Christianity [Theme]

Realizing the detrimental nature of theological conflicts for the life of the empire, the authorities pursued a policy of developing a unified ideology, which did not at all contribute to the free development of philosophical teachings and rational methods of research.

The transformation of Christianity into the state religion led to the use of political and forceful methods to combat paganism: by order of the authorities, not only pagan temples were closed and pagan beliefs were banned, but also pagan philosophical schools began to be closed. Within the framework of various philosophical teachings, the most consistent criticism of Christianity was carried out at the theoretical level; philosophical teachings and methods served as the basis for the emergence of many different movements in Christian theology, which were later recognized as heretical.

Pagan philosophy and Christian doctrine are two branches of the same tree; the truths of Christianity are consistent with the teachings of the best of the pagans; philosophy is, as it were, the threshold of Christianity. There is no knowledge without faith and faith without knowledge.

Man is a combination of soul and body. The soul is the bearer of the divine principle in man; it exists before the birth of the body, the soul is immortal, it is the source of movement and activity, it contains everything that allows a person to rise. The human body is material, inactive and inert, the body contains all the worst things that pull a person down, the body is a prison for the soul. Man, by virtue of his physicality, is initially a sinful being.

Christianity arose in the 1st century AD. e. in the eastern province of the Roman Empire - Palestine, and in the II-III centuries. spread widely throughout the empire and even beyond its borders. Since Christianity proclaimed that there is only one true God, all Roman gods were understood in Christianity as false gods or even demons.

In my observations of life during my various wanderings around the world, I was especially struck by the fact that even in our time people kill each other everywhere under all kinds of pretexts and in all kinds of ways. Killing en masse is still called war, and killing individuals is called capital punishment. Everywhere the same worship of brute force and the same inconsistency... and this is done even in Christian countries in the name of one whose teaching was based on peace and love.

If the thought of death takes root in a person, then his mind will no longer remain in the land of seduction.

If you want to know what true love is, read the Holy Gospel, and first of all, 1 Corinthians, chapter 13.

Read one chapter of the Gospel and two chapters of the Apostle daily, as well as a short morning and evening rule.

[Antinomy (from the Greek antinomia - contradiction in the law) is a reasoning that proves that two statements that are a negation of each other follow from one another.]

You know, father, our life should be like a Napoleon cake - dough, cream, dough, cream, and powder on top. If our cake consists of only one dough, it will not be tasty. If it consists of only one cream, it will be too sweet. And if the dough is interspersed with layers of cream - dough-cream, dough-cream, dough-cream, and powder on top - then such a pie will be sweet. The dough is our labors, our worldly cares. If our whole life consists only of them, then such a life will not be sweet. If we have only one cream, that is, only one prayer from morning to night, which is practically impossible in our life, then this will also be wrong, and it will not work. But with us everything should be harmonious and measured - our works should be intertwined with prayers. And not necessarily with long ones - you can with very short ones: Lord,

Watch and pray, so that you do not fall into temptation: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

He seems to have disappeared.

Let's say I believe that I have love. God sends me a poor man in order to test my love. If I have, for example, two watches: one is good and the other is a little damaged, and I give the damaged ones to the poor man, then this means that my love is second-class. If I have true love, then I give a good watch to the poor man. The state when you keep both old and new and don’t give anything at all is hellish.