"Moreover, today I am convinced that I will not have any other reincarnations, although sometimes when I am asked: "What is your attitude to cloning?", I say: "Oh, very positively. Then I would sit at home, read books, go wherever I want, and my clones would drive around and perform instead of me. That would be amazing." But so far, this heavenly bliss is simply unattainable for me," the theologian continued jokingly.

"My life is like that of all people: I ate, drank, studied. I studied at the seminary, at the academy, but the most important teaching began for me only when I began to teach," A.I. Osipov said seriously. – The Romans were right when they said "teaching, we learn" – I understood: indeed, learning begins only when you want to teach others. Then you only begin to see: first, that you know nothing, second, that you understand almost nothing, third, that you cannot be a teacher for the sole reason that you do nothing yourself. For it is inconceivable to be a teacher, especially when we are talking about such lofty things as Christian pedagogy and the teaching of Christian truths, without a person himself becoming at least a little Christian."

"And this turned out to be a very big discovery for me, if you will, that, it turns out, I am not at all what I should be," said the MThA teacher. "But that's how I continue to learn and become more and more convinced that what seems to expand the horizon wider, it no longer seems so, but in fact I know less. And this is quite natural, because the horizon expands, I would say, in geometric progression, and you see your knowledge in arithmetic progression. Thus, one comes to the conclusion that Academician Naan said very well: "How much you need to know to know how little you know." Now I am in this state."

"Now I teach, as you have already said, at the Moscow Theological Academy, where I give lectures on basic theology; This is how they are called for the general public, although all students know another name, more accurate, but hidden, which external people do not know: that this subject is called "the most basic theology", and not just the main one, of course. That's my whole life, and there is nothing to say about other things - as with everyone and always," A.I. Osipov summed up.

At the same time, he noted that the only thing that somehow distinguishes him from ordinary people is that "I give lectures – at the academy, public lectures, I receive a lot of letters, I see how good I am, and I see how much better I feel and see, and I can't wait for only one thing: when will I be canonized alive?" "But, unfortunately, this moment does not come, and when I talk about it, everyone laughs. And what's funny about it, isn't it? That's my whole biography. The only thing I would like to say is that the day when I will pass into another world, and the hour, have not yet been revealed to me. I don't know this yet, so life is not over. I was told that life was behind me; Yes, what is behind you has already passed, but the most important thing now is what is ahead. And God grant that what is ahead - at least in this period of time to begin to be an Orthodox Christian," the professor said.

Russian Line

Who is God?

Lecture by Professor A.I. Osipov on Basic Theology, delivered at the Sretensky School, October 10, 2000

Religion can only be called a worldview in which there is a thought about God, the idea of God, recognition of God, and faith in God. If there is no this, there is no religion. We can call such a belief whatever we like: shamanism, fetishism, astrology, magic... But this is no longer a religion, it is a pseudo-religion, a degeneration of religion. Today I would like to talk to you about the fundamental question for any religion, of course, and for Christianity, - the teaching about God.