Ask the first person you meet on the street what he knows world religions, and he is unlikely to give you an answer to this, in essence, a simple question. Well, first of all, he won't tell you Shinto, and Shinto is the world's religion. Well, and then there will be open confusion with Orthodoxy and Catholicism, Shiites and Sunnis, in a word, you will not get an exact answer from anyone, with rare exceptions. And, of course, even many believers or who consider themselves to be such, be they even Christians, even Muslims, are unlikely to answer the question, and in what ways did people come to faith in the form in which they believe in God now?
Nicene Cathedral (Romanian fresco, 18th century).
But our whole history is not only the history of wars, but also the history of the search for true faith and the best way to save the soul, and the most interesting thing is that this search is still going on today! Well, but our story will go about the intricate ways of this search, moreover, we will touch on only two confessions - Christianity and the Muslim religion.
Is Christianity a space for fantasy?
It all began with the fact that already in the II century. n. NS. Christian theologians attempted to combine the newly emerging Christianity with Greek philosophy, and they were quite successful in this endeavor. Well, early Christianity opened up a wide scope for different interpretations, since it was just taking shape. Many of them were then ranked as heresy - that is, to a deep deviation from the true faith, and, however, these were also teachings, and they were sometimes followed by huge masses of people, although then these teachings were condemned by the church.
The very first of the dissent
The blood of the first Christians was still spilled in the arenas of Roman circuses (Emperor Nero accused them of burning Rome in 64 AD), and the first heresies were already beginning to appear. And in the beginning it was Gnosticism in various forms, preached by Bishops Valentine and Basilides. They argued that matter is evil, so they made a distinction between the creator of the world and the true God, in which they saw two different entities, and this, of course, did not fit in with what was written in the Bible.
In Asia Minor, a doctrine such as Montanism arose, which got its name from the Phrygian pagan priest Montana, who became a Christian around 156 AD. NS. He preached a living spiritual fellowship with God. And also freedom from the church hierarchy and rituals, and all this, in his opinion, could be seen in individual charisma or special gifts from the Holy Spirit, and, above all, the gift of prophecy. That is, it came out very conveniently: you have a prophetic gift, therefore, you entered into live communication with God. And if not - do not blame me, I have not matured yet! The followers of Montana, among whom the prophetesses Prisca (or Priscilla) and Maximilla enjoyed special honor, recognized their teacher as the Paraclete (Spirit-Comforter), which was promised to people by the Gospel of John. Some Christians who continued to follow Jewish dogmas entered the Ebionite sect (from the Hebrew word for "poor man"). The Ebionites argued that Jesus actually came simply to fulfill the law and ancient prophecies, that is, he was akin to Moses. They believed that he only removed from the Law the falsehood accumulated throughout the history of the Jewish people, and preached asceticism, life in poverty and vegetarianism. But the most interesting thing is that they believed that they were a bridge between the Church and the Synagogue, since their faith combines both Christianity and Judaism. But representatives of the orthodox faiths did not like this symbiosis at all, as a result they were accused by the Christian church as heretics, and by the Jewish church as apostates.
The Trinity Question and the Problem of the Faint of Spirit
In the III century. the first disagreements about the Trinity, as well as the church and the sacrament itself, went on. Monarchianism appeared, which was popular in Rome, and which affirmed the unity of God, and rejected his three hypostases. At the same time, the Adoptianism that Paul preached from Samosata affirmed the human, not the divine nature of Christ.
At the same time, Novatianism (so named after the presbyter Novatian) appeared, which in Rome became a teaching of a clearly puritanical sense and advocated not forgiving all those who renounce their faith in fear of persecution or, due to weakness of spirit, fell into grave sin! And it's amazing how they thought of this, because Christ himself, as you know, forgave his enemies!
The Search for Truth and the First Ecumenical Councils
In the IV century. widespread Arianism, named after the presbyter Arius from Alexandria, who taught that God the Father created the Son of God, and therefore he is different from his father by nature. The first Ecumenical Council of Nicea in 325 condemned Arianism and affirmed that God the Father and the Son have one essence, and then the same was confirmed at the Council of Constantinople in 381. But condemnation is condemnation, but what about the fact that then many peoples, for example, the same Goths, Vandals and Burgundians, became Christians precisely according to the Arian teaching ?! Moreover, there is even a version that in Russia earlier there was also an Arian sense. However, why was it? In 2006, the “Arian community of the city of Oryol” of 20 people was established in the city of Oryol. Apparently, the way of salvation according to the teachings of Arius turned out to be closer to them than traditional Orthodoxy, and why so - who knows?
And there was also the Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius - the creator of Nestorianism, who believed that Christ was born a man, and only later the Word of God was united with him. Opponents of Nestorius accused him of a "split personality" of Christ and condemned the doctrine in 431 during the third Ecumenical Council in Ephesus.
However, there was also the opposite extreme - Eutychianism or Monophysitism, which completely denied the human principle in Jesus, but it was also rejected by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Supporters of Pelagianism and its milder form, semi-Pelagianism, were of the opinion that the original sin of Adam had no effect on human nature and that any mortal was capable of choosing good or evil at his own will, and he did not need God's help in this.
Adam's sin was only a "bad example" for posterity, they argued, but it had no other harmful consequences. But the role of Jesus, on the contrary, was a "good example" for all mankind and counteracted the "bad example" of Adam, and is also an atonement for sins. Pelagian doctrine says that people are sinners by their own choice, and therefore sinners are not victims, but criminals who should not be punished, but … forgiven! And it is also permissible for people to achieve perfection even without the help of the church, although Blessed Augustine condemned them for this, since he believed that the original sin was so grievous that without the guiding hand of the clergy in search of salvation, you cannot do it!
And then there were the Cathars, from the Greek "catharsis" - "cleansing", or the Albigensians (named after the city of Albi), who also considered themselves Christians. But they only argued that hell is life on Earth, and heaven is in heaven, that a person is born in hell and ascends to heaven, that the cross is not a symbol of faith, but an instrument of execution, because people were crucified on it in Rome! Cathars said things that were scary from the point of view of normal Catholics. For example, that meat food pollutes the mouth the same way on all days, therefore it is pointless to adhere to fasting, and that the sin of killing a living creature cannot be forgiven. And they also dared to say the following: “If the Lord God is omnipotent and allows what is happening in this world, then He is not all-good. If He is all-good and allows what is happening in the world, then He is not almighty. "And, despite such dire statements, their religion attracted a lot of people in the South of France, where culture and economy began to flourish until they were destroyed by the Orthodox crusaders-Catholics northerners! "Swear and testify perjury," said the Cathars, "but do not reveal the secret!" That is, changing their faith in difficult circumstances was as easy for them as changing their pants. Therefore, the Catholics demanded that they also kill the dog when converting to Catholicism, they did not trust the Cathars' oath alone. And what? When their castle of Montsegur fell in March 1244, 216 Cathars, singing hymns, proudly descended the mountain and climbed the fires burning below, and not only men, but also women and children! Now this place is called the Field of the Burned and is marked with a commemorative cross - a visual symbol of the steadfastness of their faith!
Kill them like the people of the Hell tribe
Muslims, and at the earliest stages of the formation of Islam, also had enough heretical offshoots from the true faith. For example, one of the early "deviations", whose representatives spoke out against the legitimate Muslim rulers and turned out to recognize as unbelievers those of the Muslims who seriously sinned, was Kharijism. The Prophet Muhammad demanded that the Kharijites simply kill: “They will come out of Islam like an arrow pierces a game. If you find them, then kill them as the tribe of Hell was once killed."
Muhakkimites and Azrakites were known - also supporters of the Kharijite sect. They argued that people who have committed at least one serious sin will immediately turn into unbelievers, and for this they will burn in hell forever. There are known varieties of the Kharijite sect - Najdis, Bayhasites, Ajradis, Salabits, Ibadis, Sufrites, etc. At the same time, Muslim theologians themselves find between them many serious differences in the interpretation of issues of faith and norms of Muslim law, so everything is even very, very difficult …
People professing Jahmism also consider themselves Muslims, but according to the Muslims themselves, they are heretics in relation to the faith. And how not to consider them as such, if they refuse to recognize many events that should happen on the Day of Judgment: they do not believe in the Bridge that will be thrown between the ridges of Hell, they deny Libra, the very possibility of contemplating Allah, but the Koran is considered … created. The Mu'tazilis ("separated", "separated") are supporters of Asharism and Maturidism - teachings that arose according to the Muslim calendar around 900. All human deeds, they said, are the creations of Allah, that is, without him you cannot even pull the hair out of your beard. But only the Maturidites believed that they were based only on the will of Allah, and the very form of the act already depends on the will of the person. At the same time, the Ash'arites argued that Allah gives people only the ability to perform certain actions and gives them free will. That is, if nothing prevents a person, he can commit them.
Truth is always out there somewhere …
In addition, there are also known Murjiites, Qadarites, Jabarites, and this is not counting the division of Muslims into Shiites and Sunnis, in fact, equal to the division of Christians into Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants. That is how difficult the path to salvation turns out to be, and how difficult it was at the dawn of the formation of the two world religions of Christianity and Islam, it was to cognize the Truth. And who knows if this truth is known even now ?!
