Alexander Men, son of man part 8. Alexander Men - son of man

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Archpriest Alexander Men

Son of Man

In loving memory of my mother

What are these pages written for? Are they necessary if so much has already been said about the Founder of Christianity?

Any new book on the gospel may raise similar questions. Moreover, it is obvious that no work devoted to the life and teachings of Jesus Christ can replace its original source. “There is a book,” Pushkin wrote shortly before his death, “in which every word is interpreted, explained, preached to all ends of the earth, applied to all possible circumstances of life... This book is called the Gospel,” and such is its ever-new charm that if we , satiated with the world or dejected by despondency, if we accidentally open it, we are no longer able to resist its sweet passion and are immersed in spirit in its divine eloquence.” In fact, who, besides the evangelists, managed to cope with this enormous task - to capture the image of Jesus of Nazareth, and using surprisingly meager means?

So, if we want to know the truth about Christ, we must seek it first of all in the Gospel.

But those who pick it up for the first time may encounter known difficulties. After all, the authors of the New Testament are separated from us by almost two thousand years. It is not easy for a modern person to understand many of their hints, turns of phrase, and sometimes even the very course of their thoughts, which necessitates the need for comments that provide the key to the Gospel.

The study of New Testament writing has long become a whole science. Hundreds of interpreters - theologians, historians, philologists - have done a tremendous job of analyzing and comparing texts and clarifying their meaning. They painstakingly study every chapter and every verse of the Gospel.

The value of these analytical works is undeniable. They helped clarify many important details. However, their authors followed a method that often left the main thing in the background. Extensive critical excursions on Matthew, Mark, Luke and John have almost obscured Christ himself. But the evangelists sought to convey to us precisely the message about the Son of Man, Who is the alpha and omega of Christianity; Without Him, it is deprived of its soul; simply put, it does not exist.

That is why over the past century and a half in evangelical historiography, along with theological and literary analysis, they have also begun to use the method of generalization and synthesis. The authors who followed this path wanted, based on the data of textual criticism, to recreate a complete picture of the earthly life of Christ.

One of the first to apply this approach was the famous Russian preacher, Archbishop Innokenty of Kherson (Borisov). His essays were published in 1828 under the title “ Last days earthly life of Jesus Christ." The book has since gone through many editions and continues to enjoy wide popularity. However, it only covers the events of Holy Week.

It remains to be regretted that the experiment of such a “biography” of Christ, written in the form of a coherent narrative, was undertaken for the first time by a non-Christian author. We are talking about Ernest Renan, a French historian and thinker whose book “The Life of Jesus” appeared in 1863.

In it, the author managed to draw a bright and truthful panorama of the Gospel era and unusually vividly depict the Founder of Christianity Himself, although, being a skeptic-positivist in his worldview, Renan significantly distorted His appearance.

The success of “The Life of Jesus” was greatly facilitated by the fact that the central mystery of the Gospel - the mystery of God-manhood - was actually lost in the Christian consciousness. This naturally led to a reaction, the spokesman of which was Renan. Soon after the publication of his book, Renan’s compatriot, Pastor Edmond Pressanse, wrote: “The humanity of Christ was very often sacrificed to His Divinity, they forgot that the latter is inseparable in Him from the former and that Christ ... is not God hiding under the guise of a man, but God , who became man, the Son of God, humiliated and desecrated, in the bold language of the Apostle Paul, Christ, who truly subordinated Himself to the conditions of earthly life... Christ was very often presented to us as an abstract dogma, and therefore we rushed to the opposite extreme.”

Both admirers and opponents of Renan were at first more interested in his philosophical views; when interest in them cooled down, and the passions that flared up around the “Life of Jesus” began to subside, the merits of the method used in the book were clearly revealed.

A typical incident was told about Vladimir Solovyov. Once, talking with the Chief Prosecutor of the Synod, K.P. Pobedonostsev, an extremely conservative man, the philosopher asked him for permission to publish “The Life of Jesus” in Russian, providing it with critical notes.

– Do I hear this from you? – the chief prosecutor was indignant. - What came into your head?

“But we finally need to tell the people about Christ,” Solovyov answered, smiling.

He himself had a negative attitude towards Renan, but wanted to emphasize that, as a rule, the theological works of critics and interpreters brought people little closer to evangelical Christ, rather, they even moved away from Him. In this sense, Renan could win against their background.

It is not surprising that after the books of Archbishop Innocent of Kherson and Renan, others began to appear, written in the same genre, and their number increased with each decade. Often, however, the results were controversial and contradictory. Some wanted to see in the Nazarene only a reformer of Judaism, others - the last of the prophets; supporters of violence portrayed Him as a revolutionary, Tolstoyans as a teacher of non-resistance, occultists as an “initiate” of an esoteric order, and enemies of traditional social foundations as a fighter against routine. “There is something touching,” notes the famous historian Adolf Harnack, “in this desire of each and every one to approach this Jesus Christ from the side of his personality and his interests and to find himself in Him or to receive at least some share in Him.” On the other hand, such attempts revealed the narrowness of people who tried to unravel the “riddle of Jesus” based only on their own, sometimes very one-sided views.

Meanwhile, the personality of Christ is inexhaustible, it surpasses all ordinary measures; that is why every era and every person can find in Him something new and close to them. This is particularly evidenced by the history of art. If we compare a fresco in the catacombs of Rome or an ancient Russian icon with the image of Christ by El Greco or the modernist Chagall, we can easily see how differently His image has been refracted over the centuries.

How can one check and correct these interpretations in painting, science and literature?

The only criterion here is the Gospel itself, on which all attempts to portray the Son of Man are based.

True, some historians argue that the Gospels are too laconic to provide material for a “biography” of Jesus. Indeed, many facts are omitted from them, a number of specific details remain unclear, but an unprejudiced researcher will find in them all the most important features of the life and teachings of Christ. In addition, the scarcity of sources usually does not prevent the creation of biographies of great people about whom much less reliable data has been preserved.

There are also theologians who reject the possibility of presenting the Gospel story only on the grounds that the New Testament is not an “objective story,” but a sermon about salvation and the Savior of the world. But even if the Gospels arose as church books, liturgical books, containing the gospel of faith, this does not at all exclude their historical value. Although they were not written by chroniclers or historians, they do contain evidence that comes to us from the first century of the Church, when eyewitnesses of Jesus' earthly ministry were still alive.

The evangelists' narratives are confirmed and supplemented by ancient and Jewish authors, as well as by the discoveries of modern archaeologists. All this allows us to consider the task of biographers of Jesus Christ quite feasible.

Of course, a purely historical aspect cannot be the main thing in His “biography”.

The Son of Man does not belong only to the past. Today, as at the time when He lived on earth, they love Him, believe in Him and fight with Him.

However, we must not forget that the path of Christ passed among the people of a certain time, that His word was addressed to them first of all. St. John Chrysostom recommended, when reading the Gospel, to imagine a specific situation that served as the background of sacred events. We can now follow this advice more successfully than in the days of Chrysostom himself, since we have more detailed information about 1st century Judea.

To see Jesus of Nazareth as His contemporaries saw Him is one of the main tasks of a book about Him, if it is built on the principle of historical and literary synthesis. Among the Christian authors guided by this principle, the most famous were Frederick Farrar, Conningham Geikie, Alfred Edersheim, Henri Didon, Francois Mauriac, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Henri Daniel-Rops, Fulton Orsler, Arthur Nisin. But since they all wrote for the West, the appearance of another book of this direction, aimed at the Russian reader, may be justified.

In it, the author did not set himself research goals, but strived only for what Vl. Soloviev spoke about in his conversation with Pobedonostsev - simply to talk about Christ. Tell based on the Gospels, the best commentaries on them, as well as other sources. During the work, the most important results of modern New Testament criticism were taken into account, but taking into account the fact that it itself needs a critical approach.

This book is intended mainly for those who have read the Gospel for the first time or are even completely unfamiliar with it [See. dictionary of terms]. Therefore, the story begins with external events, only gradually approaching deeper and more complex themes.

However, the sophisticated reader may also find something new here for himself, although only the section relating to the “theory of myth” and the origin of the Gospels is directly addressed to him.

When quoting the New Testament, the author had to abandon the commonly used synodal translation. Its merits are undoubted, but, made more than a century and a half ago, it is outdated both scientifically and literaryly. Therefore, the book uses (with some amendments) a new translation carried out in Paris under the editorship of Archbishop Cassian.

If the proposed essay helps the reader better understand the Gospel, arouses interest in it, or simply makes him think, the author’s goal will be achieved.

Initially, the book was published in separate chapters in the “Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate” and “Church Bulletin” (Bulgaria); it was published in its entirety by the publishing house “Life with God,” which has done so much for the ecumenical cooperation of Christians. The author decided to prepare a new revised version at the request of friends, as well as taking into account the responses and wishes of readers. The author cannot express his gratitude to the people who helped in his work with anything other than prayerful memory of their selfless work.

The army was commanded by the forty-three-year-old commander Gnaeus Pompey. Secretly dreaming of world domination, he liked to dress up in the toga of an international arbiter and said that he came to Syria not to seize other people's possessions, but as a defender of order and a liberator. During these years he reached the zenith of fame and was surrounded by the love of the military. The fact that Pompey dealt with pirates - the scourge of seafarers - and victoriously completed the campaign against Mithridates of Pontus and Tigranes of Armenia strengthened his position both in Rome and beyond.

Pompey found the Middle East in a state of war, waged among local kings and rulers. Therefore, he hastened to establish peace there, distributing titles and crowns, and at the same time declared the entire Syrian coast a province of Rome.

This moment coincided with the stubborn struggle for the throne of Jerusalem between two brother claimants - Aristobulus and Hyrcanus. They turned to Pompey with a request to resolve their dispute. But while negotiations were dragging on in Damascus, Aristobulus suddenly changed his mind and refused the help of the Romans. Having learned about this, the angry Pompey quickly marched towards Jerusalem...

Palestine, or the Land of Israel, through which the cohorts were now walking and where in a hundred years the voice of Christ was to sound, is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa, which constantly made it a bone of contention. Many conquerors over the centuries have encroached on its territory, although it was never famous for its particular fertility or natural resources.

This small strip of land stretching along the banks of the Jordan and Dead Sea, includes all possible shades of climate and relief. No wonder it is called the land of contrasts. Eternal snows lie on the tops of the Israeli mountains; In winter, snow often falls even in the south, and in some places in summer the heat reaches almost tropical strength. Palms and pomegranate trees, fig trees and cypresses are adjacent to thickets of hazel and willow; green plains alternate with bare rocky ridges.

In ancient times, the most prosperous was the northern district - Galilee, located west of Lake Kinneret (Gennisaret), which was sometimes called the Sea of Galilee. Many foreigners lived among the population of this area, which is why it was called “pagan Galilee.” The region of Samaria adjoins it from the south. Once, together with Galilee, it formed the Northern Kingdom of Israel, which was destroyed in 722 BC. Assyrians. The conquerors took the inhabitants of the cities captive, and in their place they resettled people from Mesopotamia and Syria. The colonists mixed with the Israelites and adopted their faith, but retained their old customs. The Jews refused to recognize these Samaritans as brothers, considering them half-pagans, which led to conflicts that are also mentioned in the Gospels. Several hundred Samaritans still live in Israel today. Like their ancestors, they venerate Mount Gerizim, where their temple once stood, as sacred.

The southern part of the country, or Judea proper (The Romans called all of Palestine Judea.), is the complete opposite of the North. Inhospitable and barren, it looks like a mountainous desert with oases. Its harsh but healthy climate hardened the Jews, making them a hardy people, alien to effeminacy.

On the way of the Romans to Jerusalem, the last point that still retained the charm of the fertile North was Jericho; it was famous for its healing springs and palm groves. It was there that Pompey set up his camp and from there he led his soldiers to the walls of the Jewish capital.

Jerusalem, which has survived fifteen centuries of glory and fall, has long become a legendary city. It was located on a mountain and was a powerful fortress. The appearance of its walls confused Pompey, who knew a lot about siege warfare. However, he was helped by the strife that raged within the city. Aristobulus surrendered to the mercy of the Romans, and the party of his brother Hyrcanus opened the gates for them. Only those who did not want to put up with the presence of foreigners locked themselves in the temple citadel, ready to fight to the death.

The siege lasted for three months until the Romans, with great difficulty, destroyed one of the towers. When they poured into the fence of the Temple, they were amazed to see that the priests continued to perform divine services. All the time, while the desperate defense lasted, the clergy did not leave the altar and died along with the defenders of the shrine.

Taking advantage of the right of the winner, Pompey wanted to inspect the famous Temple, including Debir, the Holy of Holies, a place where only the high priest could enter, and only once a year.

The Roman was driven by uncontrollable curiosity to cross the forbidden threshold: after all, there were such fantastic rumors about the religion of the Jews. Some said that in Debir there was a golden image of a donkey’s head, others assured that a man doomed to slaughter was hidden there. What is really hidden in it? What surprises did the mysterious East bring to the people of the West!

In tense silence the curtain was pulled back... So what? The surprise of Pompey and his officers knew no bounds. They expected to see something extraordinary, at least some kind of image - beautiful or repulsive. But it was empty. The Invisible lived there...

With a strange feeling, mixed with superstitious fear, the Romans left the Temple without touching anything. But perhaps they would have been even more surprised if they had learned that fate had brought them face to face with a religion destined to become the cradle of a teaching that would conquer East and West, white marble Hellas and their native Rome.

How was this religion different from others?

You can answer the question only by starting from afar.

Already when the light of reason first flashed in man, he felt the reality of a certain Higher Power that embraced the universe. It was natural for primitive hunters to identify Her with what we now call nature. Therefore, everywhere - in clouds and stars, in rivers and living beings, people sought the presence of the Divine.

At first, as a rule, this led to gross idolatry, to the deification of individual objects and phenomena. Later, in India, Greece and China, the cult of nature gave rise to the belief that the visible world is the only true reality. But such a view ran counter to universal human spiritual experience and did not receive wide recognition.

On the contrary, with the advent of religious and philosophical maturity of cultures, the conviction became stronger that the supreme Reality is fundamentally different from everything private and limited. The last word of pre-Christian thought was the doctrine of the Divine, Whose hidden, inscrutable existence is located on the other side of the visible. No matter how you call Him - Heaven, Father, Fate - His depth cannot be known by any mortal. This idea not only stemmed from the experiences of mystics, but also had a logical basis. Truly, what mind is capable of grasping Infinity Itself?..

However, the mysterious impulse upward did not extinguish in the man. He constantly strived to overcome the distance separating him from Heaven, to connect his life with another world. As a result, two closely intertwined faiths continued to exist: faith in the Incomprehensible and in elemental deities. The latter seemed to stand closer to the person, and one could come into direct contact with them. It was believed that there were secret magical techniques with which people were able to influence demons and spirits. This utilitarian view remained dominant for thousands of years.

Polytheism and magic tried in vain to fill the gap separating earth from heaven.

This dichotomy was first resolved in the biblical Revelation. It taught about God “holy,” that is, incommensurable with creation, and at the same time about man as His “image and likeness.” The mysterious kinship of the infinite Spirit and the finite spirit makes, according to the Bible, a Covenant between them possible.

The Covenant, or Union, is the path to the unity of man not with the gods, but with the highest Principle residing above the Universe.

It is noteworthy that the religion of the Covenant was professed by a people who did not create a powerful civilization, did not stand out politically, and only achieved national independence for a short time. However, he managed to carry faithfulness to God through the long centuries of his painful difficult history.

The ancestors of this people roamed between Syria and Egypt from time immemorial. Tradition has preserved the memory of the tribal leader of the Jews Abraham (c. 1900 BC), with whose name the beginning of the Old Testament religion is associated. Her first commandment pointed to the importance of human actions in the face of Heaven. “I am God Almighty; walk before Me and be blameless.” Abraham was promised that through his descendants “all nations and peoples of the earth would be blessed,” although what this blessing would mean remained a mystery.

In the 17th century BC. Driven by famine, the Jews moved to the east of the Nile Delta, where they gradually fell under the despotic rule of the pharaohs. Abraham's faith was almost forgotten.

Around 1230, a group of Jewish clans called the “Sons of Israel,” or simply Israel, were united by Moses, their great prophet and lawgiver. He returned the people to the “God of the fathers,” to the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” and led his fellow tribesmen out of the “house of slavery.” In memory of the “exodus” and liberation, the Passover holiday was established by Moses.

Hiding in the Sinai desert, the Israelites lived for some time in the vicinity of the sacred Mount Sinai and the oasis of Kadesh, where the prophet solemnly proclaimed the foundations of the religion of the Covenant.

Moses commanded the people to honor only one God, the Lord and Creator of the world, who is Yahweh, the Existing One, the One who possesses being, being Himself above all things sensible. The Prophet forbade the worship of any natural gods and even the making of images of Yahweh Himself. The only sign of His presence among the faithful was the ark, a large casket decorated with figures of winged creatures - kerubs. It was strengthened on long poles and carried in front of the soldiers during battle.

Moses taught that by the will of Jehovah Israel should become His chosen instrument, “a holy nation and a kingdom of priests,” that is, a community of people destined to serve the true God.

The cult of the nomadic Israelites was free from the abundance of ceremonies characteristic of all ancient religions. The prophet's teachings are summarized in the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, which were inscribed on two stone tablets. Their essence boiled down to loyalty to the Lord the Deliverer, as well as basic moral standards: honor your father and mother, do not kill, do not steal, do not commit adultery, do not slander, do not envy. Of the cult customs, the Decalogue mentions only one - the law of the Sabbath day, dedicated to God.

In addition to the Ten Commandments, the prayer-confession probably also dates back to the same era, beginning with the words: “Hear, O Israel! Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one. And love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength!”

The majestic simplicity of the Mosaic faith and its commandments, which are still so difficult to follow, marked a radical turn in religious consciousness. It is not surprising that Moses had to endure the tragedy of a misunderstood prophet.

The Bible tells how difficult it was for yesterday's slaves to accept the lessons of their teacher, how they rebelled against him, how strong the power of habitual superstitions was over them. But the prophet did not retreat even when it seemed to him that the matter was lost. And his efforts were not in vain. The Religion of the Covenant became the strong root from which the spiritual stamina and unity of the people grew.

Even under Moses, the Israelites began to penetrate Canaan, as Palestine was then called, and after his death, most of them crossed the Jordan River and conquered the country. The dream of many generations has come true: to live in the “land of Abraham.”

The Jewish tribe settled in the mountainous South, and the remaining tribes settled in the North. But it soon turned out that the children of the desert found themselves in the position of victors who had to submit to the culture of the vanquished. The Canaanite civilization, related to the Phoenician, was highly developed at that time. Nevertheless, the Canaanite cults continued to retain their ancient savage character. They practiced and human sacrifice, and ritual murders of children, and temple prostitution. Festivals associated with fertility were accompanied by sensual rituals and orgies among the Canaanites.

Under the influence of the people among whom he had to live, Israel began to quickly lose its spiritual identity. The veneration of the Baals and other agricultural gods of Canaan quietly entered the life of the Jewish peasants. As the Bible says, “The children of Israel turned aside from Yahweh their God.”

Around 1100, warriors who came from the Aegean islands landed on the Canaanite coast. These were the Philistines, a people who had already mastered the secret of smelting iron. They quickly established power over the country, and from them it subsequently received its Greek name - Palestine. The Israelites and Canaanites, who had only bronze weapons, could not resist the conquerors.

Almost half a century passed before the yoke of foreigners was understood as heavenly punishment for apostasy. And then preachers appeared, calling to return to the faith of the fathers. They awakened popular forces and led a revolt against the Philistines.

The war lasted a long time and ended in victory. As a result, an independent Jewish kingdom was formed. Around the year 1000, under King David, it united several related tribes and extended its borders “from the Nile to the Euphrates.” David made the Canaanite fortress of Jerusalem the religious and political capital, where, on his orders, the ark was transferred. The prophet Nathan predicted to the king that his devotion to faith would be rewarded: one of David's descendants would become the founder of an eternal kingdom.

According to the custom of the East, when a person was proclaimed a monarch, the priest poured a cup of oil on his head. Oil, the oil of the olive, was considered a symbol of strength. The rite of “anointing” reminded that power is granted from God, whose Spirit will henceforth dwell on the Chosen One. Therefore, every ruler of Israel (and sometimes a prophet) was called the Anointed One, the Messiah, or in Greek - Christ. However, over time, this title began to be attributed only to the great King of the future.

For the Israelites, the promise of the Messiah merged with common hope to accomplish the unknown plans of the Lord. This hope has long been a characteristic of the Old Testament. It began in the days of Abraham; then the desired goal became the “promised land,” where Moses pointed the way, and, finally, Nathan’s prophecy gave a new direction to the people’s aspirations.

One should not, however, think that the spiritual life of Israel remained uncomplicated at that time. In every chapter biblical history there are dramatic pages telling about struggles and temptations, falls and apostasy. Cowardice and passions, craving for foreign cults and the calculations of politicians have more than once shaken faith.

After David, contacts with Phenicia and Egypt again strengthened the influence of paganism. Although in the Temple, which King Solomon built, there was no image of God (that is, the Mosaic Covenant was observed), the temples of the Gentiles were located next to it. When in 922 the kingdom split into North and South, Israel and Judah, the threat of idolatry became even more real. Altars and sacred groves were erected everywhere in honor of the Baals and Ashtoreth, it seemed that one more step - and paganism would be recognized as the second official religion of Israel.

The spiritual crisis was accompanied by a social crisis. The autocracy of monarchs who increasingly expanded their privileges, the growth of property inequality, the lack of rights and ruin of the peasants, huge taxes, the penetration of Phoenician luxury into the country - all this could not but disturb people who believed in the mission of Israel and were horrified by its decline. Their gaze was turned to the ideals of Sinai, to the pure faith of patriarchal antiquity.

From among these oppositionists came the prophets, God's messengers, calling the people to wake up from their slumber.

They usually preached in the temple. Without intending to create a new religion, the prophets wanted to revive and purify the one that had been inherited from the time of Moses. The prophets refused to flatter the crowd in the name of falsely understood patriotism and without hesitation began to re-evaluate the entire structure of national life.

The activity of the prophets coincided with the era when most civilized countries entered a period of religious revolutions. This was a historical turning point that can only be compared with the advent of Christianity. The old worldview, which placed ritual, spell, and magic at the center, began to waver. Everywhere, from China to Italy, world teachers appeared, trying to find new answers to the burning questions of life and faith. The authors of the Upanishads, Buddha, Mahavira, Lao Tzu, Confucius, Zarathustra and the Greek philosophers are those who spiritually shaped the world into which Jesus of Nazareth came. They were His forerunners, but in the strict sense of the word only the prophets of Israel can be called that.

They have many things in common with the great sages of the East and West. Like the hermits of India, they knew that God, as the absolute source of existence, surpasses everything earthly; like the Persian reformer Zarathustra, they believed in Him as perfect Light and Good; like Heraclitus, they contemplated in Him a dynamic, “fiery” force; like Anaxagoras and Plato, they spoke of Him as the universal Reason, or Wisdom. But at the same time, the prophets were far from considering, together with Buddha, this life to be evil, a painful haze; unlike the metaphysicians of Hellas, they did not teach that the Creator and the world are an inseparable whole.

They knew that God, no matter how great He is, is bound by bonds of love with His creation, that man is His chosen one, to whom He reveals Himself.

The most incomprehensible thing about prophets is the mystery of their inspiration. They did not build hypotheses, did not create speculative systems, God directly proclaimed His will through them. The speech of the prophets usually began with the words: “Thus says Yahweh.” The Spirit of the Lord took possession of them with conquering power, and people listened to their voice as to the voice of Heaven. This miracle shocked the prophets themselves. Sometimes it was even difficult for them to grasp with their minds everything that had opened up.

The prophets clearly recognized themselves as instruments, heralds and messengers of the Almighty. But at the same time, they were unlike pagan soothsayers, like the Pythia, who spoke while in a state of unconscious trance. In the experience of the biblical seers, the enlightened human spirit stood before the Being who revealed Himself as a Person. God spoke to the world and waited for an answer from it. Thus, in the prophets the unity of creation with the Creator was realized, that Covenant was realized, which was the basis of the faith of Israel.

The prophets not only experienced an encounter with God in the depths of their being, but saw His hand in the lives of the nations. This was a revelation unique among other religions.

“The eternal law, which the Greeks saw in the harmonious development and movement of matter,” writes the English thinker Christopher Dawson, “for the Jews was realized in vicissitudes.” human history. While the philosophers of India and Greece pondered the illusory or eternity of cosmic processes, the prophets of Israel affirmed the moral purpose of history and explained the transitory events of their time in their relation to the divine will.”

Observing the constant rhythms of nature: sunrises and sunsets, the change of seasons and the movement of planets - most ancient philosophers came to the idea of the cyclical nature of existence. Everything, they believed, rushes in a circle, everything that happened once will be repeated again, and nothing can be fundamentally changed. Being born, dying and arising again, the Universe and man are doomed to an eternal cycle. In contrast to this view, the Bible teaches a creation that strives upward toward perfection. And although evil forces also increase along with good, ultimately they will be defeated, and a free path to the Kingdom of God will open to the world. In other words, the prophets were the first to reveal the direction and meaning of history.

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Men is the head of the Ministry of Construction, ex-governor of the Ivanovo region, former vice-mayor of Moscow, deputy chairman of the regional government of the capital, State Duma deputy and director of a number of cultural institutions.

The head of the department, created in 2013 to replace Gosstroy, which was part of the Ministry of Regional Development, is the son of the famous Orthodox priest Alexander Men, whose murder in 1990 remained unsolved. He, a Jew by nationality, a theologian with controversial views, was valued extremely highly by some members of the clergy, including Patriarch Alexy II, while others, for example, Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev, considered him overly favorable to mystics from other faiths.

Childhood and family of Mikhail Me

Mikhail Men was born on November 12, 1960 in the village of Semkhoz, included in the city of Sergiev Posad since 2004, in the family of Archpriest Alexander Vladimirovich. Mikhail’s mother, Natalya Fedorovna, was the church warden of the parish of the Church of the Holy Unmercenaries and Wonderworkers Cosmas and Damian in Shubin. In addition to Misha, the couple had a daughter, Lena, who was 3 years older than him.

The father, as usual, expressed a desire for his son to continue his work, but the boy dreamed of becoming an artist. Especially after filming at the age of 10 in the film “Deniska’s Stories” as the main character. But his parents were categorically against this, so after graduating from school in 1978, as a compromise, he entered the Institute of Petrochemical and Gas Industry named after I. Gubkin.

However, he interrupted his studies at the institution. The reason for his expulsion was academic failure at the end of the examination session and a personal conviction that, as the son of a priest, in the Soviet system he would not be able to achieve success in any field of activity other than culture or art.

In 1980 I was drafted into the army. He served in Dalvoenmorstroy. After demobilization in 1982, he entered correspondence studies in Moscow at the Institute of Culture. As a student, in 1986, the young man initiated the creation, vocalist and bass guitarist of the group “Most”, which had rock music fans among big success, who carried out active touring activities and participated in festivals.

In 1987, he graduated from the institute, became a specialist in directing and left the musical group. At first he worked as a director in recreation parks, and later he opened a publishing cooperative. In addition to this higher education, he subsequently graduated from the Civil Service Academy with a degree in jurisprudence and defended his dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Philosophical Sciences.

After my father’s death in 1990, a temple was erected at the site of his death, near the Semkhoz Moscow Railway platform. Mikhail, together with his sister, who, while living in Italy, was a professional icon painter, decided to perpetuate his memory in their own way - they developed a family coat of arms, and also established a foundation in his name. Men headed it and published the works of the archpriest.

Mikhail Men in civil service

In 1993, Mikhail Alexandrovich, contemplating the possibility of running for the capital's regional duma, turned for advice to Metropolitan Yuvenaly, the former ruling bishop of his father, and received his blessing. He began working in the legislative branch and became a parliamentarian, developing regulations in the relevant Committee. Two years later, in 1995, he was elected to the State Duma, where he joined the Yabloko party and became deputy chairman of the Culture Committee, headed by Stanislav Govorukhin.

In 1999, Colonel General Boris Gromov ran for the post of head of the Moscow region administration. To ensure the attraction of the liberal part of society and church circles, he invited Me as a candidate for the position of deputy. As a result, they won the elections.

Minister of Construction Mikhail Men about housing and communal services

After 2 years, the official resigned from the post of vice-governor ahead of schedule and took a new position - the capital's vice-mayor. In 2005, Men, having joined United Russia, received another appointment - governor of the Ivanovo region. After 5 years, he remained in office for a second term, but in 2013 he was sent into early retirement. Among the reasons for moving to another place of work, in addition to professional ones, he noted the presence of personal circumstances - family living in Moscow and the birth of his sixth child.

Personal life of Mikhail Me

The head of the Ministry of Construction is married for the second time to Elena Olegova Nalimova, who is 15 years younger than her husband. She is studying entrepreneurial activity, is among the ten wealthiest wives of governors. The couple has six children – three girls and three boys. He considers his children to be his main personal achievement.

The official loves to listen and write rock music, which, according to Mikhail, inspires him. He collects electric guitars. What disgusts him most about people is their inability to take responsibility for their words. My favorite writers include Nikolai Gogol, George Owell and Sergei Minaev. When asked by Posner when and where he was happiest, the official replied, “Here and now.”

The minister's first wife was a poetess, rock soloist of a number of musical groups ("Golden Mean", "Primadonna", "Proba 1000") Inna Georgievna Petrova. Subsequently, she ran her own recording studio, sang in the church choir of the Temple of St. Sergius of Radonezh, and released several collections of poetry. Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services Mikhail Men

In November 2013, the official moved to the federal level - he was appointed head of the new Ministry of Construction and Housing and Communal Services.

Mikhail Men about cheap housing

In 2015, under his leadership of the construction industry in the Russian Federation, 84 million were commissioned square meters There is supposedly more housing than in Soviet times. The department managed to achieve such results, according to its head, thanks to the state program to subsidize mortgage rates.

Archpriest Alexander Men

Son of Man

What are these pages written for? Are they necessary if so much has already been said about the Founder of Christianity?

So, if we want to know the truth about Christ, we must seek it first of all in the Gospel.

But those who pick it up for the first time may encounter certain difficulties. After all, the authors of the New Testament are separated from us by almost two thousand years. It is not easy for a modern person to understand many of their hints, turns of phrase, and sometimes even the very course of their thoughts, which necessitates the need for comments that provide the key to the Gospel.

One of the first to apply this approach was the famous Russian preacher, Archbishop Innokenty of Kherson (Borisov). His essays were published in 1828 under the title “The Last Days of the Earthly Life of Jesus Christ.” The book has since gone through many editions and continues to enjoy wide popularity. However, it only covers the events of Holy Week.

Both admirers and opponents of Renan were at first more interested in his philosophical views; when interest in them cooled down, and the passions that flared up around the Life of Jesus began to subside, the merits of the method used in the book were clearly revealed.

Am I hearing this from you? - the chief prosecutor was indignant. - What came into your head?

But we finally need to tell the people about Christ,” Soloviev answered, smiling.

He himself had a negative attitude towards Renan, but wanted to emphasize that, as a rule, the theological works of critics and interpreters brought people little closer to the Gospel Christ, but rather even moved them away from Him. In this sense, Renan could win against their background.