Answer 33

– If we assert that Christ is God, that He is sinless, and human nature is sinful, then how could He become incarnate, was it possible? Man and sin are not synonymous. Yes, people have transformed God's world into a catastrophe as we know it. Yet the world, the flesh, and humanity in themselves are not something evil. And the fullness of love is to come not to the one who feels good, but to the one who feels bad. To believe that the incarnation will defile God is like saying: "Here is a dirty barracks, there is disease, infection, ulcers, how can a doctor risk going there, he can get infected?!" Christ is the Physician Who came to the sick world.The Holy Fathers gave another example: when the sun illuminates the earth, it illuminates not only beautiful roses and flowering meadows, but also puddles and impurities. But the sun does not defile because its ray falls on something dirty and unsightly. In the same way, the Lord did not become less pure, less Divine because He touched man on earth, clothed Himself in his flesh.

Answer 34

– How could a sinless God die?– The death of God is indeed a contradiction. "The Son of God died is unthinkable, and therefore worthy of faith," wrote Tertullian in the third century, and it was this saying that later served as the basis for the thesis "I believe because it is absurd." Christianity is indeed a world of contradictions, but they arise as a trace of the touch of the Divine hand. If Christianity had been created by people, it would have been quite straightforward, rational, and rational. Because when smart and talented people create something, their product turns out to be quite consistent, logically qualitative.At the origins of Christianity were, undoubtedly, very talented and intelligent people. It is equally certain that the Christian faith turned out to be full of contradictions (antinomies) and paradoxes. How to combine this? For me, this is a "certificate of quality", a sign that Christianity is not made by hands, that it is a creation of God.From a theological point of view, Christ as God did not die. The human part of His "make-up" went through death. Death occurred "with" God (with what He received at the earthly Nativity), but not "in" God, not in His Divine nature.

Answer 35

– Many people easily agree with the idea of the existence of one God, the Supreme, the Absolute, the Supreme Mind, but categorically reject the worship of Christ as God, considering it a kind of pagan relic, the worship of a semi-pagan anthropomorphic, that is, human-like, deity. What is the difference between these two concepts?– For me, the word "anthropomorphism" is not at all a dirty word, as many people are used to perceiving it. And when I hear an accusation like "your Christian God is anthropomorphic", I ask to translate the "accusation" into understandable, Russian, and then everything immediately falls into place. I said: "Excuse me, what are you accusing us of? Is it that our idea of God is human-like, human-like? Can you create a giraffe-like, amoeba-like, Martian-like idea of God?" We are human beings, so whatever we think about – a blade of grass, the cosmos, an atom or the Divinity, we think about it in a human way, based on our own ideas. One way or another, we endow everything with human qualities.Another thing is that anthropomorphism can be different. It can be primitive: when a person simply transfers, projects all his feelings, passions on nature and on God, without understanding this act of his. Then we get a pagan myth.Christian anthropomorphism knows about itself, it is noticed and thought out, it is realized. And at the same time, it is experienced not as an inevitability, but as a gift. Yes, I, a man, have no right to think about the incomprehensible God, I cannot claim to know Him, much less express it in my horrible little language. But the Lord, out of His love, condescends to clothe Himself in the forms of human speech. God speaks in words that are understandable to the nomadic nomads of the second millennium BC (which were the ancient Hebrew forefathers: Moses, Abraham). And in the end, God even becomes Man Himself.Christianity begins with the fact that God is incomprehensible. But if we stop there, then religion, as a union with Him, is simply impossible. It will be reduced to a desperate silence. Religion acquires the right to exist only if this right is given to it by the Incomprehensible out of the desire to be found. Only when the Lord Himself goes beyond the boundaries of His incomprehensibility, when He comes to people, then the planet of people can acquire religion with anthropomorphism inherent in it. Only Love can step over all the boundaries of apophatic decency.If there is Love, then there is a Revelation, an outpouring of this Love. This Revelation is given to the world of people, creatures who are quite aggressive and incomprehensible. This means that it is necessary to protect the rights of God in the world of human self-will. This is what dogmas are for. Dogma is a wall, but not a prison wall, but a fortress wall. It protects the gift from barbarian raids. In time, the barbarians will also become the guardians of this gift. But first the gift has to be defended from them.And, therefore, all the dogmas of Christianity are possible only because God is love [1].1 Jn. 4, 8.– Ed. ^

Answer 36

– If Jesus appeared among us now, would you be able to recognize Him and recognize Him – not because I know that it is Him, but precisely because it is Him? For it is of this kind of adventurers that Christ said, "Many will come in my name," saying, "It is I," and he warned, "Do not go after them." The second coming of Christ will be evident to all mankind: as lightning flashing from one end of heaven shines to the other end of heaven, so will the Son of Man be in His day. And, besides, there will still be the Antichrist before that. Therefore, if you want to find out whether the time of the Apocalypse has come or not, I give a very simple advice: watch NTV.The fact is that, from the point of view of Judaism, the coming of the Messiah into the world cannot be hidden. It must be a world ruler, the ruler of Israel, who will give the people of Israel power over the whole world. Jesus did not do this. Therefore, the Jews for the most part did not accept Him. Accordingly, the one whom the Jews accept as their Christ will have to meet their expectations. He must be a successful politician who has made his career magnificently. He must be the ruler of the globe, but at the same time of Jewish origin. He should be crowned by the Israelis - but on the site where the Muslim shrine is now located - the Mosque of Omar, because of which all these military conflicts in the Middle East are now taking place. So, first the Mosque of Omar will be blown up, then the Temple of Solomon will be built in its place, then the king of Israel will be crowned there, and, of course, this king will be shown on all TV channels... I assure you, all this will not remain hidden.In the 20s, there was a wonderful story. Russian emigrants rented one of the apartments of a multi-storey building for a church - it was not possible to buy a separate building. At first, everything was calm, the quiet reading of the Psalter, the canon, the akathist... And then came Easter. And this is a night service, everyone shouts: "Christ is risen!" The neighbors, of course, were not allowed to sleep all night. And the indignant neighbors in the morning begin to collect signatures demanding the closure of this church. They collect signatures from all the residents and remember: a rabbi also lives in this entrance, and this is important: the rabbi is a clergyman himself, authoritative in the mayor's office, so it is necessary that he also signs. And these organizers of the protest action come to the rabbi, ask him to sign, and he says: "I will not sign." He is asked: "How? Didn't they disturb you tonight?" He said: "They interfered." – "Didn't you hear how they were shouting and yelling?" – "I heard." – "So what, won't you protest against this?" The wise rabbi replied, "If I were sure that I had found the Messiah, I would shout even louder." This is a characteristic feature of Judaism: if they are sure that they have found the Messiah, they will shout about it to the whole world. And of course, they will show it on television. That is why I say: watch NTV – there you will be shown the whole procedure on-line.Therefore, I do not intend to look for Christ among the listeners in this hall. Moreover, I have the experience of talking with "Christ". I talked with him for three whole hours – this was Comrade Vissarion from Siberia. It was an interesting conversation, I described it in the book "Gifts and Anathemas", in the chapter "Is the New Testament Obsolete". This is the favorite argument of all sects: just as the priests of the Old Testament did not recognize Christ and crucified Him, so you now deny ... then, at will, someone is added: Roerich, Vissarion, Moon, Hubbard, and so on and so forth. As they say, add to taste, cross out the unnecessary ... Lux. 21, 8; cf. Matt. 24, 5; Mk. 13, 6.– Ed. ^Lux. 21, 8.– Ed. ^Lux. 17, 24.– Ed. ^

Answer 37

– The Church affirms its succession from Old Testament Israel. In the Old Testament Israel, God promised the Messiah – Christ. The entire history and religion of Israel and the Jews was (and still is) built on this. But why didn't those who were simply obliged to recognize Him as the promised Messiah two thousand years ago recognize in Jesus of Nazareth?—This is probably the main mystery of the Gospel, and it must be understood precisely as a mystery. By and large, the Jews are not to blame for not recognizing Christ. Do not confuse the guilt of those who cried out to Pilate: crucify Him! [1], and those who simply passed by. These are different states of the soul.The Apostle Paul says that no one can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3). You see, here is Yeshua Ha Nozri walking down the street of Jerusalem, and it is impossible to recognize this carpenter and wandering preacher as the Creator of the universe, although you can know the Bible by heart, skillfully "juggle" quotations from it and know by heart all the prophecies about the coming Messiah, as many Jews knew them. Only if God reveals to you by His Spirit that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus is the Christ, only in this case can you know Him.This grace-filled gift of knowing Himself is given only by God Himself, so it depended on God whom He would call to the apostleship and whom He would not. Remember in the Old Testament: the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he ceased to see obvious things and did not want to let the Jews leave Egypt [2]. What was obvious to Moses and the Israelites was not obvious to Pharaoh. It is fashionable for sectarians today to say, "Behold, you churchmen have been pharized, and if Christ came to earth today, you would also crucify Him." You know, I am deeply convinced that this is so, only there is nothing anti-church in this. First of all, it is very important to realize that the events that took place in the Gospel happened to each of us: Christ suffers not for the sins of the Jews, but for my sins. And secondly, if Christ came to earth now with the same purpose as two thousand years ago, that is, to suffer, then if this is His purpose, then this would certainly happen. He would blind the minds of yours, mine, the bishops, and so forth, if His task was to suffer. On the other hand, we know that the second coming of Christ to earth will be glorious, and, accordingly, the above argument will no longer be valid.One priest from the Vyatka diocese told me the following episode from his biography. When he was a first-grader, he often read the Gospel to his grandmother (she was very weak: she could not see well and could hardly walk). And then one day during Passion Week, when he was reading to her the chapters devoted to the trial of Christ and His crucifixion, my grandmother suddenly got up from her chair with the last of her strength, turned to the icons, crossed herself and said: "Lord, glory to Thee that Thou didst not come to us, to the Russians, otherwise what a disgrace it would be for the whole world." the correct experience of the Gospel. We have no right to point fingers and say, "They did it, and we would have done it differently." They had no choice, because the choice comes when the Lord reveals in your heart the knowledge of who Christ is, and then you make a choice between the old and the new. And if you do not see this new thing, if you have not yet been given such grace-filled knowledge, then you continue to roll along the track of the Old Testament. 15, 13, 14; Lux. 23, 21; In. 19, 6, 15.– Ed. ^See: Exod. 10, 27; 11, 10.– Ed. ^

Answer 38

– It turns out that those who justify Judas' betrayal by God's predestination are right?– No, the situation with Judas is completely different. He committed a conscious sin because he had a choice. After all, Judas had already come to the apostleship, a lot had already been revealed to him, so his position was very different from that of an ordinary resident of the Jerusalem suburbs, who had only heard something about Jesus somewhere, or had glimpsed Him in the crowd. But the twelve disciples of Jesus, including Judas, knew who their Master was, they knew that He was Lord and Christ, and they could choose. Another thing is that until the moment of the Resurrection they did not understand His plan for salvation.Professor Tareev of the pre-revolutionary Moscow Theological Academy had an interesting version about Judas. He believed that Judas acted as a provocateur-reagent, that is, he believed that Jesus was the Christ and the true God, but he was confused that for some reason Jesus was hiding and did not publicly declare Himself the Messiah, did not take earthly power into His hands. And then Judas tried to create a situation in which Jesus would have to take power in Israel into His own hands, that is, he tried to put Jesus in a situation in which He would have a choice: either death or a coup. So, in Tareev's opinion, it was a betrayal for the sake of the exaltation of the One Whom Judas betrayed.

Answer 39

– Why did Christ nowhere directly call Himself God? Probably, this would have greatly facilitated His mission to save people, maybe in this case Him would have been immediately accepted and recognized by everyone?– In the Gospel it is said more than once that the Jews asked Christ to show them some sign from heaven: give it to us, and we will believe that You are the Messiah [1]. But to follow this path for Christ would mean to accept what Satan offered Him in the wilderness [2].And without miracles – if Jesus had said directly that He was God, the Jews would have completely stopped listening to Him, because from the point of view of the Jews He was already a blasphemer who stole Divine glory. And pagans would probably agree to accept Jesus as God, but such an agreement would only mean that in their eyes He became one of the thousands of gods in the Greco-Roman pantheon.For example, today's Buddhists or Hindus accept Christ, but this does not affect their religious life in any way. For them, Christ is one of the hundreds of deities in their home "pantheon".And most importantly: Christ did not come to collect a tribute of respect and reverence from people. He came to die for us. And in order to be executed, one does not have to be adored. 12, 38; 16, 1; Mk. 8, 11.– Ed. ^See: Matt. 4, 1–11.– Ed. ^