* Mystery [theology; Мистерия, тайна]. {See also: Mysticism} Early Christians used the Greek word μυστήριον (mysterion) to describe the Christian Mystery. The Old Testament versions use the word mysterion as an equivalent to the Hebrew sôd, "secret" (Proverbs 20:19). In the New Testament the word mystery is applied ordinarily to the sublime revelation of the Gospel (Matthew 13:11; Colossians 2:2; 1 Timothy 3:9; 1 Corinthians 15:51), and to the Incarnation and life of the Saviour and his manifestation by the preaching of the Apostles (Romans 16:25; Ephesians 3:4; 6:19; Colossians 1:26; 4:3). The word "mysticism" is derived from the Greek "to conceal", and its derivative mystikos, meaning 'an initiate'. In the Hellenistic world, 'mystical' referred to "secret" religious rituals. The use of the word lacked any direct references to the transcendental. A "mystikos" was an initiate of a mystery religion. Theologians give the name mystery to revealed truths that surpass the powers of natural reason, so, in a narrow {theological} sense, the Mystery is a truth that transcends the created intellect. The impossibility of obtaining a rational comprehension of the Mystery leads to an inner or hidden way of comprehension of the Christian Mystery that is indicated by the term esoteric in Esoteric Christianity. Even though revealed and believed, the Mystery remains nevertheless obscure and veiled during the mortal life, if the deciphering of the mysteries, made possible by esotericism, does not intervene. This esoteric knowledge would allow a deep comprehension of the Christian mysteries that otherwise would remain obscure. Mystery religion

* Sacred mysteries [Священные тайны]. Sacred mysteries are the areas of supernatural phenomena associated with a divinity or a religious belief and praxis. Sacred mysteries may be either: 1) Religious beliefs, rituals or practices which are kept secret from non-believers, or lower levels of believers, who have not had an initiation into the higher levels of belief (the concealed knowledge may be called esoteric); 2) Beliefs of the religion which are public knowledge but cannot be easily explained by normal rational or scientific means. Although the term "mystery" is not often used in anthropology, access by initiation or rite of passage to otherwise secret beliefs is an extremely common feature of indigenous religions all over the world. A mystagogue or hierophant is a holder and teacher of secret knowledge in the former sense above. Whereas, mysticism may be defined as an area of philosophical or religious thought which focuses on mysteries in the latter sense above. Greco-Roman mysteries. The mystery religions of antiquity were religious cults which required initiation of an "initiate" or new member before they were accepted, and sometimes had different levels of initiation, as well as doctrines which were mysteries in the sense of requiring supernatural explanation. In some, parts of the doctrine were apparently only known to priests. They included the Eleusinian Mysteries, Mithraism, the Cult of Isis, the Cult of Sol Invictus, and the Essenes. Mystery traditions were popular in ancient Greece and during the height of the Roman Empire, and parts of Early Christianity used secrecy in the same way.

* Cult of Dionysus [Культ Диониса] (prehistory). The Cult of Dionysus was strongly associated with satyrs, centaurs, and sileni, and its characteristic symbols were the bull, the serpent, tigers/leopards, the ivy, and the wine. The Dionysia and Lenaia festivals in Athens were dedicated to Dionysus, as well as the Phallic processions. Initiates worshipped him in the Dionysian Mysteries, which were comparable to and linked with the Orphic Mysteries, and may have influenced Gnosticism. Orpheus was said to have invented the Mysteries of Dionysus.

* Dionysian Mysteries [Дионисические мистерии] (prehistory). The Dionysian Mysteries were a ritual of ancient Greece and Rome which sometimes used intoxicants and other trance-inducing techniques (like dance and music) to remove inhibitions and social constraints, liberating the individual to return to a natural state. It also provided some liberation for men and women marginalized by Greek society, among which are slaves, outlaws, and non-citizens. In their final phase the Mysteries shifted their emphasis from a chthonic, underworld orientation to a transcendental, mystical one, with Dionysus changing his nature accordingly. By its nature as a mystery religion reserved for the initiated, many aspects of the Dionysian cult remain unknown and were lost with the decline of Greco-Roman polytheism; modern knowledge is derived from descriptions, imagery and cross-cultural studies. The ecstatic cult of Dionysus was originally thought to be a late arrival in Greece from Thrace or Asia Minor, due to its popularity in both locations and Dionysus' non-integration into the Olympian Pantheon. After the deity's name was discovered on Mycenean Linear B tablets, however, this theory was abandoned and the cult is considered indigenous, predating Greek civilization. The absence of an early Olympian Dionysus is today explained by patterns of social exclusion and the cult's marginality, rather than chronology. Whether the cult originated on Minoan Crete (as an aspect of an ancient Zagreus) or Africa – or in Thrace or Asia, as a proto-Sabazius – is unanswerable, due to lack of evidence. Some scholars believe it was an adopted cult not native to any of these places and may have been an eclectic cult in its earliest history, although it almost certainly obtained many familiar features from Minoan culture. Role of wine. The original rite of Dionysus (as introduced into Greece) is associated with a wine cult (not unlike the entheogenic cults of ancient Central America), concerned with the grapevine's cultivation and an understanding of its life cycle (believed to have embodied the living god) and the fermentation of wine from its dismembered body (associated with the god's essence in the underworld). Most importantly, however, the intoxicating and disinhibiting effects of wine were regarded as due to possession by the god's spirit (and, later, as causing this possession). Wine was also poured on the earth and its growing vine, completing the cycle. Rites. The rites were based on a seasonal death-rebirth theme, common among agricultural cults such as the Eleusinian Mysteries. The Osirian Mysteries paralleled the Dionysian, according to contemporary Greek and Egyptian observers. Spirit possession involved liberation from civilization's rules and constraints. It celebrated that which was outside civilized society and a return to primordial nature—which would later assume mystical overtones. It also involved escape from the socialized personality and ego into an ecstatic, deified state or the primal herd (sometimes both). In this sense Dionysus was the beast-god within, or the unconscious mind of modern psychology. Such activity has been interpreted as fertilizing, invigorating, cathartic, liberating and transformative, and so appealed to those on the margins of society: women, slaves, outlaws and "foreigners" (non-citizens, in Greek democracy). All were equal in a cult that inverted their roles, similar to the Roman Saturnalia. The trance induction central to the cult involved not only chemognosis, but an "invocation of spirit" with the bullroarer and communal dancing to drum and pipe. The trances are described in familiar anthropological terms, with characteristic movements (such as the backward head flick found in all trance-inducing cults) found today in Afro-American Vodou and its counterparts. As in Vodou rites, certain rhythms were associated with the trance. Rhythms are also found preserved in Greek prose referring to the Dionysian rites (such as Euripides' The Bacchae). This collection of classical quotes describes rites in the Greek countryside in the mountains, to which processions were made on feast days: "Following the torches as they dipped and swayed in the darkness, they climbed mountain paths with head thrown back and eyes glazed, dancing to the beat of the drum which stirred their blood' [or 'staggered drunkenly with what was known as the Dionysus gait']. 'In this state of ekstasis or enthusiasmos, they abandoned themselves, dancing wildly and shouting 'Euoi!' [the god's name] and at that moment of intense rapture became identified with the god himself. They became filled with his spirit and acquired divine powers." This practice is demonstrated in Greek culture by the Bacchanals of the Maenads, Thyiades and Bacchoi; many Greek rulers considered the cult a threat to civilized society and wished to control it (if not suppress it altogether). The latter failed; the former would succeed in the foundation of a domesticated Dionysianism as a state religion in Athens. This was but one form of Dionysianism—a cult which assumed different forms in different localities (often absorbing indigenous divinities and their rites, as did Dionysus himself). The Greek Bacchoi claimed that, like wine, Dionysus had a different flavour in different regions; reflecting their mythical and cultural soil, he appeared under different names and appearances in different regions.

* Maenads [Bassarids, Bacchanals; Менады, Вакханки] (prehistory). Maenad. In Greek mythology, maenads were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of the Thiasus, the god's retinue. Their name literally translates as "raving ones". Maenads were known as Bassarids, Bacchae, or Bacchantes in Roman mythology after the penchant of the equivalent Roman god, Bacchus, to wear a bassaris or fox skin. Often the maenads were portrayed as inspired by Dionysus into a state of ecstatic frenzy through a combination of dancing and intoxication. During these rites, the maenads would dress in fawn {young deer} skins and carry a thyrsus, a long stick wrapped in ivy or vine leaves and tipped with a pine cone. They would weave ivy-wreaths around their heads or wear a bull helmet in honor of their god, and often handle or wear snakes. These women were mythologized as the "mad women" who were nurses of Dionysus in Nysa. Lycurgus "chased the Nurses of the frenzied Dionysus through the holy hills of Nysa, and the sacred implements dropped to the ground from the hands of one and all, as the murderous Lycurgus struck them down with his ox-goad". They went into the mountains at night and practiced strange rites. // A bassaris is an ancient type of clothing. Bassaris is the Greek word for a fox skin. The Greek god Dionysus was associated with the bassaris, and his followers (the Maenads) were said to wear it. As a result, they were known as the "Bassarids." Dionysus was said to have worn the bassaris, although this detail was only to be found in Thrace. Менады. Мена́ды (др.-греч. «безумствующие», «неистовствующие») — в древнегреческой мифологии спутницы и почитательницы Диониса. По одному из его греческих имен — Вакх (от которого пошел и римский эквивалент — Бахус) — они назывались вакханками, также бассаридами — по одному из эпитетов Диониса — «Бассарей», фиадами, мималлонами. Менады растерзали легендарного Орфея. // Бассара, бассарей — в Древней Греции длинное одеяние менад (называвшихся также бассаридами). Считалось одеждой лидийского бога Бассарея, отождествлявшегося с Дионисом. По предположению Вяч. И. Иванова, бассары делались из лисьих шкур и напоминали одеяния шаманов.

* Eleusinian Mysteries [Элевсинские мистерии] (prehistory). The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiations held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at the Panhellenic Sanctuary of Eleusis in ancient Greece. {dramatized spring rituals - return of life from death} They are the "most famous of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece". Their basis was an old agrarian cult, and there is some evidence that they were derived from the religious practices of the Mycenean period. The Mysteries represented the myth of the abduction of Persephone from her mother Demeter by the king of the underworld Hades, in a cycle with three phases: the descent (loss), the search, and the ascent, with the main theme being the ascent (ἄνοδος) of Persephone and the reunion with her mother. It was a major festival during the Hellenic era, and later spread to Rome. Similar religious rites appear in the agricultural societies of Near East and in Minoan Crete. The rites, ceremonies, and beliefs were kept secret and consistently preserved from antiquity. For the initiated, the rebirth of Persephone symbolized the eternity of life which flows from generation to generation, and they believed that they would have a reward in the afterlife. There are many paintings and pieces of pottery that depict various aspects of the Mysteries. Since the Mysteries involved visions and conjuring of an afterlife, some scholars believe that the power and longevity of the Eleusinian Mysteries, a consistent set of rites, ceremonies and experiences that spanned two millennia, came from psychedelic drugs. The name of the town, Eleusís, seems to be Pre-Greek, and is likely a counterpart with Elysium and the goddess Eileithyia. Mysteries. The Eleusinian Mysteries are believed to be of considerable antiquity. Some findings in the temple Eleusinion in Attica suggest that their basis was an old agrarian cult. Some practices of the mysteries seem to have been influenced by the religious practices of the Mycenaean period and thus predating the Greek Dark Ages. One line of thought by modern scholars has been that the Mysteries were intended "to elevate man above the human sphere into the divine and to assure his redemption by making him a god and so conferring immortality upon him". To participate in these mysteries one had to swear a vow of secrecy. Four categories of people participated in the Eleusinian Mysteries: 1) Priests, priestesses, and hierophants. 2) Initiates, undergoing the ceremony for the first time. 3) Others who had already participated at least once. They were eligible for the fourth category. 4) Those who had attained épopteia (Greek: ἐποπτεία) (English: "contemplation"), who had learned the secrets of the greatest mysteries of Demeter {epopteia/epoptea - the final initiation rite in the Eleusinian Mysteries}. Lesser Mysteries. There were two Eleusinian Mysteries, the Greater and the Lesser. According to Thomas Taylor, "the dramatic shows of the Lesser Mysteries occultly signified the miseries of the soul while in subjection to the body, so those of the Greater obscurely intimated, by mystic and splendid visions {"a light brighter than the sun", angels (??)}, the felicity of the soul both here and hereafter, when purified from the defilements of a material nature and constantly elevated to the realities of intellectual [spiritual] vision." According to Plato, "the ultimate design of the Mysteries ... was to lead us back to the principles from which we descended, ... a perfect enjoyment of intellectual [spiritual] good." The Lesser Mysteries took place in the month of Anthesteria – the eight month of the Attic calendar, falling in mid winter around February or March – under the direction of Athens' archon basileus. In order to qualify for initiation, participants would sacrifice a piglet to Demeter and Persephone, and then ritually purify themselves in the river Illisos. Upon completion of the Lesser Mysteries, participants were deemed mystai ("initiates") worthy of witnessing the Greater Mysteries. Элевсинские мистерии. Элевси́нские мисте́рии (елевзинские таинства) (др. -греч. Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια) — обряды инициации в культах богинь плодородия Деметры и Персефоны, которые проводились ежегодно в Элевсине (около Афин) в Древней Греции и из всех древнегреческих обрядов считались наиболее важными. Вероучение, обряды, культовые действия держались в тайне от непосвящённых, а инициация, как полагали, объединяла человека с богом {unity with the divine}, вплоть до бессмертия {Skoptsy!!} и обладания божественной властью в потустороннем мире {supernatural powers}. The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiations held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at the Panhellenic Sanctuary of Eleusis in ancient Greece. They are the "most famous of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece".

* Orphism [Орфизм] (-VI). Orphism is the name given to a set of religious beliefs and practices originating in the ancient Greek and Hellenistic world, as well as from the Thracians, associated with literature ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus, who descended into the Greek underworld and returned. Orphics revered Dionysus (who once descended into the Underworld and returned) and Persephone (who annually descended into the Underworld for a season and then returned). Orphism has been described as a reform of the earlier Dionysian religion, involving a re-interpretation or re-reading of the myth of Dionysus and a re-ordering of Hesiod's Theogony, based in part on pre-Socratic philosophy. The central focus of Orphism is the suffering and death of the god Dionysus at the hands of the Titans, which forms the basis of Orphism's central myth. According to this myth, the infant Dionysus is killed, torn apart, and consumed by the Titans. In retribution, Zeus strikes the Titans with a thunderbolt, turning them to ash. From these ashes, humanity is born. In Orphic belief, this myth describes humanity as having a dual nature: body (Ancient Greek: "soma"), inherited from the Titans, and a divine spark or soul (Ancient Greek: "psyche"), inherited from Dionysus. In order to achieve salvation from the Titanic, material existence, one had to be initiated into the Dionysian mysteries and undergo teletē, a ritual purification and reliving of the suffering and death of the god. Orphics believed that they would, after death, spend eternity alongside Orpheus and other heroes. The uninitiated (Ancient Greek: "amuetos"), they believed, would be reincarnated indefinitely. In order to maintain their purity following initiation and ritual, Orphics attempted to live an ascetic life free of spiritual contamination, most notably by adhering to a strict vegetarian diet that also excluded certain kinds of beans. // Theogony (-VII). The Theogony (Greek: Θεογονία, Theogonía: "the genealogy or birth of the gods") is a poem by Hesiod (8th – 7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods, composed c. 700 BC. It is written in the Epic dialect of Ancient Greek. Hesiod's Theogony is a large-scale synthesis of a vast variety of local Greek traditions concerning the gods, organized as a narrative that tells how they came to be and how they established permanent control over the cosmos. It is the first known Greek mythical cosmogony. The initial state of the universe is chaos, a dark indefinite void considered a divine primordial condition from which everything else appeared. Theogonies are a part of Greek mythology which embodies the desire to articulate reality as a whole; this universalizing impulse was fundamental for the first later projects of speculative theorizing. Relationship to Pythagoreanism. Orphic views and practices have parallels to elements of Pythagoreanism, and various traditions hold that the Pythagoreans or Pythagoras himself authored early Orphic works; alternately, later philosophers believed that Pythagoras was an initiate of Orphism. The extent to which one movement may have influenced the other remains controversial. Some scholars maintain that Orphism and Pythagoranism began as separate traditions which later became confused and conflated due to a few similarities. Other argue that the two traditions share a common origin and can even be considered a single entity, termed "Orphico-Pythagoranism." The belief that Pythagoreanism was a subset or direct descendant of Orphic religion existed by late antiquity, when Neoplatonist philosophers took the Orphic origin of Pythagorean teachings at face value. Proclus wrote: "all that Orpheus transmitted through secret discourses connected to the mysteries, Pythagoras learnt thoroughly when he completed the initiation at Libethra in Thrace, and Aglaophamus, the initiator, revealed to him the wisdom about the gods that Orpheus acquired from his mother Calliope." In the fifteenth century, the Neoplatonic Greek scholar Constantine Lascaris (who found the poem Argonautica Orphica ) considered a Pythagorean Orpheus. Bertrand Russell (1947) noted: "The Orphics were an ascetic sect; wine, to them, was only a symbol, as, later, in the Christian sacrament. The intoxication that they sought was that of "enthusiasm," of union with the god. They believed themselves, in this way, to acquire mystic knowledge not obtainable by ordinary means {intuitive knowledge (??)}. This mystical element entered into Greek philosophy with Pythagoras, who was a reformer of Orphism as Orpheus was a reformer of the religion of Dionysus. From Pythagoras Orphic elements entered into the philosophy of Plato, and from Plato into most later philosophy that was in any degree religious." Study of early Orphic and Pythagorean sources, however, are more ambiguous concerning their relationship, and authors writing closer to Pythagoras' own lifetime never mentioned his supposed initiation into Orphism, and in general regarded Orpheus himself as a mythological figure. Despite this, even these authors of the 5th and 4th centuries BC noted a strong similarity between the two doctrines. In fact, some claimed that rather than being an initiate of Orphism, Pythagoras was actually the original author of the first Orphic texts. Specifically, Ion of Chios claimed that Pythagoras authored poetry which he attributed to the mythical Orpheus, and Epigenes, in his On Works Attributed to Orpheus, attributed the authorship of several influential Orphic poems to notable early Pythagoreans, including Cercops. According to Cicero, Aristotle also claimed that Orpheus never existed, and that the Pythagoreans ascribed some Orphic poems to Cercon (see Cercops). The Neoplatonists regarded the theology of Orpheus, carried forward through Pythagoreanism, as the core of the original Greek religious tradition. However, earlier sources demonstrate that it began as a fringe movement, with its mythology and ritual considered unorthodox and incorporating alien elements similar to the Egyptian religion of the 4th and 5th centuries BC. Modern historians tend to support the latter view. Mythology. The Orphic theogonies are genealogical works similar to the Theogony of Hesiod, but the details are different. The theogonies are symbolically similar to Near Eastern models. The main story has it that Zagreus, Dionysus' previous incarnation, is the son of Zeus and Persephone. Zeus names the child as his successor, which angers his wife Hera. She instigates the Titans to murder the child. Zagreus is then tricked with a mirror and children's toys by the Titans, who shred him to pieces and consume him. Athena saves the heart and tells Zeus of the crime, who in turn hurls a thunderbolt on the Titans. The resulting soot, from which sinful mankind is born, contains the bodies of the Titans and Zagreus. The soul of man (the Dionysus part) is therefore divine, but the body (the Titan part) holds the soul in bondage. Thus, it was declared that the soul returns to a host ten times, bound to the wheel of rebirth. Following the punishment, the dismembered limbs of Zagreus were cautiously collected by Apollo who buried them in his sacred land Delphi. In later centuries, these versions underwent a development where Apollo's act of burying became responsible for the reincarnation of Dionysus, thus giving Apollo the title Dionysiodotes (bestower of Dionysus). Apollo plays an important part in the dismemberment myth because he represents the reverting of Encosmic Soul back towards unification. Afterlife. {See also: Totenpass} Surviving written fragments show a number of beliefs about the afterlife similar to those in the "Orphic" mythology about Dionysus' death and resurrection. Bone tablets found in Olbia (5th century BC) carry short and enigmatic inscriptions like: "Life. Death. Life. Truth. Dio(nysus). Orphics." The function of these bone tablets is unknown. Gold-leaf tablets found in graves from Thurii, Hipponium, Thessaly and Crete (4th century BC and after) give instructions to the dead. Although these thin tablets are often highly fragmentary, collectively they present a shared scenario of the passage into the afterlife. When the deceased arrives in the underworld, he is expected to confront obstacles. He must take care not to drink of Lethe ("Forgetfulness"), but of the pool of Mnemosyne ("Memory"). He is provided with formulaic expressions with which to present himself to the guardians of the afterlife. "I am a son of Earth and starry sky. I am parched with thirst and am dying; but quickly grant me cold water from the Lake of Memory to drink." Other gold leaves offer instructions for addressing the rulers of the underworld: "Now you have died and now you have come into being, O thrice happy one, on this same day. Tell Persephone that the Bacchic One himself released you." Орфизм. Орфи́зм — мистическое учение в Древней Греции и Фракии, связанное с именем мифического поэта и певца Орфея. Возникло ориентировочно в VI веке до н. э. — к этому времени относятся первые орфические гимны. По утверждению А. Ф. Лосева, орфизм «никак не моложе Гомера». Учение носило подчёркнуто эзотерический характер, что сближает его с пифагорейством и элевсинскими мистериями. Первоначально орфизм воспринимался как сугубо низовой народный культ и осмеивался различными философскими школами, впоследствии его элементы использовались неоплатонизмом для создания собственной систематизированной космологии. Учение орфиков пришло в упадок ещё в античности, оставив после себя очень малое количество свидетельств. По некоторому мнению[источник не указан 155 дней], орфизм стал прообразом более поздних монотеистических религий, в частности, христианства, поскольку ознаменовал собой переход от многобожия к поклонению Единому Богу.

* Asceticism [Аскеза]. Christianity. Christian authors of Late Antiquity such as Origen, St. Jerome, Ignatius of Antioch, John Chrysostom and Augustine of Hippo, interpreted meanings of the Biblical texts within a highly asceticized religious environment. Scriptural examples of asceticism could be found in the lives of John the Baptist, Jesus Christ himself, the twelve apostles and the Apostle Paul. The Dead Sea Scrolls revealed ascetic practices of the ancient Jewish sect of Essenes who took vows of abstinence to prepare for a holy war. An emphasis on an ascetic religious life was evident in both early Christian writings (see Philokalia) and practices (see Hesychasm). Other Christian practitioners of asceticism include individuals such as St. Paul the Hermit, St. Simeon Stylites, St. David of Wales, St. John of Damascus and St. Francis of Assisi. According to Richard Finn, much of early Christian asceticism has been traced to Judaism, but not to traditions within Greek asceticism. Some of the ascetic thoughts in Christianity nevertheless, Finn states, have roots in Greek moral thought. Virtuous living is not possible when an individual is craving bodily pleasures with desire and passion. Morality is not seen in the ancient theology as a balancing act between right and wrong, but a form of spiritual transformation, where the simple is sufficient, the bliss is within, the frugal is plenty. The deserts of the Middle East were at one time inhabited by thousands of male and female Christian ascetics, hermits and anchorites, including St. Anthony the Great (aka St. Anthony of the Desert), St. Mary of Egypt, and St. Simeon Stylites, collectively known as the Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers. In 963 AD, an association of monasteries called Lavra was formed on Mount Athos, in Eastern Orthodox tradition. This became the most important center of orthodox Christian ascetic groups in the centuries that followed. In the modern era, Mount Athos and Meteora have remained a significant center. Sexual abstinence such as those of the Encratites sect of Christians was only one aspect of ascetic renunciation, and both natural and unnatural asceticism have been part of Christian asceticism. The natural ascetic practices have included simple living, begging, fasting and ethical practices such as humility, compassion, meditation, patience and prayer. Evidence of extreme unnatural asceticism in Christianity appear in 2nd-century texts and thereafter, in both Eastern Orthodox Christian and Western Christian traditions, such as the practice of chaining the body to rocks, eating only grass, praying seated on a pillar in the elements for decades such as by the monk Simeon Stylites, solitary confinement inside a cell, abandoning personal hygiene and adopting lifestyle of a beast, self-inflicted pain and voluntary suffering. Such ascetic practices were linked to the Christian concepts of sin and redemption. Evagrius Ponticus: monastic teaching. Evagrius Ponticus, also called Evagrius the Solitary (345–399 AD) was a highly educated monastic teacher who produced a large theological body of work, mainly ascetic, including the Gnostikos (Ancient Greek: γνωστικός, gnōstikos, "learned", from γνῶσις, gnōsis, "knowledge"), also known as The Gnostic: To the One Made Worthy of Gnosis. The Gnostikos is the second volume of a trilogy containing the Praktikos, intended for young monks to achieve apatheia, i. e. "a state of calm which is the prerequisite for love and knowledge", in order to purify their intellect and make it impassible, to reveal the truth hidden in every being. The third book, Kephalaia Gnostika, was meant for meditation by advanced monks. Those writings made him one of the most recognized ascetic teachers and scriptural interpreters of his time, which include Clement of Alexandria and Origen. The ascetic literature of early Christianity was influenced by pre-Christian Greek philosophical traditions, especially Plato and Aristotle, looking for the perfect spiritual way of life. According to Clement of Alexandria, philosophy and Scriptures can be seen as "double expressions of one pattern of knowledge". According to Evagrius, "body and the soul are there to help the intellect and not to hinder it".

* Mortification of the flesh [Умерщвление плоти]. Mortification of the flesh is an act by which an individual or group seeks to mortify, or put to death, their sinful nature, as a part of the process of sanctification. In Christianity, common forms of mortification that are practiced to this day include fasting, abstinence, as well as pious kneeling. Also common among Christian religious orders in the past were the wearing of sackcloth, as well as flagellation in imitation of Jesus of Nazareth's suffering and death by crucifixion. Christian theology holds that the Holy Spirit helps believers in the "mortification of the sins of the flesh." Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) precursors include Zechariah 13:6 and I Kings 18:28-29. Although the term 'mortification of the flesh', which is derived from Romans 8:13 and Colossians 3:5 in the Bible, is primarily used in a Christian context, other cultures may have analogous concepts of self-denial; secular practices exist as well. Some forms unique to various Asian cultures are carrying heavy loads and immersion in water. In its simplest form, mortification of the flesh can mean merely denying oneself certain pleasures, such as permanently or temporarily abstaining (i.e. fasting), from food, alcoholic beverages, sexual relations, or an area of life that makes the person's spiritual life more difficult or burdensome. It can also be practiced by choosing a simple or even impoverished lifestyle; this is often one reason many monks of various religions take vows of poverty. Among votarists {a person, such as a monk or nun, who has dedicated himself or herself to religion by taking vows}, traditional forms of physical mortification are the cilice and hair-shirts {a cilice, also known as a sackcloth, was originally a garment or undergarment made of coarse cloth or animal hair (a hairshirt) worn close to the skin}. In some of its more severe forms, it can mean using a discipline to flagellate oneself. The early Christian evangelist and church-planter Paul wrote, "I chastise my body and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps when I have preached to others I myself should be castaway" (1 Cor 9:27). Christ also fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, an example of submission to the first person of the Trinity, God the Father, and as a way of preparing for ministry. The early Christians mortified the flesh through martyrdom and through what has been called "confession of the faith": accepting torture in a joyful way. As Christians experienced persecution, they often embraced their fate of suffering due to their love for Christ and the transformation they said they experienced from following him; these individuals became martyrs of the Christian faith. Saint Jerome, a Western church father and biblical scholar who translated the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate), was famous for his severe penances in the desert. Western Orthodoxy {Western Rite Orthodoxy - Western connection (Kapiton)}. The Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate states that "mortification of the flesh, or the putting to death of the passions which hinder attainment of the kingdom of heaven, is practiced with three disciplines of self-denial". These spiritual disciplines include "unostentatious fasting or self-denial; increased prayer, by attending to worship and various devotions; and the sacrificial giving of alms (charitable donations). {Missing: Eastern Orthodoxy - has no doctrine of mortification of the flesh ??} Analogous non-Christian concepts. Indigenous practices and shamanism. Some indigenous cultures' shamans believe that endurance of pain or denial of appetites serves to increase spiritual power. In many indigenous cultures, painful rites are used to mark sexual maturity, marriage, procreation, or other major life stages. In Africa and Australia, indigenous people sometimes use genital mutilation on boys and girls that is intentionally painful. In some Native American tribes enduring scarification or the bites of ants are common rituals to mark a boy's transition to adulthood. Human rights organizations in several areas of the world have protested some of these methods, which can be forced upon the participants, although some are voluntary and are a source of pride and status. Shamans often use painful rites and self-denial such as fasting or celibacy to attain transformation, or to commune with spirits. // Western Rite Orthodoxy. Western Rite Orthodoxy, Western Orthodoxy, or Orthodox Western Rite are terms used to describe congregations that are within the autocephalous churches of the Orthodox Christian Church and independent Orthodoxy. These congregations have used western liturgical forms such as the Sarum Rite, the Mozarabic Rite, and Gallican Rite. Some congregations use what has become known simply as the English Liturgy, which is derived from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, albeit with some modification to the text to emphasize Orthodox theological teaching. The Western Rite that exists today has been heavily influenced by the life and work of Julian Joseph Overbeck. Western Rite missions, parishes and monasteries exist within certain jurisdictions of the mainstream Orthodox Church, predominantly within the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia and Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. In addition, the Western Rite is practiced within religious communities outside the mainstream Eastern Orthodox Church. // Умерщвление плоти. Некоторые примеры как индивидуальной, так и коллективной практики умерщвления плоти, вменявшиеся в {be considered as} обязанность уставом и обычаями, все еще продолжают представлять интерес. А пример подвига некоторых аскетов при всей их героичности или, может быть, именно благодаря этой героичности, всегда достоин подражания. И этот пример, как следует отметить, особенно сильно поражал воображение умов грубых, недоверчивых и простых. Ему следовали люди, тело и душа которых с детства были привычны к постам, терпеливому превозмоганию {overcome} бед, к холоду и голоду, к неизлечимым болезням, к бесчисленным превратностям {vicissitude} социальной жизни. Вот почему истовая вера монахов часто приводила к крайностям из благочестия, к поведению дервишей, к действиям, в которых отчасти проглядывал мазохизм. Не будем останавливать внимание на прутьях с шипами {thorn} или на горячих углях, на которые ложатся, дабы победить «страсти». Или на чтении наизусть всей Псалтири с крестообразно раскинутыми руками (crucis vigilia), так что у практиковавших это ирландских монахов само слово «figill» в итоге стало обозначать «молитву». Но что сказать о могильной яме, куда ежедневно после канонического третьего часа бросают горсть земли аббат и монахи бригиттинского ордена {Bridgettines}, чтобы всегда помнить о приближении смерти? Или о гробе, который с той же целью поставлен у входа в их храм? Этому ордену было на что опираться. Его основательница, св. Бригитта Шведская (XIV век) – единственная шведская святая – «каплю за каплей проливала на свое тело горячий воск, чтобы таким образом памятовать о страданиях Сына Божьего» (Элио). Конечно, следует признать, что между каплями горячего воска и Голгофой есть немалая разница. Для нас же главное – уяснить, к каким странным упражнениям может привести людей стремление умертвить свою плоть. У валломброзанцев {Vallombrosa (Benedictine abbey)} новиции должны были голыми руками вычистить свинарник. Давая обет, они в течение трех дней в облачении лежали распростертыми на полу неподвижно и храня «сугубое молчание». Это именно устав, плод коллективного опыта, а не индивидуальное воображение. Но результат тот же. Другой аспект монашеской веры и того тщательного соблюдения порожденных ею правил: в аббатстве Бек {Bec Abbey (Benedictine. France)}, если пресуществленное вино, кровь Иисуса Христа, проливалось на камень или на дерево, то нужно было соскрести это пятно, смыть его, а эту воду выпить. Точно так же следовало выпить воду после стирки одежды, на которую попало это вино. Вера в реальное присутствие Иисуса Христа на Божественной литургии была необычайно сильна. Кальме {Antoine Augustin Calmet, a French Benedictine monk} рассказывает об обычае, существовавшем в церкви еще в его время: причастившимся прихожанам давали по кусочку хлеба и глотку вина, чтобы ни одна частица святого причастия не выпала изо рта и была запита.. Мулен Лео - Повседневная жизнь средневековых монахов Западной Европы (X-XV вв.) - Умерщвление плоти // AS A YOUNG WOMAN, she refused her lunch so often that God sent an angel to bring it from heaven. But the seventh-century Irish abbess was not so easily turned from other ascetic practices. As a tenth-century commentary told it, Íte carried a huge stag-beetle in the flesh of her side, under her clothes, which gnawed upon her day and night. One day, though, when the insect got loose, Íte’s sister nuns immediately killed it. Their abbess sternly reproved them: “Where has my fosterling gone?” she demanded. “For that deed, no nun shall ever rule after me.” Irish monks and nuns such as Íte are famous for their severe asceticism. Even in the early Middle Ages, others marveled at the bizarre ways of the Irish. A monk’s routine depended upon his status. Those who grew up inside the monastic enclosure were educated since childhood in the Psalms, which they repeated daily. Still other monks and nuns lived out their days alone, but not in the severe and austere life of Íte and her kind. Instead, in small wood—and—mud huts, they kept a cow or two, and accepted gladly the gifts of an occasional loaf or basket of vegetables from local farmers. In the midst of this routine devotion, there was a passion for great spiritual achievements. The same zeal that inspired the monks of the Egyptian desert and Syria—which sent Simeon Stylites up his pole and caused the Desert Fathers to subsist on a few beans a week—drove many of these professional Christians of the rainy northern isles to fasting, intense prayer, sexual denial, and exile. Fasting marked a Christian leader as different. What good was it to withdraw from society if one continued to resemble everyone else? The refusal of rations, in a world where starvation was common, was a special sign of self-denial and intense spirituality. Thus most monks and nuns refused meat and liquor, except on special occasions like Easter. The particularly holy demonstrated even greater piety by denying themselves food for days at a time, or living on almost nothing. Coemgen, for instance, subsisted on grasses and water. Moling only ate when he entertained: “The holy bishop . . . used to fast every day except Sundays and high feast days until sunset unless guests or pilgrims arrived.” Comgall went further: he refused to allow himself or his monks to eat for days at a time, thus accidentally starving some of his followers to death. Holy men and women were also marked by ascetic prayer. Coemgen, while munching his grasses, prayed for days on end, often in intensely uncomfortable positions. He once remained so still while saying his prayers that birds nested in his outstretched palm. Other times, he lay face—down in the mud while praying. The Céli Dé (Clients of God: a group of reforming monks from the eighth and ninth centuries) were famous for their rigorous schedule of prayers. In addition, the reformers were to have the Gospels read aloud at meals and to repeat all 150 psalms daily, along with several Paternosters (the Lord’s Prayer). If monks felt like adding self-flagellation, they were welcome. One nun was famous for refusing to rise or sit down without chanting a prayer. The Irish monastics were even more famous for sexual denial—not because they were prudish but because sexual behavior was one of the major means of identifying Christians in a barbarian world. Christians practiced monogamy (rather than the polygamy common in pagan Europe), avoided divorce, and shunned sexual intercourse for any purpose other than procreation within marriage. And their leaders were to be resolutely celibate. A twelfth-century story about the much—earlier Moling tells how a laywoman of dubious morality approached him while he sat in the bath. The cleric prevented himself from sexual adventures by pinning himself to the tub with an awl. Coemgen took precautions, too. Whenever he heard sheep bleating, he headed the opposite direction, reasoning that where sheep bleated, shepherdesses lurked; where women were, so was temptation; and where temptation existed, do did sin and damnation. The greatest ascetic achievement of the Christian Celts was their passion for pilgrimage. In many early medieval societies, exile was considered a horrible punishment. But Irish churchmen and women took up permanent pilgrimage voluntarily, leaving behind home, families, and even Ireland itself for the wilderness. Only by cutting themselves off from everything familiar could they truly devote their minds and bodies to God. Like Augustine of Hippo, the ascetic Irish believed that every Christian was an alien in the carnal world. Not all Celtic monks practiced rigorous asceticism. Even the famous Céli Dé had its cynics. Màelruain, one of their superiors, remarked sourly of an enthusiastic genuflecter that “a time will come to him before his death when he shall not perform a single genuflection.” In fact, the old hermit’s feet seized up “on account of the excessive amount [of genuflections] he had performed in other days.” Still, those who practiced severe asceticisms knew their practices brought no benefits without heart. Though such practices could discipline the spirit, no mere genuflection, no arduous journey, could redeem a soul bereft of genuine religious devotion. Ascetic Superstars

* Therapeutae [Терапевты] (I). The Therapeutae were a religious sect which existed in Alexandria and other parts of the ancient Greek world. The primary source concerning the Therapeutae is the De vita contemplativa ("The Contemplative Life"), traditionally ascribed to the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE – 50 CE). The author appears to have been personally acquainted with them. The author describes the Therapeutae as "philosophers" (cf. I.2) and mentions a group that lived on a low hill by the Lake Mareotis close to Alexandria in circumstances resembling lavrite life (cf. III.22) {a lavra or laura is a type of monastery consisting of a cluster of cells or caves for hermits, with a church and sometimes a refectory at the center}. They were "the best" of a kind given to "perfect goodness" that "exists in many places in the inhabited world" (cf. III.21). The author was unsure of the origin of the name and derives the name Therapeutae/Therapeutides from Greek θεραπεύω in the sense of "cure" or "worship" (cf. I.2). Philo's description of the doctrines and practices of the Therapeutae leaves great ambiguity about what religion they are associated with. Analysis by religious scholar Ullrich R. Kleinhempel indicates that the most likely religion the Therapeutae practiced was Buddhism. The word "Therapeutae" may also have been adapted from the Indian Pali word for traditional Buddhists, Theravada {the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school}. Philo was employing the familiar polarity in Hellenic philosophy between the active and the contemplative life, exemplifying the active life by the Essenes, another severely ascetic sect, and the contemplative life by the desert-dwelling Therapeutae. According to De Vita Contemplativa, the Therapeutae were widely distributed in the Ancient world, among the Greeks and beyond in the non-Greek world of the "barbarians", with one of their major gathering points being in Alexandria, in the area of the Lake Mareotis. They lived chastely with utter simplicity; they "first of all laid down temperance as a sort of foundation for the soul to rest upon, proceed to build up other virtues on this foundation" (Philo). They renounced property and followed severe discipline: "These men abandon their property without being influenced by any predominant attraction, and flee without even turning their heads back again." — De Vita Contemplativa para. 18. Six days per week of solitude, meeting on seventh day, with teaching and hymns. They were dedicated to the contemplative life, and their activities for six days of the week consisted of ascetic practices, fasting, solitary prayers and the study of the scriptures in their isolated cells, each with its separate holy sanctuary, and enclosed courtyard: "the entire interval from dawn to evening is given up by them to spiritual exercises. For they read the holy scriptures and draw out in thought and allegory their ancestral philosophy, since they regard the literal meanings as symbols of an inner and hidden nature revealing itself in covert ideas." — De Vita Contemplativa, para. 28 On the seventh day the Therapeutae met in a meeting house, the men on one side of an open partition, the women modestly on the other, to hear discourses. Once in seven weeks they meet for a night-long vigil after a banquet where they served one another, for "they are not waited on by slaves, because they deem any possession of servants whatever to be contrary to nature. For she has begotten all men alike free" (De Vita Contemplativa, para.70) and sing antiphonal hymns until dawn. Early Christian interpretations. The 3rd-century Christian writer Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 263–339), in his Ecclesiastical History, identified Philo's Therapeutae as the first Christian monks, identifying their renunciation of property, chastity, fasting, and solitary lives with the cenobitic ideal of the Christian monks. The 4th-century Christian heresiologist Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 315–403), bishop of Salamis in Cyprus, author of the Panarion, or Medicine Chest against Heresies, misidentified Philo's Therapeuate as "Jessaens" and considered them a Christian group. The 5th-century Christian writer Pseudo-Dionysius, following Philo, interprets that "Some people gave to the ascetics the name 'Therapeutae' or servants while some others gave them the name monks". Pseudo-Dionysius interprets Philo's group as a highly organized Christian ascetic order, and the meaning of the name "Therapeutae" as "servants". Relation to Buddhism. Authors have pointed out similarities between the Therapeutae and early Buddhist monasticism, a tradition earlier by several centuries. As described in the 1st century CE Periplus of the Erythraean Sea text, Egypt had intense trade and cultural contacts with India during the period which, combined with Indian evidence of Buddhist missionary activity to the Mediterranean around 250 BCE (the Edicts of Ashoka), has led to the hypothesis that Therapeutae might have been a Buddhist sect, descendants of Ashoka's emissaries to the West. Linguist Zacharias P. Thundy suggests that the word "Therapeutae" is only a Hellenistic corruption of "Theravada", the Indian Pali word for traditional Buddhists. Терапевты (секта). Терапе́вты (от др.-греч. θεραπευτής «врачеватель; почитатель, поклонник; <священно-> служитель») — иудейская аскетическая секта, члены которой предположительно поселились у берегов Мареотидского озера близ Александрии (Египет) в I веке н. э. Терапевты и христианство. Как и ессеи, терапевты не оставили заметного следа в еврейской духовной жизни. Однако возможно, что образ жизни общины терапевтов послужил прототипом христианского монашества, возникшего впоследствии в пустынях Египта. На этом основании некоторые из раннехристианских авторов полагали, что терапевты были христианским орденом (так, ошибочно отождествлял терапевтов с христианами Евсевий Кесарийский). Однако современные исследователи видят в терапевтах радикальное течение в иудаизме, возможно, отпочковавшееся от ессеев. Как полагают исследователи, терапевты представляли собой группу ессеев, которая переселилась в Египет, спасаясь от гонений в нач. I в. до н. э. Сторонники отождествления терапевтов с ессеями понимают слово θεραπευταί [терапевты] как греческий перевод арамейского слова ‘asayya’ «врачи», от которого, как полагают, произошло и название «ессеи».

* Pauline Christianity [Paulinanism, Gentile Christianity; Паулианство] (I). {Not to be confused with Paulianism {<> ??} Paulicianism} Pauline Christianity or Pauline theology (also Paulism or Paulanity), otherwise referred to as Gentile Christianity, is the theology and form of Christianity which developed from the beliefs and doctrines espoused by the Hellenistic-Jewish Apostle Paul through his writings and those New Testament writings traditionally attributed to him. Paul's beliefs were rooted in the earliest Jewish Christianity, but deviated from this Jewish Christianity in their emphasis on inclusion of the Gentiles into God's New Covenant, and his rejection of circumcision as an unnecessary token of upholding the Law. Proto-orthodox Christianity, which is rooted in the first centuries of the history of Christianity, relies heavily on Pauline theology and beliefs, and considers them to be amplifications and explanations of the teachings of Jesus. Since the 18th century, a number of scholars have proposed that Paul's writings contain teachings that are different from the original teachings of Jesus, the earliest Jewish Christians, as documented in the canonical gospels, early Acts and the rest of the New Testament, such as the Epistle of James. Паулианство. Паулиа́нство, или павлинизм, или паулинизм (от лат. Paul «Павел», англ. Pauline Christianity «павлово христианство») — термин, который используется для описания взглядов на традиционное христианство как религиозное учение, возникшее в результате искажения первоначального учения Иисуса Христа под влиянием идей апостола Павла. Термин вошёл в употребление трудами исследователей, отмечавших существование разных взглядов в раннем христианстве, где Павел приобрёл заметное и постепенно доминирующее влияние. Данный тезис получил широкое распространение в среде критиков, рассматривающих идеи посланий Павла радикально отличающимися от других книг Нового Завета, а также от ряда неканонических текстов древних христиан. Вместе с этим, термин используется современными христианскими исследователями, как, например, Зайслер (Ziesler) и Маунд (Mount), которых интересует восстановление происхождения христианства и вклад Павла в развитие христианской доктрины. Известные сторонники: Ф. Ницше, Б. Рассел, А. Бадью, С. Жижек, Л. Н. Толстой. Ф. Ницше в «Антихристе» считал Павла подлинным основателем христианства, «распявшего Спасителя на своем кресте». В статье Л. Н. Толстого «Почему христианские народы вообще и в особенности русский находятся теперь в бедственном положении», написанной им в 1907 году (опубликована в 1917 году), автор отмечает[значимость факта?]: Евангелия говорят, что люди равны, Павел же делит людей на рабов и господ; Иисус отменяет подати, Павел их узаконивает; там, где у Христа прощение, у Павла — проклятие. Религия Павла основана на страхе наказания: человек должен придерживаться добрых намерений только для того, чтобы избежать воздаяния и получить награду после смерти. Апостол оправдывает насилие, казни, рабство. Толстой приписывает Павлу авторство идей воскресения, спасения, посмертного возмездия, учения о повиновении власти. Павел возглавил новую религию, в основу которой положил «очень неопределенные и неясные понятия, которые он имел об учении Христа». Философ А. Бадью в работе «Апостол Павел. Обоснование универсализма», напротив, отмечает положительный вклад Павла в становление христианства как универсалистского учения.

* Greco-Roman mysteries [Греко-римские мистерии] (I-IV). Mystery religions, sacred mysteries or simply mysteries were religious schools of the Greco-Roman world for which participation was reserved to initiates (mystai). The main characterization of this religion is the secrecy associated with the particulars of the initiation and the ritual practice, which may not be revealed to outsiders. The most famous mysteries of Greco-Roman antiquity were the Eleusinian Mysteries, which were of considerable antiquity and predated the Greek Dark Ages. The mystery schools flourished in Late Antiquity; Julian the Apostate in the mid 4th century is known to have been initiated into three distinct mystery schools—most notably the mithraists. Due to the secret nature of the school, and because the mystery religions of Late Antiquity were persecuted by the Christian Roman Empire from the 4th century, the details of these religious practices are derived from descriptions, imagery and cross-cultural studies. "Because of this element of secrecy, we are ill-informed as to the beliefs and practices of the various mystery faiths. We know that they had a general likeness to one another". Justin Martyr in the 2nd century explicitly noted and identified them as "demonic imitations" of the true faith, and that "the devils, in imitation of what was said by Moses, asserted that Proserpine was the daughter of Jupiter, and instigated the people to set up an image of her under the name of Kore" (First Apology). Through the 1st to 4th century, Christianity stood in direct competition for adherents with the mystery schools, insofar as the "mystery schools too were an intrinsic element of the non-Jewish horizon of the reception of the Christian message". They too were "embraced by the process of the inculturation of Christianity in its initial phase", and they made "their own contribution to this process". In Klauck and McNeil's opinion, "the Christian doctrine of the sacraments, in the form in which we know it, would not have arisen without this interaction; and Christology too understood how to 'take up' the mythical inheritance, purifying it and elevating it".

* Mithraism [Roman mystery religion; Мистерии Митры] (I-IV). Mithraism, also known as the Mithraic mysteries, was a Roman mystery religion centered on the god Mithras. The religion was inspired by Iranian worship of the Zoroastrian divinity (yazata) Mithra, although the Greek Mithras was linked to a new and distinctive imagery, and the level of continuity between Persian and Greco-Roman practice is debated. The mysteries were popular among the Imperial Roman army from about the 1st to the 4th century CE. Worshippers of Mithras had a complex system of seven grades of initiation and communal ritual meals. Initiates called themselves syndexioi, those "united by the handshake". They met in underground temples, now called mithraea (singular mithraeum), which survive in large numbers. The cult appears to have had its centre in Rome, and was popular throughout the western half of the empire, as far south as Roman Africa and Numidia, as far north as Roman Britain,(pp 26–27) and to a lesser extent in Roman Syria in the east. Mithraism is viewed as a rival of early Christianity. In the 4th century, Mithraists faced persecution from Christians and the religion was subsequently suppressed and eliminated in the empire by the end of the century. Numerous archaeological finds, including meeting places, monuments and artifacts, have contributed to modern knowledge about Mithraism throughout the Roman Empire. The iconic scenes of Mithras show him being born from a rock, slaughtering a bull, and sharing a banquet with the god Sol (the Sun). About 420 sites have yielded materials related to the cult. Among the items found are about 1000 inscriptions, 700 examples of the bull-killing scene (tauroctony), and about 400 other monuments.(p xxi) It has been estimated that there would have been at least 680 mithraea in Rome.[full citation needed] No written narratives or theology from the religion survive; limited information can be derived from the inscriptions and brief or passing references in Greek and Latin literature. Interpretation of the physical evidence remains problematic and contested. Мистерии Митры. Мисте́рии Ми́тры — мистический религиозный культ, сложившийся вокруг почитания бога Митры, распространившийся в римской армии в I—IV веках н. э. Сторонники культа создали сложную систему посвящения, включавшую семь ступеней инициации и ритуальные трапезы. Они собирались в подземных святилищах, остатки которых в большом количестве сохранились до нашего времени. Особое распространение культ получил в приграничных провинциях империи, среди солдат стоявших там легионов. Информация об этом культе главным образом базируется на интерпретации множества сохранившихся памятников. Наиболее характерны для них изображение Митры, рождающегося из скалы и приносящего в жертву быка. // "Мать жизни, Первочеловек и Живой дух умоляют Отца света сделать "третий вызов". Появляется Третий посланник, во многом сходный с иранским Митрой, и, несомненно, продолжающий его; вместе с тем Третий посланник предвосхищает уже и образ человеческого посланника сил света, самого Мани." Русская апокрифическая студия - Манихеи // Mitra. Mitra is the name of an Indo-Iranian divinity from which the names and some characteristics of Rigvedic Mitrá and Avestan Mithra derive. The names (and occasionally also some characteristics) of these two older figures were subsequently also adopted for other figures: 1) A vrddhi-derived form of Sanskrit mitra gives Maitreya, the name of a bodhisattva in Buddhist tradition. 2) In Hellenistic-era Asia Minor, Avestan Mithra was conflated with various local and Greek figures leading to several different variants of Apollo-Helios-Mithras-Hermes-Stilbon. Via Greek and some Anatolian intermediate, the Avestan theonym also gave rise to Latin Mithras, the principal figure of the first century Roman Mysteries of Mithras (also known as 'Mithraism'). (...)

* Nicolaism [Николаиты] (I). Nicolaism is a Christian heresy first mentioned (twice) in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament. "early Christians lived in a pagan culture where the worship of Aphrodite included hierodoule who engaged in ritual prostitution in her shrines and temples, and that the Dionysian Mysteries used intoxicants and other trance-inducing techniques to remove inhibitions and social constraints of believers (regardless of class or gender) to enter into an animalistic state of mind." Николаиты. Николаи́ты — еретическое течение в раннем христианстве. Упоминание в Новом Завете В Новом Завете, в книге Откровение, Иисус Христос, обращаясь к церквям (Откровение. 1:1), расположенным в Асии (на территории современной Турции), обличает Пергамскую церковь, указывая на учение Николаитов, которого придерживаются некоторые из её членов: "Так и у тебя есть держащиеся учения Николаитов, которое Я ненавижу." — Откр. 2:15. Второе прямое упоминание о Николаитах находится в этой же главе, обращённое к Ефесской церкви: "Впрочем то в тебе хорошо, что ты ненавидишь дела Николаитов, которые и Я ненавижу." — Откр. 2:6. По преданию, это учение происходит от Николая Антиохийца, который был одним из семи человек, выбранных двенадцатью апостолами для служения в Иерусалимской церкви ответственными за раздачу пищи (Деяния. 6:3—6). Он был «обращён из язычников», то есть не был евреем. Ириней Лионский указывает на него как на родоначальника учения николаитов, что предполагает его падение и отхождение от Бога.

* Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite [Псевдо-Дионисий Ареопагит] (V-VI). Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, also known as Pseudo-Denys, was a Christian theologian and philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century, who wrote a set of works known as the Corpus Areopagiticum or Corpus Dionysiacum. The author pseudonymously identifies himself in the corpus as "Dionysios", portraying himself as the figure of Dionysius the Areopagite, the Athenian convert of Paul the Apostle mentioned in Acts 17:34. This false attribution to the earliest decades of Christianity resulted in the work being given great authority in subsequent theological writing in both East and West. The Dionysian writings and their mystical teaching were universally accepted throughout the East, amongst both Chalcedonians and non-Chalcedonians, and also had a strong impact in later medieval western mysticism, most notably Meister Eckhart. Its influence decreased in the West with the fifteenth-century demonstration of its later dating, but in recent decades, interest has increased again in the Corpus Areopagiticum. Thought. Dionysius attributed his inspiration to pseudo-Hierotheus, professing that he was writing to popularize the teachings of his master. Pseudo-Hieortheus was the author of “The book of Hierotheus on the hidden mysteries of the house of God.” Pseudo-Hierotheus is believed to be the fifth century Syrian monk Stephen Bar Sudhaile. The works of Dionysisus are mystical, and show strong Neoplatonic influence. For example, he uses Plotinus' well-known analogy of a sculptor cutting away that which does not enhance the desired image, and shows familiarity with Proclus. He also shows influence from Clement of Alexandria, the Cappadocian Fathers, Origen, and others. Mystical Theology. According to pseudo-Dionysius, God is better characterized and approached by negations than by affirmations. All names and theological representations must be negated. According to pseudo-Dionysius, when all names are negated, "divine silence, darkness, and unknowing" will follow. (...) There is a distinct difference between Neoplatonism and that of Eastern Christianity. In the former, all life returns to the source to be stripped of individual identity, a process called henosis, while in orthodox Christianity the Likeness of God in man is restored by grace (by being united to God the Trinity through participation in His divine energies), a process called theosis {union with God}. // The writer referred to here is now generally called “the Pseudo-Dionysius.” During the Middle Ages he was incorrectly identified as the Athenian converted to Christianity by St. Paul (Acts 17), and by tradition he was revered as a martyr and the first bishop of Athens. Ilarino da Milano identifies this passage as a reference to Letter 8 and quotes the pertinent lines from that source which, in translation, read as follows: “How may they who know not His virtue make known to the people the divine virtues? Or how may they of darkened understanding give enlightenment? .... If, then, the function of the priesthood is enlightenment, he who offers no enlightenment—or, rather, is himself without light— wholly lapses from the sacerdotal office and power.... For such a one is not a priest—no, he is not!—but an enemy, crafty, deluding himself, a wolf clad in sheep’s clothing amid the holy flock.” (WE)

* Henosis [Единение, соединение с Богом, мистический союз]. Henosis is the classical Greek word for mystical "oneness", "union" or "unity". In Platonism, and especially Neoplatonism, the goal of henosis is union with what is fundamental in reality: the One, the Source, or Monad. The Neoplatonic concept has precedents in the Greek mystery religions as well as parallels in Eastern philosophy. It is further developed in the Corpus Hermeticum, in Christian theology, Alevism, soteriology and mysticism, and is an important factor in the historical development of monotheism during Late Antiquity. Henosis, or primordial unity, is rational and deterministic, emanating from indeterminism an uncaused cause. Each individual as a microcosm reflects the gradual ordering of the universe referred to as the macrocosm. In mimicking the demiurge (divine mind), one unites with The One or Monad. Thus the process of unification, of "The Being" and "The One", is called henosis, the culmination of which is deification.[citation needed] Plotinus. Henosis for Plotinus (204/5–270 CE) was defined in his works as a reversing of the ontological process of consciousness via meditation (in the Western mind to uncontemplate) toward no thought (nous or demiurge) and no division (dyad) within the individual (being). As is specified in the writings of Plotinus on Henology, one can reach a tabula rasa, a blank state where the individual may grasp or merge with The One. This absolute simplicity means that the nous or the person is then dissolved, completely absorbed back into the Monad. Within the Enneads of Plotinus the Monad can be referred to as the Good above the demiurge. The Monad or dunamis (force) {'pure act' ??} is of one singular expression (the will or the one is the good), all is contained in the Monad and the Monad is all (pantheism). All division is reconciled in the one, the final stage before reaching singularity {first emanation ??}, what is called duality (dyad) {singularity - duality - plurality ??} is completely reconciled in the Monad, Source or One (see monism). As the one, source or substance of all things the Monad is all encompassing. As infinite and indeterminate all is reconciled in the dunamis or one. It is the demiurge or second emanation that is the nous in Plotinus. It is the demiurge (creator, action, energy) or nous that "perceives" and therefore causes the force (potential or One) to manifest as energy, or the dyad called the material world. Nous as being, being and perception (intellect) manifest what is called soul (World Soul). Plotinus words his teachings to reconcile not only Plato with Aristotle but also various World religions that he had personal contact with during his various travels. Plotinus' works have an ascetic character in that they reject matter as an illusion (non-existent). Matter was strictly treated as immanent, with matter as essential to its being, having no true or transcendental character or essence, substance or ousia. This approach is called philosophical Idealism. Iamblichus of Chalcis. .. Notes. Plotinus. Plotinus: "Our thought cannot grasp the One as long as any other image remains active in the soul. To this end, you must set free your soul from all outward things and turn wholly within yourself, with no more leaning to what lies outside, and lay your mind bare of ideal forms, as before of the objects of sense, and forget even yourself, and so come within sight of that One. [6.9.7] "If he remembers who he became when he merged with the One, he will bear its image in himself {permanent divine status ??}. He was himself one, with no diversity in himself or his outward relations; for no movement was in him, no passion, no desire for another, once the ascent was accomplished. Nor indeed was there any reason or though, nor, if we dare say it, any trace of himself." [6.9.11.] Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer wrote of this Neoplatonist philosopher: "With Plotinus there even appears, probably for the first time in Western philosophy, idealism that had long been current in the East even at that time, for it taught (Enneads, iii, lib. vii, c.10) that the soul has made the world by stepping from eternity into time, with the explanation: 'For there is for this universe no other place than the soul or mind' (neque est alter hujus universi locus quam anima), indeed the ideality of time is expressed in the words: 'We should not accept time outside the soul or mind' (oportet autem nequaquam extra animam tempus accipere)."

* Plotinus [Плотин] (c 204/5-270). Plotinus was a major Hellenistic philosopher who lived in Roman Egypt. In his philosophy, described in the Enneads, there are three principles: the One, the Intellect, and the Soul. His teacher was Ammonius Saccas, who was of the Platonic tradition. Historians of the 19th century invented the term neoplatonism and applied it to Plotinus and his philosophy, which was influential during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Much of the biographical information about Plotinus comes from Porphyry's preface to his edition of Plotinus' Enneads. His metaphysical writings have inspired centuries of Pagan, Jewish, Christian, Gnostic, and Islamic metaphysicians and mystics, including developing precepts that influence mainstream theological concepts within religions, such as his work on duality of the One in two metaphysical states. (...) Major ideas. One. {See also: Substance theory} Plotinus taught that there is a supreme, totally transcendent "One", containing no division, multiplicity, or distinction; beyond all categories of being and non-being. His "One" "cannot be any existing thing", nor is it merely the sum of all things (compare the Stoic doctrine of disbelief in non-material existence), but "is prior to all existents". Plotinus identified his "One" with the concept of 'Good' and the principle of 'Beauty'. (I.6.9) His "One" concept encompassed thinker and object. Even the self-contemplating intelligence (the noesis of the nous) must contain duality. "Once you have uttered 'The Good,' add no further thought: by any addition, and in proportion to that addition, you introduce a deficiency." (III.8.11) Plotinus denies sentience, self-awareness or any other action (ergon) to the One (τὸ Ἕν, to hen; V.6.6). Rather, if we insist on describing it further, we must call the One a sheer potentiality (dynamis) without which nothing could exist. (III.8.10) As Plotinus explains in both places and elsewhere (e.g. V.6.3), it is impossible for the One to be Being or a self-aware Creator God. At (V.6.4), Plotinus compared the One to "light", the Divine Intellect/Nous (Νοῦς, Nous; first will towards Good) to the "Sun", and lastly the Soul (Ψυχή, Psyche) to the "Moon" whose light is merely a "derivative conglomeration of light from the 'Sun'". The first light could exist without any celestial body. The One, being beyond all attributes including being and non-being, is the source of the world—but not through any act of creation, willful or otherwise, since activity cannot be ascribed to the unchangeable, immutable One. Plotinus argues instead that the multiple cannot exist without the simple. The "less perfect" must, of necessity, "emanate", or issue forth, from the "perfect" or "more perfect". Thus, all of "creation" emanates from the One in succeeding stages of lesser and lesser perfection. These stages are not temporally isolated, but occur throughout time as a constant process. The One is not just an intellectual concept but something that can be experienced, an experience where one goes beyond all multiplicity. Plotinus writes, "We ought not even to say that he will see, but he will be that which he sees, if indeed it is possible any longer to distinguish between seer and seen, and not boldly to affirm that the two are one." Emanation by the One. Superficially considered, Plotinus seems to offer an alternative to the orthodox Christian notion of creation ex nihilo (out of nothing), although Plotinus never mentions Christianity in any of his works. The metaphysics of emanation (ἀπορροή aporrhoe (ΙΙ.3.2) or ἀπόρροια aporrhoia (II.3.11)), however, just like the metaphysics of Creation, confirms the absolute transcendence of the One or of the Divine, as the source of the Being of all things that yet remains transcendent of them in its own nature; the One is in no way affected or diminished by these emanations, just as the Christian God in no way is affected by some sort of exterior "nothingness". Plotinus, using a venerable analogy that would become crucial for the (largely neoplatonic) metaphysics of developed Christian thought, likens the One to the Sun which emanates light indiscriminately without thereby diminishing itself, or reflection in a mirror which in no way diminishes or otherwise alters the object being reflected. The first emanation is Nous (Divine Mind, Logos, Order, Thought, Reason), identified metaphorically with the Demiurge in Plato's Timaeus. It is the first Will toward Good. From Nous proceeds the World Soul, which Plotinus subdivides into upper and lower, identifying the lower aspect of Soul with nature. From the world soul proceeds individual human souls, and finally, matter, at the lowest level of being and thus the least perfected level of the cosmos. Plotinus asserted the ultimately divine nature of material creation since it ultimately derives from the One, through the mediums of Nous and the world soul. It is by the Good or through beauty that we recognize the One, in material things and then in the Forms. (I.6.6 and I.6.9) The essentially devotional nature of Plotinus' philosophy may be further illustrated by his concept of attaining ecstatic union with the One (henosis). Porphyry relates that Plotinus attained such a union four times during the years he knew him. This may be related to enlightenment, liberation, and other concepts of mystical union common to many Eastern and Western traditions. The true human and happiness. Authentic human happiness for Plotinus consists of the true human identifying with that which is the best in the universe. Because happiness is beyond anything physical, Plotinus stresses the point that worldly fortune does not control true human happiness, and thus “… there exists no single human being that does not either potentially or effectively possess this thing we hold to constitute happiness.” (Enneads I.4.4) The issue of happiness is one of Plotinus’ greatest imprints on Western thought, as he is one of the first to introduce the idea that eudaimonia (happiness) is attainable only within consciousness. The true human is an incorporeal contemplative capacity of the soul, and superior to all things corporeal. It then follows that real human happiness is independent of the physical world. Real happiness is, instead, dependent on the metaphysical and authentic human being found in this highest capacity of Reason. “For man, and especially the Proficient, is not the Couplement of Soul and body: the proof is that man can be disengaged from the body and disdain its nominal goods.” (Enneads I.4.14) The human who has achieved happiness will not be bothered by sickness, discomfort, etc., as his focus is on the greatest things. Authentic human happiness is the utilization of the most authentically human capacity of contemplation. Even in daily, physical action, the flourishing human’s “… Act is determined by the higher phase of the Soul.” (Enneads III.4.6) Even in the most dramatic arguments Plotinus considers (if the Proficient is subject to extreme physical torture, for example), he concludes this only strengthens his claim of true happiness being metaphysical, as the truly happy human being would understand that which is being tortured is merely a body, not the conscious self, and happiness could persist. Plotinus offers a comprehensive description of his conception of a person who has achieved eudaimonia. “The perfect life” involves a man who commands reason and contemplation. (Enneads I.4.4) A happy person will not sway between happy and sad, as many of Plotinus' contemporaries believed. Stoics, for example, question the ability of someone to be happy (presupposing happiness is contemplation) if they are mentally incapacitated or even asleep. Plotinus disregards this claim, as the soul and true human do not sleep or even exist in time, nor will a living human who has achieved eudaimonia suddenly stop using its greatest, most authentic capacity just because of the body’s discomfort in the physical realm. “… The Proficient’s will is set always and only inward.” (Enneads I.4.11) Overall, happiness for Plotinus is "... a flight from this world's ways and things." (Theaet. 176) and a focus on the highest, i.e. Forms and the One. Plotinus regarded happiness as living in an interior way (interiority or self-sufficiency), and this being the obverse of attachment to the objects of embodied desires. Henosis. {Main article: Henosis} Henosis is the word for mystical "oneness", "union", or "unity" in classical Greek. In Platonism, and especially neoplatonism, the goal of henosis is union with what is fundamental in reality: the One (τὸ Ἕν), the Source, or Monad. As is specified in the writings of Plotinus on henology, one can reach a state of tabula rasa, a blank state where the individual may grasp or merge with The One.[note 1] This absolute simplicity means that the nous or the person is then dissolved, completely absorbed back into the Monad. Here within the Enneads of Plotinus the Monad can be referred to as the Good above the demiurge. The Monad or dunamis (force) is of one singular expression (the will or the one which is the good); all is contained in the Monad and the Monad is all (pantheism). All division is reconciled in the one; the final stage before reaching singularity, called duality (dyad), is completely reconciled in the Monad, Source or One (see monism). As the one source or substance of all things, the Monad is all encompassing. As infinite and indeterminate all is reconciled in the dunamis or one. It is the demiurge or second emanation that is the nous in Plotinus. It is the demiurge (creator, action, energy) or nous that "perceives" and therefore causes the force (potential or One) to manifest as energy, or the dyad called the material world. Nous as being; being and perception (intellect) manifest what is called soul (World Soul). Henosis for Plotinus was defined in his works as a reversing of the ontological process of consciousness via meditation (in the Western mind to uncontemplate) toward no thought (Nous or demiurge) and no division (dyad) within the individual (being). Plotinus words his teachings to reconcile not only Plato with Aristotle but also various World religions that he had personal contact with during his various travels. Plotinus' works have an ascetic character in that they reject matter as an illusion (non-existent). Matter was strictly treated as immanent, with matter as essential to its being, having no true or transcendential character or essence, substance or ousia (οὐσία). This approach is called philosophical Idealism. Relation with contemporary philosophy and religion. Plotinus's Relation to Plato. {See also: Allegorical interpretations of Plato} For several centuries after the Protestant Reformation, neoplatonism was condemned as a decadent and 'oriental' distortion of Platonism. In a famous 1929 essay, E. R. Dodds showed that key conceptions of neoplatonism could be traced from their origin in Plato's dialogues, through his immediate followers (e.g., Speusippus) and the neopythagoreans, to Plotinus and the neoplatonists. Thus Plotinus' philosophy was, he argued, 'not the starting-point of neoplatonism but its intellectual culmination.' Further research reinforced this view and by 1954 Merlan could say 'The present tendency is toward bridging rather than widening the gap separating Platonism from neoplatonism.' Since the 1950s, the Tübingen School of Plato interpretation has argued that the so-called 'unwritten doctrines' of Plato debated by Aristotle and the Old Academy strongly resemble Plotinus's metaphysics. In this case, the neoplatonic reading of Plato would be, at least in this central area, historically justified. This implies that neoplatonism is less of an innovation than it appears without the recognition of Plato's unwritten doctrines. Advocates of the Tübingen School emphasize this advantage of their interpretation. They see Plotinus as advancing a tradition of thought begun by Plato himself. Plotinus's metaphysics, at least in broad outline, was therefore already familiar to the first generation of Plato's students. This confirms Plotinus' own view, for he considered himself not the inventor of a system but the faithful interpreter of Plato's doctrines. Plotinus and the Gnostics. {See also: Neoplatonism and Gnosticism} This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (April 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) At least two modern conferences within Hellenic philosophy fields of study have been held in order to address what Plotinus stated in his tract Against the Gnostics and to whom he was addressing it, in order to separate and clarify the events and persons involved in the origin of the term "Gnostic". From the dialogue, it appears that the word had an origin in the Platonic and Hellenistic tradition long before the group calling themselves "Gnostics"—or the group covered under the modern term "Gnosticism"—ever appeared. It would seem that this shift from Platonic to Gnostic usage has led many people to confusion. The strategy of sectarians taking Greek terms from philosophical contexts and re-applying them to religious contexts was popular in Christianity, the Cult of Isis and other ancient religious contexts including Hermetic ones (see Alexander of Abonutichus for an example). According to A. H. Armstrong, Plotinus and the neoplatonists viewed Gnosticism[clarification needed] as a form of heresy or sectarianism to the Pythagorean and Platonic philosophy of the Mediterranean and Middle East.[note 2] Also according to Armstrong, Plotinus accused them of using senseless jargon and being overly dramatic and insolent in their distortion of Plato's ontology."[note 3] Armstrong argues that Plotinus attacks his opponents as untraditional, irrational and immoral[note 4][note 5] and arrogant.[note 6] Armstrong believed that Plotinus also attacks them as elitist and blasphemous to Plato for the Gnostics despising the material world and its maker.[note 7] For decades, Armstrong's was the only translation available of Plotinus. For this reason, his claims were authoritative. However, a modern translation by Lloyd P. Gerson doesn't necessarily support all of Armstrong's views. Unlike Armstrong, Gerson didn't find Plotinus to be so vitriolic against the Gnostics. According to Gerson: "As Plotinus himself tells us, at the time of this treatise’s composition some of his friends were ‘attached’ to Gnostic doctrine, and he believed that this attachment was harmful. So he sets out here a number of objections and corrections. Some of these are directed at very specific tenets of Gnosticism, e.g. the introduction of a ‘new earth’ or a principle of ‘Wisdom’, but the general thrust of this treatise has a much broader scope. The Gnostics are very critical of the sensible universe and its contents, and as a Platonist, Plotinus must share this critical attitude to some extent. But here he makes his case that the proper understanding of the highest principles and emanation forces us to respect the sensible world as the best possible imitation of the intelligible world." Plotinus seems to direct his attacks at a very specific sect of Gnostics, most notably a sect of Christian Gnostics that held anti-polytheistic and anti-daemon views, and that preached salvation was possible without struggle. At one point, Plotinus makes clear that his major grudge is the way Gnostics 'misused' Plato's teachings, and not their own teachings themselves: "There are no hard feelings if they tell us in which respects they intend to disagree with Plato [...] Rather, whatever strikes them as their own distinct views in comparison with the Greeks’, these views – as well as the views that contradict them – should be forthrightly set out on their own in a considerate and philosophical manner." The neoplatonic movement (though Plotinus would have simply referred to himself as a philosopher of Plato) seems to be motivated by the desire of Plotinus to revive the pagan philosophical tradition.[note 8] Plotinus was not claiming to innovate with the Enneads, but to clarify aspects of the works of Plato that he considered misrepresented or misunderstood. Plotinus does not claim to be an innovator, but rather a communicator of a tradition. Plotinus referred to tradition as a way to interpret Plato's intentions. Because the teachings of Plato were for members of the academy rather than the general public, it was easy for outsiders to misunderstand Plato's meaning. However, Plotinus attempted to clarify how the philosophers of the academy had not arrived at the same conclusions (such as misotheism or dystheism of the creator God as an answer to the problem of evil) as the targets of his criticism. Against causal astrology. Plotinus seems to be one of the first to argue against the still popular notion of causal astrology. In the late tractate 2.3, "Are the stars causes?", Plotinus makes the argument that specific stars influencing one's fortune (a common Hellenistic theme) attributes irrationality to a perfect universe, and invites moral depravity. He does, however, claim the stars and planets are ensouled, as witnessed by their movement. Influence. Ancient world. The emperor Julian the Apostate was deeply influenced by neoplatonism, as was Hypatia of Alexandria. Neoplatonism influenced many Christians as well, including Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. St. Augustine, though often referred to as a "Platonist," acquired his Platonist philosophy through the mediation of the Neoplatonist teachings of Plotinus. Christianity. Plotinus' philosophy had an influence on the development of Christian theology. In A History of Western Philosophy, philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote that: "To the Christian, the Other World was the Kingdom of Heaven, to be enjoyed after death; to the Platonist, it was the eternal world of ideas, the real world as opposed to that of illusory appearance. Christian theologians combined these points of view, and embodied much of the philosophy of Plotinus. [...] Plotinus, accordingly, is historically important as an influence in moulding the Christianity of the Middle Ages and of theology." The Eastern Orthodox position on energy, for example, is often contrasted with the position of the Roman Catholic Church, and in part this is attributed to varying interpretations of Aristotle and Plotinus, either through Thomas Aquinas for the Roman Catholics or Gregory Palamas for the Orthodox Christians.[citation needed] Islam. Neoplatonism and the ideas of Plotinus influenced medieval Islam as well, since the Mutazilite Abbasids fused Greek concepts into sponsored state texts, and found great influence amongst the Ismaili Shia and Persian philosophers as well, such as Muhammad al-Nasafi and Abu Yaqub Sijistani. By the 11th century, neoplatonism was adopted by the Fatimid state of Egypt, and taught by their da'i. neoplatonism was brought to the Fatimid court by Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani, although his teachings differed from Nasafi and Sijistani, who were more aligned with the original teachings of Plotinus. The teachings of Kirmani in turn influenced philosophers such as Nasir Khusraw of Persia. Judaism. As with Islam and Christianity, neoplatonism in general and Plotinus in particular influenced speculative thought. Notable thinkers expressing neoplatonist themes are Solomon ibn Gabirol (Latin: Avicebron) and Moses ben Maimon (Latin: Maimonides). As with Islam and Christianity, apophatic theology and the privative nature of evil are two prominent themes that such thinkers picked up from either Plotinus or his successors. Renaissance. In the Renaissance the philosopher Marsilio Ficino set up an Academy under the patronage of Cosimo de Medici in Florence, mirroring that of Plato. His work was of great importance in reconciling the philosophy of Plato directly with Christianity. One of his most distinguished pupils was Pico della Mirandola, author of An Oration On the Dignity of Man. (...) "The philosophy of Plotinus has always exerted a peculiar fascination upon those whose discontent with things as they are has led them to seek the realities behind what they took to be merely the appearances of the sense." The philosophy of Plotinus: representative books from the Enneads, p. vii

* Proclus [Прокл Диадох] (412-485). Proclus Lycius, called Proclus the Successor, was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers. He set forth one of the most elaborate and fully developed systems of Neoplatonism. He stands near the end of the classical development of philosophy and influenced Western medieval philosophy (Greek and Latin). (...) Works The majority of Proclus's works are commentaries on dialogues of Plato (Alcibiades, Cratylus, Parmenides, Republic, Timaeus). In these commentaries he presents his own philosophical system as a faithful interpretation of Plato, and in this he did not differ from other Neoplatonists, as he considered that "nothing in Plato’s corpus is unintended or there by chance", that "that Plato’s writings were divinely inspired" ("the divine Plato, inspired by the gods"), that "the formal structure and the content of Platonic texts imitated those of the universe", and therefore that they spoke often of things under a veil, hiding the truth from the philosophically uninitiate. Proclus was however a close reader of Plato, and quite often makes very astute points about his Platonic sources. A number of his Platonic commentaries are lost. Proclus, the scholiast to Euclid, knew Eudemus of Rhodes' History of Geometry well, and gave a short sketch of the early history of geometry, which appeared to be founded on the older, lost book of Eudemus. The passage has been referred to as "the Eudemian summary," and determines some approximate dates, which otherwise might have remained unknown. The influential commentary on the first book of Euclid's Elements of Geometry is one of the most valuable sources we have for the history of ancient mathematics, and its Platonic account of the status of mathematical objects was influential. In this work, Proclus also listed the first mathematicians associated with Plato: a mature set of mathematicians (Leodamas of Thasos, Archytas of Taras, and Theaetetus), a second set of younger mathematicians (Neoclides, Eudoxus of Cnidus), and a third yet younger set (Amyntas, Menaechmus and his brother Dinostratus, Theudius of Magnesia, Hermotimus of Colophon and Philip of Opus). Some of these mathematicians were influential in arranging the Elements that Euclid later published. In addition to his commentaries, Proclus wrote two major systematic works. The Elements of Theology consists of 211 propositions, each followed by a proof, beginning from the existence of the One (divine Unity) and ending with the descent of individual souls into the material world. The Platonic Theology is a systematisation of material from Platonic dialogues, showing from them the characteristics of the divine orders, the part of the universe which is closest to the One. We also have three essays, extant only in Latin translation: Ten doubts concerning providence (De decem dubitationibus circa providentiam); On providence and fate (De providentia et fato); On the existence of evils (De malorum subsistentia). He also wrote a number of minor works, which are listed in the bibliography below.

* Christianity in the Roman Africa province [Early African Church; Ранняя Африканская церковь] (II-VI). The name Early African Church is given to the Christian communities inhabiting the region known politically as Roman Africa, and comprised geographically somewhat around the area of the Roman Diocese of Africa, namely: the Mediterranean littoral between Cyrenaica on the east and the river Ampsaga (now the Oued Rhumel (fr)) on the west; that part of it that faces the Atlantic Ocean being called Mauretania, in addition to Byzacena. Thus corresponding somewhat to contemporary Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. The evangelization of Africa followed much the same lines as those traced by Roman civilization. Informal primacy was exercised by the Archdiocese of Carthage, a metropolitan archdiocese also known as "Church of Carthage". Ранняя Африканская церковь. Ра́нняя А́фриканская це́рковь — христианская община, населявшая регион, известный как античная Африка, и географически составлявшая часть территории римской провинции Африка, а именно: средиземноморское побережье между Киренаикой на востоке и рекой Руммель на западе; та часть, которая была обращена в сторону Атлантического океана, называлась Мавританией, в дополнение к областям Бизацена и Зевгитана. Таким образом, это несколько соответствует современным Марокко, Алжиру, Тунису и Ливии. Первоначально христианизация Африки шла там, где была римская цивилизация. Неформальное главенство принадлежало Карфагенской епархии, митрополичьей архиепархии, постепенно община смогла сформировать свою поместную церковь, ставшую известной как «Карфагенская церковь». // Archdiocese of Carthage [Карфагенская епархия] (II-VI). The Archdiocese of Carthage, also known as the Church of Carthage, was a Latin Catholic diocese established in Carthage, Roman Empire, in the 2nd century. (...) The Church of Carthage thus was to the Early African church what the Church of Rome was to the Catholic Church in Italy. Карфагенская епархия. Карфаге́нская епа́рхия (лат. Dioecesis Carthaginiensis) — кафедра предстоятеля Карфагенской церкви. Поскольку город Карфаген был центром африканских владений Рима в Северной Африке, епископ этого города пользовался определёнными привилегиями и правами первенства в церковной североафриканской иерархии. С III по VI век Карфаген был местом череды важных церковных соборов. После мусульманского завоевания Магриба Кафрагенская церковь пришла в упадок и была упразднена, а Карфагенская епархия превратилась в одну из епархий Римо-Католической церкви. В XX веке Александрийская православная церковь включила в свой состав всю территорию Африки и учредила на территории стран Магриба Карфагенскую митрополию.

* Anchorite [Анахорет] (III/IV). An anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress) is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. Whilst anchorites are frequently considered to be a type of religious hermit, unlike hermits they were required to take a vow of stability of place, opting for permanent enclosure in cells often attached to churches. Also unlike hermits, anchorites were subject to a religious rite of consecration that closely resembled the funeral rite, following which they would be considered dead to the world, a type of living saint. Anchorites had a certain autonomy, as they did not answer to any ecclesiastical authority other than the bishop. The anchoritic life is one of the earliest forms of Christian monasticism. In the Catholic Church today, it is one of the "Other Forms of Consecrated Life" and governed by the same norms as the consecrated eremitic life. In England, the earliest recorded anchorites existed in the 11th century. Their highest number—around 200 anchorites—were recorded in the 13th century. The anchoritic life became widespread during the early and high Middle Ages. Examples of the dwellings of anchorites and anchoresses survive, a large number of which are in England. They tended to be a simple cell (also called anchorhold), built against one of the walls of the local village church. In Germanic-speaking areas, from at least the 10th century, it was customary for the bishop to say The Office of the Dead as the anchorite entered their cell, to signify the anchorite's death to the world and rebirth to a spiritual life of solitary communion with God and the angels. Sometimes, if the anchorite were walled up inside the cell, the bishop would put his seal upon the wall to stamp it with his authority. Some anchorites, however, freely moved between their cell and the adjoining church. Anchorites committed to a life of uncompromising enclosure that could not be reversed at any time. Those who attempted to escape were returned by force and their souls damned to Hell. Some were burned in their cells, which they refused to leave even when pirates or looters were pillaging their towns. They ate frugal meals, spending their days both in contemplative prayer and interceding on behalf of others. Their bodily waste was managed by means of a chamber pot. Some anchorholds had a few small rooms or attached gardens. Servants tended to the basic needs of anchorites, providing food and water and removing waste. In addition to being the physical location wherein the anchorite could embark on a journey toward union with God {mysticism}, the anchorhold also provided a spiritual and geographic focus for people from the wider society seeking spiritual advice and guidance. Though set apart from the community at large by stone walls and specific spiritual precepts, the anchorite lay at the very center of the community. The anchorhold has been called a communal 'womb' from which would emerge an idealized sense of a community's own reborn potential, both as Christians and as human subjects. Анахорет. Анахоре́т (от др.-греч. ἀναχωρητής «анахорет», «отшельник», от др.-греч. ἀναχωρέω «отступать», «отходить», «уходить», «удаляться») — удалившийся от мира, отшельник, пустынник. Так называется человек, который уединённо живёт в пустынной местности, по возможности чуждается всякого общения с другими людьми и ведёт аскетичный образ жизни. История. Уже в I—II веках христиане устранялись от языческих празднеств и удовольствий, а в конце III — начале IV веков появились отшельники в настоящем значении этого слова, которые вследствие жестоких преследований или же презрения ко всему земному стали искать уединения. В начале IV века около таких отшельников, или «отцов пустыни», стали собираться (первоначально в Египте) ученики и сотоварищи и вести под их руководством аскетический образ жизни. Когда Афанасий в 356 году удалился в Ливийскую пустыню, он нашёл её уже заселённой многочисленными пустынниками. Идеальный образ такого отшельника начертали Иероним Стридонский в житии Павла Фивейского и Афанасий в житии святого Антония. Последний считается отцом настоящего монашества. Существует сказание, что его ученик Иларион ввёл этот уединённый образ жизни в Палестине, а Евстафий в Армении и Малой Азии. Вскоре учителя церкви стали поощрять такой образ жизни и привили его и на Западе. Но позднее, когда анахоретов стал осаждать народ, искавший их советов, утешения в несчастиях и благословения больных и детей, они вынуждены были отказаться от первоначального намерения совершенно устраниться от мира. Некоторые анахореты подвергали свою плоть мучениям, возлагали на себя цепи, железные кольца и т. п. вериги, уединялись почти в необитаемые местности, пещеры, отказывали себе в необходимом пропитании и одежде или же занимали самые неестественные места, оставались на них в течение многих лет (см. столпники — стилиты). Однако подобные подвиги анахоретства стали постепенно исчезать, так как церковь вскоре предпочла более мягкую форму отшельничества, именно — общежитие «киновитов», или монахов. Впрочем, подобные явления присутствуют практически во всех восточных религиях. // Paul of Thebes (c 226/27-c 341). Paul of Thebes, commonly known as Paul, the First Hermit or Paul the Anchorite, or in Egyptian Arabic as Anba Bola, is regarded as the first Christian hermit, who was claimed to have lived alone in the desert of Egypt from the age of sixteen to the age of one hundred and thirteen years old. He is not to be confused with Paul the Simple, who was a disciple of Anthony the Great. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church as well as the Orthodox Church.

* Hermit [Отшельник, отшельничество]. A hermit, or eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic), is a person who lives in seclusion. Hermits are a part of several sections of various religions and this concept has garnered significant attention and importance. In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament (i.e., the 40 years wandering in the desert that was meant to bring about a change of heart). In the Christian tradition the eremitic life is an early form of monastic living that preceded the monastic life in the cenobium. In chapter 1, the Rule of St Benedict lists hermits among four kinds of monks. In the Roman Catholic Church, in addition to hermits who are members of religious institutes, the Canon law (canon 603) recognizes also diocesan hermits under the direction of their bishop as members of the consecrated life. The same is true in many parts of the Anglican Communion, including the Episcopal Church in the United States, although in the canon law of the Episcopal Church they are referred to as "solitaries" rather than "hermits". Often, both in religious and secular literature, the term "hermit" is used loosely for any Christian living a secluded prayer-focused life, and sometimes interchangeably with anchorite/anchoress, recluse and "solitary". Other religions, for example, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam (Sufism), and Taoism, also have hermits in the sense of individuals living an ascetic form of life. Отшельничество. Отше́льничество, анахоретство — аскетическое отречение по различным убеждениям от мирской жизни с максимальным ограничением внешних связей и удалением для жительства в пустынные места. Отшельничество как спорадическое явление существовало в религиях Индии, Китая, Японии и других стран Востока (иудаизм, буддизм, даосизм и др.). В разное время встречались следующие типы нехристианской монашеской жизни: отшельники Сераписа {Serapis/Sarapis - a Graeco-Egyptian deity} в Египте; аскеты-буддисты; ессеи, жившие подобно монахам у Мертвого моря примерно III века до н. э.; иудейские аскеты, называемые терапевтами, жившие неподалеку от Александрии; гностики неоплатоновского толка; аскеты-приверженцы бога Митры. Отшельничество в Китае выступало как альтернатива политической карьере, однако идеологически было во многом с нею связано. Hermit. A hermit, or eremite (adjectival form: eremitic or hermitic), is a person who lives in seclusion. Hermits are a part of several sections of various religions and this concept has garnered significant attention and importance.

* Recluse [Затворник]. A recluse is a person who lives in voluntary seclusion from the public and society. The word is from the Latin recludere, which means "shut up" or "sequester". Historically, the word referred to a hermit's total isolation from the world. Examples are Symeon of Trier, who lived within the great Roman gate Porta Nigra with permission from the Archbishop of Trier, or Theophan the Recluse, the 19th-century Orthodox monk who was later glorified as a saint. Many celebrated figures of human history have spent significant portions of their lives as recluses. There are many potential reasons for becoming a recluse, including but not limited to: a personal philosophy may reject consumer society; a mystical religious outlook may involve becoming a hermit or an anchorite; a survivalist may be practicing self-sufficiency; a criminal might hide away from people to avoid detection by police; or a misanthrope may lack tolerance for society. In the Russian Orthodox and Catholic Church tradition, a Poustinik is a temporary hermit who has been called to pray and fast alone in a cabin for at least 24 hours. In ancient Chinese culture, scholars are encouraged to be a public servant in a scrupulous and well-run government but expected to go into reclusion as a yinshi ('gentleman-in-hiding') when the government is rife with corruption. Others, like Dongfang Shuo, became hermits to practice Taoism, or in later centuries, Chan Buddhism. It can also be due to psychological reasons, for example due to disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder, social anxiety disorder, apathy, depression, obsessive–compulsive disorder, schizoid personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder or avoidant personality disorder. Conditions like autism or intellectual disability can also lead people to become reclusive. In Japan, an estimated 1.2 million people are part of the phenomenon of "Hikikomori" or "social withdrawal", a problem often blamed on Japan's education system and social pressure to succeed. Затворники. Затворники — первоначально: христианские подвижники, которые добровольно заключали себя на целую жизнь в пещеры и кельи, чтобы отдаться там постоянной молитве. Случаи выхода их оттуда бывали крайне редки и обусловливались какими-нибудь весьма вескими причинами общественного или частного свойства. Затво́рник — монах, совершавший подвиги своего спасения в уединении — в затворе, укрывается не в далёких пустынях, но затворяется ото всех среди монастыря, на окраине города и т. п. Целью затворничества является «исихия», или «священное безмолвие». Правила подвижнического делания в затворе обобщил преподобный Григорий Синаит {возродил на Афоне практику Иисусовой молитвы}: «Сидя в келье своей, терпеливо пребывай в молитве во исполнение заповеди апостола Павла (Рим. 12:12; Кол. 4:2). Собери ум свой в сердце и оттуда мысленным воплем призывай на помощь Господа Иисуса, говоря: „Господи Иисусе Христе, помилуй мя!“ Не поддавайся малодушию и разленению, но поболи сердцем {погрустить, погоревать} и потруди себя телом, ища Господа в сердце». В католической традиции затворники назывались инклузи (лат. inclusi или reclusi). Их обычаи и образ жизни описал Григорий Турский. С IX века инклузи получили более мягкий устав благодаря пресвитеру Гримлаику (лат. Grimlaicus), автору «Regula Solitariorum». Среди православных затворников известны, в частности, Феофан Затворник, епископ Православной российской церкви, богослов и публицист-проповедник и Серафим Саровский, принимавший на себя подвиги безмолвия и затворничества. Подобные практики широко применяются в буддизме Тхеравады, а также в тибетском и японском буддизме. В тибетском буддизме пожизненные затворы не применялись; чаще всего затворник (тиб. ri khrod pa) уходил в затвор для совершения какого-то определённого комплекса практик и, как правило, на фиксированный срок (до нескольких лет).

* Cenobitic monasticism [Киновия] (IV). Cenobitic (or coenobitic) monasticism is a monastic tradition that stresses community life. Often in the West the community belongs to a religious order, and the life of the cenobitic monk is regulated by a religious rule, a collection of precepts. The older style of monasticism, to live as a hermit, is called eremitic. A third form of monasticism, found primarily in Eastern Christianity, is the skete. A group of monks living in community is often referred to as a cenobium. Cenobitic monasticism appears in several religious traditions, though most commonly in Buddhism and Christianity. The word Cenobites was initially applied to the followers of Pythagoras in Crotona, Italy, who founded a commune not just for philosophical study but also for the "amicable sharing of worldly goods." Judaic monasticism. In the 1st century AD, Philo of Alexandria (c. 25 BC – c. 50 AD) describes a Jewish ascetic community of men and women on the shores of Lake Mareotis in the vicinity of Alexandria, Egypt which he calls the Therapeutae. Members of the community lived apart from one another during the six days of the week, studying the Hebrew Bible during the daytime and eating during the evening, whereafter they hoped to dream visions informed by their studies. Members of the community composed books of midrash, an allegorical method for interpreting scripture. Only on the sabbath would the Therapeutae meet, share their learning, eat a common, albeit simple, meal of bread and spring water, and listen to a lecture on the Torah given by one of the venerable members of the community. Every seventh sabbath was accorded a festival of learning and singing, which climaxed in an egalitarian dance. The 3rd-century Christian writer Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 263–339), in his Ecclesiastical History, identified Philo's Therapeutae as the first Christian monks, identifying their renunciation of property, chastity, fasting, and solitary lives with the cenobitic ideal of the Christian monks. Christian monasticism. The organized version of Christian cenobitic monasticism is commonly thought to have started in Egypt in the 4th century AD. Christian monks of previous centuries were usually hermits, especially in the Middle East; this continued to be very common until the decline of Aramean Christianity in the Late Middle Ages. This form of solitary living, however, did not suit everyone. Some monks found the eremitic style to be too lonely and difficult; and if one was not spiritually prepared, the life could lead to mental breakdowns. For this reason, organized monastic communities were established so that monks could have more support in their spiritual struggle. While eremitic monks did have an element of socializing, since they would meet once a week to pray together, cenobitic monks came together for common prayer on a more regular basis. The cenobitic monks also practised more socializing because the monasteries where they lived were often located in or near inhabited villages. For example, the Bohairic version of Dionysius Exiguus' The Life of Saint Pachomius states that the monks of the monastery of Tabenna built a church for the villagers of the nearby town of the same name even "before they constructed one for themselves." This means that cenobitic monks did find themselves in contact with other people, including lay people, whereas the eremitic monks tried their best to keep to themselves, only meeting for prayer occasionally. Saint Pachomius. Cenobitic monks were also different from their eremitic predecessors and counterparts in their actual living arrangements. Whereas the eremitic monks ("hermits") lived alone in a monastery consisting of merely a hut or cave ("cell"), the cenobitic monks ("cenobites") lived together in monasteries comprising one or a complex of several buildings. In the latter case, each dwelling would house about twenty monks, and within the house there were separate rooms or cells that would be inhabited by two or three monks. To early generations of historians, the style of housing maintained by cenobitic monks was attributed to the same man usually hailed the "father of cenobitic monasticism," St. Pachomius, who was believed to have found the idea for such quarters during the time he spent in the Roman army, as the style was "reminiscent of army barracks." While this impression may have been to some extent mythologized by the bishop and historian Palladius of Galatia, communal barracks-like desert dwellings known as cenobia came to exist circa the early 4th century. Though Pachomius is often credited as the "father of cenobitic monasticism," it is more accurate to think of him as the "father of organized cenobitic monasticism", as he was the first monk to take smaller communal groups that often already existed and bring them together into a larger federation of monasteries. He continued this work until his death in 347 at Pbow, a monastic center that he had founded some ten years before. The account of how Pachomius was given the idea to start a cenobitic monastery is found in Palladius' Lausiac History, which says that an angel conveyed the idea to him. Though this is an interesting explanation of why he decided to initiate the cenobitic tradition, there are sources that indicate there were already other communal monastic communities around at that time and possibly before him. In fact, three of the nine monasteries that joined Pachomius' cenobitic federation were not founded by him, meaning he actually was not the first to have such an idea since these three "clearly had an independent origin." Though he was not the first to implement communal monasticism, Pachomius is still an important part of cenobitic monastic history, since he was the first to bring separate monasteries together into a more organized structure. This is the reason why (as well as the fact that much hagiography and literature has been written about him) he has continued to be recognized as the father of the tradition. Melitians and Manichaeans. Aside from the monasteries that joined Pachomius' federation of cenobitic monasteries, there were also other cenobitic groups, both Christian and non-Christian, who decided not to join him. The Melitians and the Manichaeans are examples of these cenobitic groups. Even before Pachomius had started on his path toward monastic communities, the Melitians as a group were already recruiting members. The Melitians were a heretical Christian sect founded by Meletius of Lycopolis. Moreover, they had "heard of Pachomius' monastic aspirations and tried to recruit him" to join their community. As for Manichaeans, members of a religion founded by a man named Mani, some scholars believe they were the "pioneers of communal asceticism in Egypt," and not Pachomius and the Pachomians as has become the common thought. Mani, himself, was actually influenced to begin cenobitic monasticism from other groups, including Buddhists and Jewish-Christian Elkasites. Киновия. Кино́вия, или Ценобий (др.-греч. — совместная жизнь, общежитие) — христианская монашеская коммуна, монастырь общежитского устава, одна из двух (наряду с отшельничеством) форм организации монашества на начальном историческом этапе. Всё необходимое монахи киновии — еду, одежду, обувь и прочее — получают от монастыря. Труд монахов киновии безвозмезден, результаты труда полностью принадлежат монастырю. Все монахи киновии (вплоть до настоятеля) не имеют права собственности и личного имущества, а, следовательно, прав дарения, наследования и так далее. Настоятель киновии называется киновиа́рх. Первая киновия была основана Пахомием в Тавенисси или Тавенне (лат. Tabenna, Tabennae, Tabennisi; Южный Египет) в 318 году. Первый русский монастырь общежитийного устава создал Феодосий Печерский. Павел Флоренский видел в киновии воплощение коммунистического идеала, то есть «общежития как совместного жития в полной любви, единомыслии {!!} и экономическом единстве», который в Россию был привнесен Сергием Радонежским. Cenobitic monasticism.

* Coptic monasticism [asceticism; Коптское монашество] (IV). Coptic Monasticism is said to be the original form of Monasticism as St. Anthony of Egypt became the first one to be called "monk" and he was the first to establish a Christian monastery which is now known as the Monastery of Saint Anthony in the Red Sea area. St. Anthony's Monastery (also known as the Monastery of Abba Antonious) is the oldest Christian monastery in the world. Although Saint Anthony's way of life was focused on solidarity {?? solitude ?? "Anthony is sometimes considered the first monk, and the first to initiate solitary desertification"}, Saint Pachomius the Cenobite, a Copt from Upper Egypt, established communal monasticism in his monasteries in upper Egypt which laid the basic monastic structure for many of the monasteries today in many monastic orders, even outside of Coptic Orthodoxy. Institutional Christian monasticism seems to have begun in the deserts in AD 4th century Egypt as a kind of living martyrdom {suffering for Christ}. Scholars such as Lester K. Little attribute the rise of monasticism at this time to the immense changes in the church that had been brought about by Constantine's acceptance of Christianity as the main Roman religion. This ended the position of Christians as a small group that believed itself to be the godly elite. In response a new more advanced form of dedication was developed to preserve a nucleus of the dedicated. The end of persecution also meant that martyrdom was no longer an option to prove one's piety. Instead the long-term "martyrdom" of the ascetic became common. Many Egyptian Christians went to the desert during the 3rd century, and remained there to pray and work and dedicate their lives to seclusion and worship of God. This was the beginning of the monastic movement, which was organized by Anthony the Great, Saint Paul {of Thebes}, the world's first anchorite, Saint Macarius the Great and Saint Pachomius the Cenobite in the 4th century. Pachomius spent most of his time at his Pabau monastery. From his initial monastery, demand quickly grew and, by the time of his death in 345, one count estimates there were 3000 monasteries dotting Egypt from north to south. Within a generation after his death, this number grew to 7000 and then moved out of Egypt into Palestine and the Judea Desert, Syria, North Africa and eventually Western Europe. Christian Monasticism was born in Egypt and was instrumental in the formation of the Coptic Orthodox Church character of submission, simplicity and humility, thanks to the teachings and writings of the Great Fathers of Egypt's Deserts. By the end of the fifth century, there were hundreds of monasteries, and thousands of cells and caves scattered throughout the Egyptian desert. A great number of these monasteries are still flourishing and have new vocations to this day. All Christian monasticism stems, either directly or indirectly, from the Egyptian example: Saint Basil the Great Archbishop of Caesaria of Cappadocia, founder and organizer of the monastic movement in Asia Minor, visited Egypt around 357 AD and his rule is followed by the Eastern Orthodox Churches; Saint Jerome who translated the Bible into Latin, came to Egypt, while en route to Jerusalem, around 400 AD and left details of his experiences in his letters; Benedict founded the Benedictine Order in the sixth century on the model of Saint Pachomius, but in a stricter form. Countless pilgrims have visited the "Desert Fathers" to emulate their spiritual, disciplined lives. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monasticism#Christianity )

* Скит [Skete]. Скит — в общем случае место жительства монахов, отдалённое от крупных поселений людей. Распространены главным образом в православии. В силу долгой истории православного монашества понятие скит применялось к разным типам монашеских поселений: это могла быть как отдельно стоящая келья, в которой жил монах-отшельник, так и относительно крупный монастырь, подчинённый другому, ещё более крупному. Название происходит от Скитской пусты́ни — места первоначального распространения монашества. Skete. A skete is a monastic community in Eastern Christianity that allows relative isolation for monks, but also allows for communal services and the safety of shared resources and protection. It is one of four types of early monastic orders, along with the eremitic, lavritic and coenobitic, that became popular during the early formation of the Christian Church. Skete communities usually consist of a number of small cells or caves that act as the living quarters with a centralized church or chapel. These communities are thought of as a bridge between strict eremitic lifestyle and communal lifestyles since it was a blend of the two. They were a direct response to the ascetic lifestyle that early Christians aspired to live. Skete communities were often a bridge to a stricter form of hermitage or to martyrdom. The term Skete is most likely a reference to the Scetis valley region of Egypt where Skete communities first appear, but a few scholars have argued that it instead is a stylized spelling of the word ascetic.

* Stylite [Столпник] (V). A stylite (from Greek stylitēs, "pillar dweller") or pillar-saint is a type of Christian ascetic who lives on pillars, preaching, fasting and praying. Stylites believe that the mortification of their bodies would help ensure the salvation of their souls. Stylites were common in the early days of the Byzantine Empire. The first known stylite was Simeon Stylites the Elder who climbed a pillar in Syria in 423 and remained there until his death 37 years later. Столпник. Сто́лпник (греч. στυλίτης, лат. stylita) — христианский святой из числа преподобных, избравший особый вид подвига — непрерывную молитву на «столпе» (открытой возвышенной площадке, камне, башне и т. п.). Подвиги стояния на столпе ради благочестия встречаются ещё ранее IV века: например, святой Ефрем Сирин в 29 поучении к египетским монахам говорит, что он видел человека, который ради добродетели стоял на столпе. Однако основателем столпничества христианская традиция считает сирийского монаха Симеона Столпника, по сообщению современников, подвизавшегося на столпе более 30 лет. Симеон пользовался исключительным авторитетом в христианском мире, к нему стекались толпы верующих за советом и наставлением, писали письма императоры, почитание его как святого распространилось ещё при его жизни, особенно в сирийских общинах. Считается, что действию Симеона последовали в V веке преподобный Даниил (память 11 декабря), в VI веке — преподобный Иоанн и Симеон Дивногорец, в отличие от первого Симеона (Столпника) называемый младшим (память 24 мая), в VII веке — Алипий, подвизавшийся на столпе 66 лет (память 26 ноября), в VIII веке — Феодосий, столпник едесский (память 9 июля), в X веке — преподобный Лука Новый Столпник, 45 лет пребывший на столпе (память 11 декабря), в XI веке — преподобный Лазарь Галисийский из Эфеса (память 30 июля), в XII веке — преподобный Никита Переяславский (память 24 мая), в XV веке — преподобный Савва Вишерский, скончавшийся в 1460 году (память 1 октября). Единственным известным столпником Западной Церкви стал преподобный Вульфила (+ ок. 594), совершавший свой подвиг в суровом климате на вершинах Арденн. Образки с изображением столпников, которые приносили с собой паломники, возвращаясь после посещения этих подвижников (которые, видимо, могли благословлять эти образки), сыграли существенную роль в развитии иконопочитания. В Восточной Европе одним из первых столпников считается преподобный Кирилл Туровский (XII век), сейчас особо почитаемый в Белоруссии. Столпничество как вид затворничества могло осуществляться и в подземных столпах-пещерах (преподобный Никита Переяславский), и в специально построенных кельях затворника на территории монастыря. Преподобный Серафим Саровский, подражая святому Симеону, 1000 дней молитвенно предстоял Богу на камне[когда?]. // Симеон Столпник (ок 390-459). Симео́н Сто́лпник — сирийский христианский монах, основоположник новой формы аскезы — столпничества. Знаменит тем, что провёл на столпе 37 лет в посте и молитве, а также другими аскетическими подвигами. Был проповедником, согласно житию, получил от Бога дар исцелять душевные и телесные болезни, предвидеть будущее. Его следует отличать от преподобного Симеона Столпника Дивногорца († 596; память 24 мая), подвизавшегося также в окрестностях Антиохии Сирийской. Simeon Stylites or Symeon the Stylite was a Syriac ascetic saint who achieved notability for living 37 years on a small platform on top of a pillar near Aleppo. Several other stylites later followed his model.

* Flagellant [Флагеллантство] (XIV). Flagellants are practitioners of an extreme form of mortification of their own flesh by whipping it with various instruments. Many Christian confraternities of penitents have flagellants, who beat themselves, both in the privacy of their dwellings and in public processions, in order to repent of sins and share in the Passion of Jesus. In the 14th century, a movement within Western Christianity known as Flagellantism became popular and adherents "began beating their flesh in a public penitential ritual in response to war, famine, plague and fear engendered by millenarianism." Though this movement withered away, the practices of public repentance and promoting peace were adopted by the flagellants in Christian, especially Roman Catholic, confraternities of penitents that exist to the present-day. Flagellation (from Latin flagellare, to whip) was quite a common practice amongst the more fervently religious throughout antiquity. Christianity has formed a permanent tradition surrounding the doctrine of mortification of the flesh, ranging from self-denial, wearing hairshirts and chains, fasting and self-flagellation using the discipline. Those who practice self-flagellation claim that St. Paul’s statement in the Bible ‘I chastise my body’ refers to self-inflicted bodily scourging (1 Corinthians 9:27). There are prominent Christians who have practiced self-flagellation. Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformer, regularly practiced self-flagellation as a means of mortification of the flesh. Likewise, the Congregationalist writer Sarah Osborn also practiced self-flagellation in order "to remind her of her continued sin, depravity, and vileness in the eyes of God". It became "quite common" for members of the Tractarian movement within the Anglican Communion to practice self-flagellation using a discipline. Historically speaking, in the 11th century, Peter Damian, a Benedictine Christian monk in the Roman Catholic tradition, taught that spirituality should manifest itself in physical discipline; he admonished those who sought to follow Christ to practice self-flagellation for the duration of the time it takes one to recite forty Psalms, increasing the number of flagellations on holy days of the Christian kalendar. For Damian, only those who shared in the sufferings of Christ could be saved. Throughout Christian history, the mortification of the flesh, wherein one denies themselves physical pleasures, has been commonly followed by members of the clergy, especially in Christian monasteries and convents; the 11th-century Dominicus Loricatus repeated the entire Psalter twenty times in one week, accompanying each psalm with a hundred lash-strokes to his back. The distinction of the Flagellants was to take this self-mortification into the cities and other public spaces as a demonstration of piety. Flagellantism. Flagellantism was a 14th-century movement, consisting of penitents in the Catholic Church. It began as a Christian pilgrimage and was later condemned by the Catholic Church as heretical. The followers were noted for including public flagellation in their rituals. This was a common practice during the Black Death, or the Great Plague. The first recorded incident was in Central Italy in Perugia, in 1259, the year after severe crop damage and famine throughout Europe. From Perugia the phenomenon seemed to spread across Northern Italy and into Austria. Other incidents are recorded in 1296, 1333-34 (the Doves), notably at the time of the Black Death (1349), and 1399. The practice peaked during the Black Death. Spontaneously Flagellant groups arose across Northern and Central Europe in 1349, including in England. However, enthusiasm for the movement diminished as suddenly as it arose. When they preached that mere participation in their processions cleaned sins, the Pope banned the movement in January 1261. Initially the Catholic Church tolerated the Flagellants and individual monks and priests joined in the early movements. By the 14th century, the Church was less tolerant and the rapid spread of the movement was alarming. Clement VI officially condemned them in a bull of October 20, 1349 and instructed Church leaders to suppress the Flagellants. This position was reinforced in 1372 by Gregory XI who associated the Flagellants with other heretical groups, notably the Beghards, and instructed inquisitors to eradicate them. They were accused of heresies including doubting the need for the sacraments, denying ordinary ecclesiastical jurisdiction and claiming to work miracles. In 1392, a sect of Flagellants and Beghards, consisting of peasants, were found throughout Swabia and Wurzburg. The papal inquisitor imposed the penance of preaching and joining a crusade against the Ottoman Turks. The Inquisition was active against any revival of the movement in the 15th century, but action against the flagellants was often taken by the local princes. In 1414, 80–90 followers of Konrad Schmid were burned in Thuringia, in Germany, even though they had recanted. Three hundred were burnt in one day in 1416, also in Thuringia. Other trials where the accused were condemned as Flagellants were recorded as late as the 1480s. The practice of flagellation within the bounds of the Catholic Church continued as an accepted form of penance. Rulers like Catherine de' Medici and France's King Henry III supported Flagellants but Henry IV banned them. Flagellant orders like Hermanos Penitentes (Spanish 'Penitential Brothers') also appeared in colonial Spanish America, even against the specific orders of Church authorities. In Italy The first recorded cases of mass popular flagellation occurred in Perugia, in 1259. The prime cause of the Perugia episode is unclear, but it followed an outbreak of an epidemic and chroniclers report how mania spread throughout almost all the people of the city. Thousands of citizens gathered in great processions, singing and with crosses and banners, they marched throughout the city whipping themselves. It is reported that surprising acts of charity and repentance accompanied the marchers. However, one chronicler noted that anyone who did not join in the flagellation was accused of being in league with the devil. They also killed Jews and priests who opposed them. Marvin Harris links them to the Messianic preaching of Gioacchino da Fiore. Similar processions occurred across Northern Italy, with groups up to 10,000 strong processing in Modena, Bologna, Reggio and Parma. Although certain city authorities refused the Flagellant processions entry. A similar movement arose again in 1399, again in Northern Italy in the form of the White Penitents or Bianchi movement. This rising is said to have been started by a peasant who saw a vision. The movement became known as the laudesi from their constant hymn singing. At its peak, a group of over 15,000 adherents gathered in Modena and marched to Rome, but the movement rapidly faded when one of its leaders was burned at the stake by order of Boniface IX. In Germany The German and Low Countries movement, the Brothers of the Cross, is particularly well documented they wore white robes and marched across Germany in 33.5 day campaigns (each day referred to a year of Jesus's earthly life) of penance, only stopping in any one place for no more than a day. They established their camps in fields near towns and held their rituals twice a day. The ritual began with the reading of a letter, claimed to have been delivered by an angel and justifying the Flagellants' activities. Next, the followers would fall to their knees and scourge themselves, gesturing with their free hands to indicate their sin and striking themselves rhythmically to songs, known as Geisslerlieder, until blood flowed. Sometimes the blood was soaked up in rags and treated as a holy relic. Originally members were required to receive permission to join from their spouses and to prove that they could pay for their food. However, some towns began to notice that sometimes Flagellants brought plague to towns where it had not yet surfaced. Therefore, later they were denied entry. They responded with increased physical penance.[citation needed] // The aftermath of the plague created a series of religious, social, and economic upheavals, which had profound effects on the course of European history. It took 150 years for Europe’s population to recover, and the effects of the plague irrevocably changed the social structure, resulting in widespread persecution of minorities such as Jews, foreigners, beggars, and lepers. The uncertainty of daily survival has been seen as creating a general mood of morbidity, influencing people to “live for the moment.” Because 14th-century healers were at a loss to explain the cause of the plague, Europeans turned to astrological forces, earthquakes, and the poisoning of wells by Jews as possible reasons for the plague’s emergence. No one in the 14th century considered rat control a way to ward off the plague, and people began to believe only God’s anger could produce such horrific displays. Giovanni Boccaccio, an Italian writer and poet of the 14th century, questioned whether plague was sent by God for human’s correction, or if it came through the influence of the heavenly bodies. Christians accused Jews of poisoning public water supplies in an effort to ruin European civilization. The spreading of this rumor led to complete destruction of entire Jewish towns, but it was caused simply by suspicion on the part of the Christians, who noticed that the Jews had lost fewer lives in the Plague due to their hygienic practices. In February 1349, 2,000 Jews were murdered in Strasbourg. In August of the same year, the Jewish communities of Mainz and Cologne were exterminated. There was a significant impact on religion, as many believed the plague was God’s punishment for sinful ways. Church lands and buildings were unaffected, but there were too few priests left to maintain the old schedule of services. Over half the parish priests, who gave the final sacraments to the dying, died themselves. The church moved to recruit replacements, but the process took time. New colleges were opened at established universities, and the training process sped up. The shortage of priests opened new opportunities for lay women to assume more extensive and important service roles in local parishes. Flagellantism was a 13th and 14th centuries movement involving radicals in the Catholic Church. It began as a militant pilgrimage and was later condemned by the Catholic Church as heretical. The peak of the activity was during the Black Death. Flagellant groups spontaneously arose across Northern and Central Europe in 1349, except in England. The German and Low Countries movement, the Brothers of the Cross, is particularly well documented. They established their camps in fields near towns and held their rituals twice a day. The followers would fall to their knees and scourge themselves, gesturing with their free hands to indicate their sin and striking themselves rhythmically to songs, known as Geisslerlieder, until blood flowed. Sometimes the blood was soaked up by rags and treated as a holy relic. Some towns began to notice that sometimes Flagellants brought plague to towns where it had not yet surfaced. Therefore, later they were denied entry. The flagellants responded with increased physical penance. lumen - The Black Death

* Christian anarchism [Христианский анархизм] (I-XXI). Christian anarchism is a movement in political theology that claims anarchism is inherent in Christianity and the Gospels. It is grounded in the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answerable—the authority of God as embodied in the teachings of Jesus. It therefore rejects the idea that human governments have ultimate authority over human societies. Christian anarchists denounce the state, believing it is violent, deceitful and, when glorified, idolatrous. Christian anarchists hold that the "Reign of God" {Theocracy} is the proper expression of the relationship between God and humanity. Under the "Reign of God", human relationships would be characterized by divided authority, servant leadership, and universal compassion—not by the {<>} hierarchical, authoritarian structures that are normally attributed to religious social order. Most Christian anarchists are pacifists—they reject war and the use of violence. More than any other Bible source, the Sermon on the Mount {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sermon_on_the_Mount} is used as the basis for Christian anarchism. Leo Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God Is Within You is often regarded as a key text for modern Christian anarchism. Христианский анархизм. Христианских анархистов объединяет неприятие оправдания власти человека над человеком, эксплуатации, насилия, а также стремление к преодолению этих явлений среди людей. Христианские анархисты считают, что в учении Иисуса Христа свобода получила своё духовное оправдание. Христианские анархисты могут принадлежать к различным христианским конфессиям (католической, православной, какой-либо из протестантских) или не принадлежать ни к какой (Л. Н. Толстой[уточнить]). История. Жизнь и учение Иисуса Христа. Обоснованием позиций христианского анархизма служат, прежде всего, четыре Евангелия. Дороти Дэй, Аммон Хеннэси, Лев Толстой и другие в своих социально-политических текстах постоянно обращаются к словам Иисуса. Например, название «Царство Божие внутри нас» — прямая цитата слов Иисуса из Евангелия от Луки (17:21). Дороти Дэй и Движение католических рабочих отдавали приоритет делам милосердия (ср. Мф 25:31-46). Иисус противодействует «системе», управляемой «князем мира сего» — Сатаной: «…Он помазал Меня благовествовать нищим и послал Меня исцелять сокрушённых сердцем, проповедовать пленным освобождение, слепым прозрение, отпустить измученных на свободу» (Лк 4:18-19). Он был против верховенства одних людей над другими (Мф 23:8-12) и отвергал поклонение кому-либо, кроме Бога, а также попытки провозгласить Его царём (Мф 4:8-10; Ин 18:36). Первые христиане противостояли первенству государства: «должно повиноваться больше Богу, нежели человекам» (Деян 5:29); «отняв силы у начальства и властей, властно подверг их позору, восторжествовав над ними Собою» (Кол 2:15). Описания безгосударственных отношений находятся и в Ветхом Завете. Моисей повёл евреев из плена в пустыню, где в течение продолжительного времени они, многочисленный народ, жили без царя: «В те дни не было царя у Израиля; каждый делал то, что ему казалось справедливым» (Суд 17:6, 21:25). Гедеон отказался стать царём: «Господь да владеет вами» (Суд 8:23).

* Средневековый образ пространства [Medieval conception of space]. Средневековый образ пространства был отличен от современного. Он был не столько физическим, сколько поэтическим. Но это не было некое абстрактное пространство, нет, оно было вполне телесным, и наряду с фантастическими образами и местами в путешествиях скрупулезно перечислялись приметы feature конкретных мест. Пространство это делилось по горизонтали на «свое» и «чужое», а также по вертикали: на «белый свет» (мир людей), жуткую пропасть ада, и простирающееся над ними небо. Коммуникация между крайними точками вертикали {??}, небом и землей, была непрерывной {opposites/extremes are heaven, hell, with earth in between (??)}. С неба на землю падала Голубиная книга, сходили апостол, святые и даже сама Богородица, слетали ангелы, из ада на землю приходили бесы, гроб с телом ростовщика проваливался в адскую бездну и после молитв и обетов, исполненных его сыном, возвращался… В горизонтальном пространстве различались зоны различной святости. Наиболее ценными были те, чья святость была «от века», где происходили события Священной Истории. В них горизонтали и вертикаль пересекались, что порождало локусы смешанной природы: чувственный рай и чувственный ад. Желание обрести утраченный рай заставляло средневекового человека искать его не только в «горнем мире», но и на земле, там где сходятся небо и земля. И не всегда это были реальные путешествия, но и странствия по ландшафтам собственной души, ведь по сути дела сам человек представлял яркий образец такого локуса, в нем встречались небо и земля. И не случайно игумен Даниил писал, что «многие добрые люди, находясь дома, мыслью своею и милостынею к убогим, добрыми своими делами достигают святых этих мест». Святые места щедро наделялись атрибутами рая, впрочем, как и странники, посещавшие их. Паломники, направлявшиеся в Святую Землю назывались «каликами». Это название происходило от греч. kaliga (лат. caliga — башмак). Эти особые «паломнические» башмаки надевались и на усопших иноков. В духовных стихах о «каликах перехожих», направляющихся в Святую Землю, «калики» не только одеты в священные ткани: шелк и бархат, но и обладают драгоценными камнями с чудесными свойствами: «… Шили они подсумки рыта бархата // И шили лапотки из семи шелков Шемаханских, // У них вплетено в лапотиках в пятке-носке // По ясному по камешку самоцветному… // Они день идут по красному по солнышку, // А в ночь идут по самоцветном по камешку …». В другом стихе о каликах рассказывается, что «Собиралося, собрунялося // Сорок калик со каликою, // Сорок дородных, добрых молодцев. // Собиралися калики на зеленый луг, // Становилися калики на единый круг. // Клюшки-посохи те были таволжевые, // Одна клюша была кипарис-древо. // По сумочке на клюшу исповесили. // Те сумочки были рыта-бархата, // Одна сумочка хущатой камки» 6. Чумакова Т.В. - «Странник я на земле». Человек в поисках рая (по материалам древнерусской книжности)

* Самосхоронение [Self-burial]. Вместе с тем уже в этом стихе возникает особая (как мы увидим ниже — сквозная для данного жанра) тема самосхоронения — не только как пребывания в затворе, в пустыни, но в гораздо более архаическом первичном смысле — как схоронення в земле, погребения заживо. Именно таков был смысл популярного в византийско-православной мистике апокрифического предания о кончине Иоанна Богослова. В Стихе о сорока каликах временное погребение претерпевает их предводитель (здесь именуемый атаманом) Касьян Михайлович. Невинно оболганный женой князя Владимира княгиней Апраксией, он, как нарушитель строгих аскетических обетов, взятых на себя каликами при отправлении в путь, должен претерпеть жестокую казнь: Закопали атамана поплеча во сыру землю, Едина оставили во чистом поле. Но кара постигает и княгиню, пораженную ужасной и внушающей всем отвращение болезнью. Никто не может исцелить ее, и тогда совершается чудо: возвращающиеся из Иерусалима калики находят в поле своего атамана, выкапывают его и приводят к княгине. Здесь Касьян, не бывавший в Иерусалиме, но обретший за время своего пребывания в земле чудодейственную силу, дуновением этой силы исцеляет Апраксию. Думается, архетипическое значение этого стиха очень велико. Именно здесь характерный для калик и народного христианства в целом дух социального кенозиса {kenosis is the 'self-emptying' of Jesus' own will and becoming entirely receptive to God's divine will}, сочетавшись с архаической мифологемой умирающего и возрождающегося в новой славе солнца и гностической идеей мощного, пребывающего в темной материи (видимым олицетворением которой и является мать-земля) светлого духа, переходит в план метафизики временной смерти ради вечной жизни. Временное погребение заживо, являющееся, как и в апокрифической легенде об Иоанне Богослове, условием и залогом будущего и уже неподвластного времени могущества, в символическом строе духовных стихов становится особым способом «подражания Христу». Налицо буквальное, натуралистическое (что и вообще характерно для народной мистики) истолкование слов Христа в Евангелии от Иоанна: «Истинно, истинно говорю вам: если пшеничное зерно, пав в землю, не умрет, то останется одно; а если умрет, то принесет много плода». Чтобы возродиться, нужно умереть, чтобы возвеличиться, нужно умалиться, чтобы подняться вверх, нужно опуститься вниз, чтобы достичь света, должно погрузиться во тьму, чтобы сподобиться нетления, надлежит стать прахом — таков этот специфический образ саморазвития не только человека, но и космоса, который был создан духовными стихами. Восхождение вверх через нисхождение вниз составляет смысловую ось одного из самых любимых и распространенных в народе стихов — стиха об Иосифе Прекрасном. Как временное погребение следует понимать низвержение Иосифа братьями в «ров», и этот смысл еще усугубляется предшествующим такому низвержению совлечением с него «ризы»: «Цветну с его ризу скидывали, || Во глубокий ров Осипа вверзили...». О том же говорит и плач пребывающего во рву Иосифа: «Иосиф, свет, Прекрасный, || Во рве сидя, слезы источает, || Ко сырой земле припадает, || Устами своими глаголет: || кто бы мне дал голубицу || Вещающу беседами, || послал бы я ко Иакову, || Отцу моему Израилю...». Если вспомнить, что голубь издревле во многих традициях выступает как символ души умершего, небесный вестник, то смысл низвержения Иосифа в ров как погребения его в могиле вряд ли может вызывать сомнения. Он подчеркивается также, как уже говорилось, и мотивом совлечения «ризы», которая является устойчивым символом сбрасываемой по смерти плоти. Этот образ, известный в византийской житийной литературе, выразительно развит в «Слове» Кирилла Туровского, где говорится о состоянии души, когда «хощет разлучиться душа от телеси». Тогда душа «ужаснется, образ весь и лепота, и лице изменится, руце и нозе премолкнут и слуха с нима, и язык молчанием затворится, и будет весь уныл, и дряхл, и скорбен, и за сим явится смерть. И тако, и нужею страшною душа от телеси изыдет, и станет одержима душа, зрящи на свое тело, якоже бо кто изволкся из ризы своея, и потом стал бы, зря ее: тако станет душа на свое тело зрящи, от негоже изыде...». Он же многократно воспроизводился и в духовных стихах, чаще всего в цикле «Уж вы голуби...». КОСМОГОНИЧЕСКИЕ ОБРАЗЫ МИРА: МЕЖДУ ЗАПАДОМ И ВОСТОКОМ

* Был ли апостол Иоанн Богослов «заживо зарыт в землю»? [Was John the Apostle buried alive?] Еще об одном агиографическом мифе. Помещенная в наших Минеях басня представляет собою «народное богословие», фольклор. К Священному Преданию Древней Церкви этот миф не имеет ни малейшего отношения... (...) 4. Апокрифы. Как это частенько бывает, «ноги» «народного благочестия» «растут» из недр народного же фольклора, оформившегося в специальной группе апокрифов. Мне были доступны далеко не все апокрифические тексты, связанные с именем Иоанна Богослова (и, разумеется, не в оригинале, а в переводе). Мещерская издала два западно-сирийских апокрифа, цитаты из которых мы сейчас и приведем для наших читателей: «История Йоханнана апостола, сына Зеведеева». Это довольно пространный и, видимо, известный апокриф, цитаты из которого встречаются и у Евсевия Кесарийского в его «Церковной Истории». Мещерская при издании пользуется дошедшей до нас рукп. VI в., но текст несомненно древнее рукописи, так как из него сделаны заимствования Евсевием. Заканчивается апокриф следующими словами: «Сидел же тот святой Йоханнан в хижине hut летом и зимой до того момента, как стало ему 120 лет. И там похоронил и упокоил Господь его в том самом месте, как когда-то был похоронен и Моисей на горе Нево» (Мещерская. с. 252). Сравнение со смертью и погребением Моисея, с моей точки зрения, является указанием на неизвестность места погребения его тела. И действительно, апокриф не говорит, что на погребение старца-апостола сошлись ученики; что у него были свидетели его кончины. Ничего подобного! Неизвестно место ни «той самой хижины» (в которой Иоанн жил), ни погребения его. «История о кончине святого Йоханнана, апостола и евангелиста». Этот апокриф явно принадлежит к гностическим кругам Сирии и, по мнению ученых, сирийский текст является переводом с греческого (греч. текст «Успения Иоанна» нам, увы, недоступен). Датировать его мы не беремся. Именно в этом тексте сказано, что Иоанн собрал учеников, преподал им наставление и совершил Евхаристию, а затем велел вырыть ему могилу. «Спустился в вырытую яму …и испустил дух свой в мире» (Мещерская, с. 370). Иными словами, Иоанн имел предчувствие смерти, велел приготовить ему могилу, лег туда и умер. Даже в этом тексте нет ни малейшего намека на «зарывание живьем», на последующую попытку других учеников эксгумировать тело, на «выступание тонкого праха» и прочие нелепости. Был ли апостол Иоанн Богослов «заживо зарыт в землю»?

* Тонкий прах [The "Manna" of Saint John the Theologian]. // Если Покров Божией Матери был явлен единожды константинопольскому юродивому Андрею, то свидетельство заступничества «апостола любви» могли наблюдать в течение первых веков христианства все желающие – именно этому посвящен весенний день его памяти (напомним, 21 мая Церковь вспоминает ежегодное появление чудотворного тонкого праха на могиле святого апостола). (Русский) День памяти святого апостола и евангелиста Иоанна Богослова // «Когда настало время отшествия апостола Иоанна в загробный мир, он удалился за пределы Эфеса с семью учениками и повелел им выкопать для него в земле крестообразный гроб, в который лег, сказав ученикам, чтобы они засыпали его. Ученики… исполнили сказанное. Другие ученики апостола узнав об этом, пришли и откопали могилу, но не нашли там тела апостола, по особенному смотрению Божьему переселенного в загробный мир. Каждый год из могилы апостола 8 мая выступает тонкий прах, который верующие собирали и которым исцелялись от болезней, почему и была установлена еще память апостола 8 мая» (стр. 754). Был ли апостол Иоанн Богослов «заживо зарыт в землю»? Еще об одном агиографическом мифе // The "Manna" of Saint John the Theologian. When the Apostle John was over one hundred years old, he took seven of his disciples, went outside the town of Ephesus and ordered them to dig a grave in the form of a Cross. After that, John went down into this grave and was buried. Later on, when the faithful opened John's grave, they did not find his body. Tradition holds that he, like the Virgin Mary, was among the first to be raised from the dead. Each year for about a thousand years from the grave of the holy Apostle John on May 8th there came forth a fine ash-dust, which believers called "manna", and gathered it up after an all-night vigil and were healed of sicknesses by it. Therefore the Church celebrates the memory of the Apostle John the Theologian still on May 8 to commemorate this miracle, even though his main feast is on September 26. My Pilgrimage To The Tomb of Saint John the Apostle In Ephesus

* Holy Sealing [Apostolic Church; Святое запечатление, Апостольская церковь]. Holy Sealing is the sacrament through which the believer, through the laying on of hands and the prayer of an Apostle, receives the gift of the Holy Spirit. New Apostolic Church Canada - Vow // Holy Sealing is the dispensing of Holy Spirit. By this act the believer is filled with Holy Spirit as a strength of God, not as the third person of the Triune God. It is carried about through prayer and laying on of hands of an apostle, provided that the believer has been first baptised with water. The Holy Baptism with water and the Holy Sealing together constitute the rebirth out of water and Spirit; by this the "childhood in God" is attained. As a child of God the believer is granted the opportunity to participate in the Second Coming of Christ. From this moment on the believer is an adherent of the New Apostolic Church. The Holy Sealing is also dispensed to children whereby the parents must profess their faith in the doctrine of Jesus and the apostles. The church interprets the sacrament for example with the biblical text of Acts 8:14–17 8:14–17 and Acts 19:6. Because Holy Sealing is an institutional manner of giving the Holy Spirit, conducted by the apostles of Early Christianity, New Apostolic Church considers the "childhood in God" possible for other Christians as well referring to the overall acting of the Holy Spirit (John 3:8, Romans 18:7, 1. John 4:2). // According to the New Apostolic Catechism, Holy Sealing is “the sacrament through which the believer, through the laying on of hands and the prayer of an Apostle, receives the gift of the Holy Spirit and becomes a child of God with the calling to become a firstling”. That is a weighty statement, not least of all because it touches on the very foundations of Christian faith. Jesus was anointed, and the Apostles and individual believers were sealed with the Holy Spirit. Later on, the Church established an order for receiving the sacraments. However, this had already been mapped out in the New Testament: “These accounts indicate that, apart from the exceptions mentioned, the gift of the Holy Spirit was solely administered by Apostles. Furthermore, it becomes clear that the gift of the Holy Spirit was dispensed only after baptism with water had been administered,” states the Catechism. The sacraments (41): Is Holy Sealing merely a New Apostolic phenomenon?

* Élie Marion [Ели Марион ??] (1678-1713). Élie Marion was one of the few leaders and prophets who had completed university studies. Exiled to London, he founded the group “the Children of God” or “French Prophets” {"севеннские экстатики-кальвинисты"}, and tried to promote prophetic ardour throughout Europe. He studied law in Nîmes and in Toulouse. He repeatedly thought of joining the Refuge movement. But in 1702 he became acquainted with «prophetism» and this was to change his life. On 1 January, 1703, Élie Marion had a mystic and prophetic illumination. He joined the troops under the camisard {Huguenots} leader la Valette. In 1704 he became one of the camisard leaders and was appointed secretary for the troops. His prophetic action was limited. The founder of the «French prophets». It was in Lausanne and a little later in London that the camisard prophets’ message became millenarian, heralding Christ’s coming and his reign for a thousand years. It was similar to the puritans’ message in England. Along with a few fellow camisards Élie Marion started prophesying and attracted numerous eager people to London. He became the leader of the movement “God’s children” (“enfants de Dieu”) also the so-called «French Prophets». Musée protestant > The 17th century > Élie Marion (1678-1713)