Shroud – negative Shroud – positive Sophia of Kyiv, Face of Christ Face of Christ Christ Pantocrator
(On the earthly life of Jesus Christ)
“God became man so that we may worship”
Athanasius the Great.
Jesus Christ is one of the most outstanding phenomena in world culture. He has influenced and will affect the minds and hearts of many people, no matter how they treat him. In the encyclopedias of the atheistic Soviet era, you can read: “Jesus Christ (Greek Christos, literally anointed), according to Christian doctrine, the founder of Christianity, a man of God, in the atonement of human sins accepted death on the cross, then rose and ascended to heaven.” As we can see, in this formulation Christ appears in an exclusively mythical image. Meanwhile, to date, scientists have accumulated quite a lot of material that it was a real historical figure. In Kyiv, the publishing house “Spirit and Letter” (Konstantin Sigov) published a collection of works by an outstanding scientist, a brilliant connoisseur of many ancient languages and a translator, biblical scholar, philologist, culturologist, corresponding member. RAS, Sergei Sergeevich Averintsev (1937-2004). This material was prepared mainly using the works of this publisher: “Sergei Averintsev. Collection of works. Sophia-Logos. Dictionary.- K., 2006 »; “Vocabulary. Jesus and the Gospel. – M., 2003 “; N.T. Wright. Jesus and the victory of God. (translated from English), M., 2004.
S. Averintsev in “Sophia-Logos” gives two definitions of Jesus (Greek. Savior) of Christ – theological and secular; in one person God the Son, the Logos, “who has neither the beginning of days nor the end of life” – and a man who had ethnicity, age and physical characteristics, born into the world and at the end of death (although birth is preceded by the miracle of the virgin conception For Islam, Jesus Christ was one of the prophets who preceded Muhammad, and from the point of view of secular (secular) historical science, a religious figure of the first half of the first century appeared and acted in the Jewish community. AD, with the activities of his students associated with the beginning of Christianity (and in whose history, contrary to scientific assumptions of the early XX century., later planted by Soviet officials, there is no reason to doubt), who was born, apparently, a little earlier than 4 years BC (conditionally accepted starting point of our era “from the Nativity of Christ”, proposed in the VI century., can not be deduced from the Gospel texts and contradicts them, because it lies after the date of death of King Herod), who preached in his native Galilee and other Palestinian lands area and executed by the Roman occupation authorities around 30 …
There are almost no early post-Christian sources concerning the life and person of Jesus Christ. His description of the Jewish historian of the I century. not. Josephus interpolated; however, the version of this place, which came in Arabic translation as part of the chronicle, does not arouse such suspicions. It reads: “At that time there lived a wise man named Jesus. His way of life was dignified, and he was known for his virtue, and many of the Jews and of other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to crucifixion and death, but those who became his disciples did not renounce his teachings; they told him that he had appeared to them three days after the crucifixion and was alive. It was believed that he was the Messiah, about whom the prophets prophesied a wonderful “…
The Christian canon includes 4 Gospels (Greek: Annunciation), which arose several decades after the events described. Along with this, there were other similar stories, now lost. As the name of the Gospels suggests, these are not just narrative texts intended simply to tell about certain events, but “news”, necessarily determined by its religious content … However, this orientation of the Gospels in no way precludes an accurate and true fixation of a number of facts that sometimes do not easily fit into the schemes of pious thought of that era … “.
The discovery of the Qumran manuscripts near the Dead Sea was a revolutionary event for biblical studies. Since 1947, about 800 separate manuscripts have been discovered in 11 caves. As a result, copies of almost all the books of the Old Testament have been found, but the vast majority of manuscripts are unbiblical. The last historical event referenced in the Qumran manuscripts is the conquest of Jerusalem in 63 BC. Their importance for the technology of the Old Testament is easy to assess, given that before their discovery, the oldest known manuscripts with the Hebrew text of the Old Testament were created in the X century. Thus, the Qumran manuscripts opened the curtain on how the texts looked more than a millennium earlier. Until now, scholars have had no factual evidence of what happened in the Temple at the time of Jesus, and it turns out that these descriptions differ from the information of Josephus. The historical parallels of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount became apparent. At the centre of a small group of Qumran manuscripts is the mysterious figure of the Teachers of Righteousness, represented, as in Matthew, by the new Moses, who is to give a new Law, the text of which is in the form of the Temple Scroll. The study of the Qumran manuscripts continues, but their content is already a serious justification for the historicity of the Gospels. In addition, I note that there are 2328 manuscripts and fragments of manuscripts that have survived from the first centuries of the Christian Church and contain all its parts. The oldest fragment of the New Testament – the Ryland Papyrus – dates from about 125 years and no more than 30 years have passed since its creation. Another 21 papyri date from the III-IV centuries., And 5 almost complete texts belong to the IV-V centuries. So, textologists were able to reconstruct the prototype of the Gospel text with high accuracy. In addition, there are many non-canonical Gospels (Apocrypha), which were written in the I-II centuries. and which are also studied by biblical scholars. The most important among them are the Gospels: Thomas, Peter, Nicodemus, the secret Gospel of Mark, the Egyptians, the Judeo-Christians, birth and childhood.
The discovery of the Qumran manuscripts near the Dead Sea was a revolutionary event for biblical studies. Since 1947, about 800 separate manuscripts have been discovered in 11 caves. As a result, copies of almost all the books of the Old Testament have been found, but the vast majority of manuscripts are unbiblical. The last historical event referenced in the Qumran manuscripts is the conquest of Jerusalem in 63 BC. Their importance for the technology of the Old Testament is easy to assess, given that before their discovery, the oldest known manuscripts with the Hebrew text of the Old Testament were created in the X century. Thus, the Qumran manuscripts opened the curtain on how the texts looked more than a millennium earlier. Until now, scholars have had no factual evidence of what happened in the Temple at the time of Jesus, and it turns out that these descriptions differ from the information of Josephus. The historical parallels of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount became apparent. At the centre of a small group of Qumran manuscripts is the mysterious figure of the Teachers of Righteousness, represented, as in Matthew, by the new Moses, who is to give a new Law, the text of which is in the form of the Temple Scroll. The study of the Qumran manuscripts continues, but their content is already a serious justification for the historicity of the Gospels. In addition, I note that there are 2328 manuscripts and fragments of manuscripts that have survived from the first centuries of the Christian Church and contain all its parts. The oldest fragment of the New Testament – the Ryland Papyrus – dates from about 125 years and no more than 30 years have passed since its creation. Another 21 papyri date from the III-IV centuries., And 5 almost complete texts belong to the IV-V centuries. So, textologists were able to reconstruct the prototype of the Gospel text with high accuracy. In addition, there are many non-canonical Gospels (Apocrypha), which were written in the I-II centuries. and which are also studied by biblical scholars. The most important among them are the Gospels: Thomas, Peter, Nicodemus, the secret Gospel of Mark, the Egyptians, the Judeo-Christians, birth and childhood.
It is necessary to explain the above S. Averintsev about the date of Christmas. It is known that Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) based on the Egyptian solar calendar introduced a 365-day year (Julian calendar) with an additional day in the leap years, which existed before the reform of Pope Gregory XIII, proclaimed on February 24, 1582 (Gregorian calendar). In 525, Pope John I asked the Scythian monk Dionysius to prepare a calendar for the Western Church, counting the time from the date of the Nativity of Jesus Christ. In the calendar of Dionysius, the year 1 AD coincided with 754 from the founding of Rome, and the date of the birth of Jesus fell on December 25, 753. looks disharmonious!) calculated the year of Jesus’ birth, because the Gospels say that Jesus was born in the reign of Herod the Great, who died, most likely, between March 12 and April 11, 4 BC. This means that Jesus was born before March 4 BC. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that shortly before his death, the Magi came to Herod in search of the newborn king of Judah. Herod ordered them to return and tell them where the child was, but the wise men, warned by a prophetic dream, returned home in another way. God commanded Joseph to flee with his family to Egypt, and shortly afterwards Herod killed 14,000 boys under the age of two in Bethlehem. Another confirmation of this date is Luke’s indication that John the Baptist began preaching in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius (from 18.08.14 – Roman emperor), and the beginning of this period can be determined from 19.08.28 to 18.08. 29 AD If Jesus began his work at the same time as John, then given the rabbinic tradition, which believed that the age of Christ at that time was 33-34 years, it also means that Jesus was born around 4 BC. Christ was born in Bethlehem because His parents came there from Nazareth on the occasion of the census conducted by Quirinius in 6-4 BC. And this is also a confirmation of the specified year of Christ’s birth. As for the birthday, Hippolytus (165-235 AD), and later the authority of the Eastern Church, John Chrysostom (345-407) speak of December 25. The Armenian Church adheres to the date of January 6. Biblical and non-biblical information is not enough to make a choice in favour of one of these dates. The question of the immaculate conception of biblical studies leaves open because it has no analogues in the Old Testament. It is believed that Jesus was the Son of God through the action of the Holy Spirit and was, therefore, a unique person in whom the divine and the human were united as never before. As for the date of the Annunciation (the day of the Immaculate Conception), March 25, it is set by counting down 9 months from the birth of Christ on December 25.
We know almost nothing about the childhood of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of the Childhood of Thomas, which tells of the hidden years of Jesus, is considered to be devoid of historical value, and the Gospel itself is the Apocrypha. On the contrary, the scanty information contained in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 2: 41-52) is of historical value because it contains negative testimonies about Jesus’ parents. In particular, it is stated that they did not understand Him. It is fundamentally important that Luke does not idealize Mary, and this is a strong argument in favour of the fact that this story is close to the real state of affairs and is not a legend. This is the origin of the famous aphorism of Jesus, noted by all four evangelists: “There is no prophet without honour, except in his own country, and in his family, and in his own house.” (Matthew 13:57; Mark 6: 4; Luke 4:24; John 4:44) The Hebrew word “prophet” etymologically means “called [by God],” and in an even more ancient sense, it meant ” a seer, ”that is, a person who is able to see what others do not see, and especially things and deeds concerning the will of God. But the main distinguishing feature of the prophets was that they could not only see but was able to speak in the name of God, thanks to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is important to emphasize that Jesus himself and the evangelists believed that He was more than a prophet: He was the only son of the Father (Matt. 11: 9; Luke 7:26), was the Son of God (Mark 1: 1). All activities, lives, phenomena and the very death of Jesus Christ were foreseen by the Old Testament prophets and therefore all evangelists refer to such names as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Daniel, Elisha. But most of them remained unnamed. Biblical tradition held that the names of the prophets themselves meant little in comparison with the proclamation of the Lord’s message, which had a higher meaning. Probably, for this reason, the Gospels do not have explicitly and formally recorded names of authors, which speaks in favour of their impeccable fidelity to the legends. The current instructions to the authors were added at the beginning of the 2nd century after the Gospels began to circulate in the form of a four-part meeting. This suggests that at first, the evangelists did not consider themselves authors but “servants of the Word.” Thus, all indications are that the Gospels were first intended for joint reading and study in the congregation of Christians, and then took their place in the rite of worship. Although the Gospels are almost the only source for creating a biography of Jesus Christ, in terms of genre, they are fundamentally different from all genres of Greek and Roman literature, during which they were created. The Gospels say surprisingly little about the character traits of Jesus. Evangelicals were more concerned with revealing Jesus’ role in God’s plans than with describing His dignity and virtues. The latter we can judge by the words and deeds of Jesus. And this aphoristic-metaphorical form of dynamic presentation of information in the form of dialogues and expressions works much more convincingly than direct definitions and characteristics.
As noted above by S. Averintsev, the year of the death of Jesus Christ is also set approximately. Scientists agree that, based on astronomical, historical and weather forecasts, this date is most likely between April 7, 30 and April 3, 33, and falls on a Friday. The lower date narrows the period of Jesus’ preaching activity, given that the ministry of John the Baptist began in 29, and the upper date limits Paul’s missionary activity. Finally, scholars stopped on April 3, 33. It seems to me that this does not take into account the essential moment of the Divine-harmonious life of Jesus Christ, the most important symbol of which may be the liturgical isolation as a sign of eternal life. This means that the Divine conception of Him as a man and the Divine Resurrection as God were to take place on the same day, March 25, that is, at the Annunciation. Thus, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ was to take place on the Feast of Tabernacles, the name of which theologians translate as “Easter.” According to church tradition, the Resurrection took place at the Annunciation. Calculations from the well-known tables of the definition of Passover show that such a coincidence could only be on Sunday, March 25, 31, and the crucifixion – on Friday, March 23, 31. So, the duration of Jesus’ earthly life from birth on December 25, 4 BC not. was 34 years, 89 days and about 15 hours.
If we consider that Jesus began to preach on January 6 (Epiphany) 29, then, in this case, the approximate duration of his missionary activity was 2 years and 75 days. It is difficult to imagine that this period could be longer, given the significant force of influence on people of the miracles He performed: the resurrection of the dead, walking on water, healing the sick, including lepers, a saturation of 5,000 loaves, calming the storm, casting out demons, etc. .e. All these actions were known to the Jewish and Roman authorities, who probably followed him. It is unlikely that both of these authorities could tolerate such actions of the “King of the Jews” for so long, as evidenced by the unprecedented inscription on the cross. And although Jesus was not the organizer of the armed rebellion, the authorities feared Him. He was dangerous to him as a living bearer of truth. And the truth, as OS said. Pushkin, stronger than the tsar. That is why historians note that the trial of Jesus was very quick and, apparently, prepared in advance. The authorities were in such a hurry and so afraid of their people that the whole trial was carried out in one night. Everything was thought out by the Jewish authorities, up to the possibility of Pilate’s pardon on the eve of Easter. Probably that is why the authorities gathered such a “people” who would make a decisive choice, not in favour of Pilate’s pardon of Jesus of Nazareth. These were not the people who met Jesus as they entered Jerusalem. The Gospels mention here the high priests, the oldest ministers, the scribes, and the Pharisees, whose authority among the common people was thoroughly undermined by the sermons and activities of Jesus. It was clear to Pontius Pilate that the charges against Jesus were clearly not enough to apply the most terrible punishment, and so he appealed to the people. I note that none of the Evangelists justifies Pilate. But, as L.M. Tolstoy, there are many good people, but the bad ones are well organized. And so this “people” gathered by the authorities demanded the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the release of the blatant revolutionary Jesus Barabbas, who committed murder during the revolt in Jerusalem. The real people, as it always happens in such tragic moments, are silent, as in the finale of the tragedy OS Pushkin’s “Boris Godunov”. Christ, who knew all about these conspiracies, was silent with the people. That is why He left unanswered the question of Pontius Pilate: what is truth? (John 18:38) The judgment of Jesus and His death were ordained by God – “The Son of man must suffer many things” (Mark 8:31). Rome also knew about this massacre, and reports from the provinces were regularly sent there, including on trials and executions. It is known that the archive of the trial of Jesus existed in Ser. II c. In Justin, Tertullian and Eusebius you can read: “You can learn about what happened from the Acts written under Pontius Pilate.” It is traditionally believed that after a religious trial at the Sanhedrin (the highest Jewish religious and political council in Jerusalem) that found Jesus guilty of blasphemy, Jewish leaders accused him of inciting a revolt before the Roman ruler Pilate, who conducted a political trial. crucifix…
In the context of the above, it is unwise and unforgiving to place the responsibility for the death of Jesus Christ on the entire God-chosen Jewish people. Christ’s formula “there is no prophet in his own country” is universal, international, and there are examples of this in all nations. On the flag of our history from ancient times from the fratricidal wars of Kievan Rus, and to the Soviet Gulag days, it is quite possible to write a saying: beat your own, so that others are afraid!
The study of the life of Jesus Christ continues. A direct proof not only of His earthly life but of the Resurrection and the Incarnation is the shroud, which since 1578 is kept in the Cathedral of Turin (Italy). The Shroud of Turin is a light yellow cloth 4.3 m long and 1.1 m wide. It depicts a full-length figure of a naked man in front and from the back. A slightly blurred image consists of dark brown spots of varying density and has the character of a photographic negative. Numerous studies have shown that the image on the shroud is not painted or any other dye and is clearly not created by man (see photo negative and positive prints of the Savior’s Face). Interestingly, if you move away from the photo, you can see the cross on the face. The eyes are closed with coins, according to the ancient Jewish rite. Scientists in polarized light at multiple magnifications were able to see a mirror image of four Latin letters: U CAI. Numismatists have pointed to a very rare coin – minted by Pontius Pilate – a mite with the inscription “TIBEROU KAICAROC” (“Emperor Tiberius”). Pilate was the procurator of Judea from 26 to 36, under the emperor Tiberius, the mite with the inscription dates back to 29. Here a mistake was made on the coin: the word KAICAROC is written as SAICAROC. Later, several coins with such an error were found in private collections. There is a great deal of literature with evidence of the direct belonging of the shroud to the time and place of the life of Jesus Christ.
It is known from the Gospels that Joseph of Arimathea asked Pontius Pilate for permission to bury the body of Jesus (Mark 15:46): stone to the door of the coffin. In the early Christian Mozarabic liturgy there is a record: “Peter and John hurried together to the tomb and saw on the veils clear traces left by the One who died and rose again.” This shrine was originally kept by St. Peter the Apostle. In 436 St. Pulcheria placed the shroud of Christ in the Vlahern temple. Generally speaking, the American scientist J. Wilson compiled a detailed chronological table of the movement of the shroud from the 30s of the I century. until 1977. It is fundamentally important for us in the XI century. the shroud was in Constantinople, probably in the Vlahern monastery. This was reported by Emperor Alexei Comnenus, and the chronicler of the Fourth Crusade, Robert de Clary, wrote that during the defeat of Constantinople in 1204 in the Temple of Vlahern, “every Friday this shroud was carried and raised for worship so well that it was possible to see the face of our Lord. ». In the essay “Hilarion – the first artist and poet of Kievan Rus” (see the book: Zolotukhin AI, “Exampey”, Mykolayiv, “Possibilities of Cimmeria”, 2005) I noted that Yaroslav the Wise in 1015 singled out Hilarion (997 -1088) ship for a trip to Byzantium. At this time, Hilarion (in monasticism – St. Nikon the Great) was working on the iconography of Sophia of Kyiv (1011-1028). He, as the son of Russian Prince Vladimir and the great-grandson of the Byzantine emperors, had access to all the shrines collected in Constantinople and probably sketched on them. For comparison, I cite the image of the Face of Christ-Pantocrator created by Hilarion in the central dome of St. Sophia Cathedral. A comparison of the images suggests a clear similarity. That is why the Hagia Sophia for almost a millennium, having gone through numerous wars, ruin and desolation, bombing and shelling, from the Tatar to the Nazi invasion, has remained basically preserved.
The story of the earthly life of Jesus Christ does not end there. The good news of His teaching was spread throughout the world and has been on our earth for almost 2,000 years, exactly according to His instructions: 15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned”.(Mark 16: 15-16). In this regard, the main problem in studying the life of Jesus Christ, in my opinion, is that so far some scholars have not given up trying to “clear” the layers of theological interpretations in search of “historical grain”. And it reminds me of the gospel story of the apparition of Jesus after the resurrection of Homi the Twin, called “Homi the unbeliever” for it.
During the first appearance of the risen Jesus, Homa was not with his disciples. In the Gospel of John (20: 25-29) we read: 25 The other disciples, therefore, said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.26 “And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed”.
15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned”.