It is interesting that one of the most remarkable descriptions of the "other world" is given not by a Christian, but by a pagan philosopher - Plotinus. It is true that Plotinus was already living in the Christian era, in the third century A.D., and it is difficult to imagine that he would never have been met with and influenced by the Christian philosophy that already existed in Alexandria at that time. Plotinus himself, as well as the movement of the "Neoplatonists" founded by him - this is known for sure - had a strong influence on Christian theological thought and, although Plotinus argued with Christianity, denying the Incarnation of God and the significance of Christ in history, his philosophy and, in particular, the perception of the Kingdom of God, "the other world", strongly influenced the judgments attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite, and through him - all subsequent Christian theology both in the East. and in the West. In this sense, it is not for nothing that Plotinus was nicknamed - along with the Bethlehem astrologers-sages - "the pre-Christian evangelist".

Here is how Plotinus depicts Paradise in his philosophy: "Everything there is beauty. This is not external or carnal beauty, it is intelligible beauty, uniting everything and everything with its source, God. There is no separation, as on Earth, there is unity in love, and the All expresses the particular, and the particular expresses the Whole."

This is a brief formulation of Plotinus' contemplation of Paradise.

Many centuries after him, our almost contemporary - Dostoevsky - said that beauty will save the world. Beauty, which expresses harmony, and the correspondence of the particular and the Whole, and the balance between them, and in the relationships of people with each other - love and joy. Divine Beauty is called upon to save the world, disfigured by sin and the devil.

Beauty in the fall of the world did not leave it forever. It is still in the sky, both blue and starry, it is still in the forests, fields, mountain peaks, in the faces of the saints, in their radiant penetrating glances, reflected by human art on the faces of icons.

And the center of everything is the Beauty of Christ!

Biblical Paradise

Speaking of the biblical paradise, we first of all, of course, have in mind the second chapter of the Book of Genesis with the description of the "garden of Eden in the east" between the Tigris and the Euphrates. In the Russian Synodal translation, the Tigris River is mentioned under the ancient name of Hiddekel. The further words, "it flows before Assyria," have led many Bible interpreters to believe that Eden was in Mesopotamia. But this peculiar interpretive geography does not stand up to criticism, since we are faced with the mention not only of the Tigris and Euphrates and Assyria, but also of one nameless common river flowing out of Paradise and dividing into four rivers, two of which are the Tigris and the Euphrates. There are no such four rivers and never have been. It is quite obvious that earthly geography has nothing to do with the Biblical Paradise. All attempts by scientists to find a geographical correspondence for "Eden", a place on earth, have failed. A commentator on the English text of the Jerusalem Bible, Bible Today, observes: "A number of places have been suggested by scholars, including a place at the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates, but the same Sumerian myth speaks of the land of Dilmun, where everything was 'clear and bright', as it was of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. The Mexicans also have the Tialocac Garden, and the Greeks have the Hesperides Garden – both obviously very far from the Middle East. In the book "Mysteries of the Bible" published in America in 1988, compiled by a group of scientists, the question is posed in the title: "Has the Garden Been Found in Eden?" and the answer is given: "It is not difficult to find the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, since they still exist. The other two rivers, the Pichon and the Gichon could not be found, as there is no evidence, and therefore the attempt to locate the garden in Eden was unsuccessful." Nevertheless, the book cites, perhaps in the form of a curiosity, the scientific hypothesis of the cheerful professor of the University of Missouri, Dr. Tsarins, who claims that he "found the Garden of Eden" under the waters of the Persian Gulf, where allegedly "the beds of the mysterious Python and Gichon were found", and most importantly - the abundance of the remains of edible animals - evidence of the abundant "paradise life" of the first people; but the Bible clearly says that the first people did not eat animals, but exclusively plants, and there was no death at all in the Garden of Eden... The well-known German journalist Werner Keller, who became a prominent biblical archaeologist (he discovered the names of the biblical forefathers during excavations, who thus became historical figures), published from his work "The Bible as History - Archaeology Confirms the Book of Books" the entire story about the Garden of Eden in Eden: Eden does not belong to the competence of earthly - this earth - archaeology. And yet the belief that the Biblical Paradise existed on earth has become so ingrained, especially in the West, that it is now and then the cause of disputes between "scientists" and "theologians." The sad consequence of such ridiculous disputes is the misunderstanding (even by serious theologians) of the basic intention of the Bible: to let man know that he is an exile to this world from the other world. The Orthodox Church has preserved this message in the patristic tradition and in liturgical life, which will be discussed in more detail later. From the text of the Bible, the message is not read literally, but, like many things in it, is presented in pictures, images and symbols. The language of the Bible is to a large extent symbolic precisely because it is difficult to convey in ordinary language the unusual and otherworldly, that which even in "this world" refers to the mysterious and spiritual being. In the Old Testament Bible, in the description of Creation and Paradise, there is little sense in literally taking the fact that Eve in Paradise was tempted by a snake that spoke in human language. It is understood as the devil, but for some reason everything further in the story continues to be understood in a straightforward way! However, "to the free is the will, and to the saved is paradise!"

Let us turn to the text of the Bible. Its first five books, the so-called "Torah", which means "Law", according to tradition, were created by Moses and are called the "Five Books of Moses". But the original source is one thing, and the editors are another, and in this case the text shows that there were at least two editors. Since history has not preserved their names, scholars have nicknamed them conventionally - "Yahvist" and "Elohist", after the variants of the names of God used in these texts. Yahweh is the main name of God, never pronounced except once a year by the high priest, when he could enter the Holy of Holies. The name Yahweh comes from the word haya, which is pronounced as kheva, cf. Eve, which means "life", "being", "existence", - "syi", "being" in Old Church Slavonic. Where the connection with the name of Eve comes from, we will find out later, but for now we will consider the origin of another name of God - Elohim. It goes back to El - "God", in the Greek pronunciation Il (for example, Michael - "one who is like God"). Elohim - plural, Gods. Some historians see here the influence of paganism or a trace of the origin of Judaism, through evolution, from pagan cults. In science, no confirmation of this view has been found - so far this assumption is at best a theory, and not a proven fact. We believe that the Old Testament religion of the Bible is from God Himself, a Divine Revelation, but we can admit that in this case the understanding of the very human language used by the followers of polytheism could be used as a form in which His Revelation puts a tremendous content: "bereshit bara Elohim et ha-shamayim veet ha-aretz".

This is the Hebrew text of the first line of the Bible. The text is remarkable, it combines the plural with the singular: "In the beginning the Gods created the heavens and the earth." Elohim (Deities), like Hashamaim (heaven), is the Hebrew plural like our sleigh, the scissors: the object is one, but the inner content is many. In the name Elohim we see an amazing Divine Revelation about Himself: One in multiplicity, the first Revelation of the Divine Trinity. It is not surprising that this name of God is used wherever unity in multitude is revealed in creation, in this case, in the account of the seven days of creation in the first chapter of Genesis. And the name of God, which speaks of life, being - Yahweh - is where it is narrated about the origin of the living, in the description of Paradise, the creation of "life from life" of Eve - the Mother of all living, as the Bible calls her (Gen. 3:20).

And in order to correctly comprehend the paradisiacal narrative, it is impossible to take one story out of context, to tear one story from another, so as not to violate the integrity. The two stories complement each other and set the relief and perspective from different angles: different images of the same thing.

The sixth and seventh days: "And God (Elohim) said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the beasts, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. And God (Elohim) created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; "man" and "woman" created them. And God (Elohim) blessed them, and God (Elohim) said to them: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the (paradise) earth, and subdue it, and rule... (here is a list of all living beings). And God (Elohim) said, Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing herb that is on all the earth, and every tree that has fruit of the tree that bears seed. - these things shall be for your food; but to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, in which there is a living life, I have given all the herbs for food. And it came to pass, and God (Elohim) saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day" (see Genesis 1:26-31). "Thus are the heavens and the earth perfect, and all their host. And God (Elohim) finished his works on the seventh day that he had done, and rested on the seventh day from all his works that he had done. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, for in it he rested from all his works which God (Elohim) had done and made" (Gen. 2:1-3).

Thus ends the redaction of the Elohist and begins the second story - the redaction of the Yahvist. The story of "Yahvist" begins as follows: "This is the origin of heaven and earth, at their creation, at the time when the Lord God (Yahweh Elohim, literally: "Being-Godhead") created the earth and the heavens"... "And the Lord God (Yahweh-Elohim) formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And the Lord God (Yahweh-Elohim) planted Paradise in Eden in the east, and placed there the man whom he had created. And the Lord God (Yahweh-Elohim) brought forth from the earth every tree that was pleasant to look at, and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden..." (Gen. 2:4,7-9).

There is a deep meaning in the combination of singular and plural grammatical numbers. "Created man"; man in Hebrew Adam from Adam "earth", but this word can mean all "earth-born", and all mankind, and in ancient Hebrew interpretations it is designated as Kol-Adam - "Bee-Man"; "in the image of God He created him male and female, created them", thus the Hebrew original conveys the multi-unity image of God. The many-one Humanity is "illumined by the Trinitarian unity of the sacred mystery," according to the hymn of the Orthodox Church. And that this is so is confirmed by the words of the Bible: "Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the (paradise) earth"... "And it was so" (Gen. 1:27-28, 30). All this is "paradise in Eden in the east," beyond the sunrise; in the sky, but not in the starry sky, which is studied by science, but beyond, on the other side of the "big bang", in the "otherworldly" world, in the Kingdom of Heaven, in that heaven of which we speak in the prayer: "Our Father, Who art in heaven..." And to the All-Man-Adam, to all of us in him, was given eternal life undying - in the tree of life.