Features of Christianity as a world religion. Report: World religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Islam), their brief description

Christianity - the largest in terms of the number of followers world religion. It originated in Palestine. Its founder was Jesus Christ, by whose name it was, then this religion was named. The time of the emergence of Christianity is usually attributed to the year 33 of the Christian era - the year of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and the Nativity of Christ is considered to be Christian world beginning of the chronology.

Immediately after the emergence of Christianity, it began to spread rapidly throughout different countries. In the year of the crucifixion of Christ, the first Christians appeared in Palestine, Egypt, Libya, Syria (including Lebanon), Italy and some other countries. Somewhat later, but also in the 1st c. new religion successively spread across the modern territory of Turkey, Armenia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Greece, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, India, Malta, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Britain, Spain, Macedonia, Albania, Tunisia, France, Germany, Algeria, Romania, Sri Lanka as well as in the Arabian Peninsula. In the first century, the Apostle Andrew the First-Called preached in the modern territory of Russia and Ukraine. In the II century. supporters of Christianity appeared in the modern territory of Morocco, Bulgaria, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium, in the III century. - in the modern territory of Hungary and Georgia, in the IV century. - in Ireland, in the 7th century. - in the modern territory of the Netherlands, in the VIII century. - in Iceland, in the ninth century. - in Denmark, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Norway, in the X century. - in Poland, in the XI century. - in Finland. From the end of the XV century. European missionaries began to convert the population of America to Christianity, in the 16th century. most of the inhabitants of the Philippines were Christianized. From the 15th century Christian missionaries tried to convert the peoples of Africa, who lived south of the Sahara, but they managed to achieve significant success in this matter only in the twentieth century. In the 17th century proselytizing work was also started on some islands of Oceania, but the bulk of the population of this region was converted to Christianity only in the 19th - 20th centuries.

The sacred book of the overwhelming majority of Christians (with the exception of some marginal groups) is the Bible, which consists of two parts: the Old and New Testaments. However, the first of these parts is accepted by representatives of various denominations of Christians in different volumes.

The Old Testament, written by the Jewish keepers of tradition - the Masoretes - and identical to the Tanakh of the Jews, consists of 39 books (their names are given in the Christian version): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the Book of Joshua, the Book of Judges of Israel, the Book of Ruth, the First , Second, Third and Fourth Books of Kings (for Catholics, respectively, the First and Second Books of Samuel, the First and Second Books of Kings), the First and Second Books of Chronicles (for Catholics, the First and Second Books of Chronicles), the First Book of Ezra, the Book of Nehemiah (for Catholics - The Second Book of Ezra), the Book of Esther, the Book of Job, the Psalter, the Proverbs of Solomon, the Book of Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher, the Song of Songs of Solomon, the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, Lamentations of Jeremiah, the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, the Book of the Prophet Daniel, books 12 so called minor prophets (Ossia, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi).

In III-II centuries. to R. Chr. The Old Testament (Tanakh) was translated into Greek in connection with the mass transition of the Jews of the Diaspora to it. This translation, which became known as the Septuagint (because it was carried out by 70 interpreters), turned out to have 10 more books (obviously, the translators worked with some texts other than the Masoretic manuscripts). These 10 books were the Second Book of Ezra (for Catholics - the Third Book of Ezra), the Book of Tobit, the Book of Judith, the Book of Wisdom of Solomon, the Book of Wisdom of Jesus, the son of Sirach, the Epistle of Jeremiah, the Book of the Prophet Baruch, the First, Second and Third Books of Maccabees. In a work made at the end of the 4th - beginning of the 5th c. translation of the Bible into Latin language there is also the Third Book of Ezra (for Catholics it is divided into two parts - the Fourth and Fifth Books of Ezra), which is not available either in Hebrew or in Greek. The listed books, which are not in the Masoretic Bible, are treated differently by different branches of Christianity. Followers of the Roman catholic church they were introduced into the canon, the Orthodox, although they included them in the Bible, singled them out as non-canonical books (useful, instructive, but not inspired by God), the Protestants did not recognize them at all and did not include them in the Bible.

As for the New Testament, it is unconditionally accepted by the overwhelming majority of Christians (with the exception of a few rather isolated groups). New Testament was written much later than the Old Testament - in the 1st century. Christian era by the disciples of Jesus Christ - the apostles - after his martyrdom on the cross. There are 27 books in the New Testament. These are the four Gospels (from Matthew, from Mark, from Luke and from John), Acts of the Apostles, 21 conciliar message apostles (The Epistle of James, the First and Second Epistles of Peter, the First, Second and Third Epistles of John, the Epistle of Jude, the 14 Epistles of the Apostle Paul: to the Romans, the First and Second to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, to the Colossians, the First and Second to the Thessalonians, First and Second to Timothy, to Titus, to Philemon, to the Jews), Revelation of the Apostle John the Theologian (Apocalypse).

Contrary to the provision of a single church, which is contained in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, accepted by most Christians, at present Christianity does not represent a single whole, breaking up into a large number of separate directions, currents and denominations. There are five main directions: Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Protestantism, Monophysitism and Nestorianism.

Because of this fragmentation, give general characteristics creeds, rituals and organization of Christianity in general is very difficult. Nevertheless, there are a number of features inherent in most of its directions and currents. In dogma to such common features refers to the belief of the vast majority of Christians in one God, acting in three persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, constituting the Divine Trinity. Most followers of Christianity consider Jesus Christ to be the God-man (ie having two natures: divine and human). An important provision of Christianity is faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, according to which He descended to earth in order to martyrdom on the cross to atone for the sins of the people. Christians also believe in the resurrection of Christ, His ascension to heaven and in the coming second coming to carry out a righteous judgment on people. For the vast majority of areas of Christianity, in addition, the belief in the immortality of the soul and posthumous retribution is characteristic.

AT short form the main tenets of Christianity are set forth in three historical creeds (confessions) of faith: the Apostolic, Nicene (or Nicene-Constantinople) and Athanasian. At the same time, some Christian denominations equally recognize all three symbols, others prefer specifically one of them, while some Protestant denominations do not attach much importance to any of the symbols. The oldest of the symbols - the Apostolic - was first formulated earlier than the middle of the 2nd century. This symbol enjoys great prestige in many Christian denominations, primarily in Protestant ones. In Orthodoxy, the Apostolic Symbol is practically superseded by the Niceno-Constantinopolitan (adopted on the first two ecumenical councils: I Nicaea in 325 and I Constantinople in 381), which is close to the Apostolic, but more clearly formulates the essence of the Christian doctrine. The third historical creed - Afanasievsky (named after the Bishop of Alexandria St. Athanasius the Great, who lived at the end of the 3rd - 4th centuries, to whom his authorship is attributed 1) - differs from the other two by strict dogmatism and brevity. It gives only a concise formulation of the two most important provisions of the Christian doctrine: about the three persons of the Godhead with the unity of the being and about the two natures of Jesus Christ with the unity of the person.

Most Christians recognize the need to perform the sacraments - special sacred actions called under visible sign give God's grace to believers. However, on the issue of the number of sacraments, their understanding, form and time of performance, different areas of Christianity differ greatly, and many Protestant denominations generally refused to recognize the sacraments, calling them simple rites.

Cult practice among Christians of different denominations also varies greatly. The most solemn divine services are held in Orthodox and other churches. Eastern churches as well as Catholics. In most Protestant denominations, liturgical practice, on the contrary, is characterized by simplicity (the Anglicans in this respect occupy an intermediate position).

Different Christian denominations also differ greatly in their church organization. Only the Roman Catholic Church and the Nestorian Church of the East are united (each separately) in organizational terms. Both Orthodoxy and Monophysitism are divided into a significant number of independent local churches. Protestantism, on the other hand, does not represent a single whole, not only organizationally, but also doctrinally, and breaks up into a large number of currents (Anglicanism, Lutheranism, Calvinism, Mennonism, Methodism, Baptism, Pentecostalism, etc.), which, in turn, subdivided into separate denominations and churches.

In addition, there are denominations in Christianity that are difficult to attribute to any of its five main directions.

Christianity was professed in 1995, according to the famous English religious scholar David B. Barrett, 1928 million people, i.e. 34% of the world's population. Thus, every third person is a Christian. In terms of the number of adherents, Christianity is almost twice as large as the second most influential world religion - Islam.

Christianity is the main confession in all European countries, except Albania and the European part of Turkey, in all countries of America, Australia and Oceania, in many states of Central, Eastern and Southern Africa, as well as in four Asian states - in Georgia, Armenia, Cyprus and Philippines (in two more Asian countries - Lebanon and South Korea - Christians form more than a third of the population).

Despite the fact that Christianity used to be considered a predominantly European religion, now largest number Christians are concentrated not in Europe, but in America - 697 million people in 1995 (which accounted for 36% of the entire Christian population of the globe). In Europe in 1995, there were 552 million Christians (29% of all adherents of this religion), in Africa - 348 million (18%), in Asia - 307 million (16%), in Australia and Oceania - 24 million. (one %).

The rise of Christianity as a world religion

Greek mythology

Christianity established itself as a world religion not in the culture in which it originated, but in Greco-Roman. As the Russian philosopher Vl. Solovyov, "in two ways - prophetic inspiration from the Jews and philosophical thought the Greeks - human spirit approached the idea of ​​the Kingdom of God and the ideal of the God-man" (Soloviev B.C. Works: in 2 vols. M., 1988. T. I. S. 271). Therefore, we begin the chapter with a story about Greek mythology, which then formed the spiritual basis of Roman mythology and philosophy, in which the formation of Christianity as a world religion took place.

The mythology of Greece and Rome is important for us not only in itself, but also because Christianity as a world religion was formed precisely in Ancient Rome, who adopted mainly Greek mythology, although the activity of Christ took place in Palestine. In this sense, the formation of Christianity was influenced not only by the fact that the Old Testament is monotheistic - there is one God in it, but also by the fact that in ancient Greek mythology there is the supreme god Zeus, renamed by the Romans as Jupiter.

The ideas of the Greeks about the origin of the world are similar to those of other peoples. First of all, chaos arises, followed by the broad-chested Gaia and the gloomy Tartarus, "in the deep bowels of the earth," Hesiod reports in the poem "Theogony", written in the 7th century. BC e. The Theogony systematizes the local mythologies of numerous city-states. It turned out four generations of gods. The original pair is the sky god Uranus and his wife the goddess of the Earth Gaia. From them comes the generation of titans. The youngest of the sons of Cron (from him time - chronos) and his sister Rhea give rise to a new generation of gods. The most famous of them is Zeus, who became supreme god Olympus, his wife Hera - the patroness of marriage, their brothers Poseidon and Hades, sister Demeter - the goddess of fertility. The universe was divided between Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. Zeus got the sky, Poseidon got the sea, Hades got the underworld.

The next generation: Apollo - the god of light and art, Athena - the goddess of wisdom, Aphrodite - the goddess of beauty, Ares - the god of war, etc. The same generation includes the titan Atlas, who held the vault of heaven on his shoulders, and Prometheus, who gave fire to people and for this he was chained to a Caucasian rock by order of Zeus.

From Mnemosyne - the goddess of memory - Zeus was born 9 muses: Urania - the muse of astronomy, Clio - the muse of history, Calliope - the muse of the epic, Euterpe - the muse of lyric poetry, Polyhymnia - the muse of hymns, Erato - the muse of love poetry, Terpsichore - the muse of dance, Melpomene - the muse of tragedy, Thalia - the muse of comedy.

In "Theogony" we meet the immaculate conception of Uranus, nymphs, Pontus by Gaia. Zeus gave birth to the gods, having, in addition to his wife, numerous mistresses, but if desired, he could cope alone, as was the case with Athena, who was born from his head. The gods were born without outside help - Aphrodite was born from sea foam after Zeus castrated her father Kron.

There are heroes in Greek mythology who are not gods, such as the demigod Hercules. The famous 12 feats were accomplished by him in order to achieve what Gilgamesh dreamed of - immortality.

The Greeks formed the idea of ​​a golden age that existed in the past, when the first people appeared. “They lived without worries and labors, eating acorns, wild fruits and honey that dripped directly from the trees, drinking sheep and goat milk, never getting old, dancing and laughing a lot. Death for them was no more terrible than a dream” (Reader on the History of World Culture… p. 196). Then there were people silver age who lived up to 100 years and did not fight each other; the people of the copper age who loved to fight were rude and cruel. The people of this Iron Age are wicked, evil, unjust and deceitful. However, they are not to blame for everything. Like Eve in the Bible, so Pandora in Greek mythology is responsible for human troubles. The first woman, created by Hephaestus at the command of Zeus, out of curiosity, opened a vessel that contained human vices, illnesses and misfortunes and released them into the wild, which is why the human race still suffers. According to Vico, wheat gave its name to the golden age, which indicates the importance attached to the cultivation of the land. Wool was also called gold (" The Golden Fleece”), and then there are golden apples, gold as metal and gold coins.

Greek mythology was much more developed than the previous ones, although many stories are repeated. Thus, the myth of Demeter, who is forced to descend to Hades every year, replacing her daughter Persephone, is reminiscent of the myths of Osiris and Inanna. Steiner interprets the myth of Demeter as a symbol of the soul and its eternal transformation in the cycle of births and deaths.

The Greek gods performed a huge number of deeds that were copied from human actions, which led to the "grounding" of the divine and did not please Plato, who advised the rulers to take an example from the Egyptian culture. This advice turned out to be utopian, but mythology ceded its leading position to philosophy. The meaning of the mysteries (Eleusinian, dedicated to the goddess Demeter and others) gradually faded away, and at the same time the myth left the mystical forces, weakening it.

The fact that the Greeks and after them the Romans did not draw a sharp line between gods and people, allowed free communication between them and they had a special category of demigods (for example, Hercules), and other heroes - Menelaus, Agamemnon, Odysseus - became deities and had their cults, facilitated the adoption of Christianity by Roman civilization with its God-Man. AT Ancient Greece“God made this face for human properties, but only enhanced, reaching divine proportions, therefore the gods are characterized by beauty, strength, knowledge, and only one property qualitatively separates them from people - their immortality. The gods of Greece are man-gods, and the religion of the Greeks is the purest anthropomorphism” (History of Religion… p. 50). But humanity Greek gods had a negative side, which also contributed to the replacement of Greek mythology by Christianity. This replacement was caused by the further strengthening of the moral aspect of religion.

Greek mythology is the most clear, logical, consistent and bright, and therefore it is no coincidence that it broke through its own framework and became the premise of philosophy. Psyche turned into the concept of the soul, Aphrodite into the concept of love, etc. But in philosophy, especially at its first stage, many mythological ideas remain, for example, the idea of ​​a posthumous judgment reaches Plato and is described by him in the Phaedo. Those who have committed crimes are tormented in Tartarus until they beg for forgiveness from their victims. “This is their punishment, appointed by the judges” ( Plato. Phaedo. 114b).

The main elements of the Greek religion are prayers, sacrifices, divination. “The temples were built with a facade to the east and contained images of the gods and sometimes sacred relics such as the anchor of the Argonauts, the shoulder of Pelops, the blood of Hercules, etc. This or that temple gained influence and popularity depending on any miraculous images stored in it , statues that exuded myrrh ... etc. " (History of religion ... S. 55).

This text is an introductory piece.

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3.1. The formation of ideas in the dynamic basis of the phenomenon of religion The transition of research interest from the "characteristics" of things to "functions" hallmark scientific methodology of the last decades. Functional approach in modern general scientific

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CHAPTER 4 The Rise of Chinese Zen Buddhism (Chan) History Zen is a teaching of enlightenment that originated from Buddhist mysticism. Although the practice of Zen lies outside the bounds of rational categories, this does not relieve us of the need to resort to

Christianity
Relate to the number
world religions,
taking into account the impact on the course
world history and
scale
distribution. Number
adherents
Christianity
approaching
2 billion people.

IN I A.D. IN THE EASTERN
part of the Roman Empire, this
religion. It arose in the context
disintegration of the slave system and
was originally an expression
the impotent protest of the slaves and the poorest
segments of the population against oppression
slave owners. Seeing no way out
situation, the poor paid
eyes to the sky.

The Roman Empire included at that time the entire
Mediterranean world, was based on slavery, to
In addition, civilization was already on the decline.
By the 60s. 1st century AD there have already been several
Christian communities in addition to the very first,
Jerusalem, consisting of disciples who gathered
around Jesus.

The basis Christian religion faith lay down
in the redemptive mission of Jesus Christ,
who by his martyrdom
atoned for the sins of mankind. These
dogmatic provisions are
essential for all Christian
currents. They have a being
the Christian faith that gives
adherents of Christianity hope for
deliverance from earthly burdens
existence in eternal life, which
must come after death.

At the beginning of the second millennium
development of Christianity in the East
and the West dispersed, formed
virtually no communication
a church:
Eastern
(Orthodox)
church
Western
(catholic)
church

Today in Christianity there are the following main directions:

Orthodoxy
Catholicism
Protestantism

Orthodoxy
The first kept the creed unchanged,
formed in the first millennium, and before
of our time is called
Orthodox.
Orthodox
churches

christian religion
proclaims the principle
monotheism. However,
main directions
christianity adhere
provisions of the divine trinity.
According to this position, God
although one, however, acts in
three hypostases (persons):
God the father
God the son and
God is the Holy Spirit.

Until recently, there were 15 autocephalous
(independent, not subordinate to a single center) Orthodox churches:
Constantinople
Alexandria
Antioch
Jerusalem
Russian
Georgian
Serbian
Romanian
Bulgarian
Cypriot
Helladic (Greek)
Albanian
Polish
Czech lands and Slovakia
Orthodox Church in America

Catholicism
The second, behind which the name was fixed
Catholic (universal),
deviated sufficiently from the Orthodox faith.
Catholic
churches

Catholicism is the largest branch of Christianity in terms of the number of adherents. The head of the Catholic Church is the Pope

Catholicism is practiced in almost all countries of the world.

He is the main
religion in many
European countries:
Italy, Spain,
Portugal, Austria,
Belgium, Lithuania, Poland,
Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Croatia,
Ireland and Malta).
In total in 21 states
European Catholics
make up the majority
population.

Protestantism

Originating in the sixteenth century
anti-Catholic Movement,
Reformation - led to the emergence of a third direction in
Christianity - Protestantism.
Protestant
churches

Protestantism is one of the three main directions of Christianity, which is a combination of numerous and independent Churches.

Protestantism is one
of the three main areas
christianity,
representing
totality
numerous and
independent churches.

Protestantism in
the opposite of Catholicism
and Orthodoxy represents
is a collection of many
currents and churches, most
influential of which are Lutheranism (mainly
Nordic countries)
Calvinism (in some
countries Western Europe and
North America) and
Anglicanism, half
whose adherents
made up of the British.

The fundamental difference
three Christian denominations
is their choice
authority in matters of faith.

Christianity unites all people,
those who believe
that Jesus Christ is the God who came into
flesh to save the world.
From what should be
saved the world?
From sin, damnation and death, or,
in other words,
from all forms of evil.

Christianity develops with the idea
one God. All beings and
items are his
creations. Two central
dogmas of Christianity speak of
trinity of God and
Incarnation. Man is created
as a bearer of "image and likeness"

As well as their classifications. In religious studies, it is customary to distinguish the following types: tribal, national and world religions.

Buddhism

is the oldest religion in the world. It originated in the 6th century. BC e. in India, and is currently distributed in the countries of South, Southeast, Central Asia and the Far East and has about 800 million followers. Tradition links the emergence of Buddhism with the name of Prince Siddhartha Gautama. His father hid bad things from Gautama, he lived in luxury, married his beloved girl, who bore him a son. The impetus for a spiritual upheaval for the prince, as the legend says, was four meetings. At first he saw a decrepit old man, then a leprous sufferer and a funeral procession. So Gautama learned old age, sickness and death are the fate of all people. Then he saw a peaceful, impoverished wanderer who needed nothing from life. All this shocked the prince, made him think about the fate of people. He secretly left the palace and family, at the age of 29 he became a hermit and tried to find. As a result of deep reflection, at the age of 35 he became a Buddha - enlightened, awakened. For 45 years, the Buddha preached his teaching, which can be briefly reduced to the following main ideas.

Life is suffering, the cause of which are the desires and passions of people. To get rid of suffering, it is necessary to renounce earthly passions and desires. This can be achieved by following the path of salvation indicated by the Buddha.

After death, any creature, including man, is reborn again, but already in the form of a new living being, whose life is determined not only by its own behavior, but also by the behavior of its "predecessors".

We must strive for nirvana, i.e., dispassion and peace, which are achieved by renunciation of earthly attachments.

Unlike Christianity and Islam Buddhism lacks the idea of ​​God as the creator of the world and its ruler. The essence of the doctrine of Buddhism boils down to a call to every person to embark on the path of seeking inner freedom, complete liberation from all the shackles that life brings.

Christianity

It arose in the 1st century. n. e. in the eastern part of the Roman Empire - Palestine - as addressed to all the humiliated, thirsting for justice. It is based on the idea of ​​messianism - the hope for the Divine deliverer of the world from everything bad that is on Earth. Jesus Christ suffered for the sins of people, whose name in Greek means "Messiah", "Savior". By this name, Jesus is associated with the Old Testament traditions about the coming to the land of Israel of a prophet, a messiah who will free the people from suffering and establish a righteous life - God's kingdom. Christians believe that the coming of God to Earth will be accompanied by the Last Judgment, when He will judge the living and the dead, direct them to heaven or hell.

Basic Christian ideas:

• Belief that God is one, but He is a Trinity, i.e. God has three "persons": the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, which form the one God who created the Universe.
• Faith in the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus Christ - the second person of the Trinity, God the Son - this is Jesus Christ. He has two natures simultaneously: Divine and human.
• Faith in Divine grace - a mysterious power sent by God to free a person from sin.
• Belief in the afterlife and afterlife.
• Belief in the existence of good spirits - angels and evil spirits - demons, along with their master Satan.

The holy book of Christians is Bible, which means "book" in Greek. The Bible consists of two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is the oldest part of the Bible. The New Testament (actually Christian works) includes: four gospels (from Luke, Mark, John and Matthew); the deeds of the holy apostles; Epistles and Revelation of John the Theologian.

In the IV century. n. e. Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire. Christianity is not one. It split into three streams. In 1054 Christianity split into Roman Catholic and Orthodox Church. In the XVI century. The Reformation, an anti-Catholic movement, began in Europe. The result was Protestantism.

And recognize seven christian sacraments: baptism, chrismation, repentance, communion, marriage, priesthood and unction. The source of doctrine is the Bible. The differences are mainly as follows. In Orthodoxy there is no single head, there is no idea of ​​purgatory as a place of temporary accommodation for the souls of the dead, the priesthood does not give a vow of celibacy, as in Catholicism. The head of the Catholic Church is the Pope, who is elected for life. Roman Catholic Church is the Vatican - a state that occupies several quarters in Rome.

It has three main streams: Anglicanism, Calvinism and Lutheranism. Protestants consider that the condition for the salvation of a Christian is not formal observance of rituals, but his sincere personal faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Their teaching proclaims the principle of a universal priesthood, which means that every lay person can preach. Virtually all Protestant denominations have reduced the number of sacraments to a minimum.

Islam

It arose in the 7th century. n. e. among the Arab tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. This is the youngest of the world. There are followers of Islam more than 1 billion people.

Founder of Islam historical figure. He was born in 570 in the city of Mecca, which at that time was a fairly large city at the crossroads of trade routes. In Mecca, there was a shrine revered by most pagan Arabs - the Kaaba. Muhammad's mother died when he was six years old, his father died before his son was born. Muhammad was brought up in the family of his grandfather, a noble family, but impoverished. At the age of 25, he became the manager of the household of the wealthy widow Khadija and soon married her. At the age of 40, Muhammad acted as a religious preacher. He declared that God (Allah) chose him as his prophet. The ruling elite of Mecca did not like the sermon, and by 622 Muhammad had to move to the city of Yathrib, later renamed Medina. 622 is considered the beginning of the Muslim chronology according to lunar calendar and Mecca is the center of the Muslim religion.

The Holy Book of Muslims is a processed record of Muhammad's sermons. During the lifetime of Muhammad, his statements were perceived as the direct speech of Allah and were transmitted orally. A few decades after the death of Muhammad, they were written down and will compose the Qur'an.

plays an important role in the beliefs of Muslims Sunnah - collection of instructive stories about the life of Muhammad and Sharia - a set of principles and rules of conduct binding on Muslims. The most serious ipexa.Mii among Muslims are usury, drunkenness, gambling and adultery.

The place of worship for Muslims is called a mosque. Islam forbids depicting a person and living creatures; hollow mosques are decorated only with ornaments. There is no clear division between clergy and laity in Islam. Any Muslim who knows the Qur'an, Muslim laws and rules of worship can become a mullah (priest).

Ritualism is given great importance in Islam. You may not know the intricacies of faith, but you should strictly follow the main rites, the so-called five pillars of Islam:

• pronouncing the formula of the confession of faith: “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet”;
• making a daily five prayers(prayer);
• fasting in the month of Ramadan;
• giving alms to the poor;
• making a pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj).

Religion plays a huge role in the life of society and the state. She compensates for her fear of death by believing in eternal life, helps to find moral, and sometimes material support for the suffering. Christianity, if we talk briefly about religion, is one of the world's religious teachings, which has been relevant for more than two thousand years. In this introductory article, I do not pretend to be complete, but I will certainly name the key points.

Origin of Christianity

Oddly enough, Christianity, like Islam, is rooted in Judaism, or rather in its sacred book - Old Testament. However, only one person gave a direct impetus to its development - Jesus of Nazareth. Hence the name (from Jesus Christ). Initially, this religion was another monotheistic heresy in the Roman Empire. Christians were persecuted just like that. These persecutions played an important role in the sacralization of Christian martyrs, and Jesus himself.

Once upon a time, when I was studying history at the university, I asked the teacher of Antiquity during the break, and they say, how was Jesus in reality or not? The answer was such that all sources indicate that there was such a person. Well, questions about the miracles that are described in the New Testament, everyone decides for himself whether to believe them or not.

Speaking, abstracting from faith and miracles, the first Christians lived in the form religious communities within the territory of the Roman Empire. The original symbolism was extremely simple: crosses, fish, etc. Why did this particular religion become a world religion? Most likely, the matter is both the sacralization of the martyrs, in the teaching itself, well, of course, in the policy of the Roman authorities. So she received state recognition only 300 years after the death of Jesus - in 325 at the Council of Nicaea. The Roman emperor Constantine the Great (himself a pagan) called to peace all Christian movements, of which there were many then. What is worth only the Arian heresy, according to which God the father is higher than God the son.

Be that as it may, Constantine understood the unifying potential of Christianity and made this religion the state religion. There are also persistent rumors that, before his death, he himself expressed a desire to be baptized ... All the same, the rulers were smart: they would do something at random until the pagans - and then bam - and before death convert to Christianity. Why not?!

Since then, Christianity has become the religion of all of Europe, and then of a large part of this world. By the way, I recommend a post about.

Fundamentals of Christian Doctrine

• The world was created by God. This is the first position of this religion. It doesn't matter what you think, maybe the Universe and the Earth, and even more so life appeared in the course of evolution, but any Christian will tell you that God created the world. And if he is especially knowledgeable, he can even name the year - 5,508 BC.
• The second position is that a person has a spark of God - a soul that is eternal and does not die after the death of the body. This soul was originally given to people (Adam and Eve) pure and unclouded. But Eve plucked an apple from the tree of knowledge, ate it herself and treated Adam, during which the original sin of man arose. The question arises, why did this tree of knowledge grow at all in Eden? .. But I ask this, because, ultimately, from the kind of Adam)))
• The third proposition is that this original sin was redeemed by Jesus Christ. So all the sins that are now are the result of your sinful life: gluttony, pride, etc.
• Fourth, in order to atone for sins, one must repent, observe church regulations, and lead a righteous life. Then, perhaps, you will earn your place in heaven.
• Fifth, if you lead an unrighteous life, you will perish in hell after death.
• Sixth, God is merciful and forgives all sins if repentance is sincere.
• Seventh - will doomsday, the Son of man will come, arrange Armageddon. And God will separate the righteous from the sinners.

Well, how? Scary? There is, of course, some truth in this. Need to lead normal life respect others and not commit evil deeds. But, as we see, many people call themselves Christians, but behave in the exact opposite way. For example, according to surveys by the Levada Center, in Russia 80% of the population considers themselves Orthodox.

But how I don’t go out: everyone eats shawarma in fasting, and they do all kinds of sinful things. What can you say? Double standarts? Perhaps people who consider themselves Christians are a little hypocritical. It would be better to say that believers, not Christians. Because if you call yourself such, it is assumed that you behave accordingly. How do you think? Write in the comments!

Sincerely, Andrey Puchkov