but he is obviously unable to accomplish it: it is impossible for man. He can only pray for his coming, for the Father's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. The "moral organization of mankind" can be viewed as a condition of salvation or as a church, as a society of believers who already have "the beginnings of life" on earth; but the kingdom itself is in God and has to "come," to be revealed in glory. Peacemakers will be called the sons of God, the pure in heart will see God, the meek will inherit the earth, those who mourn will be comforted – in the future. The Kingdom of God, which is to transform the world and give to His sons life, resurrection and incorruption, is understood by Christ as a miracle of God. And in His preaching, Jesus points to His healings as a sign of the kingdom at hand.

V

At the present time, none of the critics of the Gospels denies the authenticity of Christ's healings, especially the healings of the demon-possessed, no matter how different the proposed explanations of these healings may be. A few years ago there was no such unanimity; Now neuropathology itself does not allow us to deny the possibility of such healings, and, perhaps, in time, the field of scientific possibility, will expand even more. Of course, this will not abolish the religious question of "by what power" Jesus performed His healings, a question that arose during Jesus' lifetime, as it does now. But what is important for us first of all is not the explanation of the miracles, but the actual attitude of Christ Himself to them, for Whom they were indubitable. He who believes in Christ will accept His attitude to His healings; he who does not believe in Him will explain them without God; but in any case, it is important for the historian to know only how Christ looked at miracles, and not how His judges view them.

In his words to Cornelius, an early example of apostolic preaching, Peter sums up Christ's earthly life in this way: "He (God) sent the word (τὸν λόγον) to the children of Israel, preaching the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ... You know what happened in all Judea, beginning with Galilee, after the baptism;

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preached by John, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and He went about doing good and healing all who were possessed by the devil, for God was with Him; and we are witnesses of all that he did both in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem: but they killed him by hanging him on a tree. This God raised up on the third day," etc. (D. 10, 37 ff.). God sent a word to the children of Israel, preaching the gospel of peace through Jesus, anointed with the Spirit and power, and He went about all the land of Judah, healing and doing good – until His death on the cross: such is the Gospel of Peter and this is the Gospel of Mark, the translator of Peter, written according to this basic scheme – probably even before the destruction of Jerusalem: "And he preached in their synagogues" (1:39); "And they were all amazed, so that they asked one another, saying, What is this? What new teaching is this, which commands even unclean spirits, and they obey Him? And the news of Him immediately spread throughout all the region around Galilee" (1:27-28). The same is said by other synoptics, who follow the same basic scheme: "And Jesus went about all the cities and their villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every infirmity among men" (Matt. 9:35).

It is impossible not to pay attention to the significant parallelism between the word of evangelism and beneficence, i.e. healing: He walks about evangelizing and healing, and sends His disciples to heal and proclaim the approach of the kingdom κηρύσσειν τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἰᾶσθαι (Luke 9:2; Μκ. 6:6 ff.; Matt. 10:1 ff.); the rumor of His healings grows, so that soon Jewish exorcists begin to cast out demons in His name in their incantations (Mk. 9:38; Lk. 9:49; D. 19:13). He Himself points to His healings as signs of the approaching kingdom both to John (Matt. 11:4-5) and to the Jews: "If I be by the Spirit of God (Lk. 11:20 with the finger of God) cast out demons, then the kingdom of heaven has come to you" (Matt. 12:13). We find exactly the same thing in the Gospel of John: "The works that I do bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me" (5:36).

The scribes argued about Christ's healings; it was not for nothing that they asked Him for a messianic "sign from heaven" in order to be convinced of His messengership from above, to which He, "groaning in spirit," answered them: "Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I tell you, it will not be given

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signs to this generation!" (Mark 8:12). But if already in the wilderness He condemned unbelief, which required miracles, then, on the contrary, He demanded works and signs from faith: it is not faith that requires miracles, but faith that requires miracles – it must move mountains. Jesus reproached the disciples for unbelief or lack of faith, when they could not heal a demon-possessed boy (Matt. 17:20), or when they were frightened by a storm (Mk. 4:40; Matt. 8:26; Lk. 8:25), or when Peter was frightened and began to drown, trying to walk on the water (Matt. 14:31). Of course, critics disagree about the authenticity of this last story, but at any rate those who reject it as evidence of a real event recognize in it a true representation of the very demand for an unconditional, unshakable faith that overcomes all.