Can a historical legend be attributed to. Historical legends
What is the difference between Tradition and historical heritage, Archpriest Andrei Ukhtomsky understood.
What is given to us
Modern man is prone to generalization. The transience and brevity of life does not allow us to thoroughly explore any aspect of life without prejudice to the study of other aspects, analyzing them and drawing appropriate conclusions. This is especially true for the study of human existence, for the convenience of research divided into history, religion, anatomy, culture, science, geography... The amount of accumulated knowledge is structured by discipline, which is why it is lost big picture peace.
This experience human life can be called in one word - “Tradition, that is, what was handed down to us” (the expression of St. Vincent of Lirinsky). Passed on by someone to someone: great-grandfathers to descendants, descendants to contemporaries, contemporaries to heirs. Tradition consists of positive experience and the experience of failures, costs, and mistakes. These two sides of the tradition are determined by the good will of God and the opposing will of the devil. The devil does not have an autonomous existence, unlike God, who has life in himself. Therefore, the will and actions of the devil are contrary to God, do not have the vital force that the will and actions of God have, but are present in this world, distorting man’s desire for God.
Events of human history
Tradition has both positive and negative components. It is important to be able to separate them and distinguish them from historical heritage. Historical heritage is a set of events in human history that reflect people’s aspirations for external well-being regardless of means, sometimes on the principle of the struggle for existence. Tradition implies life according to the principle of Divine love, in accordance with the commandment of Christ: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:40), implemented by example. The vector of historical heritage is the principle of the struggle for existence; the vector of Tradition is the manifestation of the greatest love.
Features of the Orthodox Tradition
Tradition of the Church, Orthodox Tradition more than any other reflects the Divine will and action carried out in the Church. The entire life of the Church is the implementation of the law of love and the words of Jesus Christ: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind: this is the first and greatest commandment; the second is similar to it: love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37–40). The preaching of Jesus Christ has become a Christian tradition, about which the Apostle Paul writes: “Stand fast and hold to the traditions which you were taught either by word or by our message... I praise you, brethren, because you remember everything that is mine and keep the traditions as I gave you” (2 Thess. 2:15; 1 Cor. 11:2). The Christian Tradition, which has become the church heritage, based on the words of Jesus Christ and disseminated by his closest disciples, is accepted by everyone everywhere. It has the highest ecclesiastical authority.
Tradition is based on the spirit of love, but in the history of the Old and New Testaments there were cases when people replaced the spirit of love with the spirit of the letter. This legend concerns the external side of human life, and therefore is secondary. This Tradition was based on the Law of Moses, which the Pharisees subsequently distorted, leaving the letter, devoid of meaning and spirit, to suit their ambitions. About such a “tradition” Jesus Christ says to the Pharisees: “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition... The Pharisees and scribes ask Him: why do not your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? He answered them: Isaiah prophesied well about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me, but in vain they honor Me, teaching doctrines the commandments of men. For you, having abandoned the commandment of God, hold to the tradition of men, the washing of mugs and cups, and do many other things like these” (Matthew 15:3; Mark 7:5-8). This is the Tradition of hypocrites who, hiding behind the law of God, in fact fulfill the opposite of God's institution. The Pharisees considered healing a withered hand on the Sabbath a sin, because rest was prescribed on the Sabbath. The Savior “said to them: Which of you, having one sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take it and pull it out? (a rhetorical question. Of course they will. Their own shirt is closer to the body. – Author’s note) How much better is a man than a sheep! Therefore you can do good on the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:11–12).
Thus, the Commandments given by God are inviolable and form the basis of Tradition. These revealed truths are set forth in the Ten Commandments and the Gospel. The Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of the holy apostles, fathers and teachers of the Church, applies these Commandments to one or another life context.
Integrity of Tradition
Sacred Tradition has several components:
1) doctrine set forth in the Creed and dogmas;
2) liturgical tradition contained in liturgical texts;
3) rules of the Ecumenical Councils, canonical documents;
4) the teaching of the holy fathers and teachers of the Church;
5) succession of priesthood, through which the grace of the Holy Spirit is communicated.
The absence of one of the aspects of the Church changes the vector of its movement. The Church ceases to be the Church of Christ, the organism that leads a person to salvation, becomes flawed, turns into an ideology, a doctrine, a form devoid of content.
Thus, Catholicism and Protestantism, which broke away from the Orthodox Church, retreated to varying degrees from the Common Church Tradition, each in its own way.
Examples of historical distortion of Tradition
The Roman Catholic Church focuses on the earthly authority of its head, the Pope, thereby distancing itself from other Churches and denying Christ as the true head of the Church. The tradition of the Catholic Church is also developing, not fixed, which means that some fatalities can be dogmatized (for example, the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope when he speaks from the pulpit was established in 1870). The deviation of the life of the Catholic Church from spiritual development into a social direction led to the legalization of celibacy (an order for the clergy to remain unmarried), which resulted in a decline in morality among the clergy and the appearance of illegitimate children.
The usurpation of the people by the Church gave birth to the Reformation. The main motives of the Reformation were to return the Church “to normal”, in ancient Christian times. The centralization of power in the Catholic Church among the reformers was transformed into parliamentarism and parity, practicing a universal priesthood. Prohibition of Catholics from reading the Bible native language gave rise to a desire among reformers to explore it, which we see now. The most important thing is the rejection of the Holy Tradition, which the Protestants wanted to look at through the eyes of Christ, who told the Pharisees that they were hypocrites and seeking profit by adhering to the tradition of the elders (Matthew 15:2).
The Reformers changed those aspects of the Catholic Church that were most distorted and different from the aspects of the Church of early Christian society. The reformers tried to restore them in inverse proportion to the vector of their change in Catholicism. This led to a diverse palette of creeds and doctrines: from the rejection of Tradition to its acceptance and from the hierarchical clergy to ridicule of God's institution in the form of the ordination of pagans, atheists, homosexuals, etc.
Ways to return to Tradition
One of the criteria of Orthodoxy is the attitude towards the Holy Tradition and its observance: dogma, liturgical heritage of the Church, church images, the Cross, patristic heritage, apostolic succession in the priesthood. A Church that denies Sacred Tradition in its entirety cannot be called a Church. And vice versa, religious organization, which accepts the entire experience of the Church, including Sacred Tradition, is the True Church. This is what we should strive for.
Tradition is a story about the past, sometimes very distant. Tradition depicts reality in everyday forms, although fiction and sometimes even fantasy are always used. The main purpose of legends is to preserve the memory of national history. Legends began to be written down before many folklore genres, as they were an important source for chroniclers. A large number of legends exist in the oral tradition even today.
Traditions are an “oral chronicle,” a genre of non-fairy tale prose with an emphasis on historical authenticity. The word “tradition” itself means “to convey, to preserve.” Legends are characterized by references to old people and ancestors. The events of legends are concentrated around historical figures who, regardless of their social status(be it a king or the leader of a peasant uprising) are most often presented in an ideal light.
Any legend is historical at its core, because the impetus for its creation is always a genuine fact: a war with foreign invaders, a peasant revolt, large-scale construction, a crowning of the kingdom, etc. At the same time, legend is not identical to reality. As a folklore genre, it has the right to artistic invention and offers its own interpretation of history. Plot fiction arises on the basis of historical fact (for example, after the hero of the legend has been at a given point). Fiction does not contradict historical truth, but, on the contrary, contributes to its identification.
In July 1983, during folklore practice, students of Moscow State Pedagogical University in Podolsk near Moscow wrote down from A. A. Vorontsov, 78 years old, a legend about the origin of the name of this city. It is historically reliable that Peter I visited Podolsk. The legend expresses the negative attitude of the people towards his foreign wife (Catherine I), for whose sake the legitimate queen was exiled to a monastery (see in the Reader).
There are two main ways of creating legends: 1) generalization of memories; 2) generalization of memories and their design using ready-made plot schemes. The second path is characteristic of many legends. General motives and stories pass from century to century (sometimes as myths or legends), being associated with different events and persons. There are recurring toponymic stories (for example, about failed churches, cities). Typically, such stories paint the narrative in fairy-tale-legendary tones, but they are capable of conveying something important for their era.
One of the international ones is the story of how the king pacified the raging water elements. (He, for example, was attributed to the Persian king Xerxes.) In the Russian oral tradition, the plot began to appear in the legends about Ivan the Terrible and Peter I (see in the Reader).
Stories about Stepan Razin were also subsequently attached to other characters. For example, V.I. Chapaeva, like Razin, cannot be killed by any bullet; he fantastically frees himself from captivity (by diving into a bucket of water or sailing away in a boat painted on the wall), and so on.
And yet the event of the legend is depicted as single, complete, unique.
The legend tells about something generally significant and important for everyone. This influences the selection of material: the theme of the legend is always of national significance or is important for the inhabitants of a given area. The nature of the conflict is national or social. Accordingly, the characters are representatives of the state, nation, specific classes or estates.
Legends have developed special techniques for depicting the historical past. Attention is shown to the details of a big event. The general, typical is depicted through the particular, specific. Legends are characterized by localization—geographical confinement to a village, lake, mountain, house, etc. The reliability of the plot is supported by various material evidence—the so-called “traces” of the hero (he built a church, paved a road, donated a thing)
In Olonets province. they showed silver cups and fifty kopecks, allegedly donated by Peter I; in Zhiguli all antiques found in the ground and human bones were attributed to differences.
The prevalence of legends varies. Legends about the tsars existed throughout the entire territory of the state, and legends about other figures of Russian history were told mainly in the area where these people lived and acted.
Thus, in the summer of 1982, the folklore expedition of the Moscow State Pedagogical University recorded in the village of Dorofeev, Ostrovsky district, Kostroma region. from the peasant D.I. Yarovitsyn, 87 years old, the legend “About Ivan Susanin” (see in the Reader).
The plots of legends are usually single-motive. Consolidated (contaminated) legends could develop around the character; story cycles emerged.
Legends have their own ways of depicting heroes. Usually the character is only named, and in the episode of the legend one of his traits is shown. At the beginning or end of the story, direct characteristics and assessments are allowed, which are necessary for the image to be correctly understood. They act not as a personal judgment, but as a general opinion (about Peter I: This is the tsar - so the tsar, he didn’t eat bread for nothing; he worked better than a barge hauler; about Ivan Susanin: ... after all, he saved not the tsar, but Russia!) .
The portrait (appearance) of the hero was rarely depicted. If a portrait appeared, it was laconic (for example: the robbers are strong, handsome, stately fellows in red shirts). A portrait detail (for example, a costume) could be connected with the development of the plot: the unrecognized king walks around dressed in a simple dress; The robber comes to the feast in a general's uniform.
Scientists identify different genre varieties legends. Among them are historical, toponymic, ethnogenetic legends, about the settlement and development of the region, about treasures, etiological, cultural - and many others. We have to admit that all known classifications are conditional, since it is impossible to offer a universal criterion. Often legends are divided into two groups: historical and toponymic. However, all legends are historical (by their genre essence); therefore, any toponymic legend is also historical.
Based on the influence of the form or content of other genres, groups of transitional, peripheral works are distinguished among the legends. Legendary tales are tales with a miracle motif, in which historical events are interpreted from a religious point of view. Another phenomenon - fairy tales, dedicated to historical figures (see in the Reader the story about Peter I and the blacksmith - famous storyteller F. P. Gospodarev).
Zueva T.V., Kirdan B.P. Russian folklore - M., 2002
I praise you, brothers, that you remember everything that is mine and keep the traditions (παραδό σεις) as I conveyed to you ();
Literally, the Greek word παρά δοσις (tradition, lat. traditio) means the successive transmission of something (for example, by inheritance), as well as the method of transmission itself.
What is Tradition in the Orthodox understanding? “What has been entrusted to you, and not what you have invented, what you have accepted, and not what you have invented, is not a matter of the mind, but of teaching, not of private possession, but of nationwide transmission...” writes St. . Vikenty Lirinsky. This method of successive dissemination of Divine Revelation has its basis in Holy Scripture:
For I received from the Lord Himself what I also passed on to you... ().
The Lord Himself speaks about this form of preserving the truth: ...for the words that You gave Me I gave to them, and they received and understood... ().
In the above New Testament quotations you can see a certain “chain”: gave - passed on - received. According to the Holy Scriptures, this is how Divine Revelation should be preserved and disseminated.
Tertullian, an apologist of the late 2nd - early 3rd centuries, says: “Our teaching... should be ranked among the Apostolic Tradition... It, without a doubt, contains what the Churches received from the apostles, the apostles - from Christ, and Christ - from God". Thus, in the New Testament and for the early fathers of the Church, Sacred Tradition is an unbroken chain of transmission of divinely revealed truth from one person or generation of people to another, and the initial link of this chain turns out to be, as follows from the words of the Savior, in God. This is precisely why Sacred Tradition differs from other traditions, for example cultural ones. Protestants can have great respect for the Tradition of the Orthodox Church, even recognize its “usefulness,” but at the same time declare that it is “from men” and therefore not necessary. But if we follow the New Testament understanding of the Holy Tradition, then a break with it is not just a break with some human tradition, not just a departure from the tradition of the Eastern Church, but, in essence, a falling away from God.
So, in the single and unbroken flow of Sacred Tradition, three levels of what is transmitted can be distinguished:
1) transmission of revealed teachings and those historical monuments, in which this teaching is recorded;
2) transfer of experience of spiritual life in accordance with revealed teaching;
3) the transfer of grace-filled sanctification, carried out through participation in the fullness of church life, primarily through the sacraments.
1.2. The relationship between Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition: Holy Scripture as a form of Holy Tradition
If we turn to pre-revolutionary textbooks of dogmatic theology, we can see that in them the Holy Scripture and the Holy Tradition differ in their content. So, according to Met. Macarius (Bulgakov), “under the name of Sacred Tradition we mean the word of God, not contained in writing by the inspired writers themselves, but orally transmitted to the Church and since then continuously preserved in it.” Approximately the same thing is stated in the textbook on dogmatic theology written in exile by Archpriest. Michael Pomazansky, which says that Tradition and Scripture are two sources of dogma, or two sources of dogma.
In these definitions, Scripture is seen as something external to Tradition. The reason for the emergence of this approach is the Catholic influence on Orthodox theology, which emerged during the period of decline in education in the Christian East. This influence was expressed in the tendency to codify Tradition into historical documents and monuments, in other words, to consider Tradition almost exclusively as a certain sum of information about God and spiritual life. But for the Eastern fathers, Tradition is always not only and not so much knowledge, not so much information, but the living experience of knowledge of God, the experience of seeing the revealed truth, without which true knowledge is impossible.
What is the essence of the Western view of the relationship between Scripture and Tradition?
Catholic teaching on the relationship between Scripture and Tradition arose in Western Europe during the era of the Reformation (XVI century). The founder of Protestantism, Martin Luther, then questioned Catholic dogma about papal primacy, which led to a discussion on this topic between Catholic and Protestant theologians. Catholic scholars were slow to provide a dogmatic basis for their opinions, citing the need to consult the authoritative judgments of the fathers and theologians of past centuries. Then Luther solemnly announced that, unlike Catholic theologians, he did not need to conduct any “archival” research and that he could substantiate and derive all his teaching from Holy Scripture alone. This polemical device, which once proved successful, subsequently became widely used and became universal principle(sola Scriptura, “Scripture alone”), on which Protestant doctrine was built.
Roman Catholics were forced to formulate their teaching in the context of polemics with Protestants who denied the authority of Holy Tradition as a source of doctrine. The essence of this teaching is that Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition are two parallel sources of doctrine. These sources can be understood as equal in dignity, or the Holy Scripture can be considered as a certain semantic core, and Tradition as a certain, albeit necessary, but still secondary addition to the Scripture. However, in both cases, in Roman Catholicism, both Scripture and Tradition are viewed as complementary, which means that Scripture and Tradition separately do not contain all of the revealed truth, but only some part of it. It also follows from this concept that Sacred Tradition may contain truths that, in principle, have no basis in Holy Scripture and, therefore, cannot be verified with the help of Scripture. This opens up scope for human arbitrariness, for the inclusion in Tradition of provisions that have no basis in Divine Revelation. Examples of such “willfulness” are Roman Catholic false dogmas (papal primacy and infallibility, the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, etc.).
If we want to effectively defend our position in the face of Catholic and Protestant criticism, then our argument must be based not simply on quotations from Holy Scripture, but on Holy Tradition, and Holy Scripture itself must be understood in the context of Tradition. However, if we, following Western confessions, contrast Scripture and Tradition, we will find ourselves in a theological dead end. How should Holy Scripture be interpreted? Naturally, in accordance with Tradition. But which Tradition must be recognized as true and which false? One that is consistent with Scripture. It turns out to be a vicious circle.
Roman Catholics and Protestants resolved this issue differently. Protestants simply rejected the authority of Tradition in favor of Scripture. Catholics “got out of the situation” by appealing to the infallible opinion of the Pope, who can in any case accurately indicate how to interpret Scripture and which Tradition should be accepted.
Both the Catholic and Protestant solution to the issue is unacceptable for the Orthodox, since such an understanding of the relationship between Scripture and Tradition does not agree with the teaching of the ancient Fathers of the Church. For example, for sschmch. Irenaeus of Lyons (2nd century AD) Sacred Tradition in its content is not something different from Holy Scripture; on the contrary, Tradition is identical in content to the apostolic sermon and the New Testament. According to Sschmch. Irenaeus, even if the apostles had not left any writings at all, the Church could then exist and carry out its mission, following the order of Tradition entrusted to it by the apostles.
Since the beginning of the 20th century. In Orthodox theology, the scholastic approach to the question of the relationship between Holy Scripture and Tradition begins to gradually be overcome. The famous church historian M. Posnov wrote in 1906: “The Church expressed one of the Gospels received from Christ in the Creed... another, the Church enshrined in the sacraments... another, the Church set forth in the Holy Scriptures, as containing an indication of the historical facts of salvation... the Church expressed the other in worship, chants and prayers; finally, she embodied something else in the Christian structure of life, in church-canonical government, in rituals, customs, etc.”
In these words there is no opposition between Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition: Scripture is considered in the context of Tradition. However, M. Posnov still thinks of all the above-mentioned components of Sacred Tradition as parts Revelations.
Further convergence of the scientific and theological view on the relationship between Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition with the patristic approach occurred thanks to the works of Archimandrite. Sophrony (Sakharov), student of Rev. Silouan of Athos. Expressing the opinion of his teacher, Archimandrite. Sophrony writes: “Tradition embraces the entire life of the Church so much that Holy Scripture itself is only one of its forms.”
Archim. Sophrony also conveys other words of St. Silouana: “The Holy Scripture is not deeper and no more important than the Holy Tradition, but... one of its forms. This form is most valuable both for its ease of preservation and ease of use; but, removed from the stream of Sacred Tradition, Scripture cannot be understood as it should by any scientific research» .
A very sound understanding of the relationship between Holy Tradition and Holy Scripture is contained in the 2nd part of the “Message of the Eastern Patriarchs on the Orthodox Faith,” although the word “Tradition” itself is not used in this text: “We believe that the testimony of the Catholic Church is no less valid than and Divine Scripture. Since the Author of both is one and the same Holy Spirit, it makes no difference whether one learns from Scripture or from the Universal Church... Living and studying in the Church, in which oral apostolic preaching continues successively, a person can study the dogmas of the Christian faith from the Universal Church. Church, and this is because the Church itself does not derive its dogmas from Scripture, but has them ready; if she, arguing about some dogma, brings certain places in the Bible, then this is not for the derivation of one’s dogmas, but only for confirming them, and whoever bases his faith on Scripture alone has not achieved complete faith and does not know its properties.”
1.3. Modern Orthodox theology on Sacred Tradition
In modern Orthodox theology, the expression “Holy Tradition” is used in several meanings, reflecting the various functions of Holy Tradition in the life of the Church:
1 . Tradition how way of conveying revealed truth.
2 . Tradition how source of faith. This view of Holy Tradition is completely justified, however, provided that Tradition is not opposed to Scripture, Scripture and Tradition are not considered in isolation. In the Tradition of the Church, everything is presented in totality, in a systematic and complete form, which is not present in individual books of Scripture.
3 . Tradition how testimony of the Universal Church about the truth handed to it by God. This understanding of Sacred Tradition practically coincides with the concept of Divine Revelation, by which one can understand the entire Christian doctrine in its integrity and completeness. This testimony of the Universal Church is true, because, according to the archbishop. Sylvester (Malevansky), in the Church “the same religious consciousness, which lay at the basis of the life of Christians of the primal Church, continuously lives in its essence, just as the spirit of faith with which they were imbued and guided in understanding the truths of faith is not interrupted.” M. Posnov calls this spirit of faith “the elusive spirit of the church, the mysterious consciousness, the Christian understanding, which was inherited from Christ and, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, is kept faithfully, intact and passed on from generation to generation.” The “Message of the Eastern Patriarchs on the Orthodox Faith” (12th member) says that the Holy Spirit, “always acting through the faithful fathers and teachers of the Church, protects it from all error.”
As a result we come to fourth meaning - Tradition is living memory Churches, self-awareness that has lived in the Church since the day of Pentecost. If we draw an analogy between the life of the Church and the life of the human person, then we can easily see that Tradition, in principle, performs in the Church the same function that memory performs in a person. Thanks to this function of Tradition, the historical self-identity of the Church is preserved.
Forms of church life in different eras may vary greatly; for example, the Jerusalem Apostolic community of the first years of the historical existence of the Christian Church and the modern Orthodox Ecumenical outwardly have little in common, but this is one and the same Church, its self-identity is established precisely thanks to the continuity of Church Tradition, thanks to the incessant action of the Holy Spirit in the Church. V. N. Lossky says this about the Holy Tradition: “If Scripture and everything that can be said in writing... or other symbols [are] different ways of expressing the Truth, then the Holy Tradition is the only way perceive the Truth... We can give a precise definition of Tradition, saying that it is the life of the Holy Spirit in the Church, a life that imparts to each member of the Body of Christ the ability to hear, accept, know the Truth in its inherent light, and not in natural light human mind» .
So, Holy Tradition is understood in Orthodox theology in four senses:
1) as a way of successive transmission of revealed truth;
2) as a source of doctrine;
3) as a testimony of the Universal Church about the truth handed to it. In this sense, Tradition turns out to be almost indistinguishable from Divine Revelation;
4) like the life of the Holy Spirit in the Church. The fruit of this life is the living self-awareness and memory of the Church, continuous from the beginning of the historical existence of the Church, that is, from the day of Pentecost.
Who is the bearer of Tradition and how can one know and “study” Orthodox Tradition? According to Rev. George Florovsky, “the living bearer and custodian of Tradition is all in its catholic completeness; and one must abide or live in the Church, in its fullness, in order to understand the Tradition, in order to own it. This means that the bearer and custodian of Tradition is... the entire Church - the Church as a Catholic body...".
Consequently, knowledge of Tradition is not a rational process. It is impossible to turn the study of Tradition into a science modeled on secular sciences. Sacred Tradition is known experientially, that is, Tradition can only be known by entering into Tradition. Otherwise, the study of Tradition will be replaced by the study of “monuments of church culture,” and the subject of study will be “not Tradition, but what was created by Tradition to one degree or another...”. Only one who himself has become a living bearer of Tradition can say that he has begun to study Tradition. In other words, the goal of every Christian is to become a link in this continuous chain of transmission of divinely revealed truth.
Chapter 2. Forms of Tradition
Initially, Holy Tradition existed in the form of oral apostolic preaching, on the basis of which the Holy Scriptures were created. Holy Scripture was never the only form in which revealed teaching was embodied; it was preceded, and then along with it, at least two other forms existed: the rule of faith (regula fidei) and the liturgical practice of the Church (liturgical tradition). Later, other forms appeared in which the Holy Tradition took on. Of them highest value have the creations of St. fathers and teachers of the Church.
2.1. Rule of Faith
2.1.1. Articles of Faith and Confessions of Faith
Since ancient times, the sacrament of baptism in the Church has not been performed without the person being baptized confessing his faith. Faith was confessed through a certain short statement of faith called symbol. Each Local Church had its own symbol, which was studied during the catechumen and read to those being baptized before the sacrament was performed. Obviously, the same or similar symbol in content had to be professed by those ordained to the priesthood. Despite some differences in wording, the content of the baptismal symbols of the apostolic Churches is an expression of the single apostolic faith, which goes back to the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself.
It can be assumed with a high degree of probability that all ancient symbols are based on some common confession that goes back to the apostles themselves. For example, Tertullian says that he keeps the rule of faith, which is received directly from Christ. In the New Testament one can find indications that such a confession actually existed. In Hebrews 4ap. Paul calls: let us hold fast to our confession. And in 1 Timothy 6 it says: ... hold fast to eternal life, to which you were called, and have made a good confession before many witnesses.. Apparently, this refers to the confession that Timothy confessed either before baptism or before ordination.
Special meaning for dogmatic theology they have the Nicene Symbol, compiled and approved at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea (325), and the Nicene-Constantinople Symbol, which in Church Tradition is associated with the Second Ecumenical Council (Constantinople, 381). The circumstances of the creation of the latter remain not entirely clear. There is no historical evidence that a new Creed was officially approved at the Second Ecumenical Council. Nevertheless, in the acts of the IV Ecumenical Council (451), this Symbol is called the faith of the 150 fathers of the Council of Constantinople in 381 and is recognized as an infallible formula of faith.
In the second half of the 5th century. The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Symbol spread everywhere and replaced both the Nicene and more ancient baptismal symbols from the liturgical practice of the Church.
Confessions of faith must be distinguished from creeds. Confession of Faith- is a statement of basic doctrinal truths compiled by a specific person or group of people. If a symbol is something that is formulated in the Local Church and pronounced on its behalf, then the confession always has a specific author or authors.
The differences between confessions and creeds can be indicated as follows:
1) confessions are usually more extensive than symbols;
2) confessions very often have a polemical orientation;
3) they are not used in the liturgical life of the Church.
The most famous confessions are:
The oldest was compiled between 260–265. according to P. X. St. Gregory of Neocaesarea and was approved by the VI Ecumenical Council. In this confession, first of all, the dogma of the Holy Trinity is considered.
District message of St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem (VII century), directed against the heresy of monoenergism, approved by the VI Ecumenical Council.
The famous confession of faith, which is attributed to St. Athanasius of Alexandria (IV century) (the so-called Quicumque symbol), in fact does not belong to him. This is a fairly late text, originating in southern Gaul ca. 430–500 This confession contains the doctrine of Christ and the Trinity, and in the Latin spirit, with the Filioque. In Russia it was well known in the 19th century. (without Filioque).
2.1.2. Conciliar definitions of faith
Historically, in accordance with the needs of the Church, the rule of faith was supplemented; the definitions of the Ecumenical and some Local Councils were included in it.
Conciliar definition of faith- a text formulated and approved at a Church Council that sets out certain aspects of Orthodox dogma.
In addition to the Nicene and Nicene-Constantinople Creeds, there are four more dogmatic definitions that were adopted at the Ecumenical Councils.
Religion of the Third Ecumenical Council– do not make changes or additions to the existing one.
Religion of the IV Ecumenical Council- a decree about the image of the union of two natures in Christ.
Religion of the VI Ecumenical Council- an exposition of the doctrine of two wills and two energies in Christ.
Religion of the VII Ecumenical Council- about icon veneration.
Of the resolutions of the Local Councils, the following are of greatest importance:
The second rule of the Fifth-Sixth, the so-called Trullo Council of 691–692, approved the dogmatic texts that are contained in the rules of the holy apostles, in the rules of the saints. fathers and in the rules of nine Local Councils.
Rules of the Council of Carthage in 419 (according to the numbering given by the Book of Rules - 109–116) - they deal with the doctrine of original sin, grace, etc.
The Councils of Constantinople of the 9th-14th centuries are of great dogmatic importance. Councils of 1156 and 1157 expounded the doctrine of the Eucharist; councils of 1341, 1347 and 1351 – about the uncreatedness of Divine energies, through which man is united with God. Of course, it cannot be said that these Local Councils historically replaced the Ecumenical Councils, but for the Orthodox world their significance was very great.
All dogmatic definitions that make up the rules of faith are inextricably linked with each other and represent a single body of revealed truth. The rule of faith differs from Holy Scripture not in content, but in form. If the Holy Scripture reveals revealed truth as the history of the economy of salvation, then the rule of faith is a set of “truths of faith” that “in brief words contain all the knowledge of piety contained in the Old Testament and the New.”
2.1.3. Symbolic books
Symbolic books in Orthodox theology, starting from the 18th century, Orthodox dogmatic monuments began to be called, expressing on behalf of the Church its faith and theological teaching in relation to errors and heresies that arose in modern times.
Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov) considers the following to be the most important:
1 . “Orthodox Confession of the Catholic Apostolic Church of the East”, compiled by Met. Kyiv Peter (Grave) and then, with corrections, approved at two Local Councils: Kiev (1640) and Iasi (1643), as well as by five Eastern Patriarchs.
2 . “The Message of the Eastern Patriarchs on the Orthodox Faith,” approved by the four Patriarchs at the Council of Constantinople in 1725. It is based on the confession of Dositheus, Patriarch of Jerusalem (1672).
3 . “Long Christian Catechism of the Orthodox Catholic Eastern Church,” compiled by Met. Moscow Philaret (Drozdov) in 1823 and received the approval of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church (with some corrections) in 1839.
These books are quite authoritative monuments of Orthodox theological thought. However, in terms of their significance, they cannot be equated with the decrees of the Ecumenical Councils. In some cases, they reveal characteristic features of the state of contemporary theological science, for example, the influence of Latin scholastic concepts and terminology on the presentation of the material.
2.2. Liturgical tradition
Prot. Georgy Florovsky makes a precise remark about the nature of Christian worship: “Christian worship from the beginning has a dogmatic rather than lyrical character... From the human side, worship is, first of all, a confession - a testimony of faith, not only an outpouring of feelings.”
Indeed, Christian worship was initially filled with dogmatic content. It is no coincidence that already in the disputes of the 2nd century. evidence from liturgical tradition receives the force of a theological argument. Yes, sschmch. Ignatius the God-Bearer wrote that heretics “move away from the Eucharist and prayer because they do not recognize that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, but which the Father raised by His grace.” Thus, according to schmch. Ignatius, the most important doctrinal truths are preserved in the Church through the main Christian sacrament.
The fact that liturgical life is the core of Church Tradition is clear from the epistles of St. Pavel. For example, in we're talking about about the fact that app. Paul accepted from the Lord the command He gave to Christians to celebrate the Eucharist, from which it is clear that the Eucharist is, in essence, the main content of Tradition. In Tradition, the Lord betrays (transmits) Himself to the faithful. And this giving of Himself by Christ to His disciples is carried out precisely in the sacrament of the Eucharist. St. Hippolytus of Rome, before talking about the consecration of bishops and the sacrament of the Eucharist, says: “We have come to the very source of Tradition.” Sschmch. Irenaeus of Lyon emphasized that Orthodox “teaching is in agreement with the Eucharist, and the Eucharist, in turn, confirms the teaching.”
Sacred Tradition in the ancient Church was preserved, first of all, through the sacraments and was expressed in rites, prayers and rituals. Holy Basil the Great wrote: “My faith... is always the same. For... as we believe, so we praise.”
The “Message of the Eastern Patriarchs” speaks about the importance of liturgical texts in the life of the Church as follows: “All these books contain sound and true theology and consist of songs, either selected from the Holy Scriptures, or compiled at the inspiration of the Spirit, so that in our chants only the words are different than in Scripture, but, in fact, we sing the same as in Scripture, only in different words.”
This is absolutely clear evidence that liturgical life is not part of Tradition, but precisely one of its forms, along with Holy Scripture and other forms.
2.3. Creations of St. fathers and teachers of the Church
The Fifth-Sixth (Trullo) Council of 691, with its 19th canon, established the following approach to the interpretation of the Holy Books: “... and if the word of Scripture is proposed, let it be explained no differently than the luminaries and teachers of the Church set forth in their writings.. .” This rule is a guide to the approach to understanding the books of Holy Scripture at all times.
“The Church knows many saints who, as theologians and spiritual teachers, defended and explained the Orthodox faith. They are called the holy fathers of the Church, and their teaching is called patristic."
In order to distinguish St. Church Fathers from other church writers and theologians, there are several formal criteria.
2.3.1. Sanctity of life
The holiness of life is one of the most important conditions for the recognition of a particular theologian by St. father and teacher for the reason that holiness expands a person’s cognitive abilities. Ap writes about this. Paul: ... the spiritual judges everything ().
Holy Methodius of Patara (Olympic) (III century) develops the thought of the apostle. Paul: “Those who are most perfect in their degree of success constitute, as it were, one person and body of the Church. And truly, better and more clearly those who have grasped the truth, as those who have been delivered from carnal lusts through the most perfect purification and faith, become the Church... so that, having accepted the pure and fruitful seed of teaching, they can usefully contribute to preaching for the salvation of others.”
“All the holy fathers... combined a brilliant mind with purity of soul and righteousness of life, which made them truly holy fathers of the Church.”
The Church trusts Sts. to the fathers not only because their teaching seems logical and convincing, but, above all, because they testified to the truth of their teaching with their holy life, their feat. Therefore, the Orthodox Church does not separate the dogmatic teachings of St. fathers from their moral and ascetic experience, from the example of their holy life.
2.3.2. Soundness, or truth, of teachings
The truth, or soundness, of a teaching means fidelity to the original apostolic Tradition. The Orthodox does not contrast the apostolic Tradition and the patristic teaching. In the Orthodox understanding, the holy father is the one who correctly interprets the Apostolic Tradition in relation to the needs of his time. From the Orthodox point of view, the Church is apostolic precisely because it is patristic.
2.3.3. Testimony of the Church
The connection between the purity of the teachings of one or another saint. father and Church Tradition is established through Church testimony. Only with its God-given means can one testify to the dignity of the theological thought of a particular church writer.
In addition to the three mentioned criteria, Roman Catholic theology also uses the criterion of “antiquity.” Based on this criterion, Catholic theologians limit the patristic period in the Greek East to St. John of Damascus (VIII century), and in the Latin West - Isidore of Seville (VII century). According to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, “Divine Revelation is not limited by any chronologically. The Holy Spirit acts through people of all times, and “recognizes” its “holy fathers” in people not because of antiquity, but guided by its inner intuition...” As a result, the Orthodox Church does not limit the patristic Tradition to any chronological framework.
In order to distinguish the true teaching of St. fathers, who have authority, from private, including erroneous, opinions, there is a special concept: “consent of the fathers” (consensus patrum). In patristic teaching, that part of it is accepted on which there is a unanimous opinion of all, or a significant majority of the saints. fathers
As a rule, on the most important issues of a dogmatic nature, the saints disagree. there are no fathers (these disagreements take place mainly on secondary issues). Rev. John of Damascus explains this as follows: “The Father does not contend with his fellow fathers, for they have all become partakers of one Holy Spirit.” Therefore, every theologian who tries to substantiate the truth of this or that theological opinion is always obliged to cite the judgments on this issue of many saints as confirmation. fathers, not just one.
It should be borne in mind that the agreement of the fathers on a particular issue is a judgment that must be taken into account if you want to remain faithful to Tradition. Therefore, anyone who deviates from the unanimous consent of the fathers exposes himself to the danger of deviating from the Church.
If on the main dogmatic issues we can talk about the perfect agreement of the fathers, then on secondary issues such agreement may not exist. It should not be assumed that Sts. Fathers, you can find unambiguous answers to any theological question. For example, there is no such agreement on the issue of the image and likeness of God in man. At the same time, on other issues, for example regarding the creation of the world by God out of nothing, there is such agreement.
One should distinguish from the Fathers of the Church other church writers who also sought to consciously express church teaching, but were not glorified by the Church. Some of them in certain periods lives could fall into heresy or deviate into schism (Tertullian), others were condemned posthumously (Origen), others always remained in communion with the Church and were not condemned (Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius of Caesarea, John the Grammar of Caesarea, Leontius of Byzantium, Leontius of Jerusalem, etc. .). Although, from the point of view of their authority, the works of these church writers cannot be placed on the same level as the works of Sts. fathers, they are also not devoid of dogmatic significance and in some cases can be considered as the voice of Church Tradition. The works of these church writers form historical background, in isolation from which understanding the patristic teaching turns out to be difficult and sometimes even impossible.
2.4. Other forms of Sacred Tradition
In addition to those discussed above, there are other forms of Sacred Tradition in which Divine Revelation was historically embodied:
acts of martyrdom and lives of saints;
church art (icon painting, church architecture, etc.);
ancient church stories(Eusebius of Caesarea, Socrates Scholasticus, Evagrius Scholasticus, Blessed Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Rufinus of Aquileia, Cassiodorus, etc.);
ancient church practice, various kinds of disciplinary statutes and rules relating, for example, to fasts, order of worship, etc.
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Historical tradition attributes the so-called discovery of irrational numbers to Pythagoras, who discovered the incommensurability of the diagonal of a square with its side.
In chapter Historical legends and legends represented by 87 productions.
Since it has already been recognized and proven by historical traditions and many documents that the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, its patriarch and the bishops subordinate to him, from the time of the caliphs and under the reign of all hereditary Ottoman monarchs, have always enjoyed special patronage, recognition and affirmation of all their rights and benefits , then the Sublime Porte undertakes in relation to the imperial.
Due to the inconsistency of the dominant form of education with popular needs, inclinations and even historical legends, imitation is so developed in our educated classes, there is little independence, there is neither the ability to submit to the needs of the time, nor the ability to embrace those natural, historical and generally outside the will of the divine conditions and laws that disobedience is punishable by the natural consequences of unreasonableness.
Like sparkling stars in the horizon of history, civilizations, states, and peoples arise and disappear, leaving behind historical legends and cultural monuments that inexorable time brings to us through the haze of centuries.
The Old Testament is the Pentateuch (in the Jewish tradition, the Torah is the Teaching), the author of which the Jewish, and after it the Christian historical tradition names Moses (Moshe), the legendary prophet, leader of the Israelites during their flight from the house of slavery in Egypt. The Pentateuch considers the emergence, development and deepening of the union between Yahweh and his chosen people to be the content of the historical process.
Each national and social community has a certain range of historical ideas about its origin, major events in their stories, figures of the past, about the relationship of their history with the history of other peoples and the entire human society. Such ideas are expressed primarily in all kinds of historical traditions, tales, legends, fairy tales, which form an integral part of the spiritual life of every people as one of the ways of their self-expression and self-affirmation. Thanks to this, this community of people recognizes itself as a people on the basis of knowledge of its past, on the basis of knowledge of its place in the world historical process. Thus, history is organically woven into public consciousness. All its elements, which together make up the consciousness of society (views, ideas, political and legal consciousness, morality, religion, art, science), have their own history. They can be understood and cognized only on the basis of a historical approach that considers each phenomenon from the point of view of the specific conditions and circumstances of its occurrence, the conditions of development. That is why reference to the past is constantly contained in discussions on the cardinal problems of our time; based on assessments of the past, modern ones are developed social theories and ideological systems. Thus it turns out unbreakable bond and continuity between past and present.
Peter, many of the economic forces of Russia and, as in modern times, the affairs of the Caucasus and Kazakh oil have been promoted by government measures. Having become accustomed to following instructions from above, the Russian people are all the more willing to engage in the forestry enterprises that they have; a long-standing historical tradition and will bring forward many who are already accustomed to them.
Without proving in any way the validity of his doubts about the existence of a connection between the segments and bondage, the author argues further as follows. The return of sections is the allocation of small plots of land, based not so much on the needs of the peasant economy, but on historical tradition. Like any allocation of an insufficient amount of land (there can be no talk of enough), it will not destroy, but will create bondage, for it will cause renting of the missing lands, renting out of need, renting food, and will therefore be a reactionary measure.
Of significant interest is the general information about Phoenician literature preserved by the famous church writer Eusebius of Caesarea in his book Evangelical Preparation. From his story (1 9 - 10) it is clear that the Phoenicians had a kind of Holy Bible- a collection of myths and historical legends attributed to Thaaut, the god who invented writing. From them a certain higher teaching was extracted, the guardians of which were priests and prophets initiated into the sacraments. In temples, in particular in Berit, they were kept in special rooms and were written down in secret writing (the writings of the Ammunaeans), accessible only to initiates. The Phoenician historian Sanhunyaton, popular in the ancient world, drew material from these writings.
But gradually things come to current situation things, when there are neither slaves nor serfs, and on large tracts of land there are only [...] persons seeking free labor, receiving more rewards for it, the greater the demand for labor. Everyone knows that agriculture, providing only temporary labor to tramps or other workers, even in the most urgent and difficult times, cannot pay such rewards as industry, which at its core represents the use of free labor, without any remnant of the historical traditions of slavery or serfdom , because in its modern foundations the remaking industry began only after the era of the abolition of slavery and serfdom. I would have to greatly lengthen my article if I began to provide numerical evidence for the above, and therefore, considering the basic facts related here to be generally known, I will dwell only on the numbers provided by the American census. They show that, in general, the average annual earnings of an ordinary performer (column.
Silk raw materials, when they were exported from Russia, did not need to be protected; they even collected holiday duties from it, and the mulberry eggs, which Western Europeans collected first in the Transcaucasus, and then in our Central Asian possessions, in order to refresh their disease-infested silk farming, were subject to an export duty of 2 rubles until very recently, when the export of greens had already ceased. . angry In other words, the warm regions of Russia are considered silkworm. They reasoned like this: the production of silk fabrics must, according to historical legend, be protected by high customs duties, but the raw materials, that is, cocoons, should not be assigned, and therefore for intermediate forms of silk processing (for raw and twisted silk), which serve as raw materials for fabrics, it should be assigned a small fiscal duty, and even then only due to the high cost of goods of this kind.
Amazing discoveries are made in an atmosphere of social self-purification: in regions that have recently successfully completed the transition to developed socialism, thinly disguised structures of feudal society are suddenly revealed, almost a medieval deification of living and dead leaders. In other cases, crowds of former atheists gather under the green banner of Islam and the faces of Christ, and adherents of the self-liquidated Greek Catholic Church declare their existence. The political process is complicated by interethnic conflicts, in the genesis of which historical legends play a significant role. Uninhibited historical consciousness actively participates in the formation of a new diverse political culture. Social thought and practice, for example in Russia, they turn not only to early traditions Bolshevism and social democracy, there is a revival of the entire spectrum of national political movements: from the followers of M. A. Bakunin to supporters of the Romanov dynasty.
So much wood chips, shavings and sawdust are wasted in Russia (they cover roads, ravines, and only some are burned in furnaces) that this material alone could produce an enormous amount of acetic acid. Disposal of waste and residues is the main principle modern technology. Russia must catch up with it, and the protective tariff can play the role of a bait or pointer, while other government measures must be the true drivers, as many economic forces in Russia were driven by the sovereign will of Peter, and as in modern times the affairs of Caucasian oil have been driven by government measures. Having become accustomed to following instructions from above, the Russian people are all the more willing to engage in forestry enterprises because they have a long historical tradition and.
Solemn ceremony the Bashkirs making sacrifices in honor of the heavenly god (Sun) was colorfully described by the writer and historian F.D. Nefedov (19th century. The sacrifice takes place on the top of the mountain, with a gathering of a large number of people, abundant food. This whole plot is completely consistent with the information written monuments, therefore, there is no doubt that this story was based on a specific historical legend.
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"The legend of deep antiquity, things have been done for a long time days gone by..." Every Russian-speaking person has heard, seen, and read these lines since childhood. This is how Alexander Pushkin began his work “Ruslan and Lyudmila.” Are his fairy tales really legends? To know for sure, you need to understand the concepts.
Poetry is poetry, but what does the word “tradition” mean? We will consider the definition and special features of this phenomenon in our article.
Tradition as a genre
We will begin our acquaintance with the world of folk legends with the definition of the concept itself. So, various sources give us the following.
Tradition is a prosaic plot in which historical facts are presented in a popular interpretation. People's legends are not associated with the fairy tale genre, although sometimes events resemble mythical or fairy tales.
Legends in literary theory are usually divided into two large groups by type of plot: historical and toponymic.
Legends are part of oral folk prose
We learned, Definition gave us general idea. Let's talk about one feature of this genre. It is noteworthy that legends are This means that the stories heard today were created hundreds of years ago and passed from mouth to mouth. By the time the legend was recorded on an information medium, dozens or even hundreds of transformations of the plot and images could have occurred.
Creations famous poet In Greece, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, having an incredible length, were also transmitted orally. They also described historical events, embellished and somewhat modified. This shows some similarity between these creations and newer legends.
As a genre of oral prose, legends delight in their long history. Fortunately, or maybe not, distributing them in recorded form is much easier these days. We should appreciate every word and legend that provides important spiritual knowledge about our ancestors.
Comparison with other folk prose genres
Traditions can sometimes be mistakenly defined as legends or epics. To avoid this, let's call this pattern: the plots of legends are aimed at explaining the origin of any cultural or natural phenomenon. They often give a certain moral assessment to the events described. A legend is a retelling of a story in a folk style with the participation of widely known or locally famous heroes.
People's legends differ from epics in content, characters (historical figures: robbers, rulers, ordinary people, artisans), and the participation of real personalities known in a certain area who have become mythological heroes.
Characteristic of this genre of folklore prose is a third-person narration about events related to the past. The narrator of the legends was not an eyewitness to the events, but conveys a story heard from third parties.
Historical legends
Collective folk memory created ancient legends from real facts, about which we can read in a slightly different light in history textbooks. This is how historical legends were created.
Historical legends include legends about Joan of Arc, Tsar Ivan the Terrible, Ataman Mazepa and others.
This also includes biblical stories about the creation of the world, the exit of the Israelites from Egypt in search of their land, and many others.
This group includes such legends that absorb people’s ideas about the creation of their world. All folklore units create a single historical and mythological world, reflecting big picture people's view of the surrounding reality.
The time frame covered by the legends is difficult to determine: this information ranges from biblical antiquity to the present.
Toponymic legends
Toponymic legends include legends that record events that became the basis for the origin of a particular name. Their heroes are, accordingly, local famous characters and events that have significance only there. The study of such local stories is an interesting part of toponymic and ethnographic research.
Toponymic are the short legends about the Serpentine Shafts (from the Serpent), the city of Kiev (about Kiy, his brothers and sister), the city of Orsha (Prince Orsh and his daughter Orshitsa), the city of Lvov and many other toponymic objects.
Prospects for Researchers
In every city, every village there are such short stories about where some local name came from. Collections of such legends can be compiled endlessly. There is still room for research today. Therefore, everyone who has discovered legends and found them an interesting object of activity has a job.
Publishing a collection of legends collected in a specific area is a very real prospect. New names are appearing today, right at this moment. Also in remote corners of Russia there are settlements in which folklore is actively developing. This means that new boundaries for ethnographic and folklore work are emerging.
It is noteworthy that nowadays more topographical legends appear. Historical ones are preserved from previous eras, since for some time all facts have been recorded immediately after their appearance.
Legends, myths and their historical basis
Tradition, which we have already defined, is sometimes associated with mythology. Thus, stories about the exploits of the Greek hero Hercules, according to researchers, could not have arisen without real historical facts. Those mythical events and heroes that surrounded the probable real story of the adventures of Hercules appeared over time.
Some facts from the Book of Enoch, which mentioned giants, were confirmed. In the same way, architectural monuments were found that could have witnessed the events that became the basis of the legend about the Flood.
conclusions
Thus, we learned that legend is a folk story about historical events. In the process of transmission, speakers tend to embellish the legend. The definition and features of this folklore genre are now known to us. We can easily distinguish it from legends and fairy tales.
Ancient legends are a reflection of the deepest layers of culture and history of a certain people. By studying and comparing them with the facts of the history of certain nationalities, one can draw conclusions about the worldview of the people living at that time. The value of retellings for ethnology is also extremely high.
Every person has heard folk legends, historical and toponymic, but could not pay attention to this diamond, cut over the years of transmission from mouth to mouth. We can now appreciate what we know and hear about the cultural world around us. Let our article be useful to you and give you the opportunity to look at the creativity of the people from a different perspective.
