Carreira 1998, Fanti

2004).

B22) The most of the prominent parts in the vertical direction (nose,

beard, sole, calf) of the body image are marked (Fanti 2003).

B23) The hair on the front image is soft and not matted as would be

expected if it were soaked with a liquid (Fanti 2004).

B24) When their lengths are measured, the dorsal image is longer

than the ventral image in a manner similar to the imprint on a sheet of

310

a man having the head tilted forwards, his knees slightly bent, and his

feet extended (Craig 2003; Cagnazzo 1997-98; Fanti 2000).

B25) The frontal body image (195 cm long) is compatible, within an

uncertainty of +/-2 cm, with the dorsal image (202 m long) if it is

supposed that the TS enveloped a corpse having the head tilted for-

ward, the knees partially bent and the feet stretched forwards and

downwards (Basso 2000).

B26) Based on cloth measurements (Baima Bollone 1978), the image

corresponds to a man 175+/-2 cm tall (Simionato 1998-99; Faraon

1998-1999; Basso 2000).

B27) The body image has the normal tones of light and dark re-

versed with respect to a photograph, such that parts nearer to the cloth

are darker (Jumper 1984, Craig 2004, Schneider 2004).

B28) The luminance distribution of both the frontal and dorsal images

has been correlated to the clearances between a three-dimensional

surface of the body and a covering cloth (Quidor 1913, Sullivan 1973,

Gastineau 1974, Jackson 1977, 1982, 1984, Fanti 2001, Moran 2002).

B29) The luminance distribution of the body image can be correlated

with a highly directional mapping function (Jackson 1977, 1982,

1984).

B30) The body image shows non-directional light sources in the

sense that there are no shadows, cast shadows, highlights, and reflect-

ed lights in or on the body image (Moran 2002; Craig 2003).

B31) The absence of saturation implies that the image formation did

not “go to completion”, i.e. it did not produce the maximum number

of conjugated carbon-carbon double bonds (Rogers 2003, Gilbert

a1980: fig. 8 and 10).

B32) In correspondence of image sections of cylindrical elements

such as legs, the luminance levels variation approximates a sinu-

soidal law(Fanti 2004).

B33) In reference to a cloth wrapping a body, there is no evidence of

body image formation at the sides of the body on both the frontal and

dorsal TS images (Adler 1999; Moran 2002).

B34) The Fourier transform of the body image shows a nearly con-

tinuous spectrum in correspondence to the spatial frequencies up to

100 [1/m] (Fanti 1999; Maggiolo 2002/03).

B35) The body image indicates the absence of brush strokes (Lorre

1977).

311

B36) The frontal image, at least in correspondence to the head, is

doubly superficial (Fanti and Maggiolo 2004).

B37) The fingers in the image appear to be longer than average for a

man, but they are still within the normal range (Gaussian distribution)

(Heller 1983, Whanger 2005).

B38) Image distortions of hands, calves and torso on the TS of are

very close to those obtained by a man enveloped on a sheet (Ercoline

1982; Simionato 1998/99; Fanti and Faraon 2000; Fanti 2001).

B39) The very high rigidity of the body is evident on the back image

especially in correspondence of the buttocks: the anatomical contours

of the back image demonstrate minimal surface flattening (Bucklin

1982; Basso 2000).

B40) The image of the TS Man, shows the effects (wounds) of many

pointed objects (Bucklin 1982,

Ricci 1989).

B41) The tibio-femural anthropometric index of the image of the

TS Man is 83% (Fanti 1999).

B42) No broken bones are evident on the body image (Bucklin 1982,

Ricci 1989).

B43) There is a swelling on the face over the right cheek (Bucklin

1982).

B44) There is a slight deviation of the nose and at the tip of the nose

is an area of discoloration (Bucklin 1982).

B45) A body image is visible in areas of body-sheet non-contact

zones, such as those between nose and cheek (Fanti 2004).

2.2d) BLOOD AND BODY FLUIDS

B46) There is a first type of blood stain that corresponds to the blood

exudated from clotted wounds and transferred to the cloth by being

in contact with a wounded human body such as scourging and crown

of thorns wounds or wrists wounds (Adler 1999).

B47) There is a second type of blood stain that correspond s to the

blood that directly flowed on the TS such as feet wounds or side

wound with blood separation in a dense and a serous portion

(Brillante 2002, Schneider 2004).

B48) The UV photographs of single blood stains show a distinct se-

rum clot retraction ring (Adler 1999).

312

B49) The chemical and physical parameters of the blood stains are

different than mineral compositions proposed by artists (Adler

1999).

B50) The bloodstains observable on the back surface have been de-

scribed as "imbibed flows " throughout the cloth (Ghiberti 2002).

B51) Blood traces on the back surface of the TS are smaller in size

when compared with the corresponding traces on the frontal side,

showing that blood was transposed onto the cloth touching the fron-

tal side of the TS (Fanti 2003).

B52) The maintenance of the red bright color of the TS blood with

time was observed, but the explanation of why the color is so red is

not definitive (Brillante 2002).

B53) There are blood traces not consistent with scalp hair traces

soaked with blood in correspondence to the image of the hair on the

front side (Lavoie 1983, Fanti 1999).

B54) The wrist wound position can be referred to as the hand nail

used for the crucifixion (Fanti and Marinelli 2003).

B55) The blood clots were transposed to the linen fabric during fibri-

nolysis (Brillante 1983; Lavoie 1983).

The process of fibrinolysis could cause clots to liquefy sufficiently for

the blood to transfer to the cloth as a serous- laden liquid rather than a

moist jelly- like substance (Craig 2004).

B56) Some blood stains are comparable to transfers that would be ex-

pected if the arms were posed in non horizontal position (Lavoie

1983, 2003, Fanti 2005, Schwortz 2005).

2.2e) OTHER

B57) The limestone found on the feet contains calcium in the form of

aragonite. Similar characteristics were found on samples coming

from Ecole Biblique tomb in Jerusalem (Levi-Setti 1985, Antonacci

2000).

B58) It is unknown whether Saponaria officinalis can be detected on

the Shroud (Rogers 2003; Jumper 1984 ; Gilbert 1980).

B59) Rust stains due to thumb tacks were found on the sides of the

TS (Faraon 1998/99, Schwortz 2003).

B60) Characteristics of the TS face and right foot are close to those

found on some Byzantine

coins (gold-solidus) of the VII-XIII century A.D. (Moroni 1986).

313

B61) Some water stains are older than the 1532 fire because they in-

dicate a different folding of the TS (Guerreschi and Salcito 2002).

2.3) Evidences to be confirmed

Seeing things and not seeing things, is perhaps the biggest prob-

lem in legitimate Shroud research.

"I think I see" and "I don't see" seems to be the underpinning of

many ―scientific‖ analyses. The body image on the Shroud was

formed by some process. We don't know, for now, what that was, nor

the shape of the cloth, nor the environment where the body was posi-

tioned: we can only suppose what that might have been; we don't

know many variables.

Our brain-eyes system may plays tricks on the researcher. Be-

cause of a priori assumptions, it may be that he perceives things that

conform to something searched for and conversely, he may fail to

perceive images because of not knowing what various objects look

like. Many of the images are below ordinary human perceptual thre-

shold, therefore anything must be probed for documentable facts, in-

cluding using image enhancement techniques.

Type C refers to facts that were evidenced by some researchers

but that are not universally accepted; therefore they can help in formu-

lating new hypotheses, they can not be used to test a new hypothesis.

2.3a) BODY IMAGE

C1) The chiaroscuro effect is caused by a different number of yel-

lowed fibers per unit of surface, so that this is an image with ‗areal’

density (Moran 2002, Fanti and Marinelli 2003).

C2) Body image characteristics can be referred to the hypothesized ef-

fect of a man became mechanically transparent that radiated a burst

of energy (Jackson 1977, 1984, 1990).

C3) The TS face shows a sad but majestic serenity (Moroni 1997).

2.3b) OTHER

C4) Pollen grains relative to the zones of Palestine, Edessa, Constan-

tinople and Europe were found (Frei 1979, 1983; Danin 1999).

C5) Pollen grains with incrustations soluble in water were found

from the vacuumed samples taken from the back surface of the cloth

(Riggi 2003).

C6) The wrapped or enveloped body was a corpse (Bucklin 1982, La-

voie 1983, Jackson 1998, Petrosillo 1988, Brillante 2002, Baima Bol-

lone 2000, Fanti 2003, Zugibe 2005), but someone still states that the

314

body was in a state of coma (Bonte 1992, Hoare 1994, Gruber 1998,

Kuhnke 2004, Felzmann 2005).

C7) The human blood is of AB group (Baima Bollone 1981, 1982).

C8) The radiocarbon dating of 1988 states that the TS linen has an

age of 1260-1390 (Damon et al. 1989).

C9) ―Preliminary estimates of the kinetics constants for the loss of

vanillin from lignin indicate a much older age for the cloth than the

radiocarbon analyses‖ (Rogers 2005).

C10) There is the image of an identified coin (dilepton lituus) on the

right eye (Filas 1982; Haralick 1983; Barbesino 1997).

C11) There is an image of another identifiable coin (Pilate lepton

simpulum) over the left eye (Balossino 1997; Barbesino 1997).

C12) The TS is like a funerary sheet (Persili 1998).

C13) There are some analogies between the TS and the Oviedo Su-

darium, including many congruent blood stains (Whanger 1996)".

C14) There are various writings around the Face (Marion 1998).

C15) There are many identified floral images on the TS, which indi-

cate that the Shroud originated in the vicinity of Jerusalem in the

spring of the year, and which have the appearance expected from co-

rona discharge. Some images are consistent with the fruits of pistacia

plants, which were used as burial spices (Danin, 1999; Whanger,

2000).

C16) Human DNA comes from Riggi‘s blood samples from the TS,

this because three gene segments were cloned and studied (Garza

Valdes 2001).

C17) Results from the DNA analysis, made from the TS blood at the

University of Texas, S.Antonio, U.S.A., indicate that some genetic

characteristics are relative to the Semitic race (for example hair) (Rig-

gi 2003).

C18) The TS Man died because of an infarct followed by hemoperi-

cardium (Malantrucco 1992).

C19) Some teeth are visible on the image (Whanger 2000, Accetta

2001).

C20) The skull is visible on the TS (Whanger 2000).

C21) Images of the bones of the fingers, of the palms (metacarpals)

and of the wrist are visible, and in particular a hidden thumb (Whan-

ger 2000, Accetta 2001).

C22) A sponge is visible on the TS (Whanger 2000).

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C24) A large nail with two crossed smaller nails are visible on the TS

(Whanger 2000).

C25) A shaft and head of spear are visible on the TS (Whanger 2000).

C26) A crown of thorns with stalks and flowers is visible on the TS

(Whanger 2000).

C27) Some bloodstains such as those on the arms and the ―reverse-3‖

on the forehead present a

discontinuity in which a more attenuate region is evident (Jackson

1987, Schneider 2004).

C28) Several wood tubules were found from an oak from Riggi‘s

samples (Garza Valdes 2001).

C29) A bioplastic coating was found around the TS linen fibers (Gar-

za Valdes 2001).

C30) Traces of saliva are visible on the image (Scheuermann 1983).

C31) Traces of tears may be visible on the body image under the right

eye (Guerreschi 2000).

C32) An ecchymosis, on the left shoulder-blade level, and a wound on

the right shoulder that added to the wounds of the scourge are evident;

in such areas the wounds caused by the scourge appear enlarged prob-

ably by the pressure of the patibulum (Ricci 1989).

C33) Some early paintings of Jesus (before the VI century A.D. ) in

Rome have been produced independently from the TS but have a sig-

nificant similarity to the image on the TS. If it is assumed that these

paintings go back to people, who have known Jesus personally and

knew therefore, how he has looked like. The significant similarities to

the image on the TS indicates that both types of images go back to the

same source: the historical Jesus (Felzmann 2003-2005).

C34) Natron (sodium carbonate) was found in the dusts aspired from

the back surface of the TS (Riggi 1982).

C35) Aloe and myrrh were found by microscopic analysis (Baima

Bollone 1983 and Nitowski 1986) but not by Heller (1983) and Rog-

ers 2003).

C36) The scourge marks are part of the image and primarily not

caused from blood coming out of the wounds (Hoare 1994).

C37) A ponytail is visible on the back image (Fanti and Marinelli

2001, fig. 12 B and C, Antonacci 2000, fig 3).

C38) In the image of the back of the head some blood stains are par-

tially masked (Scheuermann 1984).

316

C39) Some blood stains are comparable to transfers that would be ex-

pected if a person was posed in the vertical position (Lavoie 1983,

2003).

2.3) Analogies between the TS Man and Christ, from the Old and

the New Testament

It is hypothesized by many researchers that the TS is the burial cloth

of Jesus of Nazareth. The following list presents passages in the Scrip-

tures that have an impact on the TS. If these Scriptures are accepted as

an historic document, Type D facts can be useful to verify the pro-

posed hypotheses.

D1) ―And no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet

Jonah.‖ (Mat 16:4). ―And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.‖

(Luk 3:6). ―And I am with you always, even to the end of the age ‖

(Mat 28:20). The TS shows a sign promised by Jesus: like Jonah ―who

remained for three days in the stomach of the big fish‖, the Man of the

TS remained for three days inside the sepulcher (Rodante 1987).

D2) ―A woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive

perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the ta-

ble.‖ (Mat 26:7); ―When she poured this perfume on my body, she

did it to prepare me for burial.‖ (Mat 26:12). Less than 48 hours be-

fore his crucifixion, the hair of Jesus was anointed with a very valua-

ble oil and this fact must be considered for an hypothesis about the TS

image formation (Scheuermann 1984).

D3) ―Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him.‖ (Joh 19:1). ―I of-

fered my back to those who beat Me, /my cheeks to those who pulled

out my beard; /I did not hide my face /from mocking and spitting‖ (Isa

50:6). The whole body of the MTS is cruelly scourged, except for the

breast where, hitting, onecould cause death. The scourging was given

like punishment apart, more abundant (120 strokes) than the normal

(39 strokes) as a prelude to crucifixion (Zaninotto 1984).

D4) ―Then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him‖

(Mar 15:19). ―And they struck Him with their hands‖ (Joh 19:3). The

TS Man was hit on his face: for instance various tumefactions and the

breakage of the nasal septum are evident (Fanti and Marinelli 1998).

D5) ―And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His

head‖ (Joh 19:2). ―When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put

it on His head‖ (Mat 27:29 etc). The TS Man was crowned with

317

thorns. The head presents many wounds caused by sharp bodies (Fanti

and Marinelli 1998).

D6) ―And He, bearing His cross, went out to… (the) Golgotha‖ (Joh

19:17). The TS Man presents on the shoulders excoriations imputable

to the transport of the horizontal part of the cross (patibulum) (Ricci

1989).

D7) ―Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by

name. Him they compelled to bear His cross‖ (Mat 27:32). The TS

Man fell repeatedly to the ground; this is demonstrated by the dust

particles on the nose and on the left knee. Likely he was helped in the

transport of the cross (Fanti and Marinelli 1998).

D8) ―My throat is dry‖ (Psa 69:3), ―And for my thirst they gave me

vinegar to drink‖ (Psa 69:21). From the forensic medicine analysis it

results that the MTS died dehydrated (Intrigillo 1998).

D9) ―Where (on the Golgotha) they crucified Him‖ (Joh 19:17).

―They pierced My hands and My feet. I can count all My bones‖ (Psa

22:16-17) ―You have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put

to death‖ (Act 2:23). The TS Man too was crucified (Fanti and Mari-

nelli 1998).

D10) ―Reproach has broken my heart‖ (Psa 69,20). "And Jesus cried

out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit‖ (Mat 27:50)

―Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; Shame has covered my

face‖ (Psa 69:8). ―My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me‖ (Psa

22:14). The hemopericardium, diagnosed to the TS Man like conse-

quence of the infarct, causes a violent dilatation of the pericardic pleu-

ra with consequent shooting pain from the back breast-bone and

immediate death (Malantrucco 1992).

D11) "And saw that He was already dead, they did not break His

legs" (Joh 19:33).‖Nor shall you break one of its bones‖ (Exo 12,46).

Contrary to many Roman crucifixions, they didn‘t break the TS Man

legs (Fanti and Marinelli 1998).

D12) ―But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear‖ (Joh

19:34), ―But He was wounded for our transgressions‖ (Isa 53,5). ―then

they will look on Me whom they pierced‖ (Zec 12:10). The TS Man

too was pierced in the side after his death (Zaninotto 1989).

D13) ―And immediately blood and water came out‖ (Joh 19:34).

―Flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for

the front of the temple faced east‖ (Eze 47:1). ―This is He who came

318

by water and blood Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and

blood‖ (1Joh 5:6). The TS Man also presents a blood and serum flow

(Malantrucco 1992).

D14) ―And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also

came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred

pounds‖ (Joh 19:39). ―Then they took the body of Jesus, and

bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is

to bury‖ (Joh 19:40). Some researchers state that the TS body was bu-

ried with aromatics such as aloe and myrrh because they found their

traces on the cloth (Baima Bollone 1983).

D15) ―When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean li-

nen cloth (or shroud), and laid it in his new tomb‖ (Mat 27:59-60).

The TS Man too was enveloped or wrapped in a new and expensive

sheet, bought by a wealthy person (Fanti and Marinelli 1998).

D16)―Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption‖ (Act

2:27). ―For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow

Your Holy One to see corruption‖ (Psa 16:10). The TS doesn‘t show

signs of putrefaction (Fanti and Marinelli 1998).

D17) ―You shall let none of it (the Lamb) remain until morning, and

what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire . It is the

Lord‘s Passover‖ (Exo 12:10). Some researcher states that the TS

presents a double sign: the disappearance and the burning, if one re-

fers to the radiant hypothesis (Rinaudo 1998).

D18) ―For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the

west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.‖ (Mt 24,27); ―For the

Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and

lights up the sky from one end to the other.‖ (Lk 17,24). The German

theologian G. Schwarz (1986) rectifies the Bible by translation into

the Aramaic language. It seems, in doing so, he found the Shroud im-

age forming process in the Bible independent on the TS : ―As a flash

in lightning and shining: so I will exist in my day!‖ (―my day‖ = the

day of Jesus Resurrection) (Scheuermann 1987).

D19) ―There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came

down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and

sat on it.‖ (Matthew 28,2). Someone hypothesise the presence of an

earthquake as a cause of the body image formation (Judica Cordiglia

1986, DeLiso 2002, Lattarulo 2003).

319

D20) ―Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in al-

so; and he saw and believed.

For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise

again from the dead‖ (Joh 20:8-9). ―David, foreseeing this, spoke con-

cerning the resurrection of the Christ‖ (Act 2:31). One hypothesis

states that the TS Man became mechanically transparent with respect

to the sheet and shed a flash of energy that would be the cause of the

body image formation (Jackson 1990). Perhaps the particular shape of

the TS seen by John induced him to believe in Christ‘s Resurrection.

D21) ―After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the

brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some

have fallen asleep.‖ (1. Cor. 15:6) Paul has written this letter in the

year 53-55. The time is too short (eyewitnesses) that all this might be

an invention without historical nucleus (Felzmann 2003).

Case-study 2

Are Protestantism and Roman Catholicism Heretical?

Task: Analyze these documents and make up a list of the claims with

arguments against western changings in Christian doctrine

From the On Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit by Saint Photios: On the

heresy of the Filioque ("and the Son") clause, later officially in-

serted into the Nicene Creed by the Latin Church

"Who of our sacred and renowned fathers had said that the Spirit

proceeds from the Son? Which council, established and made eminent

by ecumenical acknowledgment, has proclaimed it? Indeed, which

God-called assembly of priests and high priests inspired by the All-

holy Spirit has not condemned this notion even before it appeared?

For they, having been initiated into the Father's Spirit according to the

Master's mystagogy [i.e., St. John 15:26], proclaimed clearly and em-

phatically that the Spirit proceeds from the Father. And indeed, they

subjected all who did not believe so to the anathema for being scorn-

ers of the Catholic and Apostolic Church; for in times past, they fore-

saw with prophetic eyes this newly spawned godlessness, and they

condemned it in script and words and thought, along with the previous

manifold apostasies. Of the Ecumenical Councils, the Second directly

320

dogmatized that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father; the Third

received this teaching in succession; the Fourth confirmed it; the Fifth

was established in the same opinion; the Sixth preached the same; the

Seventh sealed it splendidly with contests; in each Council is seen the

open and clear proclamation of piety and of the doctrine that the Spirit

proceeds from the Father, not from the Son. What godless herd taught

you otherwise? Who of those who contravene the Master's ordinances

has led you to fall into such lawless beliefs?" (On the Mystagogy of

the Holy Spirit by Saint Photios, Patriarch of Constantinople, trans. by

Holy Transfiguration Monastery [Studion Publishers, Inc: 1983], p.

71.)

From the Synodicon of the Holy Spirit (to be read on the second

day of Pentecost)

Background: This is subtitled: "A confession and proclamation

of the Orthodox piety of the Christians, in which all the impieties of

the heretics are overthrown and the definitions of the Catholic Church

of Christ are sustained. Through which the enemies of the Holy Spirit

are severed from the Church of Christ." This Synodicon (a decision,

statement, or tome either originating from a synod or council or pos-

sessing conciliar authority) is attributed to Patriarch Germanos the

New (1222-1240). It demonstrates how the theology of St. Photios the

Great became the Church's definitive voice on the subject of

the filioque. There can be no doubt that the filioque was judged to be

heretical by the Orthodox Church. What follows are just a few of the

anathemas from the Synodicon. (This background information, and the

anathemas, are taken from On the Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit, ibid.)

"So likewise do they who despise and disdain piety receive

curses; wherefore, all we in unison, since we constitute the plentitude

of piety, lay upon them the curse which they have put upon them-

selves." [an excerpt from the Synodicon of Orthodoxy, read on the

Sunday of Orthodoxy during Great Lent].' To those who do not deign

to consent to the unaltered and unadulterated holy Symbol confessed

by the Orthodox, that one, I mean, which was evangelically formu-

lated by the First and Second Holy Councils and confirmed by the

rest, but who rather amend it and distort it to support their own belief,

thereby not only corrupting the conciliar traditions of the holy fathers

321

and of the holy and God-instructed apostles, but also the definitions of

our true God and Savior, Jesus Christ, Anathema." ...

"To those who in any way undertake investigations into new

doctrines concerning the divine and incomprehensible Trinity and who

search out the difference between begetting and procession, and the

nature of begetting and procession in God and who increase words

and do not abide and persist in the definitions handed down to us by

both the disciples of Christ and the divine fathers; and who thereby

uselessly strive to dispute over things not delivered to us, Anathema."

"To those who scorn the venerable and holy ecumenical Coun-

cils, and who despise even more their dogmatic and canonical tradi-

tions; and to those who say that all things were not perfectly defined

and delivered by the councils, but that they left the greater part myste-

rious, unclear, and untaught, Anathema."

"To those who hold in contempt the sacred and divine canons of

our blessed fathers, which, by sustaining the holy Church of God and

adorning the whole Christian Church, guide to divine reverence, Ana-

thema."

"To all things innovated and enacted contrary to the Church tra-

dition, teaching, and institution of the holy and ever-memorable fa-

thers, or to anything henceforth so enacted, ANATHEMA."

From Sigillion of the Patriarchal formulation of an encyclical to

Orthodox Christians throughout the world not to accept the mod-

ernistic Paschalion…

Background: In 1583, the Pope of Rome, Gregory XIII, who

changed the Julian calendar, repeatedly pressured the Patriarch of

Constantinople, Jeremias, who was called Illustrious, to follow him in

the calendar innovation. The Patriarch repeatedly refused with letters,

and finally in the same year, 1583, he convened a council in Constan-

tinople..."To all the genuine Christian children of the Holy Catholic

and Apostolic Church of Christ of the East residing in Trigovysti and

throughout the world, be grace and peace and mercy from God Al-

mighty.

"No small turbulence overtook that ancient Ark, when, violently

beset by billows, it floated upon the surface of the waters, and had not

the Lord God remembered Noah and seen fit to still the water, there

would have been no hope for it at all. Thus also in regard to the New

322

Ark of our Church, against which misbelievers have launched an im-

placable war upon us, by means of these presents we have decided to

leave a note that you may have in what is herein written the means of

upholding and defending your Orthodoxy against such enemies more

safely and surely.

But, lest the composition as a whole be weary to the simpler folks, we

have decided to embody the matter in common langauge, wording it

as follows: "In Common Language "From old Rome have come cer-

tain persons who learned there to wear Latin habits. The worst of it is

how, from being Romans of Rumelia bred and born, they not only

have changed their faith, but they even wage war upon the Orthodox

dogmas and truths of the Eastern Church which have been delivered to

us by Christ and the divine Apostles and the Holy Councils of the Ho-

ly Fathers.

Therefore, cutting off these persons as rotten members, we command:

1) That whoever does not confess with heart and mouth that he is

a child of the Eastern Church baptized in Orthodox style, and that the

Holy Spirit proceeds out of only the Father, essentially and hypostati-

cally, as Christ says in the Gospel, shall be outside of our Church and

shall be anathematized.

2) That whoever does not confess that at the Mystery of the Holy

Communion the laity must also partake of both kinds, of the Precious

Body and Blood, but instead says that he will partake only of the

body, and that that is sufficient because therein is both flesh and

blood, when as a matter of fact Christ died and administered each se-

perately, and they who fail to keep such customs, let all such persons

be anathematized.

3) That whoever says that our Lord Jesus Christ at the Mystic

Supper had unleavened bread (made without yeast), like that of the

Jews, and not leavened bread, that is to say, bread raised with yeast,

let him depart far away from us and let him be anathema as one hav-

ing Jewish views and those of Apollinarios and bringing dogmas of

the Armenians into the Church, on which account let him be doubly

anathema.

4) Whoever says that our Christ and God, when he comes to

judge us, does not come to judge souls together with bodies, or embo-

died souls, but instead comes to sentance only bodies, let him be ana-

thema.

323

5) Whoever says that the souls of Christians who repented while

in the world but failed to perform their penance go to a purgatory of

fire when they die, where there is flame and punishment, and are puri-

fied, which is simply an ancient Greek myth, and those who, like Ori-

gen, think that hell is not everlasting, and thereby afford or offer the

liberty or incentive to sin, let him and all such persons be anathema.

6) That whoever says that the Pope is the head of the Church,

and not Christ, and that he has authority to admit persons to Paradise

with his letters of indulgence or other passports, and can fogive sins as

many as a person may commit if such person pay money to receive

from him indulgences, i.e. licences to sin, let every such person be

anathema.

7) That whoever does not follow the customs of the Church as

the Seven Holy Ecumenical Councils decreed, and Holy Pascha, and

the Menologion with which they did well in making it a law that we

should follow it, and wishes to follow the newly-invented Paschalion

and the New Menologion of the atheist astronomers of the Pope, and

opposes all those things and wishes to overthrow and destroy the

dogmas and customs of the Church which have been handed down by

our fathers, let him suffer anathema and be put out of the Church of

Christ and out of the Congregation of the Faithful.

8) That ye pious and Orthodox Christians remain faithful in what

ye have been taught and have been born and brought up in, and when

the time calls for it and there be need, that your very blood be shed in

order to safeguard the Faith handed down by our Fathers and your

confession: and that ye beware of such persons as have been described

or referred to in the foregoing paragraphs, in order that our Lord Jesus

Christ may help you and at the same time may the prayer of our medi-

ocrity be with all of you: amen. (Done in the year of the God-man

1583 (MDLXXXIII), year of indiction 12, November 20 [O.S.] Jere-

miah of Constantinople Silvester of Alexandria Sophronius of Jerusa-

lem In the presence of the rest of the prelates at the Council.)

From The Acts and Decrees of the Synod of Jerusalem, subtitled

"Against the Calvinists, Held in the Year 1672 Under Dositheus,

Patriarch of Jerusalem"

Note: keep in mind that the decrees in this Synod are pastoral

and protective in nature. They arose out of the need for the Church to

324

address the so-called "Confession of Cyril Lucar". This confession,

which espoused many teachings of the Protestant reformer John Cal-

vin, was reportedly written by Cyril Lucar, a former Patriarch of Con-

stantinople. The strong words are directed chiefly against those who

are in full awareness of their error and are teaching contrary to the Or-

thodox Faith, leading "even the elect" astray. Finally, you must also

know that my primary motive for compiling a document of texts like

this is to combat the teaching of some Orthodox hierarchs and theolo-

gians who are compromised by the heresy of ecumenism. They say

that the Orthodox Church has "never officially declared Roman

Catholics or Protestants to be heretics." In saying this, they hope to

further their ecumenical agenda of a false union with Western hetero-

doxy. Thus, these excerpts are more for the Orthodox than for Protes-

tants who may stumble across my site.

It is to be noted, therefore, that the leaders of these heretics, well

knowing the doctrine of the Eastern Church, declare that she main-

tains the same as they themselves do in what concerns God and divine

things; but of set purpose do they malign us, chiefly to deceive the

more simple. For being severed, or rather rent away from the Wes-

terns, and consequently being absolutely rejected by the whole Catho-

lic [Orthodox] Church, and convicted, they are manifestly heretics,

and the chiefest of heretics. For not only have they become, from mo-

tives of self-love, propounders of new and silly dogmas (if it is allow-

able to call what are really only fables dogmas); but are entirely exter-

nal to the Church, as having no kind of communion whatever with the

Catholic [Orthodox] Church, as hath been said... . But, as it is imposs-

ible in this matter for light and darkness, or Christ and Belial, to be to-

gether, so it is impossible for our adversaries, so long as they follow

Calvin the heresiarch, as a leader, to be at one with the Eastern Church

in what concerneth faith.

From the Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs, 1848

4. Of these heresies diffused, with what sufferings the Lord hath

known, over a great part of the world, was formerly Arianism, and at

present is the Papacy. This, too, as the former has become extinct, al-

though now flourishing, shall not endure, but pass away and be cast

down, and a great voice from heaven shall cry: It is cast down (Rev.

xii. 10).

325

5. All erroneous doctrine touching the Catholic truth of the

Blessed Trinity, and the origin of the divine Persons, and the subsis-

tence of the Holy Ghost, is and is called heresy, and they who so hold

are deemed heretics, according to the sentence of St. Damasus, Pope

of Rome, who says: "If any one rightly holds concerning the Father

and the Son, yet holds not rightly of the Holy Ghost, he is an heretic"

(Cath. Conf. of Faith which Pope Damasus sent to Paulinus, Bishop of

Thessalonica). Wherefore the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic

Church, following in the steps of the holy Fathers, both Eastern and

Western, proclaimed of old to our progenitors and again teaches today

synodically, that the said novel doctrine of the Holy Ghost proceeding

from the Father and the Son is essentially heresy, and its maintainers,

whoever they be, are heretics, according to the sentence of Pope St.

Damasus, and that the congregations of such are also heretical, and

that all spiritual communion in worship of the orthodox sons of the

Catholic Church with such is unlawful. Such is the force of the se-

venth Canon of the third Ecumenical Council.

7. These illustrious men proved indeed on this point the truth of

the words of our holy father Basil the sublime, when he said, from ex-

perience, concerning the Bishops of the West, and particularly of the

Pope: "They neither know the truth nor endure to learn it, striving

against those who tell them the truth, and strengthening themselves in

their heresy" (to Eusebius of Samosata). Thus, after a first and second

brotherly admonition, knowing their impenitence, shaking them off

and avoiding them, they gave them over to their reprobate mind. "War

is better than peace, apart from God," as said our holy father Gregory,

concerning the Arians. From that time there has been no spiritual

communion between us and them; for they have with their own hands

dug deep the chasm between themselves and Orthodoxy.

16. From these things we estimate into what an unspeakable la-

byrinth of wrong and incorrigible sin of revolution the papacy has

thrown even the wiser and more godly Bishops of the Roman Church,

so that, in order to preserve the innocent, and therefore valued vicarial

dignity, as well as the despotic primacy and the things depending upon

it, they know no other means shall to insult the most divine and sacred

things, daring everything for that one end. Clothing themselves, in

words, with pious reverence for "the most venerable antiquity" (p. xi.

1.16), in reality there remains, within, the innovating temper; and yet

326

his Holiness really hears hard upon himself when he says that we

"must cast from us everything that has crept in among us since the Se-

paration," (!) while he and his have spread the poison of their innova-

tion even into the Supper of our Lord.

From the Patriarchal Encyclical of 1895

XXI. Such are, briefly, the serious and arbitrary innovations

concerning the faith and the administrative constitution of the Church,

which the Papal Church has introduced and which, it is evident, the

Papal Encyclical purposely passes over in silence. These innovations,

which have reference to essential points of the faith and of the admin-

istrative system of the Church, and which are manifestly opposed to

the ecclesiastical condition of the first nine centuries, make the

longed-for union of the Churches impossible: and every pious and or-

thodox heart is filled with inexpressible sorrow on seeing the Papal

Church disdainfully persisting in them, and not in the least contribut-

ing to the sacred purpose of union by rejecting those heretical innova-

tions and coming back to the ancient condition of the one holy, catho-

lic and apostolic Church of Christ, of which she also at that time

formed a part.

XXIV... . But, as has been said before, the Western Church, from

the tenth century downwards, has privily brought into herself through

the papacy various and strange and heretical doctrines and innova-

tions, and so she has been torn away and removed far from the true

and orthodox Church of Christ. How necessary, then, it is for you to

come back and return to the ancient and unadulterated doctrines of the

Church in order to attain the salvation in Christ after which you press,

you can easily understand if you intelligently consider the command

of the heaven-ascended Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians, saying:

'Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have

been taught, whether by word, or our epistle' ...

From The Creeds of Christendom, ed. by Philip Schaff (Grand

Rapids: Baker Book House, 1990).

After considerable delay, Jeremiah II, Patriarch of Constanti-

nople replied to the Lutheran divines at length, in 1576, and subjected

the Augsburg Confession to an unfavorable criticism, rejecting nearly

all its distinctive doctrines, and commending only its indorsement

327

[sic] of the early ecumenical Synods and its view on the marriage of

priests. The Tubingen professors sent him an elaborate defense

(1577), with other documents, but Jeremiah, two years afterwards, on-

ly reaffirmed his former position, and when the Lutherans troubled

him with new letters, apologetic and polemic, he declined all further

correspondence, and ceased to answer... .

The Answers of Jeremiah received the approval of the Synod of

Jerusalem in 1672, and may be regarded, therefore, as truly expressing

the spirit of the Eastern Communion towards Protestantism. It is evi-

dent from the transactions of the Synod of Jerusalem that the Greek

Church rejects Lutheranism and Calvinism alike as dangerous here-

sies. (51-52)

Calvinism and Cyril Lucar's Confession

The Confession of Cyril Lucar was never adopted by any branch

or party of the Eastern Church, and even repeatedly condemned as he-

retical; but as it gave rise to the later authentic definitions of the "Or-

thodox Faith," in opposition to the distinctive doctrines of Romanism

and Protestantism, it must be noticed here...

Cyril left no followers able or willing to carry on his work, but

the agitation he had produced continued for several years and called

forth defensive measures. His doctrines were anathematized by Pa-

triarch Cyril of Berea and a Synod of Constantinople (Sept., 1638),

then again by the Synods of Jassy, in Moldavia, 1643, and of Jerusa-

lem, 1672; (54, 55)

The Synod convened at Jerusalem in March, 1672, by Patriarch Dosi-

theus, for the consecration of the restored Church of the Holy Nativity

in Bethlehem, issued a newDefense or Apology of Greek Orthodoxy. It

is directed against Calvinism, which was still professed or secretly

held by many admirers of Cyril Lucar. It is dated Jerusalem, March

16, 1672, and signed by Dositheus, Patriarch of Jerusalem and Pales-

tine (otherwise little known), and by sixty-eight Eastern bishops and

ecclesiastics, including some from Russia.

This Synod is the most important in the modern history of the

Eastern Church, and may be compared to the Council of Trent. Both

fixed the doctrinal status of the Churches they represent, and both

condemned the evangelical doctrines of Protestantism... .But although

the Synod was chiefly aimed against Protestantism, and has no direct

328

polemical reference to the Latin Church, it did not give up any of the

distinctive Greek doctrines, or make any concessions to the claims of

the Papacy.

The acts of the Synod of Jerusalem consists of six chapters, and

a confession of Dositheus in eighteen decrees. Both are preceded by a

pastoral letter giving an account of the occasion of this public confes-

sion in opposition to Calvinism and Lutheranism, which are con-

demned alike as being essentially the same heresy, notwithstanding

some apparant differences. The Answers of Patriarch Jeremiah given

to Martin Crusius, Professor in Tubingen, and other Lutherans, in

1572, are approved by the Synod of Jerusalem, as they were by the

Synod of Jassy, and thus clothed with a semi-symbolical authority.

The Orthodox Confession of Peter Moghila is likewise sanctioned

again, but the Confession of Cyril Lucar is disowned as a forgery.

The Six Chapters are very prolix, and altogether polemical

against the Confession which was circulated under the name of Cyril

Lucar, and give large extracts from his homilies preached before the

clergy and people of Constantinople to prove his orthodoxy. One ana-

thema is not considered sufficient, and a threefold anathema is hurled

against the heretical doctrines.

The Confessio Dosithei presents, in eighteen decrees or articles,

a positive statement of the orthodox faith. It follows the order of Cy-

ril's Confession, which it is intended to refute. It is the most authorita-

tive and complete doctrinal deliverance of the modern Greek Church

on the contoverted articles. It was formally transmitted by the Eastern

Patriarchs to the Russian Church in 1721, and through it to certain Bi-

shops of the Church of England, as an ultimatum to be received with-

out further question or conference by all who would be in communion

with the Orthodox Church. (61-62)

329

Test

1. Who wrote a book ―the Varieties of Religious Experiencies‖?

a) M. Weber b) W. James c) M. Eliade

2. Who derives religion from ―religare‖?

a) Aristotle b) St.Augustine c) Lactantius

3. Which religion is not Abrahamic?

a) Hinduism b) Islam c) Judaism

4. Oneiromancy is divination through….

a) stars b) dreams c) bones

5. What Greek goddess protects the hearth and home?

a) Artemis b) Athena c) Hestia

6. This emperor was not deified:

a) Augustus b) Vespasian c) Diocletian

7. Who gave detailed description of Germanic religion?

a) Tacitus b) Trancvillus c) Tatianus

8. The period of Vedanta began around…

a) 900 BC b) 300 BC c) 600 BC

9. In Hinduism the Purushamedha is a sacrifice of …

a) a monkey b) a man c) an elephant

10. The Lord gave Ten Commandments to Moses on the Mount:

a) Nebo b) Sinai c) Thavor

11. When were the people of Israel united with their land again?

a) 1948 b) 1945 c) 1950

12. The Jewish Feast of Weeks, celebrated on the fiftieth day after

Passover is…

a) Shabuoth b) Sukkoth c) Yom Kippur

330

13. How were Christian writings called… which mean "answers" or

"defenses."?

a) patristic teachings b) heresies c) apologies

14. Which Ecumenical Council defined Christ as Perfect God and Per-

fect Man in One Person?

a) Nicea I (325) b) Chalcedon (451) c) Nicea II (787)

15. When was the Baptism of Kievan Rus‘ ?

a) 1053 b) 878 c) 988

16. How many theses did Martin Luther publish in 1517?

a) 15 b) 95 c) 195

17. Muslims pray with their faces turned in the direction of …

a) the Kaaba in Mecca b) Medina c) Jerusalem

18. The Fast of Ramadan, occurs once each year during … month.

a) the 7th

lunar b) the 9th

solar c) the 9th

lunar

19. Muhammad was born in Mecca in Arabia in the year … AD.

a) 640 b) 570 c) 530

20. In 1954 American writer L. Ron Hubbard founded

a) Unification Church b) Church of Scientology c) Solar Temple

21. According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, in 2000 there are

…. nominal Christians.

a) 1.9 billion b) 2.5 billion c) 0.9 billion

22. ―Saintly laughter‖ is very popular among

a) neo-Pentecostal groups b) Mormons c) neo-druids

23. What metropolitan was elected as patriarch in November 1917?

a) Sergius b) Joseph c) Tikhon

24. Russian Metropolitan became independent of Constantinople in …

a) 1448 b) 1270 c) 1703

331

Conclusion

We studied different religions and we saw that people have dif-

ferent kinds of spiritual experience. We understood how Religion

helps us to find meaning in life and to develop the more noble quali-

ties of our soul. We saw that Western and Russian mentality and cul-

ture are based on many religious terms and concepts.

In conclusion we can say that Religion is a worldwide phenome-

non that has played a part in all human culture and so is a much

broader, more complex category than the set of beliefs or practices

found in any single religious tradition.

An adequate understanding of religion must take into account its

distinctive qualities and patterns as a form of human experience, as

well as the similarities and differences in religions across human cul-

tures. Religion includes a complex of activities that cannot be reduced

to any single aspect of human experience. It is a part of individual life

but also of group dynamics. Religion includes patterns of behavior but

also patterns of language and thought. It is sometimes a highly orga-

nized institution that sets itself apart from a culture, and it is some-

times an integral part of a culture. Religious experience may be ex-

pressed in visual symbols, dance and performance, elaborate philo-

sophical systems, legendary and imaginative stories, formal ceremo-

nies, meditative techniques, and detailed rules of ethical conduct and

law.

Each of these elements assumes innumerable cultural forms. In

some ways there are as many forms of religious expression as there

are human cultural environments.

Religion is nearly universal and as ancient as human culture. Be-

lief systems and traditions of worship have been common to nearly all

societies since before the days of recorded history. Despite cultural

diversity, these systems and traditions share many common elements.

Religion typically involves faith in spiritual, or nonhuman, beings that

can influence events, although some religions – notably some forms of

Buddhism – do not stipulate belief in the supernatural.

The impact of religions is also significant in a global context.

Religious differences over customs, resources, and political policy are

common, and throughout history have frequently led to conflict. Many

borders and boundaries reflect religious differences as much as politi-

332

cal divisions. Religions take many forms, ranging from large, institu-

tionalized faiths that extend across national borders to localized belief

systems practiced only within specific ethnic groups in small enclaves.

In the modern world, ancient religious traditions are frequently mixed

with modern ones to form cross-cultural, or syncretic, religions.

We also studied the examples of the activity of non-traditional

new religious movements and understood the necessity to create in

each country, represented in the Council of Europe, a government or-

ganization to help victims of destructive sects and their family mem-

bers. It is important to keep the people well informed about the activi-

ties of various religious, esoteric and spiritist groups.

This information should protect people from uninvited en-

croachments into their lives with unconscientious manipulation, in-

doctrination and brainwashing. It is necessary to control expansion of

sectarianism in all spheres of social relations that create a real threat

to the national (spiritual, economic, political, military and ecological)

security of Russia.

Bibliography

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volumes – Macmillan Reference – N.Y. – 2005.

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Ltd. – Singapore – 2008. 471 p.

3. Encyclopedia of ancient Asian civilizations / Charles F. W. Hig-

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CUP. 2007. 624 p.

333

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334

Glossary of persons

ABU BAKR, (d. 634): strong friend and supporter of Muhammad he

became the caliph, or spiritual leader, of Islam after Muhammad's

death. Through his activities and success in warfare, Islam developed

from a local, tribal, religion of the Arabs to a world faith.

ABU DAWUD, Al Sijistani (817-889): the author of the Kitab al-

sunan, a collection of Muslim traditions which are recognized as ca-

nonical by Sunnis.

ABU HANIFA (699-767): is regarded by Muslims as the founder of

the School of Muslim Law.

AKHENATEN (Amenhotep IV, 1372-1354 B.C.): Egyptian King and

earliest religious reformer who sought to weaken the power of the

priesthood and impose a form of monotheism on his people. After his

death the priests regained power and almost completely destroyed his

work.

ATHANASIUS OF ATHOS, monk, St. (ca. 920-1003). A monk of

Bithynia who moved to Mt. Athos and established its first monastery,

the Lavra (961). Supported by the emperors, he was made head of all

the communities there, which numbered fifty-eight by the time of his

death.

AQUINAS, Thomas (1224/27-1274): known by his contemporaries as

"Doctor Angelicus" he is the most important philosopher and theolo-

gian of the Catholicism. He was canonized in 1323 and made a Doctor

of the Church in 1567. Finally, the study of Thomas Aquinas was

made part of all theological training in 1366. Made patron of all Ro-

man Catholic universities in 1880. His authority as teacher was reaf-

firmed in 1923. The system Aquinas developed is called "Thomism,"

his followers "Thomists."

ARIUS, (250-336): regarded as the arch heretic of the early Church.

He rejected the orthodox definition of the deity of Christ teaching

about a form of subordination which made Christ the first created be-

ing but not God.

ARMINIUS, Jacob (1560-1609): Dutch theologian and critic of Cal-

vinism.

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO (354-430): the greatest of the Latin Fathers

and African theologians and one of the outstanding thinkers.

BASIL THE GREAT, bishop, theologian, monk, St. (ca. 330-379).

Born of an aristocratic family in central Asia Minor, eldest of the

335

Cappadocian Fathers, the older brother of Gregory of Nyssa and

childhood friend of Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil and the latter Gre-

gory received the best education available in the ancient world, having

been trained both in rhetoric and, at the then "university town" of

Athens, in philosophy. Raised as a Christian and from youth enamored

with the great Christian thinker of the previous century, Origen, Ba-

sil's intellectual and spiritual life represented a continuation of the lat-

ter's great task, the integration of Christian life and experience with

the best of ancient Greek thought.

BESANT, Annie (1847-1933): being converted to Theosophy she

moved to India in 1889 where she established a number of educational

institutions including the Central Hindu College of Banaras (1898)

and the University of India (1907). Her works include: The Ancient

Wisdom (1897) and The Religious Problems of India (1902).

BLAVATSKY, Helena Petrovna (1831-1891): born and educated in

Russia she appears to have led an adventurous life with numerous af-

fairs before becoming a Spiritualist in New York in the 1870s. Claim-

ing to have visited Tibet and India, she elaborated on the basic prac-

tices of spiritualism by adding a rich eclectic mythology called theo-

sophy and formed the Theosophical Society in 1875. Her most impor-

tant books are Isis Unveiled (1877) and The Secret Doctrine (1888).

CALVIN, John (1509-1564): the Protestant reformer. Calvin was

schooled in Latin, Hebrew, Greek, philosophy, and law in Paris, Or-

leans and Bourges.Calvin's is the most famous presentation of the

much debated doctrine of predestination: that God decided, before

creating the world, who will and will not be saved. CASSIAN, JOHN, St. (ca. 360-ca. 432). Born in Marseilles, he was a

trusted adviser to Pope Leo the Great. Though a Latin, it is in the Or-

thodox Church that John is included in the calendar of saints. Familiar

with Egyptian monasticism and especially with Evagrius of Pontus by

virtue of a long stay in the monastic center of Scete, locale par excel-

lence of the Desert Fathers, John became the vehicle through whom

the spirituality and insights of the desert were transferred to the West-

ern Church.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, theologian, St. (ca. 150-ca. 215).

The second head of the catechetical school of Alexandria who taught

there from ca. 190 to 202. Clement left three major works, The Exhor-

tation, The Pedagogue, and the Miscellanies (Stromateis), together

336

with fragments of another known as the Excerpts from Theodotus.

The influence of these works was great, indeed. To Clement has been

attributed "the beginnings of Christian Hellenism."

CLEMENT OF OCHRID, bishop, translator, St. (?-916). One of the-

premier saints commemorated in modern Bulgaria, Clement was a

disciple of Methodius and colleague of Naum in the Ochrid school,

which translated Scripture and liturgical texts into Glagolitic and

Church Slavic.

COSMAS AND DAMIAN, Saints (third century). Cosmas and Da-

mian were brothers and are commemorated in the Church catholic as

"unmercenary physicians," that is, doctors who practiced medicine

without demanding money. They are remembered as healers of hu-

mans and animals from a time late in the 3rd сentury.

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA, patriarch, theologian, St. (?-444).

Patriarch from 412 to 444, Cyril was the extraordinarily energetic and

Capable theological and political opponent of Nestorius of Constanti-

nople. The theological question turned around the unity of Christ's

person. The political issue was the new prominence of Constantinople

at the expense of Alexandria.

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM, St. (ca. 313-ca. 386). Archbishop of Jeru-

salem during the 360s, Cyril was a successful pastor and an innovat-

ing liturgist. He coped admirably with an exceedingly difficult period

in the history of the Eastern Church, the Arian crisis which troubled

the orthodox almost the entire century. CONFUCIUS [Kung Fu Tzu] (551-479 B.C.): little is known about

his background except that he was orphaned and grew up in poverty.

He came to believe that he had a mission to bring peace and good

government to China but during his life he gained little success and

died in obscurity. He is distinguished by his ethical rather than his re-

ligious teachings the main idea of which is the Tao, or Way of Hea-

ven, should be followed by all men. His ideas are found in The Ana-

lects of Confucius compiled by his followers.

CONSTANTINE THE GREAT (288-337 A.D.): the Roman Emperor

who in 313 A.D. accorded legal recognition to Christianity and en-

couraged its acceptance as the religion of the Roman Empire.

DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE. 1) According to Acts 17 he is one

of the few converts won by Paul's preaching at the Areopagus before

thealtar of the Unknown God, and by tradition the patron saint of the

337

city of Athens. 2) An anonymous Syrian (of whom we know nothing

certain) who sometime around A.D. 500 used this name as a pseu-

donym for the writing of a corpus consisting of four extant treatises,

the Mystical Theology, the Divine Names, the Celestial Hierarchy,

and the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, together with ten "Epistles," a body

of work that would enjoy an immensely important role in both the

Greek and Latin Middle Ages.

ERASMUS, Desiderius (1469-1536): His most famous books are: The

Praise of Folly (1509); Education of a Christian Prince (1516) and

Diatribe on Free Will (1524) which was an attack on Luther's views.

FRANCIS OF ASSISI (1181?-1226): founder of the Franciscan Order

and son of a wealthy textile merchant. In 1209 he began preaching

brotherly love, apostolic poverty and repentance. This led to the

founding of his Order and his original Rule. In 1224 he retired to a

hermitage to spend the remainder of his life in prayer. During this

time he composed his Canticle to the Sun and is alleged to have borne

the stigmata. He was canonized two years after his death.

GREGORY THE GREAT (540-604): one of the greatest Popes who

had a genius for administration at a time when civilized life in West-

ern Europe was collapsing.

HAKUIN (1685-1768): the greatest Japanese Zen master after Dogen.

HENRY VIII (1491-1547): English King who was declared "Defender

of the Faith" by the Pope for his critique of Luther in 1521. He was

excommunicated in 1533 as a result of his divorce - an act which led

to the English Reformation.

JALL, al-Dn Rm (1207-1273): Muslim mystic and the founder of the

Mwlawi Order in Islam commonly known as the "Whirling Dervish."

His mystical theology sees the world as being created for man as a

microcosm which reflects the attributes of God. The aim of life is to

love God and through devotion lose one's individuality by being ab-

sorbed into God.

JOHN CLIMACUS (570-649): an ascetic spiritual writer who pro-

moted the dispassionateness as the ideal of Christian perfection.

JOHN OF DAMASCUS (675-749): a theologian and earliest Christian

commentator on Islam. He was a strong defender of Icons. His most

important theological work was The Fount of Wisdom, Tractate on Is-

lam.

338

JUSTIN MARTYR (100-165): was the first Christian thinker and

apologist. He wrote Apologies and Dialogues with Typho.

LAO TZU (6th century B.C.): the greatest of the Taoist masters who

was the author of the Tao Te Ching or Book of Lao-Tzu.

LOYOLA, Ignatius (1495-1556): Spanish mystic and religious inno-

vator who founded the Society of Jesus or Jesuits.

LUTHER, Martin (1483-1546): one of the most important figures in

Western Christianity. He was a German Biblical scholar who whose

questioning of church practices led to the Protestant Reformation.

MAIMONIDES, Moses (1135-1204): the greatest medieval Jewish

philosopher, theologian and exponent of Aristotle. His books, The

Guide for the Perplexed and Mishnah Torah were first published in

Arabic.

MÜNZER, Thomas (1490-1525): German ANABAPTIST leader who

claimed INSPIRATION through the HOLY SPIRIT and prophetic

gifts. He played a leading role in the PEASANT'S REVOLT and was

eventually executed by the SECULAR authorities.

PRABHUPADA, A.C. Bhaktivedanta, Swami (1896-1977): founder

and guru of the Hare Krishna movement.

RAMAKRISHNA, (1836-1886): one of the principal figures in the ni-

neteenth century Hindu Renaissance.

URBAN, II (1042-1099): reforming Pope who initiated the First Cru-

sade to help defend Eastern European nations against Muslim attacks

and to obtain free access to Jerusalem for Pilgrims.

WYCLIFFE, John (1330-1384): was a scholar at Oxford who wrote

on philosophy and theology. In the 1370s he was condemned for er-

rors and heresies by Popes Gregory XI and Urban VI, but his popu-

larity in England allowed him to escape arrest and persecution by the

Church. In 1380 Wyclif claimed that transubstantiation was not sup-

ported by the Bible; he was condemned at Oxford as a heretic and

forced to retire. After his retirement he continued to write and is cre-

dited with initiating the first full English translation of the Bible. His

followers, called Lollards, are considered forerunners to the Protestant

Reformation.

ZOROASTER (6th century B.C.): Iranian religious leader who

founded Zoroastrianism. It emphasizes that good and evil are separate

entities at war with each other, in the form of Ormuzd (the god of

good, creation and truth) and Ahriman (the god of evil destruction and

339

lies), both ultimately descended from the Wise Lord, Ahura Mazda.

The holy book of Zoroastrianism is the Avesta, which includes the

hymns of Zoroaster (The Gathas, from which most of his biographical

information comes), liturgical texts and prayers. ZWINGLI, Ulrich (1485-1531): Swiss Preacher who led the reforma-

tion in Zurich. He rejected Luther's view of the Sacraments arguing

instead that they are simply memorials without supernatural influence.

Glossary of terms

acosmism – a denial of, or disbelief in, the existence of an external

world or of a world distinct from God.

adoptionism – the 8th-century heretical doctrine that Christ in His

human nature was the son of God only by adoption; that in His spiri-

tual nature, however, He was truly God‘s son.

Adventism – the principles and practices of certain Christian denomi-

nations that maintain that the Second Advent of Christ is imminent.

aeromancy – 1. the art or science of divination by means of the air or

winds. 2. Humorous. weather forecasting.

agnosticism – the tenet that neither the existence nor the nature of

God is known or knowable.

animism – 1. the belief that natural objects and phenomena and the

universe itself possess souls and consciousness. 2. the belief in spiri-

tual beings or agencies.

annihilationism – the theological doctrine that states that the wicked

have no afterlife.

anthropolatry – the deification and worship of a human being.

anthropomancy – a form of divination using the entrails of dead men.

anthropomorphism – the assignment of human shape and attributes

to gods, animals, etc.

anthropotheism – the belief that the gods have human nature, or are

only deified men.

anticlericalism – an opposition to the influence and activities of the

clergy in public affairs.

apocalypticism – Theology. 1. any doctrine concerning the end of the

temporal world, especially one based on the Revelations of St. John

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the Divine. 2. the millennial doctrine of the Second Advent and the

reign of Jesus Christ on earth.

apocrypha – 1. religious writings of disputed origin, regarded by

many author-ities as uncanonical. 2. (capitalized) a group of 15 books,

not part of the canonical Hebrew Bible, but present in the Septuagint

and Vulgate and hence accepted by some as biblical.

Apollinarianism – a late 4th-century heretical doctrine asserting that

Christ had a perfect divine nature, an imperfect human nature, and a

mind replaced by the Logos.

apologetics – the study of the methods and content of defenses or

proofs of Christianity.

apologia – a formal apology, especially on behalf of some belief or

doctrine.

apostasy – relinquishing of a religious belief.

apotheosis – deification; the elevation of a person to godhood.

Arianism – a 4th-century doctrine, considered heretical by orthodox

Christianity, that Christ was merely the noblest of men and, being of a

different substance, was not the son of God.

arithmancy – numerology.

astrology – a form of divination involving the relative positions of

heavenly bodies.

astromancy – divination by observation of the stars.

Atenism – the monotheistic religious system of the Egyptian pharaoh

Ikhnaton, emphasizing the worship of the sun god Aten (Aton).

Athanasianism – the teachings of Athanasiusth-century bishop of

Alexandria, asserting that Christ is of the same substance as God;

adopted by the Council of Nicea as orthodox doctrine.

atheism – the absolute denial of the existence of God or any other

gods.

augury – 1. the art of f oretelling the future by means of signs, origi-

nally by the flight of birds; divination. 2. an omen or portent from

which the future is foretold.

Ayurvedism, Ayurveda – the conventional Hindu system of medi-

cine, founded chiefly on naturopathy and homeopathy.

Baalism – the worship, in ancient Canaan or Phoenicia, of any of a

variety of chief deities referred to as Baal, ‘lord.‘

Babism, Babiism – the doctrines and practices of a 19th-century Per-

sian sect that formed the basis for the current Baha‘i organization, re-

341

garded as heretical by orthodox Muslims because its leader proc-

laimed himself to be the Imam Mahdi, the expected twelfth Imam of

the Shiite sect, who would establish justice on earth.

Baha’ism – the doctrines and practices of a sect growing out of Bab-

ism and reflecting some attitudes of the Islamic Shi‘a sect, but with an

emphasis on tolerance and the essential worth of all religions.

bibliomancy – a form of divination using books or the Bible in which

passages are chosen at random and the future foretold from them.

bitheism – a belief in two gods.

Bönism – a pre-Buddhist religion of Tibet, involving worship of na-

ture spirits and the practice of sacrifice, magic, and divination. It was

influential on the Tibetan form of Buddhism.

Brahmanism, Brahminism – the doctrines and practices of Brah-

mans and orthodox Hindus, characterized by the caste system, a di-

verse pantheism, and primary devotion to Brahma, the creator-god of

the Hindu trinity.

Buddhism – the religion of the followers of Gautama Buddha, whose

6th-century B.C. doctrines strongly opposed the formalized, mechani-

cal rituals of the Brahman sect in Hinduism; Buddha‘s teachings of-

fered escape from endless reincarnation, a method of spiritual attain-

ment through correct views and actions (The Eight-Fold Path), and a

spiritual goal (Nirvana): a soul free from craving, suffering, and sor-

row.

Calvinism – 1. the doctrines of John Calvin or his followers, especial-

ly emphasis upon predestination and limited atonement, the sovereign-

ty of God, the authority of the Scriptures and the irresistibility of

grace. 2. adherence to these doctrines.

Catharism – the beliefs of several sects in medieval Europe, especial-

ly the denial of infant baptism, purgatory, the communion of saints,

images, and the doctrine of the Trinity; the abrogation of the institu-

tion of marriage; and the practice of rigorous asceticism.

catoptromancy – a form of divination involving a crystal ball or mir-

rors.

celibacy – the state of being single or unmarried, especially in the

case of one bound by vows not to marry.

chiliasm – the belief that Christ will return to earth in visible form and

establish a kingdom to last 1000 years, after which the world will

come to an end.

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clairvoyance – the ability to see, in a trance, into the world beyond

the percep-tion of the normal senses, especially with the ability to pre-

dict future events.

clericalism – 1. an undue influence of the hierarchy and clergy in

public affairs and government. 2. the principles and interests of the

clergy. 3. the system, spirit, or methods of the priesthood; sacerdotal-

ism.

coeternity – the state of eternal coexistence; eternal coexistence with

another eternal entity.

consubstantiation – the doctrine that the substance of the body and

blood of Christ coexist in and with the substance of the bread and

wine of the Eucharist.

cosmolatry – the worship of the world.

deism – the acknowledgment of the existence of a God upon the tes-

timony of reason and of nature and its laws, and the rejection of the

possibility of supernatural intervention in human affairs and of special

revelation.

demiurgism – the belief, in Platonism and some Gnostic sects, that

the material and sensible world was created by a subordinate god un-

der the direction of the Supreme Being.

ditheism – 1. the belief or doctrine that there are two gods of equal

power. 2. Zoroastrianism. the belief in two antagonistic deities, one a

force for good, one for evil.

Docetism – the teaching of an early heretical sect asserting that Chr-

ist‘s body was not human or material, but celestial in substance. —

Donatism – a heretical cult in N. Africa during the 4th through 7th

centuries that emphasized high morality and rebaptism as necessary

for church mem-bership and considered invalid a sacrament celebrated

by an immoral priest.

Druidism – the doctrines and practices of an order of Celtic priests in

ancient Britain, Gaul, and Ireland.

dualism –1. the doctrine of two independent divine beings or eternal

principles, one good and the other evil. 2. the belief that man embo-

dies two parts, as body or soul.

Dyophysitism – a 5th-century doctrine that Christ had a dual nature,

the divine and the human, united perfectly in Him, but not inextricably

blended.

343

Dyothelitism – the doctrine that Christ had two wills, the human and

the divine.

Ebionism – the beliefs of a Judaistic Christian Gnostic sect of the 2nd

century, especially partial observation of Jewish law, rejection of St.

Paul and gentile Christianity, acceptance of only one gospel (Mat-

thew), and an early adoptionist Christology.

ecumenism – the doctrines and practices of the ecumenical move-

ment, especially among Protestant groups since the 1800s, aimed at

developing worldwide Christian unity and church union.

elixir – 1. the hypothetical substance sought by alchemists that was

believed to transform base metals into gold and give eternal life. Also

called philosopher‟s stone, elixir of life. 2. Rare. the quintessence or

underlying principle.

Encratism – beliefs and practices of the Encratites, a 2nd-century

Gnostic sect that renounced marriage and abstained from flesh and

wine.

epiphany – the appearance to man, in visible form, of a god or other

supernatural being.

eschatology – any set of doctrines concerning final matters, as death,

the judgment, afterlife, etc.

euhemerism – the belief that the mythological gods were merely early

kings and heroes deified.

exegesis – critical explication or interpretation of Scripture.

exegetics – the branch of theology that specializes in interpretation, or

exegesis, of Biblical literature. Historically, exegetes have recognized

four levels of meaning in the Bible: the historical or literal, the alle-

gorical, the moral, and the anagogical or mystical, putting emphasis

on the necessity of a foundation for the latter three in the literal sense.

exorcism – 1. the ceremony that seeks to expel an evil spirit from a

person or place. 2. the act or process of exorcising.

Fohism, Foism – the predominant Chinese form of Buddhism, Foh

being the Chinese name for Buddha.

gentilism – the state or quality of being non-Jewish.

Ghazism – the activities of the Ghazis, fanatics sworn to destroy all

infidels.

Gnosticism – the beliefs and practices of pre-Christian and early

Christian sects, condemned by the church, especially the conviction

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that matter is evil and that knowledge is more important than faith,

and the practice of esoteric mysticism.

Haggada – 1. the explanatory matter in rabbinic and Talmudic litera-

ture, interpreting or illustrating the Scriptures. 2. a book in which is

printed the liturgy for the Seder service.

hagiography – the writing and critical study of the lives of the saints;

hagiology.

hagiology – 1. the branch of literature comprising the lives and le-

gends of the saints. 2. a biography or narrative of the life of a saint or

saints. 3. collection of such biographies.

Halaka – the entire body of Jewish law, comprising Biblical laws,

oral laws transcribed in the Talmud, and subsequent codes altering

traditional teachings.

Hasidism – 1. the beliefs and practices of a mystical Jewish sect,

founded in Poland about 1750, characterized by an emphasis on

prayer, religious zeal, and joy. 2. the beliefs and practices of a pious

sect founded in the 3rd century B.C. to resist Hellenizing tendencies

and to promote strict observance of Jewish laws and rituals.

henotheism – a belief in one supreme God.

heresiarch – 1. the originator of a heresy. 2. the leader of a group of

heretics.

heresy – 1. a religious opinion or doctrine at variance with accepted

doctrine. 2. a willful and persistent rejection of any article of the faith

by a baptized member of the Roman Catholic Church. 3. any belief or

theory strongly at variance with established opinion.

hermeneutics – the science of interpretation and explanation, espe-

cially the branch of theology that deals with the general principles of

Biblical interpretation.

Hermeticism1 – 1. the occult concepts, ideas, or philosophy set forth

in the writings of the hermeticists of the late Middle Ages and the ear-

ly Renaissance. 2. adherence to, belief in, or propagation of these con-

cepts and ideas. 3. Literature. a symbolic and arcane style similar to

that of the hermeticists, especially in the poetry of certain French

symbolist poets.

Hermeticism2 – 1. the ideas or beliefs set forth in the writings of

Hermes Trismegistus. 2. adherence to these ideas and beliefs.

hermetics – the occult sciences, especially alchemy.

herolatry – the worship of heroes.

345

heteroousianism – a position in the 4th-century controversy over

Christ‘s nature, asserting that He and God were of different natures.

hierogram – sacred writing or a sacred character or symbol.

hierurgy – 1. the performance of holy works. 2. the holy work itself.

Hinayanism – the earliest development of Buddhism after Buddha‘s

death, emphasizing doctrines and practices originally formulated by

Buddha and reflected in the ―School of the Elders‖ (Theravada) of the

Pali tradition; called the ―lesser vehicle,‖ it found followers in south-

ern India and Ceylon.

homoiousianism – a position in the 4th-century controversy over Chr-

ist‘s nature, asserting that He and God were of similar, but not the

same, natures; semi-Arianism.

homoousianism – a position in the 4th-century controversy over Chr-

ist‘s nature, asserting that He and God are of the same nature; Athana-

sianism.

horoscopy – 1. the art of casting horoscopes or divinations based

upon the relative positions of heavenly bodies. 2. the position of the

sun and stars at the time of a person‘s birth.

hylotheism – the identification of God with matter or the universe.

hypostasis – 1. the unique nature of the Godhead and hence the Holy

Trinity. 2. any of the three parts of the Holy Trinity. 3. the personality

of Christ separate from his dual nature, human and divine.

iatrochemistry – 1. originally, alchemy devoted to medicinal purpos-

es, especially the alchemy of the period 1525-1660, influenced by the

theories of Paracelsus. 2. currently, chemistry for healing purposes.

ichthyomancy – a form of divination involving the head or entrails of

fishes.

Iconoclasticism – 1. the practice of opposing the veneration of icons.

2. the practice of destroying icons. 3. the principles of the religious

party in the 8th-century Eastern church that opposed the use of icons.

idolism – the belief in or worship of idols.

idolomancy – a form of divination involving idols.

Imamite – a member of the Shi‘a sect of Muslims, who believe in a

succession of twelve divinely inspired imams, from Ali to Muhamad

al Muntazar.

impanation – the theological doctrine that the body and blood of Chr-

ist are present in the bread and wine after they are consecrated.

346

indifferentism – a view that admits no real difference between true

and false in religion or philosophy; a form of agnosticism.

infallibilism – 1. the belief in or adherence to the dogma of papal in-

fallibility. 2. the dogma itself.

inspirationism – adherence to a theory or doctrine of divine influ-

ence, inspiration, or revelation, especially concerning the Scriptures.

Izedism – the beliefs of the Izedis, a Mesopotamian sect said to wor-

ship the devil.

Jainism – a dualistic, ascetic religion founded in the 6th century B.C.

by a Hindu reformer as a revolt against the caste system and the vague

world spirit of Hinduism.

Jansenism – a Christian sect founded by Cornelius Jansenth-century

Dutch religious reformer.

Jewry – 1. the Jewish people collectively. 2. an area inhabited solely

or mostly by Jews.

Judaism – 1. the Jewish religion, rites, customs, etc. 2. adherence to

the Jewish religion, rites, etc.

Kaabism – the tradition in Islam of venerating a shrine in Mecca

through pilgrimage and prayers made after turning in its direction.

Karaism – a Jewish theology based on literal interpretation of the Old

Testament and rejection of rabbinical commentary.

Karmathian – an adherent of a heretical 9th-century Muslim sect that

considers the Koran as mere allegory and is opposed to prayer, fast-

ing, and revelation.

Krishnaism – the worship of Krishna as the eighth incarnation of the

god Vishnu, the preserver-god of the Hindu trinity.

laicism – 1. the nonclerical, or secular, control of political and social

institutions in a society. 2. lay participation in church matters.

Lamaism – a reformation of Buddhism in Tibet intended to bring

about stricter discipline in the monasteries; the dominant sect is Ge-

lup-Ka (The Virtuous Way), with the patron deity Chen-re-zi (the

Bodhisattva of Great Mercy), who is reincarnated as the successive

Dalai Lamas.

Lamanism – a form of Mahayana Buddhism marked by its complex

organization and elaborate rituals.

latria – worship of the highest order that can be offered only to God.

lecanomancy – a form of divination involving the examination of wa-

ter in a basin.

347

Lollardism – 1. the religious teachings of John Wycliffeth-century

English theologian, religious reformer, and Bible translator. 2. adhe-

rence to these teachings, especially in England and Scotland in the

14th and 15th centuries.

Lutheranism – 1. the religious doctrines and church polity of Martin

Lutherth-century German theologian, author, and leader of the Protes-

tant Reformation. 2. adherence to these doctrines or membership in

the Lutheran Church.

Mahayanism – the ―greater vehicle‖ or second development of

Buddhism after the death of its founder as a reaction against the or-

thodox and conservative ideas of the Hinayana, asserting that Gauta-

ma is one of many manifestations of one primordial Buddha and em-

phasizing good works illustrating the six virtues of generosity, morali-

ty, patience, vigor, concentration, and wisdom necessary to ideal

Buddhism; its tenets are preserved in Sanskrit texts, later translated in-

to Chinese and Japanese.

Mahdism – the belief in Mahdi, the Muslim spiritual guide who, on

Judgment Day, will lead the faithful to salvation.

manaism – 1. the doctrine of a generalized, supernatural force or

power, which may be concentrated in objects or persons. 2. belief in

mana.

Manicheism – 1. the doctrines and practices of the dualistic religious

system of Manes, a blending of Gnostic Christianity, Buddhism, Zo-

roastrianism, and other elements, especially doctrines of a cosmic con-

flict between forces of light and darkness, the darkness and evilness of

matter, and the necessity for a sexual, vegetarian asceticism. 2. any

similar dualistic system, considered heretical by orthodox Christian

standards.

Maronism — an Arabic-speaking Uniat sect in Lebanon, under the

authority of the papacy since the 12th century but maintaining its Sy-

riac liturgy, married clergy, and practice of communion in both bread

and wine.

martyrdom – 1. the condition of being a martyr. 2. the death or type

of suffering of a particular martyr. 3. any arduous suffering or tor-

ment.

Masorete – any of the Jewish scribes of the 10th century who com-

piled the Masora.

348

Mazdaism – the worship of Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism as the

source of all light and good.

mediumism – 1. the belief that another person can serve as an instru-

ment through which another personality or supernatural agency can

communicate. 2. the art or practice of such a spiritualistic medium.

Messianism – 1. a belief in a Messiah coming to deliver the Jews, re-

store Israel, and rule righteously, first mentioned by the Prophet

Isaiah. 2. the Christian belief that Jesus Christ was the Messiah proph-

esied. 3. the vocation of a Messiah.

metapsychosis – interaction or communication between minds with-

out the intervention of any known physical agency or other known

medium.

Methodism – 1. the religious teachings and church polity of John

Wesleyth-century English theologian and evangelist, or those of his

followers. 2. the doctrines, polity, beliefs, and rituals of the Methodist

Church, founded by Wesley, especially its emphasis on personal and

social morality.

millenarianism – chiliasm.

millennialism – a doctrine that Christ will make a second Advent and

that the prophecy in the book of Revelation will be fulfilled with an

earthly millennium of peace and righteousness.

Mithraism – an oriental mystery cult, admitting only men, whose dei-

ty was Mithras, the savior hero of Persian myth.

modalism – the theological doctrine that the members of the Trinity

are not three separate persons but modes or forms of God‘s self-

expression.

monergism – the doctrine advanced by some Lutheran theologians

that spiritual renewal is exclusively the activity of the Holy Spirit.

Monophysitism – a 5th-century heresy concerning the nature of Chr-

ist, asserting that He had only a divine nature or that the human and

divine made one composite nature.

monotheism – the doctrine of or belief in only one God.

Monothelitism – a heretical position of the 7th century that Christ‘s

human will had been superseded by the divine.

Montanism – the 2nd-century doctrines of Montanus of Phrygia, who

believed that the Holy Spirit, or Paraclete, dwelt within him and made

him its instrument for guiding men in the Christian way.

349

Mormonism – 1. the doctrines and polity of the Church of Jesus Chr-

ist of Latter-day Saints, founded in the U.S. in 1830 by Joseph Smith,

especially its adoption of the Book of Mormon as an adjunct to the Bi-

ble. 2. adherence to these doctrines or membership in the Mormon

Church.

Muhammadanism – the doctrines and practices of the religion

founded by the prophet Muhammad and set forth in the Koran. Also

called Islam.

mysticism – 1. the doctrine that an immediate spiritual intuition of

truth or an intimate spiritual union of the soul with God can be

achieved through contemplation and spiritual exercises. 2. the beliefs,

ideas, or practices of mystics.

necromancy – 1. the magic practiced by a witch or sorcerer. 2. a form

of divination through communication with the dead.

neopaganism – the revival of paganism.

Nestorianism – a 5th-century heresy concerning Christ‘s nature, as-

serting that the human and divine were in harmony but separate and

that Mary should be considered the Mother of Christ, not of God.

Novationism – a 3rd-century controversy in the Roman diocese in

which Novation, elected bishop of a schismatic group, declared that

lapsed Christians could not be received again into the Church.

nullifidian – a person who has no religion; a religious skeptic.

nullifidianism – 1. the state or position of being without religious

faith or belief. 2. advocacy of such a state or position.

occultism – a belief that certain secret, mysterious, or supernatural

agencies exist and that human beings may communicate with them or

have their assistance.

omphalomancy – a form of divination in which the number of knots

in a new-born‘s umbilical cord are counted to foretell the number of

children the mother will have later.

oneiromancy – a form of divination involving dreams.

Ophism – the doctrines and beliefs of certain Gnostic sects that wor-

shiped serpents as the symbol of the hidden divine wisdom and as

having benefited Adam and Eve by encouraging them to eat the fruit

of the tree of knowledge.

Origenism – 1. the doctrines and precepts of Origen of Alexandriard-

century Christian theologian and teacher. 2. adherence to his doc-

trines.

350

Orphism – the religion of the Orphic mysteries, a cult of Dionysus

(Bacchus) ascribed to Orpheus as its founder, especially its rites of in-

itiation and doctrines of original sin, salvation, and purification

through reincarnations.

orthodoxy – the condition, quality, or practice of conforming, espe-

cially in religious belief.

paganism – 1. a hedonistic spirit or attitude in moral or religious mat-

ters. 2. the beliefs and practices of pagans, especially polytheists. 3.

the state of being a pagan.

Pan-Buddhism – the principles, doctrines, and tenets that concern or

are believed by all Buddhists.

panentheism – the belief that the world is part, though not all of God.

Pan-Islamism – the doctrines of Sultan Abdul-Hamid‘s 19th-century

political movement that was against the westernization and unification

of Islam.

pantheism – 1. the belief that identifies God with the universe. 2. the

belief that God is the only reality, transcending all, and that the un-

iverse and everything in it are mere manifestations of Him.

papism – authoritarian government under the direction of the pope.

Patripassianism – a heretical, monophysitic concept of the 2nd and

3rd centuries that held that, in the Crucifixion, the Father suffered

equally with the Son.

patrology – 1. Also patristics – the branch of theology that studies

the teachings of the early church fathers. 2. a collection of the writ-

ings of the early church fathers.

Paulianism – a 3rd-century heresy concerning the nature of Christ,

denying the divine by asserting that Christ was inspired by God and

was not a person in the Trinity.

Pelagianism – the heretical doctrines of Pelagiusth-century British

monk, especially a denial of original sin and man‘s fallen spiritual na-

ture, and an assertion that man‘s goodness was sufficient for him to

work out his salvation without the assistance of the Holy Spirit.

Pentecostalism — the beliefs and practices of certain Christian

groups, often fundamentalist, that emphasize the activity of the Holy

Spirit, stress a strict morality, and seek emotional spiritual experiences

in worship rituals.

phallicism – the worship of the phallus as symbolic of the generative

power of nature.

351

Phantasiast – a member of an early Christian sect that denied the re-

ality of Christ‘s body.

Phariseeism – 1. the beliefs and practices of an ancient Jewish sect,

especially strictness of religious observance, close adherence to oral

laws and traditions, and belief in an afterlife and a coming Messiah. 2.

(l.c.) the behavior of a sanctimonious and self-righteous person.

pleroma – the Gnostic concept of the spiritual world, representing the

fullness of the Divine Being and the eons emanating therefrom.

polytheism – a belief in, or worship of, many gods.

predestination – 1. the action of God in foreordaining from eternity

whatever comes to pass. 2. the doctrine that God chooses those who

are to come to salvation.

Puritanism – 1. the principles and practices of a movement within

16th-century Anglicanism, demanding reforms in doctrine, polity, and

worship, and greater strictness in religious discipline, chiefly in terms

of Calvinist principles. 2. a political party developed from the reli-

gious movement in the 17th century that successfully gained control

of England through revolution and briefly attempted to put Puritan

principles to work on all levels of English life and government. 3.

U.S. History. the principles and practices of the Congregationalist

members of the religious movement who, having migrated to America

in 1620, attempted to set up a theocratic state in which clergy had au-

thority over both religious and civil life.

pyromancy – a form of divination involving fire or flames.

pythonism – a form of divination in the manner of Pythia, the Delphic

priestess.

Quakerism – the principles and beliefs of the Society of Friends, a

creedless sect founded in England about 1650 by George Fox, espe-

cially its emphasis upon the Inward Light of each believer, its rejec-

tion of oaths, and its opposition to all wars.

rabbinism – the beliefs, practices, and precepts of the rabbis of the

Talmudic period.

Ramaism – the worship of Rama, a hero of Hindu epic, as an incarna-

tion of the god Vishnu.

Rastafarianism – the religious beliefs of a West Indian sect who wor-

ship the late Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie (given name: Ras Ta-

fari), and who believe that black people are the chosen of God, and

352

that their promised land is Africa. Their use of marijuana in rituals

was widely publicized.

Reformation – the 16th-century religious movement in Europe that

resulted in the formation of Protestantism.

Sabianism – the religious system of the Sabians, a group, according

to the Koran, entitled to Muslim religious toleration. They have been

associated with the Mandeans, who claim direct descent from the fol-

lowers of John the Baptist.

Sadduceeism, Sadducism – the beliefs and practices of an ancient

Jewish sect made up largely of the priestly aristocracy and opposing

the Pharisees in both political and doctrinal matters, especially literal

and less legalistic interpretation of the Jewish law, rejection of the

rabbinical and prophetic traditions, and denying immortality, retribu-

tion in a future life, and the existence of angels.

schism – a division especially peculiar to a Christian church or a reli-

gious body.

Scientology – the doctrines and beliefs of a religious movement

founded in the mid-20th century by L. Ron Hubbard, especially an

emphasis upon man‘s immortal spirit, reincarnation, and an extras-

cientific method of psychotherapy (dianetics).

sectarianism – the spirit or tendencies of sectarians, especially adhe-

rence or excessive devotion to a particular sect, especially in religion.

secularism – 1. a view that religion and religious considerations

should be ignored or excluded from social and political matters. 2. an

ethical system asserting that moral judgments should be made without

reference to religious doctrine, as reward or punishment in an afterlife.

Semitism – 1. the state or quality of being Jewish. 2. anything typical

or characteristic of Judaism, as customs, beliefs, influence, etc.

Shaktism – 1. a Hindu sect worshipping Shakti as a mother goddess

under such names as Kali and Durga through contemplation and hu-

mility; right-hand Shaktism. 2. a Hindu Tantric sect worshiping Shak-

ti as the feminine principle of gen-eration through rites involving ri-

tual eating and orgy; left-hand Shaktism.

shamanism – 1. the tenets of the primitive religion of northern Asia,

especially a belief in powerful spirits who can be influenced only by

shamans in their double capacity of priest and doctor. 2. any similar

religion, as among American Indians.

353

Shiism – the doctrines and practices of Shi‘a, one of the two major

branches of Islam, regarding Ali, the son-in-law of Muhammad, as the

Prophet‘s legitimate successor.

Shintoism – the doctrines and practices of Shinto, the native religion

of Japan, especially its system of nature and ancestor worship.

Sikhism – the doctrines of a reformed Hindu sect opposed to the caste

system, supremacy of Brahrnan priests, magic, idolatry, and pilgri-

mages.

simonism – the practices of simony, especially the making of a profit

out of sacred things.

sindonology – the study of fabric artifacts, especially the supposed

burial shroud of Christ.

Sivaism – a cult made up of the worshipers of Siva, the destroyer-god

of the Hindu trinity.

Soteriology – the doctrine concerning the means and possibility of

salvation.

spiritualism – 1. the belief that the dead survive as spirits that can

communi-cate with the living, especially through a medium, a person

particularly susceptible to their influence. 2. the practices or pheno-

mena associated with this belief.

stigmatism – the state of one who has received supernatural stigmata,

i.e., marks on hands, feet, and side similar to the wounds of Christ.

Sufism – the beliefs and practices of an ascetic, retiring, and mystical

sect in Islam.

Sunnism – the doctrines and practices of the larger of the two major

branches of Islam, regarding as legitimate the first four caliphs after

Muhammad‘s death and stressing the importance of the traditional

portion of Muslim law (the Sunna).

supernaturalism – 1. the condition or quality of existing outside the

known experience of man or caused by forces beyond those of nature.

2. belief in supernatural events or forces.

syncretism – the attempted reconciliation or union of different or op-

posing principles, practices, parties, or denominations, as in the late

19th- and 20th-century discussions between Anglo-Catholics and Ro-

man authorities.

synergism – an ancient heretical doctrine, extant since the 3rd cen-

tury, which holds that spiritual renewal is a cooperative endeavor be-

tween a person and the Holy Ghost.

354

Talmudism – 1. the teachings of the collection of Jewish law and tra-

dition called the Talmud. 2. the observance of and adherence to these

teachings.

Tantrayana – the mixed form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, adding

to ideas from both major Buddhist developments doctrines and prac-

tices from Hindu Tantric sects and the native Tibetan religion of na-

ture worship and magic called Bönism; it combines the Hinayana con-

cept of emancipation through self-discipline and the Mahayana con-

cept of philosophical insight into reality for the sake of others with un-

iquely Tibetan magical rites and mystical meditation.

Tantrism – 1. the teachings of the Tantras, Sanskrit religious writings

concerned with mysticism and magic rituals. 2. the beliefs and prac-

tices of Hindu adherents to the Tantras in place of the Vedas, especial-

ly magic rituals for healing, averting evil, and union with the female

creative principle.

Taoism – 1. a philosophical system evolved by Lao-tzu and Chuang-

tzu, especially its advocacy of a simple and natural life and of nonin-

terference with the course of natural events in order to have a happy

existence in harmony with the Tao. 2. a popular Chinese religion, pur-

porting to be based on the principles of Lao-tzu, but actually an eclec-

tic polytheism characterized by superstition, alchemy, divination, and

magic.

Targumist – 1. the writer of a Targum, a translation or paraphrase in-

to Aramaic of a portion of the Old Testament. 2. an authority on Tar-

gumic literature.

theanthropism – 1. the attributing of human characteristics to God;

anthropomorphism. 2. a belief in the divinity of a human being. 3. a

belief in God‘s becoming man.

theanthropism – the condition of being, simultaneously, both god

and man.

theism – 1. a belief in the existence of God or gods. 2. a belief in one

god as creator and ruler of the universe, without rejection of special

revelation.

theocentrism, theocentricity – the belief that God is the center of all

truth in the universe.

theocracy – a system of government in which a deity is considered

the civil ruler.

355

theocrasy, theocrasia – 1. a mingling of the attributes of several dei-

ties into one. 2. a union of an individual soul with God, especially

through contemplation.

Theodicy – the vindication of the goodness of God in the face of the

existence of evil.

theogony – 1. the origin of the gods. 2. a genealogical account of the

origin of the gods.

theomorphism – the state or condition of being formed in the image

or likeness of God.

theophany – a manifestation or appearance of God or a god to man.

theophilanthropism – the doctrines or tenets of a deistic society in

post-Revolutionary Paris that hoped to replace the outlawed Christian

religion with a new religion based on belief in God, the immortality of

the soul, and personal virtue.

theosophy, theosophism – 1. any of various forms of philosophical or

religious thought claiming a mystical insight into the divine nature and

natural phenomena. 2. the system of belief and practice of the Theo-

sophical Society.

Therapeutism – the beliefs and practices of the Therapeutae, a Jewish

mystical sect in Egypt during the 1st century A.D.

theurgy – 1. the working of some divine or supernatural agency in

human affairs. 2. the art of invoking deities or spirits for aid or infor-

mation or knowledge unachievable through human reason. 3. a divine

act; miracle. 4. a system of supernatural knowledge or powers be-

lieved bequeathed to the Egyptian Platonists by beneficent deities.

titanism – the condition of having qualities distinctive of the Titans, a

family of giants in Greek mythology.

Torah – 1. the first flve books of the Old Testament; the Pentateuch.

2. a scroll of these scriptures in Hebrew used for liturgical purposes.

Also called Sepher Torah. 3. the entire body of Jewish law and tradi-

tion as found in the Old Testament and the Talmud.

transubstantiation – the doctrine that the consecrated elements of the

communion only appear as bread and wine, for they have been con-

verted into the whole substance of the body and blood of Christ.

trichotomy – division into three parts, especially the theological divi-

sion of man‘s nature into the body, the soul, and the spirit.

356

trieteric – 1. a festival that occurs every third year, especially one ho-

noring Bacchus. 2. occurring every third year, particularly in reference

to festivals for divinities.

trinitarianism – the orthodox Christian belief that God exists as the

Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

tripersonality – the quality of existing in three persons, as God in the

Trinity.

tritheism – 1. a belief in three gods. 2. a Christian heresy holding that

the Trinity consists of three distinct gods.

Uniatism – the union of an Eastern Rite church with the Roman

Church in which the authority of the papacy is accepted without loss

of separate liturgies or government by local patriarchs.

Unitarianism – the beliefs, principles, and practices of the Unitarian

denomination, especially its doctrine that God is one being, and its

emphasis upon autonomous congregational government.

unitarianism – the doctrines of those, including the Unitarian deno-

mination, who hold that God exists only in one person.

Universalism – 1. the theological doctrine that all men will finally be

saved or brought back to holiness and God. 2. the doctrines and prac-

tices of the Universalist denomination.

Vaishnavism – the worship of Vishnu in any of his forms or incarna-

tions.

Valentinianism – a 2nd-century blending of Egyptian Gnosticism and

Christi-anity into a system of heretical doctrines, especially the denial

that Christ took his human nature from the Virgin Mary.

Vaudism – the principles of the Vaudois or Waldenses, who did not

acknowledge the primacy of the Pope.

Vedaism, Vedism – 1. the teachings of the Vedas, the four most sa-

cred writings of Hinduism. 2. an adherence to these teachings; ortho-

dox Hinduism.

Vedantism – the beliefs and practices of Vedanta, an orthodox Hindu

philosophy emphasizing the teachings on contemplation found in the

Vedas.

virtualism – the doctrine attributed to Calvin and other reformers that

the bread and wine of the communion remain unchanged but are the

vehicle through which the spiritual body and blood of Christ are re-

ceived by the communicant.

357

voodooism, voudouism – 1. the religious rites or practices, including

magie or sorcery, of certain West Indian black people. 2. the practice

of sorcery.

Wahhabism – the religious system of the Wahhabi, a Muslim order

founded by Muhammad Ibn-Abdul Wahhab.

witchery – witchcraft or sorcery.

wizardry – the art or practice of a wizard; sorcery; magic.

Yogism, Yoga – 1. an orthodox Hindu philosophical system con-

cerned with the liberation of the self from its noneternal elements or

states. 2. any system of exercises and disciplines for achieving such

liberation of self.

Zealotism – the beliefs, activities, and spirit of an ancient radical

group in Judea that advocated overthrowing Roman rule.

Zen Buddhism, Zenism – an outgrowth of Mahayana, the ―medita-

tion‖ sect, developed in Japan from its earlier Chinese counterpart and

divided into two branches: Binzai, an austere and aristocratie monas-

ticism emphasizing meditation on paradoxes; and Sōtō, a benevolent

monasticism with great popular following, emphasizing ethical actions

and charity, tenderness, benevolence, and sympathy as well as medita-

tion on whatever occurs as illumination.

Zendicism – 1. the practice of atheism. 2. the practice of heretical

magie, especially with fire.

Zionism – a worldwide Jewish movement for the establishment in Pa-

lestine of a national homeland for Jews.

Zombism – the Kongo and Kimbundu system of religion, characte-

rized by worship of a snake deity during voodoo rites.

zoomorphism – the attribution of animal form or nature to a deity.

Zoroastrianism – the doctrines and practices of a dualistic Iranian re-

ligion, especially the existence of a supreme deity, Ahura Mazda, and

belief in a cosmic struggle between a spirit of good and light and a

spirit of evil and darkness.

358

Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………..3

Unit I. Essence and origin of religion……………………………10

1.1. Definitions and classification……………………………….…10

1.1.1. Derivation of the word ―religion‖ …………………….10

1.1.2. The notion ―religion‖ in other languages……………...12

1.2. Origin and Evolution of Religion……………………………...13

1.2.1. Evolutionist Hypothesis………………………………..15

1.2.2. Functionalist Hypothesis……………………………….17

1.3. Common characteristics of religions…………………………...20

1.3.1. Essence of religion……………………………………...20

1.3.2. Classification of religions………………………………23

1.4. Ancient religions………………………………………………..33

1.4.1. Judaism…………………………………………………34

1.4.2. Assyro-Babylonian religions………………………...…47

1.4.3. Ancient Egyptian religion………………………………57

1.4.4. Ancient Greek religion………………………………….68

1.4.5. Ancient Slavonic religion……………………………….80

1.4.6. Ancient Far-East religions………………………………89

Unit II. Buddhism…………………………………………………..94

2.1. Buddha and his teaching…………………………………..98

2.2. Four Noble Truths……………………………………….107

2.3. The Theravada conception…………………….………...112

2.4. The Mahayana conception……………………………….120

Unit III. Christianity……………………………………………..130

3.1. Christology……………………………………………...130

3.2. Main Christian ideas…………………………………….143

3.3. Christian tradition……………………………………….150

3.4. Christian sacraments…………………………………….159

3.5. Christian feasts………………………………………….165

3.6. A Brief History of Christianity………………………….171

3.7. Russian Orthodoxy………………………………………182

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Unit IV. Islam……………………………………………………203

4.1. A Brief History of Muhammad………………………....203

4.2. The Quran..……………………………………………...210

4.3. Five Pillars of Islam……………………………………213

4.4. Major types of Islam…………………………………….220

4.5. Cultural diversity of Islam………………………………223

Unit V. Modern religious situation

in the World and in Russia………………………………………226

5.1. Modern religious situation………………………………226

5.2. New religious movements……………………………….228

5.3. Religion in Russia……………………………………….235

Task for practices…………………………………………………242

Appendix…………………………………………………………..243

Reader………………………………………………………..243

Case-studies…………………………………………………297

Тest………………………………………………….…………….329

Conclusion…………………………………………………………331

Bibliography……………………………………………………….332

Internet links……………………………………………………….333

Glossary of persons………………………………………………..334

Glossary of terms………………………………………………….339

Contents…………………………………………………………..358

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