Unfortunately, for them, as well as for some witnesses of the New Testament events, the mystery of heavenly fatherhood and sonship remained unknown, for the reason that both were deaf and blind to Christ, who revealed and gave it to the world. And without Him, violence will forever remain the essence of any earthly authoritativeness, and education, built on such authority. On the bloody stage of this world, man, through the tyranny of death, which lurks at the root of eros and in "homo ekonomicus" himself, is condemned to existence, the end of which is destruction and non-existence, and his historical path is only a preparation for disappearance and non-existence. This would be inevitable if there were no spiritual fatherhood, which liberates from the tyranny of death, elevates man from a slave to the dignity of a free child of God. Therefore, the struggle against it is nothing but a latent thirst for self-destruction, condemning oneself to this tyranny of death through tyranny over others, in the name of a common future happiness. The stronger this struggle is, the greater the helplessness a person will feel before himself, the eruption of primitive principles in himself, and before external violence, but the more the heavenly fatherhood will reveal to him its light, the light of the only salvation and fullness of being. It is the image of Divine existence, and through our participation in it, following the example of the Holy Fathers, the only way of existence of God's rational creation. Only where it is nurtured and incarnated, only there does the authority of the "sadistic father" cease to exist, and man turns from a slave into a son. "And because you are sons, God has sent into your hearts the Spirit of His Son, crying out, 'Abba, Father, forgive you! Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then also an heir of God through (Jesus) Christ" (Gal. 4:6-7). Heir of whom? Heir of the one Father and partaker of the one fatherhood, in which all become one, in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

THE MEETING OF THE MODERN WEST WITH EASTERN SOTERIOLOGIES

The concept of "Eastern soteriology" is very broad and rather vague. Therefore, it is necessary to emphasize at the outset that we are not talking about the traditional ancient Eastern religions (Hinduism, Brahmanism, Buddhism or Islam) and their soteriological teachings, but about the soteriological concepts of some new spiritual movements that grew out of the religious traditions of the ancient East, especially after its encounter with modern Western culture.

The meeting of European civilization and the ancient East caused a strong shock, disturbed its centuries-old peace and tranquility, but also the richest thousand-year religious experience of the East, unexpectedly became a challenge for the entire Western civilization, as it was formed, starting with the epoch of the Renaissance. What are the main features of modern Western culture? It arose as a protest against medieval acosmism and the juridical understanding of salvation. Returning to the Hellenic criteria of truth, it was more and more built on faith in man and his reason, more and more trusted sensual knowledge and science, more and more oriented towards time and matter (nature), losing the sense of the reality of the presence of God and the spiritual world, the ability to see the true relationship between God, nature and man. Western medieval religious utilitarianism in modern culture has grown into a utilitarian attitude to nature, while Protestant utilitarian individualism has become the starting point of ideological and social movements and religious movements that have lost the sense of true unity and genuine community. Having inherited the ancient Roman idea of universalism, in its Roman Christian interpretation, with a parallel borrowing of the principles of natural inevitability, modern culture from the very beginning sought to dominate the world by force. Its inherent greed and the technocratic civilization born from it have put man in serious danger – to become a slave of his own creation, and sooner or later to find himself in metaphysical loneliness, alienated not only from his Primary Source, but also from other people and from the world around him. All this fills modern Western man with anxiety and thirst for salvation, deliverance from imbalance and anxiety, pushes him to search for peace and balance. This search is noticeable even where at first glance it cannot exist – in drug addiction, sex, the emergence of sects. Through all this, and much more, the search for warmth, unity, escape from depersonalization and transformation of a person into an object, among the same soulless objects, is manifested.

In this search for oneself and one's own balance, many turn, and this is not accidental, to Eastern religions and philosophies, amazed and attracted by their mystery and depth. It was thanks to these searches and meetings with the ancient East, whose representatives act in the West as "enlighteners", the spiritually impoverished man of Western civilization, that the transplantation of Eastern soteriological teachings to the soil of European-American civilization took place.

One of the main properties of their bearers is the spirit of syncretism. It has been inherent in the East before, and has become a great temptation for modern man, who has come into direct contact with all the religious and philosophical traditions of the past and present. The first place among the bearers of the spirit of syncretism is occupied by theosophy. Its goal, from the moment of its origin, was the study of the laws of nature, the comparative study of all sciences, philosophies and religions, for the sake of acquiring a "holistic" perception of the world and the creation of a universal brotherhood of man, on the basis of "a broad consciousness and wisdom, and a new religion of peace" (Anna Besant, Helena Blavatsky, etc.). In theosophy, the cosmos is understood as something living, the world is guided by a "higher mind", history develops "cyclically", according to the laws of reincarnation and evolution from "chaura" to "adept", from dogmatism of various kinds, to "new thinking". The ancient Indian doctrine of the Avataram as periodic incarnations of a deity is one of the foundations of theosophical soteriology and some other Eastern currents that claim universality and the development of a new consciousness. Accepting a partly pantheistic, partly polytheistic vision of reality, based on the doctrine of the incarnation of a deity (deities) and reincarnation, syncretic movements of this kind include in their theory the personality of Jesus of Nazareth, considering Him one of the incarnations of God, rejecting His uniqueness, uniqueness and all-humanity as the only Savior.

Akin to Theosophy is the Krishna Murti movement. The above-mentioned Anna Besant proclaimed a "teacher of peace", a person who, in her opinion, would serve as a "milestone" – a vessel for Lord Maitreius – the new messiah. This spiritual being, of whom the Buddha taught, and who probably incarnated for the last time in Jesus of Nazareth, must descend from heaven and give the world a new religion. But Krishna Murthy himself, this "miracle child", leaves the Theosophical Society (1925), renounces his messianism, leaves his palace and the treasures collected by his admirers, and sets off on wanderings around the world like a wandering philosopher. Since then, he has spoken of truth as "a land to which there is no way," to which one cannot enter by the beaten path, to which no religion can lead. He teaches that the need to know God and the search for truth is the only need of man. When this search ceases, there is a disintegration of all forms of life, social, religious, political, and economic. To his many adherents, he spoke about life, truth, love, goodness, emphasizing that the purpose of existence is to reach Reality from the other side of time and space, from the one where Freedom, Love and Truth are. In order to create a new world, he calls for a total revolution, but a revolution on the individual plane. The impregnable wall that separates us from true life, built of prejudices, school, family, social, religious, can only be destroyed by all-embracing love, love for everyone and for everything, love without which man is dead. To the one who has cultivated such love, the truth is revealed in everything that exists, without an intermediary. In 1968, Krishna Murthy set up a foundation in England to spread his ideas.

In general, all movements inspired by the ideas of the East are characterized by a cosmological aspect, a thirst for dissolution in impersonal cosmic energy, to achieve a holistic experience of reality. This is nothing but a reaction to the rationalism of Western science and its utilitarian materialism, which deprives the nature of the soul even when it deifies it, perceiving it as the only reality. The Far East carries a sense of mystery, returning the soul to the universe, in all who were under the influence of Eastern cults and teachings, an interest in the mysteries of the spiritual world and a belief that it affects human destinies was awakened. Hence almost all movements inspired by the East are characterized by the awakening of interest and enthusiasm for spiritualism. Summoning spirits has now become a favorite pastime in Europe and America. In spiritism, there was a strange symbiosis of ancient and Christian Gnosticism and Eastern magic, rooted in the polytheism of the ancient East. What is most characteristic of such spiritualism is the loss of the ability to "discern spirits," a kind of magical violence against the spiritual world, the extortion of the discovery of innermost secrets and the explanation of mysterious events in one's daily life, predictions of the future. Spirits are required to provide new knowledge, deliverance and salvation from life's misfortunes.

For example, the Swedish movement "Findhorn Community" (founded by David Spangler), was created, as they say, by the inspiration of the "small voice" of a spiritual being. Its founder, inspired by spirits, came to the conviction that human earthly life should become an all-encompassing Unity. The "Findor University of Light", established in 1974, set itself the goal of helping man to become "part of the harmony of the New Age" with the help of its "flower gardens", i.e. associations that establish the right relationship with nature, associations that thus become "centers of light".

The feverish activity of Western man, born of excessive greed for material goods and the acquisition of knowledge, as well as the unnatural pace of life imposed on him by technocratic civilization, have caused the deepest stress, fatigue and illness, physical and mental. Because rationalized Western Christianity, with its moralism and social utilitarianism, is unable to offer a counterbalance to the existential confusion and the search for mystical experience that are increasingly characteristic of the desolate, tired man of Western consumer society, it is more and more willingly and easily carried away by Eastern methods of mastering the inner psychic space, and with their help experiences that divine and cosmic reality. that they offer.

One movement of this kind that has gained many adherents in Europe and America is the Hari Krishna movement. Its spiritual leader is Swami Prahupada (arrived in New York in 1966, where he began to preach his hippie teachings). The goal of his teachings is to develop "Krishna consciousness" that would save man from the blindness of the modern world. He teaches that this consciousness develops from the constant chanting of the name of God – "Hari Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hari Hari, Hari Rama..." Incessant singing and pronouncing of the holy name helps a person to free himself from anxiety and darkness and to aspire his soul to God. In order to approach Him, one must follow the path of devotion (bhakti yoga), i.e., renounce the four earthly elements that captivate the soul, make it a slave to the lower passions and the darkness of ignorance (maya) – to stop eating meat, fish and eggs; use drugs, alcohol, tea and coffee; not to enter into close relations that are not aimed at the birth of children; Do not gamble. Read the holy scripture "Bhagavad Gita" daily. Vegetarianism and abstinence, adherents of Krishna, are borrowed from the ancient Indian heritage and it must be admitted that they saved many drug addicts from certain death. Meanwhile, there is something unnatural and chilling about the way Krishna's groups express their "absolute devotion" to him, and many former Hare Krishnas have spoken of horrific violence against members of these groups at meetings accessible only to the initiated.

An even more widespread movement in the world is the so-called Transcendental Meditation movement. It is headed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a certified physicist, a disciple of the famous Indian sage Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, recognized as Guru Devi – the Divine Teacher. Maharishi's world fame was facilitated by the Beatles, who for a long time considered him their spiritual teacher. When they left him, he secluded himself in the silence of the Himalayas, however, his centers of "transcendental meditation" exist and develop to this day, arousing great interest among scientists, psychiatrists, sociologists, due to its beneficial psychosomatic effects. This is one of the most numerous movements, especially popular in America. Transcendental meditation in the search for the "fourth" dimension of consciousness, i.e., the state when consciousness is unburdened by anything but itself and rests on the eternal Being, who is the essence and foundation of all that exists. Such penetration into the eternal space of the Absolute is experienced as a new birth. "Truly," says Maharishi, "the deepest wisdom is to contemplate at the same time the wholeness, the unity of the Absolute and the diversity of the visible world." According to his teachings, the goal of TM is to become a bridge between the disconnected science and religion. Like the Krishnas, TM places great importance on the mantra received from the guru (Om is the holy name), which is constantly repeated and meditated in self-concentration and self-contemplation. In practice, TM attaches magical significance to the meditation technique; identification of human and cosmic energy with the energy of the Deity, in fact, professes a kind of pantheism.

And many other gurus who find their adherents in Europe and America also speak of one divine power that is poured out into the world through great teachers – Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Mohamed. According to this theory, when a lie completely darkens human souls, then the divine energy is incarnated and the Creator Himself appears to the world. Some gurus consider themselves to be the embodiment of divine energy. "I have come," says one of them, "to show light in this age of darkness." The same guru, Maharaj Yi, calls himself a perfect teacher. His father, Sri Hans Yi Maharai, also recognized by his devotees as a great teacher, worshipped his son as the savior of the world, the Lord of the universe, the embodiment of light, love, peace, unity and eternity. Whoever accepts its knowledge enters into eternal bliss, this knowledge dissolves the layers of the false self, our lower, selfish, mortal self, and gives knowledge of one's own original nature, the nature of the eternal Being and that primordial energy which is at the basis of all creation, which was, is and will be in eternity, beyond time and space. Guru Maharai Yi considers himself to be the savior from maya, and he must put an end to the dark times of kaliyuga and usher in a new, golden era of satyuga. This guru requires absolute submission and devotion, without which there can be no perfect enlightenment. He calls for a fight against the mind, this monster that must be tamed. "Listen to me, and you will hear God... I am always with you, and you are the one who should be with me." "You, in your Western world," he says, "have become rigid in materialism. Come to me, and I will heal you of your sickness. Your eyes are blind and cannot see the spiritual. Come to me, and I will enlighten you."

To Western scholars and professors-theoreticians, all these Eastern enlighteners seem almost saints, singing the glory of God. "Love God," one of them echoes them, "for He is Love. Sing His glory with a word, for He is the Word. Listen to the heavenly harmony, for He is the Harmony from which the universe is derived." All of them are characterized by a sense of the sanctity of life and the universe, an awareness of the changeability of the external and sorrow for it.