The Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Christian World. Report: The Byzantine Empire and Eastern Christendom

Byzantine Empire is rightly considered the direct heir to the Roman Empire. It existed for more than a millennium, and even after the attack of the barbarians, which was successfully repelled, it remained the most powerful Christian state for several centuries.

Main features of the Byzantine Empire

First of all, it should be said that the name “Byzantium” did not appear immediately - until the 15th century, this state was called the Eastern Roman Empire. This empire was located in the east of the Mediterranean, and during its heyday it had lands in Europe, Asia and even Africa.

Thanks to the Mediterranean climate, agriculture and cattle breeding in the country developed and flourished. Also, mineral resources such as gold, tin, copper, silver and more were actively mined on its territory. But what was important was not only its ability to provide itself with everything necessary, but also the fact that the empire had a very advantageous location: for example, the Great Silk Road to China passed through it. The route of incense covered 11 thousand kilometers, it passed through many important points and brought the state a considerable part of its wealth.

The Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Christian world were connected by an equally famous route - “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” which began in Scandinavia and, passing through Eastern Europe, led to Byzantium.

The capital of the Byzantine Empire was Constantinople.

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Rice. 1. Constantinople.

The population of the state was very high - no European country could boast of so many people. For example, in the Middle Ages, 35 million people lived in Byzantium - a very large number for those times. The bulk of the population spoke Greek and were carriers of Hellenic culture, but in Byzantium there was a place for Syrians, Arabs, Egyptians, and representatives of other ethnic groups.

Two traditions in the life of the Byzantines: ancient and Christian

Byzantium preserved its ancient heritage longer than the states of Western Europe, since it became the cornerstone of its state structure. Like the Romans, the Byzantines had two favorite entertainments: theatrical performances and equestrian competitions.

However, by the 8th century, the Christian tradition became dominant: all genres of art glorified God and his devotees. Thus, the most widespread genre of literature is the lives of saints, and painting is iconography. Outstanding figures of this period are Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom and Basil the Great.

Rice. 2. John Chrysostom.

It was in Byzantium that the cross-domed type of church arose, which would later become the main architectural direction in the construction of churches in Ancient Rus'. Churches were decorated with mosaics - this is another characteristic feature of the Byzantine church tradition.

Rice. 3. A sample of Byzantine mosaic.

Interesting: Education in Byzantium was very developed and accessible to all - even a poor person could go to school and then apply for a government position, which was both honorable and profitable.

What have we learned?

How many centuries did the Byzantine Empire last and when did its name, which is accepted now, appear, what main features did it have, and what city was its capital. The features of its culture, which mixed ancient and Christian traditions, were also examined. Particular attention is paid to the advantageousness of its geographical location: the route from the Varangians to the Greeks and the Great Silk Road ran through Byzantium. Special attention is also paid to architecture and education, as well as literature and the way of life of the Byzantines in general: its character traits.

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In the east of the Roman Empire, Christianity began to spread already in the 1st century. At the beginning of the 4th century, under Constantine the Great, persecution of the Christian Church stopped, and Christianity became official religion Roman state. The west of the Roman Empire was predominantly Latin-speaking, while in the east Greek was dominant (the lower classes of Egypt and Syria spoke Coptic and Syriac, respectively). These languages ​​were used from the very beginning for the preaching of Christianity and for worship: the Christian Bible was very early translated from Greek into Latin, Coptic and Syriac.

The early Christian church was organized as a system of separate and independent communities (churches) with centers in the capitals of countries and provinces and in major cities. Bishops of large cities supervised the churches in the areas adjacent to these cities. Already by the 5th century. A system developed according to which the bishops of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, who were usually called popes, began to be considered the heads of the churches of their respective regions, while the emperor was entrusted with the responsibility of protecting the church and ensuring its doctrinal unity.

The fifth century was marked by the beginning of vigorous Christological debates that had a profound impact on the church. The Nestorians taught that two personalities were united in Christ - divine and human. Their irreconcilable opponents, the Monophysites, taught that Christ has only one personality and that in him the divine and human natures are inextricably fused into a single divine-human nature. Both of these extremes were condemned as heretical by the established church, but many people in Egypt and Syria enthusiastically embraced these doctrines. The Coptic population and a significant part of the Syrians gave preference to Monophysitism, while the other part of the Syrians joined Nestorianism.

At the end of the 5th century. The Western Roman Empire collapsed, and a number of barbarian kingdoms formed on its territory, but in the East the Byzantine Empire continued to exist with its capital in Constantinople. The Byzantine emperors repeatedly persecuted the Monophysites and Nestorians of Egypt and Syria. And when in the 7th century. Muslim conquerors invaded these countries, and a significant part of the population greeted them as liberators. Meanwhile, the gap between the religious culture of Latin and Greek Christians deepened. Thus, the Western clergy began to view the church as a social institution, completely independent of the state, as a result of which, over time, the popes assumed a number of powers of the previous imperial authorities, while in the East - despite the fact that the Patriarchs of Constantinople bore the title of “ecumenical patriarchs”, – the importance of the role of the Byzantine emperor as the visible head of the church constantly increased. Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, was called "equal to the apostles". The schism between the Western (Catholic) and Eastern (Orthodox) churches is usually dated to 1054, but in reality there was a gradual and long process of division, more due to differences in customs and opinions than doctrinal differences. A truly important event that caused an insurmountable alienation can be considered the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders (1204), as a result of which Greek Christians lost confidence in the West for many centuries.

ORTHODOX CHURCH

The word “Orthodoxy” (Greek: orthodoxia) means “correct faith.” The church bases its faith on Holy Scripture, on the teachings of the ancient church fathers - Basil the Great (d. about 379), Gregory of Nazianzus (d. about 390), John Chrysostom (d. 407) and others, as well as on Church Tradition preserved primarily in the liturgical tradition. Strict dogmatic formulations of this doctrine were developed by ecumenical councils, of which the Orthodox Church recognizes the first seven. The First Council of Nicea (325), condemning Arianism, proclaimed the divinity of Jesus Christ. The First Council of Constantinople (381) recognized the divinity of the Holy Spirit, completing the trinity of the Holy Trinity. The Council of Ephesus (431) condemned the Nestorians, recognizing the hypostatic unity of Christ. The Council of Chalcedon (451), in contrast to the Monophysites, recognized the distinction of two natures in Christ - divine and human. The Second Council of Constantinople (553) confirmed the condemnation of Nestorianism. The Third Council of Constantinople (680–681) accepted the doctrine of two wills, divine and human, in Christ, condemning the teaching of the Monothelites, who - with the support of the imperial authorities - tried to find a compromise between orthodoxy and Monophysitism. Finally, the Second Council of Nicaea (787) recognized the canonicity of icon veneration and condemned the iconoclasts, who enjoyed the support of the Byzantine emperors. The most authoritative body of orthodox doctrine is considered An accurate statement of the Orthodox faith John of Damascus (d. about 754).

The most significant doctrinal difference between the Orthodox Church and Latin Catholics was the disagreement over the problem of the so-called. filioque. The ancient creed, adopted at the First Council of Nicaea and amended at the First Council of Constantinople, states that the Holy Spirit proceeds from God the Father. However, first in Spain, then in Gaul, and later in Italy, the word filioque, meaning “and from the Son,” began to be added to the corresponding verse in the Latin Creed. Western theologians viewed this addition not as an innovation, but as an anti-Arian clarification, but Orthodox theologians did not agree with this. Some of them believed that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son, but, although this statement could be interpreted in the same sense as the Catholic addition of the filioque, all Orthodox theologians, without exception, considered it unacceptable to include in the creed a word that was not sanctioned by the Ecumenical Council. Photius (d. 826) and Michael Cerularius, two patriarchs of Constantinople who played a major role in the Greco-Latin church disputes, spoke of the filioque as the deepest error of the West.

Although the Orthodox Church was distinguished by extreme conservatism in matters of dogmatic purity, especially those related to the divine Trinity and the Incarnation of Christ, the field of activity for the work of theological thought remained very wide. Maximus the Confessor (d. 662), Theodore the Studite (d. 826), Simeon New Theologian(d. 1033) and Gregory Palamas (d. 1359) made enormous contributions to the development of Christian theology, especially in the field of monastic spirituality.

Monasticism played an extremely important role in the life of the Orthodox Church. Monasticism can be defined as leaving the world for the sake of prayer life either in a hermitage or in a community with other monks. Monks do not marry, do not own personal property, and most often impose severe restrictions on food and sleep. The first Christian monks appeared in the Egyptian desert at the turn of the 3rd and 4th centuries. The desire to escape persecution and, perhaps, imitation of non-Christian (in particular, Buddhist) models may have played a certain role in the emergence of the monastic movement, but from the very beginning the core of Christian monasticism was the desire for unity with God through the renunciation of all other objects of desire. Basil the Great in the 4th century. compiled a monastic charter, which - with minor modifications - still regulates life Orthodox monasticism. The monastic movement very quickly captured Syria, Asia Minor and Greece. The prestige of monasticism was especially strengthened during the iconoclastic disputes of the 8th and 9th centuries, when monks resolutely resisted the attempts of the Byzantine emperors to remove icons and sacred images from churches, and many monks were persecuted and suffered martyrdom for the Orthodox faith. In the Middle Ages, the major monastic centers were Mount Olympus in Bithynia and Constantinople, but the main center of Orthodox monasticism was and remains to this day Athos in northern Greece - a mountainous peninsula on which, since the 10th century. Dozens of monasteries arose.

The first great theorist of monastic spirituality was Evagrius of Pontus (d. 399), who believed that the human soul was united with the flesh as a result of the Fall and that it was the flesh that was the cause of the passions that distract man from God. Therefore, he considered the main goal of monastic life to be the achievement of a state of dispassion (apatheia), through which knowledge of God is achieved. The Second Council of Constantinople condemned the Origenist doctrine that the flesh is alien to true human nature. Subsequent theorists of monasticism - in particular, Maximus the Confessor - tried to cleanse the teachings of Evagrius from unorthodox elements, arguing that the whole person (and not just his soul) is sanctified by cultivating love for God and neighbor. Nevertheless, Orthodox asceticism remained predominantly contemplative. In the 14th century - mainly under the influence of the teachings of Gregory Palamas - hesychasm is being established among Orthodox monks, which includes, first of all, a special technique of prayer, which implied control of breathing and prolonged mental concentration on a short prayer addressed to Jesus Christ (the so-called Jesus Prayer). According to the teachings of the hesychasts, this kind of “smart” prayer allows one to gain spiritual peace, and later leads to ecstatic contemplation of the divine light that surrounded Christ at the moment of his transfiguration (Matthew 17: 1-8).

Hesychasm, like monastic spirituality in general, could inspire admiration, but could hardly become a common practice for ordinary people living in the world of work and carnal love and connected by family ties. However, the church did not neglect their spiritual life, since for the laity, as for monasticism, the center of Orthodox religious practice was the liturgy and the Christian sacraments. Most Orthodox theologians recognize seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, priesthood, marriage, repentance and consecration of oil. Since the number of sacraments was not formally determined by the ecumenical councils, the sacrament of monastic tonsure is sometimes added to the seven listed sacraments. The sacramental (sacramental) practice of the Orthodox Church differs in many details from the Western one. Baptism here is carried out through threefold immersion, and, as a rule, it is immediately followed by confirmation, so that the Sacrament of confirmation in Orthodoxy is performed most often on infants, and not on children who have reached adolescence, as with Catholics. In the sacrament of repentance, greater importance is attached to contrition for sins and spiritual guidance on the part of the confessor, rather than receiving formal absolution. In Orthodoxy, a second marriage of widowed or divorced people is allowed, a third is condemned, and a fourth is prohibited. The church hierarchy includes bishops, priests and deacons. The Orthodox clergy can be unmarried, but married men can also be ordained to the priesthood and deaconship (which becomes mandatory requirement, unless they are ordained), so most parish priests are usually married (although remarriage in case of widowhood they are not allowed). Bishops must be celibate, so they are usually elected from among the monks. The Orthodox Church is particularly strongly opposed to the idea of ​​ordaining women.

The most important of all Christian sacraments in Orthodoxy the sacrament of the Eucharist is considered, and the Eucharistic liturgy is the center Orthodox worship. The liturgy is celebrated in the church, which is divided into three parts: the vestibule, the middle part and the altar. The altar is separated from the rest of the church by the iconostasis - a barrier on which icons (in Orthodoxy sculptural images are not used) of Christ, the Virgin Mary, saints and angels are placed. The iconostasis has three gates connecting the altar with the middle part of the church. The liturgy begins with proskomedia, preparation for the sacrament, during which the priest uses a special knife (“spear”) to remove particles from prosphoras (baked from leavened dough) and pours red grape wine and water into a bowl. Then the Liturgy of the Catechumens is performed, which includes prayers to the saints whose memory is celebrated on this day, singing Trisagion Song(“Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us”) and reading the Apostle and the Gospel (that is, the texts from the apostolic epistles and gospels assigned for this day). After this, the catechumens (catechumens, i.e. people preparing for baptism) in ancient times were ordered to leave the church. Then the Liturgy of the Faithful begins. The Holy Gifts - bread and wine - are carried by the clergy in front of the parishioners and taken to the altar, where they are placed on the altar. The priest remembers in prayer the Last Supper, during which Jesus Christ transformed bread and wine into his Body and Blood. After this, an epiclesis is performed, in which the priest prayerfully asks the Holy Spirit to descend on the Gifts and transubstantiate them. Then everyone sings the Lord's Prayer. Finally, the communion of believers is performed with particles of transubstantiated bread immersed in a cup of transubstantiated wine, using a spoon (“liar”). The most important thing in the liturgy is this very act of communion with the Body and Blood of Christ and union with Christ.

The ultimate goal of spiritual life in Orthodoxy is considered to be communion with the life of God. Already in the New Testament it is said that the goal of a Christian is to become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). St. Athanasius of Alexandria (d. 373) taught that “God became man so that man could become God.” Therefore, the concept of deification (Greek theosis) occupies a central place in the Orthodox tradition. In the West, Augustine (d. 430) developed the doctrine of original sin, according to which the human will was significantly damaged as a result of the Fall of Adam, and therefore only the sacrificial death of Christ allows a person to escape hell. This teaching remains the basis of the Catholic and, to an even greater extent, Protestant concept of the mission of Christ and the redemption of sinners. However, the Eastern tradition has not developed a similar teaching. In Orthodoxy, the Incarnation of Christ is viewed rather as a cosmic event: having become incarnate, God incorporates all material reality into himself, and having become human, he opens up the opportunity for all people to become participants in his own, divine existence. The believer will be able to enjoy the fullness of divine life only after death, in heaven, however, the beginning of this life is the acceptance of baptism, and then it is supported by the communion of the Holy Gifts in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Nicholas Cabasilas (d. 1395) wrote that Christ introduced us to heavenly life by tilting the sky for us and bringing it closer to the earth. Monks take their cultivation in this heavenly life most seriously, but all Orthodox Christians are called—through the sacraments and liturgy—to participate in this life.

The Orthodox Church is sometimes reproached for insufficient attention to the affairs of this world - even those that directly relate to religion, in particular, that the Orthodox Church is not interested in missionary activities. But it must be borne in mind that after the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453 and the subsequent fall of the Byzantine Empire, the Greek Church, naturally, was mainly concerned with surviving under Muslim rule. However, before that she was very actively involved in Christianization Caucasian peoples, in particular Georgians. Moreover, she owned the main role in the Christianization of the Slavs. Saints Cyril (d. 869) and Methodius (d. 885) were engaged in missionary work among the Slavs of the Balkan Peninsula, and later in Moravia. Rus' was converted to Christianity during the reign of Prince of Kyiv Vladimir (980–1015). As a result of this missionary activity in the Orthodox Church, representatives of the Slavic peoples currently outnumber the Greeks. The Russian Orthodox Church, which escaped Turkish rule, in turn, actively engaged in missionary work. Thus, Stefan of Perm (d. 1396) converted the Komi people to Christianity, and then work followed among other peoples of northern Europe and Asia. Missions of the Russian Orthodox Church were created in China in 1715, in Japan in 1861. While Alaska belonged to Russia, missionaries also worked in Russian America.

The Orthodox Church has always paid attention to its relations with other Christian churches. In 1274 and then in 1439, the Church of the Byzantine Empire was formally united with the Western Church under the authority of the Pope. Both unions, generated by political considerations and met with hostility by the Orthodox population, were unsuccessful. In the 16th century Contacts began with Protestant theologians in Western Europe, and Patriarch Cyril Lukary (d. 1638) made an unsuccessful attempt to give Orthodox theology a Calvinist coloring. In the 19th century Contacts were maintained with Old Catholics. In the 20th century The Orthodox Church takes an active position in the World Council of Churches. A decisive step forward in the development of relations with Roman Catholics was the meeting of Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople with Pope Paul VI, held in Jerusalem in 1964. The following year, they issued a joint declaration in which they expressed regret over the estrangement between the two churches and the hope that that the differences between them can be overcome by purification of hearts, awareness of historical errors and a firm determination to come to a common understanding and confession of the apostolic faith.

The Orthodox Church today unites four ancient patriarchates (Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem) and another eleven independent (autocephalous) churches. The supreme position among the heads of Orthodox churches is traditionally occupied by the Patriarch of Constantinople, but he is not the sole head of the entire Orthodox Church. Orthodox churches are united by a common faith and common liturgical practice, but they all manage their own affairs independently. Listed below are the Orthodox Churches that exist today.

Patriarchate of Constantinople.

After the Turkish conquest of Constantinople (1453), the Orthodox hierarchy of the former Byzantine Empire suffered many hardships. Nevertheless, the Patriarchs of Constantinople continued to remain at the head of the Orthodox Church in the Ottoman Empire, and only when Greece, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria freed themselves from the Turkish yoke did their religious ties with the Patriarchate of Constantinople weaken. Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey) continues to be the main episcopal see of the Orthodox world, and the bishop who occupies this see bears the title of "ecumenical patriarch", but under his jurisdiction consists mainly of only a greatly reduced number Orthodox population Turkey. As for the Greek territories, the independent Cretan Church (island of Crete) and the Dodecanese Church (islands of the Southern Sporades) are subordinate to Constantinople. In addition, the direct subordination of the Patriarch of Constantinople includes the monasteries of Mount Athos, a self-governing territory within Greece. The Patriarch also oversees Greek churches abroad, the largest of which is the Greek Orthodox Church of Northern and South America, with the residence of its head in New York. Small autonomous Orthodox churches in Finland and Japan are also under the jurisdiction of Constantinople.

Patriarchate of Alexandria.

The ancient episcopal see of Alexandria presides over the spiritual life of the small Greek community in Egypt. However, in the 20th century. Many converts in the countries of equatorial Africa joined the Church of Alexandria - in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, etc. In 1990, under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Alexandria there were approx. 300,000 believers.

Patriarchate of Antioch.

Under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Antioch, whose residence is in Damascus (Syria), in 1990 there were approx. 400,000 Orthodox believers, approximately half of whom were Arabic-speaking Syrians and the other half from the Syrian diaspora in America.

Jerusalem Patriarchate.

In 1990, the flock of the Patriarch of Jerusalem was approx. 100,000 Christian Arabs of Jordan, Israel and Israeli-occupied territories.

Russian Orthodox Church.

Christianity was adopted in Rus' at the end of the 10th century. Initially, the metropolitans of Kyiv were at the head of the church, and the main center of monasticism was Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. However, in the 14th and 15th centuries. center political life moved to the north. In 1448, an independent Moscow Metropolis arose, and Kyiv retained under its jurisdiction only the territories of modern Ukraine and Belarus. The Holy Trinity Lavra of Sergius (Sergiev Posad), founded by Sergius of Radonezh (d. 1392), became one of the main centers of Russian spiritual culture.

Russian church leaders were aware of the special role of their people as the most numerous of all Orthodox peoples. The theory of Moscow as the “Third Rome” arose: according to this theory, Rome itself, under the rule of the popes, fell away from Orthodoxy, Constantinople - the “second Rome” - fell under the onslaught of the Turks, so that Moscow became the great center of the entire Orthodox world. In 1589, the Moscow Patriarchate was established - the first new patriarchate since the era of the ancient church.

Meanwhile, Ukraine became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Kiev Metropolitan began to submit not to Moscow, but to Constantinople. In 1596, the Union of Brest was concluded, as a result of which many Ukrainians became Catholics. Orthodox Ukrainians returned to Moscow's jurisdiction in the 17th and 18th centuries, following Ukraine's reunification with Russia.

After the church reform carried out by Patriarch Nikon in 1653, designed to bring Russian liturgical practice into line with Greek, opponents of these reforms broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church, who began to be called Old Believers, or schismatics. The Old Believers were divided into priests (who had priests), bespopovtsy (who did not have priests) and beglopopovtsy (who themselves did not ordain priests, but accepted priests who had already been ordained in the Orthodox Church and wished to join the Old Believers).

Over time, the Russian tsars began to play the same role in the Russian Orthodox Church that the Byzantine emperors had previously played. In 1721, Peter the Great abolished the patriarchate in order to achieve closer interaction between the church and the new administrative system. In the 18th and 19th centuries. the tsarist regime coerced Ukrainian Catholics into the territory Russian Empire enter the Orthodox Church. In addition, the Russian tsars declared themselves the protectors of all Orthodox Christians outside Russia, millions of whom were subjects of the Ottoman Empire.

Despite strict state control, the Russian Orthodox Church continued to live an intense spiritual life. Seraphim of Sarov (d. 1833) was the inspirer of the great spiritual rebirth in Russia 19th century John of Krostadt (d. 1909) made significant efforts to introduce the poorest segments of the population to church sacraments and services. In the 19th century Orthodoxy attracted many representatives of the Russian intelligentsia.

In 1917, after the fall of tsarist power, the patriarchate was restored in Russia and a new patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' was elected. The Soviet government imposed restrictions on the activities of the church, arrested and executed clergy, and launched large-scale atheist propaganda. Thousands of churches and monasteries were closed, many were destroyed, and some were turned into museums. The fall of tsarism prompted the Ukrainians to attempt to create a local autocephalous church, but the Soviet authorities suppressed this attempt.

During the Second World War, the state changed its attitude towards the church. Orthodoxy has traditionally been associated in Russia with patriotic ideology, and the country's leadership attracted the church to rouse the people to defend “Holy Rus'” against the Nazi invaders. The situation of the church in the late 1950s again became quite difficult.

The Church took a stronger position under M.S. Gorbachev in the late 1980s. The fall of the Soviet system in 1991 opened up new opportunities for growth and development, but also confronted it with new problems associated with the threat of Russia adopting the new values ​​of Western consumer society. In addition, the refusal to suppress manifestations of the nationalist spirit led to confrontation with the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. Uniates (Eastern Rite Catholics) western Ukraine, annexed to the Orthodox Church in 1946, gained independence in 1990, forming the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church; Some of the church property and buildings were returned to them. In 1998, parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP), the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) operated on the territory of Ukraine. Negotiations are underway between the UOC-KP and the UAOC on unification to form the Ukrainian Local Orthodox Church under patriarchal control.

The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), led by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' (since 1990 Alexy II), unites within its fold a significant part of the population of the former Soviet Union. It is impossible to name the exact number of Orthodox believers (probably 80–90 million). In 1999, the Russian Orthodox Church had 128 dioceses (in 1989 - 67), more than 19,000 parishes (in 1988 - 6893), 480 monasteries (in 1980 - 18). The Old Believers-Priests, led by the Archbishop of Moscow, number approximately 1 million people. Bespopovtsy, part of many independent communities, also number approx. 1 million. And the number of Old Believers-Beglopopovites includes approx. 200,000 believers. The cooperation of the Moscow Patriarchate with the Soviet authorities led to the separation of the right wing of the church from it, which formed the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (Russian Church Abroad); in 1990 this church numbered approx. 100,000 members. In May 2007, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II and First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Laurus, signed the Act of Canonical Communion, establishing norms for the relationship between the two Orthodox churches and aimed at restoring the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Romanian Orthodox Church.

Romanians are the only Romance people who profess Orthodoxy. The Romanian Church received autocephalous status in 1885, and since 1925 it has been headed by the Patriarch of Bucharest. In 1990 it numbered approx. 19 million members.

Orthodox Church of Greece.

Syriac Orthodox (Jacobite) Church.

Religious life in Syria in the 5th–6th centuries. underwent almost the same evolution as in Egypt. The majority of the local Syrian-speaking population accepted the teachings of the Monophysites, which was largely due to hostility towards the Hellenized landowners and city dwellers, as well as towards the Greek emperor in Constantinople. Although the most prominent Syrian Monophysite theologian was Severus of Antioch (d. 538), James Baradai (500–578) played such an important role in the building of the Monophysite church in Syria that it came to be called Jacobite. Initially, the population of Syria was predominantly Christian, but later the majority of the population converted to Islam. In 1990 the Syriac Jacobite Church numbered approx. 250,000 members living mainly in Syria and Iraq. It is headed by the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch, whose residence is in Damascus (Syria).

Malabar Jacobite, or Malankara Syrian Orthodox (Jacobite) Church.

According to legend, Christianity was brought to India by the Apostle Thomas. By the 6th century. Nestorian communities already existed in southwestern India. As the Nestorian Church declined, these Christians became increasingly independent. In the 16th century under the influence of Portuguese missionaries, some of them became Catholics. However, attempts to introduce Indian Christians to Western religious practice caused protest among many, and in the 17th century. those believers who did not want to join the Roman Catholic Church became Jacobites. The Malabar Jacobite Church is headed by the Catholicos of the East with his residence in Kottayam, and in 1990 it numbered approx. 1.7 million members.

Malabar Syrian Church of St. Thomas, which separated from the Jacobite Church under the influence of Anglican missionaries in the first half of the 19th century, numbered approx. 700,000 members.

Armenian Apostolic Church.

In 314, Armenia became the first country to proclaim Christianity as the state religion. After the condemnation of Monophysitism in 451, Christological disputes in Armenia did not subside, and in 506 Armenian Church officially took an anti-Chalcedonian position. In the 12th century Nerses the Gracious stated that the Christological teaching of the Armenian Church does not at all contradict the teaching of the Council of Chalcedon; Indeed, the Armenians were committed to the Monophysite doctrine to a much lesser extent than, for example, Ethiopian Christians. The Armenian Church survived despite the brutal massacres inflicted by the Turks during World War I and the atheism of the Soviet period. In 1990, the Armenian Church numbered approx. 4 million members in Armenia itself and throughout the world. The head of the church is the Patriarch-Catholicos.

EASTERN CATHOLIC CHURCHES

The Roman Catholic Church includes 22 “rites”, forming six groups. These are the Latin Rite, to which 90% of Catholics worldwide belong, the Byzantine Rites, the Alexandrian Rites, the Antiochene Rites, the East Syrian Rites and the Armenian Rites. Believers of all Catholic rites adhere to the same creed and recognize the authority of the pope, but each rite maintains its own liturgical traditions, church organization and spirituality, largely identical to those characteristic of the corresponding non-Catholic churches. For example, Catholics of the Eastern rites retain the institution of married priesthood, since the celibate priesthood is a characteristic feature of the church discipline of Catholics of the Latin rite, and not a subject of Catholic doctrine. Catholics of the Eastern Rites are often called Uniates, but this name is considered offensive. Catholics of the Eastern Rite enjoy considerable freedom in the management of their affairs, since the Pope exercises some of his powers in relation to the Latin Church as the patriarch of the West, and not as pope.

Byzantine rites.

Catholics of the Byzantine rites live in the Middle East and in countries of Eastern Europe, as well as in expat communities around the world. The Melchite rite arose in 1724, after the controversial election of the Patriarch of Antioch. Since that time, some of the Melchites adhere to Orthodoxy, and the other part joined the Roman Catholic Church. The word "Melchites" (or "Melkites") means "royalists" and was used to refer to churches that professed the same faith as the Byzantine rulers - as opposed to, for example, the Copts and Jacobites. The Melchite Church is headed by the Patriarch of Antioch, who lives in Damascus, and in 1990 approx. 1 million believers.

As a result of the Union of Brest in 1596, many Ukrainians joined the Roman Catholic Church. Those of them who lived in the territories that became part of the Russian Empire in the 18th century were returned to Orthodoxy under pressure from the tsarist authorities, but the Ukrainians who lived on the territory of the Austrian Empire (in Galicia) became Catholics of the Ukrainian rite, and those who lived in the Hungarian kingdom - Catholics of the Ruthenian rite. Galicia later came under Polish rule, where on the eve of World War II there were approx. 3–5 million Ukrainian Catholics. They lived primarily in territory that was annexed by the Soviet Union in the 1940s and were forcibly annexed into the Russian Orthodox Church. The Church of the Ukrainian rite is headed by the Archbishop of Lvov. Many Ukrainians in the United States and Canada belong to it, and efforts are currently being made to restore it in post-Soviet Ukraine. The Church of the Ruthenian Rite, headed by the Archbishop of Pittsburgh, also belongs mainly to emigrants. Historically, the Hungarian, Slovak and Yugoslav rites, which were close to them, generally had a more prosperous fate at home. In total, these five rituals accounted for approx. 2.5 million active believers.

Catholics of the Romanian rite have existed since 1697, when Transylvania became part of Hungary, and numbered approx. 1.5 million people until they were forcibly annexed into the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1948.

In 1990, the Italo-Albanian rite included approx. 60,000 believers; these are Christians of the Byzantine rite living in Southern Italy and Sicily who have always been Catholics.

Alexandrian rites.

Coptic Catholics and Ethiopian Catholics adhere to a rite that dates back to the Alexandrian tradition. The Catholics of the Coptic rite are led by the Catholic Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria, and in 1990 there were approx. 170,000. Catholics of the Ethiopian rite, headed by their own archbishop in Addis Ababa, numbered approximately in 1990. 120,000 people.

Antiochian rites.

Three significant groups of Catholics adhere to West Syriac rites in their religious practice, which go back to the Antiochene tradition. As a result of the union of the Syro-Jacobites with Rome in 1782, the Syrian rite arose. At the head of the Catholics of the Syrian rite, who in 1990 numbered approx. 100,000, costs the Catholic Syrian Patriarch of Antioch, whose see is in Beirut. Mar Ivanios, a Jacobite bishop in southwest India, became a Catholic in 1930; His example was followed by thousands of Jacobites, who in 1932 received the status of Catholics of the Malankara rite. Their archbishop's seat is in Trivandra, and in 1990 they numbered approx. 300,000.

Catholics of the Maronite rite trace their origins to ancient Syria. Once St. Maro (d. 410?) founded a monastery in northern Syria, whose monks played an important role in Christianizing the local population and building a church, which became a difficult task after the Muslim conquest of Syria in the 7th century. According to legend, the first Maronite patriarch was elected in 685. In the 8th and 9th centuries. The Maronite community gradually moved from Northern Syria to Lebanon. The Maronites maintained almost no contacts with other Christians, and their doctrine had a visible Monothelite bias, which was explained by their ignorance of the decisions of the Third Council of Constantinople. When the Crusaders came to Lebanon, the Maronites came into contact with Western Christians. in 1180–1181 the Maronites recognized the pope Alexandra III. They remained Catholics in a predominantly Muslim environment and, although they spoke Arabic, constituted a distinct national minority and had their own traditions. Currently, the Maronites play a prominent role in the political life of Lebanon. The influence of the Latin rite is noticeable in the liturgy and rules of the Maronites. The Maronite Church is headed by the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, whose residence is located in the vicinity of Beirut. In 1990 there were approx. 2 million Maronites in Lebanon, other countries of the Middle East and among Lebanese emigrants around the world.

East Syrian rites.

Catholics of the East Syrian rites include Catholics of the Chaldean and Malabar churches. The Chaldean Catholic Church arose in 1553, when a split occurred in the Nestorian Church and one part of it recognized the authority of the Pope. In 1990 it owned approx. 600,000 believers. Most of them live in Iraq, where they form the largest Christian community. Christians of the Nestorian Church in southwestern India who became Catholics in the 16th century are called Malabar Catholics. Malabar liturgy and church life bear the stamp of strong Latin influence. The Malabar Catholics are led by the Archbishops of Ernakulam and Changanacherya, and in 1990 this church numbered approx. 2.9 million members.

Armenian rite.

The union of Armenian Christians with the Roman Catholic Church existed from 1198 to 1375. This union began during the Crusades, when the Armenians became allies of the Latins in the fight against Muslims. The modern Armenian rite arose in 1742. Armenian Catholics, especially the Benedictine Mekhitarite monks, made significant contributions to Armenian culture, publishing books and establishing schools. The Catholics of the Armenian rite are led by the Patriarch of Cilicia, whose residence is in Beirut. In 1990 there were approx. 150,000 in various Middle Eastern countries.

Literature:

Posnov M.E. History of the Christian Church(before the division of churches - 1054). Kyiv, 1991
Shmeman A. The historical path of Orthodoxy. M., 1993
Christianity. encyclopedic Dictionary , vol. 1–3. M., 1993–1995
Bolotov V.V. Lectures on the history of the Ancient Church, vols. 1–3. M., 1994
Christianity: Dictionary. M., 1994
Pospelovsky D.V. Russian Orthodox Church in the twentieth century. M., 1995
Peoples and religions of the world. Encyclopedia. M., 1998

Western and Eastern Christian Worlds

 During the formative period Christian dogmatics A large number of heresies appeared (the meaning of the term can be recalled by referring to the dictionary of terms), which the Orthodox Church, in alliance with the imperial power, managed to cope with in the Byzantine Empire. In Western Europe, a wave of heretical movements led to the development by the Catholic Church of theological ideas based on the logic (reason) of the ancient philosopher Aristotle. Hence the difference in the perception of the world between Catholics and Orthodox Christians, which is very relative.

Features of Catholicism and Orthodoxy

During the lesson, it is advisable to listen to pre-prepared messages about Justinian I and, of course, about the enlighteners of the Slavic world, the brothers St. Cyril and Methodius. The historical material of the lesson topic is consolidated using the questions and tasks of the paragraph.

Lesson #6. Islamic world.

introduce the emergence of the world religion Islam and the process of state formation among the Arabs in the 7th century;

analyze the relationship between the main provisions of the Muslim faith and the characteristics of the Arab state;

reveal the reasons for the successful conquests of the Arabs;

compare the process of collapse of the Arab Caliphate and the Empire of Charlemagne, noting the general process of political fragmentation during this period;

characterize the main features of Islamic culture of the medieval era and its influence on other countries.

Lesson plan:

The emergence of Islam in Arabia.

Formation of the state and the beginning of the Arab conquests.

The Arab Caliphate in the second half of the 7th – 10th centuries.

Medieval Muslim culture.

Means of education: textbook §5, historical map No. 2 “Conquests of the Arabs. Arab Caliphate", didactic material.

Recommended methods and techniques for organizing a lesson: a lesson in learning new material, an analytical conversation with elements of independent work with the textbook text, solving educational tasks, working with documents, a historical map.

Basic concepts: Islam, Koran, jihad, theocratic state, caliphate, Shiites, Sunnis, Islamic world.

Personalities: Muhammad, Omar.

Main dates: 7th century - the emergence of Islamic civilization.

It is advisable to repeat the material covered in the previous lesson and test the students’ knowledge and their understanding of the main provisions of §4 at the beginning of the lesson using the questions at the end of this paragraph. They reflect the main processes of development of the Byzantine Empire in the early Middle Ages. Students’ answers to these questions should be based on the contents of the comparative table “Western and Eastern Christian Worlds.” If the teacher deems it necessary to structure the study new topic“Islamic world” based on its comparative characteristics with the processes and phenomena of previous topics (which is preferable), then the lesson should begin with the study of a new topic. In this case, work on checking homework can be done in the process of studying the topic of the lesson.

Lesson #6. Islamic world. The content of paragraph (§5) does not pose serious difficulties for students to master its content. Moreover, the analysis of the processes and events associated with the emergence of Islamic medieval civilization is based on similar processes known to tenth-graders for this lesson on the topics already discussed: the Western European (Catholic) world and the Eastern Christian (Orthodox) world.

The main range of concepts in the paragraph concentrates on the work of analyzing the essence Islam, theocratic state,jihad And caliphate. Of these, concepts such as Islam, jihad And caliphate should be familiar to schoolchildren from foreign language courses medieval history. Therefore, they should be repeated in the process of studying the topic. The concept is of paramount importance theocratic state which reveals political essence and features of Islamic civilization.

Since the content and presentation of the historical material of the paragraph is not difficult for students to understand, it should be assigned at home for a preliminary familiarization with the content. The basis for homework with the text of the textbook will be the search for answers to the questions at the end of the paragraph in the following sequence: question No. 3 about the main provisions of the Muslim faith, question No. 1 about the reasons for the successful conquests of the Arabs, and question No. 2 about the reasons for the collapse of the Abbasid Caliphate. In the lesson, after a collective discussion of the answers to these questions, the teacher moves on to consider and characterize the main problems of the topic.

The historical material of the paragraph is logically divided into three parts: the formation of the state among the Arabs and campaigns of conquest, the creation of the Arab Caliphate and its collapse, Muslim culture. The formation of the state among the Arabs in the paragraph is given before the words: “This is how the state arose in Arabia” (p. 38). The basis for the analysis of this process will be the students’ knowledge of the emergence of barbarian kingdoms in Europe (§3, p. 22). Class assignment: “Find in the text of the textbook (pp. 36-38) the prerequisites that led to the formation of a state among the Arabs. Compare this process with the formation of barbarian kingdoms in the 5th century in Western Europe” will help schoolchildren understand that the emergence of Islam was not a cause, but a consequence of state formation, that the religion of the Arabs became an ideological form of statehood.

Question and task “What is the peculiarity of the theocratic Islamic State? and “Compare the Islamic theocratic state of the Arabs of the Middle Ages and the Eastern Christian state of the Byzantines” will allow you to draw attention to the common basis - the Eastern despotic form of state The Byzantine Empire and the Arab Caliphate. At the same time, the significant difference was that, unlike the Christian world, Islam did not have church organization spiritual power. It is necessary to characterize the essential features of the medieval world of Islam more clearly than is given in the textbook material. Not Sharia, after all, legal norms, including those of Christian civilization in the Middle Ages, were based on the Bible, and it is important to show schoolchildren the value guidelines of Islamic civilization in comparison with Christian civilization.

The question of the reasons for the successful conquests of the Arabs is revealed in the textbook on the basis of two provisions: the weakening of Byzantium and Iran as a result of constant wars between themselves and jihad, characteristic of the religious ideas of the Arabs. The question “which of these reasons do you think is the main one?” and a task to compare the historical material of map No. 2 “The Great Migration of Peoples and the Death of the Western Roman Empire” and No. 5 “The Conquests of the Arabs. The Arab Caliphate" will help students understand that it was not so much jihad that became the main reason for victories, but rather the internal weakness of opponents that was the main reason for successful conquests. After all, the barbarian tribes who captured almost all the territories of the Western Roman Empire (Europe, Africa), just like the Arabs, did not have military, technical and psychological advantages. In addition, this task will help organize work with the map and trace the directions of the conquests of the Arabs and the territories that became part of the Arab Caliphate. War was a normal phenomenon of that time and one should not attribute special militancy to the Arabs and Islam during that period of time (jihad).

Note! L.N. Gumilyov noted: “The Vikings were afraid of death, like all people, but they hid this fear from each other, gorging themselves on intoxicating fly agarics before the battle. The contemporary Arabs rushed to the attack sober, but the Vikings, indomitable in their intoxication, crushed the Arabs, the Franks, and the Celts. They especially valued berserkers (like a bear), that is, people capable of reaching a state of insanity before a battle and crushing the enemy with enormous force. After the attacks, the berserkers fell into a deep depression until the next nervous breakdown.”

Everything is correct. Some have jihad, others have fly agarics and berserkers!

It is advisable to analyze the problem of the collapse of the Arab Caliphate (item 3 of the lesson plan) on the basis of the task “Compare the prerequisites for the collapse of the Arab Caliphate and the empire of Charlemagne at the same time.” As a result of comparison, students will note common reasons feudal fragmentation in these regions.

In the process of discussing the last point of the lesson plan, the most important thing is to highlight the immediate features inherent in Muslim culture.

Think! The Arab commander Amru, after the capture of Alexandria in 640, asked Caliph Omar what to do with the Library of Alexandria. Omar replied: “If the Greek books agree with the Koran, then they are useless and there is no need to preserve them; and if they do not agree with the Koran, then they are dangerous and must be destroyed.” Amru's soldiers carried out the sentence: the library's papyri, parchments, charters and codices were heated for four months in the baths of Alexandria.

If Islam claims to have complete knowledge of the truth, then what is the fate of secular knowledge in Islamic civilization?

Why did the conquerors’ attitude towards science and culture subsequently change?

Note! During the time of the caliphs, many secular sciences, geography, history, medicine, physics, mathematics, astronomy, philosophy were diligently studied, however, as one researcher noted, in this “there was something similar to a harvest gathered from science, after plowing with the conquests of the Saracens and due to the inevitable mixing of East with West... The progress of science among the Saracens was supported rather by a pedantic desire to know foreign literature than by the spirit of free, practical and independent research.”

What did the scientist mean when he spoke about the “harvest” from science from countries conquered by the Arabs?

Use examples from the textbook to confirm or refute the author’s point of view.

Prove that Islamic culture became a link between antiquity and the Middle Ages of Western Europe (textbook text p. 42).

If the achievements of Islamic medieval civilization were associated with the rich culture of the conquered countries and peoples, then what did they contribute to the culture independently, considering that the Koran prohibits the depiction of living beings?

Note! The main shrines in Islam were not icons and statues, but handwritten Korans.

 Having achieved extraordinary sophistication in the use of various complex handwritings, calligraphy turned into one of the forms of ornament that played a significant role in the art of the Muslim Middle Ages. God in Islamic countries could not be depicted, but could be designated by letters and signs. Therefore, in art, especially in the design of religious buildings, geometric patterns developed, often consisting of signs and motifs that had symbolic religious meaning. For example, the word “Allah” (“God”) was denoted by four vertical lines, which schematically expressed the letters of this Arabic word. When placed in a square, they became a symbol of the Kaaba. The heritage of Muslim countries was dominated by the art of speech, architecture, music, ornament, calligraphy, artistic crafts, and miniatures.

Schoolchildren's answers to the question “What are the characteristic features of Islamic civilization (the world of Islam)?” The textbook will summarize the lesson and help summarize the material and problems covered.

Lesson #7. Final repetition and generalization The historical material of Chapter 1 is carried out with the help of questions and tasks proposed in the textbook (p. 43). The volume of oral and written work, the form of conducting the final repetition and generalization lesson are determined by the teacher, based on the level of preparation and other characteristics of a particular class. The organization of work in this lesson can be done using various techniques (see Thematic planning).

One of the options for conducting a final review could be to complete the task “Make a synchronistic table: “Main events in Europe and the Middle East in the V-XI centuries.” Completing the task will help students not only repeat the main events on the topics covered, but in the process of collective discussion of the results of the work, generalize and systematize knowledge. The table below uses all the material for the assignment.

Major events in Europe and the Middle East in V - XI centuries

The Christian Church was created by the disciples and followers of Jesus Christ during the heyday of the Roman Empire. In the middle of the 4th century, when the ideological foundations of Roman statehood were shaken in an era of general crisis, Christianity became the dominant religion in the empire. During the early Middle Ages, the Christian Church, which had previously been only a structure that united communities of believers, gradually turned into a significant political and economic force, with which emperors sought an alliance. The collapse of the Western Roman Empire not only did not destroy the Christian Church, but made it the only organized force throughout Europe. In an era of constant wars and the decline of morality, the church acted as the guardian of culture, the defender of the values ​​of order and mercy. Christianity was what united the direct successor of the Roman Empire - Byzantium - and the kingdoms founded in Western Europe by barbarians.

Until the middle of the 11th century. The Christian Church was considered one. In Western Europe, the head of the church was the Pope, and in the territory of Byzantium (Eastern Roman Empire) - the Patriarch of Constantinople. In the second half of the 9th century. differences were identified between the Western and Eastern churches in doctrine, rituals, and church organization, going back to the differences between Latin and Greek cultures. The conflict was also aggravated by linguistic differences - Latin remained the official language of the church in the West. The Eastern Church allowed services in national languages. Ultimately, these differences led to the separation of Western Christianity - Catholicism from Eastern - Orthodoxy. This process, which began in the 8th century, ended with the division of churches (a church schism occurred). In 1054, the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Pope cursed each other. Thus, in the Middle Ages, two Christian worlds arose. Since then, the Western Church has been called Catholic (i.e., universal), and the Eastern Church has been called Orthodox (true).

Catholics sought to comprehend divine truths with reason. Based on the ideas of St. Augustine, who was called the “teacher of the West,” they believed that reason could know the laws of the world created by God. This explains the interest of people in the Western world in mechanics and natural sciences. For the Orthodox, a big role in matters of faith was played not so much by reason as by feelings. The Orthodox considered it very important to internally improve a person through prayer and turning to God.

The Catholic Church had a strict hierarchical structure. Its head was the Pope. On the second step stood the cardinals - the pope's closest assistants. The pope appointed bishops - governors of church districts (dioceses) and abbots of monasteries - abbots. The lowest rung of the church hierarchy was occupied by parish priests and monks. The rulers of European states needed the support of the pope, who had great influence on believers. Taking advantage of this, the Roman high priest laid claim not only to spiritual power in the church, but also to power over all the monarchs of Europe. The popes also had real secular power, being the rulers of the Papal States.

Unlike the Western Christian Church, headed by the Pope, the Eastern Christian Church did not have a single church center. The Patriarchates of Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria were considered independent. However, in fact the head eastern church was the Patriarch of Constantinople. From the 7th century, after the Arabs took their eastern provinces from the Byzantines, he remained the only patriarch on the territory of the empire.

The head of the Western Church, claiming not only spiritual power over all Christians, also claimed supremacy over secular rulers - kings, dukes and princes. In the east, secular power in the person of the emperors completely subjugated the church. The emperors shamelessly interfered in church affairs and influenced the appointment of the patriarch.

Christianity (from the Greek word christos "anointed one", "Messiah") originated as one of the sects of Judaism in the 1st century. AD in Palestine. This original relationship with Judaism is extremely important for understanding the roots of the Christian religion and is manifested in the fact that the first part of the Bible, the Old Testament, the holy book of both Jews and Christians (the second part of the Bible, New Testament, is recognized only by Christians and is the most important thing for them). Spreading among the Jews of Palestine and the Mediterranean, Christianity already in the first decades of its existence won adherents among other peoples. The emergence and spread of Christianity occurred during a period of deep crisis in ancient civilization and the decline of its basic values. Christian teaching attracted many who were disillusioned with the Roman social order. It offered its adherents a path of internal salvation: withdrawal from the corrupt, sinful world into oneself, into one’s own personality; strict asceticism is opposed to rough carnal pleasures, and arrogance and vanity “ powerful of the world this" - conscious humility and submission, which will be rewarded after the advent of the Kingdom of God on earth.

However, already the first Christian communities taught their members to think not only about themselves, but also about the destinies of the whole world, to pray not only for their own, but also for the common salvation. Even then, the universalism characteristic of Christianity was revealed: communities scattered across the vast expanse of the Roman Empire nevertheless felt their unity. People of different nationalities became members of the communities. The New Testament thesis “there is neither Greek nor Jew” proclaimed the equality before God of all believers and predetermined the further development of Christianity as a world religion that knows no national and linguistic boundaries. The need for unity, on the one hand, and the fairly widespread spread of Christianity around the world, on the other, have given rise to the conviction among believers that although an individual Christian may be weak and unsteady in faith, then the union of Christians as a whole has the Holy Spirit and by God's grace. The next step in the development of the concept of “church” was the idea of ​​​​its infallibility: individual Christians can make mistakes, but not the church. The thesis is substantiated that the church received the Holy Spirit from Christ himself through the apostles who founded the first Christian communities.

Since the 4th century, the Christian Church periodically gathers the highest clergy at the so-called ecumenical councils. At these councils, a system of dogma was developed and approved, canonical norms and liturgical rules were formed, and methods of combating heresies were determined. The first ecumenical council, held in Nicaea in 325, adopted the Christian Creed, a brief set of main dogmas that form the basis of the doctrine. Christianity develops the idea of ​​one God, the possessor of absolute goodness, absolute knowledge and absolute power, which matured in Judaism. All beings and objects are his creations, all created by a free act of divine will. The two central dogmas of Christianity speak of the trinity of God and the incarnation. According to the first, the inner life of the deity is the relationship of three “hypostases,” or persons: the Father (the beginningless principle), the Son or Logos (the semantic and formative principle), and the Holy Spirit (the life-giving principle). The Son is “born” from the Father, the Holy Spirit “proceeds” from the Father. Moreover, both “birth” and “procession” do not take place in time, since all the persons of the Christian Trinity have always existed “eternally” and are equal in dignity, “equal in honor.”

Man, according to Christian teaching, was created as a bearer of the “image and likeness” of God. However, the Fall committed by the first people destroyed man's godlikeness, placing on him the stain of original sin. Christ, having suffered on the cross and death, “redeemed” people, suffering for the entire human race. Therefore, Christianity emphasizes the cleansing role of suffering, any limitation by a person of his desires and passions: “by accepting his cross,” a person can overcome evil in himself and in the world around him. Thus, a person not only fulfills God’s commandments, but also transforms himself and ascends to God, becomes closer to him. This is the purpose of the Christian, his justification of the sacrificial death of Christ. Associated with this view of man is the concept of “sacrament”, characteristic only of Christianity, a special cult action designed to actually introduce the divine into human life. This is, first of all, baptism, communion, confession (repentance), marriage, unction. The persecutions experienced by Christianity in the first centuries of its existence left a deep imprint on its worldview and spirit. Persons who suffered for their faith imprisonment and those who were tortured (“confessors”) or those who accepted execution (“martyrs”) began to be revered in Christianity as saints. In general, the ideal of the martyr becomes central in Christian ethics. Time passed. The conditions of the era and culture changed the political and ideological context of Christianity, and this caused a number of church divisions. As a result, competing varieties of Christianity “creeds” emerged. So, in 311, Christianity became officially permitted, and by the end of the 4th century, under Emperor Constantine, the dominant religion under the tutelage state power. However, the gradual weakening of the Western Roman Empire eventually culminated in its collapse. This contributed to the fact that the influence of the Roman bishop (pope), who also took on the functions of a secular ruler, increased significantly. Already in the 5th-7th centuries, during the so-called Christological disputes, which clarified the relationship between the divine and human principles in the person of Christ, Christians of the East separated from the imperial church: monophists and others. In 1054, the division of the Orthodox and Catholic churches took place, which was based on the conflict the Byzantine theology of the sacred power of the position of church hierarchs subordinate to the monarch and the Latin theology of the universal papacy, which sought to subjugate secular power. After the death of Byzantium under the onslaught of the Ottoman Turks in 1453, Russia turned out to be the main stronghold of Orthodoxy. However, disputes about the norms of ritual practice led to a schism here in the 17th century, as a result of which the Old Believers separated from the Orthodox Church. In the West, the ideology and practice of the papacy aroused increasing protest throughout the Middle Ages both from the secular elite (especially the German emperors) and among the lower classes of society (the Lollard movement in England, the Hussites in the Czech Republic, etc.). By the beginning of the 16th century, this protest took shape in the Reformation movement.

Orthodoxy is one of the three main directions of Christianity historically, formed as its eastern branch. It is distributed mainly in the countries of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and the Balkans. The name “Orthodoxy” (from the Greek word “orthodoxy”) first appears among Christian writers of the 2nd century. The theological foundations of Orthodoxy were formed in Byzantium, where it was the dominant religion in the 4th-11th centuries. The basis of the doctrine is recognized as the Holy Scripture (Bible) and sacred tradition (the decisions of the seven Ecumenical Councils of the 4th-8th centuries, as well as the works of major church authorities, such as Athanasius of Alexandria, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John of Damascus, John Chrysostom). It fell to these church fathers to formulate the basic tenets of the doctrine. In the future philosophical and theoretical development Christianity played a significant role in the teaching St. Augustine. At the turn of the 5th century, he preached the superiority of faith over knowledge. Reality, according to his teaching, is incomprehensible to the human mind, since behind its events and phenomena the will of the almighty Creator is hidden. Augustine's teaching on predestination said that anyone who believed in God could enter the sphere of the “elect” predestined for salvation. For faith is the criterion of predestination. An important place in Orthodoxy is occupied by sacramental rites, during which, according to the teachings of the church, special grace descends on believers. The Church recognizes seven sacraments: Baptism is a sacrament in which the believer, by immersing the body three times in water with the invocation of God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, gains spiritual birth. In the sacrament of confirmation, the believer is given the gifts of the Holy Spirit, restoring and strengthening him in spiritual life. In the sacrament of communion, the believer, under the guise of bread and wine, partakes of the very Body and Blood of Christ for Eternal Life. The sacrament of repentance or confession is the recognition of one’s sins before a priest, who absolves them in the name of Jesus Christ. The sacrament of the priesthood is performed through episcopal ordination when a person is elevated to the rank of clergy. The right to perform this sacrament belongs only to the bishop. In the sacrament of marriage, which is performed in the temple at the wedding, the marital union of the bride and groom is blessed. In the sacrament of consecration of oil (unction), when anointing the body with oil, the grace of God is invoked on the sick person, healing mental and physical infirmities.

The Orthodox Church attaches great importance to holidays and fasting. Lent, as a rule, precedes major church holidays. The essence of fasting is “cleansing and renewal human soul", preparation for important event religious life. There are four large multi-day fasts in Russian Orthodoxy: before Easter, before the day of Peter and Paul, before the Dormition of the Virgin Mary and before the Nativity of Christ. Easter takes first place among the great, main holidays. Adjacent to it are the twelve feasts of the 12 most significant holidays of Orthodoxy: the Nativity of Christ, the Presentation, the Baptism of the Lord, the Transfiguration, the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, the Ascension of the Lord, Trinity (Pentecost), the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, the Annunciation, the Nativity of the Theotokos, the Presentation of the Theotokos into the Temple, the Dormition of the Theotokos .

Another major movement (along with Orthodoxy) in Christianity is Catholicism. The word "Catholicism" means universal, universal. Its origins come from a small Roman Christian community, the first bishop of which, according to legend, was the Apostle Peter. The process of isolation of Catholicism in Christianity began in the 3rd-5th centuries, when economic, political, and cultural differences between the western and eastern parts of the Roman Empire grew and deepened. The division of the Christian church into Catholic and Orthodox began with the rivalry between the popes and the patriarchs of Constantinople for supremacy in the Christian world. Around 867 there was a break between Pope Nicholas I and Patriarch Photius of Constantinople. Catholicism, as one of the directions of the Christian religion, recognizes its basic dogmas and rituals, but has a number of features in its doctrine, cult, and organization. The basis of the Catholic faith, like all Christianity, is the Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition. However, unlike the Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church believes Sacred tradition decrees not only of the first seven Ecumenical Councils, but also of all subsequent councils, and in addition, papal messages and decrees. The organization of the Catholic Church is highly centralized. The Pope is the head of this church. It defines doctrines on matters of faith and morals. His power is higher than the power of the Ecumenical Councils.

The reasons for church splits are numerous and complex. Nevertheless, it can be argued that the main cause of church schisms was human sin, intolerance, and disrespect for human freedom. The unity of churches is, first of all, the realization that all Christians read one Gospel, that they are all His disciples and, finally, that all people are children of the One God, the Heavenly Father. Therefore, Christians must strive to combine all the best that has been achieved in the history of each Church. “Why will they know you that you are my disciples,” said Christ, because you will have love for each other.”

Christianity is the most widespread and one of the most developed religious systems in the world. This is, first of all, the religion of the West. But Christianity is closely connected with the East and its culture. It has many roots in the culture of the ancient East, from where it drew its rich mythopoetic and ritual-dogmatic potential.

The main idea of ​​Christianity is the idea of ​​sin and human salvation. People are sinners before God, and this is what makes them all equal.

Apart from the Russian one, the rest of the Orthodox churches that found themselves in the sphere of domination of the Islamic world did not receive widespread influence. Only the Greeks, part of the South Slavs, and Romanians were under their spiritual influence.

In general, Christianity, represented by various churches and sects, is perhaps the most widespread world religion, dominant in Europe and America, with significant positions in America and Oceania, as well as in a number of regions of Asia. However, it is in Asia, that is, in the East, that Christianity is least widespread.